Nico Purman: The 'Monday Is Ok' Mix

Music

Late March saw the arrival of a very intriguing release on the below radar record label, Art Of Memory, founded by Nico Purman. Since 2013 the label has acted as a platform for the Argentinian born, Berlin based artist to capture ears with his experimental take on electronics and avant garde soundscapes. His latest release AOM002.2 is his third outing on his own imprint and the record sees him explore the spaces between techno, electro and ambient works. We caught up with Nico Purman to talk Argentinian roots and asked him to contribute to our Monday mix series. Listen and read the interview below:

Please introduce yourself…Who are you, where are you and what are you?

I'm Nico Purman. I'm a DJ and Producer. I'm in Berlin.

What does your music sound like?

My music always sounds different, i'm always doing something different every time I start a new project. But at the moment it sounds very electronic.

How would you describe the music scene back in Argentina?

Well I can’t talk too much as I don’t know whats going on at the moment, but there´s a big commercial scene, big festivals for thousands of people. big clubs, but there's also people doing their own thing in small venues. There's many people producing music, all kinds like everywhere else. But it really depends where you play, and what kind of music the crowd expects you to play.

You grew up playing the drums, how has that helped to develop your understanding of rhythm and electronic music?

Drumming helps you to understand rhythm of course and it's always present when i'm programming drums or sounds. I play with step sequencers a lot, pressing and releasing the buttons in real time so at the end it sounds very organic but Im not using swing at all, its very electro, like a robot with soul.

What were your early influences?

Post punk bands, Talking Heads, Joy Division, late 80´s EBM, 90´s techno, acid house, Jamaica dub Pioneers (King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry), Detroit electro. Then I discovered music that changed my life completely, Kraftwerk, Drexciya, Aphex Twin, 90´s Warp, Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound/Maurizio, Jeff Mills,and the list goes on.

Tell us about the Monday mixtape you’ve put together for us.

It's about music that makes me feel something, instead of music to dance to. It's a selection of personal favourites. It's not beat matched, it was carefully selected and mixed without altering the pitch or speed of the tracks, in order to respect the original compositions. So I hope it makes someone feel good on the hardest day of the week.

If it were to be drawn what would it look like?

Could be some kind of Kandinsky but could also be some kind of Picasso in certain moments of the mix.

If it were a food what would it be?

It depends on everyones taste, could be a cinnamon cookie, an apple cinnamon cake, dark chocolate and ginger tea, but could also be something else. The smell of the morning coffee..