deniz kurtel ~ interview

it’s september 2009, late one saturday night (or early sunday morning) and i’m laying on the hard wooden floor of a friend’s house, a long way from reality. we’re listening to a mulletover podcast by simon baker and, suddenly, there’s a collective ‘ooof!’ as we hear what i later find out to be this - a deniz kurtel remix which is so good it stands out a mile from its pallid peers, and still does today.


and that’s how i first came across the turkish producer who i now know to be a close friend of the w&l guys; part of the crosstown rebels team, and an led light artist.  i wanted to know more, so here it is…


how is the tour going?  what’s it like working with damian and the others?

it’s going great, the last part of the us tour was the get lost party this past weekend at the wmc, which was a huge success.  it will continue in europe till the end of june.  it’s been amazing working with damian and everyone involved in the tour so far, it’s my first touring experience and i’m happy that i’m not doing it alone.. damian and jamie have been at all the shows with me and have been super cool and supportive the whole time.
how do you like touring and being away from home? doesn’t it limit creativity and time you can spend on writing music? 
i’ve had a few weeks off during this tour so i’ve been able to make some music but a lot of my friends play every weekend and even a lot of week days and i can see how distracting that could be.  but at the same time, i have learned a lot from playing my music and seeing how things work with the crowd and also how things sound on bigger sound systems.  also, it can be very inspiring hearing different music from other djs and producers, so it can be limiting in a way but also expanding and feeding creativity in other ways..
how does it compare to the w+l stable? why has that been such an important group of people for you? 
well, w+l and crosstown have a lot of common artists now and it all feels like one big family really, but i have known gadi and zev for the longest time and i’ve been spending pretty much all of my time with gadi since we’ve been living together at the marcy and also no regular play, who live upstairs, and zev, until he moved to india a few months ago (he just got back to ny).  
ever since gadi and zev and i met about 5 years ago, we’ve been living, traveling, partying, working on projects together, supporting each other.  over the last year or two, we started opening up to the outside world a bit more and pursuing our own independent projects as part of our growth, and crosstown is a big part of that process for me.  damian has a lot of experience, wisdom and resources in this industry and it’s great having this kind of support at the beginning of my musical career. i’m very happy to be part of both families.
and how important are the burning man festivals for you both musically, artistically and on a more personal level? i hear from seth they are life changing experiences… 
i’ve been going to burningman the past 5 years and each year feels like the new year for us, a really magical and freeing experience each time..  it has had an amazing impact on me both artistically and on a personal level, definitely has opened my heart and mind a lot.
so what music did you grow up round? do you still listen to it now and/or does it still influence you? 
a lot of disco when i was little, and some pop and electro growing up.  hard to tell what influences me right now, i’m sure everything does!
and who/what (if different to the above) got you into electronic music? 
just being around music, and friends who dj and and make music…
fables & fairytales is a modern classic – i don’t know anyone who disagrees – where did the inspiration and influences comes from for that? it’s a very thick, textured record and i think that’s why it stands out – quite druggy, too… 
well, it’s a remix of an amazing track by n/a, and i used a lot of their sounds, just simplified it a little.  i was inspired by the original!
is it representative of your forthcoming album at all? can you tell us what it will sound like, where the ideas for it have come from? 
it’s hard to describe an overall style for the album.  i can say it has some electro/house and some breakbeat elements. 
and how and where have you/will you record it? 
the album is pretty much finished. if everything goes as planned, it should be out sometime late summer/early fall.
how will you know when it is done, what will make you sit back and think ‘ok, this is finished, let’s release it?’ 
well, as soon as all the tracks feel right, which they do..  i’m not concerned with having an overall style, it just shows my musical journey over the past year.
there’s a lot of emotion in your music, real hair-standing-on-end stuff – where does that come from and is it a conscious thing? 
i am a pretty emotional person so i guess it comes naturally..
i understand you don’t dj but play live – can you explain a bit for us? 
well, i just started making music about 1.5 years ago, and had no dj’ing background.  i don’t know how to dj, so playing live is just a way for me to share my music for now.
and you have your light installations at your shows too, right? do you control those as well as the music? 

i program them ahead of time and they also respond to my music.
what do you want them to add to the music/experience of seeing you live? will you take the light show to parklife, manchester in the uk? 
i was working with leds before i started making music, so it just shows my other art besides my music.  i’m taking it to fabric on may 22nd, but not to manchaster unfortunately…
so when you’re working on one of your led projects…what’s the aim? are you reflecting moods and emotions just the same as when making music? is the creative process in anyway similar? 
i’m sure my moods and emotions come through in all my projects beyond my control, but the creative process is quite different.  there is a lot of pre planning and calculation that goes into the led projects.  with music, i don’t really plan to make a certain type of track, i just sit down to make music and whatever comes out comes out.
are you someone who dances in clubs a lot? do you think that’s important to understand what works or are you more into just making music you feel, rather than music you feel will excite someone else? 
yeah i definitely dance a lot! it’s so natural to me, i don’t really think about it, just like the way i make music..
so who or what makes you happy? why? 
my family, good music, nature
and who or what makes you sad? why? 
seeing someone sad, also when i feel unproductive
and how would a friend describe you/your personality? 
maybe shy, funny, a bit weird..
what does the rest of 2010 hold in store? 
europe tour till july, hopefully the release of my album sometime late summer.. also some new art projects.
  
can’t tell what might happen after the summer yet..
and, finally, my girlfriend likes me to ask, what is your favourite colour?
can’t say i have a favorite color, depends on where it’s being used…

published on April 30, 2010 8:41 am.
filed under: crosstown rebels, deniz kurtel, house, interview, techno, wolf + lamb

1 comment »

  1. teshno » deniz kurtel ~ interview ii says:
    September 5, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    [...] last interview i did with deniz 18 or so months ago rarely leaves the ‘most popular [...]

    Reply

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