Jamie Vex’d talks Kuedo and Planet Mu’s ‘Cloud Seed’

Jamie Vex’d talks Kuedo and Planet Mu’s ‘Cloud Seed’

3 April, 2010 | 6.57AM

• Written by: Dan Cole
• Filed under: Music News: jamie vex'd, planet mu, vex'd

Roly Porter and Jamie Teasdale got together in Bristol earlier this decade to form Vex’d, a production alias that went on to set the standard for industrial, cinematic dubstep. Some might argue their debut album, Degenerate, on Planet Mu was the definitive album of their scene.

After moving to Berlin, Jamie began to produce under the aliases of Jamie Vex’d, and more recently Kuedo. With Vex’d on indefinite hiatus, Jamie’s sound moved away from the harsh industrial landscapes associated with his former moniker and took on a more synth-led, glitch-influenced approach, taking inspiration from the likes of Zomby and Flying Lotus whilst still retaining that undeniable Vex’d aesthetic.

Recently Planet Mu released ‘Cloud Seed’, a collection of previously unreleased productions from the duo. A hybrid of dark beats and ambient, quasi-psychedelic portraits linked together by the tracks’ stylistic beauty and tight production. We caught up with Jamie to discuss the future of Vex’d and Kuedo.

Your production aliases have recently transported you from Vex’d through to Jamie Vex’d, and now Kuedo. Why the different pseudonyms recently?

Well, Jamie Vex’d was just what people called me because I was, obviously, in Vex’d. It was just there to use for solo work. Pretty soon it became clear that I was working toward something essentially different to Vex’d, and it would be better to move away from that name so as to keep that whole idea intact, for Roly as well, so we can come back it to one day. And it deserved to have its own life. It’s not a reduction of something else, it needed its own name.

Is this it now for Vex’d, or do you have plans to resurface at some point in the future?

Vex’d was never over, there was no reason or intent to stop what we were doing, but when you move to different countries, take on different work responsibilies, have kids, it becomes pragmatically difficult working together.

For the next few months I’ll be concentrating on my other projects, but we’d both love to do more Vex’d tracks in the future. There’s so much more music to write, and I’m still very inspired by the idea behind it all.

How old are some of the productions on ‘Cloud Seed’ and what was the premise behind releasing this material?

All the tracks are from between 2006 and 2007. We left it almost entirely as it is; ‘Shinju Bridge’ and ‘Oceans’ were the only tracks where I added anything afterwards, and only a handful of background details.

Planet Mu contacted us to say, basically, “We don’t want to leave this unreleased”, and their belief in the music gave us the confidence to put it out there. A lot of people would contact us asking us about it, telling us that our music meant something to them, that they hoped they could hear this stuff one day. A lot of the remixes we did since ‘Degenerate’ were kind of obscure, they hadn’t heard these tunes. It’s for those people, anyone who asked us.

Where does the inspiration come from when producing tracks such as ‘Remains of the Day’ and ‘Shinju Bridge’? Were you ever inclined to score soundtracks for motion pictures?

Roly wrote ‘Remains’, I can’t tell you exactly where it came from. It feels like quite a personal track to me, like maybe he’d want to keep it that way, knowing him.

‘Shinju’ I wrote as, yeah a kind of movie scene. We always wanted to have a pictorial element to those tracks, film scenes, frozen landscape shots. ‘Shinju’ in particular I was thinking of something like ‘Ghost In A Shell’ or William Gibson’s ‘Bridge’ trilogy, a quiet moment in an overpowering place, a bridge overlooking a city.

Tell us a little more about Kuedo; how has the sound evolved from the days of Vex’d and is there a new artist album in the pipeline?

A lot of people have said it’s hard to believe the same person is involved in both, because they’re so different.

I think similar traits are there though. Main thing with Kuedo is I wanted to close the disparity between the musics I most often listen to, and aspire to make, and what I was previously producing. Vex’d might be quite broad stylistically but it has its own identity, its own stylistic confines, and so much music I loved couldn’t be incorporated into it. Up until a few years ago I had a real lack of confidence with writing chords and lead parts, jamming out ideas with my hands rather than programming.

The Kuedo records are a result of me breaking through that, finally being able to make music closer to that I dreamed of making. There’s also a focus on a more starry, dreamish kind of imagination, compared to the darker pictures we tried to draw with Vex’d. I’ve been more positive for a while, having a kid cheered me up.

If Kuedo and Jamie Vex’d were actually two different people, how would they differ from each other?

The Jamie Vex’d tunes I put out in 2009 are just proto Kuedo tunes, so it’s really the same thing. They’re just project names, none of them are like an idealized projection of myself, I don’t over identify with them. That doesn’t mean I don’t put all my heart into them. It’s just if you do that you become overly wary of criticism, and can buy into your own hype, both of which are best avoided.

Are you moving back into more the ‘live’ setup when playing out now instead of DJing?

I’m playing mine and other peoples tunes on Ableton and maybe rearranging them and jamming out some samples. It’s more deejaying but I like being able to hit samples and add sounds, and the setup will gradually progress into some thing more more spontaneous. I love playing other people’s music too though, the connections that creates, probably always will.

You infamously helped Starkey out a few years back by recommending him as new talent to watch on the BBC. Who do you think people should be paying closer attention to today?

At this particular moment, I’m really enjoying this artist called Tropics, or Clay Moon, he hasn’t chosen yet. Actress, Slugabed, there’s a few at the moment. And obviously, anyone whose music I play out I believe is great and should be listened to.

There’s an obvious science fiction influence over your work. What would you list as your top five sci-fi films?

In terms of direct influence on Vex’d tunes, then ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Akira’, and ‘Ghost in the Shell’ series are the top ones. Then it’s a sort of messy tie between, I guess, ‘Dune’, ‘Alien’ and ‘2001’ maybe. Anything with futuristic cities and lonely robots is pure win.

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