Following the release of his “Marka” EP on the always delightful Lossless imprint, Love Over Entropy shares his thoughts on the recent outing, his longstanding relationship with Lossless and Something Happening Somewhere, adding Nautilus Rising as the third record label to release his original work and things to come.
Ever since we were first introduced to Love Over Entropy‘s “Off The Grid”, during one of Something Happening Somewhere’s label nights at Trouw Amsterdam, we’ve been closely following the progress of the Dutch producer and live performer with an interesting surge of fascination. Intriguing en well structured soundscapes, infused with a good quantity of club functionality, is the name of the game and one that Michel has championed over the course of a string of very well received EP releases since that particular point in time.
Following the release of his “Marka” EP on the always delightful Lossless imprint, we had a chat with Michel covering the recent outing, his longstanding relationship with Lossless and Nuno Dos Santos’ Something Happening Somewhere, adding Nautilus Rising as the third record label to release his original work and things to come.
Welcome Michel, good having your here! How have you been and where do we find you today?
I’m on a Polish train from Warsaw to Poznan, where I play a gig at Schron tonight. Then tomorrow I will make my way to Wroclaw to play a festival and the day after that, on a totally different note, I’ll visit Auschwitz on my way back to the airport. I try to make the most of my travels, and that was a place I wanted to visit for a long time. So I’m thankful the promotors were willing to help me out logistically.
Let’s dive straight into your recently released “Marka” EP. Can you tell us more about its making and what the record represents to you?
I made the first version of the main track after playing the Marktkantine, hence ‘Marka’. ‘Stranger’ was done way before that, although it was originally a far more driving track. And ‘The Whisper’ is what happens when you get a new delay plugin for Christmas. I sent a few demos to Lossless and they picked those three tracks. To finish the EP, I then made the variation on Marka. There’s not really a theme behind the tracks, or else I would have picked an EP name that wasn’t simply the title of the main track. I tried to make the tracks more similar sonically, but I’m happy all the tracks have retained their own feel. Based on the reactions, everybody seems to have a different favorite. Good.
There was a bit of a situation with the EP’s files being deleted as you were finishing the release. What’s the story there?
I was finishing the EP, just cleaning up the project folder a bit, deleting some files, and then all of a sudden the whole project folder was gone. When I realized I had thrown away all my work, a strange sort of apathy came over me. I just couldn’t understand that deleting something I worked on for so long was really that simple. I tried restoring the files from the recycle bin, but only got empty files. It had been awhile since I had done backups, so I feared the worst. Eventually, by puzzling together files from a few different backups, files on thumb drives and files from Ableton Live’s crash folder, I was able to restore everything but the last 3 hours of work. That meant I had to redo the mix of Stranger, but that eventually came out better than before. So I guess the universe just wanted me to do a better mix.
This is your second full EP release on Lossless. How did you guys first get involved? And how did it turn into such a fruitful relationship from there?
They approached me after my first EP for Something Happening Somewhere, and after meeting at ADE a few weeks later, I knew that I wanted to work with them. They’re really professional and transparent, and did a great job on the In Between EP, my first EP with them. Apart from releasing tracks on their label, co-owner Mathias Schober has also become my goto guy if I want to nerd about music production.
Selecting the right record label to release your music on is always an interesting matter. Next to Nuno’s SoHaSo imprint, Lossless is the only record label that has released original Love Over Entropy material so far. Is that a conscious decision?
I’m not a prolific artist, so I don’t need many labels to release my music. Ideally, there are a few core labels I work with and then for remixes I pick labels to expand my reach. I’ve been in contact with a few other labels about releasing original tracks, but other than Nautilus Rising, nothing has worked out so far.
I can imagine that in order to work together so closely over an extended period of time, there needs to be a mutual vision and understanding between label and artist. Are there certain criteria that you look for in record labels that Lossless and SoHaSo meet opposed to other imprints?
An important aspect is scale. With Something Happening Somewhere, Lossless and Nautilus Rising, I feel we are releasing records together. I create the music, but the way it’s packaged and distributed feels as an extension of that. To me, a label is not just a company that releases your music, but ideally also allows you to become part of a larger family of artists. In the current day and age, I think that is a good strategy to carve out a place for yourself. The problem with bigger labels is that it’s often quite hard to become part of the core artists. Of course, bigger labels get you more attention, but I feel I perform better when the contact is personal and my record is a valuable addition to the label’s catalogue.
DJs and producers often mention their musical education came through their family’s record collection. Was this the case for you? And if so, can you pick out any influential records from your upbringing that lays at the foundation of your musical journey?
It that were the case, then I would be a Spanish singer-songwriter now, because that’s what my dad played most of the time. Possibly, the only record from my parents’ collection that is somewhat related to what I do nowadays, is Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma album. Quite a hypnotic, psychedelic affair. So I think most of my musical education came from my own explorations. Not that strange, given that when I started listening to electronic music, it was still a relatively new phenomenon. I even remember listening to house music radio programs in the beginning of the 1990s, where there was serious discussion on how much longer house music would exist. I guess it has come a long way.
Music in general is rooted into a big portion of your life. Next to your work as a producer, you give production classes as a teacher. How did you get into that?
Back in 2009, I was asked to do a synthesis workshop at Pyntago, an electronic music production school based in Amsterdam. We clicked, and I went on to write a whole 2-year electronic music course for them. They helped me become an Ableton Certified Trainer and today I still teach various music production subjects at Pyntago.
What advice would you give to your younger self before you started pursuing music properly?
Get a teacher. I don’t know why, but to this day I still prefer to figure out things myself instead of finding a teacher. Even though I should know full well the advantages of having a teacher, right? No doubt a psychologist could say something interesting about that paradox.
Between producing, teaching and having a busy touring schedule, do you feel the need to break the circle from time to time to get the creative juices flowing again? How do you give yourself break?
I don’t. I try to do the things I do as relaxed as possible, so I don’t ever reach the point where I need to take a break. I do go for a long hike every now and then, but that’s not to take a break, but because I want to hike. When I feel that creatively I want to explore new spaces, I usually stop making music for a while and listen a lot of music.
On the matter of breaking circles, you’ve an EP coming out on Sub Club’s Nautilus Rising record label. Titled “9576”, the name refers to the train carriage you made it in. Tell us a little about that upcoming release and your on-the-go production methods.
That EP was supposed to come out before the Lossless EP. But releasing vinyl is such a tight process nowadays, that even the smallest delay early in the process can ruin your whole schedule. That’s exactly what happened with the Nautilus Rising release. First, it was supposed to come out in February, then May, and then it seemed it would be released the same week as the Lossless EP. Not a good plan, considering my last EP was released almost 2 years ago. Luckily, Nautilus Rising agreed to release it after the summer. And the guys from Lossless did a truly incredible job of going from final mixes to finished release in less than six weeks. I already told you these guys are badass pros!
You’ve a remix contest running as well for a track you did with Ripperton, titled “Saints de Glace”. Have you been able to narrow down a favorite already? And if so, what made that particular remix stand out to you?
I’m listening to those as we speak. I don’t have a favorite yet, just listening to everything and enjoying the creativity. I’m happy that all of them are quite different. Probably because everybody just had a stereo track to work with, instead of separate stems. I think it makes you creative in a different way. That’s what I experienced at least.
What’s on the horizon for Love Over Entropy?
There’s the aforementioned EP for Nautilus Rising coming out in September, and around the same time some remixes. I also have finished an EP with Mathias Schober for Luca Bachetti’s Endless label, but we’re still working on a date for that one. Finally, there’s a new Something Happening Somewhere supposed to come out end of 2018 or beginning of 2019. Let’s see if the vinyl fairies are on our side this time.