Son Kite (Digital Structures, Sweden)

Jesse Kuch Recently had a chat with Marcus and Seb from Son Kite / Minilogue, here is what they had to say…

Jesse: Hey guys, how are you?

Marcus & Seb: We're great, thanks! Sorry for the super delay with this interview ... really hard to find the time. Now we found the perfect time, by a pool in Rio.

Jesse: There is no denying that Son Kite are responsible for some of the more memorable moments in trance music… Please tell me how you guys first came to this music, where did this all begin? What were some early influences, and when did Son Kite form?

Marcus: Son Kite (Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson) is our main project and the project that made us famous, but before Son Kite was born when me and Sebastian made music together under the name Trimatic and Sons of Mr. Martin. Sons of Mr. Martin were the first project and it was actually started before I joined the force. At that time Sebastian was making music together with a guy called Christian Steiner and they mainly made downbeat/chill dub stuff. When I became a part we started to try some up-tempo stuff and after a while Trimatic was created. We're still making music under the name Trimatic and releasing the music on our label Baluns, but the music that we make under that project is much more towards techno (but still trance) so I don't know if the people visiting this site would appreciate it. Anyway ... Christian dropped off after a while because he had other ambitions then sitting in a studio 10 hours a day.

Seb: So, the project Son Kite saw daylight in summer 1998 and was a step to the trancier sound. Obviously we had a really good timing because at this time the trance music really search for something new and our sounds were very fresh at that time. Many things in life are about timing and the wonderful thing is when you never need to think about timing ... the timing just appears.

Jesse: Since then you’ve had 3 full album releases with Son Kite, one with Kooler and a heap of releases under the name Minilogue… Tell me a little bit about how each project got its birth and the reasoning behind starting the new project…

Marcus & Seb: It's very simple... we want to make lot's of different styles of music. It would be very confusing if we released everything under the name of Son Kite. Son Kite and Minilogue is Marcus and Sebastian together. But actually our first project was called Trimatic (started back in 97) and at that time our music was more soft techno with element of trance ... very much inspired by Massimo vivona and the headzone/ground groove sound. The first attempts with Minilogue was made in 2001 and soon after we had our first releases on the progressive house labels Baroque, SOG, Planet Consciousness and our own label Vsual. At that time the prog house scene was fresh and inspiring for us. Now the Minilogue sound have changed a lot, still some pumping prog influences (like the little sister track on Sprout) but much more focus towards the electro and minimal techno scene. The crossover potential between these scenes are really great and we really feel that we can be free and open when we're producing and composing. We also feel that we found our deep and psychedelic side in this music. We just released a new Minilogue 12" on the German label Traum and we have upcoming releases on Treibstoff, Secret Planet, Soultech and Frosty. Kooler, Filur and Ooze are Sebastian’s own projects. Kooler had an album release on Kamoflage (side label of Dragonfly). Ooze had an album release on Spirit Zone (Where the fields never end) but after that album he didn't have very much time to his own productions and until know there haven't been many new Ooze tracks produced. But during the last year the work of Ooze have started again, together with the start of his new label Chillosophy Music (run together with Dj Nanda and Daniel (Dab Screen and Fingertwister). So you will here some new and interesting Ooze music in the future.

Jesse: “Colours” was a successful project last year, with the “On Air Remixes” and “Colours” and “Colours Remixes” all doing very well… can you tell me a bit about how you got the idea for this concept and tell us a little bit about its creative process…

Marcus & Seb: We wanted to make something more than "just" a new album. So we made a whole concept of it instead... two singles, one album and a DVD. A whole lot of work... puh!! The two singles contained remixes from artist coming from different styles of electronic music... Deedra, Shilo, Luke Chable, Dino Psaras, NOS, Vibrasphere, Aztech, Future past, Lemon8 and NDSA. We wanted the audience to listen to other stuff, not only progressive trance. We wanted the album to be a complete dance album... only dance tracks in different feelings and styles. The DVD was recorded in Japan December 2003; it was the biggest challenge of them all. A lot of work... more work than we thought! Surround mixing, editing, producing, translating, converting, encoding.... you name it... like I said, it was hard work... but lot's of fun :) Minilogue’s more clubby/house direction seems to be doing well at the moment too… Big successes in the club scene globally at the moment…Does this represent a serious shift in direction for you guys? Will it mean the end of Son Kite? Or will you keep both projects happening at the same time? We will for sure keep both projects happening at the same time. Son Kite will still continue to be our little baby. Continue to release trance stuff. Minilogue is our more experimental project. Releasing all kinds of stuff... Prog house, Minimal techno, Electro, Chill... you will see :) It's actually hard to have more than one full time project at the same time, loads of ideas and touring with both ... we have been talking about that a lot but since there are so much music that we love and want to produce we can't find another solution than keeping up the work with both of them.

Jesse: What’s in the future for each of your projects? Any album/compilation releases coming soon? Anything else new you are working on?

Marcus: At the moment we're working on a Minilogue album that hopefully be released early summer 2006. For Son Kite we have a new double single coming out spring 2006. We are working on other things as well but that's a secret :)

Jesse: How do you think progressive music has changed in the past few years… clearly there has been some shift in focus for a lot of acts, and branching out into new scenes… what do you think is in the future for this music and our scene, where can you see it heading?

Marcus: I think all the styles are progressing into each other. We can see a big change at the moment in the house, techno and progressive house scene. A lot of the dj of these styles are starting to play a lot of minimal techno / Electro stuff (Stuff like James Holden, Trentemoller, Michael Meyer sound). I feels like some of the styles are uniting again... like back in the old days. I don't know if the trance scene is heading in this direction but I sure hope so :)

Seb: The bad thing with trends in music is that a lot of djs and producers are totally changing style ... personally I prefer to get inspired by, for me, new music but in the same time keep my background ... create a personal blend!!! I think the progressive trance scene have been quite stagnated and boring the last few years, most progressive acts just sounding the same without development or a total conversion into progressive house (for me that's no development). One big exception is Atmos album ... 2nd brigade ... for me that's a pure trance album, but in a new and developed shape.

Jesse: What’s in your CD player at home right now? What kind of artists do you find inspiring or think are doing great things at the moment? What about new artists, who haven’t had a chance for much exposure yet?

Marcus: In the cdplayer at home: The Knife, Bookashade and listening to the radio, just for some change in style... diversity is always good :). Artist that inspire me at the moment: James Holden, Kompakt stuff.

Seb: So much stuff ... I'm buying very much music in different genres and there are few moments when I'm not listening to music. I just bought a new fusion jazz album with a group called bedrock which is really cool. I listen a lot to electronica ... Efterklang, System, rumpistol, Zegunder, Four tet, Dollboy (and many many more) ... I love the pop electronica from Japan, so beautiful music. Then you have loads of dub, lounge, trip hop .... Especially the stuff from Ninja Tune is spinning a lot at home.... acts like Bonobo, Blockhead, Rainstick orchestra, Funky Porchini, Cinematic Orchestra and Skalpel. And like Marcus I also listen a lot on the radio ... if you just listen to records its' easy that you get stuck with only the stuff you know.

Jesse: Touring must be a big part of your life these days… please tell me a bit about where you have been recently, your favorite place to visit and anywhere you haven’t visited that you’d really like to go to?

Marcus: We've been touring a few countries the last couple of years... it's like a tour that's never stopping! This interview is written on a hotel in Rio, Brazil. The last two months we've been to Japan, Finland, Morocco, Hungary, Germany and Greece. It's a lot of touring :) There are many places we never played ... one place we would love to go is Island.

Seb: I think both Marcus and I love Japan, both the country and the people are something special ... so different. I'm a big fan of Australia (not just saying that) and especially Melbourne ... it's a perfect blend of Europe and Asia and I feel there is so much creativity and things going on. I could of course mention loads of places ... our world is very amazing and if you open your eyes you see the beauty wherever you go (shanti shanti)

Jesse: So how did you enjoy Australia last Earthcore… It was a very special gig for a lot of people down here, Violin and all… Tell us a bit about your memories of our country this time; what kinda stuff did you get up to while you were down here? Any plans to return anytime soon?

Seb: As you know I had to do that gig by myself since Marcus got sick and couldn't make it. Son Kite live is really a lot of live ... and since I had to do it myself it was much more playback ... improvising with the violin and the Nord Lead on top of the tracks. The earthcore festival was great as always, I love that they mix all kind of different styles on the same festival. I had one more gig the weekend after the festival and between the gigs I went to Perth to visit my family that lives over there ... big sister with grown up kids, with kids ... a lot of people!!! We will probably come back in the end of January, playing at the Rainbow Serpent. I think that we'll play both Son Kite, minilogue and one dj set each. We met Frank on some festival in Europe this summer and it was great to see he's such a nice guy and that he totally lives for the music.

Jesse: Have you heard a lot of Aussie music at all? What do you think? What about our scene in general?

We like some of Infusion's stuff, Luke Chable is cool. We really like Australia... only good experiences, nice parties cool and open minded people.

Jesse: When you aren’t touring or in the studio, what do you guys get up too? Is there a life outside of music, or is it all-encompassing?

Marcus: What do you mean... no touring and no studio!!! Is there a life without it? :) !!!! Girlfriend and friend are getting the most of the lime left after all the touring and music making.

Seb: When you're full time working musician/producer and touring all the time most things depends on it. The most important things for me in life are for sure my wife, Asa, the rest of my family and my close friends. There isn't time for much more things than that.

Jesse: Any last words, thank-yous or people you want to mention?

Marcus: Don't do drugs kids!

Sebastian: Be open ... all music have an energy that can give you something, it's just up to you as a listener to find it!!!

Thanks so much guys, I really appreciate it… It was an honour to chat with some of the true legends of progressive music, good luck with your new releases and look forward to catching you at RSF!

Homepage
www.sonkite.com

Son Kite Live in Tokyo in 2003
http://www.purplesnow.net/Data/mp3/SonKite_live_Tokyo.mp3

Marcus DJ mix
http://download.sonkite.com/djmixes/marcus_clubmix.mp3

Seb DJ mix
http://download.sonkite.com/djmixes/seb_breaks_mix.mp3