Set and Setting with Dorian Concept | AD 245

Oliver Johnson aka Dorian Concept will release his new album What We Do For Others on 28th October on Brainfeeder Records. It’s the third studio album by the Austrian producer and synthesizer savant, famed for his singular, beautifully detailed sonic tapestries and wild, utterly joyful live keyboard jam videos.

What We Do For Others is a relaxed, quietly confident and intimate record, founded on delightfully loose arrangements, feedbacked soundscapes and blessed with snatches of cryptic vocals that are presented more as additional instrumentation rather than lyrical phrases. All the elements and layers were recorded without interruptions and deliberately not edited. “I think that's why this record has something of a ‘band sound’” says Oliver. “It's me playing all kinds of different key- instruments, singing and using fx-units to create these freeform compositions.”

The title came to Oliver in a dream and stuck with him. “One thing I often find interesting about my creative process is that when I believe to be making something that others could like, it tends to not really connect with people,” he says. “Whereas when I get to that special place and just work from my gut – the music tends to often speak to the outside world naturally.”

Johnson says that he tried questioning his internal voice of self-judgment and temper his constant urge for improvement during the making of the album.

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Dorian’s earliest memories of being introduced to music through film soundtracks such as Batman Returns (1992)
• Sound synthesis
• The earliest influences on Dorian
• Dorian being influenced by Dj Spinna’s “Heavy Beats Vol. 2” in his youth
• Experimenting and improvising with Micro Korgs
• Dorian learning how to play the piano around the age of 6
• Prepared piano
• The importance of having teachers that can nurture one’s individual creativity
• Connections between music and video games
• 8 to 16-bit music used in early console games
• Psychedelics
• Set and setting
• Questioning one’s perspective on using time
• The intentionality of decisions made throughout one’s life
• The compulsion for creating art
• Dorian’s reasons for choosing to become a professional artist
• His new album “What We Do For Others”
• His track, Survival Instinct being the “heartpiece” of his album
• Drawing parallels between creating a sculpture and creating music
• Presenting complex points of view to a wider audience
• Commercialization vs. arthouse creations
• Breaking rules and questioning the process
• Paradigm shifts in one’s own unique consciousness
• Dorian creating lo-fi music videos for himself with the use of archival footage and processed through Blender

Artists Mentioned:

• Dimlite (Musician)
• Mike Slott (Musician)
• Tupac (Rapper)
• DJ Spinna (DJ)
• John Coletrain (Saxophonist)
• Edgard Varès (Composer)
• Aphex Twin (Musician)
• Little Snake (Musician)

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