Black Research _ Interview with Fausten

Julien, I see that you are a professional sound designer for TV / Radio? Do you ever have to stop yourself from slipping in parts of your alter-ego into your day job? Is it tempting to push the envelope?

Julien: Yeah. Sometimes I use stuff from work inside a Monster X or Fausten project, and vice versa. It is always tempting to push the envelope , but you need to stay away from weird time signatures and not end up sending a Breakcore / IDM / super crazy mangled beat to a client asking you a D’N’B track with a ” modern sound”. If you do, you might scare him and lose the contract.

Exactly! That probably wouldn’t go down well at all, would it? Haha

And from a production point of view, what is best? Spending time creating samples / patches etc.. and then arrange? Or do it as you go along?

Julien: It depends on the mood. I try to use different approaches often. It can be boring always working in the same order, or using the same process. Of course when it’s for work stuff, I need to be more organised; but I like to jam for hours , record everything , then process it. And then jam with the processed samples again and again and again.

What about general influences Guys? What tunes / artists will you always listen out for?

Derek: It would sound cheesy gushing over how much we like these tracks, but suffice it to say these are hugely important to us and will always be on the playlist.

Scorn – Take Someone’s Eye Out

Milanese – So Malleable (Cold mix)

Autechre – Basscad (Basscadoublemx)

Funkstorung – Punk Motherfucker – Richard Devine Acid Rev

Slayer – Reign in Blood

Autechre – Ganz Graf

Bile

Autechre – Draun Quarter

Underground Resistance – Final Frontier

Great stuff. Thanks for those.

If I combine your Bio’s, I see Warp Records, Jungle, Electro, Dub and Thrash Metal listed as influences.. Did you have a reference point for this album or a mutual interest that you could call upon? Was it a vibe – or did you have something more tangible in mind?

Derek: The sound of Scorn, Milanese, Autechre and visuals from dark films are probably the main common points. And a black sense of humour.