We’ve something special here. Liverpool artist LinG, who’s also a member of three-piece Ninetails, recently put out the Anthracite EP on Get Some. It’s an EP that mixes the sound of classic grime and garage with organic, filtered noise, distilled through the heavy machinery of the industrial north. To coincide with Anthracite he’s given us a stellar mix that transcends the club-ready beats he makes, blending film scores and abstract experimental music, dropping in some classic grime and finally going down the rabbit hole with Holden and Grouper. We quizzed him about how he juggles the organic and the synthetic, how he started off making donk edits of metalcore, and his views on the Liverpool scene.
Stream: LinG – Anthracite EP (Get Some)
Hi! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. What have you been up to lately? “Hey, my pleasure. At the moment when not at work, I’m spending at lot of my time focusing on the new Ninetails album Faixa. We are trying to turn this album out a lot quicker than the last one.”
There’s not much about you online. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? “My name is Jacob King. I’m 22. I originally come from a small town called Leek in Staffordshire, but I’m now currently based in Liverpool. I started showing a real interest in music at around 15, I bought a drum kit of my mate for £30 and it started to expand from there. My interest in electronic production began through my mate Ben. One day after school he brought over his copy of Reason and I was immediately hooked. We used to spent hours making ridiculous donk edits of metalcore tunes. Eventually I started taking electronic production more seriously and decided to study audio production at university.”
How did you get involved with the Get Some team? “I became aware of Get Some in 2011 when they put out Crypt’s GSR001 EP. I uploaded a few of my tracks to Soundcloud and forwarded them to Get Some via their dropbox. A few weeks later they got in touch and wanted to put out an EP from me. It was great to gain some recognition from a label whose previous releases I’ve respected.
In my mind your sound is somewhere on a line between Perc and Burial, with a dash of Gang Gang Dance thrown in. What do you think of that summation? “Yeah I can see the relation to those artists from this EP but I’d only cite Burial as a real influence out of that selection. That being said I really wouldn’t want to be grouped with the dozens of Burial impersonators out there. The new material I have been working on follows a completely new aesthetic and it is important for me as an artist to keep progressing into new unexplored areas. So hopefully after my next release the comparisons will be completely different.”
Stream/download: LinG – Demigod (Get Some)
You say you want to present a sound both digital and organic – how difficult is that to reconcile for you? “The organic component comes from the massive amount of found-sound that I use within my tracks. The majority of all percussive/atmospheric elements included in the Anthracite EP were crafted from my field recordings. I tend to have stages throughout the year where I’ll constantly have my field recorder on me and just have it running for long periods of time. I then import the recordings to my computer and start processing from there. This is where the digital element comes into play. Processing the field recordings is a really enjoyable part of the creation process and often completely determines the direction of track. I maybe went a little overboard with the processing on this EP which makes it difficult to differentiate between the organic and digital sounds, but a clearer hybrid of both is a goal I’m working towards.”
How did you end up working with Rugrat, who features on the EP? “When I first moved to Liverpool I got in touch with Rugrat. We would share beats with one another and eventually I asked him to MC at a couple of shows that I was DJing. I had done a remix for Rugz a few months prior to the completion of ‘Droop’. Once I had completed the instrumental for ‘Droop’ I placed the acappella of his from the remix on top of it. I loved how it sounded, so I immediately booked in some studio time and asked him to bring some fresh bars.”
The mix you’ve done for us, I don’t know what to say. It’s really quite stunning. Can you tell us about your key influences and inspirations, outside of those you included here? “Thank you. I find it pretty hard to pin down my key influences. I grew up listening to lots of metal and post-hardcore and eventually got turned on to D&B, it gave me that same kind of visceral feeling and consequently opened up my eyes to the world of electronic music. This exposure to very aggressive sounds is something that has obviously influenced my sound. Alongside this I have a great interest in much prettier genres such as ambient and R&B. I’m currently trying to expand my knowledge in modern classical music. Jordan from Ninetails has turned me on to some great composers such as György Ligeti and this is all really exciting territory to be exploring.”
Apart from the imperceptible layering, the transition that goes from Actress through Oneohtrix Point Never and Future Sound of London into Visionist is beautiful in its simplicity. How did you go about stitching it all together? “I did the mix on my girlfriend’s DVS setup. I had a clear idea about how I wanted the mix to progress. I wanted to create a cinematic mix, something less club-orientated that would suit personal listening situations. I like my mixes to slowly increase in tempo but before getting too settled they get rudely interrupted by intertwining ambient sections.”
As well as your Ling project, you’re also a part of Ninetails, who were just named as the Guardian’s 1,713th NBOTD. Is LinG a world apart from Ninetails, or do you bring electronica to the band? Or is it more complicated than either of those polarities? “LinG is 1/3 of of Ninetails. Before our new stuff I would have said that Ninetails was a world apart from LinG, but our latest record (Quiet Confidence) has seen me step away from the drum kit completely to provide an electronic palette of percussion/samples. Already during the demo stages of the Ninetails record, I can see a stronger LinG imprint.”
What’s Liverpool like, both in terms of the electronic scene and for “band” culture? Does the scepter of the Fab Four still loom, beyond a few tourist landmarks? “The scenes are fairly electric for both. There are a few nights doing things that I like such as Abandon Silence and Deep Hedonia. Also there is a fairly new grime night called Go!,which looks pretty promising. The only time i ever really hear anyone talk about The Beatles is when I’m reading music reviews about an act associated with Liverpool.”
What’s your drink of choice? “Blood orange San Pellegrino.” And when was the last time you danced? “Last night when i was working on a track.”
Truants Exclusive – Ling – Cine Mix [GETSOME] by TRUANTS
Tracklist:
Ernst Reijseger – Shadow
Cryosmurf – …
Holly Herndon – Chorus
Asusu – Velez
Fennesz & Sakamoto – Oto
Actress – Gaze
Oneohtrix Point Never – Zebra
The Future Sound Of London – Papua New Guinea
Visionist – M
Halls – Arc
Burial – Come Down To Us
Ling – Grounded Play
Mssingno – Xe2
Spinline – Monday Luv
Ruff Sqwad – Functions On the Low
Rabit – Sun Showers
Ling – Droop Ft Rugrat [Acapella]
Ling – Droop
TCF – 7a6eba595638b069bd02c44bfa3cc892ef83631fd59bad82602b8da4eacc76d2
Holden – Inter-City 125
Grouper – Vanishing Point
Calla Soiled – Sweet Tear(アナタガ… Remix)
Billow Observatory – Calumet
LinG – Anthracite EP is out now. Buy here.
