A Chat With Reade Truth In Sight Of His New Pulsating Release On Psionic
The Brookyn psychedelic-techno veteran shares some insights on the EP out on Oshana’s label, his old school rave days and the evolution of his style
Listen to the release previews as you read:
For a producer with a long-standing career spanning over almost 3 decades, the new release of Reade Truth on Oshana’s label Psionic sounds impressively unique. ‘Very Likely (U Will Like Me)’ is deep, lysergic, thoughtful while at the same dancefloor-oriented. The opening track in particular, ‘Close Call, Unknown Bass’, is just something else - a total party starter where a fast grooving bass is combined with a funky whistle sound. The whole release is substantially techno, but at the same time it plays around on different tempos and arrangements - as you can hear each track is very original and possesses its own style and vibe.
To celebrate this release, we take a moment to chat with Reade Truth, connecting the dots between his vast experience starting from illegal raves in Brooklyn to releases on worldwide legendary labels such as Planet E and Strictly Rhythm, and his current projects and style developed through the years.
This is the third release from Psionic after two original works from Astral Travel and Oshana. We love the trippy and fresh techno sound that the label has been carving, and we’ll surely follow their next endeavours with excitement.
Hi Reade!! Thank you so much for your availability. It is a pleasure to have you on Guerrilla Bizarre! Your new EP ‘Very Likely (U Will Like Me) is being released on Oshana’s label ‘Psionic’. We love the sound of this label and fell in love with the three tracks in this EP at first glance. How did you get in touch with Oshana? What’s the story behind this EP?
Hello and thanks for having me. Oshana and are both US expats and we have known each other for a while. She is a fan of my label, Path Records and when she first decided to start up a new label, I was one of the first people she got in touch with. I'm really excited to debut on Psionic a think lots of good things will come from it. I'm also happy to work with Subwax, they're a great distributor.
Stylistically speaking, what were you aiming for with this release?
Well, I never really consider myself having a style. I generally describe all of my work as techno maybe sometimes industrial, but I'm a big believer in people using adjectives instead of nouns in our music. A lot of people over the years say I have developed my own sound and that is one of the highest compliments I think one can get. I can say, however, that the EP is kind of reflective of different periods during my career, ‘Close Call’ is from a real machine-driven late 90s period, ‘Very Likely’ was originally from 2010, and ‘Unknown Tomb, Ancient Race’ was written last year.
You were a pioneer of the 90s New York techno scene and later moved on to live and continue your career in Europe. Where are you staying at the moment? Can you give our readers a bit of a background story of your roots, in particular regarding your main music influences?
Well, I was one of those guys that was never not a DJ. Throughout my teens I did the music at every party there was. I also made tons of mixes to get people into electronic music. I took it kind of personally because everyone was into Led Zeppelin and U2 and stuff like that and I just didn’t feel like that was really the future. I was obsessed with collecting vinyl since I was like 10 years old, I had to have every album if I liked an artist. And then once I found out there were 12-inch releases with different mixes that other people didn’t have I was forever hooked. I would credit Depeche Mode, Cabaret Voltaire, Skinny Puppy, Front 242 for being a big part of my influences, but mostly Severed Heads. My first NY gig was at the Pyramid Club in Manhattan, I think I was 16. I ended up with residencies at important New York clubs like Pyramid, Limelight and the BLDG in the early 90s. Of course, acid house was big in the late 80s too, I really liked this more than house because it was more futuristic. We used to dress up and pretend we were older and get into all the hot clubs at around 15.
“I generally describe all of my work as techno maybe sometimes industrial, but I'm a big believer in people using adjectives instead of nouns in our music. A lot of people over the years say I have developed my own sound and that is one of the highest compliments I think one can get. “
Anyways, in the early 90s, the techno explosion happened. It was insane and exciting. I remember buying records from Richie Grappone at Vinylmania and he would jump down from the booth with a wild look in his eyes, you have to HEAR THIS and THIS and THIS frantically grabbing records off the wall. That was the Belgium period (laughs). The techno from this period 1990-1992 was mind-blowing, phenomenal. Eventually, I met up with Adam X, Heather Heart and Frankie Bones, we became close friends and we did a ton of underground parties, like “Mental” and many others. It was amazing almost every month we were throwing something completely UG. In one instance, we even did a flyer that just said Mental on one side, and “Find It’ on the other. We wanted to see how into it our peeps were and we got over 200 attendees at that event, amazing! In those days you did a little bit of everything. I was a writer and did a lot of the initial interviews and reviews of techno artists for various magazines. I also worked as a manager for Third Mind Records, Antler-Subway, Mute Records and Sonic Groove over the years. The Mute period was fun, I helped break Tresor 1&2 comps, Hawtin, Juno Reactor, a lot of great music. In 2016, I moved to Frankfurt, and the last year I am in Berlin.
Regarding this New York / Brooklyn scene of the early 90s, can you tell our readers your best memory from it? What would you say was specific about that scene, like no other?
Well, I always come back to a Mental party we threw. It was maybe 500 people in a warehouse loft in Brooklyn. Giuliani was cracking down on raves at the time so you had to be careful. We had Abe Duque and Patrick Pulsinger live probably for their first time in NY, it was a completely underground event. Nobody talked the focus was only the sound. It was 1994, right around when Neil Landstrumm’s first 12 was big. The fire department showed up eventually but somehow Adam X and the rest of us managed to bolt the doors downstairs and shut the music off. They had no idea what floor we were on and after a while, they got back in their trucks and sped off. I remember us announcing: “The firefighters have left we locked em out!!!”. There was a huge roar from the crowd and we resumed partying, with the music twice as loud the rest of the night/morning.
I was impressed by the never-banal selection choices in your DJ sets. Your mixes keep the body constantly moving and at the same time provide unexpected sounds consistently. In your opinion, what makes a house or techno track great? When does a track stand out from the rest of the many similar releases in the genre?
Thanks. I work hard on mixing. I mentioned before I am into adjectives so I try to juxtapose all of them within a set so it becomes a roller coaster of style and sound. A journey for the mind. That's what DJing is supposed to be anyways, I am easily bored with DJs who just buy every you know like EBM record and mix them all together and think they’re awesome. That's not the challenge, it is to be able to go hard or deep, fast or slow, breaks or straight, and make it seamless.
Do you think your approach to mixing changed throughout your career? In case so, how?
In the early days, I had less confidence, especially since the older house guys could really layer. I remember hearing, I think maybe David Morales at Red Zone mixing ‘Soul to Soul Back to Reality’ and ‘Kraftwerk Trans Europe Express’ for like 10-15 minutes. I watched from above, from the VIP balcony. They had green lasers which cut through the smoke machine fog so it was intense looking. That was a big club too, a couple thousand I assume. In fact, it was mind-blowing. I think we rave guys were all pretty young so I think we honed our craft over time. Once I learned my unique style, and that no one else could do that, I got real comfortable. Plus Frankie Bones was a big help he was always very inspirational, he could really mix and I think we all looked up to him.
“I remember us announcing: “The firefighters have left we locked em out!!!”. There was a huge roar from the crowd and we resumed partying, with the music twice as loud the rest of the night/morning”
Among other adjectives, I read on your Soundcloud that you describe your techno style as ‘psychedelic’. What role does psychedelia play in your music, as well as your life (if any)?
Yes, I am a fan of psychedelics (as in psychedelic drugs). Though I am not really an active user anymore. I think it's critical to music and people who try to deny this are in denial. If you look around at what inspires humans, it’s special effects: reverb, delay, all aspects that come from psychedelic origins. Even in other genres, it's a big deal. Dub music for example. Or in rock, everyone still talks about The Doors, and Jimi Hendrix and so on. There is a good reason for this. Generally, music that isn’t trippy somehow will become lost in the endless sea of the forgotten.
What would say it’s the main passion of your life if you had to exclude everything music-related?
There isn’t. For me Its music 100%.
