Our Time is an artist I’ve been following since their remix of Justice’s track “Phantom”, here I am happy to present their new free single “Heartless” which is part of the upcoming Kannibalen Christmas Stocking Vol. 2. “Heartless” is aggressive and dark electro house that feels right at home on Kannibalen . Fans of artists like Knife Party, Lazer Lazer Lazer or even Black Tiger Sex Machine themselves won’t want to miss out on this. I also had a chance to interview Our Time which you can read below.
How long have you been producing ?
Jon: About 10 years.
Blake: I have been creating electronic music in one form or another since childhood; I began making my first tunes on an old GameBoy Camera and my father’s recording equipment when I was 10 years old. There was a hidden game on there called “DJ” where you could primitively sequence beats and play with some basic waveforms (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SDQ7vF5CIQ). When I was 18 I saw Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 tour and was inspired profoundly; at that moment I began taking my craft seriously and began exploring the more club-oriented aspects of electronic music.
If you could go back in time, what would you do differently?
Blake: My foray into dance music has largely been free of regret, although I would advise my younger self to pay less attention to trends and focus on creating what I truly believe in. The only actions I regret have been taken insincerely.
Jon: Invest in a better monitoring environment sooner… and practice piano more frequently.
What’s the side of you that the public never sees?
Blake: I read constantly.
Jon: I’m kind of an introvert. I have to seriously hype myself up to do stage performances. Most of the time I’m lost in my head, I probably look pretty confused in daily life.
What are you listening to lately?
Blake: Clouds’ new techno compilation “I Care Because You Don’t”. It’s absolutely brilliant and very inspiring to see artists who are pushing the boundaries of what you can even call dance music. Aside from that, Wuki and Doctor Jeep have been on constant rotation for me.
Jon: Been really into Terrorhythm Records and AWE lately, Infuze, Figgy, Lido, and the new Knife Party record of course.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a musician?
Blake: I would need something to dump my time into. Maybe economics? I could see myself getting involved in the stock market somehow.
Jon: I’ve 100% wanted to be in music ever since I was little, so that’s a tough one for me to imagine. If I wasn’t writing music, I’d be teaching or working in the industry in some way.
When are you completely satisfied with your work?
Blake: The only moment tantamount to satisfaction for me is when I see people dancing to my music. That’s the only thing that matters. If a song is sonically perfect but nobody has fun dancing to it, I consider that a failure.
Jon: Never! I always go back and hear things I would like to change in older tracks – but then there’s the next one to work on.
What advice would you give to people looking to get into making music?
Jon: Learn all the basics first, like making drum loops and simple 16 bar grooves, effects like reverb/compression/eq, basic melody/harmony writing, etc. Then expand from there to what you really want to do. Trying to make a full track right off the bat was the most discouraging thing I ever did starting out.
Blake: Make what you want to be making. Disregard whatever is hot right now, find like-minded individuals and just make whatever you think is cool. We’re at a point now where any conceivable sound is just a few mouse clicks away yet we’ve got a generation of newcomers who are watching their favorite artists get busted for literally copying and pasting other peoples’ songs into their own. If you love dance music, don’t let it get stagnant. Be an innovator.
