Lose yourself in Brackish’s Rico’s Spell Number 4, a seriously addictive, hypnotic, minimal techno production. Read our discussion with the artist below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
From my computer
What inspired you to create this song?
I had been on a string of faster techno experiments and decided it was time to slow it down. Going from 140bpm down to 132bpm feels as if you’ve created all this extra space. Instead of a constant stream of kicks melded to your low end, you have this room between each kick to offer additional rhythms, tones, and the bounce that evolved into this track.
Everything I produce, at its core, is really just an experiment. I often have no idea where it’s going to end up truthfully. Rico’s Spell Number 4 just happened to be one of the few to reach a conclusion.
What challenges did you face while trying to maintain a mystical and otherworldly mood without losing the track’s dancefloor viability?
Originally this track was actually even more dense. At some point I realized it was just becoming overwhelming and really had to strip it back. I think part of that challenge, which I’ve faced many times before, arises from hearing the same stretches in your track over and over again. It’s so easy to try and make it more interesting by layering, when in reality you’ve just burned out on hearing it.
I believe that challenge results in a better end product for the dancefloor but also shows me what’s really necessary to move the listener through the track.
How do you approach the balance between innovation and maintaining the core aspects of techno in your music?
All of my tracks start from an empty project file. I have a few channel strips and synth templates that I come back to but as a whole each project starts empty and ends uniquely. It’s hard to fall back on defaults or rely on what’s worked in the past when you can’t access those things in the first place. This practice has really helped me break my own barriers of whatever the next sound and the sound after that should be. There’s no linear path to follow.
The techno genre as a whole is such a concrete sound that it’s hard to evade it when sticking to the principles. You pull from the classics, whether that be samples or patterns, and as long as your foundation feels techno you can essentially stack any order of sounds on top of it.
Having said that I have quite a few project files that you’d be hard pressed to call techno. Sometimes that innovation pushes your techno core out and you end up somewhere else. That’s a pretty cool place to be, even if it’s not “techno” anymore.
In which place or state of mind do you imagine people might listen to your music?
My first listener (and sometimes last) is always me. Outside of referencing I produce 98% on headphones so my tracks tend to thrive in that environment. My hope is that others find enjoyment in whatever place or state they may be in. Whether that be on headphones, on their way to work, or in a club.
What role do you believe AI will play in the future of techno music, both in terms of production and performance?
In time it will completely upend all of music production. The coming years will really test your purpose in producing. Are you enjoying the journey? When AI can produce as well as you do through a prompt instead of endless hours of tweaking automation, will you still enjoy the process?
From automatic EQing to patch creation (Synplant is pretty wild), we’ve had intelligent help for awhile now. I’ve personally found it beneficial and I think AI will take a similar role. You can choose to ignore it or you can service it to your needs and use it to assist in your own creativity.
Do you have an artist that you would describe as a hidden gem that we should know about?
I’m not sure they’re considered hidden anymore, but a gem nonetheless, Red Rooms. “Basements” will always be a favorite of mine.
A song you would pay to hear for the first time again?
Exrela by Setaoc Mass. I’d pay to hear it for the 100th time. The tension and release is just perfection.
Thank you!
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