What inspired you to first start making music? And how did you come to be in your current incarnation? Or if you prefer, a brief bio about you.
Delarosa & Asora (Prefuse 73) got me into making music back in ’97 after listening to Sleep Method Suite which was a mixture of Hip Hop and Ambient. I got hold a copy of Fruity Loops [FL Studio] and never looked back since. Around 2012 after my father passed away Geskia who’s one of the Japanese masters of underground hip hop. He had that concept where he reproduce the life around which you can hear via his textures and that’s what I really got into.
Provide us with some info about your latest release…
The album is about trust, honestly, belief but deceit, muted anger, hurt and was made in Sofia, Bulgaria. Half was done at the studio of Ivan Shopov and the rest at Yordan’s apartment in the city. A lot of binaural recordings took place within the 2 trips which you can hear throughout the project. I turned those into multi-layered textures and rhythmic structures with software from the company Unfiltered Audio.
The objective was evolve and that the medium develops new method of expression to create new forms of insight for its original material to maintain its own identity and preserve the intentions of original material and with plug ins such as Sandman Pro for its glitch and pitch shifting, Triad which tags alongside Byome and especially Zip which helped with the overall mix.
Which ones would you consider your main influences both music-wise & non-music-wise?
Music-wise: Geskia, Yosi Horikawa, Daisuke Tanabe, Jemapur, Kiyo, Notuv, Motoro Faam, Tetsuya Hikita + NIL, Ramza, Free Babyronia, Defmute, Qebo, Surachai, Richard Devine, Grischa Lichtenberger, Ivan Shopov, Mytrip, K Tana (Too many to mention).
Non-music-wise: Yuki Itoh, Pegy, Daisuke Shiraishi, Pedro Melo, Effraim Catlow, Masashi Itani, Giannis Caternellis and my good friends (Nora, Casey, Gee, Yordan, Sabina, Theo, Dee, Laurentz, Gregory).
In what way does your sound differ from the rest genre-related artists/bands and why should we listen to your music? In other words, how would you describe your sound?
Just Valance being Valance, the sound has its references but in order to respect your influences you got to put your creative twist on things. That’s how to pay homage to them either if they know of you or not. I’m not here to tread on anyone toes as there’s space between all the best and the greats no matter what style of music that they make. It’s up to you to make something out of that space. I am no Glitch Lord, Glitch King, Glitch / IDM pioneer. Just your everyday guy that reps the underground scene like anybody else, put a couple of sounds together and embrace what comes from it.
My bro Surachai said it best “If you’ve the drive, you can learn a lot more than anybody telling you how you use something”.
Please name your 3 desert islands albums, movies & books…
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Do you prefer studio or performing live and why?
Studio. Staying in is the new going out for me. Last place I’ve performed was alongside Ivan Shopov in Sofia at Amek X showcasing our album [Unearthing Buried Chapters]. One of the best underground events I’ve ever been apart of.
Is there any funny-unique story you would like to share with us, always in relation to your music ‘career’?
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Which track of your own would you point out as the most unique and why?
I treat all my tracks equally from collabs, remixes and solo.
Would you like to share with our readers your future plans?
Survive.
Free question!!! (Ask yourself a question) you wish to answer and haven’t been given the opportunity….
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Curated by: Christos Doukakis
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