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Features
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| Introducing NEM3SI$’s new label Infinite Resistance! | | Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’! | | Iono-Music artists One Function, Eliyahu, Invisible Reality and Dual Vision talk Robert Miles, kids, dogs and vinyl, while we chat about their current releases! | | Luke&Flex talk influences, the Irish rave scene, why Flex wears a mask and Play Hard, their new EP out now on Onhcet Repbulik Xtreme! | | Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works. | | Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain! | | Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September! | | NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases! | | Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup! | | Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast! | | Shyisma talks parties, UFO's, and Shotokan Karate ahead of his upcoming album 'Particles' on Iono-Music! | | SOME1 talks family, acid, stage fright and wolves - ahead of his upcoming album release ‘Voyager’ on Iono-Music in February 2023! | | The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023! | | NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music! | | Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project | | The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22! | | A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden | | Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma | | Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino | | New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik! | | PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records! | | Psibindi talks all things music including her new collaborative EP 'Sentient Rays' on Aphid Records, her band Sentience Machine and 10 years of Psy-Sisters! |
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Inside The Billion Dollar Brain: with Nanoplex
Reported by Tara
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Submitted 25-06-14 11:07
Only hearing they were booked to play the Glade stage at Glastonbury after accepting their sets at Astral Circus this Friday night, Ben Coda and Chris Williams aka DJ Ipcress from Nanoplex are beyond excited when I catch up with them at a bar in Brixton the week before their summer of festivals really kicks off. With their debut album The Billion Dollar Brain ready for release and gigs at Glastonbury, Astral Circus, Noisily Festival and now Boom Festival lined up, the guys really are living the dream: pretty damn impressive for a live act that’s only been going a year!
While I’ve met both Ben and Chris out many times over the years, I’ve no idea how they first hooked up and what inspired them to start making music together. It turns out Chris was into originally Brit pop and Ben a diverse mix of techno, prog house and drum & bass, so from the outset both approached the dance scene from completely different angles. “We met via a mutual friend of ours, Ed Black,” Chris explains. “I can’t even remember how it happened.” Ben continues: “We hooked up for a drink and before you know it, we got in the studio. In 2012 we wrote ‘Shifty’ and ‘Creepy Crawly’ and they were our launch tracks as Ben Coda and Ipcress.” They soon realised that their sounds fitted together well and after doing a couple more tracks, including ‘Frankenstein’ on Liquid, formed Nanoplex, which has been going for just over a year, or one year and one month at the time of our interview, to be precise.
Described as “pioneers of the UK progressive techno sound”, I’m curious to find out what that really means to them. Surely prog and techno have traditionally been considered different genres?! As Chris says, “When I started DJing that sound in 2007/8, no-one else was playing it in the UK psychedelic scene. Quite a few people leant towards that sound, like Perfect Stranger. Around that time, 2007/8, there was a brand new sound that was psychedelic and techno and house altogether.” About the time I saw Perfect Stranger at the Glade I wonder? The guys agree.
“I remember I was getting booked more and more as I was the only person playing that style and sound really,” Chris recalls. “And then other people started taking it on. But if you were going to give one person credit for where it came from, James Munro was very much the pioneer of it in the ’90s.”
’I’ve been producing as Ben Coda since around 2008,” says Ben, “and have always been combining the techno elements with progressive, but I guess with more of a classic prog house sound, that’s kind of veered a bit towards the techno stuff in recent years. There are lot of influences in my music, from techno, psychedelic stuff, right through the drum & bass, it’s a bit of a melting pot!"
“I’m more psychedelic-influenced techno while Ben’s got a more progressive-edged sound,” Chris summarises. With Chris having the psy edge and Ben the proggie edge, they bond together to create “a double bond” as Chris describes it. And with Ben being from the prog and techno scenes and Chris from the psychedelic scene, they really have created something new: which is all part of the Nanoplex philosophy.
With the media being full of the so-called Croydon death rave on the day of our interview, I wonder if they were involved in raves back in the day, or were they clubbers? The answer is neither but the reality appears to be a bit of both. Ben describes being “a raver in the 90s and early 00s… I used to go out to a whole load of different events when I was a student in Birmingham, that was when the Que Club was in its prime, we had Spacehopper, Atomic Jam, Flashback… Godskitchen was also just starting up so you’d get to see people like Sasha or Nick Warren every weekend, top quality DJs and the prog house and trance back then was quality… there were loads of wicked parties, absolutely amazing crowd and atmosphere. The vibe at those events has really stayed with me and influenced what I’m doing now”.
As Chris describes it: “I went to uni in Canterbury and it’s got a really developed, quite historic psychedelic culture. It’s also the hotbed of the UK psychedelic underground. Every weekend around Kent there were parties of around 1000−2000 people parties from the late-’90s to the early 2000s. But where it really came from for me were bands like Gong, Caravan and Soft Machine. Gong had Steve Hillage it in, who went on to form System 7. Eventually my girlfriend lived with another girl and she went out with a guy who had just started this collective called Liquid Connective with Ross and James, and they invited us to one of their outdoor parties in 2001 and Bob’s your uncle… I’d already experienced the Glade the year before at Glastonbury and I was sold. I thought, ‘Hang on a minute, I’m interested in this sub-culture, I’m going to dive into it and see what happens! And there you go, and the rest is history, so they say!” He laughs.
After just six months in the studio they’re about to release their debut album, The Billion Dollar Brain, was there a theme or concept behind the album or is it more a collection of your favourite productions so far? “We wanted to take the listener on a journey, it’s essentially dancefloor material, but there’s a progression through the tracks in the album, so it works from a listener’s perspective, and also the perspective of a DJ who wants some wicked tunes to play out in their sets,” says Ben. “Basically, the name The Billion Dollar Brain comes from my DJ name, Ipcress,” Chris explains. “It came from a film in the 1960s called The Ipcress Files, a Michael Caine film where he was a spy. They did three films, where he played a spy called Harry Palmer and eventually they did the third film, The Billion Dollar Brain, so it’s from my love for those films really. And I think it’s also a great name for an album!”
Having put it together in a record six months, they’re already doing an EP for Iboga Records and looking towards their next album. “I think you’ll find the second album will be a bit more intricate, a bit more eclectic and less focussed on dancefloor hits.” Having said that, the first track on this album breaks that mould. “Well we wouldn’t play it out,” says Chris. Ben agrees: “It’s more of a chilled track, we’d have to do a dancefloor remix really.”
Six months is pretty fast: I remember multiple ‘album launch’ parties for various artists who’d best remain nameless, as the pressures of multiple gigs and touring get in the way of serious studio time. And in that six months both Ben and Chris have also been out of the country and on tour at different times. As a science project manager I'm exceedingly embarrassed to hear the shifty looking bloke on the album cover is actually Albert Einstein. “We think the artwork is at the next level, it’s quite brilliant,” Chris enthuses. “We couldn’t be happier,” Ben agrees.
The conversation turns to their next project, an EP on legendary prog label Iboga Records. “We’re just waiting on James Munro to finish one remix, then it’ll be out — not that long after the album!” Still on the production front, they are also very excited about a forthcoming Iboga compilation: “they do these DJ mix compilations so we’re going to put together the best of UK tech-progressive sound, with all the artists like James Munro, Neurodriver, Mike Monkeylogic, Hopi. There’s a few artists we’re going to collaborate with,” Chris enthuses.
With such suitably hectic lifestyles, how the hell do they find the energy and inspiration to get in the studio after a long week? Ben actually lives in his studio in south-east London and Chris comes to visit. Ben is a self-confessed studio monkey, while Chris is now happy he can come up for a couple of hours, do some production work and go home.
Given their impeccable musical knowledge, if money was no object and they were tasked with organising the best festival on the planet, I wonder where would it be and who they’d book to play? “I think if I was given a place to do a festival in the UK, I think I’d go with what I’ve been given with Noisily in terms of location,” Chris says. “It’s the truth, I love where we are. I feel we’ve landed in one of the best festival sites in the UK. Line-up wise, well I’d like to book Matador from Ireland but we can’t afford him at the moment.”
“Sasha and Digweed”, Ben enthuses, showing his prog influences. “And of course some of the psychedelic artists we’d love to get over are people like Headroom,” Chris interrupts. “There’s a guy I’ve really got into recently called Whiptongue, that’s the best new trance I’ve heard recently, he sits between Wildthings and Nano Records, so I’m looking at that kind of sound for Noisly going forward, since I’m one of the bookers for the psy trance stage.” And with the absence of the likes of the much-loved Glade Festival, Noisily has got a special niche to carve in the UK. The guys continue to rattle of names: D-nox and Beckers, a Hallucinogen DJ set, Victor Ruiz, Perfect Stranger. “I do hope one day I get this unlimited budget to work with,” Chris ponders.
So it’s shaping up to be an epic summer, with gigs at Glastonbury and Noisily festivals and of course Astral Circus. Getting booked to play Glasto in just a year is one hell of an achievement: it’s always been their dream and it’s safe to say they’re pretty damn excited. “Well we had two target gigs this summer: one was Glastonbury and the other was Boom,” Chris explains. “We haven’t completely ruled Boom out.” And funnily enough, in the few days before writing this interview up and publishing it, Boom is confirmed. “But Glastonbury 12 months into a live project is amazing for us! And we’re vibing off of it, totally! It was our dream to play at that event” says Ben.
With Glasto being as huge as ever this year, I want to know who else on the line-up they’re looking forward to checking out — surely Dolly Parton and Metallica?! Fortunately the guys are patient with me, describing how The Glade is split into two parts: the Glade main stage and the Glade lounge. “We’re playing in the lounge. Sasha’s on the main stage so we’ll definitely check him out.”
I try and steer them away from thinking about what the line-up is like on Friday, when they’re booked to play for Astral Circus at the Jamm in London. What do you think of the Metallica bear hunting business? Chris gets in quickly: “I think their music stinks. Ben’s a metaller kid, I’m a Brit pop kid so I wouldn’t listen to them for love nor money!” It turns out Ben was a metal fan when he was younger: in fact they wouldn’t have gone to the same gigs when they were younger, having mixed in totally different scenes. “But I’ve still got the Brit-pop haircut,” jokes Chris. “Even though I’ve moved completely away from that scene now!”
So other than their laptops and wellies, what else are they planning on taking? “I’m quite worried about my fans and how I’m going to deal with them,” jokes Chris, “Where I’m going to put them all. I don’t usually bother putting a tent up any more, but I’m not going to walk back to the carpark. I’m going to camp in the Glade stage with everybody else. But I’ll probably only go in it once or twice. I tend to not go near my tent.”
Ben is completely sorted as his girlfriend is working in the welfare tent, so he can always go there and have a lie down. And I’m trying to have faith in his girlfriend to remind him that he has another gig to go to. I have to ask, how the hell are they going to make it out of one of the world's most magical festies to Brixton Jamm?! I am actually exceedingly worried. Do you have a driver lined up or are you hoping for a teleporter? “It’s nothing”, says Ben “we’ve both gone on some pretty ridiculous journeys for gigs, so a couple of hours down the motorway is a breeze, we’ll definitely be after some refreshments when we get there though!”
After Glasto, Noisily is going to be a completely different vibe. With Chris so intimately involved in the planning of the festival, I wonder how's it going to come together. “Well I think the key there is really diversity,” he says. “Bringing together my three major loves music-wise, in a nutshell over three stages. Psychedelic, techno and house music and throwing it all into a forest environment with amazing sounds. Coming from the outdoor party scene, it’s all about the outdoor stages and we don’t have any indoor stages, it’s all completely outdoors, We’re bringing a pretty diverse crowd and throwing a bit of a Secret Garden party vibe into it. And 25K on those rigs is a lot of sound! For the venue size it’s a lot!”
But after so many years in the music business, he is a realist. “Electronic music is a constant gamble really. And if you keep getting it out there, just occasionally you hit the right holes and I’m hoping that’s what this is. We’ve come on board in the third year and I’ve come on board with Liquid. So I’m interested to see how it goes!”
What else is on the agenda for the rest of 2014? “There’s lots of gigs for the Autumn that I haven’t followed up yet,” Chris looks vaguely worried for a minute. “A whole host of different things, but I’m not sure if we can even mention it all yet…Ben adds ” I’ve got my residency at Sicknote in Brighton at the Volks in August, playing with Billy Nasty, which is always a great night, and then Boomtown the weekend after, so August is looking pretty busy. After that there are a few things in the works, but we’ve been so busy we haven’t had chance to nail a lot of it down.”
Finally, I’m curious to discover what they reckon is the key to all this — because they’re obviously doing more than something right! “I can give you my top tip,” says Chris. "Make sure you build really good close personal relationships with your peers and the people you want to work with. And that will get you through. That’s my top tip!” “Be nice to people!” Ben adds, “…and from a production point of view, train your ears, learn what quality sounds like and try to get that quality into your music.” Overall, it’s all about connections they both agree, be they physical or electronic.
With the album coming out on CD on PsyShop on 7 July as well as digital release a couple of weeks later, Glastonbury, Noisily and Boom Festivals and of course Astral Circus this Friday night, there is plenty to look forward to. Watch this space.
Check out this exclusive review & preview of The Billion Dollar Brain.
Links
Nanoplex FaceBook
Nanoplex Soundcloud
Ben Coda
DJ Ipcress
Astral Circus
Noisily Festival
Boom Festival
All images courtesy of Nanoplex. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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Other Features By Tara:
Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast!
Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project
A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden
Telling Cosmic Tales with DJ Strophoria
Tom Psylicious aka EarthAlien takes 50 Spins Around the Sun: Raising Awareness Through the Power of Music
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
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Comments:
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From: Gordon Darley on 27th Jun 2014 18:02.32
Legends in the making. See you at Noisily chaps, and Ben... I'm holding you to that challenge of festie debauchery 
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