“Both ambient and drum & bass have always been the music of the future. And they always will be. Which is why they’ll always be there; getting stronger, going deeper. And they’ll never need any outsider’s bullshit help to do so”.
Part II
Chapter Four: East Of Oceans
I have an affinity for intriguing, memorable or even cryptic artist aliases. An attractive name won’t compensate for dreadful music, but for me it’s definitely a head-start and if there’s a chance to go down in musical history, then it’d better take place in style. ‘East of Oceans’ epitomizes the case and instantly caught my attention, before even knowing it’s a side-project of yours. In fact I’d even argue that it’s a nod to the concepts discussed in Part I; an ocean apart from a life you left behind, eastern promises, the journey to the unknown. Is this an alter ego free from expectations and musical agendas, or just another guise created to accommodate for music that somehow doesn’t fit under the bvdub umbrella?
Yeah, with both that and Earth House Hold, I think it took people a lot of time to figure out who it was. Which is fine, it’s about the music, not about who makes it; otherwise I would only use one name for everything I guess. You are correct (once again) in your hypothesis on leaving life behind, promises afar (in the East, where I resided) and the unknown, they’re all definitely part of the name. I think these, among other things, combine to form (or perhaps be free of form) something that, yeah, just “is”. I myself honestly couldn’t tell you how to classify any music I make under that name. It’s a much more euphoric, no-holds-barred project that I am only rarely in the right head-state to journey into (thus the much smaller amount of releases), but when I am, it’s amazing and amazingly free. Again with the whole love or hate thing, but I think that one gets more hate than any other of my stuff (haha). Some people get it, a lot don’t and I’ve gotten a lot of flak over the years from fans of my more well-known work, who said it’s “cheesy” etc. I think they just don’t get where it’s coming from. It’s tapping into times and ideas of pure euphoria and escape, rather than the introspection of my other work, so I can get where it’s a bit of a shock to the system if you’re expecting something else. But you just need to let yourself go and have a good time with it and basically just fucking jam, because that’s what it’s for.
Or you can do none of that and think it’s cheesy and hate it. Also OK (haha).
Continue reading “Songs for a life we left behind (w/ Brock Van Wey) – Part II”
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