What up. Posting to you from the past today! Getting all technological to bring you today's interview with one of the most versatile producers out there today, Sipp. Not only that, but he's also very kindly chosen to bless your ears with a piece he created with the aid of Zelda and Ghost Ark, called Strawberry Fool. Bliss...
NT: First up, introduce yourself dude!
S: Hello. My name is Giovanni Randisi. Known as Johnny to most. I'm from Montreal, Canada
NT: So, you're from Montreal. Montreal, and Canada in general seems to have quite a reputation for underground/alternative music, and even seems a fashionable place to be musically. How does living in a place like that affect you?
S: My apartment is a great environment for me. Steamgoat just moved in. There are great vibes between the two of us. We have 2 cats here. It's just a very calm and peaceful vibe that I think is very key for producing. It's in a small town away from everything, a long bus ride to the metro and a 25 minute car ride down-town. It has its pros and cons living here. What I like about it most is that I can sit on my balcony at night and not hear cars driving by. Tranquility...
NT: Following on from that, you're a producer that I feel sits on the edge of many scenes or genres, and can hardly be classified in any of them. Who do you take influence from musically?
S: I like too much stuff to stick to one thing. Lately, Soundcloud has over taken everything I listen to. It's become a job to listen to my feed and make all the necessary comments of the tunes I like. Its very time consuming and I’ve realized I don’t listen to any of the artists who were influencing me before Soundcloud. Such as Nosaj Thing, Burial, Four Tet, Flying Lotus, Jamie xx, Siriusmo, Telefon Tel Aviv, Animal Collective, Flashbulb, Clouddead, Subtle, Mount Kimbie, James Blake.
I was just listening to Shlohmo again the other day and I told myself I really got listen to this stuff again. So I wanna cut Soundcloud for a while as a test to hear what my future work will sound like after I go back to listening to all these artists I named again.
NT: You're quite a prolific musician, not only working as Sipp, but also as Smaug, and producing as part of Shemo Neat, and regularly collaborating with Steamgoat. Can you expand on your many guises? Do you prefer working solo or collaborating?
S: I prefer collaborating. I like the idea of having two or more people agreeing on something. It makes it easier to stick to something and move on to the next thing. When I'm working solo there are always uncertainties and doubts. There's also the pressure of working with others, and that goes a long way in my opinion. I think people generally work harder when working with other’s because you don’t wanna let them down.
I'm very fortunate to have Steamgoat and Lentils as my best friends. I have a tremendous amount of respect for them as musicians. Steamgoat and I are pretty much on the same page. Both different alone, but together we want the same things musically.
Sipp & Steamgoat - TARTUFO
Shemo Neat (with lentils) is very different. The word “dubstep” had been thrown around but we do NOT wanna be categorized as only dubstep producers cause we tend to encompass a broad range of styles. Warp is a big influence to our music.
These collaborations with my brother’s are full-time. Expect more from these than my solo stuff ;)
NT: Do you DJ or play live sets? If so, where can we catch you?
S: I don’t DJ but I plan to. I have only played live sets as Shemo Neat. Lentils is all about DJing. He’s out there doing his thing and every once in a while he books Shemo Neat for a live set. It’s a proper balance. I do the networking and he gets us shows to play.
Steamgoat and I are going to be preparing a live set this fall. And were hoping to take it to Europe next summer.
NT: Tell us a little about the releases you've had previously, and those that we can look forward to in the future?
S: My Shemo Neat EP “Ouie” came out March 19thon Dubporn Records. You can find it on Juno, itunes and Beatport. My EP with Steamgoat will be out this June on Broken Bubbble. There will be 3 new songs not heard on Soundcloud. And 5 remixes by Cogidubnus, Prof.logic, Sina., Mirror State and Kwala. Pretty excited about this one. We also have an EP coming out on Night Tracks, but no date set yet. I'm working on my solo EP “CF 2191” as well, that will be out on Broken Bubble too. There's also an EP with Cogidubnus.
Sipp - Spun
NT: And finally, if you had to choose your three favourite "Night Tracks", what would they be?
S: Delete - A Letter To God
Aphex Twin - Stone In Focus
NT: Thank you so much dude! Now, grab the free tune by clicking here or on the artwork below!
Thanks to Sipp, Zelda, Ghost Ark, and to Taavi for the artwork.
