Rinse France's December explains his love for the radio
SHAPE Platform is a pan-European initiative designed to give the underground music scene exposure on its own terms. The SHAPE Class of 2018 is as exciting as you’d imagine, which is why we’re showcasing picks from this year’s selection every Friday…
This week’s highlighted artist is… Techno producer and RINSE France host Tomas More, aka December.
MusicMap: Techno is a genre that can be reincarnated in so many ways, what is about the genre that allows it to be used so diversely, as apparent via your own releases and radio show?
December: It might sound cheesy but I like the idea that we should just play what we like, what we feel, in our guts, no matter genre and movements. Unconsciously a style and strong aesthetic must come out of the obvious choices that define our musical identity. I’ve always been attracted by dark, minimalistic, tragic, erotic atmospheres and this can take many shapes but the idea will stay pretty much the same. Plato was right, hehe.
I hope people can feel that when they listen to my DJ sets or productions, that it sounds “like me”.
You do a monthly show on RINSE FM France, what do you like most about having to put a radio show together, and what do you like least?
I’ve always been a radio kid. I preferred radio shows to TV shows when I was a child and a teenager. I used to listen to a lot of night broadcasts in my bed, those late night teenager talk shows or French hip-hop mixes. My parents were listening to French public radio all the time too and I’ve always liked to hear those beautiful deep voices and not seeing those people’s faces and all those visual aspects that makes TV such an aggressive and dumb media. You can focus on what is being said and – more specifically – on sound. You pay more attention to sound and public French radio had (and still has) great sound editing, with nice music and elegant sound design.
So being a radio host has always been quite a fantasy, and I was very happy when Rinse France offered me a slot. I feel very good and safe in a radio booth. I’m alone, I can play whatever I want, stuff I couldn’t play in clubs, I have time to build a patient atmosphere and talk about the music. I love that feeling.
This is what I like the most about having a radio show. Drinking a beer alone in the studio, taking time to play weird music I love and talking in the microphone about how I discovered this track or what I like about that record.
What I like the least is to impose deadlines to my guests and hunt them to send their sessions. I hate doing this.
You’re from France but your career first kicked off in London. What took you there and what impact did the experience have on the way you think about music?
My studies took me there for a year. The impact was simple: I started DJing in clubs for the first time there and started producing. Everything basically kind of started there, thanks to a few people I met that helped me. London confronted me to a wide range of sounds I didn’t know that well before or that I had stupid caricatures about. The British relationship to music is so much more open and curious, it really opened my tastes.
A Brutal Game by A Brutal Game
Tell us about the December and Innsyter collaboration, A Brutal Game. What are your plans for this project?
The thing with A Brutal Game is actually not to make plans, we never looked for a label or releasing something, we just made a tape ourselves and sold it on Bandcamp, we improvise most of what we do when we play live, and have a very nice natural relationship with Fernando. He is the sweetest and most laidback guy ever. And he’s frankly close to being some kind of musical genius. He’s the kind of guy that spends all his days recording jams and loops, making 5 tracks a day for years and releasing 1% of what he makes, not caring about that.
ABG is about that, a break from plans and projects. Just a simple way of having fun and making music we feel like doing, with no consequences.
Where are you looking forward to playing a December show this year, or where would you love to perform?
I’ve recently played in Athens with my friends Morah, June and Trenton Chase (aka Manie Sans Delire), I went to Athens once and had a very strong feeling about the city. Rokoletic Festival in Bucharest was also exciting. See you around.
Designed and managed by a handful of the best music festival on the European continent, many of these artists will be making an appearance on line ups throughout the year. You can read our full interview with co-founders Viestarts Gailītis and Rihards Endriksons by clicking HERE.
