Kid Fiction Interview - Inventive Electro
Meet Kid Fiction, one of Australia's rising indie electro producers and vocalists. Finding Influence from all corners, from the darker shades and heavy electronics of the UK underground to lush melodic soundscapes, Kid Fiction builds sample heavy soundscapes designed for your soul. Get to know the man behind the music as we chat about his self titled EP, music and more.
Futuremag Music: Can you talk us through your relationship with music, and what led you to adopt the name ‘Kid Fiction’?
Music and I first met when I was about 7. I wouldn't say I grew up in a particularly musical household, but there was a family HiFi with a good selection of music waiting to be discovered. I have a distinct memory of finding a cassette tape of an old Australian blues band called The Backsliders, one of my dad's favourites at the time and sitting there transfixed, while the sounds came out of the speaker. That was the first time I'd put music on for my own enjoyment and the first time I worked out that you can actually listen to music, and it makes you feel good. It was quite a revelation for a 7 year old kid, and kind of a lighthouse moment for me. The story of how I ended up with the name Kid Fiction is markedly less interesting.
Futuremag Music: Congratulations on the release of your EP! What was your main inspiration for your use of instrumentals and sampling? How did you construct each element?
I don't use samples in my production, I've just never vibed with the production workflow. By nature I'm more creative than curative, so enjoy building my tracks from the ground up rather than digging through records for samples. I have a lot of hardware synths but most of the tracks on this EP were done on stock Logic plugins, with time spent layering, chopping, reversing and resampling to make all those crazy sounds. I like to surprise myself. I used a lot of randomisation and auto-generative patches too, it kind of brings the production to life.
Futuremag Music: Let’s talk about the beautiful cover art for your EP and single releases. Has art had an influence in your music production?
The beautiful artwork all comes from the mind of Tom Malek, a friend of mine and boss level collage artist. They're all real life cuts and tears too which is nice. The original photos are from another good friend Matt Blanch. Visual talents are not on the "things I've got" list, so I tend to lean pretty heavily on the people around me with an eye for that stuff. I just know when it feels right. Musically I'm much more inspired and exited by ideas and concepts. There is a strong political undercurrent to the EP, and that's where I spent most of my time here; thinking about and digesting those things.
Futuremag Music: Have you got much planned for the future?
If there's anything I have an over abundance of it's plans! Newcomers to my music might not know that I make a really diverse range of music... And I've got shit tones off it. I'm currently wading through 4 EPs worth of new material in difficult styles trying to work out on earth what to do with it all. I've been developing this up beat afro-techno sound for a little while, I think I'd like to put some of that out next. I also have a few cool collaborations in the works.
Futuremag Music: If you had to describe yourself in one cocktail, what would be in it?
It'd have to be an Espresso Martini. Strong, black and dangerous.