“The Time Is (Now) was written during an artist studio residency in the north of Montreal. It was Fall 2021, and after a quick moment of hope and few travels during that summer, we were back in the dark with no opening of clubs in sight and still in this heavy pandemic vibe.

This residency was a way for me to take control of what I could still control, productivity and creativity, instead of giving into dark thoughts and inertia. Armed with 2 synths (Prophet 6, Moog Grandmother) and computer, my goal was to write 1 track per day, no judgement. After 2 weeks, I realized I had a good base for my next album (more on that later) but I also had a few tracks that I thought could co-habitate on a dancefloor driven EP. The title track was a tricky one. I worked on something all day and felt I wasn’t getting any breakthrough. After dinner, I went back to the studio and suddenly, something happened.

The track is based around this heavy disco beat and the 2 bass lines working together. The spoken word refers to this sense of urgency of trying to grab the bull by the horn. There’s a sense of darkness in it, but also hope. Especially at that mid part when the Rhodes come in to tell us everything is going to be alright. I guess this is something I always try to have in my music — A moment of hope/light. When I got back home, I replayed a few things on my instruments at home to make it sound more live and asked Laroye, a french producer living in the UK, to redo the percussion parts. The Dub and Reprise came naturally after that.

L’Horizon was an easier process, and I tried to fight the instinct of changing it too much when I got home to keep the vibe intact. It certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it has a sort of classic charm, remininscent of late 90s Parisian House and also some of the music I made around the early 2000s. Big organ stabs and bass line, It’s full of clichés and I decided to run with it. Paintings closes things off with a more introspective vibe. Based around a chord memory progression from my Prophet, and a trusty conforting Moog square bass line, mixed in with some dreamy gospel like chants and textures. My version of an abstract painting.” Fred Everything.

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Cet article Fred Everything – The Time Is (Dub) [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Running a record label can be a very thankless job. Making it bloom requires a lot of dedication, perseverance and skills. It also means reinventing yourself constantly. Fortunately, these are qualities that Lazy Days oneman-head, Fred Everything, has been demonstrating in every aspects of his three decades career as an artist.

Starting out as a live performer, the Quebec city born has been able to make his transition as a brilliant producer. Incorporating everything from the strains of UK deep house, shimmering balearic melodies and foundational US dance music grooves while rooting his craft in a profound knowledge of this music’s history has been a few of the mainstays of his output over the years.

His deep knowledge and thirst for every sound that elevates your mind body and soul has been the driving force behind his second-to-none DJ sets, showcasing an impeccable old school technique woven into the fabric of an unapologetically emotional approach to making people move. Listening to the three compilations spanning the decade and a half Lazy Days has spent pumping his vision of “that thing we call house” into our record crates made us want to pick Fred’s brain on his tireless work for the imprint.

INTERVIEW

I was listening to an interview Atjazz did a while back talking about the meaning deep house had in South-Africa, that it was a whole different scale over there. I know you have been quite often and that people are following you heavily over there. Has this reflected on Lazy Days as well? Do you have plans to release music from South-African artists? Collaborations?
I have only been to South Africa twice. I had a tour planned in April last year also, but that got cancelled last minute due to the pandemic. I do get a lot of support there for myself and the label. South Africans are huge fans of Deep House with great enthusiasm. I’ve collaborated with Jazzuelle a bit on Lazy Days and Get Physical and also Sio, who sang on my last album. I also had Jullian Gomes recently on the label and I remixed a few of his tracks as well. I hope to go back when things get better and hopefully get more collaborations going. I’d love to host a workshop there to help inspire the growing scene of producers down there.

You seem to have a very ‘organic’ way when it comes to the artists you work with; you mentioned you were not really releasing music from unsolicited demos. How do you find out about new music (to release and in general)?
I do listen to most demos but I’ve only signed maybe a couple of releases that way. I can’t accommodate a lot of new music on the label every year so I simply keep an open dialogue with existing artists on the label and open new ones with artists I look up to and If there’s music they want to put out and it fits, I’m happy to welcome them onboard.

It seems you have built a roster of sort, some kind of community. Was that something that was present before the label and that got mirrored by its output or has it been built simultaneously?
It already existed, as I was already 10 years into my career as a recording artist when I started the label. But obviously, it grew organically from there, through forming new relationships via music.

Could you tell us more about the relation you have built with Atjazz or Shur-I-Kan for example?
My relationship with Atjazz is very unique. He’s been one of my best friends since we met in 1998 at a DIY gig in Nottingham. Beneath all of our collaborations is a great friendship. I could be anywhere in the world and he knows something is wrong and the phone will instantly ring. He’s an extremely talented person but also very generous with his time and a very funny person too! I’ve known Tom (Shur-I-Kan) for a shorter time but I’m a big fan of his music and we’ve gotten to know each other a bit more over the years. I invited him to play my going away party in San Francisco and we have been having random zoom meetings lately, talking about life and music theory. He’s a great keyboard player too!

You have recently released three compilations commemorating the 15 years of Lazy Days, each spanning 5 years of the label. How did you go about choosing these tracks?
I was toying with different ideas for this celebration. The pandemic messed up quite a few plans, including any touring so I was forced to re-evaluate my options. I tried to compile 15 songs, but it was too hard, so I decided to concentrate on 3 periods of 5 years and showcase 15 tracks from that period. It’s nice to see the evolution, from the first 5 years, which were a little bit more like childhood, the middle 5 is the coming to age, and the most recent one shows a more solid and established label.

Order: LZDXVI (2005 – 2010)

Order: LZDXVII (2010 – 2015)

Order: LZDXVIII (2015 – 2020)

Could you give us an idea of what your plans are now that you have reached this pretty impressive milestone?
Continuing what I started! Happy to be back doing a few vinyl projects with Prime in the UK. Release wise, I’m re-releasing an old B-Side from my 20:20 Vision years called Here (Now) with remixes by Prins Thomas and a new one from myself. New Remixes of my song with Robert Owens I’ll Take You In as well as a special gift to myself, a remix of Barbarella by I:Cube on 10”. After that, there’s a new Shur-I-Kan EP and hopefully a new Fred Everything album!

Interview by Bowly Aka OJPB.

Cet article 15 Years Of Lazy Days – 3 compilations from 2005 to 2020. est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

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https://youtu.be/QA8_6s3bzso

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INTERVIEW

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Hi Ludo! How are you and what have you been up to the past few months?

Hi Fred ! I’m good, I’ve been mainly working on remixes lately, still a lot of remix requests coming in my mailbox these days. I’ve also been composing a few original tracks.

Have you noticed a spike in productivity or a lack of motivation (or both)?

A lack of motivation, definitely! But I’m not freaking out, I know I usually go through creative cycles. I can produce music 10 hours a day for 8 months then feel a bit uninspired – that’s usually the right time for recharging the batteries, stop a for a little while, reading, doing something else… Right now, I know it’s impacting my long term projects more than my daily composing routine.

What does dance music mean to you now that there are no dance floors

Well, that’s the thing : what’s the point in making dance music if you know people can’t dance to your music ? I’ve got a few Art Of Tones tracks ready but I don’t feel like releasing them right now. When you spend so much time on a track, putting so much effort in the composing, editing, mixing, you don’t want the track to be forgotten after a couple of weeks.

You are located in the south of France in Perpignan. An area not particularly known for clubbing. Did you feel isolated without the travels and being able to connect in person with fellow producers?

Travelling usually brings some fresh air in my life. There’s no proper club or bar, or electronic scene where I live, and I usually gets my inspiration when travelling abroad… when you travel and dj in a busy club in Italy, UK, or Asia, and you play your own tracks, you can feel that what you’re doing on your own, in your studio, is worth it. I’m a lonely person, I like to spend time on my own, making music in my studio, and travelling breaks this deadly routine.

In the past few years, we’ve gotten used to a more disco side of your production. This showcases a more electronic side to your production. Can you tell us more about your new EP Thunder/Secousse. What was the inspiration behind each tracks who bare a similar theme?

Thunder was composed a couple of years ago, but at the time I wasn’t happy with the mix and the whole sound. I played the bass with my Model D and mixed it again some months ago, and I thought it’s a good track because it’s different from the stuff I usually release. There’s still this disco element with the beat, but the rest is very electronic. When I composed it, I thought of the music I:Cube was making 10 years ago, but I also thought of the early Innervisions sound for the electronic and melodic side of the track.

What equipment was key to the sound of the ep?

The bass was done with a layer of Behringer Model D and a layer of Diva plug-ins. I think some of the chords were done with a Juno 106 one of my friend lent me one for a few months. The rest is done with software and plug ins. I’m more a software guy than a synth freak. The track was mixed again with the Neve 8816 summing desk I bought last year.

You’ve done a few EP and remixes for us already, what does Lazy Days mean to you and do you feel you can express yourself creatively differently?

First, to me Lazy Days is YOUR label, so it means it’s my friend’s label! I usually keep the most electronic tracks for Lazy Days because, well, I guess this is how I see Lazy Days : an electronic, elegant deep house label. The good thing is that it enables me to compose or release different music – I’m trying not to focus on the “disco” elements with my lazy days releases, and rather focus on the “electronic” element. After all, that’s what this Art Of Tones project was supposed to be in the first place with my early projects on 20:20 Vision! And I’m proud of the different stuff I’m releasing on Lazy Days – recently some friends told me they heard “Elephants”, they didn’t know the tune and they loved it – they seemed positively surprised. I guess it’s a way to showcase another side of my music.

Thanks for the kind words indeed! Now, tell us something we don’t know about me

You’re secretly in love with me and wanted me to move to Canada.

You know me all too well. Now tell us something we don’t know about you.

Something about us maybe : we call each others funny names on the phone or in the messages :-) Patate, Patatos, cocovin… it’s usually food-related nicknames, go figure! Currently it’s “cocovid”.

I’m sure people will find these anecdotes super interesting…or not! We share a love for wine, how many bottles of wine have you drank during confinement?

Hahahah a lot! You know we both are natural wine lover, and you know I drank a lot of natural wine during lockdown, especially when my girlfriend was at my place  as we couldn’t do “apero” with friends, we were doing “apero” together.

Apero is my wife’s favorite word, so I can dig it! Any Séries, books, movies, albums that kept you busy and, any recommendations?

Movies : “Uncut Gems”, “Cet obscur objet du desir”, “Katie says goodbye”, “Teddy Pendergrass : If You Don’t Know Me”, “Les Miserables”, “Portrait de la jeune fille en feu”, “Ne croyez surtout pas que je hurle”

Series :”I know this much is true”, definitely one of the best series I’ve watched. I’ve also watched “The Deuce”

Albums : Resavoir “Resavoir”, Cleo Sol “Rose In The Dark”, Ludivine Issambourg “Outlaws”, Altin Gun “Gece”, the “Africa Airways 6” compilation

Books : Didier Eribon “Retour a reims”, Echenoz “la vie de gerard fulmar” , Fabcaro “Open Bar2”, Marc Endeweld “Macron, Le grand manipulateur”, Emmanuel Todd “La Lutte des classes au 21eme siecle”, Pastoureau “Le petit livre des couleurs”

Interview by Fred Everything

Cet article Art of Tones – Secousse (Fred Everything Remix) [Lazy Days Recordings] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

It also comes with Remixes from South Africa’s Jullian Gomes know for his solo work as well as his many collaborations with Atjazz and the beautiful bonus instrumental “Asleep”. A deeper and more mature side of his production that I hope we will hear more of in a near future.

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This promotext has been provided by the label.

Cet article Paul Rudder (feat. Segilola) – Glue [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Once again, Fred welcome a new member to the Lazy Days family, Paso Doble. Born and raised in Algeria and now based in Montreal, he took the Afro House scene by storm with his latest album, Africa Knows Me, who features singers from all over Africa.

Black Coffee is a big fan amongst many others. When he sent to Fred Everything his album, one track stood out, Djadjalo feat IDD Aziz, who formerly sang with Salif Keita. Fred instantly wanted to remix it. The result was 4 versions for a release on Lazy Days. Buy it now on beatport.

Cet article Paso Doble feat IDD Aziz – Djadjalo (Fred Everything Remixes) [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Cet article Paul Rudder – Sun Rising (Till Von Sein) [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

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Cet article Llorca – Wonder Why (Fred Everything Extended Space Edit) [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Cet article Fred Everything – Long Way Home [Lazy Days] est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.

Arpentant la scène électronique depuis plus de 20 ans, Art of Tones n’est pas un nouveau venu dans le game. Il fait ses armes à partir du milieu des 90’s sous le nom de Llorca et se crée une solide réputation dans le milieu. En 1997, il est repéré par Laurent Garnier qui l’intègre à son label de l’époque : F-Communications. Il y signera plusieurs EP et Maxi remarqués, ainsi que l’album « Newcomer » en 2001 qui le propulsera sous les feux de la rampe.
En 2007 voit débarquer “Praise” chez 20/20 Vision, puis « Insatiable » chez Absolute Sound en 2008. Des EPs qui trusteront les charts spécialisés pendant plusieurs semaines, permettant au projet Art of Tones de prendre son envole et prouvant au passage que Ludovic Llorca n’a rien perdu de sa superbe.
Depuis, les EP à succès s’enchaînent que ce soit chez Room With A View, Defected, Lazy Days ou Local Talk pour « The Rainbow Song », le petit dernier sortit le 25 mai.

Quelques semaines après avoir chroniqué « The Rainbow Song » et à l’occasion de la sortie de sa Mixed By ; Ludovic Llorca a.k.a Art of Tones nous fait l’honneur et le plaisir de répondre à quelques questions. De quoi vous occuper les yeux à lire pendant que vos oreilles profitent de sa Mixed By.

[soundcloud url=”https://soundcloud.com/boltingbits/mixedbyaot” /] 

On peut lire sur ta bio que tu as commencé à toucher la production sur un Commodore 64. Tu peux nous en dire un peu plus ?
J’avais 13 ou 14 ans, mon père était informaticien et il m’avait déjà offert les premiers ordinateurs de personal computing : Oric Atmos, Amstrad CPC… et avec une bande de copains, on a rencontré quelqu’un qui travaillait sur le C64. Tout de suite, ce qui m’a plu, c’était la qualité du chipset et les musiques faites sur cette machine. Il y avait une vraie scène, avec des compositeurs, des graphistes, des codeurs… Je m’y suis mis assez tôt. J’ai appris tous les rudiments de la musique la-dessus, sauf qu’à l’époque on composait avec des « trackers », où l’on était obligé d’entrer manuellement le nom des notes sur des lignes (C-3, D#4)

Comment t’y prends-tu pour produire ? Certains s’enferment des heures dans un studio en y allant à taton et d’autres ont quasiment une track complète dans la tête avant même de mettre les pieds dans le studio. Tu pencherais de quel côté ?
J’essaye d’être dans la deuxième catégorie et de ne faire que quand j’ai une bonne idée. Ce qui est difficile, parce que quand je ne compose pas, ou pas bien, je culpabilise, je suis de mauvaise humeur, je me sens pas très bien. Je m’accorde assez peu de répit en général même si je me suis donné un peu de leste ces derniers temps. J’essaye d’être exigent avec ma musique (et un peu moins avec moi même:-)

L’intégralité de ton oeuvre est marquée par la musique noire-américaine. Peux-tu nous dire d’où cela vient ?
Très certainement de ma maman, qui écoutait beaucoup de soul, funk et disco à la maison quand j’étais petit. La présence de « bonne » musique à la maison était importante pour elle… pas question d’écouter du Michel Sardou ! Je me suis aussi rendu compte récemment que, étant né en 1974, les musiques de fond à la télé, les génériques de dessins animés de cette époque étaient de très bonne facture : beaucoup de jazz, funk, disco… cela a dû beaucoup m’influencer !

En 1997, tu signe ton premier EP chez F-Communication. Comment s’est passé la rencontre avec Laurent Garnier ? Quels souvenirs as-tu gardé de ce passage chez F-Comm ?
Bien, Laurent est quelqu’un de gentil et sociable, même si on le voyait peu au bureau de F Comm: il était très occupé. Je voyais plus souvent Eric Morand, son associé. J’en garde d’excellents souvenirs, je crois pouvoir dire que ça fait partie des plus beaux moments de ma vie. Les 3 maxis, l’album, les tournées et concerts a répétition… J’étais sur un petit nuage !

Passer de Llorca à Art of Tones, était-ce un besoin de repartir « à zéro » ou plus un side project qui s’est finalement transformé en main project au fil du temps ?
Les deux mon capitaine ! Même si le succès de Newcomer était très plaisant, je souffrais un peu de ne pas vraiment appartenir a cette scène House qui je côtoyais et que j’écoutais beaucoup. Après Newcomer, j’ai eu envie de faire de la House, mais j’ai senti que les fans de Newcomer ne l’entendaient pas de cette oreille, et que ça allait brouiller les pistes. J’ai commencé ce projet AOT qui est finalement devenu mon projet principal.

Tu travail aussi en tant qu’illustrateur sonore, peux-tu nous dire quelles sont les principales différences et difficultés comparé à ton travail de producteur ?
C’est un métier intéressant, ou l’on te demande d’avoir une palette de sons très larges, de savoir composer aussi bien de la salsa qu’un arrangement pour cordes. J’adore ça, c’est un exercice parfois difficile mais qui me fait avancer. L’art de savoir composer avec les désirs des différents clients et intermédiaires est primordial, tout comme la faculté de savoir exprimer en très peu de temps une émotion musicale.

Même si l’on peut deviner et déduire des influences à l’écoute de ton dernier EP et laisser place à l’interprétation, peux-tu nous dire quelles fût tes sources d’inspiration principales pour The Rainbow Song ?
Clairement Motor City Drum Ensemble et les Masters At Work. Le track était sans sample, ce n’est qu’à la fin que je me suis dit qu’il manquait quelque chose… Finalement, après avoir ajouté ce sample, j’ai complètement ré-édite le morceau autour de celui-ci. Ce qui est intéressant, c’est que le track est exactement le même, mais le sample lui donne un coté plus Black et plus joyeux.

On peut entendre ça et là que nous vivrions dans un age d’or des musiques électroniques. Toi qui es dans le milieu depuis le début des 90’s, quel regard portes-tu sur ça ?
Je ne sais pas. Je n’ai pas le même age, donc le regard est différent. C’est une très bonne époque, il y a beaucoup, beaucoup de bons disques, et surtout c’est une époque qui prouve que cette musique a su résister à l’épreuve du temps. Je trouve parfois les producteurs un peu paresseux, avec beaucoup de formatage. Mais il y a aussi de vrais génies (Max Graef par exemple)

Mis à part ton dernier EP, que nous avons chroniqué et adoré, aurais-tu un conseil d’écoute à prodiguer à nos lecteurs vis-à-vis des sorties récentes ?
J’ai beaucoup aimé toutes les sorties sur Outplay. Les derniers Adesse Versions sont dingues aussi ! Et je craque a chaque fois sur les edits super classieux de The Reflex – le Chaka Khan me fait beaucoup penser a du MAW. Dans le désordre : Shamir, S3A, Dj Vas, Frits Wentink…

Petite dernière, a-t-on des chances de te voir à Montréal dans un futur proche ?
J’aimerais bien, ça fait longtemps que je n’y suis pas retourné ! Avis aux promoteurs !

Merci pour le temps que tu nous a accordé.
Merci pour l’invitation !

TRACKLIST 

1. Eli Eskobar – Seeing You
2. Henri Leblanc – Jungle Juice
3. Michael The Lion – Any Time
4. ESG _ Moody (DS rework)
5. Art Of Tones – The Rainbow Song
6. Loz Goddard – Move It On
7. Beat Conductor – Caribbean Path
8. Exist – Lookin At Blue
9. Pools – One Of These Days (Thatmanmonkz Remix)
10. Venus Dodson – Shining (DS rework)
11. Guilhem Monin – Omen (Boo Williams Remix)
12. Homecore – In And Out
13. Art Of Tones – Damped
14. Franck Roger – Vibrayshun

Interview par Mathieu Merard
Graphisme : Manola Le

Cet article MIXED BY/ Art Of Tones est apparu en premier sur Bolting Bits.