The OWSLA camp invited Noisia over to their LA HQ for a full two-hour takeover on Skrillex’s fortnightly Beats 1 radio show this weekend.
If you’ve followed Noisia Radio for the past 18 months, you’ll know the drill – an uncompromised exploration around the beats / bass axis where only the most forward-thinking fusions apply. Except this one is twice the length of their usual show, has a little less of their dry Dutch dialogue and features a few more of their own productions.
Check the illicit radio rip right here. It’s rammed with some of the best bass music of the season courtesy of NickBee, Richie Brains, Former, Posij, Current Value, Annix and much more. File under sick:
While you’re listening, read this cool interview between Nest HQ and their bossman Skrillex on the importance of Noisia. Preaching to the choir? Maybe, but the context of how Skrillex started working with them and his US take on their European approach is a great read and proof – as if we needed it – that Noisia’s kingly status in electronic music remains undisputed.
What do NOISIA mean to you?
Skrillex: Around 2009, before I even released the My Name Is Skrillex EP, I decided to take a trip to Europe by myself. I had a laptop, a backpack and a rollerbag with an M-Box and a microphone because I was writing Sonny stuff where I was singing at the time as well. I met NOISIA online and convinced them to let me come meet them. I was traveling around Europe, and I went to where they live in Groningen, Holland. They really took me in as this kid they really believed in. We actually wrote a bunch of songs together at the time that never came out. I ended up staying with them in their manager’s house. I slept in the attic a few times. At the same time, Pavan from Foreign Beggars was staying there too because he had a visa issue. We became friends, and from there they really mentored me.
I remember especially Nick from NOISIA was one of the first guys who made me feel like the stuff I was making wasn’t just demo quality. He was like, “No, that’s good! That’s you. It doesn’t need anything else.”
Why are they important?
Skrillex: They just do their own thing. They’re so artful. EDM is very lifestyle [driven], very fun music. But they’re pure art. If you look at their aesthetic and their imagery and their sound and music, it’s just pure art. But it’s mixed so well. The sound design and the songs, it takes you into its own world. It transports you.
It’s past drum & bass too. They’re making more than just a genre.
Skrillex: And they’re always saying something. In EDM you hear a lot of drops and people aren’t really saying anything. It’s just a loud moment, y’know? And sometimes that’s effective live, but when you’re hearing what they’re making, they’re saying something. Like, a good guitar solo — some of it just sounds like noodling, but some of it you’re following. They think about what they have to say and they say it in every song. Without words. It’s not randomness. It’s calculated.
They’re building narratives.
Skrillex: Yeahh. But none of it is arbitrary. None of it is for no reason. It all makes sense. They’re so European! It’s not random noise, or random drops, everything they say is with purpose.
They actually had a release called Purpose! A lot of producers look up to them in how they raise the bar with making tracks. Is that something you’ve been able to see?
Skrillex: Yeah, I was there first hand. I’ve never seen any group or person ever — other than maybe Rob Swire — who is more technically insane. Even take all the music away, just all the knowledge of synthesis and sound design; outboard gear and inboard gear… everything! Shit that I still don’t know half the shit about. And on top of that, they’re so musically inclined. It’s a triple threat: technicality — their sound design — the classically trained side of it, and then they have that raw artistic execution. You rarely see anybody like that. Ever. To this day, very few people have those three things like NOISIA does.
Image: Nest HQ
We’re bringing Noisia – Outer Edges to London. December 9 – Electric Brixton. Tickets / Info
