Billy Allen [Candela Rising] brings us the latest installment in The Lab podcast series. Billy gives us an evolving mix with a few darker introspective moments later, immersing the listener in a sonic-tapestry.
We caught up with the innovative player in London's scene and he told us about how this mix came together, the UK's contributions to techno, and his forthcoming plans with the vinyl-only label Candela Rising.
You run the vinyl-only label Candela Rising. What has the creative process been like since its inception? It’s actually been really fun, the first release is by Moerbeck of Vault Series, he is somebody who I have been watching very closely and admired for a long time. It is his first release away from Vault Series and we really wanted to release something that was quite different from what he was putting out on VS, we wanted them to clearly be two separate projects. I am strong believer and I think that it is very important for producers to have a different approach to each label they work with, if everything you produce sounds extremely similar then what is the point of working with other labels? There wasn’t a lot of creative input between us as the tracks were pretty much finished when we started discussing the idea of him releasing, he recorded a guest mix for a podcast show I was running a while back and a couple of the tracks from the EP were included in the mix as unreleased tracks so I had heard them before. Moerbeck is a very meticulous worker and I think it shows, even our mastering engineer had an easy job, the tracks were immaculate. What can we soon expect from Candela Rising? I am currently working with our next artist for release number 2; this is going to be something completely different to the first release, a lot darker! We aren’t in any mad rush, we are taking our time with this one, I am not one of these people that needs to be working on 3 or 4 releases at the same time. We are literally working on one at a time. Obviously there are projects that I have lined up but we won’t start working on them until all prior work is finished. What I can say though is that we will be keeping things interesting, we are working with sound designers, vocalists and all different types of musicians to bring you something different to the table. Candela Rising is not a Techno only label, I feel that there are enough labels out there who are releasing ‘dance-floor ready’ Techno, I knew from the start that I wanted to do something different, this will include all styles, ambient, drone, dub etc. There are some great labels in the UK. Do you feel that our techno scene is still being dominated by Berlin’s, or have we evolved with a bright future to look forward to? To be honest, production wise, I think the UK is dominating at the moment. It hasn’t been this strong here on the island since the 90’s. Take a look at some of the artists emerging from the UK recently; Shifted, Truss, Sigha, Blawan, Rebekah to name a few, these are some of the best workers out there at the moment and they are all from the UK. I think that Berlin is seen as a dominating force because of the support and pride they have for their club culture, certain clubs in Berlin are iconic and rightly so, we just don’t have that here really. I think one of the last truly iconic clubs we had was Q Club which sadly closed at the beginning of the year. Anyway, it is what it is; I think the UK is in great shape and getting better. Can you explain how you put together this podcast? The mix was recorded using 2 Technics 1210’s, 2 CDJ’s and an Allen & Heath Xone 92. I wanted to do a mix that was different to what I would play in a club, something that is more suited to the home stereo. What else can we look forward to from you over the coming months? Got some really cool gigs coming up, mainly VOID at 1001 this coming Sunday (22nd July), VOID had a great re-launch at 1001 last bank holiday with Tommy Four Seven and Ben Klock and was lucky enough to be part of that, some massive events coming up from them. Also I will be returning to fabric for WetYourSelf on Sunday 26th August (Bank Holiday) with Chris Liebing. I played with Chris last year at fabric and had a great time so am defiantly looking forward to that again.
Pre-order Mørbeck's Magneto EP here https://www.facebook.com/CandelaRising Tracklist: 1. Forward Strategy Group - Inside the Shadows (Dadub Metropolis remix) [Stroboscopic Artefacts] 2. Mas Teevah - The Man who Lived 1000 Years (Ness Remix) [Sonntag Morgen] 3. Dasha Rush - Side Ways [Sonic Groove] 4. H229 - Repulsine (Mike Parker remix) [Nachtstrom Schallplaten] 5. Psyk - L3 [Non-Series] 6. Skirt - Collider (H.G remix) [Frozen Border] 7. Shifted - Coax [Mote Evolver] 8. Mike Parker - Subterranean Liquid [Prologue] 9. Voices From The Lake - Drop 4 [Prologue] 10. Dasha Rush - Relative Perspective [Sonic Groove] 11. Planetary Assault Systems - Function 4 (Marcel Dettmann Base Dub remix) [Mote Evolver] 12. Marcelus - Suspension [Tresor] 13. Oni Ayhun - OAR003 B [Oni Ayhun Records]
