Ryan Crosson Looks to the Future

Ryan Crosson Looks to the Future

9 June, 2008 | 2.54PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Beatport Blog
• Written by: Amanda Connon-Unda

Ryan Crosson’s performance in Toronto at Toi Bar was upbeat and well-done.

The tiny club on College Street West was filled with an intimate crowd that was extremely keen to hear Ryan Crosson play on Friday night – and he delivered.

Ryan had been flown in from his native Detroit where he’d been visiting after his recent gig at the DEMF festival.

For the last few years, he has been living in Berlin, and Ryan is on the Minus label and also Alphahouse, Trapez, Dumb-Unit, and Telegraph, all respectable minimal techno labels in their own right.

Before his flight to Toronto, Ryan told me a bit more about the tracks he’ll be releasing this September on the Alphahouse label. 

He said, “The record is a bit deeper than all of my previous releases and is more synth-based.”

“On this record, the title track ‘Under the Willow’ is a reference to days spent over the past few summers in Berlin at Club der Visionaire.”

The other track title is ‘I Love My Lonely’.  “In most cases I don’t put too much thought into track titles unless some experience had an influence on the sounds in the track or the way the track was arranged.”

Music lovers will surely be interested to hear ‘I Love My Lonely’ when it’s released, which instantly conjures up a reference of the love one might have for being alone, and for experiencing depth of emotion on one’s own terms.

Ryan’s most recent original production was Hopskotch / Gotham Road in 2007, but now his goal is, “to start taking studio time more seriously.”

“I’ve been slacking for about year now on original music and have been doing too many remixes. 

“I’d like to get 3-4 more EPs out over the next 18 months and also an album, if possible. 

I would love to have a shot at playing the DEMF again as well as a few other festivals in Europe.”

As for his home listening playlist, beyond the usual suspects (Ricardo Villalobos, Matthew Dear, Guido Schneider and Troy Pierce), Ryan cites Radiohead’s ‘In Rainbows’, and The Ethiopiques compilations, “which focus on jazz from the 1960s and ‘70s”.

He also likes James Brown, Frank Sinatra, !!! (chk,chk, chk), Konk, ESG, Arthur Russel, Pink Floyd, Benny Mardones, J.Dilla, The Roots, and anything produced by Quincy Jones.

As for the future of “next wave” producers, Ryan told us about a very young new producer to look out for by the name of Nicolas Jaar from New York City. 

He fuses techno, house and world music in a particular combination. 

“He’s done a few tracks for Wolf and Lamb and they’re amazing. 

“Plus, he just graduated from high school. 

“Nico has a great future ahead of him, so keep an eye out.”

We’d say Ryan’s future is looking pretty good, too.

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