Interview: Automaton

Terrorbyte and Automaton from Beta Birmingham delivered a brilliant debut show for UK Glitch Hop on Glitch.fm last week. Here's Automaton on DJing Mayan pyramids, following in the digital footprints of prefuse73 and a very special release coming out soon...

 Please introduce yourself....

My name is Thomas Dunstan, sometimes known as Automaton... I'm 33, from Birmingham UK and I'm an electronic  music producer, music technology lecturer, live sound man and father to an amazing six year-old girl.... I release hip hop infused electronic music on Satamile Records in the US and Beta Birmingham (soon to be called Beta Test) Records in the UK.

How would you describe your particular style of bass music?

I don't like to drop the names of genres or sub genres... essentially it's a mixture of all the sounds that I have enjoyed in my life... fundamentally hip hop, electronica, funk and dub with a glutinous helping of bass!

What kit do you use?

Ableton, livid instruments ohm64, a technics 1210 and a whole bunch of weird and wonderful plug-ins.

What first turned you onto bass / glitch / lazer music? Any particular artists or tracks?

I tend to like any music that isn't mediocre, whatever its roots may be.... I can say that some of my favourite artists are Tipper, DJ Shadow, Toots & The Maytals, DJ Premiere, Bassnectar, Boards Of Canada etc., but I'm sure a lot of people out there would say the same.

I think it was hearing point to b by prefuse73 that made me realise that you could actually successfully release this kind of sound. also funkstorung and bitt meddler were massive influences on me.

What's the scene like where you are?

I think me and Terrorbyte are the scene in Birmingham.

Where do you like to play the most?

Festivals. You get a much better crowd, better soundsystems and it's always much more of a doss than playing in nightclubs.I played Shambala Festival and Espiritu Mundo Festival this year. My favourite nightclubs to play in are Hootenanny in Brixton and the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham

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

Soma soundsystem in a place called Ague Azul. It's near the Palenque ruins (Mayan pyramids) in southern Mexico on new years eve 2000. There were lots of naked people, waterfalls, monkeys and we were all mashed up on peyote.

Who's inspiring you most at the moment?

My students inspire me loads. I love the enthusiasm they have and the freaky ideas that they come up with.

Who are you looking out for in 2012?

I always look out for the stuff that Colony Productions are releasing. and I'm really liking the work of Shamanic Technology too.

What's next in the pipeline?

A very exciting project involving all of the UK glitch hop heads, DJ Switch and the Rane Corporation. This project will take UK glitch hop to the world.

Where are you playing next?

The oh yeah music centre in Belfast, lakota in bristol and in brum -the yardbird, the birmingham ballroom, the hare and hounds, PST and suki10c

http://soundcloud.com/automaton-uk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/automaton/111928481855
http://twitter.com/DJautomaton
http://www.mixcloud.com/THE_automaton/
http://www.last.fm/music/+noredirect/The+Automaton