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Listen To Rustie's Banging Remix of Machinedrum's "Back Seat Ho"

We caught up with the prolific one about his Vapor City concept, and upcoming tours.
LM

Machinedrum devotees, do you realise that his first release proper, 'Now You Know', is 13 years old? I had to do a double-take when I checked his Discogs page this week; reams of releases from a producer who doesn't just pre-date LuckyMe - the prolific Scottish label that brought the world Hudson Mohawke, Lunice, Eclair Fifi and Rustie - but actively inspired the label to start up, reach out to the man himself, and make him one of their own. It's almost romantic how it all worked out.

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Machinedrum's ongoing story has always been an interesting (if frantic) one to keep tabs on, and last year's concept-heavy Vapor City LP pulled through his myriad influences (house, jungle, footwork, techno, to name a few), and stretch the mind of the listener in as many directions, too. As a continuation of the Vapor City concept his next EP on Ninja Tune, Fenris District, features a banging Rustie remix, which THUMP are pleased to bring you the exclusive stream of. We also caught up with Machinedrum about his crazy work schedule, and how he feels more certain about the future than ever before.

Machinedrum devotees, do you realise that his first release proper, 'Now You Know', is 13 years old? I had to do a double-take when I checked his Discogs page this week; reams of releases from a producer who doesn't just pre-date LuckyMe - the prolific Scottish label that brought the world Hudson Mohawke, Lunice, Eclair Fifi and Rustie - but actively inspired the label to start up, reach out to the man himself, and make him one of their own. It's almost romantic how it all worked out.

Machinedrum's ongoing story has always been an interesting (if frantic) one to keep tabs on, and last year's concept-heavy Vapor City LP pulled through his myriad influences (house, jungle, footwork, techno, to name a few), and stretch the mind of the listener in as many directions, too. As a continuation of the Vapor City concept his next EP on Ninja Tune, Fenris District, features a banging Rustie remix, which THUMP are pleased to bring you the exclusive stream of. We also caught up with Machinedrum about his crazy work schedule, and how he feels more certain about the future than ever before.

THUMP: What have you been (presumably busying yourself) doing the past few months?

Machinedrum: I was touring up until New Years Eve, so I haven't been able to work on as much new material as I'd like to. In fact, most of 2013 was spent touring, so even though I was working on some new bits here and there on the road, I haven't really been able to focus on anything till recently. At the moment I'm mainly doing remixes, some side projects and collaborations. I've been spending a lot of time in my studio, as well as working with others in different studios so far this year. Theres many things planned for 2014, but might be a bit too early to announce it all here.

The artwork for the single looks like a continuation of the themes in Eyesdontlie; how are you pulling through this narrative in the new single?

"Eyesdontlie" represents the Fenris District of Vapor City. Each track on Vapor City represents a different district. My website visualises this a bit clearer. My original plan was to release the Fenris District EP before the album came out last summer, but Ninja Tune decided to release 'Eyesdontlie' as a single instead, for many considered reasons. The original track order was meant to be 'Eyesdontlie', 'Back Seat Ho', 'On My Mind' and 'Neujack'. I couldn't just abandon the EP because of a label decision, so I decided to still release Fenris District EP - even though the district was represented already through the 'Eyesdontlie' single. Various things like this have possibly made carrying across the concept for Vapor City districts a bit more confusing for everyone. Now, people are basically seeing the same district represented twice. At the end of the day though, the music is more important than the concept.

What's in store for the next month or two for you once the singles out; new shows, longer releases, etc?

I'm doing less shows than last year on purpose, but the ones I am doing I'm quite excited about. Stateside, we will be doing many Vapor City live shows at SXSW and Moogfest, and while in Europe we will hit Sonar and a few other big named festivals. I'm also excited about a short two week tour in South America coming up in April.

I realised in double-checking your Discogs page that you've been releasing records for nearly 15 years now, which is nuts. How do you feel you keep going, especially since you've released so much material?
In producing music as Machinedrum, as well as many other projects I've been involved in, I haven't been as successful as I wanted it to be until the last 4 or 5 years. That could be due to various reasons, but I am more confident and excited about where I am with music than I have ever been in my life. I genuinely feel like I've hit a stride that has no end in sight. I'm constantly taking on new projects, and continue to be inspired daily to try new things with music. It's very exciting.

Machinedrum - Fenris District EP is released on Ninja Tune on March 24th. You can pre-order the EP here.

THUMP: What have you been (presumably busying yourself) doing the past few months?

Machinedrum: I was touring up until New Years Eve, so I haven't been able to work on as much new material as I'd like to. In fact, most of 2013 was spent touring, so even though I was working on some new bits here and there on the road, I haven't really been able to focus on anything till recently. At the moment I'm mainly doing remixes, some side projects and collaborations. I've been spending a lot of time in my studio, as well as working with others in different studios so far this year. Theres many things planned for 2014, but might be a bit too early to announce it all here.

The artwork for the single looks like a continuation of the themes in Eyesdontlie; how are you pulling through this narrative in the new single?

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"Eyesdontlie" represents the Fenris District of Vapor City. Each track on Vapor City represents a different district. My website visualises this a bit clearer. My original plan was to release the Fenris District EP before the album came out last summer, but Ninja Tune decided to release 'Eyesdontlie' as a single instead, for many considered reasons. The original track order was meant to be 'Eyesdontlie', 'Back Seat Ho', 'On My Mind' and 'Neujack'. I couldn't just abandon the EP because of a label decision, so I decided to still release Fenris District EP - even though the district was represented already through the 'Eyesdontlie' single. Various things like this have possibly made carrying across the concept for Vapor City districts a bit more confusing for everyone. Now, people are basically seeing the same district represented twice. At the end of the day though, the music is more important than the concept.

What's in store for the next month or two for you once the singles out; new shows, longer releases, etc?

I'm doing less shows than last year on purpose, but the ones I am doing I'm quite excited about. Stateside, we will be doing many Vapor City live shows at SXSW and Moogfest, and while in Europe we will hit Sonar and a few other big named festivals. I'm also excited about a short two week tour in South America coming up in April.

I realised in double-checking your Discogs page that you've been releasing records for nearly 15 years now, which is nuts. How do you feel you keep going, especially since you've released so much material?
In producing music as Machinedrum, as well as many other projects I've been involved in, I haven't been as successful as I wanted it to be until the last 4 or 5 years. That could be due to various reasons, but I am more confident and excited about where I am with music than I have ever been in my life. I genuinely feel like I've hit a stride that has no end in sight. I'm constantly taking on new projects, and continue to be inspired daily to try new things with music. It's very exciting.

Machinedrum - Fenris District EP is released on Ninja Tune on March 24th. You can pre-order the EP here.

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