Here the interview done with BC Magazine (Hong Kong).
This is how it went:

hi Matt – thanks for the time.

 

1. How are you and what are you up to before sitting down for this interview?

 

Hello, Im pretty good thanks, just got up and enjoying my 1^st cup of tea  of the day ^.^

Working with Nalepa on this remix for Adam Freeland (Marine Parade) :It is for the single taken from his forthcoming album (release date fro the album should be early 2009) and we are releasing it under the name  BASS SCIENCE,

 

Right now Im also co-ordinating and organizing with my Made In Glitch crew the first Glitch Hop party in Japan  : edIT (The Glitch Mob) from Los Angeles  will be  the guest artist.

The party is going to be held on the 8^th of November in this beautiful venue called LEGATO on the  15^th floor with 360 degrees view over Shibuya.

We are the only glitch hop crew in Japan and I have been trying pushing this new style  for quite a while: this will be our first big size party.

 
 

2. Originated form Italy, studied in Holland, now based in Tokyo and also worked quite closely with a HK label (Celestial Dragon) – what's with all these travelling?

 

It's a very interesting experience as you get to know and collaborate with people from so different places and cultures.I wasn't planning my life being like this,it just happened.

I am actually more a kind of homie person.

Holland was the only place (16 years ago) in Europe where you could study sound engineering,and that was the reson why I found myself there after graduated from High School.

 

3. The Final Fantasy project this summer – can you tell us about the creation process? (say, would there be a lot of restriction from the company to what you can do coz it is a big brand; if you have used a different approach to create the music and what sort of mood/ atmosphere you are trying to creating etc)

 

 

I met Nobuo Umemtasu ,  the original composer for the Final Fantasy music and lead member /founder of the prog-rock  band Black Mages, few years ago truh a common friend.

I gave him a cd ,I had with me , with some of my music and productions: he contacted me after few months asking if I was interested in remix some of his compositions.

I was of course very honoured to do that.

I had to follow some directions in the style I was approaching each remix.The final product was specifically aimed to a certain target which to be honest I wasn't very acknowledged with. It has been a pleasure working with their team.

 

4. Are you a fan of the game BTW? :P

 

I have been playing few of the episodes ,I think it was number 5-6 and  7 .Tried sporadically the following episodes but I think the change in the graphic style lost some appeal to me.

 

5. What turned you from playing in a punk to a electronic music DJ/ producer?

 

The punk band I was singing and playing guitar for used to share the rehersal room with this reggae/ska band.That was my 1^st contact with black music,at the end of 80s.Their bass player got me into dub,which in my opinion is one of the most influential music production styles,especially related to today music.As a final listener you may not notice so ,but so many different style uses production techniques pioneered in dub at first.

Dub was my foot in the door  with  electronic music. From there I was lucky enough to live in London during the time  labels like WARP and REPHLEX were leading and inspiring the underground  music scene.the 90s were a very interesting time for me and being in UK when bands like Prodigy and Meat Beat Manifesto were making history ,was very lucky indeed.

I stayed in London just in time to experience the birth of what today people call dubstep before I moved to Japan.

 

6. In 2005, you became the A&R for Celestial Dragon – how did this happen (firstly the HK connection and secondly why A&R) and are there any new artists you have discovered so far?

 

I always had a quite unique taste in music,especially when playing out I have been trying to play unreleased or obscure music.For me djing means having people discoverying new songs and music styles,it's a sort of mission if you want (joke)

Some friends were telling me I should have  put togheter a compilation and when I asked them which label I should contact to release it ,NOVA from Ultimae records  ,who knew well my eclectic taste, told me to contact Celestial Dragon.SO I dropped them an email explaining my idea  and after few emails discussing the project  I had the green light from the label manager.Future Sound Theory was released and did quite well presenting  a total different  music direction for the label and the psy-chill scene.

 Helping the label   as an A&R was just the next obvious step.

 
It means partially discovering new artists ,partially taking artists from other music scene s and putting  them in a different context.

  

7. What are the major difference between your work as Matt B, RND crew and Bass Science?

 

 
RND (aka RaNDom)  started as a sort of cross mix of dub and electronica,developed then in a more electro /  dubstep direction.

I wanted to include as many live elements as possible in this project. Roger Linley became soon partner in this project. He is  a long term friend and a very talented  bass player with a also successful career  as double bass player with  the London Philarmonic Orchestra .We collaborate with MC Brother Culture  (Trojan Records / On-U  Sounds) for our latest album and recent gigs.my other collaborator ,based in Japan, is Shinsuke Inoue playing tables he is a long term student of the revered Kul Bhushan Bhargava ,one of the best existing  tabla players.

We are at the moment talking with   REALITY SHOCK RECORDS to work with some of their artists for our next more dubstep productions. And maybe use a drummer for the gigs.

 

Bass Science is me and Nalepa, an electronic artist based in Los Angeles I came across him  while preparing one of the compilations for Celestial Dragon.

We started remixing each other solo projects then , after I met him personally while I was on tour on the west coats US, we  decided to start this project  : the result  is a soundclash melding serious low end, deep pocket rhythms, crunchy distortion, glitchy mouth percussion, blips, bleeps and a heavy dose of dub delay.Thats what BASS SCIENCE is about.

 

I sign most of  the TV works as Mattb  and I do lots of sound designing too (for film and media).Actually that's a field I would like to work in more.

I have done quite few projects of sound branding and company identity.Its a totally different approach as you must be as incisive as possible in  very limited time (think about a 7 seconds stinger )

 
Im also working on a solo album at the moment ,more hip-hop oriented.There will be quite few interesting featuring ,but cant tell you about this yet .Im still considering if releasing it as a series of singles as opposite to the 'conservative' album format.

 

8. What's with dub/ dub-step/ IDM that you find so attractive to you?

 

There are various reasons why I got hooked on Dub (and then dubstep).

1^st of all the sloppy feels you get listening to a dub track. Its something very different from the cold and rigid quantized approach in other  genres of music.

It's a very simple music to same extent, still, if you pay attention,there is so much going on ,just in a very subtle way.

 
Secondly being myself a music producer and sound engineer,dub literally opened a new way to produce  a song. Dub was made in the studio at night times after the engineer recorded   reggae bands, messing around with the individual tracks in a  very experimental way. The  mixing desk becomes  an instrument itself with an endless number of possibilities and tricks.

Most of the mainstream genres owe a lot to dub engineering technique, and Im not an exception.

 The sound design   is nowdays more than ever a very important aspect of music.

Unfortunatly, sometimes  the composition side is left on the side ^.-

 
 

9. Future of electronic music… what are you expecting/ imagining? 

 

 I think it's a very exciting moment in the electronic music scene right now.

Im always open to new way to express my music ideas both in studio and during my live show.I have been always very interested with new way of processing  and creating sounds.

We are also witnessing important changes not only in the creatin process of music , but in in the business models.  Today it looks almost nothing like the music industry of few decades ago. There are a ton of reasons, most of them having to do with digital technology.its a long topic and I don't want to bore you wit it.But its defently influencing the outcomes from independent artsist: think about how many indie labels and artists broke in the top billboards in the past few years.

 
Future of music?I don't know what that  will be .It's not great being too early, but it's definitely better than being too late 

 ^.-

 

Thanks again!

 

Thank you,a pleasure.And I hope to see you on the 10^h of October: