Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Nedry and review of new album In A Dim Light

Nedry by Abi Stevens
Nedry by Abi Stevens.

Nedry excel in a vocal electro dub step mash up genre all of their own. In A Dim Light opens languidly with the blissed out vocals of Ayu Okakita, whist behind builds the soundscape of alternating tensions that characterises this album. One of my favourite tunes comes next: the clattering beats and saws of Post Six providing a lushly chaotic backdrop to the melody. Havana Nights rattles and buzzes with sighing atmosphere, and across nearly 7 minutes Float explores the wonder of the universe. These are melodies to get lost in… sprawling with a danceable yet mellow musical intrigue. I spoke with Chris Amblin, Matt Parker and Ayu.

YouTube Preview ImagePost Six

You have been variously described as post-dubstep, dark electro-pop, leftfield and indie. You cross many genres, what do you think describes you best?
CHRIS: On record I’d like to think we carry on the tradition and attitude of early trip-hop, but with some modern twists: we really look up to bands like Portishead and Massive Attack. The post-dubstep tag has been quite handy, in that we initially aimed to blend our love of post-rock with dubstep and take that into a live setting, but since our first record, Condors, we’ve all further broadened our tastes and I think particularly in the live environment we’re a fusion of lots of flavours of dance music, with almost a rock band aesthetic. So I guess Modern-Trip-Hop works nicely!

Nedry
Where do find inspiration for the rhythmic structures of your music?
CHRIS: I’m not sure if it’s such a conscious thing, but due to the fairly long winded way that we make tunes the rhythm can change from version to version. Quite often I’ll make a quite simple drum track for a song and Matt will subtly change the hi-hat pattern or where the snare falls and totally change the feel of the rhythm, then Ayu will sing on the off-beat or something or put together a very rhythmic backing vocal and by that point it’s difficult to understand where the actual rhythm has come from.

Nedry music “clouded” by claire jones art
Clouded – Nedry by Claire Jones Art.

Short songs are not your forte, why do you prefer to create long tunes?
MATT: Well we have a few songs running under 5 minutes on our new album, a couple even verging on pop song length! We like making longer songs mostly because our music is all about creating mood and a sense of atmosphere and I believe you need to build a piece of music up to create that kind of vibe. 

Nedry album sleeve
Even though you create dance music you relish the act of recreating music live on stage, what can people expect of a Nedry gig?
CHRIS: The experience of playing live is very important to us so we put a lot of time and effort into making the performance of each song interesting and exciting for us and most importantly for the audience. We’re all keen gig goers and have seen some fantastic live performances and also awful ones so we often reflect on these experiences and try to better what we do and take on board the things we like and discard the things that we don’t. It’s important to me to make the live experience different to the album and things are definitely more upbeat and energetic and if we’re lucky with the sound system the beats are more powerful and the sub bass is deep.

Nedrymakesmusic by Fort Rixon
Nedrymakesmusic by Fort Rixon.

Your vocalist Ayu Okakita hails from Japan, how did you all get together?
AYU: I met Matt and Chris through the internet (myspace), I was living in East London then and we happened to be neighbours.

Nedry promotshoot - Abney Park
How do the three of you work together? How does a song come about and who brings what to the mix?
MATT: Every song is different and approached differently although there is a lot of file sharing online that goes on, passing Ableton sessions from one to another and working over the structure of a song. Ayu brings vocals to the mix (obviously) but she also contribute to melodies, piano playing, rhythmic and mood ideas. Myself and Chris work on everything and anything in between. Our creative process is really quite convoluted and it takes a long time to make a song feel right but I guess this is because as a band based solely in the electronic realm, it can be difficult to just get into a room and make something. Saying that though, a few of the tracks on the new album were created entirely in a live environment or at least born in that environment before being given the full studio treatment.

YouTube Preview ImageFloat (edit)

Last year you played SXSW for the first time, what was the highlight and did you get a good response?
CHRIS: It was easily the craziest and most intense week of being in this band, the sheer amount of people and bands performing that week is impossible to describe. There was an amazing build up before we traveled to Austin, starting in November the previous year with our label (Monotreme) receiving the invite for us to play and then all of us working together to make it happen. So we spent a lot of the week in a bit of a haze of joy and relief and jetlag! The highlight for me was after playing our showcase gig at Latitude 30, when a small group of young Texans found us loading out in the back alley and told us that they’d been following Nedry and were over the moon to see us play in the flesh – we chatted for a while and signed a copy of our CD for them. It meant a lot to us and was the best response we could have wished for.

Nedry Photo by Sebastien Dehesdin
What are you looking forward to most in 2012?
MATT: I think we’re looking forward to seeing how people react to our album. It’s been two years since our last release and the musical landscape has shifted a lot since then.

Nedry release In A Dim Light on 12th March 2012 on Monotreme Records.

Categories ,Abi Stevens, ,Ableton, ,Ayu Okakita, ,Chris Amblin, ,Claire Jones Art, ,Condors, ,dubstep, ,Electro Pop, ,Float, ,Fort Rixon, ,In A Dim Light, ,Indie, ,Latitude 30, ,leftfield, ,Massive Attack, ,Matt Parker, ,Monotreme, ,Nedry, ,Portishead, ,post-rock, ,Trip-Hop

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Amelia’s Magazine | Gig Review: Mi Ami

Jenny Robins Illustration
Illustration above by: Jenny Robins

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

The London Zine Symposium – The Rag Factory, information pills medical Brick Lane, viagra 100mg 29th May 2010

Zines piled on zines, upon comics, upon fanzines on top of stories and poems and doodles, limited edition prints amongst button badges and cupcakes. All sorts of stalls overflowing with any number of DIY publications, swarmed by enthusiasts all eager to get their eyes and hands on some original lo-fi press. A range of workshops and creative activities and some great food to boot. The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

It is a thrill to witness so many individual people each with their own ideas about what constitutes a zine, what it means to make one, what it should be filled with and how it should be printed and sold, if it‘s to be sold at all. Each of these publishers deserve credit for resourcefulness and effort. They have a drive to get their message out and they will adopt any means to do so. To most it goes without saying, it’s what they do because they have to, it’s their means of expression, their creative outlet.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

The London Zine Symposium shines a light on the endless ideas, personality and uniqueness within these pages, each publication is a glimpse into the psyche of it’s maker. Zines are truthful, from the heart. Unadulterated creativity, undiluted expression. I witnessed zines of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. On all subjects. Some were twee, some vulgar, some were edgy, some were pretty, some were soft and small, some zines were shouting at you. There were geek zines, gay zines, zines for guys, zines for girls, zines for goons and zines for greens. I saw humorous zines, twisted zines, zines with belief, zines with a bit of attitude, pretentious zines, sinister zines, comic zines, zines for cat lovers, hand written zines, coded zines, zines in boxes, stapled, bound, buttoned, bent and probably in brail. Zines on posters. Zines made by one artist and zines made in collaboration, some displaying the creative outpourings of any number of people from any number of countries from every corner of the earth and all gathered under the same roof to be consumed by the alternative press loving public of London and beyond. It sounds corny but it’s true…It brings people together.

Illustration by Davd Blatch
Illustration by:David Blatch

There is integrity in this. You have pencils, paper and the drive to get your message out, you have a zine, something for people to hold and relate to, something for people to enjoy visually, aesthetically, something to cherish. These DIY publishers are special people with something of much value to offer, they have a vision of a world much more at peace, more intimate and with a strong community of friends at it’s core.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

There is a concentration of love and passion for the arts here that is hard to come across, a buzz of atmosphere and interaction, a melting pot of creativity that is a must for the fans and creators of alternative publications and an eye opener for those intrigued enough to come and find out what it’s all about. Events like this do a good job of bringing like-minded people together, it’s a great platform for upcoming artists and writers, a great opportunity to network and serves to highlight the brilliant diversity of this culture and guide it closer to the public’s consciousness.

The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

Jenny Robins Illustration
Jenny Robins Illustration
Illustration above by: Jenny Robins

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

The London Zine Symposium – The Rag Factory, for sale Brick Lane, approved 29th May 2010

Zines piled on zines, viagra buy upon comics, upon fanzines on top of stories and poems and doodles, limited edition prints amongst button badges and cupcakes. All sorts of stalls overflowing with any number of DIY publications, swarmed by enthusiasts all eager to get their eyes and hands on some original lo-fi press. A range of workshops and creative activities and some great food to boot. The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

It is a thrill to witness so many individual people each with their own ideas about what constitutes a zine, what it means to make one, what it should be filled with and how it should be printed and sold, if it‘s to be sold at all. Each of these publishers deserve credit for resourcefulness and effort. They have a drive to get their message out and they will adopt any means to do so. To most it goes without saying, it’s what they do because they have to, it’s their means of expression, their creative outlet.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

The London Zine Symposium shines a light on the endless ideas, personality and uniqueness within these pages, each publication is a glimpse into the psyche of it’s maker. Zines are truthful, from the heart. Unadulterated creativity, undiluted expression. I witnessed zines of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. On all subjects. Some were twee, some vulgar, some were edgy, some were pretty, some were soft and small, some zines were shouting at you. There were geek zines, gay zines, zines for guys, zines for girls, zines for goons and zines for greens. I saw humorous zines, twisted zines, zines with belief, zines with a bit of attitude, pretentious zines, sinister zines, comic zines, zines for cat lovers, hand written zines, coded zines, zines in boxes, stapled, bound, buttoned, bent and probably in brail. Zines on posters. Zines made by one artist and zines made in collaboration, some displaying the creative outpourings of any number of people from any number of countries from every corner of the earth and all gathered under the same roof to be consumed by the alternative press loving public of London and beyond. It sounds corny but it’s true…It brings people together.

Illustration by Davd Blatch
Illustration by:David Blatch

There is integrity in this. You have pencils, paper and the drive to get your message out, you have a zine, something for people to hold and relate to, something for people to enjoy visually, aesthetically, something to cherish. These DIY publishers are special people with something of much value to offer, they have a vision of a world much more at peace, more intimate and with a strong community of friends at it’s core.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

There is a concentration of love and passion for the arts here that is hard to come across, a buzz of atmosphere and interaction, a melting pot of creativity that is a must for the fans and creators of alternative publications and an eye opener for those intrigued enough to come and find out what it’s all about. Events like this do a good job of bringing like-minded people together, it’s a great platform for upcoming artists and writers, a great opportunity to network and serves to highlight the brilliant diversity of this culture and guide it closer to the public’s consciousness.

The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

Jenny Robins Illustration
Jenny Robins Illustration
Illustration above by: Jenny Robins

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

The London Zine Symposium – The Rag Factory, cheapest Brick Lane, ampoule 29th May 2010

Zines piled on zines, hospital upon comics, upon fanzines on top of stories and poems and doodles, limited edition prints amongst button badges and cupcakes. All sorts of stalls overflowing with any number of DIY publications, swarmed by enthusiasts all eager to get their eyes and hands on some original lo-fi press. A range of workshops and creative activities and some great food to boot. The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

It is a thrill to witness so many individual people each with their own ideas about what constitutes a zine, what it means to make one, what it should be filled with and how it should be printed and sold, if it‘s to be sold at all. Each of these publishers deserve credit for resourcefulness and effort. They have a drive to get their message out and they will adopt any means to do so. To most it goes without saying, it’s what they do because they have to, it’s their means of expression, their creative outlet.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

The London Zine Symposium shines a light on the endless ideas, personality and uniqueness within these pages, each publication is a glimpse into the psyche of it’s maker. Zines are truthful, from the heart. Unadulterated creativity, undiluted expression. I witnessed zines of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. On all subjects. Some were twee, some vulgar, some were edgy, some were pretty, some were soft and small, some zines were shouting at you. There were geek zines, gay zines, zines for guys, zines for girls, zines for goons and zines for greens. I saw humorous zines, twisted zines, zines with belief, zines with a bit of attitude, pretentious zines, sinister zines, comic zines, zines for cat lovers, hand written zines, coded zines, zines in boxes, stapled, bound, buttoned, bent and probably in brail. Zines on posters. Zines made by one artist and zines made in collaboration, some displaying the creative outpourings of any number of people from any number of countries from every corner of the earth and all gathered under the same roof to be consumed by the alternative press loving public of London and beyond. It sounds corny but it’s true…It brings people together.

Illustration by Davd Blatch
Illustration by:David Blatch

There is integrity in this. You have pencils, paper and the drive to get your message out, you have a zine, something for people to hold and relate to, something for people to enjoy visually, aesthetically, something to cherish. These DIY publishers are special people with something of much value to offer, they have a vision of a world much more at peace, more intimate and with a strong community of friends at it’s core.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

There is a concentration of love and passion for the arts here that is hard to come across, a buzz of atmosphere and interaction, a melting pot of creativity that is a must for the fans and creators of alternative publications and an eye opener for those intrigued enough to come and find out what it’s all about. Events like this do a good job of bringing like-minded people together, it’s a great platform for upcoming artists and writers, a great opportunity to network and serves to highlight the brilliant diversity of this culture and guide it closer to the public’s consciousness.

The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

Jenny Robins Illustration
Jenny Robins Illustration
Illustration above by: Jenny Robins

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

The London Zine Symposium – The Rag Factory, recipe Brick Lane, 29th May 2010

Zines piled on zines, upon comics, upon fanzines on top of stories and poems and doodles, limited edition prints amongst button badges and cupcakes. All sorts of stalls overflowing with any number of DIY publications, swarmed by enthusiasts all eager to get their eyes and hands on some original lo-fi press. A range of workshops and creative activities and some great food to boot. The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

It is a thrill to witness so many individual people each with their own ideas about what constitutes a zine, what it means to make one, what it should be filled with and how it should be printed and sold, if it‘s to be sold at all. Each of these publishers deserve credit for resourcefulness and effort. They have a drive to get their message out and they will adopt any means to do so. To most it goes without saying, it’s what they do because they have to, it’s their means of expression, their creative outlet.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

The London Zine Symposium shines a light on the endless ideas, personality and uniqueness within these pages, each publication is a glimpse into the psyche of it’s maker. Zines are truthful, from the heart. Unadulterated creativity, undiluted expression. I witnessed zines of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. On all subjects. Some were twee, some vulgar, some were edgy, some were pretty, some were soft and small, some zines were shouting at you. There were geek zines, gay zines, zines for guys, zines for girls, zines for goons and zines for greens. I saw humorous zines, twisted zines, zines with belief, zines with a bit of attitude, pretentious zines, sinister zines, comic zines, zines for cat lovers, hand written zines, coded zines, zines in boxes, stapled, bound, buttoned, bent and probably in brail. Zines on posters. Zines made by one artist and zines made in collaboration, some displaying the creative outpourings of any number of people from any number of countries from every corner of the earth and all gathered under the same roof to be consumed by the alternative press loving public of London and beyond. It sounds corny but it’s true…It brings people together.

Illustration by Davd Blatch
Illustration by:David Blatch

There is integrity in this. You have pencils, paper and the drive to get your message out, you have a zine, something for people to hold and relate to, something for people to enjoy visually, aesthetically, something to cherish. These DIY publishers are special people with something of much value to offer, they have a vision of a world much more at peace, more intimate and with a strong community of friends at it’s core.

Photography by: Jamie Harrington, www.ShitBirthday.orgPhotography by: Jamie Harrington

There is a concentration of love and passion for the arts here that is hard to come across, a buzz of atmosphere and interaction, a melting pot of creativity that is a must for the fans and creators of alternative publications and an eye opener for those intrigued enough to come and find out what it’s all about. Events like this do a good job of bringing like-minded people together, it’s a great platform for upcoming artists and writers, a great opportunity to network and serves to highlight the brilliant diversity of this culture and guide it closer to the public’s consciousness.

The London Zine Symposium, a little appreciation please.

Words by: Matt Witt – www.creaturemag.com

Jenny Robins Illustration

On Thursday night I was just about to leave work for an evening of pasta bake and Law & Order re-runs on the Hallmark channel. Then the Amelia’s Magazine bat signal lit up the sky – they needed someone to review Mi Ami at Barden’s Boudoir! Well, viagra buy I figured that’s just along the road from my house and I’d probably seen whatever episode of Law & Order was on before anyway… “I’ll do it!”
I didn’t know a lot about Mi Ami, except that they were supposedly really incredible live and that some of their members were previously in the band Black Eyes. I did like Black Eyes a lot, their first album was an experimental hardcore (or post punk? Or post hardcore?) squall a thon put out by Dischord Records. In simple terms, it could be described as somewhere between Arab on Radar and Q and Not U and I LOVED IT. So I was pretty excited to see what they (or some of them) are doing now. I stuck Mi Ami’s new album, Steal Your Face, on my ipod, printed out all the interviews and write ups I could find and ran off to catch the bus to Dalston.
It’s easy for someone who has spent most of my life listening to guitar based music (chill out, I’m not saying I’m right, it’s just what I do) to get a bit turned off by phrases like “new dancey direction” or “experimental electronic” yawwwn… Does that mean po-faced knob twiddling and plinky plonky noises? No, Eleanor, you small minded fool, it doesn’t mean that at all. The press release for Steal Your Face seems to anticipate this sort of reaction, as it points out “Legend has it that when Fugazi came on the scene, the punx were shocked at their incorporation of funky basslines and slower tempos.”

On Steal Your Face, Mi Ami use guitar bass and drums to create something that sounds completely different from your average three piece rock band, I don’t even know how you’d categorise it. The music is intensely rhythmic, with African style drums, and those screaming, squawking vocals I remember from Black Eyes and guitar riffs screaming over the top of it all, this is insane, what the hell is this? I like it.
I had a chance to sit down with frontman Daniel as he was tucking into a plate of chicken wings before the show, and despite me interrupting his dinner to ask him annoying questions he was incredibly nice and even offered me some of the food; (Some kind of amazing roasted onion in chicken, I think, a plum sauce – Turkish restaurant, next to Barden’s Boudoir, would eat again) as he went some way to explain the heck his band are all about.

Would you call Mi Ami dance music?
I’m definitely influenced by dance music, or dance musics. The music is about cycles of repetition and about engaging with the sound physically. I mean, people dance at our shows, but that’s not important to the same extent as it would be with a more typical ‘dance’ band where the sole focus of the music would be to get that physical dance reaction from the crowd. In the world of dance music, everything spins around one singular axis in order to trigger a response which isn’t really the case with us. I mostly listen to dance music though, so it definitely has a lot of influence.

What sort of things do you listen to?
I listen to things like Detroit Techno, Minimalist composition, Mid Western Hardcore and Dubstep. Dance music is a lot more important than rock music to me.

Do you think that the crowd that comes to your shows is very different from the people you’d find at, say, a Dubstep night?
Do you mean like, do we have an indie rock crowd?

Yeah I guess so…
Well I think that the whole live rock band thing is a line that electronic music crossed a long time ago, there is a lot of crossover. If you played our record at a dubstep night it would be a horrible idea, because the points of reference would be so wrong, but if you had a whole night of Daniel’s favourite music it would definitely make sense to have dubstep and our record, so long as you had everything in between.

In terms of your live show, I’m told it’s pretty loud and crazy. Do you think that’s an important aspect of what you do?
I think so, I mean one band that means a lot to me is Dinosaur Jr, I don’t know how well you know them but the delivery of the lyrics just makes you feel everything so much more. There’s a lot of feeling in the lyrics, but the way they’re screamed out just really makes it sort of… Unavoidable, do you know what I mean?

I guess like you’re making sure people sit up and listen?
Yeah, I guess so, I’m sure it’s possible to do that quietly as well but… Yeah I scream in their faces.

On that note, wings finished, it was time to head over to the venue. I was looking forward to seeing support band Islet, made up of members of various Cardiff bands including attack + defend, The Victorian English Gentleman’s Club, I’d heard that Islet were pretty special. I don’t think I was prepared though, they totally blew me away. A ferocious four headed, two drum kitted monster wailing and gnashing and smacking drumsticks against floor and ceiling and somehow managing to be harmonious and emotional at the same time. I was standing on my own in the middle of Barden’s Boudoir, clinging on to my notebook and grinning my head off. At one point the bass amp broke and while ‘technical difficulties’ normally make for boooring silence or stomping petulance, Islet’s charming rambles about “playing a cool London show… Oh shit I’ve said the word cool, that’s not cool… Oh no!” and “Don’t worry, there’s another band on after us and they’re gonna be REALLY good” only made the crowd love them more. When they got the bass back we cheered and clapped like mad for our new favourite band.

If I thought Mi Ami were ferocious and frantic on record, oh boy, live they are something else! The temperature in the room seems to jump up by about ten degrees half way through the first song. That familiar characteristic vocal yelps and howls frenzied lyrics over an unyielding backdrop of bass and drums seared through with jagged guitar. The crowd presses in closer and closer, a mass of nodding heads and jerking shoulders. Daniel wasn’t lying, indie rock kids do dance at Mi Ami shows. This is fun, this is a really fun show and it seems like they’re having fun on stage too, Daniel announces “This is a Whitney Houston cover” before screaming “GIVE ME SOME CRACK” on his knees on Barden’s stage. So much for earnest knob twiddling, Mi Ami are fuckin’ punk rock, duuude!

Categories ,Bardens Boudoir, ,dalston, ,Dinosaur Jr, ,dubstep, ,Indie, ,Mi Ami

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Nedry and review of new album In A Dim Light

Nedry by Abi Stevens
Nedry by Abi Stevens.

Nedry excel in a vocal electro dub step mash up genre all of their own. In A Dim Light opens languidly with the blissed out vocals of Ayu Okakita, whist behind builds the soundscape of alternating tensions that characterises this album. One of my favourite tunes comes next: the clattering beats and saws of Post Six providing a lushly chaotic backdrop to the melody. Havana Nights rattles and buzzes with sighing atmosphere, and across nearly 7 minutes Float explores the wonder of the universe. These are melodies to get lost in… sprawling with a danceable yet mellow musical intrigue. I spoke with Chris Amblin, Matt Parker and Ayu.

YouTube Preview ImagePost Six

You have been variously described as post-dubstep, dark electro-pop, leftfield and indie. You cross many genres, what do you think describes you best?
CHRIS: On record I’d like to think we carry on the tradition and attitude of early trip-hop, but with some modern twists: we really look up to bands like Portishead and Massive Attack. The post-dubstep tag has been quite handy, in that we initially aimed to blend our love of post-rock with dubstep and take that into a live setting, but since our first record, Condors, we’ve all further broadened our tastes and I think particularly in the live environment we’re a fusion of lots of flavours of dance music, with almost a rock band aesthetic. So I guess Modern-Trip-Hop works nicely!

Nedry
Where do find inspiration for the rhythmic structures of your music?
CHRIS: I’m not sure if it’s such a conscious thing, but due to the fairly long winded way that we make tunes the rhythm can change from version to version. Quite often I’ll make a quite simple drum track for a song and Matt will subtly change the hi-hat pattern or where the snare falls and totally change the feel of the rhythm, then Ayu will sing on the off-beat or something or put together a very rhythmic backing vocal and by that point it’s difficult to understand where the actual rhythm has come from.

Nedry music “clouded” by claire jones art
Clouded – Nedry by Claire Jones Art.

Short songs are not your forte, why do you prefer to create long tunes?
MATT: Well we have a few songs running under 5 minutes on our new album, a couple even verging on pop song length! We like making longer songs mostly because our music is all about creating mood and a sense of atmosphere and I believe you need to build a piece of music up to create that kind of vibe. 

Nedry album sleeve
Even though you create dance music you relish the act of recreating music live on stage, what can people expect of a Nedry gig?
CHRIS: The experience of playing live is very important to us so we put a lot of time and effort into making the performance of each song interesting and exciting for us and most importantly for the audience. We’re all keen gig goers and have seen some fantastic live performances and also awful ones so we often reflect on these experiences and try to better what we do and take on board the things we like and discard the things that we don’t. It’s important to me to make the live experience different to the album and things are definitely more upbeat and energetic and if we’re lucky with the sound system the beats are more powerful and the sub bass is deep.

Nedrymakesmusic by Fort Rixon
Nedrymakesmusic by Fort Rixon.

Your vocalist Ayu Okakita hails from Japan, how did you all get together?
AYU: I met Matt and Chris through the internet (myspace), I was living in East London then and we happened to be neighbours.

Nedry promotshoot - Abney Park
How do the three of you work together? How does a song come about and who brings what to the mix?
MATT: Every song is different and approached differently although there is a lot of file sharing online that goes on, passing Ableton sessions from one to another and working over the structure of a song. Ayu brings vocals to the mix (obviously) but she also contribute to melodies, piano playing, rhythmic and mood ideas. Myself and Chris work on everything and anything in between. Our creative process is really quite convoluted and it takes a long time to make a song feel right but I guess this is because as a band based solely in the electronic realm, it can be difficult to just get into a room and make something. Saying that though, a few of the tracks on the new album were created entirely in a live environment or at least born in that environment before being given the full studio treatment.

YouTube Preview ImageFloat (edit)

Last year you played SXSW for the first time, what was the highlight and did you get a good response?
CHRIS: It was easily the craziest and most intense week of being in this band, the sheer amount of people and bands performing that week is impossible to describe. There was an amazing build up before we traveled to Austin, starting in November the previous year with our label (Monotreme) receiving the invite for us to play and then all of us working together to make it happen. So we spent a lot of the week in a bit of a haze of joy and relief and jetlag! The highlight for me was after playing our showcase gig at Latitude 30, when a small group of young Texans found us loading out in the back alley and told us that they’d been following Nedry and were over the moon to see us play in the flesh – we chatted for a while and signed a copy of our CD for them. It meant a lot to us and was the best response we could have wished for.

Nedry Photo by Sebastien Dehesdin
What are you looking forward to most in 2012?
MATT: I think we’re looking forward to seeing how people react to our album. It’s been two years since our last release and the musical landscape has shifted a lot since then.

Nedry release In A Dim Light on 12th March 2012 on Monotreme Records.

Categories ,Abi Stevens, ,Ableton, ,Ayu Okakita, ,Chris Amblin, ,Claire Jones Art, ,Condors, ,dubstep, ,Electro Pop, ,Float, ,Fort Rixon, ,In A Dim Light, ,Indie, ,Latitude 30, ,leftfield, ,Massive Attack, ,Matt Parker, ,Monotreme, ,Nedry, ,Portishead, ,post-rock, ,Trip-Hop

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Amelia’s Magazine | Meet Submotion Orchestra, a new musical collective from Leeds

Submotion Orchestra by Clive McFarland
Submotion Orchestra by Clive McFarland.

Submotion Orchestra are a Leeds based seven piece who fuse jazz, purchase dubstep and soul: a modern day musical collective in the style of those 90s greats: Soul 2 Soul and Massive Attack. Their debut album Finest Hour is a unique combination of these sounds and it comes out in June. Let’s find out more…

Submotion Orchestra by Gareth A Hopkins
Submotion Orchestra by Gareth A Hopkins.

You came together under curious circumstances. How does that work and how do you function as a large band? What are the ups and downs of this arrangement?
The band was started by Tommy Evans and Dom Ruckspin after an amazing commission at the Yorkminster in York which bought together classical musicians and dubstep for the first time. The hardest thing about being a pretty large band is rehearsing, no rx especially as we are now based between London and Leeds. We write and share a lot of ideas by email – throwing ideas around and demo-ing ideas etc. It seems to be working so far although if someone wants to lend us a private Carribean island to record the second album on then we wouldn’t say no.

Submotion Orchestra by Catherine Askew
Submotion Orchestra by Catherine Askew.

How has living in Leeds affected the way you work and create music?
The band was formed in Leeds and we owe a great deal to many people and places there. Leeds is a brilliant city which seems to attract amazing musicians and it’s an important place in the UK for jazz – without doubt seen as the city with the best scene outside of London, order and this is also the same of the dub and dubstep scenes.

Submotion_Orchestra

You’ve been likened to some pretty heavy duty bands, including Massive Attack and Soul 2 Soul. How do you feel about this? Do you think these are apt comparisons?
The idea of Submotion is that it sits somewhere in between jazz and soul, and dubstep. We have an infinite number of influences as everyone in the band is very different stylistically. The Massive Attack comparison has come up a few times which is incredibly flattering, as is Soul 2 Soul!

YouTube Preview ImageFinest Hour

What kind of venues do you perform at? And what are your favourite kind?
One of the most interesting things about the band, which we have learnt as we have developed, is that the music works in any kind of venue. We have played everything from jazz clubs to dubstep raves and everything in between and the music doesn’t seem out of place anywhere.

YouTube Preview ImageAll Night.

What are your plans for the upcoming year? What’s next for Submotion Orchestra?
Our debut album Finest Hour comes out on Exceptional Records at the start of June. We have a very exciting summer coming up with big shows at most of the UK and European festivals including Glastonbury, Big Chill, Secret Garden Party, Outlook, Jazz:Re:Found and Soundwave. We will be touring in October through in the UK and through Europe.

Categories ,All Night, ,Big Chill, ,Catherine Askew, ,Clive McFarland, ,Dom Ruckspin, ,dubstep, ,Finest Hour, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,glastonbury, ,jazz, ,Jazz:Re:Found, ,leeds, ,Massive Attack, ,Outlook, ,Secret Garden Party, ,Soul 2 Soul, ,Soundwave, ,Submotion Orchestra, ,Tommy Evans, ,York, ,Yorkminster

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