Mason’s Perfect Window of Attention (interview)
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“There’s nothing more frustrating than having the idea that you’re making cool stuff, but nobody is listening to it. From Exceeder onwards we had a big following checking out all our new records, and coming to our shows.”
Mason member Iason Chronis’s first big breakthrough came from touring (and playing violin) with Tiesto in 2004, months before bandmate Coen Berrier had a UK top 10 pop hit, as Bhangra Knights (the number 7 hit Husan).
The same year they released their first tracks together- the Helikopter EP- followed by remixes for Don Diablo and Malente, before their breakthrough track- Exceeder- was snapped up by Great Stuff.
Instantly catchy though superbly produced, the track became an immediate crossover club hit and also serendipitously caught the attention of a novice Australian mash-up producer called ‘’Tallngoofy’ who on 23 June 2006, posted a rough bootleg combining Exceeder with the acapella from Princess Superstar’s Perfect.
Six months later, when Ministry of Sound released the mash-up officially it went to number 3 in the British pop charts immediately, and was licensed to the trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno, confirming Mason’s status as established international producers.
“Of course it made a difference financially,” Iason agrees. “But at the end of the day the biggest difference was that the two of us could now fully focus on music full-time, which we have been doing ever since, without being afraid of the gas bill. The rest is unimportant. It also created a window of attention for our music.”
“From Exceeder onwards we had a big following checking out all our new records, and coming to our shows, which is really rewarding- without trying to sound too Oprah,” he laughs.
“The fact that people turn up when you play somewhere has an effect on your DJ fee too obviously. We didn’t want to make a few hundred new records just like Exceeder, but took the opportunity to work even harder and try to make different, original records.”
Five years on they’ve cemented their reputation as A list producers and DJs still further, remixing both for credible artists including Zoo Brazil, Disco Of Doom and Jesse Rose as well as the likes of Moby and Robyn.
Rather than resting on their laurels, however they’ve recently raised their game dramatically introducing a fully integrated sound light and visual system that they use for every performance. Hi tech and hugely impressive, the show delivers a Chemical Brothers style edge to their shows, raising the bar for DJs when more and more are replacing beat matching with sync buttons.
“Why did we develop this system? (known as the ‘Baboon Booth’) We just wanted to do stuff a bit different,” Iason explains.
“There are too many DJs out there (duh!),” he chuckles, “And there are too many live shows that aren’t much more than a guy with glasses staring into his laptop while stroking a controller.”
Orbital (Officially) Return
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Acid house pioneers Orbital have confirmed they are to headline a six date UK tour next April, at which they’ll be promoting their long awaited as yet unnamed artist album some 7 years after they officially split up.
Pioneering performing electronic music live at mega raves such as Glastonbury and Tribal Gathering in the 90s, the Hartnoll brothers became global superstar though quit in 2004 to pursue solo careers.
Five years on, however, they temporarily reformed to play a 20 year memorial gig at the Big Chill, prompting Paul to admit to having second thoughts about the wisdom of their decision to quit.
“I didn’t (miss being in Orbital) for the first couple of years but then it started building up,” he told the Times, “Seeing contemporaries you always used to be on bills with — the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, the Prodigy — still doing it, we started to say: ‘I used to enjoy that; that used to be a laugh.”
Speaking to the Sunday Times in the same year, he was even more direct, admitting his plans to hook up with Hollywood agents commissioning film scores was trickier than expected.
“Their attitude was, ‘I’m not getting Orbital. What am I getting?’ What do you do on your own?” he said.
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