Last month Octane & DLR released their highly anticipated debut album Method in the Madness to the delight of drum & bass heads everywhere. We caught up with the guys for a quick Q&A about the album and their plans for the future.
DNB Dojo: The album includes a variety of styles, not just the drum & bass you’re known for. Was that a new thing for the album, or have you guys been writing other styles for a while and just not releasing them?
Octane & DLR: We’ve been writing more downtempo music under the name Cymatic for a while. The collective consists of the both of us, Octane & DLR, along with Ruckspin & Quantum Soul. It’s not a project we’ve wanted to shout about too much because everyone involved already has their own projects with their own workload already quite heavily packed and that doesn’t leave much time for us all to get together. We have released a few things. Most recently, Electric Church / Jungle Fever and Glue / Hound Dog. Both 12″s on Box Clever.
With the Method album we wanted to show all of our colours and it made sense for us to add some of our newer Cymatic material.
DD: What’s your favourite tune on the album? Or failing that, which one has been generating the most buzz?
O & DLR: We can’t give you our favourites because we’re completely numb to the whole album after spending so much time writing it! From what we’ve seen so far, the two clear favourites seem to be Murmur (ft. Break) and Set Up The Set (ft. Script). They’re both definitely the most dancefloor orientated tracks and we expected they’d be the tracks to make an initial impact but maybe people’s favourites will change in time. We’d like to think the album has the ability to grow on people too.
DD: What’s next after the album release? World Tour? Or are you gonna take some time off?
O & DLR: We thought we’d take a little time off but that hasn’t happened yet. We’ve recently remixed Stone & Gerra‘s Dronehead and Dabs‘ Who is Gonna Lead and written another track with Break for the Forthcoming Symmetry VA album. We’ve got a lot more studio work in progress and we’re touring with the album so I think a bit of time off is out of the question just for now.
EB: It’s been a big year for you, with releases on some legendary labels and tons of gigs all over the place. What’s been your highlight of 2012 so far?
O & DLR: Actually finishing the album within our lifetime and without killing each other and/or Ant (TC1). Then, on the gigs front, Outlook 2012 without question. For anyone who hasn’t been out there, you really need to make 2013 happen. Vibes are just incredible!
DD: One for the production geeks out there, what’s your studio setup like in terms of hardware and software?
O & DLR: We love our hardware. We’ve been through so much kit, it’s ridiculous (and expensive). There are pictures of our combined studio at www.exhaleaudio.co.uk (where we wrote most of the album). In all honesty though, some software lately has just blown us away. UAD, Waves, Airwindows, Brainworx and Flux are some of the best processors we’ve heard. It’s hard to believe how far technology has moved on and the new wave of inverse distortion plugins is really capturing the analogue inconsistencies that computer musicians were craving.
DD: Wanna tell us a bit more about the Cymatic project?
O & DLR: There’s the two of us [Chris and J] along with Dom (Ruckspin, Submotion Orchestra, Author) and Guy (Quantum Soul). It’s a strange project because although we all love it so much, we rarely all get the chance to be in the same place at the same time due to our solo commitments. When we do, however, there’s usually a few all-night sessions and we really tend to ‘go in’ on the music. The four of us all bring something unique to the sessions and we always manage to keep a vibe going. Having four heads involved is certainly a great way to stay inspired. 2013 will see more Cymatic material. There’s already more music in the works.
DD: Who are your favourite producers right now?
O & DLR: We don’t really have favourite artists. We’re both on the same page when it comes to this. We’ve always had the idea that we don’t want to sound like anyone or be influenced by anyone else. Obviously we’ve been influenced by everything we’ve heard and enjoyed and it must come through in our own works to some degree but to pin down a favourite artist/producer is near on impossible because there’s just so much amazing music out there.
DD: Lastly, what (in your opinion) is the best record ever? Any era, any style, any musician
O & DLR: I can’t remember what it was or who it was by but it was probably on a tape pack from 1994 and it went something like ‘da dee naa naaa dum dum’ and had loads of samples in it…that same rave scene inspired everything we all know as dance music now. We’re lucky in that we’ve had Drum & Bass for 20 years now!
Check out clips of the album below and grab yourself a copy from the Dispatch Store at Surus.co.uk.
Xtrah and Critical continue their excellent 2012 with another top notch release. Soundclash on the A side delivers the goods, but for me it’s all about Discordance; crisp drum rolls and bass stabs combined with one of the sickest D&B vocal hooks I’ve heard in a while. “I know it sounds deep”…not half!
