INTERVIEW : Karl Can Be Cool
There are 2 types of music producers, those who never listen to music, and those who listen to everything all the time - including their own tracks. No need to say my favorites are part of the latter group and Karl Can Be Cool is no exception. Upon hearing his idiosyncratic take on lo-fi house, I was intrigued to find out more about this guy who I now place among my top producers of left-field electronic music. I had a chat with KCBC to talk about DIY music production and artistic inspiration in our post-Internet age.
What was the first track you heard that made you feel like making the music you're producing now?
I couldn’t pinpoint the first track that made me feel like producing. However, for the past 3 years I’ve always been drawn to lo-fi house and I like the nostalgic feeling you get from it. I enjoy the occasional feeling of being sad on my commute home from work. I think the stand-out artists that really made me take notice of lofi house was Baltra and Ross From Friends. But in saying that when I was younger I always liked deep/progressive house.
Canadian DJ Adam K would be one of my favorites, Deep at Night is still one of my favorite house tracks. I still get the same feeling listening to lofi house as I would prog house. Speaking of Baltra, I actually saw him play twice in Vancouver and if he is reading this I want to say: I’m sorry I waffled on about how your new album is similar to Good Kid Maad City, I’m sure you hadn’t a clue about what I was saying.
From your name to your profile pictures, there’s a bit of humor in how you present your project. How did you come to that?
Would you believe the name “Karl Can Be Cool” came from Twitter years and years ago when I was into this girl. She had a funny twitter handle and I felt I had to match it before I started tweeting her. I don’t know where it came from but I ended up on Karl Can Be Cool. It has literally been my handle on everything ever since. Then when I started producing, I toyed around with other names but I thought this one suited me best.
I don’t take producing serious at all and I think my profile reflects that. I just make tracks that I listen to myself, which is extremely sad, but it's the truth, I will be my own number one listened-to artist on this years’ Spotify review. The lack of seriousness might also be reflected in my music. I’m sure that, to an actual producer, my tracks are crap and poorly produced, but I’ll keep going with my $30 earphones and dysfunctional Ableton.
CREDIT : Karl Can Be Cool
I believe you recently moved to Vancouver. What inspired you to move there? How’s the music scene in that city?
I’m originally from Dublin and graduated from university. 5 of my friends were going and I kind of made a last-minute decision to go with them but it has been the best decision. Vancouver is a really beautiful city and there are so many activities from hiking to skiing. There are also so many vegans, you have to ignore them, but otherwise, I’d recommend it to anyone.
Like the majority of North American cities rap and hip hop is the main genre but the underground house scene here is quite good. Mall Grab, Baltra, Kettama, Project Pablo, Chaos in the CBD, Harrison BDP, Denis Sulta, Dj Seinfeld have all played here in the past two years. There are some really good local DJs too. During the summer is when the party scene is great. You have anything from boat parties, to all-day patio parties and you’ll never be short of an afters.
How do you approach the creation of a new beat, from its inception to the finished track?
Honestly, I have no formula for making a track. It’s usually reflective of whatever mood I’m in or some other track that inspires me. I can take a month or two of messing around on a track or have one complete in a day, like The Sun Never Rises on East Hastings, for example. I can start off with a sample one day or just a kick another day then build the track around it. I’m also limited by my Ableton skills, so if I’m learning something new that is also something that helps with the creation of a new track.
What gear do you use the most?
I hate to say this, but the only gear I use is my MacBook with a terrible version of Ableton and I only use stock presets and instruments and no plugins. I know die-hard musicians and producers are shaking their heads at this (and they can keep shaking) but I only started producing music that I wanted to listen to and I use Spotify the most, so that’s where I posted them. And if I can make them without needing fancy gear, that’s all that matters right?
Your latest EP Irish and New in Vancouver takes lo-fi house to experimental territories. Tell us a little about what inspired you?
As I said before, a lot of my time spent on Ableton is just experimenting with sounds trying to create music that I’d listen to. And by experimenting I literally mean applying a filter to some MIDI to see what happens.
The name of the EP comes from a Facebook group that every Irish person who goes to Vancouver joins. It’s basically full of people like myself looking for a room to rent, or some older people complaining about the younger Irish who stay for the summer and wreck the place (but I think that’s hilarious). The names of the EP are inspired by things/places in Vancouver and a memento to my time here… I also thought it would be a clever marketing ploy to name it after something so many people are aware of lol.
Are you also DJing?
I’m not djing (however if any promoter wants me to play at their club hmu). I’ve tried many times before on a friend’s deck and really liked it but at the moment all I do is produce tracks. Apparently that’s what Denis Sulta used to do. He was making tracks way before djing. So he had to learn to DJ as he was being asked to perform at clubs. By the way, I was backstage with Denis Sulta at Bass Coast last summer and that man is a lunatic. The stuff he got up to could not be spoken about on this blog. I’ll save that for another day.
Are there some artists or tracks that are inspiring you at the moment?
Baltra, Mall Grab, Kettama, Ross from Friends, DJ Seinfeld are some of the big names in the lofi/techno scene but others like COMPUTER DATA, Cult Member, MD Maxel, Monolithic, Windows and Bobby Analog who aren’t as well known but are insanely good and would be influencers on my style.
What’s coming up for KCBC?
Honestly, I haven’t got a clue. I’ll keep on banging out tracks that I’ll listen to on my daily commute and if other people want to listen along then they are more than welcome. I’m going back to Ireland in April after 2 years in Vancouver. So I have got to sort my life out in the meantime. Check back with me in a year and I might have a better answer!