Following up on his label debut Omen Rising, Sam KDC returns to HORO with A Mutiny in Monochrome, a devastating release of four techno subversions and genre shattering productions which have come to define the sound of the UK-born, Spain-based artist. For over a decade, KDC has been traversing the sound spectrum with crushing breakbeats, blackened atmospheres and floor destroying electronics. The tracks on Mutiny were recorded while confined to his remote studio during the pandemic and they are seething with bleak, malicious undertones which capture the moment perfectly.
To mark this excellent release, today we present a Q&A with the artist about the release, the pandemic and more, as well as a special edition mix which is a powerful accompaniment to that artist’s brvtal, layered sound. Enjoy the mix, read the interview and enjoy a full previous stream ahead of its release on November 27th. You can also Pre-Order the release now on Bandcamp.
The Brvtalist: The EP was created at your remote studio during the pandemic. Tell us about recording this release and a little bit more about the studio environment.
Sam KDC: It was originally material I was working on for a new live set. That didn't happen. Studio is a small black room in our house, located on the outskirts of a little mountain village in the south of Spain. There's a door from the studio onto the kitchen roof, which looks down some 40km through the mountain valleys to the sea. It's a sick spot for watching the sun rise / set and it's such a mad contrast from where / how I grew up. I never thought I would end up somewhere like here. Even if it all goes to shit tomorrow, it's been a blessing to have spent a chunk of life here.
TB: Talk also about any concepts or themes behind the music in “Mutiny in Monochrome”. The track titles also have a very ominous feel.
SKDC: This EP is the culmination of a theme that has been inherent throughout the majority of my work – the War In Heaven - which to me represents internal conflict. The conflict between compulsions, the inner angels & demons, chaos & order and the battles between courage & comfort, prudence & frivolity, intuition & intellect, of doing the right thing or taking the easy way out. This has been particularly poignant for me again this year. This week marks 10 months of sobriety, something I wasn't sure I would ever be able to say. In order to get to a place where I can live sober, I have had to a do a lot of peace making between angels and demons. It is, of course, an ongoing process. Musically, the drum and bass influence is more prominent again on this EP. The light/dark entanglement that the genre embodies is what initially attracted me to it.
I had been mulling over the title of the EP, the theme I had in mind was the War In Heaven, but I didn't wanna call it that as it's been done to death. I had been listening to The Birthday Party again a lot, so had the notion of Mutiny rattling around my mind too. I landed on the title 'A Mutiny In Monochrome' whilst I was looking through Gustave Doré's series of illustrations of Milton's Paradise Lost. I sent a few over to Ryan, the designer for Horo, and asked if he would be up for doing an interpretation of them for the cover art. I think he did an amazing job at catching the way the light pierces through the blackness and the chaos of war.
TB: You continue to explore and push the boundaries of your style which defies categorization. Pulling from many different genres, talk a little bit about the evolution of your sound to this point.
SKDC: I guess the sound has evolved, but it's still the same process as from the beginning. There's no real objective. It's still just my way of interpreting thoughts and working through the issues that life presents. It's just my way of trying to bring a little order to the chaos that ensues from inhabiting a human vessel.
Stylistically there's very little chance I would have ended up here without James ASC & Geoff Presha. The structural basis for the grey area sound was developed through what was almost like friendly competition, pushing each other to further pursue rhythmic abnormalities.
Also, more than anything, as unsophisticated as it might seem, it's still just about arranging sounds. Fucking about with machines and programs and doing it just to do it. Talking about themes and concepts it can be easy to forget that fundamentally all you're doing is arranging sounds. I still really enjoy just making noises and organizing them (however arbitrarily and with whatever meaning can or cannot be tacked on to it afterwards) just to be in that state of mind, that deep flow state where time melts and thoughts disappear. Life seems to go wrong when I stray too far from it. Every time I come back to it, shit starts to feel like it's where it's supposed to be again. I've lost count of how many times I've felt saved by it. Clichéd as that is.
Listening back now to the first record I released 10 years ago it still feels like part of the same story. Maybe now it's a more grown up and refined version. I hope so anyway, and not that it's just an old and boring version. There's a joke in there about grey hair somewhere. Grey Hairea? I'll get my coat.
TB: What was the last gig you played and what is something you miss about the live shows/parties?
SKDC: Last one was for Trauma in Madrid. It was the second time I had the pleasure of playing for them, those guys are awesome, proper family vibes. I've only played a handful of gigs here in Spain, but all of them have been special for that reason – a real sense of kinship and connection. I fucking love this country and this music for that. That is definitely something that I miss about gigs. That, and being smashed in the chest by kick drums and rattled by sub bass. I think I really took for granted the cleansing kind of reset effect that has. It's like a kind of anarchic sound healing. I'm really craving that at the moment.
TB: On the flip side, what is something you can appreciate about this pandemic period?
SKDC: It's been a good chance to practice certain principles. In Sterquiliniis Invenitur, et cetera.
TB: What are you working on now and what can we expect next?
SKDC: I'd love to end this with the trite and banal platitude that I am working on all kinds of awesome secret projects that are way too epic and exclusive to talk about, But I'm not. Not right now anyway :)
I have been doing mixing and mastering for a few friends and their labels though, which has slowly gained momentum through word of mouth over the last couple of years and has ended up becoming something I'm doing regularly now. This week, I've just started offering mixing and mastering services through Home of Sound - https://www.homeofsound.co.uk/p/sam-kdc-mixing-mastering
Other than that I am currently drowning in bureaucracy trying to sort residency here before Brexit. If anyone's got a link in the Spanish civil service that can get me hooked up, give us a shout!!