The Brvtalist: Tell us a little bit about your musical history and discovering/producing techno.
Selective Response: I originally came from hardcore bands when I was younger, then a trance, dnb, and psytrance artist under my original alias. I have a friend who’s big in the psy scene that would play techno on his podcast, and it mixed perfectly with psytrance. From there, my love for techno took over, and then eventually made my way to Berghain. I went in not know shit about who was playing, but it just so happened to be a Mord Records showcase, and Bas Mooy completely changed my life that night. That was 2016, and I had already been making harder techno, but nothing like that. From there, I kept discovering more and more artists and was drawn to that aggressive sound. I sent tracks to Amelie Lens, Cleric, and others, and found immediate success that made me realize I needed to focus on this project. I launched SR officially in 2018 and then launched my label in 2019. Fast forward to today and here we are! What an honour to be speaking with you today!
TB: I love the name Crisis of Man. What do you want to do with the label?
SR: Thank you. It was originally the name for a track, that I should go back and finish, but after talking with the boss (my manager Emma), we came to find it a better label name than my other ideas. Ideally, we aim to be the flag bearers of the West Coast techno sound, using our platform to champion local artists who make up the scene, but we would never limit ourselves to just our surrounding area. Part of what makes techno so exciting is hearing people blend different influences to create their sound, something I think we are doing well, so bringing artists from around the world to help craft our version of techno is just as important.
TB: The next release is an EP from Canadian newcomer, Emptyshell. What drew you to her music and tell us about the release.
SR: I've known her for a few years now, and she's someone I care for deeply. She's been making music for 10 years under a different name, so while technically she's not new, this is her first official release. That's something that I'm very proud and honoured to present. She's so talented, so most of what she sends me is high quality, but when she started to send me harder and faster music, that's when I knew this was what she should be doing, and that one day I would release her music.
Again, her other music is very good, but each track she sent me as Emptyshell, absolutely blew me away. You can almost guess where most tracks will go within the first 30-60 seconds, but not hers. I never knew what was coming next, and that element of surprise is priceless. I continued to harass her (lovingly, of course) for ages to stop fucking around and focus on this project. Thankfully she listened to me, and here we are.
In my opinion, this is a perfect first release for her, as it's so approachable and very catchy. It's tough and gritty but still fun and bouncy; a rare combo these days. I had thought about doing an original from myself like the last EP, but to keep things fresh, and to challenge myself, I decided to remix it. For my remix, I wanted to try and push myself to not use sounds I've used before and focused on the harmonics of certain elements to create a more intense atmosphere.
Fun fact: I came up with the name Emptyshell, which is a combination of an inside joke, her actual name, and her favourite anime.
