Brighton based, multi-genre electronic musician Alan Myson (ITAL tEK) has been a shining light on seminal underground institution Planet Mu since he released the first of his four immaculate, full length offerings for them way back in 2008, when he was just 18 years old.
Initially fusing elements of dubstep with ambient, hip hop and electronica within his own unique melodic template, and more recently exploring retro futurist themes alongside footwork and juke rhythms and tempos, Myson has carved out an inimitable niche for himself on the varied and ever-changing Planet Mu roster.
Ahead of his only UK festival appearance this summer at Noisily in July, we spoke to the charming and amenable producer about taking time off and the power of reflection, planning and writing his fifth album, Planet Mu, live sets and more in this exclusive, candid interview.
It’s been quite a while since we heard from Ital Tek – it’s been a year since your last release, how’s the interim period been treating you?
Really well thanks. For the first time in my career it’s been good to have a bit of time to reflect on what I’ve been doing – getting my head in order – why I’m writing music, and what I want to be doing with it.
I’ve just been taking some time with the next release really as I’ve always churned out records you see, since I released my first single in 2007, I’ve always released something every 5-6 months for like 7 years, so I just felt it was a good time to take a… well not take a break as such – I’ve been working really hard – just take a break from feeling the pressure of having to release something in every possible window of opportunity or having to take every booking I get offered.
Have you got any new releases in the pipeline?
Yeah, the one I’ve been working on has been my next album. I’ve got a ton of material written for it. I’ve been working on it for the last 18 months really. It’s getting really close to completion. There is a tentative release date, but I’m not going to tempt fate by saying what it is just yet. It’s coming along really well actually, im really excited about it.
Who that’s going to be released by?
That will be for Planet Mu.
Cool. What’s it like working with Mike P? Is he as hands on as the rumours say he is?
Historically there has been a lot of back and forth conversations about stylistic choices and yes, he does have quite a hands on approach. I don’t think I’m alone with that though – I think most of the artists, and definitely my friends who are on Planet Mu have a similar experience.
Mike has a lot of opinions on music and seems to know what peoples strong points and weaknesses are, which I think is really handy. I’ve not got too much experience of dealing with other labels but I quite enjoy that feedback.
I trust myself to put the work in – going into the studio, putting the time in – I have confidence in my abilities to write music that I’m happy with, but when it comes to releasing music, that’s a whole other game. You got to put another head on, and you need to think in terms of… if you’re really close to the music – like most artists are – you need someone else’s opinion sometimes, to just say “you know, maybe that direction isn’t working so well,” or,” maybe these four tunes are the strongest ones maybe go down that path,” which is why a label like Planet Mu is really helpful with stuff like that. With stuff like track listings and sequencing Mike has a lot of say in that, and I’ve always been happy with the way things have turned out.
Mega City is very footwork influenced. Did you see footwork as a way of speeding up what you had done already? Or did you see it differently coming from being a ‘dubstep’ producer?
I think it was more to do with the energy, but I’ve never said I am part of the footwork scene, I would never claim to be. I’m obviously influenced by trends in music, but I think it’s down to my lack of concentration when making music really, I get bored quite easily and so I found it refreshing when I first heard it, which was probably around the time of my second album when Mike (Paradinas) sent me a load of tunes that would have ended up on the Bangs and Works compilations. He was just thinking about signing a lot of those guys, and not having been plugged into the underground Chicago dance scene I wasn’t aware of it, and so it was really exciting.
I wouldn’t say I was a footwork aficionado, but there was something in that energy that made me think that I could transpose my ideas and thoughts about music into a different type of framework, it was a fun experiment for me and I’m happy with the records I made working at that speed. It was refreshing to make because every couple of years I feel the need to sort of hit the reset button on what I’m doing and try something a bit new, which I think is fairly evident when looking back on my discography.
I think there are probably a lot of fans of straight up footwork who look at the more European take on it as quite alien. When I was growing up I was a big fan of jungle and drum and bass – it was the first type of electronic music I got into when I was first learning how to make music – I used to mess around making crap jungle tunes, so I think a part of the appeal of making footwork stuff was revisiting those first days of making music, those first memories.
We’ve all made crap jungle tunes at some point in our lives… So what’s the new album sounding like?
It’s certainly less club orientated, and that’s probably because I have taken quite a lot of time out, especially being in clubs over the last couple of years. I’ve still been playing quite a lot of shows, but I’ve not been part of the DJ circuit as such. I think that’s reflected in the new record. It’s more introspective and cinematic perhaps.
The few people that have heard it so far have come back saying that it is quite a rich, epic, dense album. When I first started writing it, I didn’t want it to have drums on it at all. I wanted it to have the same energy and intensity as some of my previous tunes but without relying on frenetic drum programming to do that, so the record is actually a lot more… well rhythmic, but that comes from the synths and the live recordings as the drums have taken a back seat. There is percussion but I have focused more on the emotion behind it and the aesthetic of the synths and the melodies really.
That’s interesting. Where do you draw your influences and ideas from?
Historically I’ve always been inspired by going out and playing gigs and listening to leftfield club music really loud, that’s inspired one aspect of my music, the other side is that I have always been inspired by a wide range of other music; I’m into loads of bands, lots of classical music, lots film scores and find old video game music still inspires me too.
I think my music sort of meets in the middle of all of these influences somewhere. I’ve always wanted to take a melodic kind of approach where it also sounds good in headphones as well on a big Funktion One system. I think from taking some time out from being in clubs has influenced where I am going with my next record.
Do think getting exposure from a big label like Mu so young was a good thing for you developmentally speaking?
I certainly wouldn’t change it and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. There is something strange about listening back to the records I did like 8 years ago and thinking “what was I doing there” – there’s lots of people that are into them, but there’s something definitely weird and surreal about learning on the job. The tunes on my first EP that were the first tunes I had ever finished that I was happy with. So I think it was a good thing. Stuff like ‘Cyclical’ seems like a lifetime ago and I look back on that time fondly. But despite that I’ll never think that I know what I’m doing because if you do, you’ll never try different things and you’ll never learn anything new.
Have you been playing out much recently?
I’ve been playing a select few shows. Last year I was doing more of the, every weekend club nights, twice a week type thing. This year, I’ve been playing more select one off events. I just played the Bangface Weekender and I’ve been playing in Europe a bit, just not in the UK much. I’ve been doing just enough to keep things ticking over where I’m happy with the shows im doing rather playing than just for the sake of it.
What is the difference between playing a club night and a festival?
I treat it all the same to be honest, I really don’t care! I play my own music when I play out so I’m not really a DJ, so I don’t really cater my set for the audience as such. I might tweak what I’m doing, you get a feeling of what’s working and what’s not – and there is scope to do that in a live set – but most of the time I just do my thing and hope that the promoter knows what I’m doing and that’s the reason they booked me.
You’re playing at Noisily this year, how do you think your music will go down with their audience?
I haven’t played too many gigs like Noisily; you know where they play such a wide range of electronica… But, once, I was booked at Glade on the Psy-Trance stage – it’s not a scene of music I know much about – but the crowds are really great and really open and receptive and I think that is more refreshing than, for example, going to play a show in London on a line-up of similar artists because sometimes the crowd are just ‘too cool’ as such, so I am really happy to be playing to such an open minded audience who just enjoy music! The experiences I have had at playing places like Noisily have always been great.
How likely are we to see you ‘mingle’ in the crowd?
Um, if I’m by myself I do tend to hang around backstage and stuff, but sometimes that’s a wasted opportunity so I do like to check out other bands and other artists. It’s nice when people come up and say “hey” and stuff.
Sometimes it’s a bit surreal if you go out and play a festival in Japan or somewhere and you just keep yourself to yourself and don’t talk to anyone else, it doesn’t seem real! So it’s nice to chat to the crowd.
Are you going to catch anyone else on the Noisily line-up?
It’s a good opportunity to see some of my friends that I haven’t seen play before. Some people who I share studio space with in Brighton are going to be there– we are always hearing each other’s music through the walls – so I’m planning on seeing Atomic Drop who are my friends. I’ll definitely be catching them and few others like that.
We’ll look out for them. How do you play your tracks in a live setting?
I jam stems, some straight up DJing of my stuff; I play unfinished stuff, loops of things, and alternate versions of tracks. I play all my own stuff so you need some interlude-y stuff and tools to get from A to B in the set, so it’s a nice opportunity to play stuff that hasn’t necessarily made it to a record.
Will we get to hear anything new?
I’ll probably play a couple of the more ‘dance friendly’ tunes for want of a better phrase, but I’m intending on designing a new live show for when the album comes out and that will be a stand-alone performance which will be playing that album live rather than incorporating the tunes into my current set.
Sounds good to us. What else do you have coming up this year?
I’m focusing on finishing this record really, that’s pretty much everything at the moment. I’m undertaking some other projects as well, including some scoring work which will see the light of day later in the year, but I’m just taking my time with the album really.
You can catch Ital Tek live in the mix at this years edition of Noisily Festival alongside the likes of Stephan Bodzin, Victor Ruiz and Whyt Noyz July 9-12th. Tickets are available here