One to Watch: Iceland’s Oculus

One to Watch: Iceland’s Oculus

7 April, 2009 | 4.57AM

• Written by: Dylan Joseph
• Filed under: Music News:

Hailing from the tiny Icelandic town of Akureyri, the music of newcomer Oculus is starting to prick up the ears of some of techno’s leading names including Alexi Delano, Laurent Garnier and Deadbeat, who are all supporting his first EP ‘Awake’ on Open Concept Recordings (listen to it in the player after the jump).

We decided to grab the fast-rising Icelandic star to find out more about his upbringing, his studio techniques and his introductions to electronic music.

Let’s start with the facts. What’s your name, birth date and where are you from?

My name is Fridfinnur Sigurdsson and I produce under the name Oculus. I was born September 22nd 1983. I live in Reykjavik but I’m from a small town called Akureyri (population about 17,000) which is at the opposite end of Iceland.

Iceland must have been an interesting place to grow up in terms of musical influences. At the time you were growing up, would you say that Iceland was a more insulated environment than other European nations?

Yes, probably - at least my hometown was. For example, there was no record store to buy dance music so when I started DJing I used to call up a store in Reykjavik and they would play me songs through the telephone which wasn’t optimal! Later the guy who worked there would kind of know my taste so he would just send me stuff.

As you were growing up, what sorts of sounds from outside appealed to you and why?

I grew up listening to rock and death metal which my older brother listened to but one of the few childhood memories I remember, I was standing outside of my house in the sun in my Bobby McFerrin T-shirt and I was listening to ‘Don´t Worry Be Happy’ on the radio and whistling along, so I guess I liked that too [laughs].

Apart from music, what sorts of interests do you have?

I like skateboarding and always have. I have always liked fishing but haven´t been doing it too much lately – it’s extremely nice to do it after many days inside the studio where I’m not exposed to much sunlight.

We came across an interesting fact when researching Iceland. According to Wikipedia, “In a European Commission public opinion analysis over 85% of Icelanders found independence to be “very important” contrasted with the EU25 average of 53%”.

To me, this translates to some degree as Icelanders striving to really be unique when it comes to self-expression. What do you think?

When it comes to music and probably all arts, nobody wants to sound or do exactly like another artist because I would think there is no purpose in that. Why not just listen to the original band? 

I feel independence is very important because it is very important to have you own voice. Don´t let other people decide for you - most often it will not end in your favor.  As Iceland is such a small nation, that would definitely be the case.

Björk has been such an amazing ambassador for Iceland.  What are your thoughts on her career and impact on the world of music?

I think she makes great music. She´s always making different things every album - pushing boundaries - and she´s been doing that for a very long time.

The thing I like the most about her is that she gets the average people that don´t really dig for music to listen to music that would be very underground. The point I’m making is she makes the cool non-formulated music available to everyone.

Do you recall one particular album or artist that first inspired you to make music?

I think I have just always wanted to make music. I used to always pretend to playing along to the music I listened to, but there was one album that turned me onto techno music. 

I was DJing big beat and breaks at the time. Then I found this DJ Magazine in a bookstore that had a Carl Cox CD included. It was recorded at a club with microphones so you could hear the crowd going crazy.  Ever since then I´ve been hooked on techno.

Besides synths and drum machines, do you play any musical instruments?

I play a bit of bass and I have all kinds of instruments that I use in my songs like guitars, contrabass, drums and percussion. Also a MIDI sax that makes strange noises and more.

What are your favourite tools in the studio these days?

Well my core setup now is Cubase 4, Juno 106 and SH-101, Korg ER-1 and then I use a sampler for most of the drums. Of course I also have my guitar pedals and other hardware effects that I can´t live without. 

I did a mod of a Danelectro echo pedal which I love - very lo-fi.

I have a lot of other stuff - synths, modules, samplers, effects - that I don´t use much anymore but it´s always nice to have them around. For example, the MPC2000XL which I haven´t used for a very long time. 

I decided to make a live setup that didn´t include a computer because I was getting pretty tired of seeing the Mac logo at every concert, so I picked up the MPC for sequencing. 

As with so many electronic musicians, I am addicted to gear so the collection is always getting bigger and bigger.

Do you mix on a hardware console or within a DAW? Which one do you use?

I do mix in the DAW but most of the sounds come from hardware. But definitely it would be nicer to have a nice SLL or something for summing.

We heard you do sound design for stage performances but most of your work is for the dancefloor. Your skills carry over into some very strong productions, but can you ever see yourself going in a more “experimental” direction with sound? Have you done much of this in the past?

I haven´t done it much in the past but I could see myself doing more experimental stuff. Most often my live sets start with a bit of experimental noises, self-oscillating effects and such.

Tell us a bit about your songwriting and studio philosophy - are you more inclined to have a pre-defined strategy when you go in like “I’m going to use these particular instruments and come up with this sort of sound” or do you prefer to “go with the flow”?

I like both but I have tried to train myself to be able to make an ideal sound exactly how I imagined it - I think that is a very good advantage. Sometimes I have an idea and try to follow that and sometimes I just start and see what happens. 

As soon as I have something I think is worth following, I always try to visualize the next step, but it´s always nice to try out things that you wouldn´t normally do.  That way, you won´t get stuck always sounding the same.

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• Get Oculus 'Awake' on Beatport