Joe Martin n'est pas nouveau sur ce blog. On parlait déjà de ses compositions ici
Il se produit désormais sous le nom de Affelaye et a accepté de répondre à nos questions. Sa conception musicale apparaît d'autant plus clairvoyante.
HFM : Hi Joe, first of all thank you for answering our questions, the only thing we know about you is your soundcloud with two brilliant tracks, can you tell us a little more about yourself ?
JM : I'm currently studying at a music college in Brighton, I'm a couple of months from finishing the first year of my degree. I first got into producing when I was 17, I'd been in bands writing more guitar based music before then but when I was introduced to electronic music I really fell in love with it. I started messing around on Logic at school making really simple house beats, then discovered sampling a bit later on and began to experiment with that. I put the tracks up as free downloads on soundcloud and people started sharing them and posting them on blogs - I wasn't expecting that sort of reception at all.
HFM : What music did you grow up with ? And what do you listen to currently ?
JM : My Dad is a big reggae/ska fan, so we would always listen to his records in the car, Toots, Desmond Decker, Jimmy Cliff - I've always loved that sound. I was exposed to quite a variety of artists, The Beatles, Bowie, The Smiths; he has a pretty extensive record collection. There's a production duo from Lancashire called Bondax who I'm really into at the moment; they create these really beautiful, serene soundscapes. It's amazing stuff, I can see them really blowing up this year.
HFM : According to you, what's the "type" of your music ? How could you describe your own sound ?
JM : I'm never very good at describing it; there are slight traces of dubstep with the half time beat, the garage influence with the sampled vocal and hi-hat shuffles. I try not to overcomplicate it, the creative possibilities are almost infinite within digital music so it can be easy to overload a track with too many voices and instruments. The trick is to know when a track is finished; it is difficult, but if you keep going back and adding to it you can end up with a wall of sound that's indistinguishable, nobody wants to listen that.
HFM : Your sound feels really particular, what instruments do you use to get it as smooth and sophisticated as simple and graceful ?
HFM : Your sound feels really particular, what instruments do you use to get it as smooth and sophisticated as simple and graceful ?
JM : I produce in Logic 9; I like to create my own sounds from scratch to keep it organic, it's a lot more satisfying doing it that way I think. I try to avoid anything that sounds too abrasive or sharp; I use a lot of reverb and delay, particularly on the vocal, to develop the atmosphere of the track. The vocal is usually a sample that I've chopped up and manipulated, the lyrics are indecipherable, it's more about the melody the vocal is creating.
HFM : In your opinion, what's the sound of tomorrow ?
JM : It's difficult to say because the different sub-genres of electronic music are evolving so rapidly all of the time; in the mid 2000's it was all about dubstep, then artists such as Mount Kimbie and James Blake came and took that in a whole new direction. I resent using the terms 'post-dubsep' and 'future garage' to pigeon hole tracks, there's such a variety of production out there at the moment so I don't think anyone can group everything together as one thing. Technological progress has a huge impact on the direction of electronic music as well; Logic are already set for a release of Logic 10 which will contain many new features which allow artists to develop their production further and create new sounds and sub-genres. I think it's really exciting, we'll just have to wait and see for now.
HFM : Have you ever thought about a podcast or even an album ? Do you have projects with other artists ?
HFM : Have you ever thought about a podcast or even an album ? Do you have projects with other artists ?
JM : Yeah, I'm working towards a release with a label based in Sheffield called Bad Taste Records for early May, a four track E.P which features two new tracks, so I'm busy finishing that at the moment. Hopefully after that I'll start thinking of another E.P or maybe even an album; I'm producing all of the time, I have a lot of unfinished ideas, so it would be good to get those out.
HFM : In this regard, how did you end up on The XX Tumblr about their next album ( http://xx-xx.co.uk/ ) ?
JM Jamie Smith from The xx came across my soundcloud and e-mailed me asking if he could play the tracks out at one of his dj sets. A couple of weeks later I got a text from a friend saying that they had posted it on their website , it was only then that I saw it, it was mad. It really illustrated the power of the internet. I'm extremely grateful for it.
HFM : Finally , what are your main interests ? What's the last book you read ? The last thing you bought ?
JM : Writing and listening to music, I play a bit of football when i can, but not very well. I've just finished reading 1984 by George Orwell, I've had it for ages and have been meaning to read it for a while now, it's a really brilliant book. The last thing I bought was a can of lemon Fanta; I've just got back from the shop.
HFM : Thank you very much, and sorry for the poor english .
Thanks very much, the English was perfect! Probably a lot better than mine haha.
Un grand merci à Affelaye, sans vraiment douter que l'on entendra parler de lui très prochainement, et dans un premier temps avec l'EP à venir en Mai avec Bad Taste Records.
Bonno
