Symbiosis Episode 51 - Ital Tek mix & interview

Symbiosis Episode 51 features the work of 23 year old Brighton, UK, artist Alan Myson – aka Ital Tek. Alan has carved his own sound with references to 90’s Electronica, Hip Hop and Techno blended masterfully to create his own style of hard hitting and melodic bass music. In June this year he released his second full length album on Planet Mu entitled “Midnight Colour” and I knew it was time to get him in the mix and on the line for a chat.

Enjoy the sounds if Ital Tek.

Cheers,

Simon

Recent Releases

Midnight Colour (Planet Mu)
Moment In Blue EP (Planet Mu)

Tell us about your history as a producer and how you got into music.

I got into producing about 6 years ago when I was 18. I had been playing guitar in a band for a few years and then that fell apart so I started messing around making noise/ambient recordings on minidisc using my guitar and a load of pedals. Throughout my teens I was massively into labels like Warp and Planet Mu, bands like NIN, Radiohead and also a lot of garage and jungle. When I realised that I was quite a control freak with writing music I thought I’d buy a laptop and just give it a go seriously.

I think my sound has come about through not particularly wanting to rest on anyone aesthetic and bringing in elements from everything that got me excited about music when I was growing up. Hopefully that comes across to the listener.

Your second album for Planet Mu, ’Midnight Colour’, recently came out. Tell us about the creative process behind the record.

It was all a bit mad to be honest. I wrote the whole record in about 6 weeks. Probably the only New Years resolution I’ve ever actually kept was that I wanted to start completely from scratch and get an album written quickly. It’s really hard to talk about the creative process because it’s such a personal experience and I was just totally in the zone whilst making it. When you have a burst of creativity like that you just have to go with it, and luckily it just all kind of fell into place. It was only when were getting round to sequencing the album in April that I realised I didn’t really have much recollection of writing any of it!

I think practically having some proper synths gave it all a new energy. It was the first time I’d used any hardware whilst making a record and I think that gave it a spontaneity and roughness that I hadn’t really got with my previous records. It enabled me to connect more with what I was making. A lot of the beats and most of the melodies are played in Live (obviously with a few edits because I’m not the greatest keyboard player!).

Your sound has definitely evolved since your first album, Cyclical. Is that a product of time and experience or was it a creative decision?

I’d say it’s both really. I feel I do have a lot more experience now and that my confidence in my productions is a lot higher. I tend to know what I’m aiming for now and get on with it. When I wrote Cyclical nearly 3 years ago it was much more of an experiment, trying to figure out what I wanted “my sound” to be. In some ways that was probably a good thing, but I like the level of focus I’ve got with music these days.

The only definite parameters I set out for myself with Midnight Colour were that I wanted it to have a much looser and more human quality and also for it to be less dark. I guess I’m not the best person to say whether it is or not, but to me it’s quite an uplifting record. I was in a much better place whilst writing it, and listening back to it now I can tell I was genuinely excited about the creative process. Planet Mu must have thought I was mad sending them a tune pretty much every day for weeks on end!

What are you finding inspirational outside music at the moment?

I’ve forced myself to take a break from writing at the moment, and I think that’s actually refreshed me quite a lot. I’ve just moved house aswell so I havn’t been able to make much music. It’s good thugh because there are a lot more ideas swimming around in my head. Aside from that I’ve been doing a lot of remixes and just enjoying the summer!

I’m pretty hard on myself with writing and sometimes I get locked into this thought that I have to be making tunes all the time, and I don’t think that can be particularly healthy for creativity. My attention span is really short with music, so if I don’t get something down quick then I tend to just leave it and move on, and so forcing a break tends to get me moving fast next time I get on the tunes. I’ve ruined too many potentially good tracks by hammering them to death when I wasn’t in the mood.

Which artists are you enjoying right now?

I went to see the film Inception the other day and the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is amazing! I’ve been listening to that loads on Spotify. I’d love to have a go at scoring a film.
Aside from that I’m really into my hip hop, pretty much the whole Stones throw catalogue, and whether it’s a hip hop record or whatever the new Fly Lo album is wicked. That’s the kind of album, you can just go back to over and over and it’s like the first time you’ve heard it. The DJ Nate album that is coming out on Planet Mu later in the year is great too, Mike Paradinas played me a load of Juke earlier in the year and it just put me in a trance, its nuts. I’m really feeling that. Move of Ten by Autechre is awesome too.

What are you planning for the rest of the year and into 2011?

As I said I’ve been doing a lot of remixes so they will be coming out over the next few months, and I’ve got more to do for after that as well. Hopefully there will be another EP on Planet Mu before the end of the year. I wrote loads of music just after finishing the album that I want to get out there, some more 90bpm kind of vibes, that Midnight Colour hints at. I’ll be doing another 12” on my own label Atom River also.

Aside from releases I’m just gonna be playing out loads, I felt like such a big part of this year already was taken up writing the album that I just want to focus on doing more gigs for a while. Starting to sort out a USA tour, which is something I’ve wanted to do for ages and hopefully I’ll come over to Australia some time soon!

…maybe I should try and dig out some of those old minidiscs too, and see if there’s something I can salvage…

Symbiosis Episode 51 – Ital Tek – Tracklist

Arkist – Until Next Time
Untold – Palamino
Throwing Snow – Un Vingt
Ital Tek – Moment In Blue V.I.P
Raffertie – Rank Functions (Ital Tek Remix)
Mr Fogg – Stung (Ital Tek Remix)
Starkey Ft. Anneka – Stars (Ital Tek Remix)
Tim Hecker – Harmony In BlueIII
Starkey – CoRot 9b
Ital Tek – Neon Arc
Ital Tek – Black and White
Ital Tek – Heliopause
Ital Tek – Spectrum Falls
Ital Tek – Subgiant
Kudeo – Glow
Silverman – Return of the Sun
Ital Tek – Untitled