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Drum & Bass was love at first listen: Ox7gen
Updated on: 04 May, 2015 12:07 PM IST |
In a little under two years, Aditya Ashok popularly known by his stage name Ox7gen became one of the most sought-after electronica artists in the Indian underground scene. He’s managed to make his presence felt by earning slots at nearly every major festival in the subcontinent and it almost takes someone who’s thinking outside of the box to even attempt something bold, that’s exactly what Ox7gen does.
With a consistent supply of drum & bass, melodic groove and techno heat over the years, Ox7gen remains a powerhouse. With a new single out and appreciated, we talk to the talented young artist about his music, plug-ins he is fond of and the current independent scene. Here are excerpts from the interview...
Q. To begin with, could you tell our readers how did you get hooked to Drum & Bass?
Sometime in 2008, Sohail Arora KRUNK had introduced me to Eric Trufaz and London Elektricity, and it was pretty much love at first listen.
Q. How would you define the genre you play? How did the sound of Ox7gen come about?
As OX7GEN I mainly play liquid drum & bass, but in my DJ sets I also cover a wide range of micro genres that fall under the DnB category. My sound has always been about melody, space and groove. The melody aspect exists in all the music that I make or play, and being a drummer as well, the groove element is quite important to me too.
Q. What would you say is the USP of your music?
It&39;s feel good music.
Q. Could you shed some light on your latest single &39;Manifest?&39;
Manifest started with the groove. The many percussive layers in the song came about after jamming to the original groove with a mobile app called Figure. I love this app. It’s great to organically create really intricate and groovy beats. All the melody elements fell into place once I established the bass line. I came up with a couple of groove options after the finished the song actually and might release them later on as various VIP mixes.
Q. How important it is to get associated with a music label for an electronica artist?
It&39;s great in terms of putting your music out there. Certain labels have a certain following in domestic and international markets, as well as a sound and a lot of credibility. Being associated with certain labels automatically puts their stamp of approval on your brand of music be it in terms of production quality, experimentation or just being a breakthrough artist who&39;s creating their own identity.
Q. As production tools have evolved, how has your approach to making music changed?
I&39;m still figuring out my ideal method of producing music. I&39;m constantly learning and my process evolves with the gear that I acquire. Right now, I come up with a beat first, and then start playing around with my Virus TI and that machine is so inspiring, it&39;s constantly making me create and recreate ideas, and I end up with an idea that is miles away from what I started with but is absolutely what I would need for a new tune.
Q. What are your views on the current independent scene?
The scene in India is nascent but promising. The majority of our country is non English speaking and consumes Bollywood music and that&39;s something we can&39;t ignore, but there&39;s still a good number of people on tier 1 and tier 2 cities who are starved of decent nightlife and entertainment options and that&39;s where we come in. What needs to change however, is the infrastructure. There need to be more places as well as an easier system for venues to acquire licenses that would let them allow artists to perform at their establishments without interference from the police.
Q. What recent plug-ins are you fond of?
I&39;ve been using the waves bundle for all of my processing. The CLA compressors are great as well as the Maserati group processors. I&39;ve not been using a lot of VSTis ever since I got myself the Access Virus TI as it comes with a software that integrates to your hardware synth. This gives me great automation control over the various parameters of the sound, but still gives me that great analog synth sound.
Q. One artist you wish to open for or collaborate with?
I&39;d love to collaborate with Apparat or Modeselektor.
Q. What’s on the agenda for 2015? What can we expect to see from Ox7gen?
Just a lot of new music, will try and expand my palette a bit and of course a new live set is in order.