Sian and his label Octopus are best classed as classic modern techno, but with some interesting external influences. Being a man of entomology, cosmology and marine biology, every spare moment he gets, Sian finds himself delving deep into the mysteries of topics slightly left-field of what goes down behind the decks. That coupled with interests he has in the social impact of the rave generation, one could expect to hear some rather unusual art coming from this corner.
It’s been said that Sian stands out "a little more Bohemian than the average electronic talent." Hailing from Dublin and raised in Spain, whether conducting everlasting, sweat-soaking DJ sessions or embarking on the journey to find, formulate and create timeless dance music, Sian is genuinely a very diverse and original artist constantly pushing to expand his repertoire of tunes. We caught up with the man otherwise known as Graham Goodwin whilst he was en-route to Narita airport from Japan.
Pulse: Hey Graham! Where you at right now? And where are you headed to next and how’s your summer been so far? Sian: So I'm In Japan right now replying to this en route to Narita airport. I just played here at Club Air and stayed a couple of days to see the city. My first time here, was so stoked to headline Air and was blown away by the culture. I’m headed back to Barcelona and then onto play the egg in London after that. My summer has been amazing, both the hardest work I have ever done and the most travel. I really put my head down and hammered it! I was in Mexico, USA, Central America, China, Thailand, Europe and Canada all in a row. Very cool experiences along the way and am happy to get our Octopus sound out there.
What’s the defining soundtrack to your summer this year? Tell us which five tracks have featured most consistently in your sets throughout the season. It's been all about the sound of our new black label for me recently, little more leftfield, dubbier, darker, sexy techno. It's like our antidote to this cocktail house that's invading underground culture at the moment actually! We were missing something a little more new and risqué. I’ve been playing a lot of stuff we signed from Timmo, Jon Gurd, Whytnoyz and Juan Sanchez. This kind of hot, edgy and very polished production would be in my top five...
1. Juan Sanchez - 'Off Grid (Roberto Capuano Remix)'
2. Timmo - 'Never Stop'
3. Whyt Noyz - 'Capsule'
4. Jon Gurd - 'Su Sa'
5. Sian - 'Shame Cube'
You hail from Dublin originally but you were raised in Spain. Going back to your childhood what would you say have been your biggest musical influences? Yeah I like to say I was made in Dublin! I was raised in southern Spain and my folks owned a bar in a street of eight night spots. I was starting to hear italo disco and drum machine influences coming into pop music as a child and it immediately fascinated me. Something about the futurism and new frequencies got me so curious. Then I went to a rave...end of story.
How would you describe the style in which you DJ? What other DJs do you look to for inspiration in their ability to traverse their personality, energy and feeling to the crowd? Right now I'm playing off 4 decks with 4 FX units in Traktor, which means I have two controllers and loops and sounds triggered. I’m super comfortable with it now and it's really changed how I work a dance floor, kind of making something new from the tracks each time. I always admired DJs that worked this way, chopping stuff up - obviously Hawtin or Mills - but also some jungle guys like Hype really inspired me too.
How do you source your tunes? And how often are you on the lookout for new music to include in your sets? I'm actually really into digging for music, even if I’m sent loads of music each week I think when you get down and really look, that makes a DJ. It teaches you a lot about your own music making as well - the culture of searching.
Your imprint, Octopus Recordings has become one of the Top 5 best-selling techno labels worldwide. What’s the secret to Octopus Recordings' success? There is only one secret, work really hard! I don't believe there is a formula, if you put time and love into your art and truly live it, like you give it 1000%, you will get there I think. there is nothing else I would or could do.
Can you pick a couple of your favorite releases from the label and tell us why? Firstly I have to say Nicole Moudaber’s remix of my and Mladen's track 'Front Pocket' because we hit the number one spot with that and it was like a step into believing some people got what we were doing. I’d also say recently myself and Luigi Madonna’s track 'Royal Oak' was another wake up call, like we can put out unusual things and people respond, you know? Lastly I'd say Carlo Lio’s remix of my track 'Purple Bang', it's so warped and weird and yet works on any dance floor!
Any advice for aspiring producers starting out in the industry in order to get out there and get noticed by tastemakers and label A&R execs? I have one piece of advice and I hope people sending us demos listen: Pick one label to work with, one that will build you and invest time in you. So many young producers start out good and then mess up a label plan by releasing on various small labels that aren't thinking ahead. If you look at all the big labels and artists, they have done it this way I believe.
Do you ever feel like you want to try a different method to your production to keep challenging yourself? Well I feel I try something new every day, that's the cool thing about making music, it's like a new set of problems to solve every time you start!! Each track is a different animal and needs its own adventure!
Tell us a little more about your interest in entomology, cosmology and marine biology. These are a couple of things my inner librarian is into, any "free" time I have is spent reading I guess, these things help to shape my influences and take me away from music so I can see where I'm at. Biology especially has always connected me in some way to my work, I guess it is part of my creative thought process as a human!
You’ve recorded an exclusive Pulse Podcast for us. Can you tell us a bit about the mix please and how you went about the track selection process? This mix was recorded live at a festival called Free Live in Spain, so the tracks were picked on the fly and were my response to the crowd. I was playing in middle of a house DJ and a very hard techno DJ, so I was going up a scale with each time I guess. It was a crazy big stage looking down on a crowd from about 20 meters up, so I was aiming the tracks at the front row of ravers. I hope you get a sense of the energy I was putting into the set.
Pulse.139 Tracklisting:
1. Such A Rush - Kurtz And Bomber
2. Macromism - Sona
3. Pig And Dan - Bubbles (Santos Remix)
4. Macromism - Flight Deck
5. Rafaele Rizzi - Funky Line
6. Nicole Moudaber - Contents Of My Mind
7. Flexx Julian - Jeweil Minus
8. Luigi Madonna And Alberto Pascual - Somewhere In Berlin
9. Boris - The Rythm
10. Sam Paganini - Polyester
11. Mr Bizz And Harvey Mckay - Dum
12. Sasha Carassi - Theoretical Models
13. Macromism - Amplitude
14. Roberto Capuano - Inversion
15. Sasha Carassi - Mental Wire