Loopatronica creates DAWless livestreams and chilled electronica for late nights & early mornings.
Moolakii Club Audio Interface label
Curator of The Soft Serve Sessions - downtempo eclectic mix tapes on https://www.mixcloud.com/loopatronica/playlists/soft-serve-sessions/
What were your beginnings like?
Originally I am from just outside Doncaster – a village built to house Power Station workers – and loved music from an early age. My Dad played in a skiffle band when he was a teenager and I soon got the bug. Early memories are of Casio keyboards and then sampling and mashing up excerpts from the radio on my old cassette recorder whilst at primary school
Eventually got into guitars via the kinks and an amazing compilation called Precious and my own “indie band”. Then my family got a PC and I got into sampling and creating chill beats and grooves inspired by Hip Hop, DJ Shadow, Bomb the Bass, MARRS, Nightmares on Wax, Tricky and all that 90s stuff
After a year at Uni in Sheffield where I really got into Drum and Bass, I ended up in an office in Doncaster so being bored, I tried being a promoter for a Hip Hop, electronic, drum and bass night – which was short lived intense fun then dabbled about making music that was listened to by none but me and my friends.
Then came the middle ages and family etc and it just flittered away
25 years later via Sheffield, Manchester and Wirral, wife and kids, I chanced upon a mate from back in the day at Doncaster art college who had a garage band. I agreed to play keys and started buying synth shit, did some gigs then lockdown fucked it up so I was stuck at home with the music back in me. This led to Loopatronica – beginning as a live stream DAWless set to entertain myself and my friends. Then I got really into making music again.
What inspires you?
Everything
Musically - all the 90s trip-hop, indie stuff, Warp, 4AD, cool DnB, House etc and much more to mention but I love all sorts of music – if its good – its good
Ideology is important and I am really into the idea of headspace and contemplation. The whole mindfulness, well being vibe really resonates with me for a number of reasons and this has really helped push me into new directions and opening up new reasons for being creative.
Politics at the moment is really taking over life. The idea of what is politics, what is power, what is our role, your role, their role in society and life. The whole idea of community in a global world and the way information is accessed and manipulated is really interesting and quite frightening. Back in Uni in the 90s I still have vivid memories of hearing (and seeing) Hexstatic’s Communication Breakdown on MTV and being blown away by the message behind it (as well as the music and visuals). That resonates now- the rise of disinformation and propaganda in our everyday lives
I could go on about this all day…
Also- mythology and ancient understanding of the world and life and society – really interesting how we have forgotten how to be a part of the world and how to make sense of ourselves
I could go on about that all day too…
Why do you make music?
It's ace.
I love the feeling of creating things – not just music but the audibles gives me goosebumps regularly – I have a real connection with sounds, rhythms, harmonics and that.
I love the feeling of enjoying the things I make (without wanting to come across as too self indulgent)
It’s definitely an obsession – healthy? Arguable..
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
Everything seems great then is surpassed by the next thing. I still mourn the old tapes I made that I have lost to time. As Loopatronica I still enjoy listening to Rainbows, Coastal Walks and Dreams of Science. They are a real shift in sound and workflow for me – and they started life because I stumbled across the work of Neil Stringfellow “Audio Obscura” via twitter. I skitted around the whole ambient, soundscape thing for most of my life but his work really engaged me to the point I had to get more into it.
Dreams of Science is the melding of my love of the 90s trip hop thing with that new ambient sound thing.
What are your nearest plans?
Got an EP due out 2nd Sept – Darkling Sessions Project – 4 tracks of live DAWless stuff I did whilst working on some tracks for a future LP – Psychodynamics Project.
Also – following some real life and virtual chatting – I am setting up a CD, Cassette DIY nano-micro label called Moolakii Club Audio Interface (named after the night I promoted in Doncaster back in the late 90s) for my own releases and hopefully other artists too. Darkling Sessions will be the first release on that – MCAI001
What would you like to say to the world?
Be self aware in particular of your ego and understand why you are who you are and how can you consciously work to be a better person – I struggle to get that right but self reflection, perspective and chill is the way and the light.
And go to http://loopatronica.bandcamp.com / http://moolakiiclubaudiointerface.bandcamp.com and check out this shit I do
What is your favorite drink?
I can’t pick one so I’ll give you 5 (in fact 7 because I love drinks)
1. Stout / IPA
2. Durty Mojito
3. Ginger Beer
4. Assam Tea
5. Coffee / Estrella on a hot beach
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Grab the music at
http://loopatronica.bandcamp.com
1st trial run of the live recordings of the Darkling Sessions.
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