KAIZO SLUMBER - Interview

(I)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

On your website (site link), it states that Kaizo Slumber was 'born out of a love for all styles of hardcore electric dance music, whether it's old school, new school; whether it was the melodiousness of happy hardcore or the blistering and uncompromising sound of gabber.'

Why has the hardcore genre had such a profound impact on you creatively?

KAIZO SLUMBER

Because it's the most maximalist in-your-face form of electronic music that still manages to retain some of the catchiness and accessibility of electronic dance music (to some extent.)

I love the idea of pushing the musical limits of dance music into new and exciting territories beyond straight danceability and the medium of hardcore techno allows me to do that. For me more specifically I like melding the atmospheric and new age-y elements of my aesthetic to the hardcore sound. I could've just made slick ambient pieces or downtempo but I really think the contrast of atmospherics and harsh sounds is really interesting and not really explored often enough.

(II)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

At ETHEREAL we loved your dual-single release of Gengar Ecstasy / MOTHERFUCKING SPACE ANGELS FROM CYRENE! Can you tell me a bit about these tracks & the motivation behind the releases?

KAIZO SLUMBER

The next Kaizo Slumber LP is going to heavily incorporate digital hardcore, metalcore and grindcore songwriting and Gengar Ecstasy happens to be one of those tracks. I wanted to release this particular one early to gauge interest in the stylistic shift and see how my first efforts in that have been.

The 'B-side' MOTHERFUCKING SPACE ANGELS FROM CYRENE! was a track I had made a while back and thought the world needed to hear it so I released it alongside Gengar Ecstasy to give those who maybe didn't like the first track, something more classically Kaizo-y. The new album won't be a complete change from the stuff I've released so far, I think the vocal synth punk tracks still have that Kaizo quality in its production and songwriting but it is a change nonetheless so I thought I'd test the waters on that.”

(III)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

We love the early 2000s / late 90s retro iridescent visual design of your album art/website. Why do you choose to represent yourself in that way?

KAIZO SLUMBER

The first computer I ever had the chance of using was my family's HP Compaq DC7100 running Windows XP and that clean yet primitive UI design had a very big impact on me. That computer was a total hunk of shit but it was my first experience with anything computing or internet related so it left such an impression on me.

(IV)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What was your favorite video game growing up/video game soundtrack?

KAIZO SLUMBER

Easy answer: Super Mario Galaxy. Just a phenomenal game all around. That game's soundtrack is a personal favourite and its style of grandiose and Romantic-era Western classical composition is another major influence on my music.

(V)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What inspires you creatively outside of music?

KAIZO SLUMBER

I think this is a fairly obvious answer but the fifth through seventh generation of video games, I grew up playing games from these eras and I think these specific eras were the awkward transition periods when video games went from simple novelties to the titans of popular culture we know it now today and that resulted in a lot of experimentation even on the mainstream AAA side of the industry.

Surrealist and neo-surrealist art is another big influence for me. And especially for the more recent stuff, exploitation movies, I'm a Gen Z-er through and through so of course cheap sensationalist garbage appeals to me very much!

(VI)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

We checked out your recent track remix titled, 'Lil Texas - Make Them Pay (Kaizo Slumber Kick Edit)' & love the abrasive mix/visuals. What was the motivation behind remixing 'Lil Texas'?

KAIZO SLUMBER

I love the early hardcore sound but in a lot of respects it's very unrefined and isn't as exciting or innovative as it probably was back then. As a result I also take a lot of influence from modern hardcore, especially uptempo and frenchcore. The new style of hardcore just has a lot more punch and vigor and that's why this modern era of hardcore has a special place in my heart as well.

On the other hand, that brutality means a lot less emphasis is put on making the tracks, particularly musical, which is very much intentional but because of how ancient the technology used in early hardcore was, producers had to add some kind of 'songful-ness' to the music to make it interesting.

I think that's why I enjoy Lil Texas' music because it has the biting edge of modern hardcore but he is still able to maintain the colourful and zany sound palette and songwriting of early hardcore, which is something I try to do but in a different manner.

It's not just festival super-saw followed by Serum-generated white noise screech, which is a fun sound no doubt, but just isn't unique to hardcore like the rave-style of production. Lil Texas is the one musical act that has come the closest to my own vision as to what I want to do with my music, so I thought a kick edit of one of my favourite tracks of his would be fun to make.

(VII)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Being from Tripoli, Lybia, do you think your upbringing (assuming you grew up there) influences the type/style of music you produce? (maybe it doesn't).

KAIZO SLUMBER

I've moved around a lot in my life and the majority of it has not been spent in Tripoli despite being from here, so I can't really say that it's influenced me. Tripoli doesn't have much of a scene for any kind of mass media, let alone electronic music, which is why my efforts have been very online thus far.

(VIII)

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Kaizo Slumber?

KAIZO SLUMBER

WORLD DOMINATION!

That might take a while so in the meantime,

I've finished writing and producing for the new album and I want to start recording soon and that'll be the next LP done.

KAIZO SLUMBER: BIGLINK

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