Presha is none other than the owner of one of the most interesting labels in the world of contemporary electronic music, together with its sublabels—Samurai Music. We are serious, guys: releases by outstanding musicians including Pact Infernal, Lucy, Ancestral Voices, The Untouchables, Homemade Weapons and Clarity have appeared there and continue to do so. Presha himself has plenty of interesting stories to tell us, including about the very beginning of his work, how the label was created and how its sublabels came into being. In addition, in our interview with him we learn about his own view of the state of affairs in the world of electronic music and on the experimental scene; about the return to the vinyl format; and about Samurai Music's core credo. So, let's begin…
Hi, Presha! First of all, thank you for finding the time for the interview! Now, introduce your label Samurai Horo and tell us why it became necessary to create sublabels within SMG.
Five years ago I moved to Berlin from New Zealand and realized how much I liked being here and being part of this vinyl culture. I bought a lot of different records and truly appreciated all the work that various people had put into them. The desire to do something similar was too strong in me, and I understood that through this I would be able to support the culture and perhaps release a number of experimental works that nobody else would have signed to other labels.
SMG has two sublabels—Samurai Red Seal and Shiro. What styles are represented on them?
I decided to close Red Seal because, over time, the need for it disappeared on its own, along with the way our sound was changing. The label itself was created to cover deep drum and bass at the very outer edge of the music. Now, if we are talking specifically about tracks at 170 BPM or drum and bass as such, we have Samurai Music for that; if the music goes beyond the boundaries of the familiar style, it goes to Horo. It can feature absolutely different kinds of sound. Shiro is a sublabel created for new musicians who have not yet had vinyl releases. It is mainly music at 170, but if there is something suitable among the tracks, then it can probably be released there too.
I have always been very curious about this and simply cannot not ask. What lies behind the name Samurai and your culture? Why did you choose exactly this name for the label, and how did the idea for the name Horo arise? Horo is a samurai cloak, if I am not mistaken. What significance does this item of clothing have for you personally?
My older brother had some tattoos with Japanese themes, and I have been interested in painting since childhood. Some works resonated with me very strongly, and I decided to continue exploring art. Now I have “sleeves” in the same theme, and they can tell the story of my life. The name “Samurai” came to me during one of the less pleasant periods of my life. I was battling inner demons, as clichéd as that may sound, and I needed something to hold on to in terms of self-identification. This name gave me strength and decisiveness in my choices. The horo cloak was an honored item, since it was worn by privileged troops—the elite. To receive a cloak as a trophy was a symbol of the highest valor. I very much wanted the music on the Horo label to be valued just as highly and treated with the utmost respect. And for the artists whose releases saw the light of day there, working with the label would be an achievement in their careers.
By what criteria do you assess a musician's work for Samurai Horo? What do you look for in a sound that would be suitable for release on this label?
First of all, I pay attention to the music itself; the sound must fit the label's concept. After that I approach the musician and find out more about them. If everything goes as it should at that point, I then look at how strongly the artist is on the same wavelength, how they respond to my working methods and whether they are ready to move forward with me in a common direction. Sometimes step number two simply cancels out the purpose of step number one, and you just release the music. Horo, as a label, has a certain sound, a kind of “family” thing, and so I am always confident that this or that artist fits perfectly into our long-established core. We are all working toward one common goal.
We once talked about how you manage to identify the sound for the Samurai label right away. Does everything happen analogously for Horo? Since this sublabel is focused on releasing experimental and more abstract works, do you feel the same confidence when listening to “complicated” tracks for the label at the very beginning?
Absolutely! One hundred percent! To be honest, I could not find suitable people with the sound the label needed for several years. Recently I signed a 12-inch single by Grebenstein, and this guy really opened my eyes through a release on another label I respect, Downwards.
In my view, the most important release on Horo of all time was the Scope compilation. Do you consider this release a landmark for your label? In the sense that it was specifically thanks to it that the sound of Samurai Horo became truly recognizable. How did the track-selection process work? Did you approach different artists with some specific theme beforehand?
Yes, of course! This compilation left a deep mark on the history of our label. At that time we had too much more straightforward drum and bass on our hands for that compilation, and we were releasing fewer and fewer such works until we stopped releasing that kind of thing on Horo altogether. For us, it was a kind of reference point showing where to go next. Yes, thanks to this collection, the sound became recognizable to most people. The music we release now could not then be called stylistically consistent. And I always like to think that we became part of major changes in music at 170/85 BPM. I had a great many tracks planned as 12-inch records. Too many, in fact. They kept coming to me constantly. At that point, I decided to release them on a compilation before it was too late and put an end to that subject. At the time, musicians were actively experimenting with tempo, and the music resulting from those experiments was very cool. And since I already had the idea for a compilation, getting the necessary tracks from the musicians was no trouble at all.
You are an experienced DJ and producer. Tell us your story. How and where did you start performing live? Could you give beginners some advice? It seems to me that the situation in the industry is radically different now from when you were taking your first steps.
Yes, I am an experienced DJ, that's for sure! But not a producer. It all began with me spinning rock records all night on Fridays at Astoria in London. This was in the early '90s. Glam rock and grunge were popular then. But I did not take all of it too seriously. That changed when I moved to New Zealand. There I bought my first set of turntables and started mixing funk, hip hop, house and techno records. My life changed completely when I first discovered jungle/drum and bass music. After that I devoted myself to DJing entirely. This was in the town of Christchurch. I started out as a club resident playing techno/house records and, ironically, 20 years later I am playing techno again. The circle is complete. As for writing music, everything I have managed to do over all this time has not gone beyond collaborations. Often these projects did not have names. Of course, I would like to change this situation in the coming years, but it seems that I will remain the organizer of numerous projects. In any case, we will live and see. I would advise beginners to start by writing music and focus on bringing those skills to perfection. Until you understand that you have reached a certain level, do not release your work just anywhere and do not expect success with major labels. These days, the very concept of a “label” is becoming less and less attractive to a producer—or to some guy documenting his creative growth at every stage by releasing work on digital imprints. Compare your music with that of artists you respect, both technically and creatively, and listen to constructive criticism from experienced people. Listen to them, not your friends, whose opinions are usually biased. Besides, few people are interested in being just a DJ nowadays, since most DJs everyone loves are simply producers who mix records without a strong desire to be DJs as such. And the audience has already grown accustomed to this. There is nothing wrong with that, but if you want to become a DJ, this is exactly what you will soon encounter when you start performing.
As far as I know, you have worked in various areas of the music industry. You have been a vinyl-store owner, a distributor and a promoter. Which of these attracted you the most? How much could all of this have changed over the years? Do you feel that these fields are developing, or is everything going downhill?
Great question! To be honest, to earn some money to live on, I took on anything connected with my main passion: music. If everything in this life depended on me, I would become a DJ or producer and do it 24 hours a day. But nobody has canceled utility bills and rent. As it happened, I belong to a musical niche that does not bring in fabulous amounts of money, so you could say my passion for music works against me. Probably the most suitable job for me was being a label owner and project manager. Of all my business roles, that is the one I like most. I enjoy mutual interaction and the process of achieving a common goal. Everything has changed radically, that's true. I started working before the digital market arrived, and to a certain extent this could be called a breakthrough in the way we all worked. There are many negative aspects. But if you look at it positively, the most important thing is the freedom digital markets and the constant development of software give us. I do not think everything will die overnight—perhaps only the CD format. And even that is not certain… Ten years ago everyone said the same thing about vinyl, and look at it: it is establishing itself more and more firmly in the market.
In our current situation with digital media—yes, it is convenient to deal with files in mp3 or wav formats—the thing that pleases me most is the return to vinyl. What do you say about that? Why do you think people still feel such excitement and admiration when buying vinyl records? Horo releases exclusively vinyl releases, if I am not mistaken. How do its fans feel about this? Are you happy with how this sublabel is doing?
I am very loyal. Here is my position. People want to become part of what you are doing and support you as much as possible. Digital files have no value; records do. They become like trophies, and in this way the audience expresses its support. You know, it is like a membership at a luxury salon. Besides, I do not want to repeat myself or get into old arguments; even if it is a myth, I feel that listening to vinyl is much more pleasant. When you put on a record, you listen to it from beginning to end, whereas electronic files pile up on your hard drive and sometimes you do not even realize how many of them there are. Often you just skip them or quickly switch to the next one. Sometimes I forget that I already have a given track and go online again to buy it. Records are different. Horo has now become more oriented toward digital. We started with vinyl sales, but times change. And so does my view of the market. The market itself is going through changes, too. Initially, it was a unique place for selling music; we started at the very height of the digital revolution. People were outraged then—we are talking about the drum and bass scene—about why music was released only on vinyl. Horo will leave Samurai Music and become a separate label. Then we will have two different labels—for drum and bass and 170 BPM, there will be Samurai and Horo. It is already meaningless for us to call it a sublabel, because in 2016 it already has its own identity and unique sound. I am very happy with how this project is doing. There are plans to bring new musicians into the label this year. Around the world we are received and supported very well by musicians and DJs from other musical movements that we admire. I am glad that my plan worked.
What do you think about the contemporary electronic scene? In our age of computer technology, when anyone can easily find anything they want online and almost all music is available, is there still hope for any kind of originality? What, in your opinion, will be the next stage in the development of electronic music?
Everyone has their own understanding of originality. We recently realized for ourselves that when you tell someone you are creating something original, it can seem to most people like something very insightful and sometimes threatening. Crowds of envious producers constantly waste their time trying to prove to you that something is fundamentally wrong and ineffective. All these conversations drown in hatred and malice, and sometimes you think it is better to remain silent and wait for the right moment, when people realize everything for themselves. Sometimes it seems to me that experimentation for the sake of experimentation has already become so boring and uninteresting that it is comparable to a situation in which there is no experimentation at all. The result? A multitude of truly lousy tracks presented as “meaningful” and “amazing.” I have no idea what will happen next. But I hope EDM as a phenomenon will soon be destroyed, because it is killing real music.
SMG has its own podcast on iTunes. How is it doing? Do you consider this an optimal and effective way of communicating with fans nowadays?
We have two podcasts, one for Samurai Music and the other for Horo. For me, these podcasts are tools for promoting the music of producers whose releases are coming out. That is the main thing. Let's face it—musicians want to be DJs, and a podcast is the best opportunity for them to show themselves in that role. The Horo podcast is slightly different: the musicians have freedom of choice there, and they can tell their own musical story and reveal their sources of inspiration.
Tell us about the future plans for Samurai Horo. What releases are planned? Are any more compilations being prepared for release? Should we expect any live performances?
We are planning a new Horo series. The word Samurai will disappear from the name, leaving only Horo. I want to release the records in batches of 10, although the first release has already reached 13. New artists will appear. I have already mentioned one of them—it will be the German artist Grebenstein. We are planning new EPs from Ancestral Voices, ASC and Sam KDC. There will also be albums from Pact Infernal and ENA. The number of releases being prepared is much larger, but for now these are the main ones. As a label, Horo will be 100% focused on unique musicians with original sound. I have an idea for a compilation, but we will need to wait until there is a break between releases. As for live performances, the label's Boiler Room took place not long ago; it can be found online. Horo's next night event will take place at a club as part of Incubate Festival in the Netherlands. There we will present the sound of our “Grey Area” project, conceived together with ASC and his label Auxiliary. I will play there, along with Sam KDC and ENA.
Excellent! Thank you once again for taking the time to answer our questions! I am looking forward to new, excellent releases on the Horo label!
Thank you for the interview!
Original interview: CVLT Nation. Translated from the Russian translation by Rustee (2016).
