Hi, Doctor Nick! – Balancing a Relationship with a Music Career and the Value of Music Theory

Everyone loves Nick Hook. Granted, it’s just about impossible not to, as he’s not only one of those impossibly positive dudes, but he’s also a student of the world, a man who knows about music, production, gear, DJing, travel, romance, and living life. Thankfully, he’s also willing to share this knowledge, which is why we have him answer questions from the XLR8R audience each and every Thursday morning. Those looking for a bit of Doctor Nick’s special brand of wisdom should send questions to doctornick@xlr8r.com. He’s here to help.

Yoooo. What’s good y’all? I hope you did your taxes if you live in America.

I’m having an amazing week. I’ve been riding my bike around and I did a TV show with Prince Paul today. I also went to Guitar Center this morning and checked out this insane digital console Steven Slate made—the Raven. It’s worth a look. Check this video. The future perhaps?

I’m about to go see TNGHT kill it. Can’t wait.

Hope everyone is good. Send me questions. doctornick@xlr8r.com.

Hi Doctor Nick,
I started DJing about six months ago, and well, I’ve started to have more and more gigs, which is kinda great. But I’m having this problem with my boyfriend, who’s not so happy about my musical career. I’m coming home at 3 a.m. three or four times a week and spending loads of time in the studio with other musicians. Can you advise me how to keep a relationship going and still build my career?
Anais

This one is simple. There’s going to have to be some sort of compromise. I’m guilty of this with my ex-girlfriend. As much as she said it was okay for me to go out and do my thing and follow my heart, I ultimately did neglect her. It wasn’t out of being a bad person or anything, but my career consumed my life. I really believed that I was supposed to be in the studio 24 hours a day and out every night. And I have to say, it’s really important to do that—you HAVE to. It’s just a fact that friendships evolve exponentially after the sun goes down. People will remember you for what you do in the day, but you become close and do real business at night.

Try and harness your time right. Can you stay off Facebook and Twitter while you’re in the studio and focus on JUST making tunes? That way, when you get home, you can focus on your relationship. Can you take off one or two nights a week and kick it with your dude and give him your undivided attention?

He has to meet you in the middle too. If this is what you love, he shouldn’t be unhappy. I do believe in riding waves and a music career does entail disappearing for months on end, working overnight, and hanging out with a lot of people. If he can’t handle it, he can’t handle it. After I lost my relationship, I could actually look back and realize how much time it actually takes for this stuff to work, but I’ve also since tried to make compromises. I’ve learned to work in the daytime and try and to treat it like a job. I’m working on a schedule, not making much music at home, and actually trying to become Nick the person. Most of the people in my neighborhood have no idea what I do or anything and it’s awesome, because you can just be you. Then, when you go back to work the next day, it does feel amazing to get there and work hard. I don’t think people that work at McDonald’s get off work, go home, and think, “Hey, how can I sell more Big Macs?” They turn off and chill. Try it, it might work.

Remember to communicate—openly. The more you mask and the more walls you put up and the more you don’t talk about it, the harder it is to really communicate about what’s bothering you guys.

Good luck. I think relationships and stuff are really important.

Hi Doctor Nick,
I love reading the column. I make music, but I don’t come from any type of musical background. I can kinda tell what sounds good and what doesn’t, but nine times out of 10, my stuff comes from happy accidents. Would you recommend learning some music theory to further my skills as a producer? And if so, what method would you recommend? Like learning an instrument such as piano, or taking some kind of online course? I think it may be the answer to overcoming long periods of creative stagnancy and frustration.
Craig

Thanks man, I appreciate you reading.

I’m kinda in the same boat right now. In some scenarios, people think I can actually play, and in others, people laugh at me. I kinda love it like that, but I’ve realized that I want to step my playing up. I went to Craigslist and found this dude to help me. He came by and was pretty cool, so I’m doing my scales and stuff and slowly trying to get better. Maybe if you are good at Ableton or Logic or whatever, see if someone like that wants to trade an hour of their time for an hour of your time. I’m all about the barter system over here.

In a weird way, I think blending non-musical thinking with some sort of technique is the key. Club music doesn’t need to be so musical, but from a songwriting standpoint, I think having musicality is very important. Sitting around a computer and drawing in notes and messing around is fun and all, but there is some real magic in creating on the fly with someone.

Also, just sit down and play to your favorite records. If you use Ableton, warp them and slow them down. I’ve spent months of my life just listening to P-Funk records and what not. You also start to absorb sonic techniques and songwriting. Slowly, you see how their synths made up some of the sounds, you can visualize the movements of the keys, and so on.

Another thing to think about and put some energy into is sampling. Look at dudes like Pete Rock, DJ Premier, or even Daft Punk and see what they did to samples. Beyond that, think about how you can incorporate it into what you do. It’s not the most musical thing, but you can really get into new things by being creative with it.

A great thing to try is start with a sample, be inspired by it, play over it, filter it, and see if you can eventually take the whole thing out. Then it’s actually your song.

Good luck man. Take your time. Experiment. See what makes you feel things. It’ll come.

Worrdddd. Okay, I’m off for now. xo

Hi, Doctor Nick! appears every Thursday on XLR8R. Do you have a question for Doctor Nick? Please submit your inquires to doctornick@xlr8r.com. Nick Hook can help you.

Vuurwerk “Bad Habits”*Dandelion Lotus*

Mysterious Brussels crew Run Tell Secrecy recently dropped its debut LP, ME + ONE (the culmination of the ME, PLUS, and ONE EPs), under the alias Vuurwerk. Taken from that offering, “Bad Habits” exhibits a chilled-out approach to dubstep by spotlighting its slow-rolling bassline while pitch-shifted vocals, syrupy beats, and hazy atmospherics reinforce its dubby outlook. Out on vinyl today, Vuurwerk’s ME + ONE album is also available as a name-your-price download over on Dandelion Lotus’ Bandcamp.

Bad Habits

Bad Habits

Locust You’ll Be Safe Forever

From its unguarded emotion to its big, acoustic drums and touches of breakbeat-indebted syncopation, the new Locust (a.k.a. Mark Van Hoen) album sounds very ’90s. Luckily, time has been kind to Van Hoen’s sensibility, and it seems that the 12-year hiatus that followed Wrong—his previous album under the name—failed to sap his prior momentum. (Granted, he’s also been releasing enthralling records under his birth name during this time, but he seemingly went dark for part of the the 2000s.) You’ll Be Safe Forever sounds of a different time, but its execution is deliciously foreign. It preserves in itself, like the solid amber excretion from Jurassic Park, an entire structure. In this case, it’s the affective structure that Van Hoen applies in his music, and the organism he resurrects is similarly unwieldy and magnificent.

The incredible anxiety surrounding genre and discernment in electronic music is not at play on You’ll Be Safe Forever, and the effect is somewhat like stepping onto the surface of a planet with weaker gravity. The imperative everywhere in culture is to be tasteful above all things, and this has led to a situation where cultural products are aesthetically irreproachable and totally lacking in flavor or insight, the quality of being something in itself, rather than something only in relation to other things. Of course, it’s not a difficult feat for Van Hoen, an artist who—despite the modesty of his renown—is not only thought of in terms of the still-fashionable side of IDM—Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and so on—but is also considered an influence on such enshrined home-listening music.

With “Fall for Me,” Van Hoen lays out the album’s agenda pretty shrewdly. Keening synths flush the surface with a summery, literary nostalgia, revealing the album’s little green heart right away, but Van Hoen counters sentimentality with a leet flutter of chilly hi-hats. The interstitial “I Hear a Quiet Voice” follows, a 30-second vignette pairing more brittle, British modular sounds with uncanny vocal samples that coo and, further back, wail with incoherent pain. You’ll Be Safe Forever proceeds in this indeterminate fashion, with Locust maintaining a razor’s-edge balance between comforting and disruptive sounds. From a slightly more distant perspective, he seems to be evoking genres only to brush them off—without a doubt, Van Hoen’s work has traits readily identifiable with certain ossified genres, but in his hands they are unsettled and unclichéd. The listener’s subconscious might dredge up a besmirched label like “trip-hop,” but it will never stick—these digressions simply reaffirm the project’s uniqueness. It should be noted, if only for the sake of completeness, that aside from its relatively sunny disposition and a certain poppy compactness, the technique that guides You’ll Be Safe Forever isn’t much different from Van Hoen’s previous album for Editions Mego under his own name, The Revenant Diary. It says much about Van Hoen’s continued relevance that, rather than inspiring a sense of familiarity or stagnation, this recognition just makes us want to hear more.

Kozee “Winter Wifey (Venice Calypso Remix)”**

After the free release of “Winter Wifey” by San Francisco artist Kozee (not to be confused with the DJ Koze), London-based producer Venice Calypso (pictured above) has turned in a remix which builds upon the original track’s buyont house energy. Venice Calypso switched out Kozee’s clean, slow-burning rhythms and crisp vocals for stomping drums and chopped vocal samples that together give this version a decidedly rawer, subterranean vibe.

Winter Wifey (Venice Calypso Remix)

Dusky Flo Jam Remixes

Nearly a year after its initial release, “Flo Jam” remains a high-water mark for London-based duo Dusky (a.k.a. Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman). Helping to keep Dusky’s positive momentum rolling, Sheffield’s Dogmatik is revisiting “Flo Jam”‘s success with a remix package that freshens up the ubiquitous title cut, but also digs into the undeservedly overlooked tracks from the original EP.

Given the song’s notoriety, it might seem like an A&R roll of the dice to leave the remixing of “Flo Jam” itself to a relative newcomer. Yet Brooklyn producer Mangetout, who just released his debut EP back in February, proves up for the challenge. Slowing the tempo, Mangetout’s “rebattre”—French for reshuffle—reimagines the original’s elastic synth melody as something much darker, presenting a tough, woozy bassline that morphs into chunky gothic chords. When the soulful “Boy you really make me float/Boy you really make me high” lyric wafts through the track, numbing the sting of pitched organ notes and coating a modest 2-step shuffle with reverb warmth, the remix conjures the understated potency of pre-dubstep titans Horsepower Productions while maintaining Dusky’s own clever combinations of low end and 4/4 rhythms.

Moving away from the UK bass sound, Detroit-cum-Berlin producer Kris Wadsworth takes the edge off the too-propulsive “Numerical,” giving Dusky’s original R&B-tinged vocal sample some additional room to breathe. A heavy kick sets the pace, but takes its time before introducing an organ riff lifted from Timmy Thomas’ “Why Can’t We Live Together” and the true start of the track. Once that moment arrives, the remix erupts with waves of dirty bass modulation, scattershot “ah”s, a rolling hi-hat, and the return of that instantly recognizable Hammond. It may take Wadsworth longer than necessary to get to the point, but when he arrives at it, he makes it worth it.

Poker Flat staple and frequent Dan Berkson collaborator James What keeps his remix of “Mystical” equally slow burning. He sticks true to the track’s name and his roots, with a lazy, afterhours vibe that is deep and straight ahead, almost too much so.

Also recontextualizing the otherwise bouncy garage of Dusky for the deep tech-house heads that worship at the Rebel Rave altar, Visionquest’s Laura Jones favors a late-night meditation to the original skip of “Every Day.” Jones’ hypnotic brew sees sub-bass humming underneath a galloping, padded beat, as washes of atmospherics compete for attention with the squelch of layered synths. The rising production talent isn’t breaking any more ground than What—and it’s tough to let go of the buoyant and textured original—but Jones is more successful at bringing Dusky into a new world, bridging the gap between once-disparate pockets of house music in much the same way that this EP’s namesake track has.

Watch Solar Bears Perform Live in Studio

Soon after the release of their sophomore LP for Planet Mu (stream that here), John Kowalski and Rian Trench, the two producers/musicians of Solar Bears, invited Yours Truly to document a performance of Supermigration closer “Rainbow Collision.” Recorded in the band’s studio in Delgany, Ireland, the piece presents an up-close-and-personal look at Solar Bears’ live setup—which finds the two core members working with two more musicians to realize their shimmering and stratospheric jam—in addition to a brief interview with Kowalski and Trench. The clip can be found in the player below.

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Video: RP Boo “Speakers R-4 (Sounds)”

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Chicago’s RP Boo (a.k.a. Kavain Space) is a true footwork originator, and like other progenitors of the genre—such as DJ Rashad and Traxman—has only recently been getting the recognition he deserves. This is, in a large part, thanks to Planet Mu, who will be releasing his debut full-length, Legacy, on May 14. The producer’s early releases are cited as essentially inventing the footwork genre with their unique ways of sampling and cutting up hip-hop tracks—sounds which are then matched with relentless, syncopated rhythms. “Speakers R-4 (Sounds)” is an aggressively clanging, dense track which creates the illusion of space with a pulsating, minimal drum pattern as it continues assaulting the listener with rapid-fire vocal samples and rattling snares. Directed by Jonathan Toomey (who has previously directed videos for Oneohtrix Point Never, Robedoor, and Young Smoke), RP Boo’s video is minimal, hypnotic, and appropriately epilepsy-inducing. It makes for a great visual accompaniment to the sounds lifted off the forthcoming Legacy, the details of which can be found below.

1. Steamidity
2. Invisibu Boogie!
3. Red Hot
4. There U’Go Boi
5. Battle In The Jungle
6. The Opponent
7. 187 Homicide
8. Speakers R-4 (Sounds)
9. Havoc Devastation
10. No Return
11. Robotbutizm
12. Sentimental
13. What’Cha-Gonna Du
14. Area 72

Contakt “Nobody Else” b/w “Tessera 04”

It’s been a while since we heard any new material from New York resident Contakt. While, as one of the DJs behind Brooklyn’s monthly TURRBOTAX® parties, he’s hardly been inactive in recent times, one has to look all the way back to his excellent debut EP for London’s Local Action in early 2011 to find his last substantial release of fully original music. Fortunately, the traits that were so impressive on that last release—specifically, his stellar ability to blend classic Detroit techno and contemporary UK influences—are still intact and on display here. (In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that Contakt works with XLR8R and the Icee Hot imprint is headed up in part by our editor Shawn Reynaldo.)

“Nobody Else” itself is a track rooted in soulful deep house, albeit one which builds into something altogether harder and more driving than its relatively restrained opening phrases might lead the listener to believe. Opening with a fairly straightforward, hat-driven groove and a classic piano-house riff, Contakt quickly introduces a shifting vocal loop and a meaty techno synth line, both of which just build and build. As the track reaches its climax, it crescendos into an altogether weightier, rave-ready entity that sounds like it’s rooted in a heartfelt appreciation of classic Underground Resistance records. B-side cut “Tessera 04,” meanwhile, has a brilliantly deep, late-night feeling to it; there’s a relentless wash of quick-fire hats, evolving percussion, and a seemingly endless filtered synth line. It’s the sort of track that seems perfect for injecting energy into early-hours warehouse crowds on the verge of being lost into the techno abyss.

These vintage techno touchstones in Contakt’s music are, it seems, more than just incidental; impressively for a producer with just two full EPs to his name, both of his solo releases have featured proper techno royalty on remix duties. While his debut, “Not Forgotten,” featured a b-side contribution from Underground Resistance’s Rolando, here Detroit icon and fellow UR alumnus Robert Hood provides a reworking of “Tessera 04.” Hood’s remix is as nostalgic and likeable as one would expect; he flips the beat into a classic drum-machine workout and dramatically ups the bounciness with layers of analog synths. He’s joined on the b-side by Icee Hot regular Ghosts On Tape, whose remix turns “Nobody Else” into an energetic party tune full of huge drum hits and propulsive rhythms. It continues his recent run of form, and impressively manages to not get dwarfed by Hood’s presence.

D33J “Park (Tape Version)”*Anticon*

Wedidit affiliate D33J has maintained a steady output of remixes and refixes to his name over the past year, but is yet to have his own productions grace a proper release. Fortunately, Anticon will change this fact with the West Coast artist’s debut EP, Tide Songs, when it drops on April 30. “Park (Tape Version)” serves as the forthcoming release’s lead track, a contemplative beat rooted in melodic forms and touched with angelic vocal whispers. While the tune may lack the R&B influence heard on almost all of D33J’s reworks, “Park (Tape Version)” does display the same laid-back flow and invitingly introspective mood that has marked most every tune on his SoundCloud to date. The artwork and complete tracklist for the Tide Songs EP can be found after the jump.

01 Park (Tape Version)
02 Young Wavy
03 Reever’s End
04 Drowning Pools
05 Sleeping Out

Park (Tape Version)

Scuba to Drop New Remixes

Ahead of his live appearance on April 27 at the Forum in London, Hotflush label boss Paul Rose (a.k.a. Scuba) will release two new remixes. The first track is another of the DJ/producer’s “Dub of Doom” reworks, this time for Jimmy Edgar’s Hotflush-released “Sex Drive” single, while the second is an edit of Scuba’s own “Hardbody” tune under his SCB alias (preview in the player below). The release will be dropping exclusively through Beatport on April 22.

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