Jan Blomqvist: Time Again

Cool. At what stage did you become serious with electronic music then? Was there one DJ/producer etc who really inspired you?

There was no certain one. The clubs in berlin influenced me a lot. And I really liked James Holden ten years ago when I started my own electronic project. I liked the idea of ‘minimal’ also, but it also bored me after a while. The Notwist and Radiohead of course will always inspire me. Right now I love the sound creations of Moderat.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learnt when it comes to production over the years?

It is all about sound. less is more. Like in real life. Doesn’t matter how good the production is if the idea is shit. And other way round a really shitty production can be great if the idea of the track is brilliant. You can make extra trashy sounds really fat like the amazing sounds of the Pachanga Boys and you can create super fat sounds and hide them in a smart way underneath a soft track like in the amazing productions of Moderat. Everything is possible but it is a lot of work. There are thousand things to learn about a single clap, a kick, a hi-hat, a bass or any other instrument. every fucking single sound teaches you an important lesson everyday. It is like science. You get to know more and more every day. Thats fun. Age doesn’t matter that much because electronic music trains your brain and not your body. It is endless. It is like physics was 100 years ago. They thought they knew everything with Newton’s ideas, but then Einstein came and now with new science everything is up in the air. That’s how I feel sometimes. Every new discovery shows me ten new things that I haven’t discovered yet. Maybe that’s the main lesson. I love it but it is also frustrating.

Where do you think you’re at now in terms of your productions? How do you approach them?

Right now I am close to being satisfied. It would be the first time in my life. I am curious if I will really make it to being satisfied with my music and if so, how would it feel? Will I be bored or maybe even totally happy to start new things without any pressure? I don’t know. I guess both. We’ll see when I’ve finished my album.

Your music is enriched with many different sounds. Is this something you’re conscious of? How do you approach your days in the studio?

Yes this is actually always a problem in the studio. I always create too many sounds. It is so difficult to mix and I am always sad that I have to kick sounds out. But the next day usually I have forgotten about them. It is a progress. Next time in the studio I will prepare better. But it is difficult for me. I have too many ideas. It is hard to decide which one I should finish first.

Also I really love layering sounds. My basses for example are always made of three or more different instruments. I love it to mix little disturbing sounds quietly underneath everything. But this adoration is dangerous because you can easily destroy the whole mix with it.

Are you a hardware or software man? Can you see the benefits and drawbacks in both?

I like both. Honestly I don’t like this question. I am happy that you asked the second part about benefits in both. Sometimes analog stuff sounds so fat that it is easy to use it in a track. But sometimes you need this direct clear digital way of working to achieve your aim. For me its like asking if I preferring plane or train. It always depends on where you wanna go. If you wanna go far then you have to take both usually.

Do you make music and then send to labels? Or how do you approach that? Any plans to do your own down the line a bit?

For a long time I thought that a good Label is the most important thing to bring my music in the right direction. Now I think the music itself is the most important thing. I am always thankful to all the labels I am working with. But I stopped thinking about labels. I just wanna concentrate on my music first.

I am already planning to start my own label. But I don’t know when I will find time to do that. Maybe in October, maybe next year or maybe in 5 years. I don’t like making plans for future. And if I make plans then I try not to talk about it. It is always better to do stuff instead of talking about it before it is done.

What are your long term goals as a musician? Do you set them?

To get satisfied and happy with nothing. Music helps me a lot on this way.

Can you talk us through the Time Again EP? What’s the thinking behind it?


Sometimes when couples love each other but really don’t fit together then it is better to leave each other than staying together and fighting all the time. I really don’t understand all these fighting couples who waste so much of their youth in a struggle. There is no need to stay together if it doesn’t work. Who says that we have to stay together until we are old and grey? Especially if you see all these unhappy couples. They are getting old so much faster. I think people should learn to be happy with themselves before they force themselves to run this idea of staying together forever. Right now I am fighting with Berlin a bit and I think it is time to leave it even if I love it. That’s why I came back to this idea and wrote this text together with my text writer Ryan Mathiesen, who also made a remix on this EP.

Also the vibe of this track is a bit different to the other tracks. So we decided to not put it on the album but make an extra summer release quickly. It was a spontaneous idea, we had only two weeks to finish it. For me it seemed impossible to finish in time, but somehow I did it and surprisingly, I am actually happy with the result. But I guess it will be the last track where I use a guitar for a while because I’m more into synths now. So it was good to do this track to kind of say goodbye to guitars. Which actually fits to the text also.

What’s next for Jan Blomqvist?

I am still working on my album but it took me nearly two years now and it is still not finished. I don’t wanna talk about it anymore before this mission is completed. Let’s meet again when it is finished. Hopefully that will be real soon.

Jan Blomqvist’s ‘Time Again’ (with remixes by Animal Trainer, Peer Kusiv and Ryan Mathiesen) is out now on Motor