Sly Faux recently celebrated the release his latest EP of proggy sounds on Nicole Moudaber’s eclectic Mood Records imprint. We caught up with Melbourne’s fastest growing underground star to understand the inspiration behind his latest release and more.

How old are you, where are you living and how long have you been producing and Djing? 

Sly Faux: I’m 27 years old. Currently living in Melbourne, Australia. I’ve been Djing for 10 years and producing for 6. Yeah listen, the Melbourne scene is strong. Irrespective of genre or crews, people have started to see the benefits in working together rather than by themselves. This has lead to an organic and strong development of our club scene. Parties are getting crazier and artists recently who wouldn’t have had the chance to be seen or heard are getting the recognition they deserve and have worked damn hard for.

Which Melbourne based artists or touring crews are making an impression currently?

Sly Faux: First and foremost; Stable Music. I wouldn’t be with them as an artist if I didn’t believe in them. Kev and Sam just know, and the tours/ parties they have run in the past and that are coming up are just top tier. It’s FUCKEN TECHNO. Furthermore, The Konnekt’d crew are doing some amazing stuff. Their catalogue of artists is hand picked and their parties are getting larger and larger. Hyper Binary are two brothers releasing some amazing stuff at the moment that is really legit. Live acts; in my opinion – You can’t top ACM. No computer and only hardware. Really is impressive stuff!

What made you first get in to dance music?

Sly Faux: Easy question; for me (personally) it boiled down to the notion of escapism. Whether it be in the studio, Djing or being on a dance floor at 10 in the morning, I really don’t care about anything else happening around me or in my life. It’s easy to get carried away in the moment but there are those special moments when you look around and think to yourself “What the fuck is going on here?” That’s why I got into electronic music. Also, I used to listen to my dads records; more specifically Yes and their studio album Relayer. I didn’t understand the album at all; tracks like ” The Gates of Delerium” and “Sound Chaser” confused me immensely and I guess subconsciously for me at least, they never gave me the resolution I desired when I was done listening.

How difficult was learning to produce for you in the beginning?

Sly Faux: As with anything, practise and more practise and then ever more practise (then failure) teach you the best. Learning the foundations of production took time, but it wasn’t necessarily taxing. What proved difficult for me was understanding what sound I wanted to forge for myself and then how to actually translate that from your mind to a fully fledged record. It’s so easy to get lost in a realm of just replicating and copying people’s sound. What labels look for (at least I believe) are individuality and someone who pushes the boundaries. Bringing something new to the table is so much more refreshing than recycled already flogged shit. DVS1 gave me some solid advice years ago. He told me to just be true to myself. Who cares what anyone else is doing. Worry about yourself and were you want to go. Simple. He’s a cool cat.

What was the inspiration behind your latest release on Mood Records?

Sly Faux: My best friend dying. I couldn’t produce for months. I finally mustered up the courage, pulled myself out of bed and walked away from alcohol. I locked myself in my studio. 3 days later the Ep was done.

Mood Records is known as a techno label but we would classify Hashes of Eight and Violence as progressive house. We love progressive here btw and think it’s time the scene got more recognition.

Sly Faux: To be perfectly honest I don’t really worry myself with genre classification. As long as I’m enjoying what I’m writing and it sounds pleasing to me then I’m content. When I was doing the Ep for Nicole I felt totally comfortable in what I was compiling because the label harbours really diverse stuff. That’s was drew me to her imprint. As long as it sounds good, keep rolling with it.

Which other DJs and producers do you admire right now?

Sly Faux: I’m really enjoying Mind Against and Tale Of Us at the moment. Afterlife is a label I definitely aspire to release on at some point. The juxtaposition between intensity and emotion throughout their records is really something else. Also Marino Canal’s recent album on MOOD was amazing. I loved the balance and continuity throughout it. He really did a great job. He’s definitely one to watch.

What are your go to labels?

Sly Faux: I’ve being playing a lot of MOOD stuff for quite some time. Breed the RMXS was a serious pack. Afterlife obviously. Also some techier sought of stuff like Truesoul. Pleasurekrafts imprint Kraftek is delivering some really strong stuff as is R&S Records. Homegrown; definitely Green Fetish Records. It’s a Melbourne based label run by Mickey Nox. Some of their stuff creeps its way into my cart and are straight up canons. No bullshit techno.

Tell us about your DJ setup?

Sly Faux: My dj setup changes every now and again but is heavily rooted to a Allen and Heath Xone 92 and two Traktor Kontrol D2s. They give me more than enough control over pretty much everything inside the Traktor Pro interface. I use for additional effects, a PSP 42 internal delay and an external BOSS RV-5 reverb. These are implemented through aux sends 1 & 2 on the mixer respectively. And, if that isn’t enough, for more drums and Efxs I have an Ableton Push. This allows me to scatter the mix with additional elements and also adds another huge degree of worry and stress when setting up. Heaven! However, its nice to occasionally play on CDJs.

https://soundcloud.com/changeunder/c-u-essentialmix-60-sly-faux

What’s been your biggest achievement to date other than your signing on Mood.

Sly Faux: Recently remixing Axel Karakasis. I’ve been following him and playing his stuff since day dot. His stuff is no nonsense proper techno. His tracks like “Revolver” and “Rugged” are two of my favourites. To have the opportunity to work on a remix for him was a real honour. (By the way, it’s out now on Devotion Records now)