Fenchurch At Bloc
12th to 14th March 2010
Digitonal
Download Fenchurch Domers Digitonal's exclusive podcast and read the interview here.
To me Digitonal seem to be on a different vibe to the other domers, tell us a bit about your sound, what/who are your influences?
Our influences tend to lie where different forms of music meet. So in the beginning, it was explicitly about minimalism (i.e. Reich, Glass, Nyman, Adams) and using those vibes to create something more akin to the AI-era Warp stuff I was listening to: Black Dog, Autechre, Aphex, Bola etc. I still listen to a massive amount of classical music, especially early music, whilst Samy does his jazz thing and brings the arabic touches to the sound. Josh is firmly entrenched in rave, acid house and all things techno - B12 has been, and continues to be a huge influence on us both. All these things leak into the music somehow.
Who are you looking forward to seeing at Bloc?
Autechre, always, and from what I've heard of Oversteps, even more so now. Antipop Consortium cause I'm a massive fan and have never seen them live. Yimino produced for my money the best electronica album of the last 5 years and are always great. Placid is the best acid house DJ in the country, and I'm also looking forward to our own AGT Rave Cru side project slot, just to let off some steam after the serious business of serious music :o)
Where do you go on a night off, favourite bar, restaurant or just your front room?
I have an 8-month old kid, I don't get nights off ;o) Ginglik in Shephard's Bush is our home and I love it there. Corsica for a proper rave up. My old local, The Lighthouse in Battersea which I miss dearly.
What have been the best and worst gigs you’ve played?
Many best gigs, but I'd single out Prague at the Sperm Festival in 2007 - you could hear a pin drop and the audience were totally connected to it - a lot of what we do is improvised and you need to feel a connection with your audience for it to be at it's best. The worst was the worst because it should have been the best - playing on a NASA base in San Francisco a couple of years ago - let down by bad promoters and tech failure. Was a soul-destroying day that was.
Does fashion play a big part in your life? What is you’re fave piece of clothing at the moment?
Having never been a dedicated follower of fashion, I have, of late, been really appreciating the pleasure of dressing smartly, especially the simple delights of a well cut shirt (rather than the standard jeans/tshirt combo that saw me through the last 15 years or so). For the first time in my life I think I have more shirts in the wardrobe than tshirts.
What’s the next step for Digitonal?
Three albums out this year - one of old material remastered, one of remixes we've done, and a new album by the end of the year.
