Introducing...Al Tourettes

Having originally debuted at fabric as part of an Apple Pips showcase at FABRICLIVE, Bristol producer Al Tourettes has now been invited to perform by Will Saul under the Aus Music banner this Saturday. It says a lot about the range and breadth of Al’s beats that he can confidently straddle either platform. Influences come from wide and Al will happily go into detail and speak with passion about who and what sounds make him tick, from the most experimental of techno and the ‘real swamp music’ of Cristian Vogel to the old school funk of Herbie Hancock as well as Bristol’s infamous dubstep scene. It’s quite telling in the blend of sound he produces, his love for things funky and wonky has resulted in tracks that are a bit crazy, exceptionally bass heavy and exciting to listen to. He’s been putting out records for six years now, but theres a new level brewing for 2012 with a lot of things scheduled. Following his well received release on the Bloc affiliated Baselogic imprint, the ‘Habit Inventing EP’ on Jamie Russel’s Sneaker Social Club kept up the momentum, showing how Al thrives across the full dynamic range and garnering more and more attention from press outlets. At the very least his releases have been enough to get the festival bookers excited with a string of dates to keep him busy this summer. We got to catch up with the swamp fanatic ahead of his live date here this Saturday where he’ll be taking to the drum pads in what is a pretty unique set up for an electronic musician, as well as going in depth about what inspired his pursuit of his own musicality. Hey Al, it’s the first time you’ve graced our blog, please can you introduce yourself to our readers? Hello my Name's Alec, I'm 29, and I live in Bristol. I like Basketball, Table Tennis, Swimming and Fried Food. I also make and play electronic music. So how did you start out getting into electronic music making? I attended a rave in Norfolk at the age of 15 and started DJ'ing very soon after that. About a year later I bought my first midi setup. Your production’s being described as being highly original and full of elements from a myriad of genres – what influences have gone into making you who you are musically? I grew up listening to a lot of Jazz, Funk, Blues that my Dad was into, as well as the early Electro my late Brother was obsessed with. Weather Report, Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis, Booker T & the Mg's, Arthur Baker, Herbie Hancock, Muddy waters, Soul Sonic Force, Fats Domino, Prince and So on. I got into dark drum & bass in my early teens. Grooverider's "the prototype years" Mix and Ed Rush & Opticals 'Wormhole' were particular favourites. Warp records, Rephlex & Planet Mu have had a big impact on me. I fell in love with Autechre, Amon Tobin, Aphex Twin, Luke Vibert and pretty much anything else on those labels around the turn of the century/ early 2000's. At the same time I was getting into more experimental Techno like Cristian Vogel, Neil Landstrumm, Subhead and Si Begg and Glitchy house from Akufen and his cohorts on Perlon. Vogel's album 'Busca Invisibles' blew my mind. Real swamp music. Last but not least I rediscovered electro. Silicon Scally, Two Lone Swordsmen/ Radioactive Man, The Advent, Drexciya, Bitstream, Trust Records. Two Lone Swordsmen's "Tiny Reminders" is one of my favourite albums. I'm also influenced by more recent music like Shackleton and 2562 in particular. Can you pick out a few of the tracks in question to share with us? Weather Report - Teen Town. Jaco Pastorius on Bass - Loved this so much as a kid. Still love it. Ed Rush & Optical - Fixation. Eerie and brutally funky. Cristian Vogel - Hilarious Hoyden. Oddball Techno jazz sludge of the highest order... Two Lone Swordsmen - Brootle. Absolutely Devastating. Autechre - Nine. Literally brings a tear to my eye every time. Neil Landstrumm - Tension in New York. A monster. Has never left my record bag. Akufen - Radio Shuffle. You've gotta love a good glitch.... Bitstream - Retreat Pod. Off an amazing EP on Pylon. What music do you listen to today, has it changed a lot? Not massively. Old electro funk and Jazz classics get a lot of plays. Drexciya and Vogel get a lot of plays. I generally look for stuff that's a bit weird or out there in some way, or if not insanely funked up. I like listening to early synth/electronic music. I recently picked up some excellent compilations when I played at Pudel in Hamburg. One called 'Welcommin Im Weltram' and another called 'Electronic Toys' which is exactly that. I've also been enjoying most of the music coming from Honest John's and Clone's output as well. What’s your geographical story, you moved to Bristol right to study and haven’t looked back – are you involved in any happenings over there? How’s it influenced what you do? I grew up on the Norfolk/Suffolk border close to Norwich and came here in 2002, so I've been here a while now. I love Bristol for the fact I feel like I can do what I want and there's no pressure to conform. I have a good group of friends who are also musicians so we all inspire each other in different ways. Individuality is definitely celebrated, which is what makes it unique and exciting. If you sound too much like someone else you won't get far. Tell us about your live set – what made you choose a drum interface rather than buttons and knobs? I'm a drummer so when I heard about the Roland SPD-S I realised it would be perfect for me as it's a sampler you can play with sticks rather than just yours hands. I sample various sounds from the loop I'm working with to Jam over, so it's an ideal improvisational tool for me. I also use Ableton Live along with an Akai APC 40 for control. And how does that compare to your set up at home? Do you mind sharing with us an insight into your production set up? It's basically more drums! I've got a couple of drum machines - an Elektron Machine drum and a Roland TR606 plus a Roland Vdrums TD12 electronic drum kit. I use Ableton and various software synths to do the rest... What’ve you got coming up this summer? Any more releases in the pipeline? In terms of gigs so far this summer I'm playing at Glade Festival, Bloc Weekend, Garden Festival, Soundflow Festival, Obey Cardiff, and Space Ibiza in that order. Releases wise my record for Sneaker Social Club called "Habit Inventing EP' has just come out and i'm putting the finishing touches to a split EP with Para droid on Schmorgasbord records. I've also got a remix alongside Appleblim of Raudive on Halo Cyan records due out later this year. The tracks called 'Last'.