We’d like to thank the Tropism team for making this connection possible.
Thank you very much for accepting our invitation and for taking the time to speak with us. It’s truly our pleasure. It’s been four years since your last visit to Athens. What stands out in your memory from that night? How do you view the Athens scene today, in terms of both the crowd and the music being released?
Yes it was a fun festival with a great crowd, I played with Animistic Beliefs and Sansibar. I am not too familiar with the Athens scene but very curious and looking forward to play there again!
Beyond the influences you’ve mentioned in the past—such as Aphex Twin or the Detroit techno scene—what was it like growing up and discovering music in The Hague and the Netherlands more broadly during the ’90s? Is there anything from that era that still resonates with you today?
It was wonderful, such an exciting time in music, new groundbreaking stuff was coming out all the time, there were so many recordstores in The Hague. After school I would go to the recordstores. Like I remember buying an Autechre CD or a Underground Resistance record, can you imagine listening to something like the Final Frontier or the Autechre Amber album for the first time in the 1990s as a kid. Just sitting there before the stereo listening and being mindblown. And the next day trying to make something similar on the Commodore Amiga computer and recording it on cassettetapes, making something really crap and out of tune because I had no idea what I was doing haha. I was a sort of cyberpunk hacker with my room full of stuff found on the street- old cassettedecks, speakers, VHS recorders, Monitors, synths, which were supercheap like you could buy something like a Roland Juno or SH101 for 50 euros – all connected with homemade cables to my Commodore Amiga computer which had a modem so I could go onto proto internet Bulletin Board networks. I would just sit there for days coding games, make videoclips/art using computer animations, recording tapes, researching and figuring out how synthesizers MIDI and art software worked. There was a feel, atmosphere of a bright positive future with this new music and technology, going into a new digital age, of course that didn’t turn out that good on a lot of levels ha.
What is your take on nostalgia?
I grew up with everything that is part of that 80s and 90s nostalgia stuff, coding old computers, synths and music is just a foundation of my soul, my upbringing in the arts. For me it is not so much about a hauntological cancellation of the future or a cultural exhaustion. I think I have my own unique take on past music styles either by combining it with modern technology/cultures or simply not knowing what I am really doing.
Nostalgia can be there in many forms, reading old computer magazines, watching old movies, memories of more innocent times. But as part of my art and music, sure its there but for me it is not made for nostalgia’s sake – the memories and past cultures are just a foundation, these past cultures are a modern folk myth in our civilization like people playing folk music , organs, jazz or classical music. Its interesting. If you take Kraftwerk for example, when they made all that groundbreaking stuff, let’s take the 1981 Computerwelt LP, such a fundamental record – maybe the most important record from the 20th century, when that came out it was already secretly a nostalgic record. Sure they had the most futuristic mind-blowing new sounds -but their melodies were based on old folk tunes and the Numbers rhythm, which would be the foundation for electro and hiphop, was inspired on a 1950s Cliff Richard & The Shadows song.
https://www.legowelt.org/
Do you feel the contemporary (electronic) music scene is going through a kind of revival, with strong references to the ’80s and ’90s? If so, what do you think is driving it?
For me its never been a revival, it has always been there permanently. Musical progression basically ended in the 1990s there haven’t really been completely new groundbreaking disruptions in the music itself, the last ones probably being Gabber, Jungle and Footwork. Otherwise it’s just been drivel like minimal techhouse which people had to listen to in clubs for so long so of course they want to go back to 80s and 90s influenced sounds haha.
Your releases, live performances, and overall body of work resist easy categorization into a single genre. Do you feel you belong more to a broader music scene or community?
I never felt being part of single scene, maybe the The Hague electro scene but within that I am my own entity also. I really like not being pigeonholed into a certain music style – I get inspiration from so many different music cultures and that flows into my music and art. That comes back for example when I tour to play shows. I get invited to play at all sorts of different music events that span many different subcultures and scenes. In a month I will play at a goth wave industrial party,a reggae sound system festival, do a piano concert in a theatre, Play underground electro parties, an Italo disco event, a UK bass jungle dubstep thing and a more normal techno festival or sometimes I even get booked at a pystrance festival haha. There is interest in my music from all sorts of different backgrounds and I find that really cool, that it overlaps so much. That also keeps me inspired to see what’s going on in all these different music cultures and that feedbacks again in my inspiration but also keeps me open minded.
Many European clubs—such as Fuse in Belgium and Tresor in Germany—have spoken openly about financial unsustainability, even as huge electronic music festivals continue to grow worldwide and the scene appears to be expanding rapidly. Why do you think this contrast exists? What role do large festivals play in today’s clubbing culture?
What I see is the whole festivalization and business techno thing is seeping in everwhere, a ‘sustainable’ underground or even uh ‘mid ground’ culture might be slowly vanishing but I see people are getting fed up with it, they find the whole Techno culture stale, Techno is more and more about celebrity DJ culture with very little to no audience participation and wonderment. Ofcourse it is caused by many factors like gentrification both cultural and urban. But I think it is mostly caused by a certain musical fatigue, there is really a lot of boring music coming out especially in Techno, endless drivel of just sterile beats, the bar is set very low and as a culture I find much of it, especially more ‘business techno’ purposeless and empty. Do you ever see a business techno DJ playing Drexciya or anything cool, they don’t and never will because they are too chicken, not having any audacity to play something that sparks the imagination. Everything has to be bland the same boring shit. There is no magic, just shallowness. Maybe we need more “pillars” like hiphop used to have where they have the graffiti, breakdancing, poetry, turntablism and beatboxing or what was it. What does techno have as pillars, drugs, egocentric DJs with VIP treatment, getting selected at the door of a club, sheeply filming with your phone instead of dancing. What I have always found curious, this Techno thing is dance music right? but we or I at least, seldomly see or hear about the dancing itself, what are the special dance moves, names for certain styles of dancing new moves etc.
People are just standing like zombies with their phones or try to move awkwardly. Ha I am ranting bit too much maybe, on the other hand I am totally not worried – there is still so much cool stuff happening in the underground like usual, and there are still vibrant cultures everywhere, emerging and established small pockets of resistance, almost every week when I play a show somewhere I see that things are still good and there is an authentic underground scene with people from all ages. Somehow a lot of the big clubs and festivals don’t have a connection to those scenes because they rely on the same safe old stuff – yet people want to have more stuff to spark their imagination but they don’t see it.
https://www.stampthewax.com/
We’ve noticed recurring references to animation in both your music and performances, which creates the sense of a complete, cohesive universe. Do you see yourself primarily as a musician, or is all of this part of a wider artistic expression?
The music, animations, paintings, comics, zines—are all part of the same artistic world. They come from my mind. Over time they’ve become more and more connected. My music influences my paintings, and my paintings influence my music. When I make an animation, sometimes I use a song I already made as the soundtrack. But it also works the other way around, an animation can inspire new music. The boundaries between these things are vague and totally flexible. And yes, there is cohesive universe I escape into when I create. When I paint, make animations or make music, I step out of the everyday world. And when I’m working on an animation film, I become completely immersed in that other place—the geography, the characters even the weather or public transport within that world. I know the streets of the town where the animation takes place, the nature around it, the shops, all the small details. That world really exists. I never work with a fixed script. So each time I return to the project, it’s a bit of a surprise what will happen next in that world. It is an organic, living entity that slowly reveals itself as I work.
https://www.legowelt.org/
We live in an era of constant information overload and distraction. How do you protect your inner creative space? You’ve mentioned in the past that you don’t follow digital platforms much—is this a deliberate choice to safeguard your focus and creativity?
I follow some stuff of course, I just create some kind of bubble were I am not annoyed with what I see. I follow friends, artists I like, synth and animation channels that give me positive energy. I don’t really post on Facebook anymore. I deleted my Twitter X account a while ago, that was really one foul mess of frustrated sad people ha wow. I am on instagram and I am quite active there, well I try to post at least one movie a month – the thing is social media is there – it is sadly or not part of civilization – you can ignore it but its a great communication channel, both ways, for fans and people interested in your art. Also a factor that you got to use social media is that music press doesn’t really exist anymore – it is replaced by the social media channels and you got to do it yourself, you have to have a certain DIY ethos within that exposure, you basically have to do the music press yourself. The music press / platforms that still exist, most of them are super depressing – made to program you and to make you feel bad. They are just selling drama, gossip and negative energy clickbait, advertisements disguised as ‘articles’ – it’s not about the music or the underground scenes. They are clueless and really don’t have any idea what’s really going on in the underground. So having a review in music magazine/dance platform is pointless these days, the last time I send something to music platforms for review. I think its was my Field Guide to the Void album, one of them , I won’t say which, asked for money to have it reviewed, haha how fucking lame is that! I don’t have those ‘music journalists’ in very high regard.
But back to social media. You got to make it work for you, make it fun to participate with something that is wholesome and not stressful. I record movies of myself playing a synth and then I do a bit of trivia, explaining tell a story or give some tips. That is fun for me because I just dabble around with the instrument, I learn something myself and lots of times these things will turn into a song or project. But yeah if you want to follow my stuff real good the best is just to visit my homepage www.legowelt.org that is updated almost daily and way more cool then any social media haha.
How do you generally approach the creative process? Do you follow a specific methodology, or is it more spontaneous?
It is something that is not approached, it’s just there within me always I am in a permanent creative process ha. As for a methodology. Spontaneous definitely, that is a very important thing not many people speak about, you just go and do it, start the art, even if it seems ridiculous or impossible and don’t listen to people that will say its dumb or a waste of time or you don’t have the talent. Don’t hypothese too much at first, the semiotic deeper ideas concepts about the art come late, first it is just the fire within that needs to burn.
What is your typical process when making music? For instance, do you start with a jam session and then edit/structure it afterward? Do you record long improvisations and build tracks from them, or do you compose more defined parts from the start and assemble them?
This is a question that is asked a lot and it is rather difficult to answer because there are a hundred ways I make My music, there is not really one way, that keeps it fun and adventurous. I do all of those things you mention, either really compose, program, use Ableton, trackers or hardware sequencers or just play the keys live and record it, multitrack and edit it later, there are a thousand ways to be explored to make music.
SMACKOS 808 SIMULATOR (https://legowelt.org/software/)
You’ve lived through the full transition from the analog to the digital era. What’s your current stance on analog versus digital technology? What does each bring to your creative work?
I don’t think about it too much, both things are completely integrated in my workflow. People think I am some analog Purist but in the 1990s I started out with a Commodore Amiga computer and made a lot of songs with that, you can’t really get more digital (a 16 bit computer with 8/12 bit sound sampling capabilities) but of course that was mixed down on a cheap analog Inkel MX995 mixer, speakers and cassettedeck that were found on the street trash. I really wanted a digital DAT recorder to record my songs more ‘professionally’ but I didn’t have the money until after a few years. Back then you used analog stuff just because it was cheap. I take ideas and workflows from the analog era and ‘realm’ and take them into the computer or whatever is digital. There is an ‘analog way of thinking’, an analog approach of things and let it be ironic or something, you can very well emulate these things in a computer nowadays, and have it sound even more analog then the real stuff. But yeah in the end, everything goes, as far as I am concerned nowadays this analog vs digital is a useless juxtaposition.
Athens, like many cities, is facing a serious decline in venues, making it tough for new artists — whether DJs, producers, or live performers — to find spaces to play and express themselves. What advice would you offer a young aspiring artist just starting out, who’s finding it hard to break into the scene and secure opportunities?
First of all what is ‘The Scene’? If you can’t break into one, or one does not exist that fits your own vision, just start one yourself, or just do things for your merit, create your own underground. It can be on the internet worldwide if you live in a little village – you got to build things step by step, have patience. The underground will always bubble up one way or another, if you have a vision and the fire something will happen.
What does your studio setup look like right now? Is there any piece of gear you particularly love or that stands out to you? If so, what draws you to it?
It always changes, I have a sort of base set up with the mixers / computers / FX / compressors etc. and the synthesizers and drummachines are changed all the time, I have a lot of them in my attic or rotate them between friends and just take some I want to use and focus on those for a while. I am too restless to always have the same setup. For that base setup, I have 2 mixers, a Tascam Model 12 mixer for digital multitrack mixing integrated with my Ableton. In contrast to that I have an old analog D&R 700 Holland series mixer, this is a dutch mixing desk from the 70s/80s with intense mid sweep EQ (18db! almost like an synthesizer filter) and tons of headroom…these work together, If I need the analog warmth on something I just run it through the D&R 700 and then into the Tascam. Also tons of echo / delay units mostly cheap early digital ones like the Alesis Quadraverb / Midiverb II / Roland DEP 5 etc. I really use the ZOOM CDR multi FX a lot, thats a pedal that has models of like a hundred different FX pedals and you can chain them to make your own unique FX, like you can make a tape simulation by vibrato, flanger and compressor or a Midiverb II bloom FX by chaining a Shimmer reverb – 12 bit bit crusher and graphic EQ, stuff like that. For monitoring I have those standard Yamaha ones, more fancy Neumans and a ‘grotbox’ simple mono speaker which is always good to check the mix.
So for the synthesizers right now I am using the Sequential Prophet 600 a lot, this is an old synth that is really good for electro basses, very much like the Pro One synthesizer but maybe a bit better. I recently got my Elektron Analog Keys back in the studio a really amazing inspirational instrument which can be used as a sequencer too. I bought a bunch of cheap synthesizers the other day that I will install in the studio soon: a Yamaha CS1X ( a late 90s digital synth that is the sound of my TEAC Life album) A Yamaha DX11 ( a cool FM synth the old school U-ziq Mike Paradinas & 154 strike album sound but also a cult instrument in Balkan genres like Folk and Roma music). I always like these less ‘hip’ instruments, even old homekeyboards because they will give a more exotic and unexpected sound, some of those can be really secret weapons, you got to delve into them, research them, figure out the sweet spots. I have a lot of fun doing that…its like synthesizer archeology. I am bit jaded with modern stuff…for some reason I get more excited with something like a Casio CTK670 homekeyboard from 1992 then a brand new TR1000 ha. Curiously the CTK7670 has a very intriguing 808 like drumkit in it that sounds very dusty and nicely compressed because they are very short low bitrate samples. Well I could go on for days talking about synths I won’t bore you more with this stuf ha.
What setup do you use for your live performances? Will it be the same for your show in Athens?
I have MS20, Novation Mininova and BassStation II synthesizers connected to my Ableton so I can run MIDI patterns to them and I also play the keys live. For drums some drummachine most likely a Novation Circuit Rhythm, Roland SP404 and sometimes if I am in a funny mood an Akai rhythm wolf with a Boss Metal Zone FX (great combo!). But also a lot of drums coming from drummaps in Ableton with my own designed drumsounds and fx (like Smackos Tape Station). I use a Novation launchpad and launchcontrol to control Ableton, you can write the drumpatterns and melodies live on the launchpad, also just switch instantly to play the pads for some finger drumming if the opportunity arises. I also have some VSTs running in Ableton, a 303 emulator like ABL,TAL noisemaker and a JP8000 vst which are tweaked with the launch control. For FX I will have delay box or ZOOM CDR fx unit. The mininova is used for live vocoder singing, a great sounding vocoder if you tweak it a bit also for live performance because you can edit the microphone gate threshold which makes it more easy with feedback problems. Mostly I start with a live version of an existing track, then after a while, when there is a ‘chance’ I wil lift of into improvisation mode. I will program sounds live on the MS20, Mininova and Basstation, tweaking the envelopes and filters or whatever. When that turns into uncontrollable chaos noise I can return to MIDI/audio clip patterns of a classic Legowelt song, people like to hear something they know from a record of course…you got to play some of your hits ha. It is insane how good Ableton is to play live, it so intuitive and you can go anywhere, there are a hundred different workflows which you can change will playing too, It became part of my brain and muscle memory. There are still people that think using a laptop with Ableton is not really playing live but they probably don’t understand the concept or how it actually works…that it is really made with the focus on live improvisational performance. I used to play live with stuff like an MPC 2000 but that was superboring, you just select a pattern and play it, there was not really any tactile feedback just sluggish suffering ha. Always I think the best and most fun way to play for me is a combination of Ableton with hardware…Ableton doing the controlling/sequencing/VSTs and tweaking the sounds on the synths.
https://www.legowelt.org/
What can the audience expect from your upcoming gig in Athens on March 24?
A mix of some classic stuff and totally new experiments, improvised from The Hague electronix, Italo disco to hardcore old school 8bit amiga jungle, hypnotic crusty acidtekno, maybe even industrial EBM influences to digital dub but always as basis the Legowelt electro sound.
What can we look forward to from you in the near future? Any new releases or projects on the horizon?
The 2nd album from my Zorlok Compressor project, simply called Zorlok Compressor II, will come out soon on my Nightwind Records labels. I released the first Zorlok Compressor last year, these songs are basicly the more intense harder moments of my live set Forged from dark wave rave, acidhall , dubstep (not the drop-bro EDM trash), electro, oldschool Jungle, digidub bass and stuff in that direction.
I am doing the last bits of production for a project called Phantom Energy which is a collaboration with Andre Roderique-Edwards aka R from Toronto, an amazing singer and artist, producer. Some raw deep soul r&b vocals mixed with minimal synth wave and electro…something fresh I am very excited about.. Also my Ambient Trip Commander soundtrack will be released on double vinyl LP this year on the Lebanese System Revival label so that is something to Look out for too! And as usual there will be a lot of tapes and other 12”s on all sorts of labels some stuff I don’t even know yet what its going to be but that makes it fun and adventerous!
Listen to Legowelt (live): Legowelt Live at Intergalactic FM Festival 2021
Visit Cannibal Radio’s Instagram page to win 2 double tickets for Tropism w/ Legowelt (live), at Astron Club on March 24.
More from Legowelt https://legowelt.org/
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