In the past few years Australia has become a dominant exporter of high quality electronic music. One of the nation’s strongest new talents is Perth based producer Loston. His unique sound is a combination of ethereal soundscapes, breathtaking vocal bends and lush bass. It’s no surprise that he’s also a gifted graphic artist as his tracks are remarkably visual, creating a sound that you can almost see. From rocky shore lines to moss covered ruins, each piece is an auditory expedition. Working on Ta-ku’s Create and Explore and playing his first festival with Cashmere Cat, Baauer, Hudson Mohawke and more, 2014 was a huge year for the artist. We had the pleasure of connecting with Loston to discuss the stellar year and what the future holds. Check out the full interview below.
FUXWITHIT: Australia has become well known for its upbeat and cheery future bass sound. Your production is far more emotive and breathtaking. Is this done consciously?
Loston: It’s not really a conscious effort to make anything sound any type of way, I guess it is just the way that music makes sense to me. I have never been a big fan of happy positive music, the things that I gravitate towards have always been the more emotive and uplifting type of artists. I’m a pretty happy person, so it is certainly not a representation of my demeanor.
FUXWITHIT: In addition to producing, you’re also a graphic designer. How do you balance the two?
Loston: I work for myself, and have a design studio in Perth, which sort of doubles as a music studio these days. I don’t really balance them at all, I just do what needs to be done. I mainly work on music at night, so I’m rarely home, I finish up a day of design jobs and then just play around with music. It’s good because I felt a bit burned out with design for a year or so, and the music stuff has really helped me creatively across the board.
FUXWITHIT: You recently worked on Create and Explore. Can you tell us about the experience?
Loston: Yeah I got to work with my best friend on that project. I had the song already written, and it was actually meant to be on a rap album that was coming out on Fool’s Gold. That ended up dragging out too long and I wanted to do something with the song, so I played with a bunch of vocal samples and got it to where I wanted it to be. Ta-ku and Matt Salisbury hit me up and asked if I would be interested in doing the Create and Explore project, so I reached out to Adam Borrello and we started discussing visuals. We have worked closely on a bunch of design and photography projects over the years so it was a pretty smooth transition. He ran with it and put together an amazing visual to the song, we both traveled around a fair bit getting different types of footage, but he certainly creatively directed the visual side of the project. It was his first real journey into video too and he nailed it. I couldn’t be happier with the final product.
“I would sort of just wake up in the morning and listen to whatever was open and be like, fuck, I do not remember that.”
FUXWITHIT: I read that you produced ‘Too Much’ while on heavy painkillers. How did this alter your creative process?
Loston: Yeah, over here they prescribe you Oxycodone for anything. I busted my hand up really badly and was on like 2 of them every 4 hours for about 4 months. I wrote a bunch of shit that I don’t remember writing. I would sort of just wake up in the morning and listen to whatever was open and be like, fuck, I do not remember that. I got in a bit of a trap with that sort of stuff for a little while, because it definitely is a shortcut to a creative place, but I have since found a bunch of different ways to write that don’t involve prescription narcotics.
FUXWITHIT: You recently had your first live show at Origin NYE in Perth alongside artists like Baauer, Cashmere Cat, Hudson Mohawke, Chase & Status and more. What was the experience like?
Loston: Yeah it was really cool, I was on just before Cashmere Cat on the main stage, relatively early in the day. I wasn’t expecting a huge crowd, but it ended up being rammed, was pretty overwhelming to see how internet plays translate into actual people coming out to check out your set. Was definitely a dream first show, really well put together festival, things got pretty hectic. It was new years…
FUXWITHIT: Are you planning more live sets in the near future? Is there a tour in the cards?
Loston: Absolutely, I’m very particular in which shows I go with, because I definitely don’t want the live side of things to take focus away from writing. Origin was an amazing experience, I’m looking at a few other festivals within Australia and Asia over the next 12 months. At this stage I am playing pretty in-depth DJ sets, but as the EP comes to conclusion I will be adapting the whole thing into a much more live show. I have been collaborating Adam further, putting together visuals for the DJ sets. There is generally infastructure available to really create an experience that is visually exciting as well as sonically. Realistically, I’m not the ‘jump on the riser yelling at people to put there hands up’ hype guy type, so having that visual element to back up the music makes it more interesting for everybody. Don’t get me wrong, I could just play an hour of bangers and yell at people, but it sort of wouldn’t make sense with the sort of music I’m doing. I’m pretty mindful of that shit.
FUXWITHIT: How do you compare djing to producing music?
Loston: For me they are totally different processes. How the song will translate in a live or performance setting does not have any influence on the writing process. I tend to try and write as organically as possible, so it sort of works against me in a live capacity. I have been djing partys without a moniker for a few years, so I am totally comfortable in that setting, especially mixing together other peoples music. Putting together the DJ set for the first show was a lot of fun though. Essentially I try and put together an hour long mixtape of what I enjoy, very non subtly showing a bunch of influences, then I break all the edits down into individual songs and DJ it like that. I would probably fall asleep if the set was too laid out.
“The blogs need the artists as much as the artists need the blogs.”
FUXWITHIT: You’ve received a lot of support from blogs over the past year. How important is blog support in music right now? How much has it impacted your career?
Loston: I have been really fortunate with the blogs, they really are essential in getting your music out to people, rather than just being another drop in the ocean. There are really a lot of cool people who are just big fans of music that run these major blogs, it’s really refreshing to receive emails from people who’s blogs you have followed for years, reaching out to see if they can feature your music. It’s so liberated these days, these blogs are as independent as a lot of the artists they push, it really is a coming together of people who have a passion, collaborating. The blogs need the artists as much as the artists need the blogs. I think it is a really positive thing.
FUXWITHIT: Earlier this year you had your ‘November 18th‘ remix removed from SoundCloud. What are your thoughts on the changes that have been implemented on the platform?
Loston: Yeah, it just sort of disappeared and there was an email in my junk folder. The last 16 of that song was so tight, I still have it somewhere, I want to expand that whole section out into something for a live set. I’m pretty new to the whole platform to be honest, I only joined up to post songs about 18 months ago, and I owe it a lot, so I can’t really throw too much shade on them. I imagine they are probably up against a lot of industry pressure to take certain things down.
Loston: You can bang your head against a wall with a particular section or vocal or loop for what seems like an eternity, then it suddenly comes to life in a few seconds and the whole song grows from that tiny piece of inspiration. That is the only thing that I really chase, that is the main enjoyment I get out of music, is the process of something going from being mediocre to good. I want to keep doing this and chasing that and see where it takes me.
FUXWITHIT: What can we expect in terms of releases for 2015?
Loston: I’m working on so much stuff at the moment, I have 2 tracks coming out on Nicole Millars release (album, ep?) which I’m really really happy with. I have been working with a really talented vocalist called Adria on a track that is almost finished. I have a beat on Bryant Dope’s upcoming release, he is from Queens and was on that huge Vice/Hudmo cypher that came out late last year, and also 100s who is on Fool’s Gold. I’m working on an Adventure Club remix as well as a Safia one. And I have pretty much written a whole EP, which I’m going to release later in the year, I’m just really carefully selecting what to put out. I’m still working full time as a graphic designer and have a bunch of other shit on the go, so it’s all getting pretty busy, but I’m really enjoying every aspect of my life at the moment so time management isn’t a big stress.
Loston: I decided last year that rather than releasing an EP I would stagger releases every couple of months so that people were getting regular content, rather than releasing 4 songs at once, as I felt that people are more likely to get a full appreciation for the music if they have a while to listen to the tracks individually rather than being given too much choice. I also wanted to make sure that I had built an audience before putting a release out, so that when I was ready I could put out a full body of work to the people that are already listening and expand from there.
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