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Marcin Czubala
23 October 2008 02:57:37
Marcin Czubala

Marcin Czubala                     polskibeats

Marcin Czubala is not your typical techno artist. Thats partly due to the fact he is a Polski rather than a German and that he studied classical music for most of the 90's playing over 300 orchestra events so its with a cultured approach that we sat down with Marcin.

 P:Tell us a little about your early years DJing and Producing – what attracted you to underground electronic music and when was the moment when you decided you wanted to dedicate your life to it?

M: When I had finished my music school, I started going to the clubs. Step after step I was discovering this thing called “techno” . After some time I got my hands onto things like Joey Beltram, Robert Hood, and some chicago-house records from Relief and it was like “wow”.
After collecting some records and having my first adventure with mixing on decks, I decided to save some money and buy equipment. It took a year and I bought my first synth - a Roland Juno-60 and then E-mu sampler. That was more than 10 years ago now.

 

Was there a strong club culture in Poland when you were growing up and how did hailing from Poland influence you as a producer?

When I was growing up it was more like a desert. We had basically one club – Eskulap. Thank lord my city is not so far away from Berlin, so from time to time we had some interesting artists coming over. For example Ellen Allien around 1995;  she came from berlin, with own soundsystem and lights and was making parties here in my city.

If you ask about influence – I wouldn't say that I have any special influence because of my origin. Poland right now is the same as any other European Union country. It was much more different 20-30 years ago and maybe back than it might even have been inspirational.

For the uninitiated, how would you describe your sound and productions?

Honestly I really hate describing music, I always let the music speak for itself.
But if I really have to hmmmm.... I would say minimal electronic music crossing techno and house with a bit of abstraction and experimentalism.

You have a reputation for using quite unusual samples from the wider world in some of your tracks. Is this part of a conscious decision to distinguish your productions in a time when people are using the same production tools and resultantly much of the club music sounds similar?

The main thing for me is to sound different. Of course I can't sound totally different, but I mean to say I want people to here some signature in the music. It doesn't make sense to make something very similar. There are too many records coming out, so we need to respect the market and our listeners. Unfortunatelly these days it's so easy to produce music with a laptop, but in my opionion it kills the market. We have too many things coming out and after some time some records are the same. People should have much higher point of quality control.

And on the same tangent, is it important for you, for your productions to have a versatility so that they can be listened to in different environments? The album does not seem limited to only work in a club environment?

For a 12” vinyl release it wouldn't be that important. But when we talk about the album, which isn't addressed only to DJ's, yes a versatility is very important. It was the main idea behind the production of “Chronicles of Never”. Something good for a club, but also for a home.

Chronicles of Never is your first full length album in quite a while – seven years I believe. Can you talk a bit about the adjustment you had to take from doing EPs and remixes to a full-length album, and how your approach differs between these mediums?
 
I made 4 Eps for Mobilee before the album. From my point I didn't see any sense of making more singles without producing an album. Albums are like an artistic statement, one should be made after a certain period of time. After 2 years of making music for Mobilee I developed a specific Czubala/Mobilee sound and reached the point where I was ready to record a long player. Another thing was that with 12” I was limited to making rather dancefloor music. For “Chronicles of Never” I got a chance to produce much wider spectrum of electronic music.


Did you have a particular underlying concept in mind for Chronicles of Never when you were recording the album? Did the final product match your original ideas for the release or did it become something different altogether?

Of course I had a music concept! I knew what kind of sound I want to achieve and what sort of emotions I want to share. The final product matched the original ideas otherwise I wouldn't call it finished and couldn't release it.
From what I gather, you feel that electronic music offers a different experience to every listener, and the fluidity of each listener’s response is it’s charm.

"The advantage of electronic music is its freedom from interpretation. I'm not giving you a painting, just the brush and the paints”

Can you reveal your own response/experience listening to the album now that it’s completed?

We don't have lyrics here, neither any story we talk seriously about. We don't talk shits about love etc. Electronic music is more about mathematical processing and frequencies to open your brain for more trippy adventures. Of course most of the time it lets your body move on the dancefloor but take your headphones and you will discover much more sounds and layers. It's too advanced and abstract to say “this song is about my ex girfriend”. It would be so cheesy......



How has working on the Mobilee label been different from your earlier days as a producer and impacted upon your production methods?

Things are easier for me here. I can spend my time on producing music rather than taking care of distribution, promotion, bookings etc.
The label is working on a more professional level, keeping in the same time family feeling, so it's a perfect home for a musician.
As for production methods – I am developing my skills all the time. It's not related to the label. I didn't change anything to achieve that Mobilee sound. I think my music just fits into the label nicely and that's the way of it.

 What is next for you?

Right now I am on tour promoting my album here in Europe. Then I have a plan to go to Latin America and in the meantime of course I am thinking.

Many thanks!

Chris Honnery

 

 

 

 

 

 

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