Today - 9th Feb 2016 - has seen the release of wavemob’s first ever mixtape, wave 001, and I for one am
very excited about it! Anybody who follows the movement knows the mob have been
pushing a very exciting and unique sound for a while now. This release has had
huge anticipation among fans, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint! Deep, meditative
and moving, the tape showcases a striking array of talent; Klimeks, Kareful,
CVRL, Skit, haven, Foxwedding, Trash Lord, NYQUILL, nvrmore, rare, hnrk, Spoze and
Ofdream have all contributed, making it the perfect, compact representation of
the best sounds on the wave scene right now.
I urge fellow wave fans to listen to and purchase it via Bandcamp. It
really is a beautiful piece of art work, and I have a feeling that we are going
to look back on this release in a year or two as one of the most influential wave
releases! In order to celebrate the mix tape I have been in touch with some of
wavemob to find out about the tape itself, the mob, and of course about its
members as individual producers. I will be publishing interviews with them over
the course of this week. Last night I had the pleasure of speaking with CVRL. I’m sure we all know how incredibly talented
CVRL is, but if for some reason you aren’t familiar with him, you can sample
his silky smooth sounds here. He was a pleasure to talk to, a very humble and
friendly guy – you can find a transcript of the conversation below!
***
Hey man! Thanks for speaking to me! First
off, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? I know you’re from Sweden, do
you live there now?
I’m
24 years old and yes from Sweden, but I currently study architecture in
Copenhagen.
Do you just make music in your spare
time between your studies then?
Well I make music for
maybe one or two hours per day, unless I'm in a really good flow, then it might
be longer. I spend a lot of time studying or with my girlfriend. We moved here
at the end of last summer, so we still have a lot to explore in this amazing
city.
Ah that sounds amazing, I’ve always
wanted to go to Copenhagen! Okay, so, you must be really excited about
the mix tape dropping tomorrow?
Yes, I'm very excited! It
will be my first physical release!
That’s pretty cool! I think it’s cool
that you guys are releasing on cassette! Will it be released digitally as well?
Yes digital as well. It
sounds better on cassette!
For sure! Have you guys ever thought
about releasing on vinyl?
Haha, yes but you
should ask Klimeks about that instead.
I will do! How long did you work on the
tape for?
I actually only worked
on my track for a few days, but I’d known about the tape coming out for a
couple of months, since when Klimeks asked me to join wavemob.
I see, so you became involved in
wavemob through Klimeks?
Yes. He first asked me
if I wanted to make a mix for them, and then if I wanted to join.
Nice! How long have you been producing
for?
I started with wave-ish
tracks a year ago, but I used to make techno music before that. I think I
probably started producing in 2011. I don’t think I was as good at that though,
melodic music is more my thing. I actually realised that when me and a friend
who used to make dubstep started making 80s-style music.
Cool! And what do you use to produce?
I’m using Ableton
at the moment, just on my computer.
I see. So, how did you become
interested in wave?
Well, I was actually
talking to friends about production, and about a friend of ours who was making
beats and had like 5000 followers on Soundcloud. That guy is grxgvr, and he
inspired me a lot. His tracks are really amazing, after listening to him I also
wanted to make that kind of melodic, dark music. I really liked it. So I
started making my own tracks and after a while I started to develop my own
style, inspired by the Soundcloud trap/wave thing.
I’m familiar with grxgvr, he is an
amazing producer! Okay, the wave genre is relatively knew, do you have many
thoughts on where it came from?
In my opinion,
wave is something between dubstep, hiphop, grime, and other genres. Those are
the roots of the sound, but Soundcloud has really made the genre what it is. People
upload their stuff onto Soundcloud and people get inspired by each other and go
on to develop their own sound, and that, after a while, grows into something
new.
Yeah it definitely seems like Soundcloud has done
a lot for the development of the genre. Okay, so have you met the rest of wavemob
face to face? Or do you just chat over Skype and social media?
No we haven’t met
yet, we use Facebook chat and
skype to communicate! Kareful and Nyquill were the first ones I was actually in
contact with from wavemob, back in the spring. We will meet this month though, we
are playing at the same show the 24th at Phonox in London. Plastician, Skit, Kareful
and others will be there. All the UK wavemob crew will probably meet up before
the show or something and have dinner, so that will be the first time we
properly meet.
Yes, very excited for that event, it
looks amazing! Have you played in the UK before? Do you play in Copenhagen often?
No, this will be my
first time playing there! Very excited! And no I have never played in
Copenhagen.
Do you go out to see live
music much? What sort of music do you like to see live?
I actually went to club for the first
time since I moved to Denmark last Friday, I usually just go to bars with my
friends or have dinner and stuff. But we went to see Ben Ufo playing at Culture
Box here in Copenhagen last Friday, which was good. I'm actually really excited
to see Ludovico Einaudi in May, that’s not club music at all though.
No way, you got tickets to see Einaudi,
I’m so jealous! He sold out in Bristol straight away! That will be incredible.
But anyway, talking of club music, there has been a lot of speculation on how
suitable wave is for a club environment. Do you see it as club music?
It’s definitely club
music. There is, like all genres, different types of tracks, some are more chilled
and some are hard. You can build your set and play them out just like any other
DJ does.
Do you
see it getting more popular and more exposure in clubs then?
It will. People
asked the same questions about dubstep.
Yes! I’m glad to hear you’re confident about
that! Well that’s pretty much everything, is there anything you’d like to add?
Um, I like
wavemob! And you should buy our tape!
You can listen to and buy wavemob’s mix
tape, wave001, here.
All the information about the event
that CVRL mentioned at Phonox in London, can be found on the Facebook event,
here. This promises to be a really exciting night for wave music, and all
fellow fans should certainly join me in heading to London for it!