Developer on Modularz and 20-Plus Years in the Game
By Oscar Holland
Co-founder of the first techno record distributors on America’s West Coast, Developer is one of the most important figures in LA’s electronic music scene. We caught up with him ahead of this month’s set at Lantern.
MixMag recently declared that 2016 was the year that “house and techno took the West Coast of America.” But didn’t you, like, already do that?
I would never believe anything a commercial or popular dance magazine or website says. Techno and house music have been in LA since the start of the 1990s.
If you had to be one of the following types of developer, which would you be and why? Software developer, web developer or real estate developer.
None. I am the only Developer!
That’s not what Google says. In fact, the name Developer makes you quite difficult to search – does that ever worry you?
No, because my label [Modularz] is just as important, and is attached to everything I do. If you search my label it’s number one on all the search lists. And there you will find me and my family of contributing artists.
You recently tweeted that when you’re making techno, you’re “way more inspired by hip-hop heads working in the studio making beats vs techno producers.” Why are hip-hop producers more influential to you than techno ones?
Because I prefer to find inspiration in other places. I think that being into so many other types of music helps give me my own identity. [When I’m not in] the studio or performing, I listen to almost no techno or house music. When I watch hip-hop producers work, I’m much more fascinated by the process it takes to create their sound – the steps and the flow is much more like my way of working.
Is there one song that you know will guarantee a crowd reaction?
Most of my stuff always gets a good reaction, so I would say when I play anything from Modularz!
Then can you tell us your favorite track to have come out on Modularz?
I don’t have a favorite track. I think that is an impossible question for any producer – there are so many great ones!
You recently released the eighth installment of your Developer Archive series. Is there anything left in the archive?
Yes, of course – it’s my ongoing personal project. I always have something new coming soon.
Why did you decide against using track names on your album In Pure Form? Was that part of purifying its form?
No, it’s because it’s 25 tracks! It didn't make sense to name all 25 – that’s just insane. My largest decisions were coming from a design standpoint.
So we hear you can play 50 tracks an hour on three turntables. Is this your record or just your average?
It was actually about 45 per hour, and that was back during the peak of the 90s when vinyl culture was peaking. I’m still fast on the decks, though probably a lil’ slower now because the tempo of techno is much slower these days, so transitions take longer. Now I use Traktor [DJ software] or CDJs [CD turntables], with fewer tracks per hour. And I focus on a different kind of dynamic now. But every once in a while you will get a vinyl set out of me.
After 20-plus years in the game, what’s the one thing you wish someone had told you at the start?
Nothing, but from my experience I would give this advice: Build your own kingdom and sit in the king’s chair from the start.
Fri May 19; Price TBD; Lantern, Worker Stadium west gate forward north 100m 朝阳区三里屯路33号(139 1120 7198)
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