[Sorry, Fabric asked that we remove the download. But you can enjoy the stream.]

Kate Simko is a rarity amongst the electronic world; pounding out live shows and releases like there’s no tomorrow and striving to always do more. Is there anything she can’t do? URB chatted with Ghostly’s signature gal about her new record, Lights Out, as well as her personal story: past, present and future. Along with that is her exclusive mix from the confines of Fabric in London, one of our favorite venues. Check out the mix and interview after the jump.

URB x Kate Simko Interview

URB: Let’s congratulate you on your debut album release Lights Out. I have to admit, when I heard it was your first album I had to pinch myself.  You’ve been a well-regarded producer with a distinct sound for a while, so I couldn’t believe this was your first album. Why did you wait so long?
KATE SIMKO: Thanks for the congrats, that’s sweet of you. It’s not strange that you didn’t think this was my first album.  I released two albums with Andres Bucci (as Detalles) and Ghostly released a film score of mine as a 17-track release. But, Lights Out is different because this is the first time I made a full album from scratch, on my own.  It’s a bit daunting to make an album.  Guess I waited because I wasn’t ready for it yet!

URB: The album was recorded in South America, Buenos Aires. Why did you record down there? Would you have been able to get it out of you had you stayed in America?
KS: I went to Buenos Aires to take a step back from my hectic life in Chicago.  Sure, I could have managed and made the album here.  But I’m not as creative in the winter and knew I’d be way more energetic and inspired in BA during their South American summer in January/February.  BA is one of my favorite cities.  There are a lot of cool, creative people in the city, so it was an ideal place to be working on an album.

URB: How influential have the cities you’ve lived in been in your work? I know you’ve spent time in Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Chicago, Detroit, Miami. These are musical cities, and can claim to have been influential electronic music outposts. I can hear the roots of Chicago and Detroit in your work; have the other cities been as formative? How do they appear in Lights Out, if at all?
KS: All of these cities were influential, for sure.  I never lived in Detroit, although I have spent a decent amount of time there, starting when I was going to Midwest parties in the ’90s.  Miami was a key influence because I learned about IDM and experimental electronic music while I was living there.

Santiago was vital because Chilean producers like Atom Heart, Pier Bucci, Martin Schopf, Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, etc. were all making a super fresh sound when I lived there in 2001.  That was when I was first learning to make electronic music, so hearing their style around the city (even if they all didn’t live there) definitely influenced my taste.  Buenos Aires helped me get into the minimal sound from a different angle besides Minus, etc.  So, yeah, all the places are influential in their own way.

URB: I’d think that the process for recording an album, versus recording a soundtrack would be quite different. How did the process differ when you produced Lights Out versus your soundtrack work for The Atom Smashers? I’d imagine the latter was far more of a collaborative process. Did you enjoy that more, as opposed to just being left alone to produce an album?
KS: Making Lights Out was kind of the opposite of making a film score. Music from the Atom Smashers was composed to the film, based on its moods and emotions.  The director is a music lover and was great at describing what he was looking for in each scene.  So, there was a lot of back-and-forth in the composition process, and things were decided by the action in the film.  Lights Out was kind of the opposite, because there was no starting point or direction besides my notebook of scribbled ideas that was changing every day.

URB: You’ve got a few tracks with vocals on the album. I’ve been singing ‘Mind On You’ pretty much non-stop since I heard it. What’s your approach to vocals? Does the vocal hook come first and you build around it? Do you know from the off that you are going to create a track with vocals? Do you select a vocalist and build a track around them?
KS: Glad you enjoyed that one.  I usually make a song with all of the harmonies, bassline, etc. and then have the vocalist sing over it when it’s pretty much a done deal. I like soulful vocals, which is why I chose to work with Brenda D and Kevin Knapp.  Brenda is a Chicago-based house DJ and vocalist, so she’s very intuitive when it comes to tasteful house vocals. She sang on “Take You There” (Spectral Sound) and I was happy to work with her again. Kevin Knapp is a San Francisco-based vocalist and producer who just dropped a killer EP on Leftroom.  His vocals on “Flight Into BA” wreak emotion and soul.  Dilo’s vocals in “Had It All” are more mysterious.  It’s a darker song about having everything, then losing it. He did a great job of nailing the vibe.

URB: There’s a lot of warmth when I listen to Lights Out. I think that the warmth is a Kate Simko quality, none of your music seems cold to me. Is that something you strive for? Did adding more analog equipment help you get to that point on Lights Out?
KS: I definitely aim for a warm sound and it’s true, adding more analog synths and drum machines helps a lot.  I’m not a fan of music that sounds cold and digital.  When DJing, I’m partial to tracks with a raw sound, so I try to make my songs lean that way as well.

URB: Tell me a little about your musical background, it’s pretty unique. I know you have worked with Philip Glass, and you’re classically trained. I read recently that being a classically trained musician makes it harder to be creative, because you’re disciplined to play in a certain regimented way. Do you think there is any fairness to that?
KS: Ok, this is a complicated question, so long answer ahead!  My musical background starts with father’s side of the family.  There are a lot of musicians on that side, and a number of them are pianists specifically.  I started playing piano at the age of five, kept with it through all of my childhood, then decided to study music at the University of Miami.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same passion for classical piano as the other students.  After spending the last couple years at warehouse parties dancing to house and techno, I wasn’t focused on the competitive classical music world.  I loved playing the piano, but started to question what I was doing playing music from a couple hundred years ago 4-5 hours a day in the Miami practice rooms.  The fact that all of the great pieces have already been recorded really diffused my enthusiasm for classical piano.  I realized that I’d be much happier making my own music (although I had no idea how to make it happen), so I packed my bags and started on a new path. 
 
At this point, I was really stuck creatively.  I could play impressive virtuosic pieces but I didn’t know how to jam out in the most simplistic way.  I ended up taking jazz lessons to learn how to improvise and find my own voice on the piano.  My jazz teacher was sort of a Chicago legend (Alan Swain) and was very patient with me.  I was a broke college student so we made a deal that I would help type out the new book he was writing in exchange for free lessons.  I really sucked at improvising at first.  But, I stuck with it, and I stuck with making my own songs and university degree in Music Technology as well.  In time, I grew past the virtuosic classical background and found my own musical voice. Now all of the classical and jazz rules are assets, they help all of the time, and I’m so grateful to have this background behind me.

URB: I’m curious as to how you feel about working in dance music, which is quite obviously an industry dominated by men. Is it something you give much thought to? Is it harder for women to break through, or are there just less women trying to make careers out of this than men?
KS: Quite honestly, I don’t give much thought to being a woman.  My overall take is that it may be easier to get noticed as a woman, but it’s harder to be really accepted in the long run.  Truth is, for whatever reason, there are just a handful of females that bring top quality production and DJ skills to the table. Electronic music is a male-dominated field, just like engineering and other “hard” sciences.  Women in the US are more likely to have a university degree than men now, so hopefully this will change over time. Best bet is to be good at what you do.  It all works out from there.

URB: The live set from Fabric sounds great. How important was it to you to build a live tour around the album release?
KS: Thank you, worked my ass off on this one!  I’ve been mainly DJing the past couple of years, so the live A/V tour is a change of pace.  With ten album tracks, plus all of the other new productions in the pipeline, it was an ideal time to put together a fresh live set.  Making Lights Out was a big project for me, so I wanted to transmit some of that creativity to a live setting. Manipulating the songs live and adding the real-time HD video display is meant to transmit the excitement of the album project to the dance floor.  More DJ sets soon though, I miss them.

URB: Lastly while discussing the live sets, I know a big part of this album project was the A/V partnership with video artist Jeffrey Weeter. How did you hook up with Jeffrey? Was the concept for the live AV shows something you dreamt up together? How would you describe the aim of that partnership?
KS: Jeff and I met at the university and have collaborated on projects for almost a decade.  We had an offer to do an installation in San Francisco and, in the end, the ideas for that project turned into the A/V “live cinema” set.  We wanted to make the live performance more interactive than just audio signals affecting the video. Also, we thought it was important to come up with visual themes that reflected the intent of the songs. 
In the end, each song has its own HD video that is created real time based on the changes in the live set. We shot video in cities around the world, like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Chicago, and Tokyo.  I went on most of the shoots with the videographers, so I was able to help creative direct the process based on the parameters from Jeff.  The goal of the A/V set is to experiment with non-linear storytelling and transfer the excitement of live music (which can sometimes be lost in electronic music live sets) to a cinematic experience.  Once this tour is finished, we are going back to the drawing board.  Exciting times ahead!

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