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[title]Istanbul's very own Aleksandir first appeared on our radar with his ‘Yamaha’ EP, whose title track became one of the biggest hits of 2018 after racking up over two million views on YouTube and being played in festivals by the likes of Dixon and Tycho. We sat down with the rising star to chat about his musical background, his thoughts on the house music scene in Istanbul and what’s in store for the future.
Do you play any instruments? When did you start producing music?
I started playing the piano when I was six and had classical training up until I was about 18. I also played the drums for quite a few years with bands during high school and so forth. It wasn’t until my first year of university – about five years ago – that I started to produce electronic music. I think that was due to a combination factors, from having started to listen to more electronic music, as well as a lack of people around me to make music with. I think I’d also hit a bit of a brick wall with playing classical music because at a more advanced level, being good enough at a piece to truly enjoy it requires hours and hours of regular practice. So by the time you can play a sonata or something from beginning to end, you are sick of it, which for me is just not a very sustainable way to enjoy or create music.
Yamaha was one of this summer’s biggest hits. Can you tell us how the track was made? Do you ever get tired of playing it or listening to it?
I made Yamaha straight after I got back from Club to Club 2015 in Torino, definitely feeling the afterglow of seeing so many of my favourite artists for the first time. Specifically, the energy from Todd Terje’s set was just stuck in my head, and I remember being really into that arpeggiated, rolling Nordic disco sound. I think Yamaha was a bit of that, mixed in with more emotional chords and some other influences. I definitely get tired of listening to it, and more than anything I think I cringe a little when people listen to my music when I’m about. But it’s still good fun to play out in the club as the responses are usually pretty crazy, and I definitely owe it to anyone who has come down to listen to me.
Your releases so far have stood close to a laid-back strain of house. Do you intend on making more club-friendly tunes like Yamaha?
Definitely. I’ve been working on a bunch of new tracks, all with the club in mind. I think starting to DJ regularly has changed my outlook a fair amount. I don’t think I ever really got what the club vibe was about as I wasn’t ever a big party guy throughout university. But I’ve been going out a lot more since I’ve been back in Istanbul, partially due to playing regularly, so it’s becoming an exciting idea to make tracks that I can play out myself. I don’t think I’ll ever really produce with just making bangers in mind, but my general direction definitely seems to be more club-friendly for the moment.
‘Chopin inspired the musical romantic in me’
What are your thoughts on the house music scene in Istanbul?
The house music scene here is pretty small at the moment, though I like to believe that some good things are brewing. There’s definitely a shortage of good venues and good nights, and I think certain promoters who have the power to inspire or develop the scene are a little lazy regarding the creativity of their bookings. On a personal level, my friend Supu & I are involved in a couple of projects: mainly two party nights called Lampshade and Şerpembe. Lampshade has been running bimonthly for over a year now, focusing on live performances from jazz bands to electronic live acts, which are then followed by sets from local DJs. Şerpembe, on the other hand, is a night that started out as a party between friends that we were throwing at a theatre venue, but will hopefully blossom into a more serious venture this year as we make some international bookings. What I see here is that people genuinely enjoy house music whenever it finds them, but there’s just not enough of it being made or played out here for the moment. Big shout out to those few who are keeping it alive though: Emre Can Swim, my partner-in-crime at Artesian Sounds, and my guy Supu, as well as Can Atakul, Kerem Akdağ, our local lo-fi crew (fmy, voyd and Ben Lee), Sevil, Ave Astra of ROIT Recordings and all the other people trying to make things happen over here.
Who are some of your biggest influences musically?
Nicolas Jaar’s ‘Space Is Only Noise’ was definitely the first electronic album that I listened to fully, and I listened to it every day for over a year. It is probably the album that pushed me to make music on a laptop. Way before that, I think Chopin is what inspired the musical romantic in me, and I like to think that a tendency for feeling through melody and more emotive music comes through in my tracks because of that. Currently, there are way too many people to mention, but Shigeto’s ‘No Better Time Than Now’, Floating Points’ ‘Shadows’ and Lone’s ‘Reality Testing’ were some other incredibly influential albums for me. In a completely different sense, my brother was definitely my most important influence though. Having a very musical brother who is eight years older than me was a bit of a crash course for me as a child. I think I was probably seven or eight when I’d go to my brother’s room and beg him to put on some Iron Maiden, Rage Against the Machine or Mars Volta. And then watching him play in bands growing up was definitely what inspired me to make music a priority in my life. Also much love to my mum who sat with me and made me practise the piano!
What are you working on at the moment? Do you have any forthcoming music?
I have a couple of releases in the pipeline, one of which will be released on my label Artesian Sounds later this year, as well as a track on the next release from Haŵs, coming out around March. But maybe the most exciting of all is that a remix I did for Agoria is coming out this month. That kind of happened out of nowhere when Agoria hit me up on Facebook last summer. It’s definitely not something I saw coming and I’m very excited for it.
Catch Aleksandir after Max Cooper on February 1.