UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.FM #4: Mouldy Soul interview

With a series of releases on Colony Productions and BroKEn Records in the last few months, Mouldy Soul has already become a producer to watch in 2012. For his UK Glitch Hop debut he's going to be previewing an hour long live set and much, much more. Tune in 10pm-12am Wednesday 14 March or catch up on our archive here: http://soundcloud.com/ukglitchhop

Introduce yourself...

My name is Richard Carrigan and my stage name is Mouldy Soul

How would you describe your particular style of glitch?

The best description I've heard is: "This isn't dubstep; this is Marks and Spencer's dubstep." I'd say it was optimistic wobble funk with the occasional helping of self loathing step! I've also been described as a "Digital Hendrix"... but that was by me, just then.


What first turned you onto glitch hop and mid tempo? Any particular artists or tunes?
Basically the answer is Glade Festival fed me an Omelette and I liked it! A few years ago they had Spoonbill on the line up. Never heard his tunes before, found his myspace and fell in love with his sound almost instantly. I say almost as the first track I listened to was Woodenspoon and I didn't really know how to interpret it at the time, but after listening to a few more tunes like Mangle Boogie Bangle and Bunkerfunk, I quickly became familiar with his releases because everything he touches is gold!

Here's a few tunes that have given me so much joy:



From Spoonbill we found Opiuo and others like the Mollusk, Mr Bill and basically just fell in love with the musical output of Australia from then on! Their music was a breath of fresh air after being so heavily exposed to the dark and sinister sounds coming from the UK at the time.

Your first few releases were all through Colony Productions, the London label run by Crunch and Vent, which has some serious glitch pedigree. How did that come about?

I made Wine and Shine, sent it to a DJ mate (Dave Quextal) who is renowned for horribly criticising tracks, ended up getting some surprisingly nice feedback and he suggested a few labels to send it to. Sent it to a couple of labels, one of them was Colony, got some great feedback from them and they decided to release it.


You were sitting at the top of the Addictech charts for quite a while at the end of last year, how did that feel?
Almost as good as seeing a double rainbow :) I was really happy with the way the Hypersquelch ep went down, it was definitely a confidence booster as I doubted my own abilities way too much, also the feedback I receive from my awesome followers on Soundcloud has given me a great deal of confidence to be able to continue to push myself to achieve ever greater things. So here's a massive thank all of you!

What's the scene like where you are?

Idyllic countryside, sweet pastures and the smell of cow manure.

Where do you like to play the most?

Probably on the swings, or the roundabouts! On a decent sound system, preferably Opus or Funktion One's and definitely outdoors when it's sunny, but I haven't had the combined experience. I've had one of each, but not yet clasped the holy trinity!!!

What's the craziest gig you've ever played?

Latvia, I loved it there so much. It was an experimental mishmash of about twenty audio and visual artists from all over the world from Berlin to Bogota, we got together for a week of drunken partying and pulled off a magical collaborative party at the end. We had a giant thirty foot screen, loads of video projectors and 3D mapping awesomeness and hooked the visuals up to the Xbox kinnect so people could interact in real time with the visuals, that a was pretty wicked party to be a part of. It was crazy because it was the most disorganised chaotic event I've ever been a part of, but some how we managed to pull some order from the chaos and put on a really enjoyable party.

What's your favourite track at the moment?

Probably bubble control or lumpy haggis by Tipper, the guys sound design is out of this world, absolutely love everything he made previous but Bubble Control is next level stuff!

Who's inspiring you at the moment?

Too many to mention them all! Spoonbill, Ott, Opiuo, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Curtis Mayfield, Herbie Hancock, Shpongle, Tipper, Squarepusher, AFX, Hedflux, Bad Tango, Mr Bill, AMB.

Who are you looking out for in 2012?

AMB definitely, this guys production seems to get better every track, and great to hear someone grow into a sound.


Tipper's Puzzle Dust is gonna be awesome, Hedflux's full length album, Opiuo's Butternut Slap series, the glitch hop on Adapted Records; which is now the home of Mr Bill and some really cool newcomers like Mustard tiger, Lucky Hz and Goosebumpz who are all making amazingly cool stuff. Also looking forward to the new Hypnagog album, as his first one Dreaming in pieces was absolutely epic and free so go get it!!!

What new releases have you got in the pipeline?

Too many!! I'm really excited about a few remixes I'm doing for Mr Bill and AMB.


I've also got a few collabos brewing with the likes of Hedflux, Vent and K+Lab. Plus I've got an Ep 'The Harangu' that'll be on Colony, getting some really cool artwork done from this dude: http://ayalien.deviantart.com/

And I've also got a full length album planned called "One point make sense" that I'm pretty excited about, but I don't wanna give away too much just yet!!

Where can we see you playing next and over the summer?

I'm playing in Exeter at the Dark Knights Mega Rave at the end of this month. Headlining the bar area, which is being hosted by Riddim Fruit Records, then getting flown out to Italy, Bass invaders in Southampton, Bristol, and a couple of festivals such as the legendary Glade!

What have you got lined up for your first show on Glitch FM?

Something pretty special, an hour long live Mouldy Soul set, with a jazz guitarist, featuring some exclusive never heard before material, a guest mix from UK artist Eurythmy who makes some wicked Glitch/IDM music, some super hot promos from the UK underground and some fresh squelch from Bran Richards, Mustard Tiger and the elusive Swingesthesia. Should be worth tuning in for :)

 
Catch Mouldy Soul on Glitch.FM from 10pm-12am GMT Wednesday 7 March 2012.

Listen to the first three shows hosted by the Morbidly Obese Midget, Your Niece and William Breakspear at: http://soundcloud.com/ukglitchhop