DARKPSY EXCLUSIVE
THE DARKPSYDE INTERVIEW
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LAB
This month we are joined by the very talented upcoming darkpsy producer LAB from Portugal, who’s first EP Planet X plus a string of recent releases has caused a lot of excitement among fans.
Welcome To The Darkpsyde Renato.
Hi there! Thanks for the interview Mark, I really like your website.
Ok, first question :
Q 1 – You are one of the new crop of producers emerging from Portugal. How come the scene seems to be exploding there right now, has anything in particular happened to boost the music’s popularity?
A – I think the “darker” scene in Portugal is gaining more popularity but I don’t think its “exploding”. Not so many artists are doing this kind of music (compared to other kinds of trance) and also not so many parties within this genre. I think the scene will grow more, because the people are tired of “only full on parties”. Also I think that in Portugal, the definition of “dark” or “full power” is still applied to a lot of night full on artists (South African stuff and others). So what I mean is that the true concept of darkpsy is still very little known in our country, but I believe it will grow a lot.
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Q 2 – Having seen your blistering live act at Magical Forest Festival this summer I can vouch for its complexity and brutality but where does your inspiration come from?
A – Mainly my inspiration comes from movies (sci-fi, horror and other “sick” genres), computer games and many many artists of all kinds of music (darkpsy, breakcore, drum and bass, techno and more).
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Q 3 – What is the latest news from the LAB studios? Are you working on a debut album at the moment? If so when can we expect it to surface?
A – Yes I’m making a full length album for a Polish label (Darklife records). It will include a remix of a Claw track and maybe one more co-operation (still in progress). I hope to have all this finished by December this year, so release will happen maybe January or February (hopefully).
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Q 4 – Have you made or are you interested in making any collaborative tracks? If so who would you most like to work with and why?
A – Yes I have made some collaborations, the main one is a project with Simian (Brain Train is the name, released a track on a VA called Hybrid Reaction), I’m making one track with another Portuguese guy (Solis) and I expect to make some collaborations in other genres (drum and bass or IDM). As for the people I would like to work with: there are 2 artists who I’d really love to make a track with: Claw and CPC who is one of my biggest references in psy.
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Q 5 - What is the scene like in Portugal in your opinion? As I mentioned before there are many great artists coming out from there but is there a very healthy party scene too?
A – I wouldn’t say healthy, I would say massive!! We have so many parties (sometimes 3 or 4 per weekend) and our country is very little in size, compared to other places. Mainly the parties are calm. Robberies and shit like that happens more at bigger parties with big line ups. But sometimes we have really nice parties, not the big ones, but the ones with the real psy people who spread the good vibe.
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Q 6 – What are your views on the current trend of music piracy?
A – Piracy is a hard issue. It has good parts and bad parts. As a music listener, piracy gives me the possibility to listen to whatever I want whenever I want, without paying one single euro. As an artist it’s worse because less people buy albums and the artist and labels have some difficulties to survive. But piracy also gives the possibility to many different people to listen to my music and that ends up being good, it opens up more possibilities of gigs outside Portugal. I also think that we have many bad releases nowadays, and its good to have the possibility to listen to it first, and buy only what you think is the best.
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Q 7 – Darkpsy is the label that has been slapped upon our music, personally I prefer the description full power night time music. It is a debate that has been going on almost since the expression was first coined, so, do you like the term ‘darkpsy’?
A – As a matter of fact, it’s a term that doesn’t bother me. I think our music is dark and psychedelic and I also believe that we all like it because of its dark ambience and psychedelicism, so what’s the problem on calling it darkpsy? It’s not about satanic rituals or killing goats on the dancefloor, its only a mood in the music. Maybe in a more commercial perspective we should not call it “darkpsy” because it may scare some of the audience, but to me, the attraction I feel with this music is the mystical and dark ambience, mixed with full power.
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Q 8 – Where is your favourite place in the world to party and why?
A – Until now, my favourite place would be the Swedish forests, but without police next time would be better :D
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Q 9 – What is your best party memory as an artist and why?
A – As an artist, my best memory was in Innsbruck, Austria. I was going to start to play, there was a dj playing before me (I think it was Martin from M.W.S. ) and he told me he was going to play the last track, and the last track was : Terminator – Scary Bubbles (dark rmx), one of my favourite tracks!! So I was in true ecstacy for 11 mins listening to that track and starting to play right after.
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Q 10 - And your best memory as a party goer?
A – I believe it was watching Penta live, 4 years ago, in a well known Portuguese party. It’s the anniversary of a Portuguese party organiser (quest4goa), and it happens in a wonderful place, called “Barragem da Queimadela”. There I listened to one of the best live sets ever.
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