DAEDELUS
NINJA TUNE'S MUTTON CHOPPED MUSKETEER
"Everyone has an expectation. You subvert that expectation and it gets interesting."If one statement sums up LA's genre-mashing beatsmith Daedelus (AKA Alfred Darlington), it's this. "I definitely like pulling from places that aren't so comfortable," he explains. "Be it samples or fashion or things that are a little outside our grasp. You can make a universe that people can travel down like a rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland."
Drawing from sources as diverse as hip-hop, rave and jazz then layering them with electronic hooks and quirky vocal samples, there's nothing obvious about the Californian's richly textured style. Daedelus' latest album, Love To Make Music To, is his most accessible and dance-oriented work to date. It's definitely exuberant," he says. "I was 13/14/15 during the height of the UK rave scene and being from LA it was a really different experience. I was just too young to be living in it bit I loved the sound. I wanted to try for the same idea, genreless and yet very danceable."
While old school breaks and thundering, ravey basslines may make an appearance, this is no white-gloved nostalgia trip. The album takes in many styles but the magic lies in the way it all fits together. "If a song can get someone to move and then move with their heart, it's winning," Daedelus explains. "So that's the goal at every point, to have something that grabs people by the throat and then gently kisses them!"
Much is made of his penchant for Victorian clothing but this simply gives further insight into Daedelus' passion for individuality and character. "Everything from the Victorian era was made by somebody," he explains. "The only world of business that is still resistant to the assembly line is music and art. Even art now has kind of been co-opted by this idea of mass production, but every piece of music created was made by somebody, was tailor-made to fit a certain situation and that's something that was in existence in every industry just 130 years ago."
This ethos ensures Daedelus' music is far from mass-produced, formulaic fodder. I don't feel like I have a genre more that I'm on a path, going in a direction," he says. It's going now from being in a beatnik or hip-hop place to exploring the further reaches of dance music." As for where this will lead in the future, Daedelus is buoyant. "Trust me, there are things in the works that make me feel like anything's possible."
IAN ROULLIER