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In the first of a new series, Pulse seeks to uncover and champion the producers and DJs on a subterranean level. It's no surprise that electronic music - thanks to its DIY ethos and available production tools - is being driven forward by the talent of tomorrow, the talented stars of tomorrow that're tipped for great things. First up is talented Brightonian Utrecht. He's had just 3 releases out to date, but the 21 year old philosophy student has made an impact through his fluid blend of slick melodic pop, deep house grooves and garage aesthetics. Aside from studying, producing and being hooked to accumulative betting, James Mcintosh hooked us up an excluisve mix and told us more about his sound, influences and ambitions....
How did you first catch the production bug? And how long was it before you made something you felt truly happy? I was producing in the classical sense since I was about 14 - my parents got me an 8-track recorder and I started making demos of my band at the time. It wasn't until I was about 16 that I started getting in to electronic music, and the production side of that. My friend and I formed a duo, making pretty awful electro house music - as wasen vogue at the time. But it was a good learning experience, and we got to DJ at some pretty great places like Fabric and Matter, so that was great. It was in 2012 that I started afresh under the name Utrecht, and only really then did I feel I was making music worth putting out there.
Your influences are quote broad... how do they correlate to the sound you make these days? I think nowadays you've got to listen and take on board almost all kinds of music. There's been a shift from having specific genres that were diametrically opposed in sound, to having certain bands of production styles that incorporate many different genres of music. In 2007, in the top 10 best selling singles, you had a real diversity of sound and genre - from Mika and Take That, to Kaiser Chiefs; Mark Ronson; Timbaland. Looking at the charts now, there is a homogenisation of sound across genres. Trance and house styles underpin most music now, which is not a bad thing at all. Perhaps there'll be something a bit different in the future. But I think that's why new artists have to have broad influences - to delve deeper into the musical canon - in order to stand out.
Have you come up against any challenges as yet? Has it been tough to be noticed? The real challenge for me so far has been juggling university commitments with music - there's a big responsibility to do well in both so it's tough finding the balance where both are productive. As for purely music, it's definitely been hard to get a foothold in the public's eye. There's an incredible amount of UK-based, bass-driven music at the moment, almost to the point of saturation. And when there's a lot of one sound, the really good stuff has to stand out. Disclosure have done a wonderful job in opening up the market for other producers, but they've set the bar super high, and it's going to be tough for acts that keep it firmly on the garage tip to push through. I think again that's why it's good to look at all types of music: other styles are simply more arrows in the quiver for producers.
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How did you settle on the name Utrecht? Is there a story behind it? There was a period when I was just beginning with the Utrecht stuff, and the word "Utrecht" seemed to be everywhere for me. I heard a great song by EOD called "Utrecht"; I was watching Europa League football and Liverpool were playing Utrecht. In the end I settled on it because it seemed to me like the Dutch equivalent of a number of UK provincial towns - but for a Brit, there was an allure there in the fact that it was abroad. It was both exotic, but familiar, which maybe comes across in my music. That's the grandiose version, but I suppose in truth I went for the name Utrecht because it looked good in a clean, upper-case font!
What's coming up in terms of productions? And what sort of equipment do you use? Right now I'm working on more music - I've got a pretty extensive list of songs I made along with the first batch ("APC", "Like I Love You", etc), but it's just about constantly developing them and taking them to the next stage. I don't want to rush any release, so it's got to be as near to perfect as I can get before it goes out. Ideally though, it would be nice to see a release by late March/early April. In terms of equipment, I'm working with a combination of FL Studio and Logic - plus plugins like NI Massive and Albino 3. Then I've got a big library of drum samples with pretty much all major drum machines released.
Why did you chose to remix Justin Timberlake's 'Like I Love You'? I've always been a huge fan of Justin Timberlake, and I noticed that it was 10 years since Justified had been released, so it just made sense. That album sounds fantastic still, in part because of the crisp Neptunes productions, but mainly because Justin's got one of those timeless voices - there's so much soul in there. It's probably not my favourite from the album (that would have to go to "Cry Me A River" or "Oh No"), but the vocal is so easy to work with, like a lot of R&B from that era. I think that's why so many producers are applying those samples to garage/house tracks now.
Finally, what's the one thing you'd like to achieve in 2013, be it musically or personally? An album, hopefully! But that's a big ask. I'd be happy continuing to make music, get a few releases under my belt, and see where it takes me. I'd love to work wholly with other singers as well - song writing is probably my strongest point - so to do that, and produce a singer would be fantastic. Who knows, I'll just take each bit of new music I do as it comes.
Listen to Utrecht on Pulse Radio.
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