indek: Harnessing Chaos

Your output spans many of our favorite genres, from breakcore to acid to IDM. Could you tell us a bit about the music you create?

As indek I’ve been working towards making my own favorite music by attempting to fractalize all the elements I love into some radical tunes that are simultaneously nostalgic and fresh.  A mutant amalgamation of styles.  I’ve long been a dedicated explorer of fringe styles of music, both electronic and not.  Like a foodie for music I feel like I’m always hunting for a new listening experience… a fresh combination of sonic flavors.  So I’ve been trying to make tunes that scratch that itch for me.  On the surface the influences are obvious with elements of braindance, breakcore, acid and jungle… which were the styles that really got their hooks in me during my early discovery years in the late 90s… but the influences of avant-garde, industrial, noise, jazz, ambient and world music that I’ve explored since play a supporting role as well.

Rhythm is a heavy focus for me these days… particularly rhythms that are pushed to the edge of falling apart (yope, acyn, ting are good examples of this)… yet other elements manage to hold it all together.  I have a note I keep as a kind of reminder … daft little strategic & philosophical mantras I read over regularly to help guide my focus & process.

• Strive to make your own fav tunes
• Push it all to the brink of falling apart
• Each part a linchpin… pull one thing away and it all falls apart
• Resample, reslice & resequence through different kit repeatedly for variations… stitch together like putting together a puzzle with no guide
• Combine multiple workflows, perspectives, locations & “zones”
• Every sound is a drum
• Surprising twists & turns… surprise yourself
• Obsess… get it stuck in your head until it’s pinging around your dome in the middle of the night laying in bed
• Break the loop… break the break… break everything… over and over
• Bpms within bpms
• perfection is only achieved through imperfection
• harnessing chaos… create chaos… then reign it in… strip it back until you find the rhythm in the chaos

The Polyend Tracker is at the center of these processes for sure.  I was in a really stuck place creatively through and post covid and lack of creative outlet had me growing quite depressed.  Managed to pull myself out of it by throwing myself back into music.  I wanted to dive into something quite different to help reignite my interest.  That’s when the OG Polyend Tracker caught my attention.  I had briefly dabbled with a few tracker wares in the past but didnt pursue it.  The simplicity and inherent limitations of the Tracker were appealing.  Then picked up the mini when that dropped and now it rarely leaves my side… or my hoodie pocket.

The Play+ has become the second biggest part of my process aside from the Tracker Mini.  Most of the various parts of tracks are created by passing elements between the two and then stitched together in Ableton Live.  Resampling, editing, carving out along the way on each machine.  I love involving the multiple perspectives… the vertical numeric timeline of the Tracker where everything first starts taking shape, then mangling it through the massive horizontal grid of the Play, then zooming in on waveforms for surgical cutting & stitching on a timeline in Live where I love looking at and getting to know what the waveform for each sound looks like. I feel like I am really able to see things from all angles by involving all these perspectives in my process.

You have multiple shows coming up in the UK. Jungle Syndicate Weekender festival in Chepstow near Bristol, one in Leeds and a few others possibly coming together. Can you tell us about your set at these shows?

I’ll be back packing around the UK with my partner from May 20 through June 3. Doing some exploring & hiking stopping for a few shows along the way.  Really excited for all the gigs and just hanging out and checking out other artists.  That is my favorite part about traveling and playing shows… is checking out the other artists on the lineup.  Jungle Syndicate Weekender lineup is stacked so totally stoked to take that whole weekend in and just chill with that whole community.  Then spending some time and playing a night with the Weirditude crew in Leeds co-run by Hugeborf who did a rad remix of Yope for me.  Working on lining up dates in another city or two but not firmed up enough to mention at the time of writing this.  If you got something along the way I could plug in at and you want to link up hit me up and we can see if it aligns.  Down for some chill hiking about as well if you got the dope spots.

I have a big stack of new tunes on the Tracker Mini that I have been working on over the past couple years I’m looking forward to shaking out.  So these sets will be primarily new unreleased material I’m working out along with a few transformed versions of tunes I’ve released.  Im a bit opposite in my live approach as I find it beneficial to work out tracks live before putting the final touches on them and sharing them. I get so much out of the process of preparing to play live and I like the tracks to have a bit of life experience before I can really see their final form.  Definitely going to be a mix of energies driving high energy break mangling tracks into funky acid with some half time elements and just some totally unhinged transitions and interludes…. all with a broken, wonky & unhinged bent

You’re running two Tracker Minis into a DJ setup for these shows. Can you walk us through what each machine is doing? Are they complementary, or are you crossfading between them, DJ style?

A bit of both… a hybrid approach I’d say… but beyond just crossfading from one to the other.  Each of the 2 minis have slightly overlapping projects loaded to them at any given time synced together… giving me 16 tracks and different performance effect settings on each that I can mix and match, cut between, process and loop with the dj mixer eq & fx.  So might kill the drums or bass out on one mini… then brining new drums or whatever in from the other mini.

You mentioned you’re loading Rekordbox USBs alongside the Minis. What’s playing off the USBs that the Trackers aren’t handling?

It started with just the 2 Trackers through the 4 channel DJ mixer as there is nothing quite like a DJ mixer for performance.  It was almost a perfect way to pair and mix 2 Trackers.  Wish some awesome gear company would develop a compact DJ inspired mixer perfect for some Polyend gear. ;)  DJ style mixing, EQs, FX, master clock.. a bit of a central hub to connect and mix all my Polyend kit through.

Another factor for going with this setup was the desire for an ultra minimalist way to travel with nothing more than a backpack… with DJ setups being prevalent every where I wanted to be ready to plug and play my tunes whatever the scenario.  With a couple RCA adapters I am ready to plug into any DJ mixer and also have some small 1/4 TS adapters as well as backup for your studio style mixers. Just to be prepared for anything without overpacking.

Alongside the Trackers Im essentially treating the DJ channels as additional samplers for cutting in variations and elements, transitions and interludes.  With various loops and one shot samples loading as hot cue points I can quickly cut into the mixer’s effects or grab with the looper.  Also some long evolving high poly harmonic, melodic and textural elements that would hog a lot of memory on the tracks.  Ultimately just more sounds to mangle and layer together.  In some instances Ill load doubles or partial elements of the tracks playing off the Trackers as more layers to process differently and cut in.  It also serves a few utilitarian purposes…. allowing me to stop the trackers briefly while I load and sync up different projects.  Also the sounds I am playing off the USB can help sync the FX bpm to the tracks I’m playing on the minis… since the DJ mixers don’t support midi in/out typically (sadly).  Also provides a solid fallback if I run into any issues with the Trackers… hasn’t happened yet but I like being prepared.  Also If I come across an opportunity to get behind some decks but can’t plug in the Trackers I have another way I am prepared to share some of my tunes.

As someone who has had a whole lot of fun playing Tracker Mini live, I was excited to see your setup. Why did you choose two Tracker Minis for this set? Do you think more people dismiss handheld devices for live sets too quickly?

Portability as mentioned above… but also just a desire to spend more time with the Minis.  Really try to push them in every way I can and get to know them as deeply as possible.  With so many options these days it’s easy to keep moving onto other pieces of kit thinking it will give you more without making the most out of what you already have. I’m keen to really stick with a select setup… primarily the Tracker… but also the Play.  Future live sets Ill probably incorporate the Play as well but for now want to really build that muscle memory with the Tracker Minis.

I’m not sure I have any thoughts on people dismissing handheld devices for live as I’ve never really thought about it or asked.  I don’t really pay attention to what people are dismissing or not… I tend to stay in my own zone and do what feels right for me… what I want.  However an artists feels they can best present their music to an audience live and have fun doing it is always going to be the best way.  As electronic musicians the instrument we are all ultimately playing is the sound system and what’s coming out of it is all that really matters.

Where does your live set sit between locked in and totally unpredictable?

I’d say half and half typically depending on the day.  Starting and landing points are pretty locked in with my patterns and sequences on the minis.  Through mixing, matching, processing, mixing, EQ, mixer FX and performance FX I am able to take things to new places that surprise myself… but then always have that solid base to return to.  I like to be able to take something familiar to me and push it into new territory and then dial it back it. The elements and echos of the original are still there but can morph into something quite different. Keeps it interesting for both myself and the audience.  Allows my mood and zone to play a strong role as well… might grind it down to something totally unhinged and abstract if that’s what I feel like the moment calls for… but then snap it back out.  You never really know what you might get out of one of my live sets and that’s how I like it for my own sake too.  I like to be able to surprise myself.  I spent many years working on semi-generative multi-channel sound art installations and found that really fulfilling… being able to attend the installation I set up at a museum and be almost as surprised at what unfolded as the others in attendance… and since then have tried to bring some of that feeling into what I do in the studio and live.  Harnessing chaos.