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Superskin

December 29, 2016

Superskin

“Not using more than necessary to make something work”

Andreas Klotz makes dubby lofi electronic music as Superskin which sounds ambitious and evocative yet structured and compact. 
Your music often has a dark, kind of creepy mood. Why do you like that sound and mood? 
Well, I just like it. I like the melodies that I play to be ambiguous, evocative and kind of visual. And sometimes I like to put emotions into the music. Within that frame dark and creepy moods just have much more potential. At least for me.
Which tools do you use to make and record your music? Is your music made analog or digital, or both?
I use a drum machine/sampler and a keyboard with some effects on them. Then I record on tape and later digitalize the whole thing. That’s the finished version then, meaning that I don’t work on the digitalized version anymore. No editing or equalizing or effects or so. In that sense you can probably call it analog. 
Your live set-up seems rather limited. Do you prefer to keep things simple? 
Definitely. I like the idea of not using more than necessary to make something work. In general. And I also like to be aware of the single elements of something as part of the whole.
What’s kind of music inspired your?
Well, originally it was grunge and other heavy guitar music of the nineties I listened to as a teenager. Concerning the Superskin project more specifically it wasn’t a specific kind of music that made me want to start something myself. It was rather my general love for all kinds of music combined with experiencing the noise and experimental scene in Antwerp that gave me the push to start a project like that.
Do you come from a music background? Did you study any kind of music or learned to play an instrument? 
I don’t come from a music background and I also haven’t studied music in any way or learned an instrument. 
What’s the music you grew up with? 
I grew up with listening to the charts on the radio as a kid and when I got older I mainly listened to the then popular alternative music of the nineties: Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine, Beastie Boys, Body Count, Beck and those kind of things.
For how long have you been making music? 
A bit more than ten years ago I got myself some software with the intention to produce electronic music on the computer. The results were quite poor because I just didn’t really know what I want to do or how to get there. I also found that world of digital production too complicated and too sterile and with too many possibilities. Later I played the drums in a band which also didn’t really get anywhere and we quit after not too long. Eventually I started using electronic hardware which I was most comfortable with. The project which would become Superskin is a bit less than five years old.
How do you feel your music has evolved between when you started out and now? 
There is a general tendency of songs becoming tighter and more compact. Structure is more defined and certain jammy and droney elements are getting less and less.
Which role does music play in your daily live? Do you play daily? Do you listen to music daily? 
Music plays a big role in my daily life. I definitely listen to something every day and I go to concerts regularly. 
Do you record at home? 
Yes, I record at home.
You currently live in Vienna. Are you actually from Vienna or did you later on move to Vienna? 
I grew up in Innsbruck and when I was 23 I moved to Antwerp where I studied and lived for five years and only after that I moved to Vienna. Here I live now since 5 years. 
Does living in this city has an influence on your music?  
I guess living in a certain city does have an influence on one’s music as it is the frame of one’s social life. I wouldn’t really know how to put my finger on it though in regard to a specific character of Vienna. And I also have to add to that that the initial spark for the Superskin project still happened when I was still in Antwerp. Even though I only started doing it more seriously while I was already living in Vienna.
What does the name Superskin stand for? 
It doesn’t really stand for anything although it’s obviously meant to be read rather in a metaphorical sense.
If you make your music, do you start from an idea in your mind that you try to play? Or do you just put on your gear, start to improvise and see what comes out? 
Sometimes the process starts with an idea of a drum pattern or a bassline or a certain concept for a song. But it also might end up being something totally different in the end. And sometimes I also just start from scratch.

Why do you still release your music as an object? 
Well, the physical release is for me definitely more satisfying as an artistic result that you can literally grasp.
Why do you prefer the format of the tape?
I don’t necessarily prefer the tape but I like it and so far my releases have just been tapes because that’s what the labels in each case offered to do with my material, and I wanted to get it out there.

Do you feel like your music is linked to dance?  
Some songs are definitely suitable for dancing although my music is not necessarily intended as dance music. It is however most of the time based on drum patterns and rhythmic structures, which is easily associated with and suitable for dancing. The “groovier” or “funkier” those rhythmic structures are, the more dancey the song is. At live gigs people often dance and I like that, and sometimes I intentionally like to prepare a more danceable set.
Do you see what you do as experimental?
I do see what I do as experimental in the sense that there are no guidelines from other artists or musical genres that I am following concerning the aesthetics or the structure of my music. Superskin is defined by a certain texture, grammar and attitude rather than anything else.
For the Tremors tape, discogs mentions as ‘style’: dub. What’s the influence of dub on your music? 
When I was younger I did very much like that dark urban dub that was one of the new styles of electronic music that came out in the nineties. As far as the categorization goes, I obviously like it rhythmic, slow and spacious and I guess that kind of qualifies as dubby. I didn’t make the discogs entry myself though.

How would you describe what you do to someone who does not know what you do? 
Well, that’s difficult and I am usually not very good at it. Rhythmic, atmospheric, dubby, lo-fi, experimental electronic music. Or something like that,

Soundcloud
Superskin fanpage

– Joeri Bruyninckx
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