Interview: @Kore-G
One of the artists who has inspired me to the psytrance move is none other than
Kore-G, Kore is such a diverse and unique artist with an open mind to every genre of music. Since playing at Esoteric in 2022, Kore-G has released some pretty wild tracks "Psychosis" & "The Mind" which were released with 3 other diverse tracks this year on his latest EP "Syndonic".
I personally chose Kore-G as one of our psytrance selectors because I feel like his talents and knowledge in psytrance can't be missed, his way of promotion with his tracks & the tutorials, he streamed away from what you would say "common" psytrance and chose his own path/genre. Using Psy DnB for example, his futuristic sounds & vocals there is so much I could say about this dude right now but I'm just going to let you guys hear the rest!
Q & A:
Question 1: When did the drive to start mixing/producing & being involved in dance music & psytrance be a big thing for you in your life?
A: First off, thanks for having me on here. Love it when people get together to bring out other artists in the community!
I got into producing electronic music when I was 13 after hearing Skrillex for the first time. The idea that I could use technology to have a functional purpose fascinated me. Back then I was trying to DJ with my iPod touch 4G and produce with my Nintendo DS… It was only around 2015 that I properly discovered psytrance and started playing inner city doofs here and there. I had never experienced an energy like the crowds at those doofs. It really made an impression on me.
Question 2: What is your favourite thing about psytrance?
A: I don’t really have a favourite thing about psytrance hey! I loveddd doofs when I first got introduced to them. I think many people love psytrance through wanting to feel like they were at the party they heard it at.
There’s different psytrance tracks I like for different reasons. For the most part though, I like psytrance for its unobtrusive danceability. Listening to a repetitive rhythm you can dance how you want. With some styles of psytrance there can be many layers that you can get lost in. It’s like therapy except in a different way to something like classical music because there isn’t as much melody or harmony (sometimes).
The other thing I love about it is that it just sounds foreign. It feels like some exclusive language… aliens or some ancient civilisation or something.
Question 3: Your fav set you have played & why?
A: Damn! Good question.. I’ve been lucky to have quite a few gigs in the past year and a bit actually. I think when I played with Ish K before Mandragora at the Royal Melbourne Hotel last year. I love mixing in different styles of music as I play and seeing how people react to them. I remember playing an unreleased hardstyle/psytrancey track called Mind Expander and I think it’s probably the loudest reaction I’ve heard.
I actually love playing at house parties when the vibe is right. It’s hard to beat having the homies around while playing your favourite tunes together.
Question 4: Who has given you the drive to get where you are today?
A: I think the motivation in general comes from a desire to constantly achieve bigger and greater things than myself. Sometimes I’m motivated more after some catastrophe or exciting event happens in my life.
Having said that, I’ve always been most motivated after hanging with my friends that love music as well. During high school and still nowadays, Olivier AKA Luxe who I made Take Me Away with was someone I used to talk to about music heaps.
Question 5: Who is one of the artists who inspire you the most?
A: Not a Psytrance producer but Skrillex. He’s constantly producing different styles of music and has multiple alias projects, something I relate to a lot.
Question 6: How do you get so inspired to put different genres in your tracks? for example Psychosis is a great DNB Psy track?
A: So with Psychosis I was actually inspired by one of my close friends Cropley when he sent me a psytrance DnB track of his own! Tracing the line, Cropley was inspired by a track called Prometheus by Rameses B. Interestingly, the track Cropley sent me was a remix of a melbourne psytrance producer named fowlowl.
I think eventually after creating different styles of electronic dance music you start to realise that there isn’t just one genre of music you like and they’re all pretty connected. Then you can start to connect the dots and see parallels in genres.
It’s important to understand the function of why samples work within genres. A psytrance kick is much longer than a dnb kick. For dnb that’s great because the sub has more time to cut through the mix and they can have a quicker sidechain. When I made psychosis however, I used a traditional psytrance kick meaning the sidechain of the bass needed to be longer. My workaround was to use multiband sidechain to have a long sidechain on the sub and a shorter sidechain in the mids and highs. That way there was more of a chance to hear the punch of the bass coming through.
Question 7: Do you like to think that Psytrance tracks tell a story?
A: Some tell a story I think. I feel that people like music that relates to their own lives. If there’s a story that’s in there that people can decide relates to them then they would enjoy it more. Psytrance is a pretty abstract genre of music. On that note, I’d say that when I produce psytrance it’s like I’m creating a sonic landscape which is similar to creating a world for a story. It’s just that there isn’t a specific plot/storyline.
Question 8: How do you make your tracks different from other Psy artists?
A: I try my best to make my samples from scratch (although I’m also actively going against that sometimes, I think that there’s no right and wrong for that). Most of the synths when I produce are created with the default preset in Serum as I work. Sometimes I try to sound like other artists though because I’m inspired by them. Naturally with my limited understanding of the way they make their tracks I don’t always sound exactly the same though.
Question 9: What are your thoughts on Esoteric festival?
A: I’ve always loved my time at Esoteric Festival. My first experience there I felt a sense of eudaimonia, I felt so loved and accepted by everyone.
Playing there was kinda surreal. After my first set in 2020 I had to get back to my tent because I was exhausted from the energy. I loved it so much though. It’s weird being a DJ. I feel like I often like my set more afterwards when I see videos that people have taken. When DJing I kinda have to manually try to be in the moment.
Question 10: What track by you would you say is your most successful? or what one of your tracks is your favourite release?
A: I wouldn’t say it’s my best track but I’m really proud of The Mind. I find it difficult to make cohesive tracks like that where it’s the middle ground between psytrance but also with a hook like a main room track. It was so awesome seeing my friends get involved with it too, starting to reference the lyrics when we were out. Making it I had a vision for the whole marketing branding aspect. When there’s a solid idea for a track I feel like that’s when it becomes easier to translate it to different mediums such as reels, animations, artwork etc.
Question 11: What is one piece of advice you can give to someone just starting to produce psytrance?
A: It’s so important to play and make sure that you like the music personally first. If you try to get feedback from other psytrance producers, many will gladly tell you all their knowledge about how to do it “correctly”. There’s no right answer. There are amazingly mixed psytrance tracks but that doesn’t mean they are better than other “unprofessional” sounding psytrance tracks. If anything I feel like people are too perfectionistic with the sound these days and it takes away from the fun of it. I also think that the problem stems from very opinionated psytrance lovers that want to keep a genre that should be progressive in an underground box. Have fun and break the rules. Tweak the sounds until you get small dopamine hits as you go along.
Question 12: Your Favourite tune right now?
A: Volcano On Mars, Outsiders - Mojigao (Bliss Remix) has been a fave psytrance track in the past few months.
And just to add, my favourite psytrance album recently is Juno Reactor, Bible of Dreams.
Question 13: How thankful are you for networking in the community & do you think this plays a huge role in bookings/connections?
A: Yeah knowing the right people definitely can take you far. I don’t think people should be actively going to places they don’t care about to network. I love making new friends with like minded people, it kinda naturally results in great connections and nothing fake.
I think I would be a lot bigger than I am now if I actually worked on collaborations more. Opportunities have come up but I kind of find working individually helps to be more authentic with what I want. Having said that, I’d say that collaborating with other producers is a great way to get your name out there. There've been collaborations in the past that also really helped level up my knowledge of production.
Question 14: Do you think the psytrance scene here in Melbourne needs more recognition?
A: Interestingly, some people I’ve talked to overseas envy the scene we have here! I think that what we have going on here is really special. Having said that, I’m not always just in the psytrance scene. I’m constantly in and out of different genres of electronic music seeing different sides. I love it all and love them all because of how different they are.
"Psychosis"
"The Mind"
You can definitely tell Kore-G is a non miss if you ever get the chance to see him play live! I admire hard work & dedication, & Kore-G a hundred percent shows that & passion towards not only psytrance but a lot of music genres as well.
You can find Kore-G below here!
Instagram: @koregmusic
Soundcloud:
Spotify: