IMPRINTS: Maetta

Name: Maetta
Founded: 2012
Location: Montreal, Canada and Cannes, France.
Vibe: Forward thinking techno made for techno fans and insiders looking for something a little outside of the box.
Upcoming releases: Flex Rock—500 Miles (April 7), Mind Control EP by Flim (April 28), BConstruct—Hard System (May 12) and Full Length Flim Album (summer 2014).
Artist-to-watch: Von Pixel, HDRX, BConstruct, Flex Rock.

Claim to fame: French techno godfather Scan-X of Laurent Garnier’s LBS crew lists Maetta on his top labels list on Beatport and lent his remixing skills to Flim’s chart topping “Belladonna” track.

What’s the deal?
Flim came from Thailand to Toronto to explore new opportunities. He first settled in Toronto and cut his turntable teeth as a resident of the Laundromat, a Freetekno community squat. He eventually found his way to Montreal, founded Maetta and started playing gigs at the legendary party-machine Circus. His wife’s visa was running out and life took a curve as he wound up in the glitzy Côte d’Azur on the French Riviera. Luckily there’s no shortage of clubs at the Cannes International Film Festival hotspot and label/DJ life is flourishing for Maetta in its second home.

THUMP: What does the name mean?
FLIM: I call my label Maetta (เมตตา), which comes from the Thai Buddhist word for generosity, kindness, or roughly, “to be on the same wavelength.” To understand the concept of one’s music is an art, which is why I like to help new artists without releases and to help promote them.

I have high personal standards for my music, so I encourage my artists to have their tracks mastered by professionals, for example, someone like Chris McCormack at Blacklisted Mastering. He works with names like Gary Numan, Detroit Grand Pubahs, and Frankie Bones. Nowadays, anyone can do this on the computer but I think that’s taking a big risk. Music these days is always really loud and some artists don’t necessarily care about this aspect, but I feel that you have to maintain the dynamic. People just want to be louder than everyone else to catch the audience’s attention, but doing that just turns music into static noise with a flat frequency. You can’t turn it up any more than it already goes, and if you turn it down, you won’t get anything out of it either. My concept is to encourage artists to make the best mix down so that after it’s mastered, the product will be as solid as possible.

How do you decide what kind of artists to work with?
Many techno producers like other styles of music. I pick producers who have a sort of movement or dissonant sound and formula that is different from typical techno. It’s not pure techno from the old school. Sometimes I’ll pick something totally different than what I usually release because my own style is a little bit faster, in the 125 to 130 BPM range. I like guys that can make more minimal (118 to 120 BPM) such as Von Pixel from Toronto. He’s a new artist and I really like what he does because he pays attention to his soundscapes and fucks with everything. He’s not focused on selling it to people; he just does it because of his own ideas—that’s the Maetta vibe.

We’re not focused on the big marketing and sales idea, we’re focused on the artist. Visuals come first. When I listen to their music, I try to read what’s coming out of their minds. What are they thinking? Are they doing the same thing over and over again like other artists? Or are they having original thoughts and imagination?

What’s the scene like on the Côte d’Azur?
The Côte d’Azur is on the French Riviera, it’s made up of Nice, Cannes, and a handful of other towns that are all within five to twenty minutes apart. The music is mostly house and tech house but you’ll always hear techno when things get down. The French scene is very strong and the clubs and festivals attract a mix local music lovers and younger tourists there to party.

Global headliners come through the area every week because there are a lot of nice underground clubs in Nice. They’re very strict though, and won’t let you in if they don’t know you. Le Garden is a new gay bar and it’s one of my favourites. The gay scene really knows how to party, and you’re guaranteed to have a good time, no matter your orientation. You also can’t forget classic hot spots like Panda Bar, Sun 7 and Le Smarties Bar.

There are also a lot of festivals like Plages Electroniques, which is an upcoming summer event that will have big names like Carlo Lio, Moderat, Jeff Mills.15,000 people will party on the beach by the Palais des Festivales where the Cannes International Film Festival is hosted and Panda Events is the main promoter. A lot of French artists come out like Laurent Garnier, Scan-X. Valbonne has also played host to some smaller underground hardcore parties.

All these festivals compete with each other during the summer. With such nice weather, everyone wants to bring out the crowds, so you might have 20,000 people one night in Cannes, but then only 1,000 in Nice by the old chateau, which is actually a very exclusive spot. They also do the Crossover Festival, a once a week festival that runs over three months.

Connect with Maetta on Soundcloud
Connect with Von Pixel on Soundcloud
Connect with Flim on Soundcloud
Connect with Flim at his homepage