Creative Conversations 047: Forging A Genre With Liquid Ritual [Exclusive]

Interview by Luke Byatt

With Wave’s recent recognition from leading DJ store Beatport, the genre’s prevalence around the world has been on the rise. We caught up with Liquid Ritual founders Stohou (Oskar Barczak) and Kareful (Jude Leigh-Kaufman) to discuss how they’ve played their part in forging wave community from an avant-garde clique into a mainstream genre.

Futuremag Music: Hey Kareful and Stohou (Liquid Ritual), how're you doing?

Liquid Ritual: Hey, doing well mate thanks for asking. How’s things over with you?

Futuremag Music: Congratulations on Wave being recognised as a genre on Beatport! It's a huge step for the scene. Before we jump into it, could you outline who you are and what Liquid Ritual does within the scene for those unfamiliar. 

Liquid Ritual: Sure! We established Liquid Ritual as a label back in 2017 and are best known for being one of the spearheading labels within Wave. Our philosophy has always been to try and push the boundaries of and expand the genre both sonically and culturally. Sonically in the sense that we believe the music we release changes the perception of the sound and begins trends within the scene, rather than jumping on the hype and culturally by opening doors for the genre and artists by pushing Wave to new ears, whether in the industry or to dedicated music fans within related genres.

Liquid Ritual Founders, Stohou (Left), Kareful (Right) (Provided)

Futuremag Music: Wave as a genre has been a continual swell, with the scene growing from the underground into the mainstream. Could you give us a quick run down on the genre's sonic and how it differentiates itself from other Bass and Trap sounds? What makes Wave unique? 

Liquid Ritual: Although this may sound cliché, we believe that what makes Wave unique is the emotion present in all the releases. You could have an absolute belter of a Hardwave track from Skeler or Heimanu, yet the sounds and melodies still invoke that ‘Why am I crying in the club?’ feeling that Wave possesses.

Back in the early days, producers making Wave weren’t necessarily the most “skilled” technically in the sense of producing commercial quality masters, etc, but what they excelled at was capturing that emotion through their emotive melodies, icy atmospheres and warm reese basses. Even the most DIY lo-fi music was still able to strike a chord with the listeners as the focus was on the songwriting over the mix and master – in a way it’s quite similar to punk in the sense that there was something human about the music in contrast to some of the other popular EDM genres at the time such as Dubstep or DnB where the sound design shifted more towards a visceral and industrious sound rather than familiar organic sounds.

Simplified, the greatest strength of the early Wave was the simplicity – it was so simple that anyone would instantly get it and enjoy, compared to the other EDM genres that were growing in complexity where you more “listened” to the track instead of enjoying it.

As the sound progressed and producers level up, those characteristics are still very present within the sound, even though the production level has risen to a more commercial quality. Compared to a lot of other EDM scenes the underground roots of Wave are probably it’s biggest strengths as it prioritises the melodies and emotion that made us fall in love with the genre in the first place.

RL Grime’s live edit of Skeler’s ‘Arcadia’ at EDC Mexico 2019

Futuremag Music: Moving onto Beatport, what does this official recognition mean for the prosperity of Wave as a genre and the community that surrounds it? Looking into the future where do you see the genre expanding?

Liquid Ritual: The biggest outcome from Beatport adding Wave as a genre is it’s the first time the music industry has recognised it as a genre, therefore legitimising its place. In the early days of Wave, something that we always struggled with was convincing the industry that we were bringing something new to the table. People were too caught up in the obvious Trap influence, meaning the sound was often swallowed in the black hole that is umbrella genre tags, although we believed that in terms of overall music ethos/philosophy we were very different to the genres we were being compared to.  

With the recent growth and popularity of the genre we think we’re going to see a lot more household names of EDM either releasing Wave music or remixing Wave music in the next 12 months. Hopefully after the pandemic subsides, we are going to see more Wave artists at festivals, maybe even Wave stages at festivals. We’re definitely going to see more Wave themed club nights internationally.

There’s a lot of really talented smaller talented artists starting to make a name for themselves and we’re seeing a lot of artists have tracks with over a million plays where before this was very rare. It’s really exciting from a promoters point of view as it shows that there is momentum and real hunger for the sound. 

Wave is the original term of the sound which is more stripped back and atmospheric. Has a stronger focus on being more bedroom friendly rather than for the club with its unorthodox structures and almost lo-fi sounding. Big focus on vocal manipulation and swelling reese basses to invoke emotion.

Hardwave borrows many elements of the original Wave sound but implements a more energetic and club friendly sonic. Huge buildups into massive drops of trance leads backed by a grittier bass. Comparing the two sounds, Wave is much more subtle. For us, Hardwave is the hype part of a DJ set whereas Wave is what gives you a little room to breathe before the next slapper. 

Futuremag Music: Where does Liquid Ritual stand in the ever changing world of Wave? What is the label bringing to the table moving forward? 

Liquid Ritual: As the popularity of Wave grows, and a lot of people are discovering the genre for the first time, Liquid Ritual serves as a bonafide starting point for any newcomer to get a definitive idea of the true range of the sound and we’re a trusted place to discover some of the best music and artists the scene has to offer.

Moving forwards, we’re looking into more ways that enable artists and fans to interact with each other in an organic setting and as always pushing the envelope of the sound further and getting the music in front of a wider audience. We’re planning a lot at the moment and don’t want to reveal too much. As we always say “big things coming soon”.