Seppa Gets Straight to the Point with See It Through LP

Another year comes, and another stellar release makes it’s way out into the wild from the heart of Bristol in the UK; Sandy Finlayson’s Seppa moniker needs little and less introduction these days, with his extensive catalog of EP’s and LP’s doing the majority of the talking. With four years having come and gone since his last solo album release, and his current spate of US shows kicking off this evening, he’s primed to flesh out a grip of new tracks across each stop from his latest See It Through LP across the eponymous 11-stop tour.

Seppa · See It Through

Flitting back and forth between his trademark punishing bass lines and more effusive blends of melody and harmonics, See It Through is perhaps the most well-rounded of Seppa’s longform releases. The opening track, “Pyana” flirts with dainty keys and fluttered arpeggios against the backdrop of a stereo-compressed drum break, giving a small taste of most pronounced productions on the record. From “SDIG” through “Cru”, it goes pound for pound with any of Seppa’s heaviest releases to date, ripping through ungulent low end and imposing drum programming. Harkonning back to the core sounds of the Seppa project, these tracks are primed for the dance-floor and feel at home amongst his more classic palate. The ending run of the album, save for the break-out aggression of “Film”, is markedly different from much of his established catalog; from “Lacuna” to “Sole”, each track takes on fresh rhythms and striking melodies, giving listeners a chance to get acquainted with the further edges of Seppa’s arrangement and songwriting philosophy.

Whether it’s the early days of Whack Lack, Vol. 1, the sumptuous collaborative Chalky x Seppa records, or the latest machinations on See It Through, there’s an undeniable Midas’ Touch to every Seppa release. On and off the decks, his tracks have become staple anthems amongst the wider bass music underground scene and beyond, granting him thoroughly earned recognition has a top-flight producer and musician. With two months of tour teeing off later tonight, we sure to hear to the lion’s share of this record as it was intended, roaring and tearing through whatever speakers it can sink it’s teeth into, and we’re just as excited as you are.

Coming up in NYC!

don’t miss Seppa at Eris Evolution (5.24) in Brooklyn on May 24th with the SubSanctuary crew!

Back in the states with a bag full of psycho-naughty system-centric bangers, the Bristol-born technician of growling basslines and genre-defiant soundscapes Seppa will grace the 4-point Funktion-One dance lair of Eris Brooklyn on Friday May 24th. Bring a friendly freak or three to this special one-off collaboration between Pittsburgh, PA-based SubSanctuary and the enigmatic artivism powerhouse, Garlic.

Mutashi Xero (Asheville, NC)
Wink (Pittsburgh, PA)
Garlic (Brooklyn, NY)
Garage Sale (Pittsburgh, PA)

FOLLOW Seppa: Soundcloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram

Seppa Takes a Turn For The Nuevo with Meliora EP

Following on the heels of his Boosted/Forked dual release, and dropping just ahead of his long-awaited and much anticipated return stateside, Seppa’s latest record is arguably some of his most developed and distinctive productions to date; the Meliora EP reshapes the image of Seppa normally beholden to the purely vicious and weighty end of the bass music spectrum. While the punch and ferocity of that define his output are certainly apparent, there’s a marked focus on arrangements within arrangements, on the select relationships between tones, and on progressive songwriting fundamentals. Meliora adds a bounty of audible technicolor to a previously and potently austere compositional palette, showing just how much firepower is still under wraps for the Seppa project.

Drum and Bass has seen a resurgence of interest in the North American underground across the space of just the last few years, and in line with a swath of contemporaries staking their claim in genre’s amorphous boundaries, Meliora’s opening track “Imber” shuffles between nosediving breakdowns and flighty conversations between melodious synthesis. It’s the tipping of a hand that’s holding a bounty of material inspired by both past and future exploits, leading straight into the avant “Jaque”, who’s stuttered orchestral overture pairs up with the largest, and consequently meanest bass line across the record. “Apricus” follows the opening pair, toning down the intensity by a clear several degrees. Quintessentially downtempo, but fused with the distorted, curious textures that are so emblematic of the artist, it follows a repetitious, sampled vocal arc that maintains its course a top a churning sea of production artifacts and intentional spurts of synthesis. To close out the record, “Vermix” lays out space-aged and nuanced iteration of contemporary halftime, flitting between focused lead lines and mad dashes through extraordinarily gltiched-out territory. As an entire package, Meliora is by far the most matured Seppa release to date, showcasing the frayed edges of bass music and beyond.

With Seppa’s November tour just around the corner, this EP wets the tongue to his new compositions and developments in and out of the lab. To add to the growing anticipation, he’s cracking the seal a second time this Sunday at 2pm EST; with a visual accompaniment designed by Laia and Tenorless, the full EP will be streaming live through his YouTube page for your discerning end-of-week entertainment.

FOLLOW Seppa: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook

Seppa - Interview + Boosted [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

The Rust Music · Seppa - Boosted [EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE]

Amongst the growing list of boundary-breaking and charismatic producers, Sandy Finlayson’s Seppa project has remained a tenured and potent force at the very helm of the international bass music movement. His audacious studio productions and iron-clad impact on stage are the unassailable result of years of dedicated experimentation, and the last year huddled up at home may have been his most fortuitous yet. Returning to the active listening rotation amidst an explosive revival of live music across much of the world, The Rust is proud to host the premiere of “Boosted”, the first single of the upcoming dual release package Boosted/Forked.

“Boosted” takes a departure from the oft-trodden territories of half-time and neuro-hop, and instead wields a mutated garage rhythm interspersed with generously distorted downbeats. It’s the kind of high intensity, low-riding roller that goes straight for the neck, eschewing downtime or respite in favor of sheer force. Reflecting the duality of the full release, “Boosted” is the slow-churning companion to the upcoming track “Forked”, with both reflecting the new bevy of upcoming material that Seppa is slated to release throughout the rest of 2021. It’s all within his carefully established wheelhouse while simultaneously displaying the developments and affects of his own personal year in the locked-down UK.

As a companion piece to the “Boosted” premiere, we felt compelled to have a succinct dialogue with Seppa about his experience across the pandemic, his developments as an artist and a label head, and his own self perception in the face of his hard-earned success.

---

The Rust: As of now, the world is spinning closer to its usual beat; Where’s your head at right this moment?

Sandy Finlayson: It’s in a pretty good place honestly! I guess you could say I’ve become very acclimated to limbo in the last 18 months. It’s definitely nice to have things like gigs on the horizon, but we’re still not back to business as usual here in the UK. It might happen soon, but it’s draining to get too invested at this point. If good things happen, then great, if not, then more studio time! It’s certainly been good to have some time to get into some healthy habits and do some uncomfortable but necessary staring into the void. It’s easy to build an identity solely around what you do, which is ultimately kind of unhealthy. Having that taken away has been a lesson in reframing who I am and what makes me me. I suppose everyone needs a reality check sometimes, whether they want it or not!

The Rust: Are you chomping at the bit for a return to the limelight, or are you content laying low as the rest of 2021 progresses?

Sandy: I wouldn't say I've ever really been into the limelight. I've always felt like I want my music to be successful and well known, but I don't really want to be a famous individual. That's pretty at odds with the accepted way things work these days but fuck it, I'm the only one that has to live with all my choices. Having said that, I do absolutely love playing music to people and sharing that really magical experience en masse. Touring and meeting so many great people, bringing everyone together through sound, is one of life's great pleasures and I'm definitely keen to get back to it! I'm not gonna rush it though, there's some stuff in the pipeline but I can't talk about it yet! 

The Rust: Speaking of the limelight, you’re surely at the top of many lists as tour routes and events begin to propagate the map again; are there any cities or events in particular that you’re eager to return to?

Sandy: Oh man it's really hard to pick honestly, as I've played to great crowds all over! In terms of places that always go off - Denver, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta all spring to mind, but that’s by no means an exhaustive list. The Black Box is always a favorite venue to play, that's been the weirdest one to be away from for so long! Plenty of great festivals too, with Infrasound and The Untz being two of my favorites so far. If the sound is good and the vibe is good, it's gonna be a good time. I’m sure there’s so many awesome places I haven’t experienced yet!

The Rust: We’re well into a year after the initial global lockdowns; can you talk about the impact that has had on you and your artistry, and on your label?

Sandy: It's been a weird one for sure! As a collective we mostly just took a bit of a pause in some respects last year, with fewer releases on the label, though people were still working away on music behind the scenes. Personally, I put out Split the day after the lockdown hit here, and then just disintegrated a bit. I think it was partly burnout from the previous couple of years, and partly the fact that the ideal delivery method for my music had been banned for an unknown amount of time. Either way there was a heavy air of "fuck it" going on for a while there. In hindsight though, it was a really needed bit of space and time to reassess what I was doing and the music I've made off the back of it has felt really fresh to me. These next couple of tracks (Boosted and Forked) are really just the first bits of material I've got lined up for release in the near future.

Seppa · Singles+Remixes+Previews

The Rust: Your inception as Seppa involved a production knowledge base that had already been honed in through your years under the Duskky moniker; do you feel like your creative process has matured alongside the Seppa brand in the years since then?

Sandy: Oh yeah, massively. In a lot of respects, where I started with Seppa is where I really started to take things to a whole new level. Creatively, my horizons have expanded; technically, it's night and day. But I think that's not specifically because of changing my name, it's just a thing that happens naturally over time if you're really committed to mastering a craft. You get out what you put in. In some respects it was nice to have a "fresh" start as I feel like the quality of the Seppa stuff has been high from the beginning, which I can't say so much for the Duskky stuff. I started releasing as Duskky within a couple of years of starting to produce, so there was a lot of learning the fundamentals going on and it was never gonna be polished from day one. I've definitely gravitated towards increasingly dancefloor-focused material, at least with my solo stuff, which is really just down to the fact that destroying the dance is a pretty unmatched feeling. The air gets totally charged with happy energy, I love it.

The Rust: What sort of stumbling blocks do you still find yourself experiencing during your creative process? Have they changed as you’ve grown as an artist?

Sandy: There's always barriers to overcome, I don't think that ever changes. To start with they might be more on the technical side - how to get a track to sound competitive, how to make full use of a sound system, that kind of thing. As time goes by it becomes a bit more conceptual - how to keep introducing new ideas, how to break out of patterns you have established in the way you work. Really being creative professionally is a running battle with your own psyche. “How can I get the most out of my brain on a given day, how can I navigate the somewhat dubious feedback it gives me at times?” I guess, for me, the main thing is to try and keep finding excitement in what I do. That might mean switching directions and doing something really different for a while, or absorbing ideas from music outside of my normal spectrum. I see a lot of producers get jaded because they box themselves in to doing the same thing over and over again. Perhaps it's the sound they got most well known for, or they're stuck deploying the same methods over and over again and (unsurprisingly) getting the same results. If you're not enjoying what you make, why do it at all. Better to just switch up and go down some weird rabbit hole, even if nobody else gets it. People can feel the passion you have through the music.

The Rust: We last spoke on the record 3 years ago, in May of 2018, when Slug Wife had really begun to sink it’s maw into the American landscape. What’s your perception of your label’s experience in the time since then?

Sandy: Wow it's crazy how quickly that time went by. It's been a pretty wild ride! I personally wasn't able to get out to the USA until about March 2019, so at the time we spoke I really had no idea what was coming up. It's been really positive for us as a crew, the American crowd is our home crowd in a lot of ways with so many serious fans. It's blown my mind how far people will travel to come see us play, and how ready they are to get stuck on the dancefloor, whatever we throw their way. In a lot of respects it hasn't changed the label's approach all too much, as we're still focusing on a fairly select group of artists and releasing things we really enjoy. There's a temptation to get caught up in the music industry machine and just push out whatever the flavor of the month is, but we never envisioned the label like that and (for better or worse) are always gonna trust our own taste when it comes to what gets released!

The Rust: Has there been a significant change in the way you process incoming label submissions, given the explosive interest your label has experienced?

Sandy: Yeah I suppose we've had more people sending music our way. I definitely get people hitting me up directly with demos. I'm always happy to listen and appreciate it massively when people share their work (I know it can be a really nerve-racking experience). We have very, very specific requirements of what we want to release though, so I would say the overwhelming majority of stuff doesn't really fit for us. We'd rather put out a smaller number of high quality releases which are 100% our jam, than just pack out the release schedule. There's a numbers game that gets played by a lot of labels - social media platforms expect you to post constantly, therefore there must be new things to post about constantly, so the calendar gets filled with whatever and there's a new release every 2 weeks. That probably is a good way to get high follower counts and good interaction etc. but essentially it's more about being a brand/influencer/whatever than it is about music. We'd rather just focus on music and not get caught up in the popularity contest.

The Rust: Can you talk about the perception of your label at home in the UK? What’s the landscape like for our mutual flavor of broken-beat bass music these days?

Sandy: I guess it's a little hard to say as there's been very few events for the last 18 months. There's much less of a scene here for our music than in the USA, but the people that are into it are great. It's just a way more underground thing I guess! But then most electronic music is really, there's less money going around, but perhaps a bit more creative freedom and a seriously hedonistic attitude towards partying which creates some very excitable dancefloors. There's a lot of genuinely great vibes flying around in the rave scene - it's been funny to see videos of pretty run-of-the-mill free parties getting shared by American producers saying "woah these people are really going for it!" - that's mostly what parties are like here. People wanna cut loose, they don't care if they look like someone just dragged them out of a canal, they don’t care about being judged for how they dance or whatever. The music often reflects that by being really high intensity, faster and generally as rowdy as possible. There has been, even before the pandemic, a bit of a death of the multi-genre parties that I grew up on, but fortunately there's people like Ash/Scheme Boy from Varispeed trying to turn that around with his Varispeed Socials event that's putting all our favorite flavors under one roof.

The Rust: Having found yourself in headlining positions across the US for a few solid years now, you’ve had a heavy hand in influencing the current generation of grassroots producers; what’s your perception of your influence? Is it something that you pay any mind towards?

Sandy: Yeah it's always worth being aware of that. I'd like to be someone that inspires and encourages people, rather than gatekeeps. I do a lot of mastering, mixing and teaching, so I've been lucky enough to get connected to a lot of up and coming producers through that, and I've gotta say there's a lot of great people out there making awesome music with a solid attitude. Hopefully I can inspire people to just make the music they want to make, and not feel like they have to sign their lives away to be successful. Mainly it's just nice to talk to people who are as excited about music as I am!

The Rust: What are your plans for the Seppa project as we round out the rest of the year?

Sandy: So Boosted and Forked are coming out on Friday, July 16th (just in time for my birthday on the 17th) and represent the first solo stuff I've released in a while! These two are the result of some really fun experimentation, and probably represent the more...mellow end of what I've got to follow. There will be more music coming out steadily through the rest of the year. It’s all gonna be self released through my own Bandcamp. Social media reach is unreliable at best, so if you wanna make sure you always hear about my new releases head to seppa.bandcamp.com and hit follow for email updates. Touring is on the way too, but you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for info on that! If you’re interested in booking me hit up nicole@subdotmission.com and she’ll sort out the details.

---

With all eyes set on the road ahead, it’s only a matter of time before Seppa’s name starts to populate the top line of concerts and festivals across the US and beyond. This year of imposed downtime has given many creatives a previously unimaginable amount of time to fortify their crafts, and the premier Slug has boded his time wisely. As the rest of 2021 makes landfall, a new collection of Seppa tracks will meet the light of day, and we’ll all continue our ongoing dive into the fierce musical machinations of Sandy Finlayson.

FOLLOW Seppa: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook

Seppa Traverses Stereo Space in Split

When Slug Wife enters the conversation, it's usually in reference to their razor-edged sound design and audible fierceness; the experimental label is home to a number of top flight producers and engineers working synergistically to craft bass music designed for pure bludgeoning. Amidst the seemingly endless output of monstrous tracks and high octane EPs, there's remarkable compositional work being done under the surface. Seppa, one of the labels co-founders, and the Executive-in-Chief of Gastropodia Prime, has a particular strength for branching off of the archetypical tropes involved with brutish bass music. His latest release, Split, tops off the rest of his catalog with the most shapeshifting, amorphous album out of Slug Wife yet.

Seppa is far from a stranger to malleable composition or narrative releases. From Homunculus to Stress, his stapled solo material builds on constantly evolving phrasing, arrangement, note relationships, and distorted textures. Pairing well with his original music, Bright Spots, a collaborative LP with Chalky, puts his instrumental and music theory skills on full display, accentuating the allure of an already highly sought-after producer. Split feels like a matured combination of his original musings and collaborative longform compositions, showcasing an evolution in songwriting that can be harder to find once an artist settles into their role and fame.

From the jump, Split brings emotional turbulence to the forefront, with "Elk" setting the tone for a subtle masquerade of low end frequencies and tonal suggestions. There's a tension that feels all at once dark, eary, and especially curious. Immediately jettisoning into "OLVO", shuffled hi-hats and reverberant pulses of melody echo across the song's stereo space, with warped, undulating bass lines shredding in and out of the mix. It's the kind of one-two punch that pierces listeners with excitement from the very start of the journey, guiding the attention into each new track.

Bringing the album to a vicious full circle, the title track "Split" is a boisterous monster of complexity and pure rhythm. Mottled breaks flex in and out of focus, bouncing off of raucous bass stabs. The arrangement is hairbrained madness meeting total sonic domination, pushing resampled synthesis to it's absolute musical maximum. The force of the track is a combination of it's exhilarating delivery and synaptic impact, and it's the pairing of these precise attributes that makes both the song and the album an undeniable step up in Seppa's ongoing musical journey.

Contemporary bass music production has evolved to encompass a massive swath of music real estate, and the number of interpretations and genre diasporas seems to multiply weekly. The constant, guiding focus of this musical evolution tends to be composition, and Seppa is firmly planted in the upper echelons of forward thinking songwriting and eclectic production. Each release has diversified his personal palette, and the unveiling of Split reinforces the Seppa project as an audio experiment with few parallels and fewer boundaries.

FOLLOW Seppa: SoundCloud / Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook

Seppa & Chalky - Bright Spots

It’s no secret that this publication has a bit of a crush on Slug Wife, but it might have just exploded into full-blown infatuation as the label takes a 180-degree turn away from their business as usual like massive bass lines and shredded synthesis. The lead gastropod Seppa has collaborated with a previously-unsung instrumentalist to whip up a bonafide jazz production, Bright Spots, that will leave any set of ears in a fit of ecstacy. The collaborative partner in question here goes by the moniker of Chalky, and is a local musician of repute over in Slug territory, the United Kingdom. Bunched together with Seppa, who apparently has more than a knack for shredding a saxophone in his free time, they’ve produced a record that’s worth its weight in musical gold.

When fans think of Slug Wife, they probably don't envision a jazz composition. That is the half the beauty of this record; it smashes the assumed M.O. of the entire label releasing it. Yet even in tossing away the presumed conventions of a Seppa production, it retains a certain veneer that is all the same typical of his releases. The percussion is incredibly bright and biting, crunching through the mix with the same major compression that’s usually fit for more visceral interpretations of music. Melodiously, it’s nothing short of rich in its texture and arrangement. The instrumental dialogue is presented with a fluid mastery as each tone dances in tandem with the harmonies and rhythmic pulses around it. Chalky lays down most of the instrumentation, and melds vivacious guitar chops with Seppa’s high-octane saxophone lines throughout the record. The entire 13-track album avoids musical ramblings and run-on phrasing, instead honing in on the finer details of each auditory climax and point of tension.

The composition of each song is fine-tuned to the slightest detail, as in “The Fiddler”, with complimentary string lines bouncing along the semitones in between harmonized slices of brass. “Slowdow” takes on minor scales and modal shifts, rocking between the ominous and the noire and climaxing into a pure mood potion that swims in the head long after the song has ended. Tapping into the power of staccato movement, “Time To Kill Again” keeps it short and sweet with bouncing pockets of rhythm sliding into smooth musings and tactile chord phrasing. Overall, the entire album is best characterized by its opening track, “Boss Rat Jam Man”, which exudes the exact attitude its name projects. Exceptionally delicious instrumental interactions bring to the mind granular images of red-carpet ballrooms and the posh aesthetic of modern jazz’s flashier epochs. While it appears to have been designed to be enjoyed top to bottom in one shot, the record plays out as a tonally brimming and well-meshed experience regardless of starting position or track order.

The first glimpse of Slug Wife’s bold step at shedding its usual veneer began with their Wack Lack series, which showcases “battlewax” more befitting of scratch DJs and vocalists. Bright Spots is an ambitious dive into territory that is yet another step away from the public sonic associations made with such titans of unconventional bass music. For all of Seppa’s production prowess and musical affluence, the real spotlight here is on Chalky, who by the admission of his production partner should be unveiling even more aural butter in the months following this first major release. As always, those Anglican slugs are never found resting on their laurels, instead constantly pushing the envelope of their total musical explorations and output. Bright Spots is a stellar edition to an already explosive release catalog, and is surely indicative of further left-field developments in the world of Slug Wife.

FOLLOW Seppa:  Bandcamp  /  Soundcloud  /  Facebook

FOLLOW Chalky:  Soundcloud  /  Bandcamp  /  Facebook
 

Seppa [Interview]

Within every ripple and wave of emerging musical currents, there are inevitably a few stalwart figures gripping the torch of creativity; a few true bandits of aural experimentation and execution.  Sending such permeable waves from across the pond, Sandy Finlayson, under the moniker Seppa, is perched squarely at the forefront of arhythmic modern sound design and aggressive, visceral arrangement.

In a decade’s long journey through the undiscovered sounds of our time, Seppa had once gone under the moniker “Duskky”, though the aspirations of his musical development remained much the same as they do now. In the pursuit of gaining a more appreciative understanding of the man behind the sound, The Rust took the opportunity to pick at the mind of this tenured low-end crusader. Peeling back the layers revealed a producer and musician who is meticulous with his choices, while maintaining an impressive level of creative malleability. Upon listening to nearly anything within the existing Seppa catalog, the very first conclusion that can be drawn is that the man has a penchant for eclectic audio research and development.

The Rust: Your sound design and production process has become more or less the benchmark for the most current iteration of high-octane, aggressive bass music in the western hemisphere. Could you possibly delve into your synthesis and overall design process for us?

Seppa: Broadly speaking, it comes from experimentation. One of the biggest eureka moments was realizing that sound design and music writing are very separate things and should be treated as such. The sound design process is an idea generator, and is completely unconstrained by the limits of genre. It’s basically a freeform game of “what’s the coolest/weirdest noise you can make?”. It’s from all that messing around that the core sounds to write tracks appear. Having said that, there is some planning that goes into the sound design phase. Ideally almost every sound that goes into a track has been processed or synthesised beforehand, so that means every element has to be covered - basses, textures, drums, incidental sounds. If you’re doing it right, more time goes in to making the sounds than building the actual track.

The designing, processing, and construction of Seppa’s music relies heavily on experimentation, but also takes cues and influences from more conventional styles of electronic music. He is one of the progenitors of a contemporary sound that fuses half-time DnB with hip-hop rhythmic motifs and neuro textures, but this intelligent combination wasn’t just born in a vacuum.

The Rust: With regards to the current soundscapes you and your contemporaries are after, can you describe some of the stylistic influences that drew you towards such an experimental and generative approach in your synthesis and direction?

Seppa: I guess in part I’m a byproduct of the UK underground, which is a kaleidoscope of dark and intense electronic music, certainly the bits i’m interested in anyway. That informs some of the sound choices, the emphasis on the drums and bass over everything else. When it comes to the experimental approach to the sounds used, i think that’s just a matter of keeping things interesting. I’ve been creating bass music of some sort for at least 10 years so the standard sounds don’t really interest me anymore. I’m always looking for sounds that catch me by surprise and give me that goosebumps feeling. Every sound gets too familiar after a while so I’ve got to keep looking for something fresh to get back there.

Along the course of one’s musical career, there are sometimes other issues to deal with beyond just the scope of musical design and composition. While it certainly isn’t an everyday occurance, there are more than a few situations where artists took up similar names. In such situations, someone eventually has to relent, sometimes for the better.

The Rust: A few years ago, you underwent a rebranding from "Duskky" to "Seppa". Can you speak on the difficulties and benefits of altering your moniker? Were there stylistic or emotional reasons behind the change, or did you feel it was simply time for a new title?

Seppa: So I was releasing music under the ‘Duskky’ moniker since maybe 2009/2010 (maybe even a bit earlier I can’t quite remember now). It worked well as a moniker until maybe 2014/2015 when a Deep House duo named ‘Dusky’ appeared and pretty much took over that whole burgeoning commercial house scene. Despite the obvious difference in the music, it started to cause some confusion, and frankly i didn’t really want to even be fleetingly connected to that snoozefest. It threw up the idea of switching to a different alias. It was an interesting challenge since it meant pretty much starting again in terms of the fan base. Initially the thought was to keep the connection a secret, which worked really well in terms of getting people interested, but eventually it made sense to draw the link since I felt like the music was very much a continuation of what I was doing with ‘Duskky’.  Ultimately it was a great idea, since it allowed me to start fresh in terms of presenting my music (the ‘Duskky’ stuff went all the way back to when i literally had no idea what I was doing). I could present it all in a more professional and polished way. It did also allow me to change direction slightly and absorb some new influences without feeling like i needed to call back to older material.

                                                          "What are genres? Can we eat them?"

 Pushing the creative limits on established musical tropes is by no means a new trend. Often times, the breaking of such barriers is the result of collaborative efforts amongst musicians who just can’t stay satisfied with the current state of affairs. Alongside Seppa, Kursa stands as another heavyweight champion in the world of underground music. Combining their musical visions and veritable knowledge of audio engineering, there is an undoubtable dynamism between the two that never fails to deliver on the promise of being fresh, cutting-edge, and swelling with sub frequencies.

The Rust: In conjunction with Kursa, the two of you put out releases non-stop, and you appear to share a mutual approach to your composition and design process. Could you speak on your relationship between the two of you?

Seppa: We’ve been making music together for quite a few years now, and pretty much always had a really similar goal with it. We wanted to make something new, and we wanted to do it as quickly as possible. Spending months on a track just doesn’t make sense considering how much your ideas can progress in that period of time. Ideas can and will go out of date, at least in your own head, so best to get them into something concrete asap. That’s basically informed the compositional process a lot. We do work in an almost identical way when it comes to the mechanics of building a track. In terms of what sounds we choose and how we put them together, there’s differences, and that’s why it’s always been good to collaborate on music together and to release music alongside each other.

As creative collaborators, their work extends well beyond just producing and releasing tracks together. The year 2017 saw the emergence of their label Slug Wife, a platform from which they dispense the highest quality goods in the half-time and neuro markets. One year on, the label has become a household name for aural adrenaline junkies who can’t seem to sink their teeth into enough crunchy bass chunks and absolutely smashing compression.

The Rust: In the past year, Slug Wife has managed to ride a tremendous wave of its own making. Can you speak on the genesis of the label? How does the current landscape in our slice of the world affect the operation of Slug Wife?

Seppa: The label really came about because we wanted to push a sound that nobody else was doing. The Half-Time thing kicked off a few years back, but pretty much as a sub-genre of Drum and Bass. We’d already been making music that could be called that for years, and never really saw it that way. We saw what we were doing as a Hip-Hop thing, and more closely related to Dubstep and half-step music. Coupled with that, due to being attached to DnB, the whole presentation of Half-Time has been the really austere and serious greyscale vibe which seems really self defeating since parties are supposed to be fun, right? It’s pretty much thanks to the USA that the label has picked up as quickly as it has. People seem to take it for what it is, and have jumped on the vibe immediately, to get us to the point where the majority of our fan base is in the United States and they really keep us going!

Seppa and Kursa released a collaborative EP on April 24th entitled Eos Platform. The three tracks smack home like one sledgehammer after another, taking no mercy along a route riddled with fills, breaks, turnarounds, high-produced polish, and endless amounts of low-end modulation and saturation. Idealistically, the tracks are distinctly the children of their creators, and follow the sonic motif the Seppa and Kursa catalogs. For those unfamiliar with such adventurous sonic choices, Eos Platform will bring one you up to speed, and long-time fans will find a great fix to keep them satiated until the next release.

Understanding the human behind the face and name of a musical endeavour is a one-way bridge to getting caught up in their unique maelstrom; the violent collision of ideas, sounds, and imaginative compositions is a deeply personal aspect in the life of an audiophile. Thankfully, Sandy is generous enough to have provided both this interview, and an entire careers’ worth of neck-breakers that allow us to make the dive into his maelstrom at our own behest. Given the lightning paced turnaround time for his work ethic, it can be surmised that even more Seppa music is just waiting in the chamber to be fired off all along the rest of 2018. For those who need a bit more kick from the speakers when enjoying Seppa’s catalog, keep your eyes peeled for a long-awaited Slug Wife tour looking to smash the sound barrier this summer in the US.

FOLLOW Seppa:  Soundcloud  |  Bandcamp  |  Facebook

FOLLOW Slug Wife:  Soundcloud  | Bandcamp  |  Website  |  Facebook

Seppa - Thick Pits EP

So far February has seen a plethora of producers, both artisan and hobbyist, release a treasure trove of EP's and LP's in an effort to start off 2018 with their best work yet. Naturally, our slimy gastropod friends over at Slug Wife have been busy stirring up anticipation for new music and a US tour from across the pond, and Seppa is spearheading their dive into 2018 with the neck-breaking EP Thick Pits.

Gaining considerable rapport with the western hemisphere's electronic music community in the last few years, Seppa, who formerly produced under the moniker Duskky, is a card-carrying member of a new generation of broken beat producers who are simultaneously redefining soundscapes and raising the bar for fidelity in bass music. Together alongside production powerhouse Kursa, the duo operates the Slug Wife label, a creative smorgasbord of unique and eclectic producers that specialize in all things low-frequency. 2017 saw the birth, inception, and rapid propagation of the label, and the community response has been massive through and through, with fans of both the duo and the label at large eagerly awaiting the day when Slug Wife squirms and wiggles its way into US bookings.

 Thick Pits is a headfirst plunge into a visceral torrent of low-end blitzkrieg and deranged instrument sample play. Each track is a closed system of unique synthesis textures, extreme compression, sub-oscillator movement, and left field musical stylings. 

"Thick Pits" opens the EP with a playful, trickling melody that is quickly crushed under the weight of high-octane bass lines. High-hat shuffles and popping kick drums carry the beat in and out of instrumental interplay that is eventually and deliberately overpowered by saw-toothed synthesizers that explode from speaker cones like a punch from Bruce Lee.

"Mostly" begins with a jazzy brass line that morphs at the 26-second mark into a descending scale, harmonized with just the right counter tones to keep the track as bright as it is spooky. As it progresses, plucky sub bass is introduced to start holding down the low end, and is in constant musical dialog with the same maddening melody being spoken by a revolving door of far-out tonalities.

"Represent" is perhaps the most melody-driven track on the EP. The lead line floats around a full octave while occasionally dropping down in scale, bringing the listener straight down the aural rabbit hole. Vocal cuts come in and out focus, highlighting the wispy bass tones underneath the mix that carry the weight of the track. 

"Sh-t Slinger" follows the motif of the first track, beginning with a fluttery melody warping in and out of the mix through filter sweeps and a dash of reverb. Once the 20-second mark is hit, any semblance of this vivacious opening is overpowered by full force baritone synthesis, with each note marching to the back and forth beat of the kick and snare, demonstrating a rhythmic juggle that keeps this track stuck in the front of the mind long after it has finished.

With the release of this EP, and the announcement of an upcoming Slug Wife US takeover, it can be surmised that Seppa will be making landfall on our shores just in time to rinse these tunes through and through. Stay tuned for more goodies fast incoming from the UK's resident mollusks at the top of the food chain.

FOLLOW Seppa :   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp 

FOLLOW Slug Wife:   Soundcloud   /   Facebook   /   Bandcamp   /   Twitter