This Massachusetts based livetronica outfit describes themselves as "Channeling the energy & vibe of a Rave into a live performance using traditional instrumentation, & cutting edge technology. Improvisational, organic, underground: Trance, House, & Jungle music. Always played in realtime, by real people. Melodic loops, sonic tapestries, deep grooves, & hip shakin' dance beats". Sounds good to us here at livetronica dot net. Nikulydin kindly took time away from their frantic schedule and rocker lifestyle to chat with Livetronica Dot Net. Here's what we talked about.
LDN: Let's just get this out of the way right now. Nikulydin is one unique word. What, if anything, does it mean?
NIK: Yeah, it’s very unique and ambivalent. Its means everything and it means nothing at all. The term itself was coined by an old friend of ours. He’s one of those people who have their very own lingo. It’s a bit of a tongue twister for most people, but its pronounced \Nik-U-lie-Din\.
LDN: Tell us more about Nikulydin. Who are you? Where are you from? How long have you been together? What would you like to tell our readers about what Nikulydin does??
NIK: Nikulydin played its first show as a live-trance band on June 2nd, 2001. The concept for the band was conceived by Steve (drums) & Me (bass). We had been playing together as a rhythm section in various projects over the years, & shared a mutual interest in techno music. We often talked about how cool it would be for a live band to play various forms of electronica, & began to infuse some tech-house flavor into our various jam sessions to the point where we decided to put together a Livetronica band.
For the first year or so the original lineup consisted of various friends/musicians from around the area with a lot of rotating & evolving. We’ve been blessed to have many talented people involved with Nik over the years (Patrick Robinson/guitarist, Greg Marcus/Trumpet, Kerry Schneider/Vox, Josh Gold, Dave Osoff, & Beau Sasser Keys/Synth respectively), & we are grateful to everyone for their time & creative energy.
The current lineup has been solidified for about two years now, & is really starting to come into its own. Its been a very exciting & rewarding process. Everyone involved has found a nice niche for themselves, & has adopted the band’s minimalist philosophies whole heartedly. Most importantly all involved share a mutual love of all kinds of Electronica.
We’ve been very fortunate to have such a great group of folks to work with:
We create/produce live; techno, trance, house, & jungle music complete with real time psychedelic video projections. We live in the Boston area.
LDN: Does Nikulydin have a drastically different approach to working in the studio than working on stage? What equipment do you use, and what equipment do you use exclusively on stage or exclusively in the studio??
NIK: Our studio approach is pretty much the same as our live approach. We multi-track every practice session, & then go back and remix our selves. It’s also a good way to remember kick ass improvisations that would have otherwise been lost to the ethos.
LDN: When can we expect Nikulydin's next release and where can we find it?
NIK: We are currently recording/mixing/mastering tracks for a full length album.
LDN: Tell us about a day in the life of Nikulydin?
NIK: Wake up, go to work (day job), hit the road, try to find venue, load in the venue, eat dinner, sound-check, chill out, play music till the bar closes, procrastinate breaking down all the gear, drink beer, pass out. Pretty glamourous, huh?
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