Inventive, unyielding, and a true antagonist of the industry, Sian has become a legend in his own right for pushing major boundaries in the underground through his label Octopus Recordings and his seminal music influenced by industrial, darkwave, synthwave, and classical electro. Born in Ireland, raised in Spain, and now living in LA, this producer has taken his experimental sounds with him all over the world to put on high-powering shows that are nothing short of magnetic.
With an ever-evolving attitude and sound, it seems fitting that he would look to expand his footprint on a label like mau5trap. This past May, Sian made his label debut with the first installment of his Ultraviolet series. Now, he’s ready to unveil the final and third installment on October 11. This will follow his latest contribution to deadmau5’s newly released here’s the drop! remix album, where the techno titan composed a raw and agonizing rendition of the classic “Monophonia.” In addition to all his new music, Sian has been busy joining a number of shows for deadmau5’s Cube V3 Tour, and has launched an ingenious collaboration with professional skateboarder Jaws Homoki.
With a hell of a load of exciting things going on, we we’re thrilled to get the chance to chat with Sian about it all. Check out the exclusive interview below!
RR: Since making your debut on mau5trap with the first installment of your Ultraviolet series back in May, you’ve released Ultraviolet 2.0 EP and now you’re getting ready to drop the third and final piece to it this October. What can listeners expect on Ultraviolet 3.0 EP that may be similar or different to your other tracks part of the series?
Sian: This whole series was an opportunity to explore the slower, more hypnotic and soundscape type stuff that I do.The third part of the series has a more melodic and spaced out feel. It’s still dark and aggressive, but definitely more musical than the last two, especially in the larger breakdowns and changes.
RR: Over the years you’ve played all over the world, from major festival stages to monstrous warehouses. When producing these three new tracks, did you have a crowd or space in mind that you imagined these would work best for?
Sian: I really like to play heavy mid tempo stuff out these days, I feel it works strangely sometimes – slower can be way harder! I visualize these tracks in large cavernous rave spaces, perhaps warehouses too.
RR: You also have a remix that was just released on mau5trap as part of deadmua5’s here’s the drop! album. How did it play out for you to tackle “monophobia” and what can fans expect?
Sian: This was a super interesting and challenging remix to do, because the parts were orchestral recordings, with no synced tempos, and I had to essentially recreate the elements and create new parts in key, yet keeping it my vibe. Was very stoked to tackle this and I think it feels like “Sian” for sure.
RR: It’s been close to a year since you’ve unleashed your AMOK with Will Clarke, and you recently crushed it at HARD Summer under this moniker. How has this project differed from others in your past and where do you see it going into 2020?
Sian: The AMOK work is a way for myself and Will to play around with all the wildly varying influences we have, from disco to electro, to techno and hip hop etc. It’s really a crossover of so many collaborative ideas. We are planning on releasing some singles and doing some more b2b DJ shows for sure.
RR: You’ve recently released your Sian x Proskater Jaws Homoki merchandise, which we’re obsessed with. But before we get into that, can you tell us about your background in skateboarding?
Sian: I was skating for most of my childhood and teen years, typical skater rat kid getting up to no good all day, back in southern Spain, where I grew up. I always kept up to date on that world and was stoked to meet Jaws in person eventually through our friends on the label Juheun and Michelle Sparks.
RR: As two very vibrant antagonists of your respective industries, this is one of the more unique collabs we’ve heard about recently and seems pretty fitting. How exactly did this all come about?
Sian: We have a lot in common I guess, self taught and diy in our approach to things, we clicked and he came out to a bunch of shows and we discussed doing something together. Somehow it morphed into a full collaboration on design.
RR: You’ve got loads going on with mau5trap right now, but what’s been going on with Octopus Recordings since your massive warehouse party at Movement Detroit?
Sian: Octopus has some big plans and a giant release schedule at moment, there are some more warehouse parties on the way and some really exciting new artists I’m proud of.
RR: What have you got planned for fans heading out to EDC Orlando this fall?
Sian: I’m gonna be playing a bunch of new unreleased music and going as hard and Ravey as I can!
RR: We think it’s fair to say that 2019 has been a massive year for you. What have you got in the works for 2020?
Sian: I’m building a new live show at the moment and finishing some new singles and remixes, hopefully plus some interesting collabs I can’t mention yet!
Thanks to Sian for taking the time to chat with us! Now, dive into the darker feels of the month with his October DJ Mix below.
Tracklist:
Maksim Dark & BOHO – Powergate -Octopus Recordings
Maksim Dark & BOHO – Confuse -Octopus Recordings
Sinisa tamamovic – Voices -Octopus Recordings
Shelley Johannson – Cosmic Drift-Octopus Recordings
Maxie Devine – THE CALL-Octopus Recordings
Jay Lumen – Balance-Octopus Recordings
Metodi Hristov – Synthetic-Octopus Recordings
Gallya – There Is Something In -Octopus Recordings
Jay Lumen – Resonance-Octopus Recordings
Raito -Energy-Octopus Recordings
Hidden Empire – Cashmere -Octopus Recordings
Raito -Reactivate-Octopus Recordings
Jay Lumen – Consciousness -Octopus Recordings
The YellowHeads – Space Odyssey -Octopus Recordings
Atroxx, The Reactivitz – Optical Converter -Octopus Recordings
Metodi Hristov, D-Unity – Transcendent Experience -Octopus Recordings
Raito -Not Coming In-Octopus Recordings
Maxie Devine – RAVER DRIVER-Octopus Recordings
Atroxx, The Reactivitz – Purity -Octopus Recordings
Metodi Hristov – Nova -Octopus Recordings
Jay Lumen – Emphases-Octopus Recordings
Connect with Sian:
https://www.facebook.com/sianofficial
https://www.twitter.com/djsianofficial
https://www.soundcloud.com/djsian
https://www.instagram.com/sianofficial
Photo Credit: Sian
Share On
