Beatportal Interviews: Style Of Eye

Beatportal Interviews: Style Of Eye

25 July, 2008 | 2.16AM

• Written by: Mike Blogstein
• Filed under: Music News: front room, pickadoll, style of eye

Not satisfied with sticking to one specific sound, Linus Eklow, aka Style Of Eye is ignoring the rules and making whatever he damn well wants.

From dark driving techno, to nasty bass drenched electro house, the Style Of Eye sound is essentially a ‘Style Of All.’

The Stockholm-born and based DJ / Producer is making a huge name for himself with fantastic releases and remixes on Front Room, Classic Recordings, Pickadoll, Dirtybird and more. And with the arrival of his debut artist album right around the corner, his profile is set to grow even larger.

We managed to grab some time with Style Of Eye for an quick Q&A into his life, his connection with DJ Shadow, and what his fans should expect for the future.

Where are you right now, and what did you do last night?

I have just set up my new studio in Senegal, and the locals threw a big welcome party last night.

Had a drum session with about 30 people for ten hours, sadly they only let me play the tambourine for the first six hours, before moving on to the cowbell.

The group leader said I had to pay my dues.

OK, be honest now… where are you right now, and what did you do last night?

Well, OK. I am in Stockholm, on an island in the Archipelago.

Last night, my daughter trapped me inside a sauna. I’m out now.

If you could be doing anything right now (besides this interview, of course), what would it be?

A friend of mine left me the keys to her apartment, with a PS3 and loads of new games to try out.

I would probably be there right now, as I can’t keep a PS3 at home.

I get badly addicted, ha ha!

Ok… let’s get serious now...First and foremost, what came first for you? DJing or producing?

I started doing both at the same time, one thing led to the other.

I got into electronic music listening to guys like James Lavelle and DJ Krush.

When there was a new release on Mo Wax or Ninja Tune, I felt like a kid at Christmas.

I once sent a letter to DJ Shadow asking why I couldn’t find one particular release of his on vinyl in Sweden.

His secretary replied by sending me a whole bunch of stuff back as a gift, telling me how they were really sorry.

I think I have that letter somewhere, ha ha.

Anyway, from playing around with these vinyls at home - often played at ‘double speed’ - I tried to figure out how they made it sound so good.

I played drums on top of their records, driving my neighbours mad.

At the same time I began to play around with basic tracker programs and began to collect samples from vinyl and radio, and made my first projects.

How’d you get the name “Style Of Eye”?

I was looking to find an artist name about ten years ago, and I wanted something that could represent me on all levels.

I wanted to be able to release any music I liked to hear on the dance floor, and do so from one project name.

This came after I had seen a picture in a daily newspaper.

You burst into the scene with some hot tracks on Classic Recordings and Tiny Sticks (which is a pretty damn impressive way to get started, I must add). Did you have serious goals as a producer during that time, or were you just having some fun twiddling knobs?

It definitely started with me just having fun with cheap machines and in borrowed studios.

Most of my teenage years were spent doing this.

I didn’t put up goals for myself until 5 years ago, and that was when I really started to evolve as a Producer and DJ, so for me that turned out to be an important thing.

Now, less than five years later, you have an impressive list of releases and remixes to your name. Have your original goals changed?

I think my goals change continuously, they need to be changing.

I get bored easily and can’t stay in one place for too long, at least when it comes to producing.

‘The Big Kazoo EP‘ must be your biggest hit to date. Did you expect this release to have such an impact? Where’d you get the inspiration to produce such a wonky track?

I wanted to make a track for one of Barclay’s [Claude VonStroke] labels, I didn’t know if it would be for Dirtybird or Mothership.

I’ve been obsessed by brass instruments for as long as I can remember, so I had been thinking about how to do a track with only brass instruments for awhile so I gave it a try.

I have made recordings of horns in the past, so I loaded these into my sampler after I had sliced them and tweaked the sounds until I heard something interesting.

I’m not sure that I know if there’s a more specific inspiration to this track, but I’m always inspired by the future, being part of a music scene in constant progress, with the possibility to decide how it can sound.

I see you’ve suddenly created a new Moniker, Eye Of Style for your release ‘Stick / Burlesque’ on Front Room Recordings. Usually when a producer creates an alter ego, the new name has no resemblance. Why the subtle change?

Ha ha, I know.

Well, this was actually Jesse Rose’s idea.

He wanted me to do a release for Made To Play or Front Room, but he wanted something exclusive for his label.

You seem to have a knack for blurring the lines between house, techno, electro house and tech house.  Are you purposely making it impossible for people to categorize you in a specific genre?

The purpose is not to confuse.

I guess its my way of listening to music that opens up borders.

I never try to think about how my music sounds when I make it, though if I do, I end up walking home from the studio with nothing new made.

When I look back on my productions, I feel that there is a connection between the past and present, sound-wise.

Speaking of all this production, can you tell us what we’d find if we broke into your studio?

Honestly, not that much really.

My Mac and Logic, a bunch of software and samples, dirty coffee cups, and empty packages of Swedish Snus (tobacco).

And Par Grindvik’s old couch.

You’re about to release your debut artist album ‘Duck Cover And Hold’ on Pickadoll in September. Can you tell us what to expect?

I felt I wanted to do something that I had never done before, so I pretty much locked myself up in the studio for a couple of months to see which direction it would take.

I decided to make it work mainly for clubs but also for it to make sense for home-listening.

Musically, the album contains pretty much everything I’d like to hear and play on a dance floor.

Apart from the album, what can we expect from you in the not so distant future?

I have a remix on Moby’s ‘I Love To Move In Here’ out in the UK now, and there’s more remixes to be released in the fall, and I’m working on new original material.

I have tours planned for Brazil and Australia, Russia and around Europe.

In between, I’ll be doing remixes, and I’ve started working on some new originals.

Apart from your music, what can we expect from you in the not so distant future?

I’m taking two weeks off to be with my family and friends.

Finally, in eight words or less, what are your thoughts on the following important topics:

Minimal techno?

Acid House.

Denver, Colorado?
Peter Forsberg.

Jesse Rose?
Frequent flyer of the year.

Jagermeister?
Fernet-Branca.

Two girls one cup?
Please… No thanks. Ha ha..

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