New Fredericton-Based Eletro Producer is Building Music to Last

In the world of electronic music, there has got to be more sub-genres than in any other scene. Two polar opposites of those sub-genres might be IDM or Intelligent Dance Music and Electro-Pop or Club, although if you were to speak with Nick Fowler of Fredericton, New Brunswick, I think he’d argue for the two styles’ coexistence. Fowler produces and writes alongside singer/songwriter Tyler Lombard to create party-themed club music as The Arka Teks; a new group quickly gaining some popularity on the global scene thanks to the Internet. Additionally he keeps a solo project, M4TH, focused on creating instrumental IDM. It’s not hard to hear Fowler’s influence on the Arka Teks and it got me wondering about his approach to producing music and what it’s like producing this music from “Canada’s Cultural Capital”. I caught up with Fowler in the midst of releasing the Arka Teks debut album “Nightlife”. Check out their Youtube page where they are getting loads of attention and you can actually listen to the whole album.

Canadian Invader: As a composer of IDM for your solo project M4TH, you create really lush sound-scapes which flow within a framework of catchy beats. In a nutshell, take us through your creative process. Where do songs begin? How do they develop? When is a piece finished for you?

Nick Fowler: The song always starts with a theme. I almost always have an idea in my head beforehand, so I sit down and try to get that idea from my head to my computer. The first thing I do is choose a tempo, then start a basic beat. Once I get a short beat created (usually two measures), I will loop it and pull up a synth/instrument and start experimenting with my keyboard. After I get a general outline of what my idea is, I will always try and get the song “skeleton” made ASAP. Basically what I do is get the entire length of the song sketched out temporarily. This allows me to always have the rest of the song in mind while creating individual parts. From there I fill it out, much like adding organs, flesh, blood, and skin onto the skeleton. My perfectionist personality prevents any songs from getting the “finished” stamp, but I do at some point give it the “more-or-less-done” stamp.

CI: Tell me about the scene in your city, Fredericton. Are there places where artists can showcase their not-so-mainstream forms of music?

NF: Although Fredericton doesn’t have a huge number of active electronic musicians, I feel that the people who live here are very open minded and accepting of the not-so-mainstream genre. When we play shows I think the audience enjoys dancing to music that isn’t heard 4 times a day on the radio. I know that there are many bedroom electronic musicians in the area which is why I have recently started a label called “TEKnology Productions”. I hope to use this label to help these musicians get their music out of their bedrooms and into the ears of fans.

CI: Why electronic music?

NF: Honestly because I am a mega-nerd. I am an electronics technician/field engineer by trade, so naturally electronic music sparks my interest. What originally got me into electronic music is an interesting story. I was in grade 9 and playing lead guitar in a metal band. Electronic music was the last thing on my mind. My dad bought me a copy of Cakewalk’s “Sonar” [a recording software] because I wanted to get into recording our band. Along the way I learned that band members (especially high school band members) were unreliable. It took me months, but I figured out how to use midi and plug-ins to create sounds from within my computer which allowed me to not have to rely on band members. One day I made a drum beat and turned the tempo up to 999BPM. What I heard for the first time was granular synthesis. Hearing this sound unlocked something in my brain. Before I knew it I was making this crazy glitchy electronic music which I didn’t even know existed. Then one day, in London Ontario, I saw The Aphex Twin’s album “Richard D James”. I had never heard of him, but I felt compelled to buy it. After listening to the first song “4″ I finally knew what kind of music I had been making; IDM. From then on I just kept pumping out these super fast and super glitchy tunes. I strived to incorporate the strange IDM sounds into something more musical, and now here I am with The Arka Teks.

CI: Four-course meal in the Nation’s best restaurant or fire-cooked food in the wilderness?

NF: Definitely a fire cooked meal in the wilderness… as long as I don’t have to hunt down the animal myself.

CI: The Arka Teks have a new album coming out, what does this mean for your solo work?

NF: It means I will have time to take a break from producing tracks for TAT and work on my solo project. I am really excited to work more on M4TH.

CI: If you could keep only a single piece of music gear, what would it be?

NF: Hmmm, that’s a tough one. It is a tie between a sampler and my classical guitar. Although I could sample any sound and use granular synthesis to make all kinds of tones, I think I’ll go with my classical guitar because it is the only instrument that really sounds complete by itself.

CI: What is your reaction when you listen to your own work as M4TH or the Arka Teks? Do you think about what you want your audience’s reaction to be when you create?

NF: When I listen to any of my own work all I can think is “I should have brought the snare down 2dB” or “his voice could have a little more 557Hz”. When I create music for The Arka Teks I always keep the audience in mind. When I create music for M4TH I only think about what I want. That’s why it is good for me to have two projects. M4TH serves mainly as an outlet for all my weird and possibly “bad” sounding ideas.

CI: What can your audience members expect at a live Arka Teks show?

NF: Lots and lots of interaction. Our fans are our main focus, and our live show reflects that. One of our signatures is the “auto tune contest”. Basically I make a short instrumental that sounds like a top-40’s song prior to the show. We choose three audience members to come up on stage and freestyle through auto tune on top of this instrumental. There are prizes for first, second, and third place.

CI: Speaking of live, what are the challenges of performing electronic music live?

NF: Our live performance is still evolving, but right now the main challenge is gear. Specifically the 1980’s Casio DG20 that I use. It likes to reboot randomly and send lots of Midi messages to stuff. When we perform I am not nervous about our performance, I am nervous about our gear. I am in the process of improving issues like these so I can sleep a little better.

CI: Lost or Twin Peaks?

NF: I don’t watch TV (It melts your brain). Plus I don’t have cable.

_________________________________________________

Thanks Nick! If I may, I strongly recommend renting the DVD Gold Set of Twin Peaks which David Lynch himself endorses by stating “This is a great gold set.” Amazing. Check back soon for my review of The Arka Teks’ brand new album “Nightlife”.