Trifonic Interview with Electronic Creatives

26 Jan

This is a bit of a departure from our normal tutorial format, but Brian recently sat down with our good friend Laura Escudé of Electronic Creatives to discuss the upcoming Trifonic EP (tentatively titled “City of Refuge”), his thoughts on the production and creative process, and the future of hi-hats (or lack thereof), among other things.

Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the interview are below.

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  • Jonathan Tucker

    This interview was enlightening yet totally depressing at the same time. When I hear someone I am musically influenced by (Brian Trifon) talk about trying to sound more like Burial (God of dubstep) it makes wanna just say ‘fuck it’ and give up. Whats the point, I’ll never sound that good. You know what I mean?nnAs amazing and influential Burial & dubstep is, it is the ‘here and now’, the trendy thing to do. Thanks to the internet, musical styles come and go so quickly, and it is impossible to keep up. I can’t even finish a fucking 1st ep without discovering that I need to compose differently and record differently. Of course, it’s awesome to be influenced by Burial and dubstep, but the mere fact that everybody wants to sound like that inspires me embrace what people like Trifonic have already accomplished. Does Trifonic stutter his beats like crazy? No. In fact, much of it is incredibly quantized. Dude, that’s okay. Its so easy nowadays to feel embarrassed about quantizing shit just because its not the cool thing to do anymore. Fuck, its discouraging. And I’m not trying to be a pity party, Brian. :) I guess what I’m saying is, I like Burial’s music, and I like your music. Don’t be anybody else. You are excellent at what you do.

  • Anonymous

    Hey Jonathan, thanks for the comment. I understand what your saying, and I certainly have had the feeling of “what’s the point of trying” when I hear artists that really blow my mind. At the same time, every time I’ve had that feeling (of both encouragement and despair) my ear and my musical world opens up a bit more. The great thing is that you (and me) don’t have to do exactly what other producers are doing, nor do you have to out do them…. just learn from their good ideas and apply it (or not) to what we do. nThe next trifonic release wont sound like Burial or dubstep. Actually if you listen to “Good Enough” from our Emergence album you can hear a pretty serious Burial influence on the pattern of that beat, but pretend I didn’t say that :P nI have no plans to become Burial… I’ll leave that to James Blake (zing!…I’m kidding… I like James Blake). I admire Burial, Flying Lotus etc for the feel, but I’m not interested in stepping on their toes. I care much more about good sounds, a good feel, a good melody, a good vibe etc than what genre or what the influences of the day are. No need to despair, their is room for all. Defintiely don’t give up on your EP. Don’t let Burial, Trifonic or anyone else get in your way!

  • Jonathan Tucker

    Lol. Thanks for the pep talk. :) That was my reaction too when I first heard James Blake – he is, however, incredibly talented for being only 21. I dig his gospel influence.nnOn a side note, (with regards to production techniques) do you know how Burial, James Blake, Mt. Kimbie, etc. go about warping/modulating/pitch-shifting their vocal samples into melodies? I’m incredibly curious, and though I have tried it, I am unable to successfully replicate it on my own. Dot dot dot. Dot dot. You should do a video tutorial.

  • http://www.uberlab.com u00fcberLAB

    what a great interview man. i enjoyed the van halen reference. well played sir.