Future Stars With Laudrup (Superlux Records)

Firing up the next mix on the Future Stars series is London based South American, Laudrup. His eccentric sound has recently landed him on UK label Superlux Records with his "Siempre" EP, a tasteful record for the dance floor, accompanied with a remix from label affiliate, N-Gynn. Alongside his mix, we recently managed to catch up with the promising talent for a chat, discussing his workflows, what he is working on, and some highlights of 2022. Listen and read more below....

Where are you speaking with us from today? And where are you based?

At the moment I'm at home, sitting in my chair drinking some coffee. I'm based in East London.

Congratulations on your recent EP on Superlux Records, how did the release come about? Tell us about the journey in the creation of the EP.

Thanks a lot! I did this EP during the first half of 2020 - brings back lockdown memories. Although not only...I think I had done 'Siempre' before Covid hit. It was really nice in general though, as these songs came out quite naturally and the main ideas were all done very quickly. I had liked N-Gynn's 2019 release on Pleasure Club, so that's how I ended up sending the tunes to the guys at Superlux. Then Mike Gill got back to me and we agreed we'd put them out on their label.

Do you have anything else you are working on at the moment?

I do yes. I'm finishing loads of Laudrup tracks that I've been doing this year. Those play around with several elements you can hear on this EP but my workflow has been quite different, so they might not sound a lot like 'Siempre' necessarily. I'm also working on an IDM/Ambient album for my OKRAA alias. Have also been (very) slowly working on Laudrup-related collab projects which should see the light next year too.

As an artist, who and what would you say influences your sound? What sparked your interest in music, and especially this sound we can hear in "Siempre"?

I've been making music for a long time...I used to play in punk and hardcore bands, then I did post-rock too back in Colombia. I'd say bands like Refused when I was a teenager and then Radiohead had a big impact on me. My dad worked at major labels in Bogota when I was growing up during the 90s and early 2000s, so the first electronic records that I remember being into are Daft Punk's 'Homework' and several Trance records from labels like Positiva. Is that a cool answer? Mm...I don't think so haha but there you go.

Now, about 'Siempre' and this EP in general - that was the first track that I did and felt like it had my own sound. I quite like that. I did these when I switched to DAWless production for some time. I only did this because I wanted a change in my workflow to try to spark creativity. It really worked. I remember being very into J Dilla at the time, so I'd be limiting myself in different ways. One of them was to play everything live on the pads or midi controller -- programming, sequencing, or midi 'drawing' wasn't allowed on this EP. I think that might be what makes these tracks sound different from other stuff that I've done after...now that I think about it I think I'd like to give that a go again.

What is your studio looking like at the moment? What gear are you using frequently?

For this EP I worked first at my studio in London with the computerless setup I was mentioning. That was an MPC Live + several synth modules: Lifeforms SV1 from Pittsburgh Modular, Moog Minitaur, Dave Smith Instruments Tetr4, Roland JP08 and the brilliant Grand Canyon delay by ElectroHarmonix. Then I traveled to Colombia to update my visa situation so I decided to only take my MPC with me. Little did I know, a Pandemic would hit and I would have to stay in Colombia for 2 years, so I finalized things at home in Colombia with no access to hardware at all besides the MPC.

I didn't consider using VSTs too much before because I like to be able to tweak stuff manually (it's a workflow decision, not an analogue vs digital nonsense kind of thing). But after having them as my only option in Bogota, I used them for tiny bits when finalizing these tunes and then started exploring them more while doing other tracks and ended up liking many of them. I now use both.

We are drawing towards the end of 2022, what has been some highlights for you? Your favourite dance floor memory from the year?

I had loads of fun playing earlier this summer in Vienna at this very nice small venue called Venster 99. Playing a long set at Videoclub in Bogota before coming back to London was nice too.

I am a big fan of gigs in small venues. Whilst in London, I had loads of fun dancing at a Pickle Factory night earlier in August in which Anna Wall, Alec Falconer, Enchanted Rhythms and Tristan da Cunha were playing. They were all great. I was well wobbly.

Last of all, thank you for making a Future Stars mix for us, what can our audience expect when they listen?

No problem at all, it was nice to put it together. I guess it's a taster of what you'll listen to from me in the future when playing out. You can expect to hear some of my favourite tunes from 2022 and a couple of unreleased bits from some friends too.

Buy "Siempre" Now: Deejay / Juno

Discover "Laudrup: Instagram / Soundcloud

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