Last December, British producer Crypticz (Jordan Parsons) delivered one of our favourite records that we currently have in the store — "Between Dust & Time" — on the excellent Bristol-based Western Lore label. Music journalist Freddie Hudson has had a chat with Jordan to celebrate the release and find out more about the inspiration behind it, as well as what the future holds for Crypticz. Hit play on the Bandcamp player below and read on to discover more about a creator we greatly admire.
≈ FH ≈
It seems you’re based in Bristol, Somerset and the Southwest of England - there’s a lot of musical heritage in that part of the UK, and a very distinctive sound from each genre. Which events and musicians helped raise you, musically?
≈ Crypticz ≈
This is a challenging one to answer to be honest, I got into music at a very young age and I didn't really start to consider location and the influence that has on art for a good while. I was mainly just listening to lots of different things via my parents and absorbing all of it for what it is initially.
The list of artists that helped to 'raise' me is incredibly vast to be frank, I'd say my biggest period of musical exploration as a listener and fan was probably from the age of about 4 up to 18. I tended to go through intense phases of being really into certain styles or sounds for a while and delving very much into the deep end of that whilst floating and touching upon other little scenes and things along the way. Particularly in my teenage years where I was able to fully take advantage of the internet to explore at my leisure. I'm certainly still an explorer by some definition now but I tend to lean into familiarity a touch more these days... but yeah, a lot of things in that initial circa 15-year period were the things you could say shaped me.
To try and link back to the question somewhat... Upon reflection, probably one of the first times I started to differentiate sounds by location was around the age of 7-9 as I was into a lot of punk orientated music around then. This is the first time I'd really been able to create a separation on a grander scale of UK rooted sounds in contrast to USA rooted sounds and start to identify that different locations would create different results, but at the age it was more the sonic side of things I was acknowledging as opposed to lyrical content, for example.
Another era for me that was particularly noteworthy in regard to recognizing the impact of location was when I heavily got into dubstep. I was born in 1995 so I wasn't engaged, or even present, when its origins were first bubbling away in London but a few friends of mine introduced me to it somewhere around 2008-2009 and I got heavily washed up in it online and started delving deep. This was a sound I recall sounding definitively London by nature, despite my somewhat limited knowledge of the city at the time. But through the music I was able to create a pretty vivid and accurate representation of the city through the sound. As my interest in the music expanded I started to explore more artists based in different locations and began to identify sonic differences between them based on this. This was actually one of my personal first forays into music specifically coming from Bristol and how I began to develop an interest in the cities musical output. Although by that time I'd already had a half decent exposure to music coming from the city, or at least heavily inspired by it, in my prior explorations. I just didn't really realize it at the time.
≈ FH ≈
How do you define your own sound? Do you find yourself using typical genre labels to help broadly define yourself, but find using these terms to define your music to be lacking something?
≈ Crypticz ≈
Honestly these days I tend to just tell people I'm an 'electronic musician'. This is what I'd consider myself, especially over more recent years as I do like to work on stuff away from the Crypticz project. In my head there is a clear distinction between dance music and electronic music and I certainly feel I fall more into the latter. But that's not to say I dislike what I would consider to be dance music.
Generally, people do tend to want that extra layer of information/categorization to decipher what it is I do and I've become quite accustomed to describing it as 'Leftfield Drum & Bass' or 'Post Jungle'. Despite the fact that makes me sound a bit snobby.
To answer the latter part of the question I don't really find these terms to be lacking per se, but I do prefer to describe my output in a broader sense to reduce limitations of what it can be in others, and even my own, mind.
≈ FH ≈
Can you tell us a little about your approach to sampling on ‘Between Dust & Time’? There are a few vocal samples in particular which seem to me to have entered a kind of group psyche, where the sample has been used in famous dubstep, drum and bass and hybrid tracks for quite some time. I’m interested in why you decided to use these in your tracks - is it an honorific use, or symbolic in some way, designed to bring in a feeling of familiarity?
≈ Crypticz ≈
Sure - I should preface though, the record was written around the back end of 2018 leading into early 2019, so my memory is a little hazy on some processes. Traditionally sampling isn't a massive part of my sound but you're quite right, it was more integral on Between Dust & Time. Obviously a lot of breaks were used across this record, I think I managed to tick off most, if not all, the obvious jungle breaks across the board but also selected a few more unusual ones that are scattered throughout.
Other things that were heavily sampled were pads. I generally prefer using a combination of my own hardware synths and software synths in my work but I wanted to take an approach more in line with the sort of material that influenced the record which led to me throwing a lot of pad sounds into samplers and such.
Notable vocal sampling occurred on the tracks 'Broadcast Feeling' and 'Nightshifter's Groove'. I often use a lot of little fillers and snippets from soundclashes and such. I recall on Nightshifter's that there was a particular Peshay radio set I was enjoying at the time I was writing it so I recorded all the MC's parts through my FX pedal, cleaned them up, edited them to use throughout the intro. Things like that... just gives a nice nod to the era and style I was referencing you know.
On this record however I used this kind of source material alongside recording my own things. A lot of the stuff you hear buried low in the mix is actually me mucking around doing vocal stuff that's very reminiscent of recognizable samples or vocals, or things I might have heard in tunes whilst out, but recreated by myself and then heavily pitched and saturated to give an old, sampled kind of quality. An outcome of this method that I like is the samples are unique to my work despite their familiarity. You're quite right though that these sorts of sounds were certainly utilized to reference examples prior.
It's also worth talking about 'The Guided'. This features a great deal of content from an online resource I found spoken by Ransford Lawrence. Upon reflection, I do honestly have mixed feelings on the use here. I want it to be clear this wasn't simply used for the sake of it's sonic qualities or anything of that nature. I know they're tunes out there that use certain samples just because they 'sound cool' and no real thought is put into the message or background of the content. Not only that, but I think it's important when someone from a certain cultural background samples content from a different culture it is done respectfully. The pieces that I used on the track do speak to me still. I still very much am exploring and expanding my beliefs, but the message of this piece still resonates with me. It must be said if you find the source material there are some controversial words spoken within that I don't condone... but with editing I could shape it into a suitable sample to float on top of the music and deliver the intended message of my own work. This is an interesting topic in itself because one could argue by slightly altering the context of the source material I have been unfaithful to it... However, the way I see it is we all seek out and learn from different sources, absorb the things that resonate with us and recycle them for use in our own lives, that was the approach I took with the sample use here.
≈ FH ≈
People talk a lot about the ‘Bristol Sound’, but having lived there myself it seems a very broad way to talk about a whole host of different music from the city. How do you perceive this label? Do you classify yourself as part of it?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I agree that the city is very broad in its musical styles. Also in other art forms.
On a grand scale, talking about music coming from the city, Bristol seems to have a real deep understanding for the importance of foundation. Whether its some local punk gigs I've been to, a random jazz band playing in some bar, a sound system night, a Jungle DJ, whatever... there seems to be this underlying sense that the musicians here appreciate the importance of the fundamental groove or rhythm. Maybe it's just a glorified way of me saying there's some fucking tight rhythm sections about, but I think it is a little more than that. Bristol has a strong relationship with Dub music, which to me is all about a solid, rooted foundation and groove. It's very grounded. This gives space for a great deal of experimentation and play on top, and I think this Dub ideology flows through a lot of the music that comes from this city. It's most certainly something I've been aware of and incorporating into my work for a good while, and I think others around here are also. I think that's a part of the cities sonic DNA, and it's shown a lot throughout the years.
Whether I see myself as part of it... I like to think so. But I'm cautious. I've been around the South West area pretty much all my life, so Bristol was on my radar from early and its influence has been also. But I'm not Bristol born and raised, so I'm careful not to make bold claims and consider the city and it's sounds as my whole identity. But I do feel very welcome, at home and embraced here. It's a great part of the UK.
It's also worth noting I do also have these two other quite specific ideas of the 'Bristol Sound' in my head, but I think these are more personal to me. I'm sure there is a collection of true Bristolians out there who lived this movement so I apologize for merely scratching the surface and generalizing, but that whole kind of 90s 'trip hop' thing that was spearheaded into the limelight by your Massive Attack, Portishead, Earthling. That movement to me sounds so 'Bristol'. That sounds exactly as I envision this city in the 90s. Additionally, the whole dubstep movement that happened here - again, before my time in this city - is something I associate as the 'Bristol Sound' massively. Pinch, Headhunter, RSD, etc. Now I've said RSD I'd feel bad for not also touching upon More Rockers and Bristol's relationship with Jungle music... It's a vast city with a strong musical heritage. But a lot of what I tie to Bristol has that solid dub infused foundation DNA living through it, as described above.
≈ FH ≈
What parties and crews are you listening closely to within the Southwest? How are these people influencing you?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I must be truthful, I'm not massively following anything right now, nothing home-grown anyway. As a result of all the goings-on in the world as of late I generally feel quite disconnected from the cities' scene which is hard as it's one of it's best traits.
On the other hand, when we were able to be more integrated I did make quite a conscious effort to not be tied down or constrain myself to one little scene. In the earlier years of the Crypticz project I was very guilty of this and got myself a bit trapped, I was only really exposing myself to the world I was involved in, and it got a bit much. It became very easy to create a much greater sense of importance of what we were doing in my head which fed me in somewhat of a negative manner. Additionally, I cut myself off from a lot of other things I could have been exposing myself to, which resulted in my writing becoming somewhat stagnant. I'm grateful I was able to identify this and upon moving here engage in what's on offer on a grander scale as opposed to delving deep into one 'scene'.
≈ FH ≈
How about further afield within the UK? Are you keeping tabs on any crews in London or Northern England?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I always try to have my ear on something. I've been enjoying quite a lot of newer Grime and UK Drill type stuff recently, but honestly I'm more of an idle listener and not deeply engaged with it. I just hear it about. I like it sonically and have heard some absolutely great music, but I couldn't tell you who the hot up and coming artists are or, where the pivotal areas are, anything like that. But I kind of like that in a way, I sometimes like consuming music in small doses knowing that I might never find it again and that it will just be floating around within me somewhere, only able to be accessed as a faint memory.
I've been enjoying the kind of post punk revival happening in the UK mainstream lately. It seems bands like Idles and Fontaines D.C shone a bit of light on that sound. I know Idles are a Bristol band, but it must be said I'm not the biggest fan, its pretty basic shit punk to my ears. Fontaines aren't bad at all, again it's a little basic in terms of songwriting and if I'm being really fussy the production on the first record wasn't to my taste, especially the drums, but the band have great energy around them and put on a great live show. All the things I've touched upon as complaints though gave these two acts a bit of wider mainstream appeal, it would seem anyway, and has now opened the door for more interesting bands to get a bit of traction. I'm personally really feeling black midi, Squid, Black Country New Road, Porridge Radio, Folly Group. Artists in that kind of vein.
Otherwise, I must admit a lot of my listening over the last year or so has been very much rooted in nostalgia or doing a bit of rediscovery... further listening to things I'd only scratched the surface of in the past. Lots of 70s/80s era post punk and new wave is what I'm pumping into my ears.
≈ FH ≈
The UK seems full of a kind of updated 90’s rave nostalgia vibe right now - why do you think this is?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I think we're all fucked off to be honest. We're living in quite an unknown era with what's going on. Politically we're pretty much doomed. Life is shit. It's been increasingly easy to feel incredibly disillusioned in this country. I think a lot of people of my generation who were either born in, or grew up in the 90s, hold that era in high regard as we recall it as a far simpler and positive time. On top of that popular media tends to glamourise previous eras which leads us to romanticize them a fair bit. This isn't a criticism of people doing so either, I do it too. I think everybody is trying to recapture a bit of that magic. I can feel it bubbling away, it's cool. I think we all need to learn to connect a bit more on a human level before we make any major steps though.
≈ FH ≈
You have your own SWU.FM show - what can listeners expect from the broadcast?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I generally brand my show as 'cutting edge Jungle, Ambient & Dub influenced music'. But really it's stuff from across the electronic music spectrum with those core principles at the heart.
How do you begin approaching each performance? Is it tough to compile different music each month, or is it more of a ‘stream of current conscious’ style show?
It can be a challenge. Two hours is a lot of time to fill on a monthly rotation. I'm only about six or so months in at this point so I'm still finding a system that 100% works for me, but I have a few methods to bring a show together. Some stuff is very rehearsed, more frequently I arrange my tunes by 'style based' playlists and let it flow. One of my favourite things about DJing is creating a coherent and explorative journey, so I do put quite a lot of effort into showing up and trying to perform a solid mix with great pacing and dynamics and I really feel some months I've hit that sweet spot. Have come away feeling very happy.
≈ FH ≈
Do you play other genres, and use the mix as an opportunity to show the breadth in your taste?
≈ Crypticz ≈
It's varied each time to be honest, most of the time I've done the sort of thing people might expect from me. Other months I've been listening to a load of techno or dubstep or whatever so I've played some of the bits I'm feeling. I do feel free to show up and do whatever I want. My show has its general theme but I'm fairly confident some months I'll decide to just compile a show of music listeners wouldn't associate the Crypticz sound with and share that. It's still early days of the show.
≈ FH ≈
You released a track on Om Unit's Cosmic Bridge label, as part of the Cosmology: Dark Matter compilation, after a pair of EP’s. It’s not an easy camp to get into - how did you find yourself on the compilation, and releasing with Om Unit’s label in general?
≈ Crypticz ≈
Jim [Om Unit] is just one of the absolute gems you meet along the way doing this thing. I have a lot of respect for him and what he does, and I do think that respect is mutual you know. He's been very good to me and I'll forever be grateful for the platform he's given me to express myself and share that part of me over the years, and I've learnt a lot along the way. Cosmic Bridge and his other projects were a massive influence on what I was trying to do with my music so it became a real personal dream of mine to release some music on the label. I feel very lucky to have been able to do so.
I think our working relationship started around about 2016. However, I'd been sending him music from early 2015 onwards I think. I'd been chatting to Dec Fixate online a lot when I was still a fresh-faced 19/20 year old trying to get my name out there, and was still keen to do so. He heard some tunes and gave me Jim's email because he knew he'd be into it and Jim was one of those people that was always keen to lend an ear to me and give me some solid feedback. I remember it getting to a point where he started hitting me up like 'Hey man - what you working on?' and me thinking like 'shit, he might actually be interested in releasing some of my music!' - gradually over time he'd start sharing a few tips, synth sounds, inviting me to his studio and such. Then very naturally I just started working on stuff for Cosmic Bridge. It was actually a really awesome integration into the label and him helping to develop me further was incredibly beneficial and rewarding, probably one of my favourite eras in my little journey because I was still very young and innocent, and I was being guided by one of my teenage heroes from when I first got into writing electronic music.
From there working with Jim for Cosmic was pretty standard. Not long after the first record came out he asked me to do another. Kept me in the loop with the odd remix and that. The compilation appearance happened purely because it was coming together and he asked for music for it. I like to think I'm part of the Cosmic family now. You'll get to hear this relationship reach a real high point in the near future, we've been working towards a project that has been emotionally exhausting but worth it all.
≈ FH ≈
What advice do you have for producers who are looking to get their name out to labels which they feel they could be a part of?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I mean there isn't a hidden formula that works for every person or scenario. But from my experience just get out there and communicate and share your work with the artists you like. Which to be honest is funny for me to say because I've become a bit disillusioned with it all, I'm more creating for myself these days so if I had to try 'get myself out there' as it were I think I'd find it harder to do. But I guess I can only say that from the perspective of me right now, who's been through the whole youthful energy of wanting to get my work noticed. I mean my overall advice would be just be cool. Be you, be chill and be aware there's a lot of egos out there so don't be too disheartened by it all either. But I can confirm they're real great people out there too. Ultimately as long as you're making art for authentic reasons and being open about those you'll find people on the same page.
≈ FH ≈
Western Lore has swiftly placed itself as a very forward-thinking modern jungle (and jungle diasporic music) label since its first releases. What drew you to release through them?
≈ Crypticz ≈
Yeah, Alex DMC has built something incredible with Western Lore. He's another artist I really respect and am grateful to for having belief in me and my work. A pivotal tune for me from the Western Lore catalogue is 'Throwing Shades' from the man himself. That tune just has it all. Unlimited texture and suspense, serious groove, a deep foundation. The label just has a seriously good output and I felt what I was doing was in line with the aesthetic that Alex was going for, that's what led me to be interested in working with the label.
The process of doing so was beautifully smooth. I posted a little clip of my track 'Chrysalis' on my personal Facebook page when it was still in demo form, I think that was the day Amy & I had done the first vocal recording sessions actually. Sam Binary commented that Alex would love it and tagged him. We got talking, I sent him some tunes. He asked for Chrysalis funnily enough, for Blunted Breaks 2, but that was already for the Cosmic Bridge compilation. So I said something to him along the lines of 'I've got a concept bubbling away, give me a few months, I'll get back to you' - I went completely quiet on him, delved deep into the process and sent him 'Between Dust & Time' pretty much as you hear it today, albeit a bit rougher around the edges in terms of engineering and production.
≈ FH ≈
What are the musical inspirations behind the Western Lore release? It demonstrates a much more considered approach than the EP work, more alike to an album project, and there seems to be a lot of underlying influences in the sound. Can you talk us through what went into making it?
≈ Crypticz ≈
To simplify it I wanted to make a great Jungle record.
To elaborate, you're quite right, it was far more considered than some of my other works. I still don't really consider it an album, despite how a few publications and sellers have branded it. It's just a record I wrote with a strong concept and I didn't really let it be restricted by 'is it this or is it that? An EP has this many tracks, so it's this' or whatever. It's just a record I wanted to make.
Influences are pretty clear. Primarily 90s era Jungle. Other things also on a broad scale but it's Jungle music from that era and my reanalysis of it, alongside my own prior works, that led me to wanting to make the record. I was really stripping back what Jungle was to me and what relationship my own work had with it. I'd become very locked into this idea that my music was solely rooted in these dub ideologies but upon reanalysing some of my previous material I realized what a strong relationship it still had with all these Jungle records I enjoyed in my teens, without me even recognizing that at the original time of writing those tracks. I identified a few parallels and the ones I really felt were present were texture and ambience. Additionally, on a personal level I also wanted to do a further exploration into arrangement. I'd flirted with more long form pieces before but never really pushed the idea of what I could do with arrangement much further than that. So, musically at least, the idea of the record was to deconstruct what Jungle music could be and centre it around three key pillars, those being arrangement, texture and ambience/space.
After the whole writing process a lot of work went into the engineering and production. I wanted to find that happy balance between impactful and vast modern production whilst still maintaining a dusty more old school quality to it. It was hard to achieve to be honest and took a lot of time. A lot of skills I picked up from Jim Om around mixing over the years were particularly beneficial when it came to me being able to actually execute it how I wanted.
≈ FH ≈
Are these more often modern influences from peers, or older influences which you’re trying to incorporate into your sound?
≈ Crypticz ≈
I'll be honest it's been so long since I wrote the record I couldn't pin point works worth talking about in this way. I'd be more than happy to do a 'five tracks I'm into right now' with breakdown or something in that vein if that works for you, let me know
We’re quite excited about the expansion of your sound demonstrated on Western Lore’s release. What other releases do you have coming up, which you can share details of? What’s the direction with these releases? Is it more dancefloor oriented music, or something more broad?
Thank you. I do have another major and notable release around the corner, and I'm very proud of it, but I can't really elaborate too much on specific details yet, I'm afraid. We were aiming to get it out this year but there's been a few hold-ups getting some vocal recordings sorted, which has held up final production and mixing on a few tracks... but it is so close and so nearly there. Unfortunately, pressing time for physical medium is very long right now so that is what could push us into 2022.
As for its stylistic direction, it's a really beautiful coming together of everything I've been working towards and incorporating into the Crypticz project from about 2016 onwards. It almost feels like a conclusion in some sense. It's quite dynamic and textural, very detailed, lots of space and vibe as if often the case with my works. As I touched upon earlier in the interview I'd just place into the category of being electronic music, I think it's fair to say it is much broader in this regard than 'Between Dust & Time' for example, which is much easier to identify to some core styles. I'm really anticipating getting the new material out into the world.
≈ FH ≈
Do you agree that your music is dancefloor-oriented in the first place, or is it designed for different spaces? Do you feel there is a recent shift in what constitutes ‘dance’ music?
≈ Crypticz ≈
As I mentioned in one of the earlier questions I definitely have a vivid idea of the differences between dance and electronic music in my mind. Some stuff of course can flirt in between the two, but generally I find a pretty clear distinction. Before elaborating I do want to make it clear, I love dance music, very much so. That's not to say I'm a good dancer though...
The best way to explain my feelings on the difference between the two is by discussing a piece of musics function. Every piece of music has one, or multiple, functions, intentional or not. It can be to entertain the listener, it could be to sell a product, it could be for pure enjoyment of the process. Dance music has a pretty obvious one, the clue is in the name. It of course comes in many variants, and I'm certainly not saying you can't dance to music that isn't created with that intent either. But to me what Dance music is, is a piece primarily designed for that very specific club environment. High energy, something that brings out that almost tribal feeling within humans.
Generally speaking, these days anyway, I don't feel what I write is written with that intent. I certainly have done that in the past, some of my works with Itoa, some bits on 31 Recordings. They would tread the water and were certainly designed to be functional pieces one could dance too. But, for the time being at least, it's not an area I'm interested in exploring with my writing.
You can buy the vinyl of this amazing record from our store HERE
Digital via the Western Lore Bandcamp HERE
Follow Crypticz on Soundcloud HERE
Thanks to Freddie Hudson for the interview
