Words: Tom Lea

Last week, we profiled five dance artists to keep an eye on this year – Brenmar, Mele, Funkystepz, Dro Carey and Superisk. Each gave interviews and provided mini-mixes of their own material. This is part two of the feature, where five other artists do the same. To read part one, click here.

Producers to Watch #6: Krystal Klear

Krystal Klear makes boogie-house and funk with absolute bone-shuddering force behind it. We’ve been into him at FACT since we got to give out a track called ‘Anteater’ at the beginning of last year, and his ‘Tried for your Love’ 12″ on All City at the tail-end of 2010 seemed to win him a ton of new fans. He’s also a pretty incredible DJ, and resident at Manchester’s Hoya:Hoya clubnight.

Krystal Klear, introduce yourself.

“Hey, I’m Krystal Klear and I make music using styles and sounds from 1980-1994.”

What’s your musical background, and how did you get to making the sort of stuff you’re making now?

“It was a realisation within myself as to what I wanted to make. I had attempted making all other sorts of music, from metal to hip-hop throughout my teenage years and I came to the understanding that the one particular style or element to the music that I listened to alot of was boogie/funk. So I decided that I would attempt to create a sound similar to the music I love… and the difference I felt between the quality and the greater enjoyment I got from it made me realise that this is what I wanted to do.”

Where does that side of things come from? Any artists in particular?

“Through diggin’ for records to make beats from was my real education of the influences towards my sound, I was always that guy that while everyone was buying Lamont Dozier records I was digging out Freddie Jackson or Stephanie Millis joints. It became an on-going joke at one stage – I wasn’t considering what would be good to sample, more what I just wanted to listen to so from picking up a lot of what people thought were crap records or not necessarily valuable ones I gained this huge love for those sounds.

“Hundreds of producers from that era to now influence me but I feel more and more that its my own personal experiences that really fuel my motivation to make music, whether it be heartbreak or happiness. But to avoid being boring [laughs], people like Babyface, Teddy Riley, Patrick Adams, Mauro Malavasi/Jaques Fred Petrus, Keni Burke, Kashif, Hudson Mo, Daft Punk, etc. etc. etc. – the list could go on for days!”

You’re a resident at Hoya:Hoya now. How did that happen? There seems to be something special in the air at that clubnight.

“Me getting involved with Hoya happened after a stage of being friends with Ryan [Illum Sphere] and Johnny [Dub], they asked me would I like to play, and although they claim it’s because I played a good set (which I don’t think I did by any means), I think it just happened because of a natural bond between every member of the residents. It was a real case of everyone feeding off each other’s energy and it became a thing where we would all get together at every Hoya and just hang, so I guess it was the natural progression.

“I wanted to be involved in Hoya the minute I played, and I was super psyched and honoured to get the call up from the guys, and you’re right, there’s definitely something special about Hoya. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it seems to continue to make me excited about every second weekend of the month.”

What do you have pencilled in for 2011?

“A few releases, one in particular is a project for Eglo Recordings with Olivier Daysoul which I’m super excited about, gigging throughout the year and hopefully doing some touring throughout the summer. For the most part just making as much music as possible.”

Tracklist:
1. Krystal Soul – The Only Way (Instrumental)
2. Krystal Klear – Greensilver (Dub Organizer)
3. Krystal Klear – Tried For Your Love (All City)
4. Krystal Klear – Chapp
5. Krystal Klear – Swandive
6. Krystal Klear – No Sweat
7. Jimmy Edgar – New Touch
8. Krystal Klear – Pistol Chauffeur
9. Kenny Vaughn – Feels Like Heaven

Next page (2/5)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011 at 5:19 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.