This past Tuesday night Algo made his highly anticipated Denver debut at Cervantes' Other Side to kick off the 1st Electronic Tuesdays of 2016 with a bang!
Boasting massive releases on some of the industry's top labels such as Firepower Records, Rottun, SMOG, Uplink Audio, and more, Algo is one of the most explosive talents to emerge in recent years and he made quite an impact in his first ever Denver appearance. We got the opportunity to sit down with Algo prior to his performance and pick his brain for a bit and dig deeper into the Algo's musical inspiration, background, and more! Check out our latest edition of Sub.mingling and get to know ALGO!
J: Happy New Year!
A: Happy New Year!
J: First time to Colorado...
A: Ya, getting off the plane, [the mountains are] beautiful.
J:Where were you before this?
A: I just got back from New Years Eve in Montreal, it was with P0gman, LAXX, Biome, it was definitly crazy!
J: Who are your main sources of inspiration?
A: I got into it when I was 15 or 16; I was into Caspa & Rusko, all the classics; Skream, Benga, the Deep Medi guys, Datsik, Excision, 12th Planet, Skrillex, all the real guys who came up with electronic music started to become now...
I draw inspiration, not from EDM but from other genres, jazz, reggae, stuff like that. Whatever puts me in the mood to create, more than something that sounds like "him." I need an external inspiration. Not something in dance music.
J: When inspiration hits you do you just go home an...
A: Yea! Like literally just have to get in front of a computer or in my notes, I have to be able to get my idea [down on paper] because it comes and goes. Everyday I am writing stuff, I am writing to prepare. When the inspiration hits, I combine all these ideas to one. People don't realize the amount of time it takes to build a song. The time it takes to actually sit down and work on it. (He summarized that he is most productive working on a single track in one session, then returning to make tweeks on his recognizable disheveled and gritty sound.)
J: Have you ever felt like you've had a perfect set?
A: Yea, actually recently in Montreal for New Years and the Fourth of July, at a small venue. I just get a release from it.
J: What is your favorite venue that you have played at so far?
A: I have to say, venue wise, Bassement. It is definitely up there with Webster Hall because it is just that underground, literally in a basement; it has that punk, old school vibe to it, bangin sound system, really good lights...just packs out. There is a dedicated group who go there. They love dubstep, they love bass music, and they are down for whatever. Whatever you are going to play they are going to dance to
J: Do you ever get to go to any shows?
A: Actually, yea. I was in London, I met up with X-Core, we went to Fabric. It`s where Caspa and Rusko taped Fabriclive 37, which was one of the first dubstep albums I had ever heard. It just came full circle. I look up to X-core, to be able to hang out and go to a concert... It was the Digital Sound Boys last show. It was totally different from an American show. I had the time of my f***ing life, X-core's at the bar like, "Hey, here dude! Two jager bombs!" It was the coolest, craziest time I've ever had.
It's crazy, six years ago I would be doing this. It's one of those things, when you set your mind, I'm going to do this. Then it happens, it's the best feeling ever.
J: What did you think you would be doing right now, six years ago?
A: I never had a clear goal of what I wanted to do for a living. I wasn't the greatest kid in school.. I skipped class, I'd listen to music a lot. All the homies were at my house listening to UKF mixes, and one day I was like, "I wanna learn how to make this." Then Chris Ulmer (s/o Chris Ulmer!) shared production equipment and we started making stuff. Eventually I bought a copy of Maschine by Native Instruments. I made beats everyday, just progressed from there. Rekoil lives 20 minutes from me, so I would go to his house, he would teach me, eventually I was showing him some stuff. It happened like that.. and now, here I am... Right time, right place.