Omnipresent _ Interview with Roebin de Freitas

Well, in terms of the Techno influences, can you give us an idea of some of your all time greats? Who would you consider to be the heroes?

It’s difficult to cram the whole palette of emotions and ideas that techno artists have brought to the table in a few examples. Coming up with a shortlist has serious shortcomings as it’s… short. But for the sake of this interview I will cram away.

I think you can seriously debate if it’s a good idea to meet your heroes. I have met Max Duley, who has made some of the weirdest dance floor techno. For instance; his track, Eastern Rumble has no kick, but is pure energy. He is a terrific guy to boot. He no longer produces but instead runs half marathons to raise money for the research against Alzheimer’s disease. I spent a weekend at his place and he spent a weekend at mine. Good times.

Max Duley – Fundraising for Alzheimer’s Disease : http://www.justgiving.com/anbestrun

I have met Surgeon on a few occasions. He has been pretty influential to me. He’s not the guy that will offer me to taste pork scratchings and marmite just for the fun of it, as Max did. He keeps more of a distance and that is in no way a bad thing. It’s a matter of style and character.

I’m just trying to stay that when you get the chance to meet your examples, grab it. But always separate the person from the music.

Neil Landstrumm is a producer I have been following for 15 years now. I must admit that my recent sets lack that dose of Landstrumm. I like his raw techno from yonder years and I like what he’s doing nowadays. I can’t help hearing hip hop and breakbeat influences in all his music. Everybody should have some Landstrumm in their collection.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSet3l73PC4

For me there is no escaping the Basic Channel sound. There are a couple of tracks on the album that really owe a lot to Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus. I have had a religious experience when I woke up on a summer’s day with the sun bursting into my bedroom. The first thing I did was to listen to Cyrus – Inversion for 17 minutes, dance and nearly cry. You must also own Rhythm & Sound records before you can take yourself serious. On my forthcoming release, the title track is somewhat inspired by Inversion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS6gG1gnEDI

Ok, this is not techno, it’s elektro and it’s a shame that people are clueless about the genre because of the over usage of the term (or rape, if you will). Anthony Rother has made such beautiful elektro (and ambient) it’s mindboggling.

One of the best techno albums around for me is Jes Somfay’s ‘A Catch in the Voice’. I have no clue how he was able to design these sounds. If GY!BE would make techno, this is what it would sound like. Love it!

To finish this ridiculously short shortlist, I want to remind you of that palette I was mentioning. This track – Theo Parrish – Took me all the way back, sounds broken and dusty, the quantizing is off and the vocal sample sounds like it was saved from a overdriven cassette, not the best production to be honest. But that’s precisely why this track works!

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