was the most important part, so it worked out really well.”
Ikonika admits that the tune is far closer to pop than anything she's done before, but is careful to point out that she sees a big difference between music that's accessible and music that's contrived to sell units. “There's nothing at all wrong with pop music if you do it with the right intentions,” Sara believes. “It's something which is very close to my heart because it was the first music I ever heard, so there's always that kind of weird nostalgia stuff going on. There are two different things to me, there's music that is popular and then there's pop music. Early pop is what I love, I love Jellybean productions, old Janet Jackson and Madonna productions, and I think for most people they're acceptable things to like.”
IMAGINATIVE A thread that connects all of Ikonika's music is its vivid imagination. There's been a panoramic scope to her production from the beginning, which became especially lurid on 'Contact Love Want Have' and that seems to have become ever more evocative with her new material. Science fiction and video games are clear inspirations, the latter something which filters in through her use of 8-bit bleeps and track titles like, from the new record, 'Eternal Mode' and, from the first album, 'Yoshimitsu' (a character from arcade martial arts fighters Tekken/Soul Calibur). But it's a sense of the futuristic, which many dance producers aim towards but fall far short of, that she's especially good at capturing. 'Aerotropolis', from its palette of wide angle sonics and visions of cloud cities, to its trippy cover art by regular Hyperdub artist Optigram, would be a great soundtrack to a more cerebral sci-fi flick. Unlike most, Ikonika's future visions tend to the positive. She can't help an inherent chirpiness from seeping into most of her work. Does she view the coming years optimistically? “I think [the future will] be quite colorful,” she confides. “Even if I try to be really sad, there's always that euphoric feeling which really wants to creep in, on tracks like 'Completion', it's like, you're in this tangle, but there's all these alternations in the track and with the way the synths are automated it really feels like that tangle is not so bad.” For the first time, Ikonika reckons she's really able to get down exactly what's in her head, something she's been working toward since she started producing. “I feel like I'm really getting alright at conveying my feelings through production. I think that's the ultimate goal for most producers. Sometimes it doesn't go right, and you can get very frustrated, but when it does go right it's a very unique experience, and all those tracks on the album it's like, 'wow, cool, I can't believe this is coming out!'”
After the release of the album, thoughts are on the prospect of a live tour, complete with melon- twisting visuals. There's also her label Hum + Buzz to think about which she co-runs with sometime studio collaborator and partner Optimum. Three new releases are scheduled soon, coming after tunes from cool Aussie producer Dro Carey, Ikonika herself and Optimum, while there are plans for the label bosses to work together again in the near future. As far as what Ikonika is doing herself, she's already full steam ahead with new material — and don't expect it to sound familiar. “In the last three or four tracks I've done after this album, they are getting a little bit... spacey and I really want to just explore this aspect as much as
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possible, to the point where the system shuts down, and try and capture that breakage and debris — I'm really into that vision at the moment. And I'm really into distortions and I love songs that are devastating, so I'm trying to explore that a little more. I really just want to dismantle it and see how far I can take it. We've got loads of tunes left over
from the album that couldn't fit, so maybe one or two EPs... I'm also working with another vocalist at the moment. That's kind of space R&B and it's working out really well.”
* Catch Ikonika's tour of Canada and North America from September 11.
CUTSIKONIK
Three essential Ikonika tunes
EERO JOHANNES 'We Could Be Ikons (Ikonika Remix)' (Planet Mu) A playful 8-bit two-step garage remix of the skweee producer's 'We Could Be Skweeeroes'. Mario goes to Corsica Studios.
IKONIKA 'PR812 (Tech House Is Boring Remix)' (free download) From her 'Lost Dubs' release, this was the first hint of Ikonika's new electro-funk/ house direction.
IKONIKA 'Beach Mode feat Jessy Lanza' (Hyperdub) Summery, lush, liquid house with a stunning vocal from fresh Hyperdub signing Lanza.
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