Discover Top Posts Tagged with #wasser ep

Get to know: Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie

In today’s digital era, the so called “democratization” of music production and distribution has enabled anyone to make music and get their stuff heard. Due to this revolutionary development, which has spawned countless bedroom producers the world over and most probably won’t cease to do so anytime soon, the choice for the listener has assumed unprecedentedly vast proportions.

While that can generally be viewed as a good thing, the obvious downside to the constant increase in quantity is that quality is getting harder and harder to come by. This proves to be true not only but especially for the beat scene. With a new beat tape / compilation surfacing online virtually every other day, it takes a whole lot of sifting through masses of dull loop beats to get to the outstanding bits. Sort of a needle in a hay stack situation, really.

It all feels worthwhile, though, once you finally dig up those gems that you’ve been after. More rewarding even, when through those exceptional pieces of music you discover some gifted new beatsmiths you haven’t heard of before. Two of said previously unheard-of talents that wowed yours truly lately are Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie, the Swiss production duo consisting of Vojko Huter (Jazzo) and Kevin Wettstein (Melodiesinfonie).

Being a sucker for beats of the smooth variety, their left-field brand of jazz-tinged boom bap instantly caught my attention. What I was particularly intrigued by, however, was the distinctive composition of their tracks. Every single one is made up of multiple segments that each take the sound in a slightly different direction, thus keeping it diverse and interesting. It's this kind of constant shapeshifting that, to me, makes their material most refreshing.

After thoroughly enjoying one of their live shows a few months back, I had to find out a bit more about the two young guns from the land of chocolate, luxury watches and banking secrecy. So I caught up with Melodiesinfonie to discuss their creative process in the studio, their latest EP Wasser, working with vocalists, and a few things more.

Please introduce yourself to those that might not know you. Who are you and what do you do besides music?

Hi, my name is Kevin. I'm 20, I live in Zurich, Switzerland, and make beats as Melodiesinfonie. Besides music, I'm currently on my way to become a child care worker. In addition to the apprenticeship, I’m also doing a pre-study in social education.

When did you first get into making music, and what impelled you to do so?

I started taking music lessons when I was 12. I was playing the the drums back then. I remember my goal was to become the world’s greatest punk rock drummer, haha.

In 2010, you started making beats with your production partner Jazzo. What made you join forces?

It was sympathy, basically. Me and Jazzo, we are really good friends. More like brothers, actually. We spend a whole lot of time together, hanging out , talking, listening to music. We are feeling the same kind of sound: jazz, soul, old school stuff.

I remember when Jazzo put me on to Flying Lotus a few years ago. He was really into his stuff at the time, but I wasn’t feeling it at first. I was like “What the fuck is that?! The groove doesn’t match the beat!” Haha. It was only one week later that I changed my mind, when I sat down in a record store and listened to the whole L.A. album from start to finish. I was absolutely blown away. It was so dope.

What’s your creative process like when you’re in the studio together? Do you have any kind of work routine you follow?

No, not at all. We don’t think about what is going to come out of a studio session. We usually sit down, start up the music software, have a yoghurt, drink some water, turn on the synth and start playing around. We do whatever feels right at the moment. We just enjoy making music and having fun in the process. And I think we draw the most inspiration simply from us being together.

Back in May, you released your latest EP, Wasser, on Joe Kay’s Soulection label. How did the link up with Joe come about?

I got in touch with Joe a little while ago when I sent him a track to play on his radio show. He told me he was a big fan of our music and that he would love to put out some of our stuff through his label. Simple as that, really.

1. Am Meer 2. Der Stiller See 3. Verschmutztes Wasser 4. Stiller See ft. Soia

Tell us a bit about the EP – how long was it in the works, what inspirations did you draw on and what was the overall vision when you wrote it? Is the title (German for “Water”) any indication?

We finished the EP in two sessions this spring. For a session, we would lock ourselves in the studio at Jazzo’s from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening. Usually, we work on a track for about 6 or 7 hours. We take a lot of time to perfect the beat so we can sit down, listen to it and be like “Oh yeah, that's it!”. Sometimes we have a laugh recording some random bullshit over the beat, like Swiss rap, that takes time too. Getting the sound right is a priority because we don’t want our tunes to just be simple beat loops. We want to produce real songs, with different parts in them.

As for inspirations, we both love nature. So much inspiring stuff to find there. To us, water symbolizes nature. It’s essential, it’s real, it’s fresh, it’s calm and peaceful. We took that as sort of a loose motif for the EP. All of its tracks are very chill, there are no really hard bass parts or anything. We also thought it was fitting because, whenever we make beats, we drink water. We don't smoke weed or drink alcohol. We just enjoy living life, and want to spread love through music.

Did the EP mark a slight change in your sound or more of a continuation in the same vein as your 2011 debut LP Astro Funk und Weltfrieden?

I guess it's a bit more rooted in hip hop, but it continues in the same mood as Astro Funk & Weltfrieden.

What about your recently released Tree Times Reh-Mix / Fishes Fritz seven inch on Ish Records? Can you shed a little light on that?

The seven inch features a re-edit that we did of our very first track together, Tree Times, and a new original production called Fishes Fritz. While it's kind of funny that the re-edit is out on wax now, two years after we made the original, I couldn’t be happier that it got a vinyl release. Ish pressed up 500 copies which are available through a whole bunch of different outlets.

Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie - Tree Times Reh-Mix / Fishes Fritz 7 Inch Snippet

About six months ago, you guys produced two tracks for Australian singer Athalia, one of them being the first single off her debut EP, ThoughtCrime. Did you approach the tracks any differently compared to your other output? Are you going to do more stuff for vocalists in the future?

The instrumental to Athalia’s single Black Rainbows is actually a track off Astro Funk & Weltfrieden. Athalia heard it and got in touch with me, telling me how much she loved it and that she had to have it for her EP. At that point, I had never heard any of her stuff, but I told her it was cool if she wanted to do a vocal over the track because I was really curious about what she was going to come up with. The result completely surprised me, quite frankly. She did such an amazing job that I instantly fell in love with her voice and what she had done with the track. So, when Athalia asked us to do another track for her, it was really a no-brainer for us.

Now, working with vocalists is cool and all, but we are really an instrumental group and will always be one. On the next album, however, there will probably be 2-3 tracks with a vocalist on them. So, stay tuned...

Athalia - Blackrainbows

Besides releases, you’ve also got a few live shows under your belt already. What does your live setup look like? Is it the same as you use for production? What can people expect from your performance?

Live we work with a laptop, two Korgs and two Sp's. About half the time it’s just us jamming, Jazzo on the syntheszier and me on the Sp 404 playing the drums and some effects. Sometimes I sing, too. It’s really important to us to make sure that every show we play is different, unique. We want people to have an individual experience each time they come see us live.

What are your plans for the next few months? Any new projects in the pipeline?

We've been back in the studio for a while now, working on a new album for which we are planning to do between 13 and 15 tracks. Keep an eye out for that one.

Lastly, any shoutouts / words of wisdom?

Shoutouts to the Feelin' Music family, Ish (HUM) Records, Soulection, to all blogs and supporters, and all music lovers.

Music is love.

#Interviews #Jazzo & Melodiesinfonie #Soulection #Wasser EP #Ish Records #Tree Times Reh-Mix #Fishes Fritz