Interviews

Uniile - This Must Be Illegal

I couldn't get enough of this track when I first heard it. The strings sample is beautiful, but the restrained arrangement is what makes it truly great. Basic gritty drums, and a simple bass guitar line with lots of negative space to let the other sounds breathe. The aesthetic and arrangement directly inspired my track "Atlas” which was posted on Houseum's YouTube channel, which kicked off everything for me.

Moby - Porcelain

Not a house track, but I felt it needed to be included. My Dad used to play Moby's Play a lot growing up, and Porcelain is my favourite track off the album, if not my favourite track ever! I love the piano line which sits on top of the arrangement. I use a piano lead in lots of my tracks (Spirits, In My Dreams, Juniper…) and I'm certain it comes back to Porcelain. Moby's sampling style also influenced me a great deal - he finds samples which support and decorate the track, and recontextualises, rather than taking a genre-adjacent sample like disco and simply beefing up the drums.

Andy Cato - 7am Drop

I first heard this on a Boiler Room I watched maybe 10 years ago. The melodic phrase has a distinct emotion - hopeful I guess - which really struck me. I think the track has inspired the way I’ve written a lot of my own tracks, which is by starting with a single chord and then writing a bassline around it. My track “Alone” is an example of this - the bass melody dances around while the chords stay centred in one place. The intro also inspired the intro of a track on my upcoming second album.

Laurence Guy - Gone

Laurence is another artist who’s sampling style really inspired me. The melodic samples are all perfectly in placed in the arrangement and stereo field. I can hear his influence in my track “Juniper” which also contains a lot of sampled melodies and vocals. He’s an artist who’s produced a lot of melancholy-but-danceable music which is an aesthetic I’m really drawn to.

HNNY - No

This might be the first HNNY track I found. He’s a producer I listened to a lot when first starting out, and I really admire his sampling, drums and chords. This track stands out because of how good the chords are. Not just the progression, which despite being major chords feels haunting and melancholy, but the texture too. The particular organ sound he chose is really unique for a house track, and it sounds incredible with the warm bassline following the chords underneath. It’s inspired me to write four-chord progressions (Oceanside Girl, Save Us) and build tracks around chords with a unique texture (Pink Wax).

Marcus Marr - Love Release (Ara Koufax Remix)

Ara Koufax are two guys out of Melbourne who make really unique and brilliant music. Or at least they used to, I’m not sure if they’re still making music. I love the electric guitar bassline in this track. Similar to the Andy Cato track, I love the bass’s texture and how its melody moves around while the chords stay in one place in the A section. I’m sure it was an inspiration behind my tracks featuring my own bass guitar playing (In My Dreams, Jaune, Does It Get Easier).