Alpha-podcast presents Δ Δ (Delta)

Alpha-podcast presents Δ Δ (Delta)

Δ Δ (Delta), Alpha-ville podcast

Heralding from Athens, Dimitris Dimas Δ Δ (Delta) /// Dmitri is a Greek electronic musician and DJ who’s visceral and innovative productions have caught the ears of Get Some UK among others across Europe. Having put together an exclusive mix for the Alpha-ville Podcast series, Dimitri gives a heavy nod to the house music producers emanating from the US, making use of a mixing style (similar to that of Moodyman) that does not alter the tempo of the original tracks, allowing them to play at full length in the way that the original artist/ producer intended.

His projects mirror that of friend and two-time Alpha-Ville performer Eleni Adamopoulou who plays under the alias Manekinekod.

We caught up with Dimitri to ask him a few questions about music, his influences and how the economic situation in Greece is affecting the electronic music scene there:

1. The podcast for Alpha-Ville is a great journey through some of the more interesting US house music producers making records at the moment including Omar S, Moodymann and Theo Parrish, can you tell us why you chose to highlight them?

When I make a mix or a podcast, it’s usually all over the place but with this one I tried to make something more coherent and that’s what
I came up with. To be completely honest, it’s just a selection of records I had laying around that day. The podcast is the music you’d normally hear at my house on any regular day.

2. Some of your productions such as “Earth Documents 1″ reflect aspects of the UK dubstep scene, can you tell us what effect this scene has had on your music?

I think I’m influenced by any and all sounds. I don’t operate within a specific style or genre and that allows me to incorporate elements from all angles. When I first started making my own music, the UK sound had a significant effect on me, as it was new and exciting and you could go into any direction you wanted. I think it offered an open platform for people and that’s probably the reason why so many people around the world got involved with it and the sound spread and evolved so quickly.

Nowadays dubstep’s grown so big, everyone seems to have their own interpretation of what it is and it’s so far from what it originally was.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it encourages people to experiment and explore new territories. That is never a bad thing when it comes to music making.

3. Is dubstep something that has relevance to the wider European electronic music scene outside of the UK and Germany?

It was a matter of time before dubstep reached more people and made its way out of the underground. In the past few years there have been quite a lot of gigs and parties in Greece that feature some of the most exciting musicians and DJs around today and they were all very well received, so at least that’s an indication that good music will always get noticed eventually.

4. What do you think of the emerging electronic music scene in Athens? Can you tell us about how it is evolving?

I’m not sure if there is a scene yet, but it feels like we’re gradually getting there. There are quite a few musicians and producers around today who are really active in their territories and their musical output is increasing with time. It’s refreshing to know that there are still people around willing to really work on their music and push things forward, but there needs to be a lot more than that for it to be considered a scene.

It has to do with the ecology of music, with the relationships between people and their interactions with where they are. These things take time and sometimes things are simply coincidental, just a bunch of people who happened to be at a certain place and at a certain time.

5. Some of your productions make use of traditional Greek music and
Eastern influences such as “Closure”, do you feel there is a cross-over between these influences and modern electronic music?

Obviously, there is one, but that’s the case with music in general. I don’t really see any distinctions when it comes to sound, it has to do with how you experience sound in general, anything can go together, if you discover the way to blend things together. The only thing that changes is the way people use the symbols of their environment to communicate through it. I mean, for me a dub record from 70′s Jamaica might be expressing a similar feeling to a 90′s Norwegian black metal album. If you take a step you back you notice these connections between things that might otherwise appear remote.

I like all music the same way I like all colours and all shapes.

6. What sort of effect do you think the economic crisis in Greece is having on the music scene there?

Whenever there’s a form of crisis, art and expression flourish, as people search for new ways to escape their surroundings. It’s that love/hate relationship with our environment that’s usually the trigger for people to get together and form a movement or a scene, so maybe at some point we might actually experience the evolution of a scene in its geographical sense. Greece nowadays is a place of uncertainty, anxiety and fear for the future, but at the same time I’d like to believe that there still exists a way to channel all these negative emotions and experiences into something productive. Otherwise, we’re doomed and there is no point in getting out of bed in the morning.

7. Some of your tracks make use of sounds that appear to be sampled from records, can you tell us about the production process?

It’s not a clear process, more of a sketch or a collage of ideas. I like to make sounds with whatever I can get my hands on, whether that’s a synthesizer, a sampler or a record, I don’t know, it depends on what state of mind I’m in at the time. Most of the time I’ll be messing around with something and if that sounds good, I keep on doing it to see how far I can take it. It’s almost trial and error, like examining all these different formulas. But basically it’s just fun to mess around with sounds. As for the production, I use Ableton Live and occasionally Pro Tools for additional production, but I’d like to work more with analog gear in the future and I still have a lot to learn.

8. What projects are you currently working on at the moment?

I’m working on a quite a few projects, I have a collection of songs that are starting to form a relationship between them and are gradually morphing into what looks like an album or a couple of EPs. I usually like to upload a few songs every month, just to keep track of what sounds I’ve been making at the time. Right now I’m working on some new purely electronic stuff and I’m also thinking of recording a few tracks with live drums because I haven’t been playing much lately and I’m starting to miss the physical aspect of music making.

9. Who would you highlight as an electronic music producer you feel is doing something really interesting?

I’m a big fan of Boddika, I like his hands on approach to production, the textures and dynamics of his music and his overall aesthetic. His music would be the perfect soundtrack to a cyberpunk movie.

10. Can you tell us the story behind your artistic name “Δ Δ (Delta)”?

Well, it’s actually the initials of my Greek name, so I don’t know if there’s much of a story to it. I just wanted something that didn’t sound like anything or mean anything that would be open to interpretation and have a visual aspect to it. And after all, it is my name and I can only be myself.

Alpha-podcast presents Δ Δ (Delta Delta) by Alpha-Ville on Mixcloud

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