INTERVIEW: Yuksek (Take 2)

YUKSEK is an extremely busy guy, after releasing his sophomore LP, Living On The Edge Of Time, he spent the next year on the road - visiting every country that would have him (including Australia), and perfoming in a brand new live setting.

All whilst writing new tunes, working on collaborations, producing others tracks and starting his own label, Partyfine.

Well since that point (last year), things certainly haven't slowed down for our favourite French party-starter. He's not only gotten the label into the world, he's also dropped a new EP of his own and is heading back to Australia for a intimate club tour. Even though he has one packed schedule, our own Scott Armstrong managed to catch up with the illusive producer, to see how the last 12 months have been treating him.

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You seem to be very busy lately! You’ve just released your Partyfine EP which has everybody talking, what was the idea behind the EP as a part of progressing from your last album Living On The Edge Of Time?

After finishing the tour last year I had many production and co-writing works in the studio. And I realised that I was ready to do collaborations again, I was bored of working alone. I wrote, played, recorded and mixed this second album by my self, so now I need to share a little bit. And the EP is a way to show what I wanna do with Partyfine, writing music with people I love, coming from different universes like OhLand and Juveniles.

What influenced your decision to revert back to the EP format as opposed to your more traditional LP release?

I don't want to have any commercial pressure on Partyfine, as I'm still signed to Universal for my next record. I think at the moment, I'm just not ready to go into the full album process.

Where do you want to take the label in terms of releases over the next while?

We want to release good EP's as soon as we have music ready. I have new EP's by Le Crayon, Getaroom and Black Yaya coming in september, [as well as] some new collaborations I worked on - and there may be a compillation in 2014.

Where did your inspiration for starting the label come?

From the artists I've met those last years and from all the labels I really love like DFA, Environ, Future Classic, Modular, Ed Banger... I'm cliché.

In terms of the live show, I remember seeing you in 2009 at Splendour In The Grass back when the setup was just you performing, whereas now you have the full live band set up – tell us how this has changed your live show in terms of the experience for the fans?

It's really different. I'm singing every song on the last record, so I needed to assume the front man position, and tried to share the stage with 2 musicians. I used to be behind big mixing desks and some keyboards - whilst on that new tour I was just in front with a mic and a small keyboard.

Has it been an easier way to tour, having some friends on the road with you?

It was really fun, a really good experience to share, but at the same time it's really tiring. There's always one from the crew ready to go later into the night, and most of the time everyone follows, which makes the nights really short and crazy.

You haven’t performed too many club shows in Australia on recent tours, are you looking forward to playing in a more intimate setting compared to something like a festival?

Yes. I really like both, it's really cool to play open air for 5000 people, but most of the time the stage is really high and the first person in the crowd is 5 meters from you. In the club sometimes the first row is 40cm from you, which is really motivating, people react in real time.

What can we expect from the upcoming run of Australian dates for those who will be heading along to see it?

It's DJ set tour, so I'm playing records and I'll try to share some good feelings with the audience with some of my own songs and some from other artists of course!