Estonia’s Mord Fustang is leading the way in the wave of new school of producers and DJs. Hailing from Tallin, Estonia, Mord Fustang has burst onto the scene and is taking the dance music world by storm. The young star has already remixed the likes of LMFAO and Morgan Page as well as topping the Beatport charts with We Are Now Connected and is slated to perform at the legendary Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this spring along with dates at Ultra Music Festival. In the midst of his massive tour with Feed Me, we had the chance to sit down with Mord after his set at Brrrrr! Fest here in Toronto to quickly touch on a variety of topics.
Before we talked to Mord, he laid down one of the best sets of the weekend. The fi rst thing you notice about a Mord Fustang set is his selection of music. In the cur- rent world of dance music where if you attend a festival for a few days you’re likely to hear the same song multiple times, Mord takes a refreshing approach. I asked about the change of style from everyone else and Mord told me, “I fi nd the 50/50 thing is good for festivals (half his own productions and half other people’s tracks), when I do my own shows I play more of the newer, unreleased stuff. I usually go [with] fi ve different versions and try all of them out and just pick the one that is going to be the released version.” The Estonian opened with his Beatport chart topper We Are Now Connected before launching into a selection of tracks that most of the crowd wouldn’t be able to ID. Consisting of a large portion of his own music, he also fl awlessly slipped in deadmau5’s Where My Keys, Dillon Francis’ remix of Clockwork’s Hulk, and RIA from Angger Dimas and Bassjackers. His ability to steer clear of the norm and provide quality music that you wouldn’t normally hear in such a setting is what separates Mord Fustang from the pack. His set was like his music; it’s extremely fresh, forward thinking and tough to defi ne.
When you think of Mord Fustang, his top notch productions come to mind. He ended last year by winning Beatport’s Breakthrough Artist of the Year in 2012 and for good reason. His tracks are smooth yet glitchy, melodic yet aggressive, and are all truly unique pieces of art. “I started with piano when I was 8 and guitar when I was like, 13. But basically, it’s been a long journey from jazzy and classical music to the cheesy stuff.” Mord told us. His range of infl uences certainly shows in his music and We Are Now Connected, Magic Trooper and Champloo are all perfect examples. Often electro-house or dubstep gets broken up by a melodic breakdown; however, Mord takes the opposite approach and incorporates melody in the midst of his signature groans, wobbles, and bleeps. It’s once again, a refreshing approach that yields stunning, chart topping results that are tough to categorize into genres. Among all the originals and remixes, one thing he hasn’t done yet is collaborate, as he is waiting for the perfect opportunity... “If I could write for or with like, The Prodigy, or someone legendary” Mord told us. Lofty collaboration goals for someone so young, but with Mord’s immense skill set, diversity, and creativity, a collaboration with living legends is certainly plausible.
Being in the middle of one of his biggest tours yet alongside Feed Me, Mord raved about the entire touring experience, “We’ve done three shows so far, I don’t even know where to start like, I need notes for this shit. It’s awesome being on tour, the tour bus, the feeling everyone has on the bus and it’s just non-stop. Non-stop good times”. One look at the tour’s poster and it’s evident that the direction the North
America market is going is out of the clubs and Mord agreed, “I see it going out of the clubs, not totally out of the clubs but I guess, the clubs should be bigger.” Halls and theatres like Regency Ballroom in San Francisco, Ogden Theatre in Denver, and the House of Blues in Chicago are some of the massive venues on his tour that simply had to be booked because most nightclubs weren’t big enough.
My fi rst time seeing a Mord Fustang set was a huge breath of fresh, albeit, ex- tremely cold air. His set was an interesting but far too short 90 minutes that set the bar extremely high for 2013 and was one of the best sets of the entire weekend at Brrrr! Fest. Although we only had a few minutes to chat, Mord provided us with a little bit of background information as to his inspirations , his musical history and his love for life on tour. His approach to both his sets and his music is one of the most unique and forward thinking angles out there and I expect Mord Fustang to take another step in the direction of stardom in 2013, we certainly can’t wait until he’s back in Toronto.