Perception of Depth 002 - S/EXP

So finally after 9 months of the release of the first session from Perception of Depth Podcast brought by Refracted we are back for the 2nd session.This one is brought by S/EXP a side project from the well known Italian Producer Emanuele Pertoldi.
It's been a great year for S/EXP.He released an album on Eclipse Music wich received great feedbacks from all the corners of the world from various listeners.And now he expects releases on ROHS and Shaded Explorations,this last one it's a label created by him with the aim of helping smaller artists from Europe the first release will be a k7 VA containing artists like Alan Backdrop,Versenkt,The Lone Roamer,Refracted and more.
So as you see S/EXP is an artist that never stops doing what he loves most wich is music you can expect to be hearing more from him in the next years.
Now enjoy this great live set recorded in Club To Club a 3 day Festival that happened in Torino(Italy) some months ago. This live set is all hardware based no computer.
We really hope that you enjoy this session and thanks in advance 



POD: Hello Emanuele,everything ok with you?

Emanuele: Not one of the best periods but quite fine.Thanks


POD: Ohh! I hope all that's going on get's better fast.

So tell us who is S/EXP/Emanuele Pertoldi how he was introduced to music?

Emanuele
Yeah sure, just need a change in my life and I think I'll do it soon. 
Well I realized just recently that music is the reason of my life and I'm not jocking. It is a strong passion since i was a child but I was not so conscious about it. I started making music before I had a computer at home. I started with a playstation 1 game where you were able to arrange loops, etc then just a bit later with basic software on the first pc. I studied a bit guitar but i was already doing music at that time and it got me bored so I quit.

POD: I see...since young ages loving music. That's what it's all about... Music.


Emanuele: Exactly, air sculptures that make us dream.


POD: I know you don't live in a big city of italy. How does that affected your music? It was a big factor and/or reason for doing the style of music you do?


Emanuele: Actually living in an 800 people village is getting quite boring and I'm stuck now. I like to stay in quiet places too but i also need to meet new interesting and open minded people. In the past this never despondent me, i always did my thing. After noticing that the (almost inexistent) electronic scene here was shit and full of poker faces i decided to pay more attention on the production aspect as when I was not djing. 

About my sound / style.. Well, nature sometimes can be inspirational for me, especially with his colours and sounds. I'm a fan of field recordings and used some stuff i recorded around me. I got into techno thanks to a radio show if I remember well. Then year by year i discovered new stuff and started to define my own taste. So the place was not very relevant on this.

POD: And where do you feel your music would be more noticed, where you could show every weekend your music?


Emanuele: I would love to travel thanks to my music and show it where it may be appreciated. No limitis :) But it's a while i'm thinking to move to Berlin. Not to follow the trend, i don't care about it. I like it because it's not chaotic, it's a very approachable city. I'll do everything i can to realize my aims and here in Italy it would be hard, especially where i live and especially if I want to work also directly with people and not only on the web. So if i have to move it will be outside Italy. 

At least I'll try i think and then let's see how it goes.

POD: Yeah, personally i would like to move there too but from what i read that city is getting worst every year that goes by.


Would a change to Berlin be good for your music? I mean the style you make Dub Techno mixed with some Deep Techno was "made" with the inspiration of nature and nature it's a thing that in Italy exists in every corner you turn and in Berlin that's not a big part of the "culture". Don't you get scared thinking of how your music would change? 

Or you don't want to do this style so much now?

Emanuele: Yes there are indeed certain things to avoid, but depends on what you're looking for. I'm thinking to go there to have more possibilieties for my job (and producing, djing, live is just a part of it) not for getting high every day with hipsters. :)

I think that now i need that change, first of all for my self and so it will be a change for my music too. Well one of the things i like about Berlin is the fact that it has got lots of green parks! But indeed I hope to travel and be inspired by new places and cultures often. I'm still into deep techno but that is just a part of me. Now I'm doing quite weird and more experimental stuff but still deep with more intimate alias S/EXP (Shaded Explorer). And new projects are under construction. For me it's hard to focus on a specific genre, I'm quite eclectic i think and i always like to experiment new stuff till i get a coherent sound.

POD: And the saturation of Dub techno synths on the scene doesn't help your music too,right? 

And about this topic give me your opinion about it,why do you think people follow so much a "trend" and "style so much? don't they realize that with this saturation things will get shit? I know a lot of people like this style but others just see an opportunity to succeed and get some good Money,what is your opinion on this topic?

Emanuele: Yep indeed that's why i'm trying more and more to obtain a personal sound. I think people follow a trend because they are lazy. It's easier to follow something instead of searching discovering your own taste. It always happens, it's a circle. One genre gets noticed by the masses and it gets "commercial". But then the ones with good ears understand the proper releases and discard the shitty ones. There's still people doing some proper warm dub techno. But I don't like to much to be labelled under that genre, for sure it was and it is an influence but it's just a part of my sound. By the way I think producers should try to do their own stuff, work hard to make it personal. Copy (not sampling) and recreate from scratch sounds you like from other producers can be a good thing to learn but then you have to make them coherent with your own stuff and create your own ones. There are too much tracks with just a drum loop and a cold, unpersonal, minor chord line with tons of fx.


POD: Yeah that's exactly what i'm talking about i mean it sounds all the same. 

Sure there are artists doing their own thing like Abdulla Rashim,Korridor,You,Alan Backdrop,Refracted,Silent Season artists but after that it all gets saturated i guess.
I really like your style i can honestly say that you're doing your own thing i always recognize a track from yours really.

Emanuele: That's one of the most satisfactory things you could ever say to me, i blush. :)


POD: You got a lot of hardware from what i see and you even do live sets with it. How does that changed your way of work,was it a hard transition? you get more inspiration just by touching and feeling the knobs of your hardware? This could be a weird question but i always get mixed reactions on this one because producing on a DAW just with your mouse get's really boring after some time.


Emanuele: Well I started with software like 11 years ago and it was a natural transition for me. It was very slow because i bought thing by thing during the last years. And I'm still selling / buying but now less than before. Now most of the times also in studio i do tracks live, jamming on my machines and synths, just recording the master straight into the computer, withouth overdubs. There are pro e cons for sure. Till i'm doing that way i'm a lot more productive, because I do not think too much, just feel the moment and do music. With the DAW I get stuck most of the times now, because I know I can do that 10% more and it never ends. Hardware for me it's not just a matter of sound but also a matter of workflow, it's just more physical. But i'm not against digital stuff or computer. I also use quite a lof of digital synth and machines. I just do not call LIVE a premade set on Ableton. I'm not saying it's shit, but it's not live for me. So also in the live gigs i just bring some of my hardware without computer, and I have to improve it!


POD: Yeah that's what i'm talking about touching things in my opinion it's more natural,sure anyone produces with what they want the creation of DAW's was brilliant but i guess you get a certain boredom just by producing there.

What other music you like to listen besides Techno? is there something you love to listen almost more than techno?

Emanuele: Yes i'm listening lot of ambient lately. I'm also into other kids of electronic music, indie rock, dub and some jazz too.


POD: You have 2 Labels. One is Evasion Room Records and the other one is Shaded Explorations wich is still to release the first K7 VA. What was the decision for creating this 2 labels?


Emanuele: Evasion Room started as way to express us (me and Ric) freely, without having the urge to satisfy other labels taste and just do our thing. Then the digital side became a nice portal to propose new artists we trust.

Shaded Explorations was born after the VA idea i had. It is connected to my project S/EXP and will be more listening oriented. There are some artists i like and have a common style, or a sound that can work good together, telling a story, an exploration. The aim is to travel and feel into a journey just with sounds. So i decided to do it and now i'm working hard to realize it and do the best I can. Will start with cassette but hope to have the funds to do vinyl in the near future.

POD: To finish what are your all time favourites and wich artists you think are doing some great new music?


Emanuele: Well some of my all time favourites are for sure Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Pink Floyd, Donato Dozzy, Moritz Von Oswald and all his projects, Derrick May, UR, B12, Warp Records, Global Communication, Steve Rachmad, Parallel Worlds and many more.

From the new ones i like a lot the swedish scene like Abdulla Rashim, Varg, Acronym, Skudge.. Then i like a lot Conforce, Mike Dehnert and quite a lot of the other ones under Delsin. I love Prologue and Silent Season and the artists inside like Iori, Sonitus Eco, ASC. etc! 
We've got great new talents in Italy too like Alan Backdrop, Edanticonf, Kaelan, Hydergine, my mates of the Evasion Room Live with their single projects and more!
Put Rod Modell in the first ones too ;)

POD: Well you have some great favourite artists that's why your music is great.

Well Emanuele thank you for doing this interview and podcast it was great to talk with you about your music and life :)


Emanuele: Thanks to you for the opportunity, was nice to share my thoughts with you!

Perception of Depth 001 - Refracted

The first session of this podcast is brought by Refracted. An artist originally born in Palma de Mallorca,but living now in Berlin. 
With a successful first release on Aconito Records,this artist promises to keep doing what he does best...music,having now a beautiful upcoming release on silent season that probably it's bordering perfection.(
http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/481967-01.htm) 
We honestly think that Refracted it's the perfect artist to keep on your radars. :)
I hope you guys enjoy this first session,as much as we enjoyed.
Check the interview we did with refracted:






POD: Hi Alex. All ok with you?

Refracted: Quite busy lately with work and music but all in all i'm feeling good.

POD: Ok good. To start, who is Refracted? Who is the person behind it?

Refracted: Well, my real name is Alex. I come from Mallorca in Spain but have been living outside of Spain for nearly 10 years now between UK and Germany. I'm currently residing in Berlin since 2.5 years and for the last few years I have been working on music and expressing myself through it.
In general, I'm just a normal guy with a special sensibility to music. I am a deep lover of electronic music and all it surrounds.

POD: Well good to know your personality hehe. That's a lot of time spent outside of Spain. Since 2.5 years that you are living in berlin you went there mainly to work or just for music?

Refracted: The move from London to Berlin was all about music. I had a very well paid job in London which quickly became boring and unfulfilling. I imagined myself doing that for the rest of my life and got quite scared to be honest. At that time I had already started working on some music on my free time but it was never enough time. Juggling an office job with girlfriend, etc and trying to learn how to make music was not easy.
I quickly got frustrated and decided to leave everything and pursue my dream. I thought I could not live with myself if I never tried.
I decided to move to Berlin for several reasons, the most obvious one was because of the possibilities this city offers.
There's music everywhere and the opportunity to meet people that are related to this world. Second; because it is a relatively cheap city which allows me to have more free time to work on music. At the same time, this increase in free time really helped me to be able to think about myself from an artistic point of view and discover new things about me.
It was only when I arrived here that I realized how "trapped" I had lived all my previous years. Berlin allows you to feel free and discover yourself.

POD: Yeah, it's not everyone that does that, I respect a lot who pursues his dreams to fight the existent boredom in this world. Yes, everyone says that berlin is a cheap city and an artistic city, but don't you think it's like a trend now. I don't live there but i guess now everyone wants to go there just because it's "cool".

Refracted: Yes of course, but that is complete the wrong reason to move here.
Sometimes I have the feeling some people just move here to live an easy party life but you have to respect everyone’s decision. Some people might need berlin to escape from the past or even from everyday life. To some extent I can identify myself with that.
I sometimes think of Berlin as some kind of never land, where it's full of adults that don't want to grow up.

POD: Since producing music is so important to you, what you do you enjoy in exploring the beautiful sounds that music can give us? Listening to your most recent ep's on Aconito (https://soundcloud.com/aconito-records/acdseries-00-05-refracted) and Silent Season (https://soundcloud.com/silent-season/refracted-along-a-ghostly-1). I see that you always try to put your feelings in every track you do. Are those your real life feelings? you want the listener to feel what you feel every day?

Refracted: I really enjoy sound experimentation and trying out different processing techniques. It’s a fascinating world with nearly limitless possibilities and that is what hooked me. The urge to create a track that I really like pushes me on a daily basis to keep learning and experimenting. I suppose i’m trying to fill a void somehow.
Ideally I would like to transmit my feelings into my tracks.
I'm not sure this is always possible but at least what I try to do is to make music that causes some kind of reaction from the listener in the hope of transmitting something to him. I don't aspire to create music that is just put as background music to wash the dishes. I hope people someday stop what they are doing and actually LISTEN. The same way I do when I listen to certain artists.
I put a lot of effort into the sound design in the hope of making it sound better than the average quality. “Better” is quite subjective though, it might sound better for me but not for others. I’m not talking about sound quality here. I’m talking about the tonality and colour of the sound. I have a very clear idea in my mind of the kind of sounds I like or dislike and stay as far away as possible from the ones that might make a track sound more “commercial”.

POD: Well, i can honestly say that every time i listen to your tracks, i really feel something, it brings a beautiful brightness to my life. I guess that's one of the biggest problems today, not everyone wants to spend their time writing a track that really has his own sound and that can touch the heart and mind of the listener.
Yes, i guess spending a lot of time in little details is what can make a very good track, because it's the minor changes that count in my opinion, and we are full of average quality artists in the music business and we need some new things and ideas.

 Refracted: Thanks :)
For me it’s really important to try and stay at least one step ahead. I don’t want to be stuck following trends 100%. Of course I might be inspired by things going on nowadays but I try to add something to it instead of just copying a formula while trying to find my own sound. I’m not interested in being just one more producer.

POD: And why did you decide to do this kind of music or better, deep dark techno?

Refracted: I have always been interested in atmospheres and dark music.
I started listening to techno at the very end of the nineties when everything was super fast and aggressive and my favorites where always the lads coming from Birmingham.
It was dark and industrial but it also had a very present atmospheric element. I suppose this always stuck with me and that's why I do what I do.
Although I now feel that sometimes i'm moving in slightly lighter territory.
It feels good. Maybe it means that overall i’m happier than I have ever been. I don’t want to forget my dark side though.
Thinking about my first experiences with techno in the dance floor. I always liked those tracks that made me want to close my eyes and let my mind go. I always enjoyed getting into the music and dissecting it in my head. My main ambition is to convey that same feeling to the people that listen to my music.

POD: Yes, Birmingham techno it's a big influence in the techno scene. I guess there they wanted to do hard things but at the same time they wanted you to feel some emotions that perhaps before you couldn't feel. Yeah i guess that your tracks like yours make people want to close their eyes and just listen to the beautiful piece of music you did. For me that's what it's all about, give to the people what they never experienced before.

Refracted: Exactly. I always fantasize about creating sounds that no one has ever heard before.
I also go deep because I'm tired of super fast speeds and this general conception that you can only dance to fast music. I think that is bullshit. You can dance to anything. It just needs to transmit something to you and make you feel that urge to move. I'm not afraid of slowing things down and i hope people will realize soon that it ain't that bad. Sounds need space to breathe.

POD: Yes, i totally agree with you. I guess a lot of people who say that fast is the best, don’t even try to understand what is the beauty of slowing things down and to understand the little details on this tracks.

Alex: no, they're mostly just worried about how long the queue for the bathroom is so they can take their next line of speed, coke or whatever.

POD: Changing the subject. You have a Tumblr (http://alex-eme.tumblr.com/) just for dark images. A lot of them being the "all seeing eye". What do you find so interesting in this kind of images?

Refracted: I'm really into abstract photography and generally bizarre and weird imagery.
The all seeing eye is an image that represents "god" which has been adopted as a symbol by some masonic type groups. These groups are now in control of our lives unfortunately and I collect images of the symbol as a way to stay aware of what is happening.  I guess it just fascinates me somehow, it's surrounded by mysteries and conspiracies much like space which also fascinates me.

POD: Yes, i know what you are talking about. I find this subject really interesting since i want to know what is really happening on our planet. How we are slaves of these powerful people.

Refracted: It's quite scary really.

POD: Yes, it scares me a lot.

POD: You ever relate images with music production, like you see an image, and the next moment you start a track trying to transmit what you felt looking at the image?

Refracted: Yes, but i rarely succeed. Sometimes an image might act as the inspiration to start a new track though.
There is a very special image that I found. That i think perfectly represents what feeling i try to convey to the listener with my music it was used as the cover for my fiber podcast (http://soundcloud.com/alex-m/refracted-fiber-podcast).

POD: To finish the interview can you tell us what artists you are enjoying to listen at the moment, what is your favorite track ever, and what are your future music plans?

Refracted: I'll have to think about that one for a moment…

POD: haha kind of difficult to choose.

Refracted: I really enjoy listening to Kevin Drumm's drone side. I'm also really into this monoton produkt reissue and Eleh. I try not to listen to too much techno lately as I don't want to be too influenced.
Favorite track ever.... That's a hard one. There are lots. If its downtempo, “Boards of Canada-Everything you do is a Balloon” (http://youtu.be/dQEmaj9C6ko), or “Autechre- Yulquen” (http://youtu.be/FAs2duUJpAk) amongst many others.

POD: Yes, very good artists. I understand your point, somehow you want to continue to do your own sound, and listening to techno can change that, a lot.
Good taste you have :)

Refracted: I have a sweet spot for “Plastikman's-Consumed” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAs2duUJpAk).
It's hard to decide on my fav techno trackbut consumed is right up there

POD: hehe who don’t, everyone likes consumed :)
Yes it's hard for me too, but sometimes i find people who can pick their favorite tracks and somehow you could have one too hehe.

Refracted: the problem is i have too many, I’m trying to think of the absolute best but it's hard...
Upekah” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GLsYT7lYv4), that's the one!
That one is above all.

POD: hehe, honestly i don't know this track, will check it out.

Refracted: It’s as close to perfection as you can get in my book.
And for the future...
I have a vinyl EP which is about to come out sometime in april on Silent Season.
(https://soundcloud.com/silent-season/refracted-along-a-ghostly-1).
I am also finalizing another EP for Connwax which should be out sometime in the next months on vinyl.
And then of course I have your EP (EP on Reaktivate Records (www.facebook.com/Reaktivate), I'm looking forward to that and already have some potential sketches done.
Apart from that there will be some further work for Aconito Records so pretty busy but exciting at the same time.

POD: I'm looking forward for your future releases.
It was a very nice interview. I hope all the best for you in the future and I bet that your hard work will compensate. J

Refracted: Yes, I enjoyed it too. And thank you. J