1. Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with gear and regularly purge almost everything, but there are a few bits that bring so much value to me that I think they are here to stay. The Mannequins modules by Whimsical Raps are such examples, and the ‘big’ knobs on them are so smooth and lovely. They’re really fun to play around with (especially the one on Silhouette).
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
I don’t think I do have anything even approaching perfect, to be honest! There are some bits that provide unique value, like the Cocoquantus, and for me I think I prefer having a select number of pieces that make up a ’near perfect’ picture rather than having to rely on one thing.
3. What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
I rarely make music on the go – I like to create in a quite private way, so making music while commuting feels a bit distracting and uncomfortable. I have taken my laptop on holiday before; I’m a big fan of Max, and patches like ppooll and Leafcutter John’s Forester, have both been really important to me creatively. I also have a young son, so our holidays are really busy, so having my laptop allows me to get going on something very quickly with very little other dependencies.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I absolutely would love to see a hardware version of Slate + Ash’s Cycles. That thing is amazing, and having a stand alone box would genuinely be the stuff of dreams.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
As I said before, I often sell everything, and I don’t think I regret much, if any. The only thing that comes to mind is a lovely Telecaster which I think I may have had around 2008, and sold probably in 2012.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Without a doubt Max MSP (does that count?) I never make music with hardware – it’s a tool for performance for me, and all my music is made in on my laptop.
I remember when my son was born, I had a 6U/104hp Eurorack case, and I would try to carve out time to make something using it, as I felt insanely guilty for having spent all this money on something which wasn’t being used. Looking back, it felt like a real struggle to get it all out, patch it up, find a spare surface to work on and then try and muster some creative energy. I think within a year I had maybe 2 or 3 half-baked ideas.
There was this thread on Lines about non-traditional DAW like environments (or something like that), and Forester was listed on there. It cost £45 so I decided to give it a go, and within two or three days I had made my first album, The Children of Several Famous Geophysicists. On top of it being creatively freeing, I also felt like I had discovered my sound. I jumped into ppooll soon after that and that became totally indispensable for me (helps that my heroes Fennesz and Tim Hecker both use it).
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
Definitely a laptop – there’s so many cool things to explore; not just Max, but things like Tidal Cycles – there are endless possibilities, and most of them are free! If not, I’d go for a Norns – you can pick up a Shield relatively cheaply and there are so many amazing scripts to explore… plus you can record to the hard drive.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
That’s an incredibly difficult question – I tend to get rid of things that I find annoying. With that in mind though, I’d probably say my guitar – I’d obviously never get rid of it as I dearly love it, but I think my annoyance comes from my poor technical ability. I also think that as a sound-making device, I find it hard to make it sound like anything other than a guitar, which I find frustrating.
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
It’s not gear specific, but re-amping things I think is a really cool trick to transform sounds into something new, especially using ‘crappy’ recording devices – iPhones, cassette players, children’s toys (especially if broken). Magic.
Artist or Band name?
I make music as Mosaic Tapes
Genre?
‘Ambient’ although I don’t really like that term. Soundscapism? I dunno, it’s all pretty reductive.
Selfie?
Where are you from?
I live just outside of London
How did you get into music?
My dad was always into music – he had loads of CDs, and my Uncle was a pretty successful musician – he was the guitarist of a band called Charlie and produced the album Dangerous Age by Bad Company as well as working with 3 Colours Red and The Yo Yos. He taught me and my brother how to play guitar, and when I was 16 and my brother was 14 we started a band. We did a couple of UK tours and supported some pretty decent bands, but broke up in 2007. I still think the songs are great; my brother is a world-class song writer and it shows in everything he has done since.
What still drives you to make music?
I have a compulsion; I have to be creative or I get frustrated and down. I’ve been playing live more this year than before, so I have been focusing on my live set and creating less, but it still scratches the itch for me.
How do you most often start a new track?
Usually it will start with an interesting sample that I have made in Cycles, or have discovered, and then I will warp that out of all recognition and then start layering other bits on top of it.
How do you know when a track is finished?
All of my tracks are done in a single take, so it’s done when I run out of steam and everything fades away. It’s a really useful way of not over engineering ideas.
Show us your current studio
Sadly, I don’t have the space for a studio, so I usually just commandeer the dining table.
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
If you have creative block, don’t try and force it – it’ll only make you feel worse. Go for a walk and it’ll come back to you.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link.
I released a track with Jogging House recently: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/is-this-single/1793909231
And my album Beloved Algorithms came out last December: https://lontanoseries.bandcamp.com/album/beloved-algorithms
