During a wild night at Webster Hall in April we were lucky enough to sit down with an icon of electronic music, Martin Staaf who makes music under the name Liquid Stranger. If you’re a fan of bass music you probably recognize the name of this multi-faceted producer who has been in the electronic music industry since the early 90s.
Martin is a native of Sweden who currently resides in the States. He began playing piano as a child before switching to experimenting with synthesizers in the 80’s (think Depeche Mode).
Martin, was there a catalyst that motivated you to start making electronic music? Or was it more of an inner desire to discover sounds?
My parents tell me I started playing the piano at a very young age. I also took piano lesson for several years. After a while, the piano felt limited since my desire was to be a whole orchestra by myself. I bugged my dad for a year or two and he got me my first synth when I was eight.
At 17 Martin realized he needed to get a job and began working at Bohus Sound Recordings while forming the group Necton with Patrik Olsen making prog and psy-trance. If you listen to “Swamppeople” you get a sense of his early work and can see the roots of bass influence. At this time (late 90s) dubstep wasn’t established yet but the roots of dubstep like Drum and Bass and Two-Step were gaining in popularity.
Did you have any exposure to dubstep in the earlier days? Do you remember when the Dubstep Forum became a thing in 2005? (Martin founded the Liquid Stranger project in 2003 and released his first album The Invisible Conquest in 2007)
I’ve always dabbled with many different styles of music, and I made some songs back in the early 2000 that would probably be considered dubstep today. Although, I didn’t get much response from that material. Years later, the “robo-concept” came into my head, and I made some music for Rottun that got quite popular.
In your earlier years you wanted to remain anonymous, declining interviews and having your name on your record sleeves before Interchill blew your cover (literally). We’ve seen the popularity of “mystery producers” rise recently, what was your motivation to have your persona remain in the dark?
When I got started, no one really cared much about the artists and DJs. It was more about exploring new music. In fact, it was hard to find information about artists even if you wanted to. This was before the internet era and the world was less connected.
Being anonymous was part me being shy and not really feeling like I wanted to be someone people focused on, and secondly I wanted the focus to be on the music.
I have a lot of black ops under my belt that no one really knows about, I’ve written a lot of music that’s not under my name.
Everything is different now and I think we artists almost need to have a louder voice. I also think there needs to be a healthy alternative to the more mainstream perception of what an artist is. I aim to be that alternative.
Martin doesn’t like being constrained to one genre and has produced music in a range of styles. He also enjoys his side projects, one of them is scoring a film.
How’s the film score going, can you tell us more about that project? What’s the biggest appeal of combining visual and audio art?
I think that is an area where I’ve done too little. We humans navigate our surroundings via sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. This, along with time and space, is how we interface with the world and what we consider to be reality. So the closer you get to that, the more senses you involve, the stronger the experience becomes. I’m interested in doing projects that involve more senses than just hearing.
You said if you could go back in time you’d tell yourself to study harder in school, any specific subject you’d like to learn more about?
Well, when I say school I don’t necessarily mean the institution. I mean real, practical, validated knowledge that works. Thinking back, I can see times in my life when I’ve been less inspired or more confused, not really knowing what direction to take. And that rendered me inert. With more knowledge about the world I could have filled my life with more purpose.
One of Liquid Stranger’s releases from last year combining dubstep and trap in a banger and one of our most played songs of 2014.
You’re a pretty philosophical dude, where do you get your philosophical mantras and absorb that information?
I’ve been studying different forms of martial arts and I’ve been interested in self development for as long as I can remember.
Enlightenment is not some flimsy concept of becoming a demigod. It is more about shining light on every aspect of myself, peel away all the untruth. I didn’t come with an instruction manual, so like everyone else I wonder who am I, where I come from, and where am I going.
My mentor SwiftDeer, who passed away recently, was one of the greatest men I’ve ever met. I used to be really stressed out about my life and he said to me “Your life is not personalities (meaning the people I meet) or events (what happens) – all that matters is how you deal with it.”
Curiously, you don’t take inspiration from other music. You’ve cited nature as one of your inspirations, yet you make “computer music.” How do you channel the inspiration from something organic through technology? Does the inspiration come from sounds? Thought patterns?
Inspiration comes from within and its essence is distilled from moments of introspection. Maybe I need to surround myself with nature because what I’m working with is very synthetic and technical.
We’ve had the second installment of his Infusion Mix series on play lately. Check out other mixes on his SoundCloud.
Could you speak more about martial arts and music and what you mean by they’re ‘a bottomless well.’
No matter how much I know, there is always more to learn.
Martin has been around since the genesis of electronic music as we know it, and has technical producing chops that can match anyone in the world. We had to pick his brain about his techniques and philosophies for our readers that are trying to produce as well.
Could you give one piece of advice or direction to our reader and the aspiring producers?
1. Find out what you want
2. Build your skills and abilities
3. Work relentlessly
4. Let go and present what you have accomplished to the world
You said Shambhala was your favorite fest in 2014 and you’re on the lineup again this year. What are you especially looking forward to in 2015?
I love Shambhala since it is a place where everyone seems to relax and enjoy themselves, even the biggest artists. This year I’m playing the Grove stage and I’m excited to get to play more of my downtempo / midtempo music.
I’m in the process of starting a record label, and that is a very exciting venture for me. I’ve found that I don’t tend to fit in on other labels since what I’m doing is too diverse, so it feels great to have a platform where I can do whatever I want. Even more important is that now I can be of help for other amazing producers and support them in what they do.
Huge thanks for Martin for sitting down and imparting some of his valuable knowledge to us. Keep it locked to WRR for all news Liquid Stranger related (he just posted to his Facebook that his new EP is done and sent to mastering) and be sure to catch a set of his if you have the chance.
Connect with Liquid Stranger:
www.liquidstranger.com
http://www.facebook.com/liquidstranger
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLiquidStranger
http://discogs.com/artist/liquid+stranger
(photo cred Webster Hall)
Share On
