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Joran van Pol's entry into the music industry is one that most producers dream of. His debut release 'Untitled 2’ was being fought over by two of the worlds's biggest techno names, Richie Hawtin and Dubfire, with both artists wanting to release the young Dutchman's track on their respective labels. The track was eventually released on Hawtin's Minus imprint and even featured in his MixMag cover mount compilation, and all this before van Pol's 23rd birthday. Since then the Amsterdam native has gone on to release tracks on Dubfire's SCI+TEC label and has established himself as a talented DJ as well as producer. Joran screams Fresh Blood material, and we were lucky enough to get some time with the techno wunderkind, to talk about his music, the Amsterdam music scene, and working with Richie Hawtin.
Hi Joran, for anyone who doesn't already know who you are, can you tell us a bit about yourself? I turned 23 last month, I’m from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I’ve been DJing for quite some years and in recent years I’ve been producing techno with a minimalistic aesthetic, which have recently been released on MINUS as well as SCI+TEC Digital Audio.
As debut release stories go, your's must be up there with the very best. With both Richie Hawtin and Dubfire wanting release it on their labels, you must have felt pretty good. Has this experience affected your approach to your productions? Of course, it’s amazing to be picked up by both of these heroes, and sometimes I pinch myself to see if I’m not dreaming. It hasn’t changed my production in the sense that I felt like I needed to come up with a certain sound because of Richie and Dubfire. They picked me up because of what I already was doing. It did change in the way that I set the bar (in terms of quality) way higher for myself and felt like I needed to work harder. Also I tried to push myself to develop my artistic identity a bit further.
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You had your track Untitled 2 included in Richie Hawtin's Mixmag cover CD. How do think this kind of support from such a high calibre artist has helped your career? It gave my career a huge push. I suddenly got a lot of exposure and a lot of people started to notice me as an artist. It led me to play at parties like Awakenings. It’s also one of the reasons I have such a great festival season this year.
Having made such an immediate impact on the music community so early in your career, how do you plan to follow up this success? Is it daunting to have such a high bar set to which your future will always be compared? I think challenging is the right word instead of daunting. The high bar only challenges me to work harder, come up with better ideas, better music, continuously improve my performance on stage, etc. I first want to put out more music so people can become more familiar with my sound and me as an artist. I just have my first two EP’s out, so I’m planning to do more EP’s in a not too distant future. Also, I hope to do a lot of touring outside the Netherlands in the upcoming period, so that people get to experience me in a club setting. Besides that I’m thinking about new ideas to follow up on this success, but there is nothing tangible I can share with you at this moment.
With regards to your production, how do you approach making music?Where do you draw influences from? I can draw inspiration and influences from basically anything. Whether it’s a great night out, a great movie, a walk in the park. Obviously I get exposed to a lot of music as a DJ, which is great, but as a producer I try to slightly isolate myself from that in order to find my own sound. In the studio my starting point can be pretty much anything as well; a weird percussive sound, a bassline or a cool synth sound. It’s basically a freestyle approach, I just start somewhere and see where I’ll end, as long as it’s within the framework of what I am about as an artist.
With clubs such as Trouw and Studio 80 in Amsterdam, the scene in the Netherlands has never looked better. How did growing up there affect your musical output? The Amsterdam scene is really healthy at the moment. Trouw and Studio 80 are at the constant factors, but Amsterdam is also home to events like Awakenings. Despite the fact those parties are not being held each weekend they are a huge contribution to the scene and also help Amsterdam secure its position in the international scene. The great thing about growing up in such a scene is that there are so many things to get your inspiration from. Amsterdam is also really diverse in terms of genre’s and sounds you get to hear in clubs. It allowed me to experience all kinds of different things and find out what I like most.
You've obviously been gigging regularly in your home country the Netherlands, how has your birthplace taken to your musical output? The reactions to both my releases as well as my DJ-sets have been super positive. I’m getting awesome feedback from other DJ’s on my productions. I am very fortunate to say that besides Richie and Dubfire, also guys like Joris Voorn and Oliver Huntemann are heavily supporting my work. As a DJ I’ve played a lot of venues for the first time last year, and the responses have been awesome!
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When your performing you get quite technical, using various software and hardware in your sets. Tell us a bit about that...My main software is Native Instruments’ Traktor, which I run on my macbook pro 15”. Within Traktor I run three track-decks and one remix deck all kinds of supplementary sounds (one-shots, loops, etc). The track decks and effects are controlled using two Native Instruments X1 controllers, the remix deck is controlled by the Native Instruments F1 controller. For sound I use a Audio8DJ, which I connect to a Allen & Heath xone: 92. I also run an extra effect in Ableton (which runs besides traktor). I can send the audio signal from the xone:92 to Ableton by using the aux-outputs on each channel. As a headphone I use a Sennheiser HD-25.
For the benefit of those who haven't been lucky enough to hear you play, what can people expect from your sets? Is there anything particular that you attempt to achieve in your performances? Music wise I try to keep it stripped down and dark with a solid groove. For me the art of being a DJ is finding a balance in pleasing a crowd and educating a crowd. So I try to expose people to something new, but at the same time make sure they have a good time. I want to take people on an adventure, that’s why I prefer to play at least two hours.
What lies in the future for you? Is there anything you can exclusively reveal to us? This summer I’m playing a lot of nice festivals like Awakenings, Welcome to the Future, 18hrs festival on the ElRow stage and a bunch of others. Besides that I’m going to be in the studio a lot in order to get that next EP ready. I’m also really looking forward to finally make my Italian debut at Cocorico together with Richie Hawtin!
Listen to Joran van Pol, Richie Hawtin and Dubfire on Pulse Radio.
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