Scalameriya, a completely normal superherovillain.
Foreword:
Void+1 interviews are usually planned ahead and focus on artists with a release coming out that same month . Since March was Scalameriya’s slot for “Solve Et Coagula,” and as we are usually preparing interviews for other artists together, I thought it would be a fun idea interviewing him myself, as even though he is quite open and shares quite a bit in all of his interviews, those are sometimes questions that either repeat from interview to interview or do not reveal things I think you should know about him. I wanted to highlight his work ethics, quirks, and give you a glimpse into the kind of conversations we have on a daily basis.
To make things even more interesting, i opened up a chance for fans to submit their own questions in advance. The list of questions got long… really long… So what started as a traditional V+1 interview evolved into something else entirely. In the end, I decided to just sit down with him and have the kind of conversation we’d normally have anyway.
I ended up recording it, taking notes, transcribing, editing, adding, redacting, and then worked with him to translate it from Serbian to make sure it reflects how we actually speak in English.
So, yes, this is an interview-format, but it was an in-depth conversation between us. The fan questions are either blended into the conversation or clearly labeled as such. I think this will be a fun and insightful read for anyone who is curious about Scalameriya’s work, his mind, his countless quirks, our label, and even the dynamics between the two of us. It also serves as a soft intro to a project we have in store for the near future. It is a LONG read though! Enjoy.
-Slavica, Void+1
SLAVICA: So we just came back from Japan. We’ve been going to Tokyo annually for almost 10 years now, minus during the lockdown. People around us are often confused about how this is not boring to us.
SCALAMERIYA: Mhm.
But we have our reasons, share them…
It is the closest thing to visiting an alternate reality that is “better” than ours. Everything is familiar yet so different. And 90% of that “everything” is either prettier, shinier, tastier, cleaner, more functional or at the very least more convenient than in our culture, if not all of these adjectives combined. We want to enjoy that world and use the time spent there to recharge our batteries.
Certainly, but around the 5th day you started panicking and complaining you don’t have Ableton with you.
Haha, I am sorry.
No, I find it fascinating. Do you remember any of the ideas?
All of them…
We arrived back home yesterday, it is Sunday evening now. And you already made a track for ███████.
I drafted the rest of the EP as well actually.
(Proceeds to play the drafts for me. It is just a few sound-design clips. Amazing sounds, but I don’t hear the final results he’s describing yet. He already has the whole thing in his head.)
Since the first thing you do after waking up is turn Ableton on, the only thing that’s confusing about that is that you should have been tired from traveling and you should be resting instead.
I am tired. But this is irrelevant.
Let the audience know what else you are currently working on, aside from your Live-setup.
I mean… we both work basically 24/7 on the label.
Yes, but anything specific you want to share?
Most people that are following my work know I produce daily. So, announcing new releases is kinda boring since there are new ones all the time?
Never, but go on.
So then label-related stuff? As we cannot talk about most of my other sources of income… But then… we can’t share the big plans for V+1 yet… The decision for the talk-show has been made, but it is still not even close to realization…
So we are calling it talk-show now? 🙂
If we call it a podcast in this interview, people will immediately think another Scloud, DJ-mix thing.
Got it… Yeah this is something completely different. No mixes.
And then, we can’t talk about ███████ , although that has been decided. The only thing that we can mention is that the roster for 2026 is being already worked on and it is going to be wild. So, I suppose the live-set is the biggest news that can be shared atm?
Yes, let’s keep this for later then. Let’s go back to your productions. You were showing me drafts a min ago with a lot of explanations. You often talk about how you basically “see the track” before you start making it.
Yes, it sounds schizo, but it is not. It is the same as when people can imagine images, but I do it with sound or combine sound and image. I can do it intentionally whenever I want, with complete control, but sometimes it is random when I am not even trying to do it and it just hijacks my brain.
I witnessed many of your “enlightenment” moments while we watch a movie or a podcast, for example 😀
Ha!
What might interest your fans is whether you have ever created a track that was purely the result of a ‘jam,’ where you improvised and “oops”, ended up with something unexpectedly good?
I do not improvise. Well.. with the live-set now you could argue that I do, but that does not count. Perhaps when I was a kid. Nothing is accidental now and needs to be “directed”. The only instance that I remember in recent years is when not exactly an “oops”, but more of a “how tf did this get here” scenario happened, is when I produced “Juggernaut” for Perc. I remember the instance, but not making the track, that’s what is weird about it. I was barely sleeping that week intentionally, I think I fell asleep in the chair around 6 am. There are these rare moments right before you fall asleep when crazy ideas might occur. I was chasing those moments and only recently discovered there’s a term for it and that many famous artists were addicted to it. It is dangerous if you are not disciplined though. So stay away from it, I am not recommending this to anyone, especially not to those struggling with discipline. Anyway, I went to bed and when I returned, the draft was there. It is one of my favorite tracks, but it feels like it is not entirely mine cause I don’t remember the initial process, only the feeling of “imminent danger from something enormous”, it is bizarre. And what makes it even more bizarre, is that this was an EP released almost exactly on the date of the lockdown. An EP titled “Blueprint For Disaster”, with tracks called “Juggernaut”, “Vicious Remedy” & “Plothole”. The record had an acid-green cover… None of that was nor could have been planned lol. Again… bizarre… Apart from that, each track I make is directed. Conceptual. If something happens by “accident” it would imply that I either don’t know what I am doing, which is not allowed, or the question arises, am I using the computer to create, or is the computer using me? I am not saying jamming is right or wrong, these are simply my rules for myself.
Let’s talk about your live-setup. It is by now known that you’re currently rebuilding it. Even if I participated in the entire process of decision making and peeked into your studio approx 10 times a day to witness the progress, lol, give a bit more insight to the audience about how you made your choices for the devices and “logistics” of the setup.
I used to play with 2x laptops and 2x apc40mk2 until 2020 when I decided to stop playing live. In order to not repeat myself again, I explained why I stopped playing live in 2020 in multiple interviews. The restart had to be different. I spent more time deciding about the approach than I did learning the gear. The live had to have a concert-feeling. I want to perform the tracks I created. If people want to hear me live, I imagine they want to hear my previously released tracks as well.
Yes, I was always annoyed when I went to listen to bands and they would flex new experimental stuff instead of playing a version of the songs I love them for and came to the concert for in the first place.
Exactly, so, the best solution for me having the option to play versions of my original tracks live, was to have parts of them all in one place. Push 3 standalone was the best pick for that without using a laptop again. It is the centerpiece and gives the live-setup a spine. The other aspect of the way I imagined the live was layering and being able to play the devices on top of each other, like a DJ set if i choose to. I do not want my tracks to morph from one into the other slowly as it costs valuable time. The performance needs to be dynamic, dramatic, with constant and sudden changes; like an action-movie. Minimizing any limitations on what I can do was a priority. So I had to have 4 “decks”. This evolved quite a bit from the original idea and some gear took over an unplanned role. Digitakt 2 was a great choice for the 2nd deck and gives me a lot of options for manipulation of sounds I either made specifically for it, or extracted from my original tracks that I do not plan to play in my live-set, but like the sounds from. Digitone 2 was initially there for no other reason than that I like how it looks paired up with Digitakt 2. For my vision and usually complex sound-design, it is quite a limiting device and I despise limitations in general, but fell in love with the device soon after I figured out a different role for it. Now it is the main minimalist-component of the setup and a formidable beast in that role. It is also great for moments when I want to venture into breakbeat and electro territory. Torso S-4 is there to provide a “liquid” component as the 4th deck. To enrich a breakdown or an otherwise sterile transition. Either for moments of rest, or for drama, or even horror elements.
I listened to many of your practice sessions, it sounds insane.
(looks at me with “puppy-eyes” for saying “insane”)
Oh come on, I mean it in the most positive manner as I didn’t hear anyone play that way.
It still needs a lot of practice.
I disagree, but of course you of all people would say that…
Pixel-perfect.
Haha
(“pixel-perfect” is an inside-joke from our graphic-design struggles)
Ok, let’s continue with questions: This comes up a lot: the question of logic or intuition. What takes the lead in your decisions, both in music and in life?
Are you referring to my recent rule for real life, where 2 paths are a possibility and my intuition tells me to choose Op1 and logic Op2, I follow what intuition tells me without questioning it?
Yes and no, but explain why the rule?
You know why…
But they don’t, play along…
We talk about these things almost every day. It is odd answering the questions you already know answers to. How are you going to structure this in the interview anyway?
Play along, it will be fun to read.
Because every single time I disobeyed my intuition, I got burned badly and every single time I followed it, amazing, even bizarre things happened akin to a movie-plot. No exceptions, not even a single one. Whenever I tried to override my intuition, explain away that it is leading me in the wrong direction, or even worse, listened to other people’s opinion on the matter that I deemed more competent in the topic, usually out of fear / insecurity, the negative consequences were exponentially more severe.
I can confirm this. It is scary, but it works 100% of the time even when it comes to choices you help me make.
My current stance on this is that logic is computing power expressed through a skillset, a domain where psychology can apply; and intuition is what people would describe either as magic or quantum phenomena depending on their canon; and this is a domain psychology does not apply to no matter how hard they try to develop theories for it.
Can you expand on how that affects the music-making?
I am not sure. Music-making is quite intentional, which would imply pure logic. But then it is rooted in my imagination, which implies at least a level of intuition. People will probably butcher this and apply it to “knowing instinctually what button to push”, but that is a crutch-belief to justify incompetence. True intuition is far more complex. While I am not sure how it applies in my music creation process, I am sure it does. Actually wait… I might have figured it out… Intuition might be the initiation of ideas and logic the realization-process? I don’t know… maybe. But for djing? I am 100% sure it applies because of my speed and picking the tracks in the moment as sometimes even a second-long hesitation can be a determining factor between a breathtaking moment, mediocrity or a fail.
People frequently comment that your sound is very distinct and recognizable. You are also often being asked for input or a “tutoring” session for that reason. Give an overall advice to emerging artists who are trying to find their own sound and stand out in the noise of cookie-cutter music that is flooding the scene?
It is distinct and recognizable because I am doing the exact opposite of what they are. I do not ask for tutoring and input. I share the music with my friends and colleagues and this is where it stops. People usually ask for feedback just so you can tap them on the shoulder and stroke their ego. If they hear anything other than what they are hoping to hear, they will resent you. Meaning what? They already have their opinion of their track. Right or wrong. Most of those people are like mere programs asking for validation due to code. The others, which is a very, very small minority, are insecure geniuses beat down by the society and the programming of others I just mentioned. So, unless we are solving a problem like “a mixdown issue” or similar, what is the point of giving feedback in both scenarios, be it to the npc or the insecure genius? F*ck my input, f*ck anyone’s input, feedback, advice, tutorial. This is the reason not only our scene, but the whole world is messed up. Valuing external input over our own instinct. My belief is that after the initiatory learning process, we simply know if our creation is good. Did you have an idea? How well did you execute it? You have your answer. Full stop. As long as you are looking for opinions you will never make something yours. I was the same when I was a kid, I wish I had someone back then to slap me so hard that my brain tilted. Guess when things started to change for better? When I stopped asking for feedback. “Success” started unfolding for me almost magically. What I am saying is not some cotton candy, rose-colored glasses nonsense like “all of you can be great”. This would be a cruel lie. I am talking about the 10% of you… to the 1%. The system is designed to keep everyone chained up, regardless of the discipline and level you are at. It wants to be fed. Most of you will fail, rightfully so, but if the 1 out of 10 breaks their chains early, they can make wonders. And I am itching for those wonders. There needs to be more of you, but help is not on the way. It all depends on you. The only advice I want to give, and this is only if you want to listen, which you should not, is: be yourself even if that means demise.
Reclaiming your individuality?
Exactly! Although for 90% of people there is nothing to “re”… They are part of the programming that keeps the 10% in chains.
I agree, but you know most will disagree about “even if that means demise” and bring up money, safety…
Safety?!
…I know what you’re going to say…
You mean exploitation with extra steps? Safety takes away your freedom. And remind me, how do you call people who are not free?
Let’s look at a few examples: Corporate? Let’s say you did everything by the books. You were obedient. You went to school. Got all the necessary degrees. You get hired for the job you think you were aiming for. It is a well-paid job. You work there for 25 years. The industry you were working in collapses. You are 50, unemployed. Nobody wants to hire you, even though you have good credentials, because there are just-as-competent 25-year-olds willing to do your job for less money now. Or the pension system collapses like it is about to in numerous countries. What is safe about it? Or let’s imagine a scenario where the economy collapses in general and your country basically disintegrates under inflation. Safe, isn’t it?
Or sports. You also did everything by the books. Your country starts a war and you are prohibited from competing.
And then, artistic endeavours. You did everything right again. You are playing the game even. Following trends. Making enough money to live off art. But is it YOUR art? Is it the thing you dreamt of? Or are you designing corporate banners and websites and have to listen to donkeys in suits who behave like they know about it more than you do? You get replaced by AI as you have signed the “expandable” contract with the universe.
The point is: There is nothing that is “safe”. Breathing is in some cases not safe. Career choice-wise, this is just an illusion we have been told by previous generations. Now, do you want to bet on yourself, your very essence, or on an illusion? Look at yourself in the mirror when you are 60 and say 1 “well done boss”, 2 “we tried” or 3 “all those years we wasted doing this or that”? Be the best version of yourself and destroy all obstacles that might… actually not might, but will come your way.
Last example. Name 1 great thing that happened to humanity out of “playing it safe”? One single thing? Any progress is rooted in risks, whether it is calculated or not.
Redact if I went overboard…
Nothing to redact. If anybody is reading, I think this is the best part yet. It is empowering.
What do you mean IF? We’re Void+1, we Hollywood baby.
You need to release on ██████ and become friends with ██████ haha.
Nah thanks, I would rather flip burgers… Hollywood our way or no other way.
I thought you would make your kebab-shop reference again haha
I am like a broken record about it, am I not?
Actually let’s repeat it publicly. You reference it a lot, but it is a great analogy.
Ideno: Apart from making you seem beyond obviously fake and apart from you doing the biggest insult to your soul, copying trends, conforming and chasing styles that seem popular at the moment is the peak of stupidity business-wise. The kebab-shop reference goes like this: Imagine there is a 1 km long street. There are already 6 kebab-shops in that street selling the exact same kebab. Same bun, same poor quality meat, vegetables etc. You see 1 kebab-shop doing ok, probably cause they started first. They are the exact same as everyone else but npcs call them “the best thing to ever happen to gastronomy.” You think to yourself, “it is a good idea to open a 7th kebab-shop here”. You sell the same kebab, same bun, same sh*tty meat and hope people will come to your shop instead. This is what all of you are doing, WHILE shouting at anyone who thinks it is a bad idea and wants to do something else. And you are even going as far as to discourage them so they don’t do something else.
It cracks me up every single time. Especially when you start telling it in the backstage and I heard it 100 times. But it is so true.
I’m known to be a one-trick pony.
You just gave me the perfect cue for a question.
Huh?
Your face.
No…
YES! Your rbf. You just made a “scary” face while joking. Most people are freaked out by it and think you are generally scary. And you are, but then when you smile, you look like you are a teddy bear. It shifts in milliseconds.
I know, but what am I supposed to do about that?
Nothing, I am just using the opportunity to make this interesting. This is related: What would you say to people who often, both IRL and online, take your replies and interactions as too direct or even cold / aggressive?
That their opinion of my demeanor is a reflection of their own insecurities and issues. PC culture made this infinitely worse as well. People prefer to react instead of interact. Aggression is funny in 2025 tbh, even breathing a certain way, people will call aggression nowadays, it is comedy gold. My favorite is when they call me angry though, just cause I explain a concept with a certain amount of emotion / energy behind it.
I think that you are just unusually passionate and direct, so the closest thing that they can relate it to, especially nowadays, is anger or aggression. Even when you are emitting nothing other than encouragement for them.
Encouragement to some is an issue to others. People prefer to keep issues buried. Buried things usually come to haunt you at some point though.
Your face just led me to another thing. You often become deeply fixated on the things that capture your interest, a color that you stare at for minutes without blinking, almost hypnotically… This obsessive intensity seems to shape your life. Do you think achieving greatness in anything, or obtaining something you truly desire, requires this kind of obsessive focus?
I do not do that intentionally, it is a part of me since as far back as I can remember and sometimes it is very distracting and awkward, but I learned to embrace it. Regardless of my case, I think, and would even dare to say, know, that obsession is the only chance at greatness in any field. I am not talking about “fame”. I literally mean greatness. Those are 2 very different things and the recipe for fame is easy: “appeal to idiots”. Greatness? Most of your waking hours need to be spent on the pursuit of it, and I would argue that you need to chip away at your sleep even… but again, society has created countless excuses on how there are workarounds and how everyone can achieve anything with relative ease. Even if people are not trying to do something, it is soothing to know something along the lines of “I could have been Michael Jordan if I trained basketball”. Fame can arise from greatness, yes, but it is much more difficult, and certainly rare, so people obviously choose either option 1 or to live with a “what if” excuse-scenario I just described. Introspection, obsession and discipline are key for anything of value.
So… recently, people could see that more and more of your social media posts include the hashtag #nottechno. While they probably have an idea why you are using this hashtag, I think it is important you explain the reasons why you prefer not to be labeled as a ‘techno’? I also got the impression that people do not really know what genre your music actually belongs to due to its peculiarity, so what would you call it?
At this point, I really do not care how I am labeled. I would say that I do not know what genre I am making myself. To be honest, following the primal instinct of having to “belong” has slowed me down by about 10 years. I did not care much about other people’s opinions of me, if I ever did at all, but I think this sense of having to belong somewhere has silently shaped a path for me that was not that favorable. People need to put things into boxes just as much as they need to belong. So they put me into one and I was happy they did. I always thought of techno as an ever-evolving genre. A genre with no limits and little to no rules. This is due to me growing up quite isolated from the scene, so I shaped my view of it as a child would idolize a hero. I always imagined how techno would sound in a year, 5, 10… I personally never saw limits, but look at where we are now? What progress has been made in the genre other than the quality of sound in general, which is due to the natural evolution of technology? For some reason, those false beliefs stuck with me blindly until recently. I usually constantly re-evaluate everything in life, but that belief slipped through… weird no?
Let’s say highly unusual for you.
And yes, I admit my view, although prettier on paper, was completely wrong. The reality of it is that techno, as a genre, is the most limiting one. Or let’s say out of all electronic genres I am familiar with so this doesn’t bite my ass later.
#nottechno is a joke obviously. A joke that stuck.
I would generally describe your music as massive and industrial/cybernetic, yet many of your tracks feature melodic ear-worms. Many people, me included, would like to see you explore this melodic direction further.
Cybernetic… don’t say Industrial, we will get in even bigger trouble than with techno. Melodies? Absolutely. People seem shocked or think that I am joking when I say I absolutely love house, for example. There are a few factors for why I was avoiding melodies. Or let’s say, rarely engaging with them under “Scalameriya”. One of those was techno and the ridicule / judgement that came with using them, another one was that I never saw myself as a musician and thought I had no business in treating what I do as “composing”. Talking to many formally trained musicians in recent years, I realized that although we have a different language to describe things and I lack formal education, most of them are simply trained puppets like everyone else in any other field. They would not “know” things like I would expect them to. They are simply trained and have only certain things memorized. Knowing and memorizing are 2 different things for me. Which is one of the key issues with our education system.
Yeah, don’t go on a rant about the educational system for now please as the interview will be too long anyway. Let’s stay on track.
True… Anyway, so I decided to lift a limiter I have put on myself for anything I do, not just melodies. But what about people and the need to put things in boxes? Do I leave the decision up to them? Do I invent a genre? Do I label myself as a multi-genre artist? All options seem cringe, but the last one seems most accurate if I had to pick. Techno as I imagined it was simply my imagination… So, yes to melodies whenever I feel like making them.
I have noticed that people often either ask you about, or just assume you like Jazz, Industrial and Aphex Twin for some reason.
All great genres that I don’t know anything about.
Yes, elaborate on Jazz.
It is too orange. My skin starts itching like when I am in the sun and I get a slight sense of claustrophobia. It is intriguing to me for its complexity, but I do not enjoy consuming it.
Industrial?
Not much to add here. I simply don’t know anything about the genre and it doesn’t spark enough interest for me to dig any deeper. It is funny when people start dropping names, eager to geek out with me about the genre and I just stand there like an idiot, not knowing what they are on about.
Aphex Twin?
Never got into his music really. I was once provoked to skip through the catalog. There are only 2 tracks I ever really liked. This is not a comment on whether he is good or not. I just simply don’t vibe with his music.
#Nottechno has occupied most of your life so far. Although your interests are vast, what would be your other passion outside of music? Something that, if you were to dive deeper into it, could consume you just as much as music does?
There’s a lot…
Yeah you are basically like that with anything you love to do, while you are unbearable to deal with when you have to do something you don’t like, even if it is easy and takes only 1 minute. You don’t even reply to simple msgs claiming it is “painfully hard to do so” lol.
Wow, thanks… did you just describe a child?
Haha, ok, name one thing you would do if someone would take music away from existence?
A few years ago I would have probably said science. But diving deeper into science recently, I realized it is the same story as with our “scene,” but on a much more important and bigger level. Morons with a degree laughing at people with that same degree that dare to dream and have unconventional ideas instead of following the program. I am lucky I did not pursue that career, as it was the path I was on before I discovered techno. So, nowadays my answer would be… writing most likely?… Fiction or philosophy or even both. Or philosophy disguised as fiction.
You mentioned the scene again, I just remembered how some people like to challenge you on important topics backstage, but then they will say something like “it is just techno bro, relax”.
While we are not curing cancer and while I think art needs to have a playful aspect to it, sometimes even be utterly silly and mock the existence itself, this casual approach, especially by people not capable of contributing with anything more than a functional track that will be forgotten the instant it ends playing, is one of the main factors that contributes to the cyclical collapses of the scene. Parasites need to be gotten rid of. If it is “just something” for you, why are you doing it? How can you live like that? If I was making bread, I would be equally meticulous about making it as I am about music. I would treat it as something sacred. “It is just bread”? Maybe the bread you are making is. Mine wouldn’t be. It would kill me if it was. But those “it is just, relax” are usually the pseudo-intellectual peeps, no? They first start talking big, about a serious subject, often using words and concepts they don’t even understand but once I enquire deeper as they spark my interest and start dissecting their claims, they will go to the “relax” part as a defense mechanism.
It is a pattern by now. Not only in backstage but in life in general.
Correct. Programming.
You always say like parrots repeating phrases they memorized.
Yes, but I am starting to fear it is way deeper than that. I am starting to think that most people are literal programs.
I know… right now, we see DJs deciding to step away from the scene and pursue other paths, often due to its current state and what seems like a general sense of hopelessness. Considering how long you’ve been part of the scene and having witnessed many of its phases, please share how you personally deal with the current changes. You call this period we are in right now the “collapse”. It can be really motivating though.
To the parasites leaving the scene, good riddance. To the struggling 10% that actually bring value: Do not give up. Please prevail. All of this happened so many times in the past. And not just with techno. Any scene. Any artform, any aspect of life and then you go up the ladder to the civilization itself. There’s a peak, corruption, and then collapse follows. Always. And from the ashes, something shiny rises again. In techno, this full cycle of death and rebirth seems to be +-20 years. What we are seeing now is a 1:1 copy of what happened in 2005, minus that we now have social media, so everything is a bit more volatile. Personally, I am ecstatic about it, as I know what will follow. It is exciting. I was never happier.
I can confirm that you have never been happier.
I can’t wait to witness what will happen tomorrow, in a year, 2, 5… I obviously have my predictions, which are very favorable for me and our plans.
So far, literally all of your previous predictions were accurate.
This is the time to work harder than ever before. Amazing things for the scene are just around the corner. How I am dealing with it? Work, work, work, plans, plans, plans, risks, risks, risks. Dictate what you want to happen. Be the deciding factor in it and do not give up. No matter if you are a producer, dj, live-act, promoter, agent, or just a fan. You can be and are a factor. As a fan, vote with your wallet, your support, your energy, your time, your presence.
Void+1 fans and the community we are building are amazing. They are already a factor and deserve to be rewarded for their contribution.
I know! And everyone around us was telling us we are idiots for appealing to a niche audience. This type of audience is the one that makes me tear up in joy. Sometimes I feel like sending everyone our records for free.
Haha I know, but that is sadly not possible and that’s why you’re not in charge with anything logistics-related. This brings me to:
You’re pretty open about having a a rocky relationship with numbers: mixing them up, flipping them around, reading a 9 as a 2, memorizing phone numbers in the wrong order or not at all… getting locked out of your bank account due to forgetting the pin and then calling me across the world to tell you what it was… that sort of thing 🙂
But what’s truly odd is that, in the middle of a totally chill conversation, you’ll suddenly drop something like the exact mass of a celestial body or the resonant frequency of a note. So weird… someone might think that that can also impact your production process…I don’t think it does, but please elaborate?
I am a moron. I once took 16 private classes for math and scored a 2- (in Serbia scores are 1 to 5 with + and – in between, “1+” means you failed the test / subject). I am either dysnumeric or simply stupid when it comes to numbers, I don’t know. Production-process does not suffer. Strangely, when it comes to that, I know answers without having to calculate. Selective-memory is my official excuse.
Dreams… Dreams were a blessing and curse for you since you were born. Let’s address that and how much they play a part in your productions. Also, weaving a fan question in here as an extension, what drives your artistic pursuit in general; concepts, emotions, or a specific aesthetic research?
So, let’s maybe start with what drives the artistic pursuit, I will explain dreams afterwards as it is part of it. The answer is my imagination. I am trying to think about the tracks. OR think them into existence. This has many layers and different scenarios. At a basic level it can be that I see a movie that I want to capture the mood of, or even a design from a website, research / obsession as well, but more often they are fictional scenarios in my head that I approach similar like directing a scene or composing a soundtrack from a movie. What elements need to be there? Is there a synth? How does this synth need to sound like? What needs to happen in the track and so on. Sometimes it is super elaborate, a complex blueprint, sometimes it is just a feeling that I am chasing. It can be for example: “Something gigantic engulfs the sky”. How does it make me feel? How can I translate that for others? And even trickier is how can I translate that for others, in a club setting as most of those ideas are infinitely easier to execute as home-listening tracks. Then dreams, it is same-same but different. I am trying to do the same; capture what I dreamt about, or the feeling it gave me. The issue with that is that the dreams are so complex that sometimes it feels like they are crushing my comprehension. Sometimes I get trapped in them and they used to bleed through to our reality in the past. I am not hiding anything about the dreams in conversations, but would prefer not to go into details now as this will be available in written form.
You know we always ask artists about their favorite movie.
Yes, I love this question and will do a bigger list once we finish the conversation.
Ok, then maybe let’s add anime to the same question.
(I restricted him to 5 each)
Awesome. But whoever is reading, note that I am not making a “top 5” list. This would take me an eternity to decide. These will be 5 recommendations from my extensive favorites list while trying to diversify topics. Minus the #1 entries, which are my true #1 spots and highly unlikely to ever change.
Movies:
#1 Aliens. This is obviously a biased pick. It is a movie I watched countless times since I was 4 years old.
#X A Cure for Wellness
#X District 9
#X Looper
#X The Endless
Anime:
#1 NGE (The original 26 episodes + “The End of Evangelion”) The new movies never happened as far as I am concerned.
#X Angel’s Egg
#X Ghost in the Shell (1995)
#X Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
#X Neo Tokyo
Our friends, your colleagues and sometimes even fans often tease you and say that you’re a robot or an alien. How would you best prove that you’re neither? Sometimes, even I can’t 🙂
I am sadly neither. By now I have embraced all of the jokes and memes.
What is your favorite meme?
About 10 years ago everyone was making those RA set-memes where they would put an actor that is a lookalike for the DJ and so on. Someone photoshopped an old, nonsensical engine / contraption and wrote “Scalameriya” for me. Sadly, I can’t find it anymore. Or maybe the orangutan meme, that is another result of me vs techno and probably one of the catalysts for #nottechno. That particular one originated from my Polish fans I think.
What drives you to constantly push the limits and do you ever surprise yourself?
The limits do not exist other than the technological ones. I feel like I am only getting started and everything until now was just a learning process. I do not surprise myself, but there are moments when I think “wow, I will never make something better than this”. Then 6 months pass and I laugh at myself when I open that project again.
We watch many podcasts together and absorb a lot of non-music-related content in general. Would you like to share the topics that are interesting to you right now?
Ehmmm…. while we are not ashamed to be seen as weirdos, we are still running a label… Do you think that’s a good idea?
Let’s try and i will redact if it becomes “twilight-zone”.
Aliens?
It is 2025. People not discussing aliens is weird. It has been basically disclosed.
But the problem is, we don’t think they are aliens?
We don’t, but that depends on the definition 🙂 Other topics?
Consciousness?
That’s not weird either.
But consciousness opens a door to ██████…
… Ok, I might cut this.
Yeah but then you can delete the whole question?
No, it will still be an interesting tease.
Some of the fans wanted to know how much Torino, our current home, gives you musically.
Zero. Location and surroundings do not affect my ideas.
But they affect your mood?
True. You mean like Tokyo?
Yes, or our home city on the other side of the spectrum…
But it is still “mood”. In music every mood is equally valuable to extract from. As long as my mind can drift, I can access or generate new ideas regardless. Music transmuted from happiness and music transmuted from despair hold equal value and beauty. But yes, I definitely prefer living in Torino than our home city.
Crystal-ball-mode-time …easy one for you. A fan wanted to know your opinion on what kind of rhythms do you think we’ll be creating 50 or even 100 years in the future?
I don’t think rhythms will change, nor do I think they changed much in the past. They are simply encoded in our reality. I can predict 2 possible paths for the sound though.
Path 01: If the technology keeps advancing as it is right now. We will only have slow improvements in sound quality and ease of use when it comes to production. Any drastic jumps will rely on the creativity of a minority and the potential hype that might arise from that niche. So, slow, kinda like Darwinian evolution. On this path, the accent will probably be on how memorable sound design is. Think of how iconic a Super Mario coin sound is or the lightsaber sound. Most people will know those regardless of their interests. The same principle, but applied to sound design in music is the answer on this path.
Path 02: If quantum computing becomes a thing, and by that I mean true quantum computing, not computing of today but just much stronger and they decide to call it “quantum” the same way they call an app “AI” now, then a major shift can happen. A shift similar to the gargantuan change that happened with “electronic music” and modern computing 50 years ago. How it would sound like? I unfortunately have no idea and wish I did, but I do not see a third path.
Perfect moment to bring up AI!
This topic is boring.
Share your opinion.
But it is simple. The “knife” example.
(I signal to him with my hands and eyes to keep talking)
A knife can be used to cut food or to carve a tool, but it can be used to take someone’s life. The user is the problem, not the tool. Meaning people need to be concerned about humanity, not the AI.
But you always say you will not use it for music.
Yes, but that is about ego. I compete with myself every day. AI can be an actual opponent. I want to create better music than AI.
What would you say to people claiming it will take their jobs?
Adapt. It is part of the progress. Look at history, how many “jobs” have gone extinct for our convenience and in the name of progress? For some reason people just assume that fairness exist or that they are entitled to it. The universe does not give a f*ck about fairness. But for art I think it will be different. All these “art is dead” claims are nonsense imo. Just because something can be generated, it doesn’t mean that genuine art will go away. If anything, I think the existence of AI will actually improve art. Not in the sense that we use AI for art and we get better by extension, but that genuine art will be more valued, but only for a minority of artists. I don’t think people will not enjoy / consume AI-art, but I also don’t think if we have, let’s say, a fan of Void+1, and let’s say AI can generate a similar sound to ours with a click; we expect the fan to say, “oh, I will not buy music again”? No, it will just be an entirely different thing. An addon.
People who are into art also want to believe that the whole planet “consumes” art actively. Really? 9 out of 10 people in the room do not even have a favorite movie or a music genre! 9 out of 10 will struggle to even define art. And I assure you the 1 that does, even if they consume AI as an addon, will not stop looking for genuine art just because of it.
And what about the companies hiring more AI for their products? And artists losing those commissions?
Well here we are not talking about art. We are talking about corporate efficiency. If you are an “artist” playing that game, you should understand the game and either be utterly against it or exploit it to your benefit. If we are talking purely about art, the only ones who have something to fear are the mediocre ones; those who decided to feed the program by playing that game, as AI will definitely take that casual layer over. Thing is, those “artists”; the ones who are crying right now? They are placeholders, and they know it, that is why they are panicking and that is why they are loudest in their cries. Become irreplaceable or perish. I am fine with those stakes. I talked about this earlier in the conversation and don’t want to go on another rant about it.
Do you see yourself using AI at least at some point for your music?
Right now no, and I am not planning to either. I don’t think this will ever change, and if it does, I see it only happening for either convenience / speed or if there turns out to be a way to have a collaboration with the machine. In the sense that it is enriching my ideas. But ideas are consciousness… So I really do not see that happening?.. Hm, as my plan is to compete with AI in the future and that would perhaps by extension make it a tool that trained me to become a better version of myself… Wouldn’t that be beautifully ironic?
A movie…
You don’t want to use AI for your videos either?
No. I enjoy every single part of the learning process and want to develop my skills. A hard no for me.
See, this is what I am talking about. And you have been into videos for only about 4 years?
Yes, more or less.
So, if you have that stance, it means it is not just my quirk… That also implies a lot of people will think at least similarly.
I find AI videos fascinating to look at, but I have no interest in using them for my own creations.
Yes, you want to consume them, not create them / take credit. Let’s say graphics. I could spend an eternity on Midjourney prompting, especially with earlier versions as they generate results that look similar to dreams. But do I feel any sense of credit? Absolutely not. It is like consuming food for me. Does this mean I will buy less manga? Of course not. If anything, it will make me buy more. When you are buying art, you are buying a piece of the creator and expanding your humanity with it. With AI this just does not apply imo. It is a tool that feeds a different part of me. By now I mentioned the 10% multiple times. I assume the same will apply to them. The other 90%? Who cares, they are most likely not buying your art anyway, nor are they planning to. Their retinas are glued to TikTok and as far as I am concerned it should remain like that.
Scalameriya – 7341
[V+1018D] 01
As you speak I am looking at your “Total Commander” open in the back, lol, I wonder if anybody else is using it nowadays; and it has an endless list of tidy folders. One of your fans actually wanted to know how many of the tracks you create end up in the “never to be released” folder?
I don’t have such a folder. I have tracks I don’t release out of exclusivity, but then drafts that don’t get finished, I usually dissect into sample packs that go to different companies. But still, those ideas remain valid. Ready to be revisited with new sound-design if necessary. If I don’t consider something good enough, I will simply not produce it or delete it, but this almost never happens. This ties in with the previous question about jamming. I do not rely on accidents, meaning that since I don’t, there can’t be an accident that I do not like to begin with, no? Only intentional creations. People also assume that Scalameriya is my only output. Only because something does not get released as Scalameriya, does not mean it does not get released at all 🙂.
Damn, this is going to be a long “Interview”… Let’s stop…
Thanks for having me.
LOL!
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