Symbiosis 72 – Krystal Klear – 50/50 Mix

Hey folks,

I’m very happy to present Krystal Klear’s mix for Symbiosis 72. He’s called it his 50/50 Mix – made up of old and new tunes. Check out his thoughts about the mix after our chat from the other week.

And a big happy birthday to the man behind Krystal Klear, Dec, for yesterday!

Check out his new release on the Hoya:Hoya label and on Cooly G’s label Dub Organizer – out now!

Cheers,

Simon

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S: So, tell me a bit about how you got into the whole music schtick.

KK: Um, I started making music throughout my teens in various ways; through playing guitar, buying keyboards an crap like that, and bouncing everything down to minidisc. I bought an MPC when I was sixteen and that was when I got into the whole idea of producing, and production.

It kind of just developed from there. Like you buy more equipment until you find out what ways work well.

I was making hip hop music for the most part but it wasn’t really any good – it wasn’t really going anywhere. And to be honest, the records that I were buying were predominantly Boogie based stuff. So it just seemed like the obvious thing to go and make it.

S: So how did you come to that realisation?

KK: Well, when I would go digging for records I would always go for records that were not really the kind of records you buy to sample. I just ended up coming to a point where I wasn’t satisfying myself in what I was doing. So I decided to make music that I love.

And just for a change it started off as something new for me to do. And it’s kind of become something for me now that I’m loving doing.

S: Was it a matter of hooking up with the right crew of people? Do you think the Hoya thing helped in that sense?

KK: Not really. I was making music as Krystal Klear before I got involved in Hoya. In terms of that development it wasn’t. But what it has done is give me a huge amount of positivity to what I’m doing. Because it gave me the stage to practise out to people every two weeks and the opportunity to play new music to an open crowd every two weeks.

I was extremely honoured as well to get asked to be involved. Everyone else at Hoya is incredible. To be respected by your peers meant a lot. So what Hoya has done for me is a real positive influx on my life from getting to be involved and all round.

S: You recently played your first few shows in London didn’t you?

KK: Yeah I played my debut in London three weeks ago and I have another gig there this weekend. It’s really exciting to be going down there and playing somewhere that I have wanted to p lay all my life.

I played at the Cooly G label launch for her label Dub Organizer. It was cool to finally meet Cooly and play to a crowd of heads in London. No matter where you’re playing it’s good, because it’s London.

S: So that’s out now, and you also have the Hoya:Hoya 12” which is great..

KK: Yeah I’m really happy with how that panned out. When Ryan (Illum Sphere) asked me to hook him up with a track I really didn’t know what to give him. But I think the 12″ is a really good example of what everyone is up to musically at Hoya.

It’s three different sounds and that’s the best way of expressing Hoya – it’s a load of different sounds.

S: Yeah totally. You’re all quite different from each other.

KK: Yeah we’re all quite different from each other but I think we all have the same tastes and that’s what makes us all relevant to each other. In fact, Ryan is coming over tomorrow and we’re going to work on some disco tracks.

It’s amazing how well everything has fallen into place with everyone involved. We’re really quite lucky.

S: You were speaking about tastes there. Who would you name as your influences?

KK: Um, I was saying to someone recently. Significantly, recently, my influences at the moment are people who are doing different shit. People who are doing stuff differently gives me motivation to refresh my own sound.

In terms of influences on my sound, it’s predominantly eighties Boogie producers like BB & Q Band, and Change and stuff like that. And with the New Jack stuff it’s like Teddy Riley and others.

S: I guess your sound has opened up a new world for me in terms of your influences.. But when I ask that question it’s intended to be quite broad – like Ryan named movies when I spoke to him.

KK: Yeah I’m kind of the same. A lot of my music is… I make music because I want to convey an emotion that either I’m feeling or that I want to evoke in someone, in a sense. So a lot of my music is either stuff that I want people to dance to, or it could be quite romantic or heartbreakey stuff.

I think that was the vibe in the eighties. People were getting up, getting down and having a good time. And it was also about portraying your love for someone. It was all these little things.

But I think I can relate to how things can influence how you can feel and what you produce.

S: They become touch points that you fire off and create from.

KK: Yeah nowadays it’s more about what’s inspiring you rather than influences. Because everyone now gets influenced by loads of things.

Like I get influenced by stuff that’s not even remotely Boogie related. From things like the Neptunes, to Hudson Mohawk, to FaltyDL. I get influenced by all of those guys and I think everybody is the same. So I think most people make their music off their own, personal inspirations.

50/50 Mix by Krystal Klear

“The idea behind this mix was that I wanted to make a mix of mainly boogie/house dancefloor vibes that was made up of old tracks and new,just to make an example that the old shit bumps as good as new for those who aren’t familiar, I decided to play alot of new stuff i’ve been listening to recently, alot of this stuff being that borderline electro indie disco stuff like shazam, classixx etc with alot of heavy boogie joints that I always (i presume in the heat of the moment)
cross over when I’m playing out and i always come home thinking “Fuck i should have played that” so i took this opportunity to create a lasting reminder not be so impatient in the mix and drop the other joints which are killer.

At the moment I’m trying to mix up my sets and listening process as much as possible. I went through a fierce “not listening to new music” stage last year and apart from feeling semi clueless around mates iv’e found recently that saturating myself in new music is generally helping my production and whether its metal or garage it has some form of influence on what im doing….which is good cause listening to like Change or Kashif on repeat only makes me wanna stop music when i consider how fuckin amazing there productions are.”

TRACK LISTING:

1.Treacherous Three – Feel The Heartbeat (Vocal)
2.Touch Sensitive – Body Stop
3.Shock – Shock Talk (U-Tern Disco Mix)
4.B.B. & Q Band – Dreamer
5.Sharon Redd – Never Give You Up
6.Krystal Klear – Greensilver
7.Millie Scott – One Stop Lover
8.Wham – Everything She Wants
9.Ulysses 82 – FAX
10.Floating Points – Vacuum Boogie
11.Azari & III – Reckless (with your love)
12.Stargaze – You Can Have It (Instrumantal)
13.Krystal Klear – Tried For Your Love (Hudson Mohawke Remix)
14.D Train – You’re The One For Me (Shep Pettibone Mastermix)
15.Sneaky Sound System – When We Were Young (Shazam Remix)
16.Camp Lo – Luchini

IMAGE BY : Nicholas Miller

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