Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

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Críoch
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Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by Críoch »

This man is a techno survivor due to the fact that he is consistantly making incredible music.

Just visiting his site again.. http://www.inigokennedy.com/main.htm

He has lots of free tracks to DL if anyone is interested (you wont regret it ;) )

http://www.asymmetric.co.uk/

But also, just reading some old interviews with him. Seems like a v.decent bloke. Top producer & hard grafter. Respect.


Gavin Wheale for Overload Magazine | May 2001

With fifty releases in five years, Inigo Kennedy must be one of the hardest working techno producers in the UK. Since initially hooking up with Karl O'Connor from Downwards, Kennedy's hard-edged sound has evolved through the flurry of 12"s that have appeared on labels like Molecular, Instillation, Morpheus, Exhibit and, of course, Missile, for who he has just released his debut album, The Bigger Picture. He has secured an international reputation as a purveyor of thunderous digital funk - forging raw electronic grooves out of his often obscure studio equipment - a fact that is reflected in both his productions and his DJ sets. Yet Kennedy retains a fairly modest degree of renown here in the UK.

Q) You've mentioned Mantronix and early hip-hop as some of your first main influences. Was hip-hop where it all started for you?

A) I remember I got in to music quite late on actually. I switched on the radio and used to listen to the Radio One Rap Show, then started getting more and more into the electronic side of it, which is why I liked Mantronix. It was a landmark record for me. And then Paul Hardcastle blew me away: just in the middle of the hip-hop show when they're playing all the old hip-hop, and Paul Hardcastle comes on. I'd never heard anything like it before! I just thought, "How did they make that? I want to make that!"
We ended up having all these competitions in the playground with hip-hop tunes, making remixes with tape dubbing, cutting things up. I'm sure they were all shit! I don't think I've got any of them now.

Q) You said in your biography that you were primarily into the technology, watching people like Depeche Mode. How did that fascination come about?

A) I'm not really sure. I've always been into electronics. I was always pissing about with bits and bobs lying around the house - computers, fire alarm systems - so I probably got an interest through that. Then the whole digital keyboard thing came about just as I was getting into it, and I always remember being interested in the stacks of keyboard in the background rather than the singer.

Q) What was your experience of the early rave explosion?

A) I wasn't really going out clubbing a lot, I was too young - too naïve even! But I was certainly listening to it all, the early acid house stuff, for the same reasons as I liked Paul Hardcastle - just the weird sounds. I wasn't really excited by the dance music element to it, I must have been picking it up through the radio and the odd tape. I heard it in my bedroom I guess - a closet raver!

Q) Did the early US techno pioneers influence you?

A) I suppose so, in a way. I was up in my attic the other day and found this old tape - Techno House sound of Detroit or something - which had old tracks from people like Juan Atkins. I think more of a landmark for me was 808 State, about 1989 or 1990. It was the end of school; I was going to university, spreading my wings… University was where I got into Djing, meeting a few people around with similar minds. I didn't really meet people at school who were interested in that sort of stuff. That's when I started going to clubs, seeing people like Dave Clarke.

Q) Did you buy a keyboard early on?

A) No, not for a while. I was just experimenting with tapes instead of decks, because I didn't have a lot of cash then, dreaming of one day having a DX7 keyboard. I was going to a lot of music shows and looking at all these things that I didn't really understand a lot about. I suppose it wasn't until I was about 17 or 18 that it all clicked, and I got focussed to do something about it. I bought a Casio FZ1 sampling keyboard: that was the first serious bit of equipment I had, and I was still using it when I made my first record. Also I had a mixer that I'd made myself. I'm still really pleased with the stuff that I came out with using that set up - although back then I had such a basic set up - but I knew everything about the machines. You get to the point where you end up buying a lot of kit but you never really get to know it… I like having a lot of resources, but it's all about what you do with them.

Q) Were you self-taught in the studio?

A) Yeah. People ask me about how I put a track together but I really can't answer that - it just kind of happens with the right sounds and elements. It sounds right to me but it might not sound right to other people!

Q) So studying in Manchester inspired you to start making records?

A) When I went there it really seemed like the place to go. Admittedly it was the tail end of the whole 'Madchester' thing. I had some brilliant times. Dave Clarke inspired me, as did clubs like Bugged Out. A lot of the clubs were house or hard house and you'd get people like Dave turning up and playing early Jeff Mills stuff and it really opened my eyes - the whole energy of it. I was there totally straight, just off my head on the music. That's where I got the idea in my head to make some tunes, plus I was into a lot of industrial stuff before that, which seemed to be an extension of it. People like Front 242, Nitzer Ebb, Ministry - and the harder edged sound. But in the context of a club it seemed to make more sense - Jeff Mills for example - with people really getting into it. It felt more sociable because the Industrial stuff was quite cold. About a year before I graduated my first record came out, actually the first release that came out was the one I won the Fosters Ice Breaker Award in Manchester with. It was a bit difficult - but not for me - I spent two days in a studio with an engineer who'd previously made house and didn't really understand what I was trying to do! The first 'real' record in my eyes was the first one I had out was the one I did for Karl [O'Connor] on ZET. I still play that record now and think it still sounds quite fresh. That was in 1996.

Q) How did you hook up with Karl?

A) I think I just bombarded him with e-mails! I bought the first few Surgeon EPs from Fat Cat, and I was blown away, and thought that was the sort of thing I'd like to be doing. Then I started hounding Karl. I'm pretty sure that's what Umek was doing as well because he came onto ZET at the same time. I didn't meet Umek until probably around 1997, but I think our music was quite similar to start out with. Persistence of e-mail definitely seemed to work!

Q) How would you describe you early sound?

A) Well, it was pretty harsh stuff. I was definitely inspired by early Mills records, quite a lot of the Surgeon sound and with a bit of the industrial edge in there as well. It was really raw - not mastered or anything - just bashed down onto metal cassette.

Q) Has your fascination with technology meant you have a different approach in the studio than most other producers? Have you customised your machines?

A) I haven't necessarily customised my machines, but I think maybe I use machines that other people who do this kind of music don't necessarily go for. I know there's a lot of guys out there buying 909s and so on, but I've always been interested in the things that are really hard to program. I'm into that kind of 'experimenting with sound' end of it. I like programming machines! So I've ended up with some bizarre digital synths and maybe that's made a difference. Plus I have made some of my own filters and mixers, which helps because it's something that other people don't use.
I think you can come out with good music on any equipment, but it definitely helps to have a different set up. I haven't done too many collaborations. I find it quite difficult because I work very fast, and know exactly what I want in my own head. I don't really want to slow down and explain it to anyone; it would be a bit of a compromise. I might change my mind someday!

Q) You've been pretty prolific - over fifty releases in five years of production. Is this down to the fact that you work so fast?

A) I think so, yeah, although I've slowed down a bit now. But I'm happier with what I'm doing now. I guess I'm as prolific as people want me to be! When the labels ask me for stuff I generally don't say no.

Q) When did you hook up with Tim Taylor and Missile Records?

A) Pretty early on. It was through Brenda Russell, who was doing A & R for him. Out of the blue I got a phone call from Tim, which I was quite excited about, and a few months later Missile 27 came out. It's a lot different from what I put out on my label - Tim's very picky - but he's obviously very good at it! I think the releases I had on Missile were some of the weirder stuff that's come out on Missile. 'Spaghettification' was a bit of a departure for them, but people seemed to really like it, and it was good to get it out there to a wide market.

Q) Who else has helped push your sound and allowed you the freedom to experiment?

A) Mainly people I've become good friends with like Marco Lenzi at Eukatech. I like doing things for people I know and who like the way I work. If someone gives me an offer I try and get to know them a bit first.

Q) How important had it been to work under you various pseudonyms?

A) I suppose it's just a way of getting a few more records out, but everyone knows who they are now though! It was pretty secretive for a while, but I got a bit sloppy and told more and more people…

Q) How is your own label [Asymmetric] doing?

A) It's going pretty well. I'm just trying to put out stuff that I'm totally happy with. I make tracks and listen to them two weeks later, then again two weeks later and if I'm happy with them I put them out. I'm not trying to follow any patterns or any formulas. I seem to have a cult following, probably because I've not got the best business sense. And I suppose that's just a nice way of saying I've not sold a lot of records! People are getting well into the releases and I'm getting a lot of good gigs out of it. It's quite a unique sound and people pick up on that.

Q) Do you feel that many producers produce 'by numbers' too much?

A) I think there are some people who have found a formula, but fair play. Many people aren't working during the week like I am so they have to pay the rent. If you find a successful formula then you're going to milk it… I'm not going to diss that.
There are lots of people who I check out - I don't necessarily always buy their records and it's not necessarily always techno. There are probably far too many people to mention any by name!

Q) Djing must be a big part of what you're doing at the moment…

A) It's getting pretty busy. I'm trying to play in the way that I produce - using a lot of EQ, tweaking the records. It's like how I work in the studio.

Q) You seem to get most of your bookings abroad. Is there just not the interest for it in London?

A) I think most people doing what I'm doing in London would say the same thing. Most of the guys living here, I see them at the airport, jetting off somewhere. There are some good clubs here but they always book people from abroad, so it's reciprocal. I go abroad to guest, but here they book their guests from somewhere else. Maybe that's how it works. It doesn't bother me - I just let them get on with it. In a way it's good because it means I can get on with more stuff in the studio. Plus I'm not really the sort of person who goes around trying to get myself a lot of work. I do some nights around London, and it's nice to play at home because I'm usually DJing around the world and it's the only chance I get to play to my friends.

Q) So where do you get the best reaction to your DJ sets?

A) It seems to move every few months! Last year I was playing Spain quite a bit, suddenly for the next few months I got five or six bookings in the Czech Republic. Had some good parties there, and in Budapest, and then went over to Johannesburg and had a great time. It's a really different vibe down there - not a lot of drugs - and really quite refreshing. I've uncovered a bit of action in Brazil as well, so I'm going out there in a few weeks, and maybe tour there in June and July.

Q) Moving on to your album, 'The Bigger Picture', it includes some very warm, emotional tracks that people might not have heard from you before. Was there a general concept behind it?

A) I suppose there's a few tracks on there that aren't like what I've done in the past, and it's why I called it The Bigger Picture. Most of my releases in the past have been club orientated, so it's been a chance to showcase different things that I can do, or that I have done. That's really what it is about for me. I've been making that different sound all the time, so it's just what people haven't heard… I've got feelings too! Even I have early mornings!

Q) You seemed to manage to combine the tough percussive element of your sound but still inject some emotion into it…

A) Well, that's what I hoped people would pick up on… it's been a long time coming. Most of it is around six months old, not too old, but I normally move quite quickly. I was really looking for a way of getting that sound out that people haven't heard before, and I think it again was a bit of a departure for Missile in some ways. I've heard quite good things so far but then you only ever hear good things. It's difficult to get real criticism sometimes, but let's see what the people say. I'm very interested to see what the reaction is, because I've got a lot more of where that came from. I've got it in the back of my mind to try putting out a couple of EPs of different flavoured stuff and maybe start a label parallel to Asymmetric.

Q) Did you find making a coherent techno album difficult?

A) Well, I must have given Tim [Taylor] about 50 tracks and he's gone through them all pretty rigorously, collecting tracks and coming up with his order. But the project wasn't really about me sitting down and creating an album, it was more a slow process of evolution. I think that's Tim's skill, of picking out things that might work and giving them some kind of order. Sometimes I sit down and listen to a CD of all the tracks I've done in a month and think, "That's an album." But it isn't really, it's just a bunch of tracks. I've done a few doubles, but they're much less of a journey - they're just a bunch of tracks.

Q) Are you going to be touring the album vigorously, or doing any live stuff?

A) I'm hoping to do a lot of work for the album. But the live stuff isn't really viable anymore because I've got too much gear for the road. It's so much hassle, and I find the DJing a lot more enjoyable and direct. I'll just be getting the name out there with some of my bookings - and trying to get over my highly unfocussed business sense!

Q) What's the plan for the near future?

A) I'm always in the studio… Asymmetric is going strong and Tim's talking about doing another album for Missile, quite possibly, although I might also do one myself on Asymmetric. I'm going to carry on working with Marco on Molecular. Asymmetric 6 should be out soon, the new Reducer, Instillation 16, out soon, and Molecular 22 as well.
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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by Críoch »

Great minds James.. Was just listening to this. Its incredible a few mins in.
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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by P-_ »

Amazing DJ. He blew the place apart at Bump festival last year! Definitely check out his newest free release on his website, it's brilliant! As is most of the rest of it to be honest! Hero.

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Post by gaa »

a true legend and back in dublin in at the start of march!

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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by broken symmetry »

one of the few dj's that hasn't conformed to trend..

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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by Jake »

Easily my favourite producer!

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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by macronite »

Have him over for St. Patricks day, can't wait. Animal Dj

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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by WarMachine »

Great producer and Dj. Be good to see him in the Twisted Pepper when he's back in Dublin

One of my favourite tracks of the last while, absolute quality

youtu.be/pPWWIRlwHrE

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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by Críoch »

Yeah.. he's got 2 sides. Beautiful & Nasty - and Nasty.

Brilliant producer.
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Re: Inigo Kennedy _ Respect.

Post by robbie against »

quality producer. big ups!


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