Saytek has crafted 12 new cutting edge live jams.
Since he exploded on to the scene with his acclaimed “Machine Jams” album on Cubism 2 years ago, Saytek’s live output has been hugely prolific with highlights including multiple EP’s on Superfreq, Kevin Saunderson’s KMS and Darren Emerson’s Detone label.
Now deemed to ramp up the heat for 2018, the live Techno pioneer is back with another colossal album for the label titled “Live Stories”. By far his most innovative work to date. Saytek has crafted 12 new cutting edge live jams created on the fly using a hybrid of analog and digital gear. “Live Stories” seems Saytek explore fresh sounds and push sonic boundaries from the menacing to the melodic through his inquisitive love of technology, whilst embracing the panoramic musical spectrum of Techno, Acid and House Music.
Time for a chat with this great artist.
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Hello Joseph, how are things going? Hectic, with the new release?
Yes, it’s very hectic at the moment, but fun with lots of touring and interviews. It’s nice to see so many supporting my album including B Traits, Joseph Capriati, John Digweed, Dubfire, Kolsch, Steve Lawler and many more, I’m very happy, thanks.
It’s been little over a year since we had our last chat. What’s had the most impact on you this past year?
I don’t think anything has had a massive impact on me since then. I have just been doing my thing making and performing my music and touring at some amazing venues across the world and releasing on really great labels such as super freak Kevin Saunderson’s KMS and of course Darren Emerson’s Detone. I have also made a remix for Carl Cox and Christopher Coe’s Awesome Soundwave label on Christopher’s ‘Let It Go’ single which has also just been released and hope to work with them a lot more in the future.
Check out the interview with Saytek from over a year ago »
Huge news is your new album ‘Live Stories’, on Darren Emerson’s Detone label. Tell us all about it. How did this album come together?
I have been working with Darren for quite a while now and he’s become a really good friend. I think we both respect each other musically and I have a great deal of admiration for him and what he has achieved in this industry. He lets me be myself 100% on the label and I think he feels pretty much all my music, which I feel honoured about. So after releasing a lot of EP’s on Detone, it seemed like a natural progression to offer him my album, which is a collection of 12a live jams that I have been performing recently on tour which journey through Techno to Acid.
Tell us about the gear you used for this album?
I used quite a lot of gear for the project including Elektron: Analog Rytm, Analog 4, Novation Circuit, Novation Impulse 25, Korg Kaos pad 3, RMX 1000 and Ableton.
In what sense was the production process different than your previous one, “Machine Jams”?
Actually, the process was exactly the same apart from a few different bits of equipment – the Korg Volcas were out and the Novation Circuit was in.
All in all, what makes “Live Stories” different for you than “Machine Jams”? Meaning in sound, feeling, approach, … ?
I think they sound quite different as my sound is constantly evolving and it very much captures how I’m feeling at the time when I’m creating. I do it purely by feeling, I’m not one for concept albums or anything too abstract. I know what music I love and I’ve become very tuned in to my production process to the point that I often have confidence in my first ideas, where as in the old days I would scrap many ideas and get lost. But my experience has shown me to go with that idea that I am vibing off, normally a good one, as it’s listening to it repeatedly and doubting it that makes me discard some of my best stuff.
I do it purely by feeling, I’m not one for concept albums or anything too abstract.
With the new release, there must be a tour? What places are you really looking forward to?
Yeah, I’ve got some great shows in the diary. I’m particularly looking forward to Watergate in Berlin. It’s a club that I’ve been wanting to play for a very long time and according to my agent and I’ve been on their radar for a while but, I think the album helped secure the show. I also have shows across Europe and the UK in a few places that I haven’t played before such as strictly underground in the North Wales and Magdeburg in Germany. It’s great to be doing what I love and to have maintained a steady tour schedule for so many years.
TGMS: we were at Watergate a few weeks ago. It made a lasting impression, so near the water. Will go back for sure. Also, the vibe over the 2 floors is amazing.
You must have been playing these tracks before the release? What was the reaction of the crowd?
I’m very lucky now to be able to perform to crowds who know who I am as an artist and at some amazing venues with some amazing promoters. My live show has always got a great reception everywhere I play. People have been asking me for a few of the live tracks from the album for quite a while, when I debuted ‘Forgive (live)’ in the Hammerhall of Sisyphos Berlin. Everyone got their lighters out and created the sea of flames. This was a really crazy moment for me! So yeah, I’m really really happy with the reaction I’ve been getting from tracks and also the feedback I’ve been getting off the DJs who have received them.
Saytek’s live shows have always got a great reception everywhere he plays.
As this is a complete live recording in your studio, you could not tweak the tracks afterwards? Or did you play and record some of them again?
So it comes out of the stereo output of a DJ mixer and is recorded onto a Zoom recorder. This is the way that I perform in a club and I don’t want to compromise that when I’m creating my live recording. But after this process, I take it into a studio engineer. Justin Drake, who’s someone that I’ve been working with for a long time and we do a small amount of editing mainly to make it DJ friendly. In my live show, I tend to ignore a lot of the constraints that make tracks playable by DJs such as fitting into 4 bar, 8 bar and 16 bar sections, we by no means make them perfect and change this. But we add an intro and outro and clean them up a little bit where they need to be cleaned up. Also when you have a lot of hardware sync to midi clock, you get a little bit of drift so he’s very good at just pulling the warp markers back into place so things work a lot more like a modern record when being played by DJ in a club.
A year ago you said that it is a good time to be a live act. That people are understanding what it is to perform live. Do you still feel the same?
Yes, I do. It’s a great time as a live act and to be able to share my performances with the crowds at parties and festivals. I also have performed a lot of live jams on Facebook for various magazines and online channels which allows people to see up close what I’m doing whilst I’m jamming. You can check out the recent live jam I made for Carl Cox & Christopher Coe’s Awesome Soundwave channel here:
It’s a great time as a live act and to be able to share my performances with the crowds at parties and festivals.
What has the rest of 2018 coming for Saytek?
Some really cool stuff that I can’t announce just yet and loads of touring.
Saytek “Live Stories” album is out now on Detone Records. Grab a copy »