Interview with Dorian Concept
Today, I had the pleasure to talk with Dorian Concept, a young talent from Austria who gained a lot of attention last year. Since his download-only Seek When Is Her from 2006, he added A TrebleO Beat Tape for Domu's label, and his first 12-inch Maximized Minimalization on young Austrian label Affine to his discography.
Can you briefly tell us who you are and what you do ?
Definitely, I’m Dorian Concept – Artistname-Wise, in my 20s and live in Vienna/Austria. Also a multimedia-art Student, so therefore I study and besides that make mostly music by myself.
How did you get into making music? Is there a defining moment you can refer to?
In the “by myself” way I started making music about 6 years ago I believe. I think the most memorable experience I had, was just having my friend show me this programme called “Buzz”, which was a really cheap tracker music-making software. It was impressive to see how you get a melody line from typing in letters and numbers that stood for key and octave like “C#1 – D#2”. So in the beginning it was just fun, like an alternative to playing Mario Kart or something.
2008 must have been a busy year for you, touring all over Europe, releasing several records. Now, at the end of this month there will be “When Planets Explode”. Do you refer to it as your debut?
Yeah I think you could call it that. It’s like a debut mini-LP I suppose, because with its 30minutes it still leaves you with a certain need for an additional 15-20minutes. But yeah, it’s definitely a debut with the amount of tracks that are going to be on it.
It will be released through Nod Navigators, a fairly new sub-label of Kindred Spirits. Can you tell us a bit about them, how did this album come about?
Nod Navigators I feel is a playground for certain artists that are interested in experimenting with instrumental Hip-Hop or just electronic music, and had dope releases from people like Mweslee and Tom Trago. I was introduced to them through Cinnaman, one half of the Beat Dimensions, earlier last year, and from there on things just started taking their own course.
Which other labels are you working with, is there anything to look out for?
There is a fairly new label here in Vienna called “Affine Records”, which was founded by a good friend of mine. I had my first EP called “Maximized Minimalization” released on there a couple of months ago and also play keys for an instrumental jazzfunk-band called “JSBL”. Besides that I was part of a compilation for Circulations, who will also still release a 7” with two tracks this year, and did some stuff here and there.
But I will still have to see what this year brings, as I’m just trying to get some new stuff together after this release on Kindred Spirits.
I recently stumbled across Sam Irl, with whom you released a track on Bonzzaj. How did this happen? Is there more coming?
Sam and I did that track a while back. Because he is also based in Vienna, I was over at his house and we pretty much put the whole track together in one afternoon. He’s definitely an all round great person and dope musician to work with, and I’m sure we’ll head back to the studio at some point. But nothing planned for now.
You seem to make good use of the Internet to get people to listen to your music, how much do you think it contributed to your popularity?
That’s a good question. I definitely think that more people are aware of me now than before because of a couple of tracks that I put up for free download, but it wasn’t the main thing that got people talking. But I’m sure it’s a vital part. I think I tend to give away certain tracks, because my bond to them might not be as big as the bond I have to other tracks. I just have loads of music that I know I’ll never release, and in a way I’d feel guilty just keeping them all on my computer. So yeah, sometimes I just feel like sharing those tracks, eventhough I think I should maybe be more careful also because if the output of an artist is too big, it can happen that you don’t really appreciate the music that much anymore.
You attended the Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona, what did you take from there?
I met a bunch of really impressive people, that I try to stay in contact with but can’t because they’re so many! And one feeling that ill never forget is just being around 50+ musicians for two weeks straight. Listening to the stories they had to tell, from their worst DJ-gig to their biggest rave, from their Russian bought Software to their most expensive Synthesizers. I would’ve thought that I could get sick of just talking about music the whole day, but really, I didn’t.
Next week you're playing at the Worldwide Awards. Any more gigs planned?
Yeah, there’s quite a lot coming up in the next 3 months. First off I’ll fly over to Australia and play at the “Laneway Festival”. It’s held in almost all major cities there like Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Then head over to China for two gigs and then back to Europe to play in Amsterdam and hopefully still in Athens, Switzerland and London again.
Thanks for your time!
My pleasure, man
Dorian's debut When Planets Explode goes on sale January 29, it can be pre-ordered on Rush Hour. For further informations, his music and his gigs, please visit him on Myspace.