Exclusive interview with Xorcore
Xorcore is a Drum and Bass Producer and Performer, he has a new E.P Have Blue which has been out since the 20th July.
Below is an exclusive interview Musik Magazine and Xorcore.
What inspired the Have Blue E.P ?
HAVE BLUE is my first release with Construct Sound as my home label, and I’m really excited about it.
We actually experienced a bit of unplanned friction in this release, because the label’s distributor had some technical issues.
The name “Have Blue” came from the secret code name for the project of the US Air Force developing the F-117 Nighthawk fighter-bomber airplane.
I like to name my releases a little cryptically, so you need to do some digging to find the true meaning. “F-20” is an older release with kind of a cryptic name, as well.
In HAVE BLUE I produced 4 tracks:
Solution, Shocker, Psychotechnique and Reminiscent.
The idea is to take the listener through a journey and my goal is to Produce music for listening and enjoying.
I don’t like producing music only for DJs to play, although all my music is “DJ-Friendly” in its technical and musical nature.
Hopefully my listeners will enjoy the journey of HAVE BLUE and find their own meaning in it.
I always love receiving messages from real people on SoundCloud and Twitter – telling me how the music I create influenced them.
How did you get in to producing?
I’ve been producing ever since I remember myself, and my family will testify I started composing even before that.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to computers as a kid – starting with tracker software like Impulse Tracker.
Then I started playing the piano for 10 years, and the drums for 3 years – which gave me a very broad spectrum of musical tastes – from classical music to death metal and jazz.
For a while, before being kicked out, I was accepted into the school of arts in Tel-Aviv, which was a completely horrible experience.
The only place I really enjoyed there – was the music department computers room. And one day I decided to take some stuff home with me, so they kicked me out.
I then landed in the highest ranking high school in Tel-Aviv, where I met friends and introduced them to bands like Dream Teather, Death, Cynic, and such.
We started playing together, me as a drummer – then moved a bit to jazz and fusion jazz and all kinds and flavours of music.
At 8th grade, with those friends, I had some live shows – and one night we sat to record a song, but what came out was a hip hop tune, that is too dirty to be played publicly, even in today’s terms. I think I have it on a cassette tape somewhere.
Electronic music is a very technologically-guided music style. A new software system is released – and new techniques are more open and things are easier to do.
Growing up a big – I was worked for almost a decade as a professional software developer in the renown “Startup Nation”.
After ignoring two of my birthdays and 2 NYEs in order to complete work – I realized I have no personal life.
So I quit my job, started looking for a place to study electronic music production more in a more organized fashion – and found Oded Raz, which has been my mentor and tutor for over a year of weekly sessions – in his studio “Blend Studios”.
That’s when my Fruity Loops from the late 90’s and Cubase SX experience all came together into a cohesive stack of electronic music production knowledge and skills. Oded was always surprised of the large amount of tracks I produced each week.
I was using Ableton and Bitwig at that time, and today I’m using mostly Ableton as it enables me to produce and have my live shows already in mind.
Why do you like producing music?
Wearing all hats, and working in my own pace is very important to me. I heard Deadmau5 say the same thing about collaborating with others.
I always find producing with other people in the room a bit tedious and tiring. I prefer to collaborate with people abroad, like RK9, Anthoroid, Hertenfels, and other great producers from around the world – whom I meet via the internet.
There’s less friction that way – and the asynchronous production style allows each producer in the collaboration to do the work, and “ping pong” it with me once or twice – and we’re done.
Another thing I enjoy as a music producer, is that it’s such a huge honour to be able to have people feel something.
When they send me those messages on my SoundCloud or Twitter – telling me what the track meant to them – that’s sometimes followed with tears of joy.
Influencing others, making them move, being played on the FM radio, getting that permission to give from myself and to provide others with fun, or joy, or fear, or dealing with whatever they feel from the music – is mega joy for me.
Seeing the influence with my own eyes – performing on stage – is instant gratification. People ask me to up the volume and to up the tempo – they get completely immersed in dance and rhythm. That’s magical for me.
How did you get in to performing?
The first electronic music group I worked with was called “404”. It was fun, but I felt like I needed a better and bigger stage for my music.
One gig led to another: I played in pubs and bars, clubs, bigger and bigger crowds.
Started headlining in some parties with different groups playing Jungle and Drum and Bass.
Once I just approached a live Drum and Bass live band member and asked him if they want me to play an opening set while they set up. He said yes and I played that gig in “BuXa” – one of the best clubs in Tel-Aviv.
And now with the signing to Construct Sound – I hope to play more in Europe and the UK – in clubs, in festivals.
Lots of good stuff coming up.
What inspired the performing ?
If you look at my shows – I’m not a typical electronic music performer, nor a DJ.
I perform with Ableton on stage, like a live instrument.
I don’t use my DJ controller on stage. Rather – an Ableton Push 2, which is a device with 64 buttons and knobs, that launch and manipulate complete sets of samples, loops and full tracks, which I create especially for each of my live shows.
Turntables DJing is an art form I highly appreciate. But it’s not the type of act I want to provide my people when I perform live.
Moving from the studio to the stage can take me as little as a half an hour – and that’s just because of the taxi ride.
I always have a fully equipped gig bag ready to go with everything I need to play my music live immediately.
That’s how I got to Joeri, aka RK9, in the Netherlands – to play a very cool show in the city of Gouda.
He texted me there’s an open slot for an act in the lineup. I bought a ticket – and the next day I was there.
Regarding the term “in the spotlight” – I’m not really a spotlight kind of person:
I’m introverted, I never play games with my people in shows, and I keep everything very professional and precise, so that my people get the best experience I can provide.
Xorcore is not important in this context: the entire complex of music, people, lights, rhythm, dancing, and also me – is the complete experience.
Keeping my hands and eyes on my devices most of the time, and communicating with my people – through their motion, in the rest of the time, I simply don’t have time to see the spotlight.
I believe that’s a more humble and professional approach.
Moving between the studio and the stage is a must-have for me. Without the people – my music is just a game I play with myself and imaginary friends.
Taking what I make in the studio to the stage is playing with real people.
What advice would you give to anybody trying to start out in this field?
For each person, there’s a different route. Especially in music. Nothing is set in stone and there really is no “right path”.
I constantly adjust mine, while always keeping a “true north” in my internal compass – which is Drum and Bass.
There are ways to raise your chances of success. First is – what is success for you? You’ll find that it keeps changing as you develop.
Second, as I mentioned, is keeping an internal compass.
What is right and wrong, and what is your real direction?
There are billions of people on earth, and whatever you play – if you spread it right, you’ll find your people.
And I can testify that I get plays on my SoundCloud from countries I’d never heard of.
One of my favourite producers is from Iran and we communicate just like that – via email.
Third and last point I want to recommend is the adage “quantity becomes quality”.
Create as much as you can while you learn, and you better learn – either in college or university or a non-academic school or with a tutor or get a good course online.
Drum and Bass is huge, the earth is huge, there’s room for everyone, and electronic music is growing like crazy.
Don’t get discouraged, create a lot and keep your true direction while constantly adjusting it.
You can find out more about his music below
Interviewer Emily Vass of Musik Magazine
