A daring proponent of dynamic production and tasteful experimentation, Tokyo-based Allen Mock has expeditiously emerged as one of the most inspiring artists of the modern era. First exploding with an exceptional rendition of tokey’s ‘High Breed.’, while more recently untethered collaborations with The Infamous and Chow Chow have only further fixated an ardent public gaze. Each successive release is evidential of Mock’s creative prowess, straddling deathly magnitudes of energy and demonstrating baffling sound design at even the earliest chapters of his career. Needless to say, Allen Mock is armed and ready for battle.
Peek into the arsenal of unreleased music and get friendly with Allen Mock in the guest mix and interview below!
In what ways has living in Tokyo influenced your path as a producer or shaped your style as an artist?
Living in Tokyo has definitely shaped my style of music in many ways. Tokyo is a huge city, jam-packed full of anime, games, electronic music, and anything and everything entertaining! So as a child, I had access to all kinds of cool and fun things… music being one of them! Living in Tokyo is interesting for me since most of the music I tend to listen to comes from outside of Japan, and given the outside perspective/knowledge, my music became this hybrid mix of different cultures,
As I grew into my 20’s and started to produce/DJ more, I met Tha Boogie Bandit and Herbalistek who inspired the core foundation of Allen Mock Music!
Is the majority of your production talent self-taught, or do you have a formal music background?
Self-taught! BUT, I want to take this time to give a special shoutout to Tha Boogie Bandit (Ronny), he’s taught me so many things I needed to know about production/mixing/mastering to understanding tension/buildup/chord-progressions, etc. He was basically like my sensei at one point and that relationship definitely helped progress in my music production. Outside of that, it’s mostly experimenting/learning new (sound-design) techniques with my close friends Herbalistek.
How does your specific flavor of experimental hybrid trap compare to other popular electronic producers in Japan?
I don’t like to compare myself to other producers around the Japan music scene right now, I think everyone has found a very unique sound and are really bringing their A-Game, Masayoshi Iimori, Maru, Fellsius… to name a few. Some big things coming from Japan in the near future! However, I would like to say a lot of my creations have been inspired by local artists’ tracks that I personally found fresh, and I love to combine different genres/personalities/essence to put together a type of dance music! Since I have specific sounds I like (deep, heavy, bass-ey, metallic, energetic) and specific ways of puzzling my favorite sounds together, it makes a unique style that sounds like “Allen Mock” :)
Your workflow is simply remarkable, releasing tracks at a tasteful rate to keep fans engaged, while not over-flooding the arena with too much content in a short period of time. Did you stock up on releases for a period of time to maintain yourself or have you simply mastered the art of ‘working as you go’?
Thank YOU! I am very grateful that you think that way! I have so much music that I’m sitting on right now, and I cannot wait to show everyone what I have been cooking up this year.
That’s actually a very interesting question since my answer to that would be both. I have a stacked list of music that I am dying to release this year, but at the same time, I’m working on new songs/beats every other day. I try to plan as much as possible but at the moment I’m going with the “flow” while staying relevant with current music.
For me remixing something is also a way of expressing your love for the original music, like an homage.
Which has been your favorite track to remix so far, and what made this one particularly special compared to the rest?
I definitely had the most fun remixing “high breed” since I just LOVE the original tune so much. For me remixing something is also a way of expressing your love for the original music, like an homage. So, with that in mind, of course, I’d have the most fun with this track, since I was literally/constantly listening to this song over and over again!
However, I am currently remixing Flosstradamus x Valentino Khan’s ‘MFU’ at the moment, and I’ll be honest, I’m having a blast. You’ll definitely hear this edit/flip in the near future :)
ALWAYS be respectful! I cannot stress this enough. A lot of aspiring producers make the mistake of focusing on their craft (which is AMAZING!) but not enough people put the effort in having respect for each other.
What tips do you have to share for aspiring producers for growing and expand their network of collaborators?
ALWAYS be respectful! I cannot stress this enough. A lot of aspiring producers make the mistake of focusing on their craft (which is AMAZING!) but not enough people put the effort in having respect for each other. Work hard, be kind and amazing things will happen! Seriously.
There’s a Metal Gear Solid sample contained in a lot of your work. How did this become your signature sound/sample? Is it used in every song? Are you a big Metal Gear fan?
That’s really dope of you guys to notice my samples! The MSG sample represents my love for gaming; at one point in my life I used to play too much of everything basically.. (LoL, WoW, Halo, MGS, Smash Brothers… etc) and this MSG is my way of paying tribute/homage to the gaming community and the creators that make such awesome games! I’d say I’m not particularly a gamer now, since making music has become that “addiction” for me…but I’d love to go back one day and re-visit all the cool games I’ve been missing out on!
I approached this mix like a book; each song is a chapter in my story. I put extra emphasis on the transitions and tension-building and gave extra attention to small breaks to get the “feel” of listening to my sets live.
What have you got in store for us with this guest mix?
This will be my first ever guest mix as “Allen Mock”. So I decided to put together a mix where it’s not just bangers and quick transitions, but more story-telling and showcasing my new music. I approached this mix like a book; each song is a chapter in my story. I put extra emphasis on the transitions and tension-building and gave extra attention to small breaks to get the “feel” of listening to my sets live. I might sound like a broken record telling you about how much effort I put into this mix, but I really did — and I could not have asked for a better place to reveal my work than with you guys at FUXWITHIT!
I’d say a good 85-90% of this mix will consist of my music (released, unreleased, remixes, collabs, etc) so this mix will be a great thing to listen to if you’re curious about my current/future music! :)
Tracklist:
Allen Mock – Constellation [Unreleased]
Jackal – Empathy
w/ TVBOO & Um.. – ID (Allen Mock Edit)
Allen Mock x Chow Chow – Phantom
Allen Mock – Tectonic [Unreleased]
Eliminate – Weeble Wobble (Jilla x Allen Mock Remix) [Unreleased]
Hydraulix x Eliminate – Bump (Allen Mock Flip) [Unreleased]
Allen Mock – Heartbeat [Unreleased]
Allen Mock x The Boogie Bandit – IO [Unreleased]
tokey – high breed. (Allen Mock Flip)
ATLiens – Exile (HERBALISTEK Remix)
Allen Mock x The Infamous – Ripper
Allen Mock x The Infamous – Jungle Action
Allen Mock – Force [Unreleased]
Soltan – Sahara (Allen Mock Flip)
Ragna x Allen Mock – Pieces [Unreleased]
LSDream – Ten of Pentacle
w/ Allen Mock – Energy (Allen Mock Edit) [Unreleased]
TYNAN – Dusk
w/ Allen Mock – ID (Allen Mock Edit)
Oski x Allen Mock x HERBALISTEK – Okami [Unreleased]
The Boogie Bandit x Allen Mock – Sirius [Unreleased]
