Kraddy

Truth Has No Path covers a variety of genres and styles, but is consistent in its ingenuity and high quality production. It's an album from an artist with a plethora of music in his bag who is just giving us a glimpse of what he is capable of. Compared to Tipper and Si Begg, Kraddy's music implicates cybernetic breaks with asymmetrical dub delays and hip hop grooves with ethereal melodies. "Brecht", "8 Electrodes" and "Faux Show" (a remix of Shimmy Shimmy Ya by the Old Dirty Bastard) are dancefloor rockers with robotic beats, ripper basslines and razor sharp edits. "New World Empire" and "Imminent Threat" are hip hop head-nodders with glitchy beats and dark melodies and "Dub 17" is a classic big bass dub track. "Xepha", "Looking In Windows" and "Drowning..." are ambient, haunting and melodic.

Kraddy also works at DataStream Studios and has done production for Paris and the Mystik Journeymen. He is also the man behind Refiner studios, a commercial music production studio that has composed music for film, television, commercials and dance performances. His work has been shown on the Bravo Channel and in Film Festivals internationally as well as being commissioned by the Printz Dance Project and Capacitor.

Win a copy of his CD below, and read the interview for a greater understanding of what makes up this talented producer!

When I started producing music about seven years ago I didn't really know anything about electronic music or DJing. I had heard Aphex Twin's I Care Because You Do and I was blown away but I didn't really know anything else. I was very into hip hop (Pahrcyde, Tribe, Nas) but I didn't think of that as electronic music like I do now. At that point, I was interested in being an audio engineer because I wanted to know how to make and engineer my own music but I didn't have any certain style in mind.

In '96 I moved out to SF and I ended up interning at a studio here in SF called DataStream Studios with Bruce Leighton. Bruce is the man. He introduced me to Logic Audio and I just ran with it. As a control-freak, I liked being a one man band and having complete control over all the sounds. I would spend every weekend down at the studio messing around - on Friday nights I would hang with my friends until they went to some bar and then I would go down to the studio until 2 am or so. On Saturdays I usually spend most of the day down there - and eventually I got some skills.

It's obvious that you have a lot more influences than just dance music, what are some of those influences?

I try not to think in genres, I just try to listen to sound. I've always liked artists (musical or otherwise) that I felt were really pushing the envelope and taking chances. My first loves musically were Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. And I still take notes when I listen to them - the production on Bonham's drums - Jimi's solos and delay feedback - the arrangement and instrumentation of Pink Floyd - it's all amazing stuff that still influences a lot of what I do musically.

I love all kinds of hip hop production from the booty hop to the underground - Premier, Dre, Pete Rock, Timbaland, Terminator X and the Bomb Squad, DJ Shadow, Mr. Oizo, Jimmy Jay and Show. I could go on and on - I love King Tubby, Sonic Youth, Bad Brains, Ani Difranco, Nine Inch Nails, the Pixies, Prince, Built To Spill, Phish, Meshuggah, Sepultura, Meshelle N'Degeocello, Medeski Martin and Wood - whenever I listen to music I think of it as a learning process. I always try to listen with a producer's ear and not get caught up in whether it's popular or cool or underground. One of my most recent production favorites is the song "Dirty Pop" by N'Sync. My friends all clown me for liking it but the production rocks (it's BT's production).

We all hear lots about the European scene, but tell us a little bit more about what it's like playing around USA, where you've been this year and what the locals have been like and where has it gone off?

This year I've played in Portland, Seattle, SF, LA and NY. It's all been really fun and I've met tons of cool people. One of my most fun gigs was actually on Breaks.FM with Sean Infinitee. I was just spinning at his house, playing lots of my own stuff, and rocking out, giving shout-outs, and having a blast.

When you play out has it been Live or DJ sets?

I've been spinning out with CDs and records recently though it seems there's some aura about playing "live". I've played sets off of Albelton Live and I find it pretty boring but I'm starting to think it would be good thing to do just to get more gigs.

What do you think the San Francisco scene encompasses that sets it apart? Who are the forefront players?

I love SF because people will come out for some eclectic shit. People here like technology and appreciate good electronic music. They'll dance if its rockin', but they have no issues just sitting back and nodding their heads.

Dov, you're the man - where would breaks be in SF without you? Adam Ohana always brings in good talent, as does A:Doubl and Breakthru. Donna Matrix and NewsBreaks is coming up. Of course everyone wants a piece of Lorin - he's got it going on. Greg Tung and Benchun thowdown as well. And who could forget DJ Push and Just One holding it down on
FutureBreaks.

How are things on the music production front?

I just sit down and let whatever comes out happen. I like to think of myself as a medium - I don't make the music it just happens thru me. I've got some dope glitch hop remixes up on my site if y'all wanna check them out: www.kraddyodaddy.com I think my next project is going to be an illegal album of hip hop remixes. I really like making my own beats and putting accapellas over them. I would really like to get some dope MC to throw down some lyrics but I don' know any. If you're out there with the sick flow and the conscious lyrics email me: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

What are your primary production tools?

Logic Audio is my friend. I love that program. The NI plugins are dope too. I love Absynth, Reaktor, Kontakt, FM7, ES2, EVB6…werd.

Any favorite Plugins or Packages?

Native Instruments got it going on - fer sure. The Waves plugins are dope too. And all the Logic plugins are top notch as well.

Do you have any recommendations for someone starting up?

Two things - spend a lot of time making tracks and believe in your self. At the beginning you're going to make a lot of tracks that are kinda lame, or that you never finish, but don't sweat it just keep going.

Don't doubt yourself, it's not rocket science or magic, like any art it takes a lot of dedicated hours to get good at it. I think the key to getting good at anything s to just spend a lot of time doing it - mastery through practice. If you spend enough hours doing something you're going to inevitably get good at it.

You've had reviews and plays from the likes of Tipper and Freq Nasty, been remixed by Atomic Hooligan, had mentions in XLR8R, Editors Picks on C-Net and lots more. Did you really expect all the support you're getting?

Honestly I didn't think about it too much. In some ways figured that someone was going to notice me because I really like my own music. I rock out as I make it and when I play my tracks out I think they sound great. I do love getting play and props from people like Tipper, Freq, Bill Bless, Lorin and you, Dov. I have a lot of respect for what they do so it's nice to feel that reciprocated. Also, I know that they have people handing them CDs all the time - so if they didn't really dig my stuff I know they would just pass it over.

Where/what direction would you like to see more 'Breaks' go?

I could say that I'd love to hear more glitchy breaks but if everybody was playing glitchy breaks then it wouldn't be the special thing it is. I like that the style I play is a bit out the mainstream a little hard to get into. I like being a bit obscure. Let most DJs play the predictable party rockers - I'll be in the side room blowing people's minds.

Who would you most like to hear some new tunes from?

I'm always happy to hear something new from Bil Bless - the man is obviously in cahoots with some black magic shit. If Andy Page wanted to drop another mother like Mr. Rush I wouldn't complain either. EVAC, Tipper, Si Begg they all rule. Mr. Oizo always makes me smile and I'd like to have a word with Bit Meddler because were both on the booty glitch remix tip.

Tell us a little more about your Truth Has No Path CD on Refiner Records, what was the idea behind it and where can people get it?

THNP was never conceived of as an album. I had been producing tracks for a while and I felt like I wanted to get it out there to the people. I though my shit sounded pretty authentic and unique and I wanted to put my flag down: "Here I am". I do lots of different styles so I wanted to show that on the album. As an electronic music composer I see very little difference between hip hop, trance, ambient, dub, breaks...whatever. I think people tend to get genre-centric and I think that's limiting. At its most basic all electronic music is a Moog and an 808. I wanted to put out an album that was able to touch on a lot of different styles but retain coherence in my production.
I didn't and still don't want to come off as a breaks guy or a an I.D.M.-guy or a hip hop guy - I just want to be my own thing. I decided to put the album out on my own so I could do everything the way I wanted and to learn about how records are made, sold and distributed. And it's been difficult but a great experience. I haven't had the benefit of a label's distribution and money but I also haven't had the pressure to sell albums. I have the freedom to do everything the way I want to do it. And I've felt that a lot of people have respected the fact that I did it all on my own - which is cool.

You can check out the album at my website: www.kraddyodaddy.com.

What surprises can we expect from Kraddy in the near future?

You can expect me to blow up, sell out, bang Avril Lavine, get Punk'd, remix Marylyn Manson, show my genitals at the Video Music Awards, appear on The Daily Show, get beat up by Rick Rubin, date Wynona Rider, Eryka Badu, and Ally Sheedy, develop a drug addiction, get herpes, go to rehab, recover, come back saying I've cleaned up, do a bunch of Just Say No commercials, get hooked again, almost die, go to rehab, come back saying I've cleaned up and found god, marry Avril, divorce her, marry Wynona, have a kid, divorce her, produce a hit album, make a comeback, retire, die and be remembered on VH1 Behind The Scenes.

Do you have any booking or remix contact information that we can share?

www.kraddyodaddy.com
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Thanks to everyone who's supported me!

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