Hailing from California and Los Angeles respectfully, Urple Eeple (Peter Farr) and Isturite (Kevin Welch) have come together to make future bass music that transcends boundaries. The two have just released their latest single, ‘Blocks’ via Farr’s own label, Chillage Records. The track was released last Friday and is lifted off of their upcoming self-titled EP, due for release in 2020.
While the two have both made names for themselves independently in the music industry, they still have a long history together. Having met during their teenage years and bonding over the festival scene, they eventually decided to collaborate and began releasing music in 2014. While a great pairing from the start, we’ve had the chance to see how the two have come to grow together, bringing their own external influences together in harmony.
Curious about some of this growth process, we knew we had to learn more about the two. You can too, in our exclusive interview below.
Looking back, what were some of your earliest entries into music appreciation? And music production?
Kevin: I was a band geek in school, I played saxophone and guitar, and listened to a lot of hip hop, metal. I didn’t even consider using a computer for music until I a few years after I started raving back in 06. I’d say my first taste of wanting to produce my own music was when I was introduced to glitch music through Memekest, who unfortunately is no longer releasing content.
Peter: I played guitar and piano from a very early age, and played in a number of unsuccessful bands in my youth. Music has always been a huge part of my life. When I turned eighteen I drove myself out to Burning Man, which was a deeply life-changing experience for me at the time. I started producing electronic music and was influenced early on by wonky beat music, and the LA beat scene. The shows that Low End theory used to put on were hugely influential and inspirational to me as a producer.
Give us a sense of the music scene where you are based.
The west coast music scene is very different from the rest of the world. In Northern California, there’s a lot of bass music which starts to become pretty formulaic. In Southern California, there’s a heavy influence from the LA beat scene – Low End Theory, Flying Lotus (adult swim) which is more on the experimental side. Lately, there’s been a bigger rise in future bass/future beats which is more on our personal vibe and what we enjoy making.
What key pieces of software/gear are you using to define your sound?
Analog gear is a huge part of our creative process. On this album, we heavily used the Prophet-6, Moog Mother-32, Elektron and found sounds. We love really organic sounds as well, and heavily use samples of objects in the real world to add texture and dimension to our music. As for software we tend to be pretty big fans of Diva and Serum.
What are some of your key musical influences?
Flume, Com Truise, Ekali, Flying Lotus, Tennyson, 20syl and many many more.
You’ve mentioned that you went to festivals together as teenagers. What are some of your best memories of these times?
Some great memories from festivals – stumbling upon Amon Tobin at Symbiosis 09 because we were woken up by the heavy bass waves. Come over the main stage and were completely blown away by his entire performance. That festival was amazing through and through – including an absolutely mind-blowing performance from Lazer Sword (live hardware) and a live acoustic glitch set from The Glitch Mob (not their main performance). Other fond festival memories include seeing Seventh Swami at the lobster carnival and dressing up as lobsters for an impromptu fashion show in the forest.
What are your favourite tracks from your upcoming self-titled EP?
Our favourite track is probably Blocks, with Honey Drip as a close second. Overall we feel very proud of the entire EP and it is hard to pick favourites!
What kind of relationship do you have with the internet? How does this inform your artistic expression?
The internet. It’s a double-edged sword. The good side of it are the endless resources for artists to learn, and perfect their craft. Software choices are endless, and there is a never ending supply of tutorials. The downside we think is society’s addiction to social media. As an artist, your social media presence is almost more important than your music itself, as far as bookings are concerned which is a real drag. We imagine there are likely some incredible artists out there that don’t get heard because they might not be skilled at gaming social media. It’s a way that fans can follow along with an artist’s life, but it also gets in the way of what’s really important – the music.
What would you like to achieve with your music? What does success look like to you?
We just want to make awesome music and play some fun shows. Success to us would be releasing another album in 2020 and getting a chance to collaborate or share a stage with some of our favorite artists.
What has been a memorable highlight of your career so far?
Playing large festivals has been a huge highlight of our shared artistic career with Esofact, and putting out some songs we feel very proud of. As this is our debut EP, I think this is a very big highlight for us. We’ve put a ton of work into this EP and feel very proud of the entire thing. We hope we can get it into as many ears as possible so others can enjoy it!
If you could work with, or perform alongside any artist of your choice, who would it be?
Ekali, Flume, Com Truise, Flying Lotus, Shigeto, Tennyson, Datasette and countless other artists that we have immense respect and admiration for.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
We will always be musicians. Even if music doesn’t “work out” as far as being a prime moneymaker we will never stop making music. That’s such a core part of our respective identities, we don’t think we could ever give that up completely.
What can we expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
We are releasing our debut EP soon!
Follow Esofact:
Facebook – Twitter – Soundcloud – Spotify
