feeder insider w/ Marcus Price (en)

feeder insider Marcus Price

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Marcus Price is one of the most influential music producers in Sweden, and has helped shape and redefine local electronic music and genres like skweee. He’s been producing music as Marcus Price, Basutbudet and Mackan and collaborating frequently with fellow friend and producer Carli. Here, at feeder, we’re really big fans of Marcus and we’re looking forward to seeing him in Romania, so naturally when we talked to him, we asked about this possibility. What we found out and much more about Mr. Marcus Price after the jump, in this week’s feeder insider.

Keywords: skweee, bass, dance, hip-hop, Sweden

Hello, Marcus!

This is what feeder would like to know about you:
(please, fill in the blanks)

The best way to start the day is… Black coffee, snus and CrookedRuler.com.
I never grow tired of… Will Ferrell.
One thing that keeps bothering me is… that I never want to go to bed, I always stay up way too late for no good reason…
The essential thing I keep in mind when creating… nowadays is chronology, as in arrangement. Playing the track from the beginning and not getting stuck in the details.
A proper bassline can… be made of just toms or 808 kickdrums.
Back in my teenage years, I used to listen to a lot of… 70’s reggae and dub music.
A great party has… that vibe!
My mood-altering substance of choice is… good clean weed or some French red wine.
In all these years pursuing music, one of the greatest things I’ve learned is… if you’re not having fun doing it, it won’t appeal to people.
3 of my favorite party tunes…

Traxman – I Need Some Money
L-Vis 1990 – Come Together
DJ Rashad – Pass That Shit (feat Spinn & Taso)

 

Ana Moca-Grama: Oy, Marcus, it’s so great you accepted doing this interview. Your career in music has been very fruitful, you’ve been playing music for a long time under different identities. You’re also Mackan in your rap quartet Fattaru and Basutbudet. How come you chose more than one identity? How different are they from one another?
Marcus Price: Oi oi! Thank you, I was surprised and flattered that you guys hollered at me! Yeah I’ve done a couple of different things since Fattaru blew up here back in 2001. I’ve thought about it recently, and through my career I’ve always wanted to challenge and explore myself and my possibilities. I think it derives from the battle-element of the hip-hop i grew up listening to, the mentality of having the freshest style and being the best. So whenever I felt I’ve mastered a style or technique I wanted to try something new and master that. The basic difference is when I created Basutbudet I started producing the beats as well as the lyrics, and with time I’ve come to focus on only production.

AMG: You’ve been a pioneer when it comes to the Swedish music scene, you’ve redefined bass music and adapted it to your local context. When did you realize this is something you want to do? What were the elements that shaped your path to the type of music you play today?

I was introduced to classic electro, Miami and Detroit style bass music by my old friend Måns Glaeser (of Savage Skulls) in the early 2000’s and was inspired. Few years later I started mc’ing with him and other dj’s that would play italo, electro and stuff like that in clubs in Stockholm, doing simple party-rhymes and chants rather than the more advanced rapping that i was known to do with Fattaru.

Around 2005, i bought two Technics 1210’s and a mixer and got into dj’ing. I played mostly rap music in the beginning, a lot of J Dilla and that line of Detroit stuff… when i saw Dilla dj one night playing mainly his own production I had a revelation, that was what I was going to do.

AMG: You’re a member of Slang Musik and Svensk Bas, two labels which promote Swedish bass music. How was the music received, so far, by the local and international public? Any plans for European tours, will any of you come to Romania anytime soon?

With Slang Musik we’ve focused mainly on a kind of alternative Swedish rap scene, it’s been appreciated and we can’t complain. Svensk Bas is like an extension of my ventures into bass with Basutbudet, now consisting of me and the super awesome producers Cristian Dinamarca, Baba Stiltz and Henry Rodrick.

We want to build a catalog and will release some new cool stuff in 2015, as well as try to get out of Sweden to play some gigs wherever we can.

AMG: Your videos are really funny and creative, it’s interesting that they have all these recurring themes and characters. Do you usually get involved in the video script and production?

MP: Yeah, me and Carli were very involved in creating our videos from scratch and, as always, with a small budget like we usually got you gotta be more creative. It also has to do with the idea we had about dance music in general, that historically it’s been a bit serious when it comes to concepts… we basically just wanted to bring some humor into it.

AMG: How do you usually go about when creating a new tune? Do you have any specific things you like to do, any habits or rules concerning your creative work?
MP: I just mess around with sounds and samples until I hear a rhythm… I used to take acapellas from Swedish rap tunes I had recorded, put them on a cd and play around with the pitch and loop functions on my cd’s a lot… it’s nice to let the machines lead you, to get some randomness and new ideas..

AMG: Your collaboration with Carli is one of the best things that could’ve happened, you two are quite a dynamic duo. Do you plan on releasing new material together?
MP: I agree 🙂  well not at the moment, but it’s been over a year so…

AMG: What are, in your opinion, the necessary elements of a great party? Do you feel like, in this day and age, some genres are underrated, or overrated?
MP: You know a party is just supposed to be fun. I wouldn’t say a specific genre is overrated or underrated, but to rigorously stick to one genre during a night is not as fun as mixing different vibes.

AMG: What do you enjoy doing, besides music? How does a day off look like for you?
MP: Not much, nothing out of the ordinary really.. family & friends, movies & games, food & drinks you know – the good things!

AMG: The Romanian electronic music scene is expanding, and I’m curious, do you happen to know any local producers or dj’s? Do you plan on visiting anytime soon?
MP: I can’t say I do, please book me so I can learn!

AMG: Thank you very much! Looking forward to seeing you in Romania!
MP: Thank you so much, see y’all soon I hope! PEACE

All photos © Zak

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