jueves 13 agosto de 2009, 00:23
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 | Senior Member NC3: Miembro | | Miembro desde: 03 enero 2008 Ubicación: Parana | |
| Joris Voorn Interview
An artist is defined by character, visions and their effects on society – “Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions.”
Gradient had the pleasure of speaking with electronic music producer and DJ Joris Voorn. While he might not refer to himself as an artist, he exemplifies the highest caliber of artist. As a producer, Voorn has touched the electronic music world with tracks like Blank released in 2008, and most recently his rendition of modern house, Sweep the Floor which was released part of the Dusty House EP. He has left his mark on remixes for tracks entitled Dark Flower and Ghost Song.
Voorn has traveled the world making pit stops in Spain, Germany, Croatia, Finland, China, Japan, Brazil, USA, Canada and the list goes on. His mark in the USA has been significant to the standards of electronic music, but his presence has been weighted against a society passionate about pop culture and close minded when it comes to a new type of sound. We recommend that you buy his latest album Balance 14, which consists of a compilation of 100+ tracks mixed by Voorn.
Gradient sat down on the eve of Independence Day with the Dutch bred artist, at New York Citiy’s landmark restaurant Vincents in Little Italy over spaghetti and meatballs. Hours before Voorn was scheduled to make his appearance at Cielo nightclub, he filled us in on some of his next steps and the direction electronic music is heading in. 
I just listened to guitar music all the time before I turned eighteen. I absolutely hated gabber, techno and house music. Bands like Chemical Brothers and Underworld were crossing over indie and electronic music. Those are the groups that really brought me into electronic music. In 1995, I started getting more into it, when I started catching onto techno music everything sounded new and fresh. I slowly began appreciating the music, and then I started collecting records which became part of the natural progression of getting into the lifestyle. Jeff Mills, Derrick May and all the techno pioneers were some of the influences for my passion that developed with electronic music. In 1996, I bought a Roland MC-303 Groove Box which allowed me to produce music. I made a lot of music with it but no one ever heard any of those tracks. I have a bunch of tapes sitting in a box. Believe it or not some of those productions are actually worth listening too.
I started to DJ gigs in 1996, during that time I won a DJ competition in the city where I attended an art academy. It helped me earn a resident DJ position at the club playing every two weeks. I was able to play regularly and explore different types of music, which allowed me to play better and understand how to work a crowd. I left that for Rotterdam and had to start from scratch. Everybody and there grandma is a DJ, so I needed to understand the music better and play better. The first record that I produced Muted Tracks on a label called Keynote was a big break for me, big DJ’s like Carl Craig played it and it caught on with the masses. You recently had the chance to compile a mix for Pete Tong’s essential mix on BBC radio. When compiling this mix what was the direction you were heading in? We found the mix to be very obscure and not typical Joris Voorn. I can’t say I was heading in any particular direction with the mix, I know people didn’t expect it though. Just because something is unusual doesn’t mean it isn’t good. I believe that it is important to always surprise people, keep your music fresh, and play something that isn’t typical. It’s nice to be on a radio show as well, and I wanted to take advantage of it and do something different. I also believe that my album was different. Being unusual will allow you to catch the attention of someone that wasn’t into your music before. It was a great feeling to be able to be on the radio and have my chance to play what I enjoy.
With modern technology and the internet moving at lightning speed, information travels very quickly and so does music. I remember in the past it was very difficult to find full DJ sets available for download. They are all over the internet now and you can hear your favorite artists full set while they are performing anywhere in the world. What do you think about DJ sets being recorded and making their way onto the internet? Does it take away from your music in anyway?
The internet does do a lot of good and bad. Of course if it’s a bad set you won’t be happy with it being all over the web. You don’t want other people listening to it, but it is a great form of exposure especially if it’s a good set. There are many people out there that will probably never go see you live, on the other hand they will be given an opportunity to download your set via the countless websites that offer live music for download. If your sets are constantly being heard it helps raise awareness to the type of music you spin and produce.
I can’t pinpoint an exact city that goes crazy over techno, but I would have to say Holland is very open and most interested in techno music than the rest of the world. Last weekend was the Awakenings Festival in Holland, the event had over 35,000 attendees. The DJ list included Trentemoller, DJ Rush, Green Velvet, Kevin Saunderson and a whole bunch of other guys. There are a lot of things happening in Holland as far as Techno music is concerned and it has a very vibrant scene there. I love playing New York City just because the scene is so small here it creates a challenge to get the crowd moving.
What defines a good producer and what direction is Techno music heading in? Who are some of the DJ’s or Producers you currently appreciate?
At the moment the music is in a retro phase, the past is being reinvented and the futuristic sounds are being pushed to the side. People are paying more attention to a new groovy house sound at the moment. It’s hard for me to say someone is very good because there is a lack of consistency when it comes to producing music, someone can be very good with a lot of great productions and then they eventually become irrelevant. But if I had to mention anyone that was putting out really good stuff it would be Marcel Dettmann. I don’t play his music all the time because it is very hard and monotonous but he’s good. His sound was developed in a very famous club, the Berghain Panorama Bar in Berlin. His type of music doesn’t work in every club but it works in places where people want to hear something hard.
Like you said it is very difficult to be consistent in Techno music. What are some of the things you do to stay consistent? What are some of the projects you’re working on now?
It’s kind of funny because I have been working on a lot of remixing. It’s a bit of the disease the remixing business, Steve Bug has asked me to create a remix and it is very time consuming. There is not much money to make on remixes but sometimes it does pay off when you produce something that catches on. I just released my latest track “Sweep the Floor,” which is part of the dusty house series. Everyone in Europe is getting into the groovy house thing, so I have been giving the audience what they want to hear with my own twist on it. The Dusty House series will be very simple and groovy. Currently I am working on Dusty House Room 2 which should be coming out soon. One of the tracks on Dusty House Room 2 will be called Chase the Mouse. I used Giorgio Moroder’s -Chase as the sample behind the track which gave me the opportunity to give the track a fun and playful name. After the third Dusty House, I will start working on a new album, which I think will also be very different. I am going to use my bass guitar and guitar quite a lot during the production of the record. It is going to be something completely different.
How did you separate yourself from any other DJs/Producers? What advice can you offer to someone trying to create Techno music?
What I did was bring in a melodical sound, when techno was just about beats no one was really playing melodies. I brought in a danceable rhythm with some melodies. It was either monotonous beats or Detroit style. I was trying to get best of both worlds and that helped me become a better producer and DJ. People can listen to my music and can actually feel something with the music I produce. Creating music is quite easy it is not that difficult to make this type of sound. If you have a good feeling of what you are doing then you will not have a problem doing it.
With so much music out there and your hectic travel schedule, how do you source the music that you DJ?
I have no secret. There is simply too much music to choose from. I listen to most of the promos I get but it takes up too much time, and there is a lot of crap out there. Everybody seems to get my email address one way or the other and sometimes I just forget who is credible, so I just check all of them. I also go on Beatport which has an overwhelming amount of music to offer. I prefer to just make my own music because it is easier and more productive.   |
