Sparse beats

Music Influences – Max Cooper
Art/literature – Leonora Carrington
People - Squid

There was a time in my life, when digital music had to be hard, fast and very dirty. There was a time even earlier in my life, when I was an angry teenager, that songs had to contain the word 'fuck' for me to be interested. Now, on the cusp of middle age, I like my music a little more peaceful but sometimes insane. I still like my very heavy bass lines, the beat that twitches those feet, the psychedelic swirls that progress a song. Some days I even like lyrics, (especially those by Kimya Dawson, Bob Dylan...), but most lyrics seem lazy and bore me compared to the vibrancy of instruments or electronic trickery.

Digital music is fascinating to me, it annoys me when people say, 'but they only press play and stop.' does a conductor not just waggle a stick, some of these 'stop/play' people produce every single note on that track, others write there own computer software to make the sounds and some make their own instruments to personify their minds. For me it's a fantastically evolving art form, when mixed with digital visuals, even more mind bending.

Instrument music also inspires me. How a person connected to a shaped piece of wood, with strings, plugged into a socket, or a formed lump of hollow brass plugged into a person can make such beauty. It's utter madness.

I guess this came from a weekend spent with a lovely women, we chilled, chatted, ate... We went to listen to a friend play on Saturday night, a friend from university. Playing minimal electronic music, in a concrete bar. It was a simple but brilliant night. A tasty meal , a chilled bar, engaging music, chat. None of the chaos of a full evening clubbing, not sleeping for two days...

I feel for my last few weeks in London, I need this peace. Moving to Hong Kong will be crazy. I feel gutted about leaving this wonderful woman behind, and I spend many hours con quoting plans not to. But it's tough. Why do you meet perfect people just as life's direction changes? Just like the electronic tune, that builds intensity, beautiful synths overlayed, people begin to dance, the beat intensifies, the bass becomes a little fuller, minds get lost in the repetitive rhythm, all feet move over the dance floor; dance more, whole bodies twitch, eyes close and notes and beats flow over the body, deep bass booting the chest, lost in the dance, lost to the musicians whim, they can take you anywhere at this point – the whole room just one.