Anytime you pick Laidback Luke’s brain you’re sure to uncover another great piece of insight. Resident Advisor did the picking on their Resident Exchange interview series, which they conducted after LBL’s set at the Flash Factory.
Some of Luke’s most profound comments were about the many niche genres in dance music. He noticed these differences when trying to produce his own tracks. “I wanted to add [unexpected sounds and samples] to Techno but if I did, it wasn’t techno anymore,” he says.
His past seems to have always consisted of criticism, including before the EDM Boom; he says people asked him if he was going mainstream when he went in his new direction and stopped getting excited about making Techno. He claims staying in that specific bubble would have stopped him from making music altogether.
“I often wonder: do techno people only eat the best steak each and every single day for a decade? And do EDM people only eat fast food each and everyday?
“The truth is, the majority doesn’t. Sometimes you eat great steak. Sometimes you go to the McDonald’s. And for me it’s the same with music. So I really love all of it. I love Diplo, but I love Surgeon as well.”
Perhaps one of the best metaphors out there to describe this climate, Luke compares consuming different genres of music to different foods; EDM to McDonald’s for its instant gratification and simplicity), and Techno to red wine and steak (for its more refined and historical quality). While one will immediately use this to bash on EDM further, Luke urges people to embrace moderation with both styles as well as everything in between.
These moments are only some of the many great moments in this hour interview; listen below for LBL’s thoughts on dropping the right tracks at the right times, how to adapt from an Ultra Mainstage to a club of 200, and where modern DJs can find their influence for technique.
And what is IDM then? Or Chiptune?