Laroca: Electronica is an outlet for inner creativity
Laroca: Electronica is an outlet for inner creativity
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By Rob Swan
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Friday, 07, Aug 2009 12:52
Matt Gardner talks to Olly Wakeford of expansive electronica duo Laroca after the release of their excellent second album Valley of the Bears.
Click here to read the inthenews.co.uk review of Valley of the Bears
Do you think Valley of the Bears is your strongest release to date?
Without doubt - well there aren't too many contenders for that title anyway. Laroca has been slowly evolving over a decade and our first album was a collection of early work, this being the second collection comes later in our development and is stronger in its production with an emphasis on musicianship. It's better crafted as an album too.
Do you think your unique brand of electronica will inspire others to follow in your footsteps?
Who knows! It's a nice thought.
Which bands do you believe inspired you to go in the direction you did with your own work?
It's all a result of the expansion of our listening experience over the years. In the very early days it was people like Bonobo, Massive Attack and the Ninja artists that inspired us to get started making music together, since then we've discovered a lot of music from Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia which has been a great influence on what we produce.
What do you think of the current state of the British music industry?
Not sure what that means any more... I don't know - it's certainly hard to make a living!
What made you both move away from your roots in songwriting and classically-trained instrumental work? Do you feel it will always stay with you in your music?
It's funny how often my classical background is brought up, it was so long ago when I gave up on it! The paradox of my classical beginning is that whilst it gave me a fantastic musical training it was never an outlet for me creatively, so I had to find other ways to express myself in music. I guess our roots will always be present to some extent in what we do, Rob's background as a songwriter definitely translates into the crafting of our tracks, his experience really provides the impetus to pull it all together as I'm a bit less disciplined.
Given the sounds you demonstrate in the likes of Unit 125, do you think your music would work well with film or TV? Would you like to work with the film industry through soundtracks?
Oh god yes! Unfortunately you need someone to ask you first!
Valley of the Bears contains a number of songs, such as Carpe Diem and Yallah Andalucia, which draw from musical trends found in other countries. Why did you embrace these? Will you experiment more with other sounds in the future?
Well we listen to a wide range of music and much of what excites us most is the soundclash of different cultures and our minds do tend to wander when we're writing stuff. That said, the musicians we worked with on the above mentioned tunes were largely responsible for them turning out the way they did.
Many bands, such as Air and Royksopp, have taken their brands of electronica to all-new levels. Do you feel the music scene is more open-minded to your genre?
Generally speaking yes I feel the music scene is more open-minded, though it seems that some genres are more highly valued still for no particularly obvious reason.
Would you like to collaborate in future? If so, who would be your first choice?
Definitely, collaborations are very much on the agenda. There are many people we'd like to record with. Our number one aim for the next record is to get Matt Derbyshire aka The Second Whorl more involved in the production - he's played on both our records so far and is a seriously gifted musician and producer, witness the fact he's masterminded the reproduction of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing performed in its entirety by a live band.
What is the overall goal of the music you produce?
None as such, it's just music that makes us feel good and we enjoy the experience of making it. If it wasn't for Just Music putting it out we'd still be making it in our bedrooms for our own selfish pleasure!
Matt Gardner
http://www.myspace.com/larocauk