Liefhebbers van progressive trance kennen ongetwijfeld de Engelse producer Blufeld. Met releases op wereldberoemde labels als Bonzai Progressive, Green Martian, PHW Elements, Addictive Sounds en Galileo Dreams brengt Blufeld, al meer dan een decennium, de vele dansvloeren wereldwijd in staat van euforie met zijn prachtige, emotionele en melodieuze elektronische muziek. Aankomende maandag verschijnt Blufelds vijfde album ¨Radical¨. Een nieuw album vol met nostalgische geluiden uit het verleden verpakt in een modern jasje. In dit interview praten we over de keuze voor het maken van een synthwave album en hoe Blufeld op een natuurlijke manier het muzikale verleden opnieuw begon te ontdekken in de studio. Het is mij een grote eer om deze bijzondere producer te mogen interviewen op mijn website.
Lovers of progressive trance will undoubtedly know the English producer Blufeld. With releases on world-renowned labels such as Bonzai Progressive, Green Martian, PHW Elements, Addictive Sounds and Galileo Dreams, Blufeld has, for more than a decade, been bringing the many dance floors worldwide into euphoria with its beautiful, emotional and melodic electronic music. This Monday Blufeld's fifth album "Radical" will be released. A new album full of nostalgic sounds from the past wrapped in a modern jacket. In this interview we talk about the choice to make a synthwave album and how Blufeld started to rediscover the musical past in the studio in a natural way. It is a great honor to be able to interview this very special producer on my website.
Hello World,
I'm an electronic music producer that produces under the project name: Blufeld.
I strive to create emotional sound spectrums that can engulf people into the realms of an imaginary world that they create for themselves. This is my gift offering to the world we live in!!
You will release your 5th album ¨Radical¨ on October 19. What can you tell us about this new album?
Radical -/ˈradɪk(ə)l/ - (especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough.
The album was born of a desire to bring something completely 'Radical' from me in terms of change, sound and style to an album, it is definitively a way for me to bring to the world a fresh and ultimately long term change in production style & direction. I really want to bring a strong signature sound going forwards in my music, that includes full use of my own vocals, but with a fusing of the best that technology has to offer such as the vocoder.
I also wanted the album title to reflect not only the content, but the fact that this was a very commonly used slang word in the 80's, so that it created the extra link & meaning behind the project.
For someone like you with a long background in electronic music, you are exploring the world of synthwave on ¨Radical¨. Why did you decide to choose synthwave?
This new direction and style came so naturally to me, as I have always been a major admirer of the early analog sound and retro style of works, from Kraftwerk, Visage, Gary Numan, Alphaville, Electronic (Bernard Sumner) etc...
So I decided to begin the new album project 'Radical' with this retro sound as it was so easy and natural to feel the atmospheres with the nostalgia that I remembered from growing up as a kid in the 80's. My mother was a DJ and had many vinyls and used to get me placing them on the 7" stacker on the deck as a child.
And basically because I grew up with this influence around me, that retro sound never left my heart & mind.
Did you do some research on this electronic subgenre, and what did you discover?
Tbh I already knew of projects like: Timecop1983, New Arcades, Robert Parker, Neon Nox, Zayaz to name a few...
This style really speaks to me and pulls at my nostalgic heartstrings, and allows me to fully immerse myself into the root of why my love affair with the electronic sound is so strong in the first place. It always will go back to childhood memories I think.
I also realised quite quickly how this genre and style was really making a real resurface with the likes of the above mentioned artists among many others. It was really very motivating for me to see this.
What is your favorite track on ¨Radical¨?
I have basically to say all of them have a special place for me, otherwise I would not have included them within the project.
However, I have to say that '8 Bit Boy In A Retro World' was in fact the first track that was completed for the 'Radical' album, and it was the first track that I really sat back and felt the hairs on my arms stand up on end, because it gave me the true feeling of nostalgia that took me right back to being 8 or 9 years old again with my mother playing the 'New Romantics' style from the vast crates of vinyl she had.
You are definitely one of the most innovative electronic music producers in the world when I listen to your tracks. How do you come up with these soundscapes for the imagination?
Wow that's a very humbling thing to say tbh, I feel there are so many innovative producers out in this world, without them I wouldn't be!! I simply set out to create directly from the heart, as many producers do I expect.
I have to really dig deep, and I'm honest with what I feel at any given time at the point I'm undertaking any new works. I strive and aim for the track titles and the music, to be as true of a reflection as can possibly be to what is actually going on inside my heart and mind.
I literally try to find sounds that convey these feelings as close as possible. I also experiment A LOT, for new ways to bring forwards a fresh perspective. The key I believe is 'Combinations' of sounds to create imaginative and innovative new textures, this I feel will really set you apart from the crowd!!
For starting music producers, what advice can you give them for creating their own unique sound?
One of the things I did from the very beginning of my journey as a producer was to switch my mind off from the tracks that were popular, or the template sounds and structures that I could hear from so many other projects and producers out there. Kind of like starting a fresh painting on an empty white canvas. I have always loved the famous expression and phrase: "A picture paints a thousand words" I just wanted to convey my own story with my very own audible painting!
I wanted to bring to the table a style and soundscape that didn't necessarily have to fit, or that conformed to the patches of sounds and textures that were popular and overused in my opinion. Actually it was for this reason that in fact it made me strive to go the opposite direction in many ways, with my own new works!!! I just simply created selfishly, and NOT with the DJ in mind!!
Find YOUR own way that you feel reflects YOU the most. If you have created honestly, and you like the sound you have used, USE IT!! Create for YOU first, NOT the label, NOT the DJ!
Never be afraid to sit back and be kind to yourself and say i'm happy with my style - 'THIS IS THE REAL ME!!'
When I look at myself, I have learned more to understand and enjoy albums from the past. Probably this got something to do with getting older. The album¨Disintegration¨ by The Cure is such an example for me. What album can you enjoy now more than ever?
Without a doubt it has actually been really delving deep, and digging into the archive of my all time greats 'Kraftwerk', from their creativity, to the shrouded sense of mystery that they exuded, to the fact they were so pioneering in the electronic music world. They are rightly known as the forefathers and one of the most influential projects in electronic music, and quite rightly so.
But as you say, the older I have become the more I want to delve deeper and find out so much more to really understand what made them so inspiring.
"Man Machine" by Kraftwerk is probably one of my all time greatest albums ever written, and I love it more every time I hear it :).
What are your other plans for this year?
Well 2020 has been an extremely unprecedented and difficult year for everyone, with many trials placed before us all.
However, musically I'm in the process of re-mastering my very first album that was released into the world entitled: 'All I Ever Knew'. This will simply be a re-release on CD Digipak as a very strictly Limited Edition project, as it was never released on CD back in 2008. And by popular request it will now see a release on this medium.
Also an artist producer sample pack is forthcoming from me, and one or 2 remixes also.
What do you like most about the ´80s?
The 80's was like no other, it was the birth of the synth sound and the new romantic style of electronica, it was my early childhood time, it was when I think although there were difficult times in this period.
I also think it was a time when things were seemingly simple, and everything was so revolutionary, or so it seemed!!! I remember playing my first games on my Atari computer - 'Paperboy' & 'Xenon' and riding on my very cool red HARO BMX.
For me it was all about the strong and vivid memories, some of which that I still hold dear that have shaped me as a person.
And finally, any last words to the synthwave community?
I am so happy to know that there is a family of artists flying the flag for this genre of sound, as it deserves so much to be brought to the fore and also to be given the recognition it truly deserves. Which is so great to see this is already happening!
"I will alway remember the days when things were radical!!" because of Synthwave "Nostalgia lives on inside us all, forever!"
Huge thanks to Sander for giving me this interview, and the opportunity to express myself to the Synthwave community, thank you all for reading.
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