Perfect Porridge

Nyteowl started with Minneapolis producer Jeremiah Conlon making demo tracks in Detroit and posting them on Myspace. Tonight marks his first live show under the Nyteowl moniker, including some special guests — local DJ Sovietpanda and bassist T.I.M., at Big V’s.

Here’s the promo mix for the new release plus a couple remixes:
Nyteowl: Bring Back Da Funk (Promo Mix) (mp3)
Lillica Libertine Manhunt (Nyteowl Remix) (mp3)
Cassius See Me Now (Nyteowl Remix) (mp3)

This week we had the opportunity to chat with Conlon about his new project, label and the benefits of collaboration on the electronic pop genre…

What is Nyteowl?
Nyteowl is a project I (Jeremiah) started in California back in 2000. At the time I was messing around with Daft Punk influenced house music and the production was pretty bad but the ideas were good.

Nyteowl, as most people now know it, evolved starting in 2006 when I was in Detroit after a producer from London named Touche heard a remix I did and persuaded me to keep going with that sound, which was making melodic chord based music with a variety of synth brass sounds.

Now, Nyteowl 2008 is the same project, but with two other people involved – Sovietpanda and T.I.M adding guitar and bass onto my demos, for the live shows this year. A great deal of what they are doing live will make it into future recordings, so while I am Nyteowl, this is now also a band / project with those guys contributing. We play electronic pop music – and I make that distinction because a lot of people still call all electronic music techno.

The electronic pop genre, as you call it, is terribly varied and definitely still an emerging genre. Who are your biggest influences?
Nyeowl’s biggest influence is Daft Punk. Other influences are Air, Royksopp, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, 80’s and Stevie Wonder. I have a ton of influences though as this is kind of the culmination of my musical life. I love French house/electro/electronica – I always have loved french stuff – and so that’s most definitely what country Nyteowl’s biggest influence comes from. Also there’s the recent Australian electronic scene which is exciting. Sovietpanda’s influences are influences for the band are like, uhhhh Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads, Hall & Oates.

How has the Internet changed the electronic music industry?
The internet has changed many aspects of the electronic music industry, but the aspect I’ll focus on is how it enables like minded musicians/artists all over the world to work together quickly and effortlessly on music. It allows mentoring, growth of artist, promotion of artist all in one swoop. I have countless examples of this, but here are a few..

One perfect example is how things started with the Nyteowl project when I was in Detroit. I found a project from France called Anal Royale. I remixed and posted the track on my Myspace. Then, Touche, who I mentioned earlier, found my track and said he liked the sound a lot. He then asked if he could have a copy for DJing out in the clubs. He offered advice on making tracks “DJ friendly” (adding intro, outro etc) and production tips like compression. He then encouraged me to keep making new tracks with this sound. I then offered up more bootlegs, demos, and remixes for him – many of them he played out and all the while he offered production advice. Eventually he even let me remix his new project The Black Ghosts who are on Southern Fried Records. I would have never met Touche, let alone remix his project or have my tracks played out by a DJ/Producer of his caliber before the internet – or I should say the more advanced social networking available due to the internet.

Another great example is Julian Aznar from Argentina. I found him on Myspace – or I should say he found my new label NyteTraxx there. He was supposed to release on EMI Argentina, but there was a label shake up and he never was able to release his tracks from 2004 even though he worked with a respected electronic producer there. So, he was looking on Myspace loking for places to release his tracks outside or Argentina. Seriously.. the next thing you know, I’m releasing one of his songs as a single on my label (Electric Gigolo, coming Winter 2008), he’s creating art for the label, producing tracks for me, and mixing all releases and remixes on my label. To find people who share your vision while achieving super quick results- I’m still amazed this happens – and it happens all the time if you keep your eyes open and know what you’re looking for in music – or life.

Also, the internet allows artists / DJs to test their music and promote music within their network of friends all over the world.. to get your music into the clubs/radios , in different markets (countries) quicker and easier than ever possible before. It allows the electronic musician to find opportunities for production/ remixing they would have never had been able to access.

You have a lot of collaborative works. What’s the value in collaboration?
I have always valued collaborations in the form of remixes. I probably don’t work as well with people directly – that is, making a song with a “band” in a room. The reason is I’m incredibly efficient at making music – and it’s very personal connection I have with the keyboard and the process of making the songs. What has worked well I think for my Nyteowl tracks is, making my demos, and having professionals give advice on how to improve them or working on them after the fact. I work fast but I never enjoy finishing songs- I hate it and it’s difficult for me. Remixes are no problem – but my songs it’s something strange. I may have a great hook, an almost finished track, but polishing, gluing together, putting the finishing touches is difficult because when I’m in a music making cylce, I truly value that time to make music. I don’t want to produce tracks – I am feeling something and want to make as much music as possible. That’s the love of music and the art side. The last group of demos from 2006-2007 is about 150 demos/bootlegs. From that I have around 12 songs I would think could be fine tuned into an album. But then, like I said, it’s a funny thing, because I feel somehow that I can’t finish the demos! I’m too close to them and I want to create more – not fix things.

So, my most recent collaborations with Julian Aznar I treasure quite a bit, because I have someone producing tracks with a very close link to the vision I want in my sound. I think collaborations allow you to use your strength as an artist to complete what you do best – and then take your vision to another level with added input/work from another artist who has a very close appreciation of your music. In my case, Julian Aznar is a technical and creative wizard.

You have a lot of new releases coming up. What’s the plan for those?
I started a record label this year, and the first release is a Nyteowl track called “Bring Back Da Funk.” It is a club track – and was one of the original songs that Touche DJed out from me. This track has some great remixes from all UK, Sweden, and Seattle. One tentative remix is from Boy 8 bit, who also supported the original demo, who is on Diplo’s label, Mad Decent. In fact he’s going on the Mad Decent tour, which is why the remix is tentative. If I get a remix from him after the release, I’ll probably give it away for free.

The third release on NyteTraxx will be THE PAST EP, which will have three songs on it, and one remix from yet another friend I met on the internet, a cool guy from France who goes by Flairs. The vocals for all these songs were recorded with Ryan Olcott (Minneapolis), and are being produced by Julian Aznar. This will be in early 2009.

I also was invited to release on these awesome guys’ from Australia who I did a bootleg of in 2007 – they’re called Acid Jacks and their label is Idiot House. I’m not sure when this will be – originally the idea was for me to make a track with Acid Jacks, and Boy 8 bit to create the beat – but things are really busy for those two so we’ll see what the final product is. I’m very excited for this because I respect them and DJ a lot of their music.

What’s the story on your first live show tonight?
So first Sovietpanda will be playing guitar. I talked to Peter about this when I started a now failed electro/house DJ night in the VIP Room of first ave last year (Night Flight) about the idea of him playing guitar, but I didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship if it didn’t work out. We gave it a try though this year, and I’m happy we did. He knows his music and we have a very large overlapping of music taste. He makes cool guitar parts, is layed back, and fits well with this project.

Also, I met T.I.M. on craiglist, and he’ll be playing bass. Before T.I.M I never thought I would meet someone who really knew what I was trying to do – the bass parts he makes are right on. He just knows the sound I want because it’s the same sound he wants. That’s cool.

Our next live show is at Big V’s tonight, October 9, at 10pm. The only other show we have set up is New Years Eve at the Hexagon, thanks to Dance Band. However, we are in the process of getting 2 other shows set up, one at Club Jager. I don’t want to push too many shows yet – I see too many sparsely attended shows in Minneapolis and feel we can add more shows later if it makes sense.

Nyteowl play their first live show tonight at Big V‘s with Aaron and the Sea, Paint Me a Sky and Lothario.