I always love it when I check my email and I have a message from a producer, local or otherwise, that makes savage tunes. This is how I discovered Replete, the Cork based Kilkenny producer emailed me his stuff and I loved it instantly.

His music at times brings to mind the likes of Burial, Boards of Canada and Royksopp and has more interesting ideas than a Stephen Fry novel. Soothing vocals intertwine with soulful melodies and precise production throughout his tracks but all offer something different.

He’s got some seriously nice grooves and sounds extremely more adept than someone local producer still honing his sound. I really love his stuff and there’s no doubt that he’ll be making a name for himself all over the place soon. I sent him off a few questions to find out more about his stuff and he was good enough to record an exclusive mix for us here at Skirmish that is absolute quality. So turn up your speakers and read on.

How did you get interested in electronic music and making tunes?

Well I’ve played in bands over the years that always had an element of electronic music in them. But I really only started to make my own tunes last summer. I went to Toronto with a friend of mine and he got a job straight away so I pretty much started making electronic tunes out of boredom really. But once I made something that was fully formed and that I liked it was just encouragement to keep recording and I haven’t stopped since. It can get quite addictive.

Your currently based in Cork doing a masters in music. How is this helping you with your own tunes?

I’m sure it is helping in some way. I think once I finish the masters I’ll be able to say better how it has helped. At the moment it’s as if all the work that we have to do is getting in the way of making tunes. But at the same time I’m still recording everyday so it must not be getting in the way too much. Either that or maybe I should be doing more college work!

How would you describe your sound?

Changing. That would be the main thing I think. When I stared recording my tunes were a little slower and more chilled but I think they’re getting darker and at the same time a little bit faster. I’m no longer afraid to go over 140bpm.

What are the key elements that you feel are the most important thing in a tune?

At the moment drums are a big thing for me. I think if you can put together a beat that’s distinctive and interesting that sets a really really good template for a song. And as a result of putting more effort into the beat and building from there up, it might lead you in different directions when you’re putting a bass line or a melody together.

What producers are you digging at the moment?

Recently I’ve been getting mad into Burial again since he released his Kindred EP. There’s someone who has a really distinctive drum sound that I really love. I mean, when you hear Burial’s drums you know straight away that its Burial. There’s so many producers around I could ramble on about. On the Irish side of things I really like Toby Kaar, Roam (Brian Diolun), Monto and definitely Eomac. I’ve been listening to Eomac’s stuff non-stop for the last while. It’s really great. That tune “You don’t know what this means to me” was the best song to be released last year by anyone making music in Ireland, in my opinion. Also, i was really impressed with Simon Bird when I went to see the Lightbox Tour in the Pavillion.

Are you a hardware or a software man?

Well I think like most producers I’d be nowhere without software. I’m definitely a big fan of Ableton. It’s just great, so user friendly and really allows you to be as creative as you want. But when it comes to performing live I think one of the main things producers have a hard time with is making the set look as live as possible. So when it comes to playing live having the hardware to show that you are actually doing something rather than just pressing buttons on your laptop is important. Toby Kaar is a good example of utilizing his hardware to really good effect live. I think he uses a monome, a tenorion and a midi keyboard. I have an apc40 and am hoping to add to that. I would love a monome amongst other little devices.

You recently played at !Kaboogies birthday last month. How was that?

Yeah, that was up in Dublin in the Twisted Pepper. It was great. Definitely my favourite gig I’ve played so far. There was so many people there and they seemed to all enjoy themselves which is the main thing. I got to see Lakker for the first time, which was great. They closed the night in the basement and they pretty much destroyed the basement, in the best way possible. All the !Kaboogie lads are really talented DJs/producers in their own right so it was great to be asked to play at the birthday.

Who would be your dream person(s) to collaborate with?

I’m not sure really. I think the reason I enjoy making electronic music so much is that I get to do it on my own. I like the fact that I can put a full tune together without needing anyone else. When I was in bands I think I found it hard to voice my opinion as regards to how the music would sound but I have no problem voicing my opinion to myself. Not that I talk to myself. Anyway, to answer the question I really doubt I could say no if the opportunity to collaborate with Burial came up. One day!!

What does the future hold?

Well hopefully a lot more gigs. I’m going to try and play live as much as possible around Ireland. An ideal 2012 would be a lot of recording and getting better as a producer, getting my masters degree and it would be great to have some sort of physical release by the end of the year. Maybe an EP.

THE MIX

I’m quite new to putting mixes together so this consists of tunes I’m really liking at the moment. A few of the tunes are taken from my set at !Kaboogie’s birthday. So that really supplied the foundation for the mix and I added a few extras in to make it a bit more complete. I also put a new version of one of my old tunes that I’ve been working on in at the end.