Ghost Culture emerges from the London fog. Finely crafted, delicate songwriting through the mirror of dusty, analogue electronica yet with the ever present pulse of Detroit techno in the distance. It’s a style that is truly his own.
He returns with a second single for Phantasy opening the door a little further into his musical world. ‘Guidecca’ is an aching love song for a mechanical heart: hypnotic, addictive and enthralling. “Half Open” follows on from where previous release “Red Smoke” left off with a piece of dusty, modern techno set from inside the strobe light.
Videos by VICE
Hey, Mr. Culture, where are you at the moment and what are you getting up to?
Ghost Culture: I am in Erol Alkan’s studio, helping him with one of his new tracks that he’s working on. Lots of fun.
Does the name Ghost Culture mean that you’re slightly obsessed with paranormal TV shows? Or have I read way too deeply?
Ghost Culture is my metaphor for superficiality – a commentary on the see-throughness and fakeness of the culture that we are in, especially in music. I feel it is time for an injection of realness again. I have actually always rejected the paranormal.
Amen. You haven’t really given much away about your act, have you? Still I’m always intrigued by the idea of anonymity, but what exactly excites you about it?
With the Ghost Culture project I had the chance to start something afresh because there isn’t any existing material. With this and the nature of the name in mind, it made total sense to not reveal too much too soon. It’s exciting because you can see something build from scratch, and that is rare.
That’s very true. Seeing something build from the ground up must be a beautiful thing. How much of your own material have you now got stored up on your hard drive then?I’ve got hours of original music, some of it alright, some of it totally not. However, I do have an album’s worth of Ghost Culture material that I really like and it’s very nearly finished. I don’t have that much of a crazy record collection. The next single ‘Giudecca’ is out on the 24th Feb on vinyl and then the 10th March in all other formats. After that I think there will be one more single and then the album, dates TBC.
Talking about albums, what longplayer has been occupying your ears the most when you get on Spotify or your iPod or whatever?
I am listening to Vespertine by Björk on repeat at the moment. It’s her at her best in my opinion, there’s something magical and very inspiring about this album.
How about when you’re feeling like watching some online video? What’s your favourite fun thing to spend your time gawking at on YouTube?
I’d have to say the ‘Jazz Club’ sketch from The Fast Show, it never fails to make me laugh every time, even though I’ve seen all of them countless times.
Your productions are enchantingly sparse and alluring, but is this echoed by the way you actually make music? What is your set up like?
Logic for recording and then just one synth, one FX pedal and an analogue sequencer. I love keeping things simple; it means I don’t mess about too much.
And is that all in the comfort of your own home or do you head out to a studio elsewhere?
I share a studio with label mate Daniel Avery. I have worked at home before but it’s much better to leave the place where you sleep and go to work somewhere else, I find it a much better way of releasing creativity.
I see. Thanks for putting together the mix for this week sir. What vibe were you going for with it?
No problem! I wanted to create a snapshot of the kind of thing I DJ at the moment that was different to my other mixes.
Take it away.
‘Giudecca/Half Open’ EP comes on beautiful, clear vinyl and is available for pre order now from Phantasy Shop
TRACKLIST:
Ghost Culture wanted to keep this a secret.
Follow Errol on Twitter: @Errol_And
Follow YNTHT on Twitter: @YNTHT_Nordics
Read more like this:
