teshno

it’s been a while since the last teshcast, partly because i’ve been busy getting married, but now it returns in style with a young artist who has had one of his best years yet. flori is jamie taylor, now a firm secretsundaze favourite and assured producer of some classy deep, slightly left of centre house and techno which includes gems like his recent lucy ep, efforts on black key and morris audio. there are shades of nyc dons like qu and levon vincent in his feathery, dense yet hypnotic sounds if you ask me (hence the brooklyn bridge artwork, actually) though taylor also has a knack for laying down deft little melodies or piano tinkles that linger long in your heart, too. when not doing so alone, his main partner in crime is ethyl. it’s a relationship mentioned in this interview along with other things, so settled down and enjoy it whilst you get lost in the shadowy techno depths of his teshcast x, below, and fan up to stay in touch if you haven’t already.

how’s your year been? what have been some highlights?

as years go i suppose it’s been a good’un. releasing my debut solo ep on secretsundaze and playing at freerotation have certainly been strong forces on the swingometer.

you’ve been pretty prolific this year (or at least lots of your music has come out this year). have you got lots of stuff stored up or are you meticulous and slower to create?

yes to all of the above if that’s possible. at the moment i have got a small collection of finished tracks and a lot of ideas down i like to revisit periodically. some of the music i have released this year is actually four years old now – the city fly ep and “without you” on morris audio for example. my secretsundaze and black key tracks were all made within the last twelve months and i’m sure people can hear the difference. i struggle with consistency in my productiveness so sometimes a track can takes months to complete and other times i can get something down in one or two days. i wish the latter were more frequent.

do you feel you have found your sound yet? seems some unity to recent releases of yours…specifically the lucy ep and track on the black keys… there’s something very unique about those records…

that’s a tough one. i can see similarities in the things i do but i think up until now i’ve always tried to sound different to myself. maybe i haven’t found happiness in a sound yet, but that’s okay, because i think getting there can be really interesting.

i actually have this conversation a lot with tim (ethyl). in the past, people have told us that they can recognise an ethyl & flori production. it’s strange to hear that because we’ve always thought that the music we’re making at the time is considerably different to what has preceded it. perhaps it’s something that is easier to detect by the listener than it is the producer.

do you have a certain work flow or way of producing, or is it more trial and error?

the way in which i produce has remained very similar over the three years i’ve been releasing music. doing a lot of work “in the box” can be tedious at times and quite frankly something i can’t bear to face on some days. i’m actually hoping to change my work flow so that it becomes more trial and error with the introduction of more hardware.

you collaborate quite often but only with ethyl – why is that? could you work with anyone else do you think?

tim’s my best best mate and we’re on the same page with most things in life. it never feels like work and he’s excellent at realising my ideas. he also lets me sleep a lot and only rarely gets grouchy. i think i could work with other people but it would feel like an affair.

so when did you first get into electronic music, and how?

i was thirteen/fourteen and i was really in to garage – the more soulful stuff like mj cole’s and wookie’s works. thinking about it, it was probably the pure garage compilations that got me hooked. at the same time i was going to the soul nights my folks were running and i remember hearing tracks like jon cutler – it’s yours and kings of tomorrow – finally. there was a lot of quality soulful electronic music being made in the early naughties and i wanted to collect and play it. i think i got my 1210s at around that time and they’re the same pair i recorded this mix on.

what sort of things were you exposed to and do they still influence you now? if not, what does?

i think the music i talked about above will always influence me to some degree, perhaps more indirectly now as i move further away from it. it’s the music that provided me with the rules and the experience i still draw on. today, i think i’m influenced most from my favourite artists. i love hearing new xdb or qu tracks and wondering how on earth they got that sound.

tell us about the impact playing soul underground had/has(?) on you as a dj?

soul underground is in it’s twelfth year now and i am still one of the residents. i think more than anything playing at su has given me the confidence to take risks in my sets. playing different genres and tempos has shown me how you can really work a floor. mum will go spare if i don’t get a plug in here so please check su-soulunderground.blogspot.co.uk

and at what point did you decide you wanted to get involved producing/djing? again, how did you do that at first?

experiencing club environments at an early age inspired me to want to dj. also, djing felt like the natural way to present the music i was in to. production came later. i think i became serious about the idea at sixth form when i was applying to university. i ended up doing a sound engineering & production degree in birmingham which is where i met tim.

as someone in the relative infancy of their ‘career’ have you been troubled by wanting to get things out vs holding out for the right opportunities or anything? you strike me as someone with high levels of quality control…

that’s a lovely compliment, thank you. it has been the case where i’ve been unsure about releasing certain material and the label has had to twist my arm a bit. i don’t like to put too much out as i think producers who do run the risk of burning out. well, that and the fact that i am not nearly productive enough to. by the time something i’ve made does see the light of day, i’m usually pretty sick of it. i guess it’s like that for most people though.

do you do music full time or have you anything on the side? if so, what, or what have you done until now?

this music game is pretty much full-time now. i did have a part-time bar job for quite a few years and more recently i worked as a weighbridge operator on a quarry. they’ve kept me on the books which is nice for a bit of extra record money.

and you regularly appear on secretsundaze – would you like to be a one label artist, or you not that fussy?

i’m so grateful for the support giles and james have shown me over the last few years. they believe in what tim and i are doing and it’s a privilege to be on board. i like the idea of representing a label so hopefully there will be more to come on sundaze in the future. i think it’s difficult for anyone on our scene to remain exclusive to one label, so hats off to the few that manage it.

where and when was the mix recorded?

the mix was recorded in my cellar earlier today which happens to be wednesday 24th october 2012.

what was the aim with it? is it something like a set you might do in a club?

i like to share music i love and podcasts like this provide the perfect platform for doing so. i think this particular effort does draw similarities with a set i’d play in a club. please enjoy loudly therefore.

what else you got coming up/are you looking forward to?

i’ve just completed a four track solo ep which will be released early 2013 on a label i’m very fond of. i’m also working on a vinyl-only project to which ethyl is also contributing. apart from that, i’m looking forward to playing gigs and (hopefully) larry david announcing a 9th season of curb your enthusiasm.

what do you like to do away from music?

i like watching and laughing at things produced by people like chris morris and armando iannucci. i like reading and marvelling at the things richard dawkins writes.

why flori?!

it was very nearly florence, until the machine burst on to the scene. i do prefer the abbreviated version and it goes nicely with ethyl. i remember having to make a decision pretty sharpish as our debut release was imminent. the ethyl (fabricated) story is far more interesting.

download or listen to teshcast x ~ flori, below

1. vakula – 41600 (slavic mythology ep) [archipel]
2. dj qu – times like this (tri-state ep) [the corner]
3. marcelus – shape (ep 2) [deeply rooted house]
4. 19.454.18.5.25.5.18 – ghosts on acid [horizontal ground]
5. nicuri – replenish the earth (parrish adams remix) (paradigms) [bliq]
6. manoo – abyss [deeply rooted house]
7. fit feat. gunnar wendel – roll out (enter the fog ep) [fxhe]
8. xdb – ekatem [diamonds & pearls]
9. morning factory – anna logues sleepover [clone jack for daze]
10. john daly – motion [international records recordings]
11. joey anderson – earth calls [deconstruct]

you might also like: