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During this year’s ADE, Tantok joined us at the Bowers and Wilkins popup studio at the Nexus Lounge in Amsterdam.
With a growing discography and fan base, the mysterious “Ruler of Flight, Defeater of Serpents, and Bringer of House Music” Tantok has recently been rising through the electronic ranks. His various blends of house music – from simplistic to deep and progressive and from technical to slap house – have given him significant attention. This breadth of musical styles within one expansive genre has allowed Tantok to evolve his live sets dependent on the audience and event, thus gathering a dedicated and passionate fan base.
Alongside performing at this year’s ADE event, Tantok has shared the same stage with Luca Testa, Kraak & Smaak, and Nox Vahn, to name but a few. These successes are accompanied by releasing tracks through several record labels, beginning with Jendex Records and moving through Blanco y Negro, Digital Empire, Deep House Natural, and Deep Strips.
We spoke with Tantok about his upcoming projects and his approach to music while asking questions from our Take-5 series. We begin with his approach to sampling, which is unique and adds an element of realism to his otherwise futuristic and digital sounds:
“I guess I like to add a lot of real-world sounds. So I’m often like, I have a little mobile record device, so I’m often just recording real-life shit and adding it to my music. I do quite a bit of editing, so it almost doesn’t sound like real life… A lot of bird sounds. Take the recording device camping, get an axe chopping wood, and add that to a snare. That type of stuff.”
On October 28th, Tantok released an infectious and aggressive house track via the Spanish label; Blanco y Negro Music. Entitled All This Money, its stomping beats and trance-inducing vocals demonstrate further growth in Tantok’s musical style and an extension of his already-established repertoire.
We then asked Tantok to answer some of our Take-5 questions. When asked what instrument he would play magically, he chose the saxophone. “I play bass, so I love the monophonic instruments,” he says. “With saxophone, it just sounds beautiful. But you have to press chords with your fingers, and then all you get is one note … But it is very sexy.”
He also notes that eating San Pedro cactus is the most spontaneous thing he has done in Amsterdam, and he would like to incorporate more music and practice into his daily routine.
Listen to the full interview with Tantok at the Nexus Lounge, click the link below:
