Robin Wylie creates music that works in all settings and transcends genres. His openness to a wide range of sound is what has both made him a widely loved favourite, but also someone who operates in his own parallel musical world. We had a chance to talk to him, so enjoy your reading and check out his latest releases.
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from / how did you get into music? Was it all internet based?
Yo, I’m from Belfast. I came up through metal and hardcore in the 80’s and then got into a lot of Industrail stuff late 80’s. I think that’s where I got my 1st taste of synths and drum machines being used in production, though I had no idea what they were then or how the sounds were being made. This deffo paved the way for finding dance music in the early 90’s, once I went to my 1st raves in the Art College here in Belfast it all clicked. I lived in Birmingham for a few years too, until the late 90’s and I was introduced to a lot of new music while I was there.
No internet back then obviously, finding new music was either from mates, magazines or visiting record shops.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musical and in «life»)? And how have they affected your sound?
That’s a hard question, I think I have sucked up so much from music over the years it comes out subconsciously in my productions. People have told me they hear Detroit elements in my tunes, I had someone else compare a forthcoming release with The Black Dog and Stasis. So yea, haha I don’t think there is any real point that I can say x or y is my main inspiration. How would you define your sound?
It’s all over the place in a good way. The releases lined up for this year are ranging between acid and electro on Nez’s Computer Controlled label, I have some Jungle and break stuff on a new Label from London called Devons Road, a UK Garage Cut on a white with Prestige Cuts and some 130 jungle inspired stuff on my own Belfast Pressure label.How has your sound evolved so far?
The growth of the studio has been key in that. I rely a lot on capturing jams on the machines and then further processing through the outboard. Saturation and compression play a big role in the process, if you take that back to when I 1st started with an Atari ST and S2000 sampler, the process was a lot slower and involved a lot of pointing and clicking. Things happen more spontaneously now and there’s plenty of happy accidents working that way too. What can you tell us about your last job? What inspired you? What do you want to convey?
The Acton East, which is due out at the start of June, was inspired with the jungle sounds from the 90s, I wanted the pads and strings in that to have that blissed out feeling from those early days. What can you tell us about each song that makes up your latest work? What is hidden behind?
Sounds of the introduction – I wanted to open the EP with a beatless piece, with an atmosphere that would clear the mind from whatever was on before, my friend and serious selector Undadog put the scratches down for me.
Acton East – Has the ups and downs of a night out in one track, a long intro teasing at what’s coming around the corner. The amen was sampled cut up the old school way in an MPC2000 to give them that 16Bit crunch and you can never go wrong with the MPC swing.
Rinse Out – Has a darker vibe, the bass and lowend was a nod to Doc Scotts Shadow boxing with its dark cavernous bass line. Most of the sequencing started off inside the MPC for this one as well. How are you living the current situation because of COVID? Has your work affected you a lot? Do you think there is hope? I feel like the underground scene will continue to persist.
With restrictions pretty much over here things are looking up. I have got to stand in front of a rig again, I missed that. My workflow changed a bit over lockdown with homeschooling, the studio is still in the house so kids had to be sorted 1st. But it gave me plenty of time to make plans.
The underground will always persist, that’s where it all started. The marginalized in society will always make something from nothing. I can’t see people not wanting to dance in fields or a warehouse until the sun comes up. It’s part of human nature.What projects are you working on right now?
I’m putting the finishing touches to a 4 track EP, some dark 2 step bits and some breaks. Hopefully out by the end of the year. I have a local vocalist called Becky McNeice on one of the tracks, she is really amazing. It’s not normally a track she would put her vocal on, but she is always up for a challenge. Keep an eye out for her.
I always have plenty of mixing and mastering work that I do with local artists in Belfast.. it keeps me out of trouble 😉