With well over a decade and a half in the studio already behind him, few people demand such production reverence. Polished, near-glistening electronic music touching on broken electro, dreamy trance-house and tougher, though no less melodic sentiments, all he touches boasts an unarguably impressive finish.
Last month saw John Tejada’s eighth studio album arrive, The Predicting Machine, marking his second long-form outing on Kompakt in as many years. Needless to say it didn’t disappoint, providing a coherent movement through deep, synth dominated avenues. Impressed, we threw a few questions in the direction of the Californian based, Austrian-born techno stalwart. Short but sweet, here’s how he responded.
The Plug
The Predicting Machine has been out for some time now, has the reaction to it surprised you?
Since it is my predicting machine it has not surprised me. I knew who would give what reaction before they even gave it.
In some ways it's more like a Kompakt album than Parabolas was, was this something intentional?
I don't really think so. It was stated in the release info that I made the album with Kompakt in mind, which meant I knew my finished work had a home, however this did not influence the sound.
Was there anything in particular you were looking to do with the album- a concept or specific style of sound?
Not really. Generally I know when I am starting to put together an album when I end up with a handful of ideas, each of which in some way shares a theme. Once I had the feeling this was developing I just followed where it took me.
The Issues
You're a well-known analogue advocate, are you always under-whelmed by the digital music world?
I do enjoy my analogue synths, however I'm using a lot of digital mixing tools, and then at the last stage go out to analog again. I would say my instrument sound generating tools are 95% analogue but my mixing tools are 80% digital. Nothing against digital at all.
In recent years the U.S. has been dominated by house music and a slo-mo sound, has this helped or hindered more tech-focused artists like yourself?
I honestly haven't kept up. I still find a variety of sounds being created and admired, so I haven't noticed such a change.
You're well known for performing in some pretty interesting spaces - do you prefer a venue with 'wow' factor, or something more basic?
It really just depends on the venue. Not all big venues are the same or small ones, and vice versa. It just really depends on what the space is. I've had great and terrible times in large and small venues, and some of my favorite performances have again been at small and large venues.
