Scanone - Basterdized Interview Nov 2007

Perhaps best known for his work with Combat Recordings, Jude Greenaway aka “ScanOne” is a London-based producer, DJ and visual artist who has been making, playing and releasing music for over a decade. In that time he has managed to develop a sound that skirts around the lunatic fringes of a myriad of underground genres, from bass-heavy electro and techno to glitched-up IDM and techy, brooding, dubstep. Jude has kindly taken time out of his busy schedule to talk to Basterdized about his love of rave music, the moving image, and “bass-driven electronics” among other things, and has also provided us with a fantastic liveset for his session. The liveset is in MP3 format (LAME encoded V2 variable bitrate) and can be downloaded from the link below.

Scanone Basterdized Session MP3 [49 MB]

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You’re currently based in London, a city known for its music scene. Has living there influenced what you do?

Of course, I’ve grown up here… I moved to France for a few years in the mid 90’s and one of the reasons for returning was because most of the music I was listening to and buying was coming out of London.

Tell us about how you first got into music. Was it always about dance music and electronics or did you have other beginnings?

When I was a kid I used to flick between the radio, cassette and and vinyl switches on my first stereo to make my own mixtapes. I used to borrow my dads dub records to play around with. Then in the early 90’s myself and a group of mates used to listen to pirate radio stations such as ‘smart boys’ and ‘Touchdown fm’ and frequent free spiral and outdoor hardcore raves. This is when I started to buy vinyl. ‘Unity’ record shop and ‘Lucky Spin’ records where on the agenda every weekend.

There is definitely a rave sound in your music. How important was the early rave scene for you?

Massive, I would say the hardcore days shaped the way I listen to, play, perform and produce music to date.

Lately it sounds as if dubstep has become your main influence, with its half-time drums and deep sub-bass becoming staples of the ScanOne sound. Are there any particular dubstep artists you rate?

I do play a lot of dubstep but its not my main influence, I still like to mix it up with other quality bass driven electronics, that’s why in most of my productions and sets I have elements of electro, techno, hardcore and IDM that complement the half step sound. At the moment I’m listening to artists like Anstam, Blackmass Plastics, Emalkay, Various Production, Milanese, Ed Chamberlain, Paul Blackford, Intex systems, Darkestral recs, Venetian Snares..etc..

What are your views on dubstep and the scene as a whole, especially given the recent hype it’s received?

I think as Jungle did just after it broke, dubstep has started to sound formulaic with so many producers on the scene. For me it’s the few interesting, twisted, dark and forward thinking numbers that slip through the net that I like.

Your music has encompassed many styles over the years from dancefloor electro-breaks to downtempo IDM and glitchy hip hop. Is this variety something you value intrinsically, or do you just see it as an inevitable part of musical progression?

To be honest I don’t really see my music just sitting in one box, I like to produce and dabble in different genres, however I do think there is a consistency of sound throughout the styles I produce. All my IDM work I now write as ‘Yellow Machines’ and I have a new side dubstep project ‘ Bionics’ so it’s a little bit easier to manage. The ‘scanone’ sound for me has always sat on the edge of various styles, but always dark, moody and progressive.

What about other non-musical influences? Your music is often described as “cinematic”…

I love cinema and filmmaking and I do think of moving image when I’m producing music. I think this helps create a journey or atmosphere within a track. I also like using synth lines in my tracks, creating a cinematic feel, I have been inspired by many film soundtrack composers such as Vangelis, John Corigliano, Herbie Hancock etc…..

How did you begin producing? Were you a DJ first, or were you always making music?

I started of DJ’ing in the early 90’s but in 1996 I help set up a collective of musicians and Dj’s in Toulouse in the south of France. This when I made my first track ‘Angel Dust’ (INK001) Just out of want to playing out a mix of jungle, breaks and techno.

How do you make your music now?

My tracks these days are all sequenced in Cubase but are elements pulled together from various places. Drums sequenced in Reason, Synths and bleeps from Virtual Instruments and other sounds either recorded or found. I really enjoy cutting up audio in Cubase, theres nothing like chopping up sounds and experimenting.

What about DJ-ing? Do you prefer it to playing live?

I've DJ’ed now for years and still love it and prefer it to playing off a laptop any day. However saying that sometimes you can get really happy accidents layering up unusual sounds and beats in Ableton ‘Live’ which can give you great ideas for production.

How do you perform live nowadays?

… Ableton ‘Live’ on a mac laptop, A Midi controller, All through an FX box with samples.

So far most of your releases have been on Combat Recordings. Tell us a bit about the label.

I’ve known Derek (Stormfield) for a few years now and we share similar tastes in music. Combat Recordings have a concrete music policy of bass heavy electronics from electro, twisted breaks and heavy dark dubstep. Im currently in the process of setting up my own label which has likewise ideas, I believe in the future of Combat with its border crossing values, this for me is the way forward.

What about your other label Blasé? Can you tell us a bit about that?

Defunkt.

Do you have plans to release on any other labels?

As Scanone I have released on ‘Combat Recordings’, ‘Dirty Needles’ , ‘Broken Fader Cartel’, ‘Digital Distortions’, Blasé, ‘INK Recs’, ‘MIB Recs’, and about to release a 12’’ on ‘Studio Rockers’ as Bionics. I plan do to do more remixes for various labels and release on my own new label.

You’re also a visual artist. Tell us about that. Do you work mostly in video and animation as your website would suggest?

I wouldn’t use my scanone website as a video reference as it is really old and needs to be updated…Its on my list to do for next year……I studied film and animation at college and went on to do a masters in Video Installation, Moving image has always inspired me and played a huge part in my visual language but when I’m dealing with an audio visual project, that’s the best. It’s the synergy between audio and image that creates something new, an experience, especially within a physical space and not just on a screen. I’ve been associated with The Light Surgeons for a few years as I co-directed a few short films and produced a lot of audio visual material for various live shows which we toured in multimedia festivals globally in the early to mid 2000’s. Recently I’ve been producing audio for United Visual Artists, firstly for their live show and have just finished a 15 min bespoke soundtrack for the opening of a contemporary art space in Istanbul that they’ve designed the permenant lighting for. I also produce a lot of sound design / spot effects for animations and TV shorts. So, if im not creating video I’m collaborating as a musician / audio designer with video artists.

How important is your visual art? Do you see it as something that’s as important as music, or more so?

I like to mix the two where possible. Im currently working on a DVD project ‘Yellow Machines’. (myspace.com/yellowmachinesinfo) My visual art is very important to me as I’ve studied it for a long time, but electronic music has always been the driving force behind most of my projects.

And lastly, what should we be looking out for in the future?

Tracks out on my own imprint, The DVD project and a new website.

Thanks for your time!

Interviewed by Damo