Blunt Aus Nord, the Edinburgh based dubstep producer, takes inspiration from black metal to explore new ways and new atmospheres in the 140/dubstep genre. His first ever released EP called Blackened Dub consists of four very characteristic tracks: all have dark gothic moods, analogue tape hiss in the background, and well chosen sound effects to build up the vibe for the 'black dubstep'. We invite you to join us on an exciting music journey and to get familiar with this new producer! Please read the interview and listen to the EP!
We are happy to start the Frozen Freebie music series with this unique EP! We hope that we can help more new producers in the future!
Hello Blunt Aus Nord! Would you please briefly introduce yourself?
Of course! I’m Blunt Aus Nord, but my real name is Cameron. I live very close to Edinburgh, just 40-60 mins away, depending on how long my bus takes. I love dubstep and I love black metal. I’m not sure what else to put here!
Where did your production name ‘Blunt Aus Nord’ come from?
So there’s this French Black Metal band called ‘Blut Aus Nord’ (check out their recent ‘Disharmonium’ album, and their 2019 release ‘Hallucinogen’ as well, some of the best atmoblack out there, super psychedelic as well). I was thinking of a name for this project of mine, and I was tossing a few names around for a while. Then I had an epiphany! BLUNT Aus Nord! I shared it with a friend of mine, and they found it very amusing. So it stuck!
Can you please tell us about your musical roots?
My roots were more in electronic music than anything else. Metal was always in my DNA, no doubt; one of my earliest memories was listening to Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’ LP during my formative years. But I’d say electronic music was the ‘ground root’ that holds everything together.
Aphex Twin and Venetian Snares were perhaps my earliest push towards getting into making music in general. I have played drums for about over a decade now, and I’ve been in a few bands; a high-school covers band where we’d do covers of Judas Priest, and even a soul music cover band called the Electric Souls Project!
Your dubstep sound is very characteristic. How would you describe it? What is the concept behind your musical world?
At the inception of ‘Blunt Aus Nord’, I thought taking Black Metal atmospherics and smashing them together with everything ‘dubstep’ would be an interesting combination. Especially the degraded tape hiss, and the broken cheap synthesisers you’d sometimes hear. Sure, there’s been producers with a background in metal (shout-out Distance), but to me, I think the ‘Black Metal’ approach to dubstep sonics makes me stand-out.
When did you start doing music production?
It all started in high school, 2014, maybe ‘15, when I was messing around at home on a copy of FL Studio 11. I had no real ‘idea’ about what I was doing, I was just making noise. But it was thanks to both my Music Technology teacher (thank you Phil), and me discovering Aphex Twin, that I decided to pursue a career in music production, as Aphex’s music fascinated me. I wanted to know how on earth he made those sounds! I started looking up all those music production YouTube channels afterwards.
Fast forward about…8 or 9 years, and I’ve been to college and university. I’m still an novice at what I do, and I’m still learning about all the cool little production techniques you can do. Stranjah’s got a great channel if you want to produce electronic music, he even did a little episode on dubstep, even one on grime!
Can you lift the lid a little on your production methods? What tools do you use for making music?
Honestly? It’s not that special! It’s a combination of Serum and maybe Wavetable. I always love making cool bass sounds. The ‘FM from B’ dial and the ‘sine shaper’ distorter type? Beautiful. What I also really love doing is finding tape hiss and mixing it underneath all the instruments, maybe side-chaining it to the bass, so that whenever it hits, the hiss gets suffocated. It sounds so interesting to me! Most of it is from this one small little pack.
What kind of hardware do you use for production?
It’s all in-the-box! Apart from the audio interface, it’s just Ableton Live 11 and my keyboard.
Do you dj?
Yes I do! At home I have a copy of Serato, and a DDJ-SB3! I use it to practise mixing. I love watching DJ sets too, and learning how they work with energy. ENiGMA Dubz and Khanum’s sets on the Deep Tempo channel always blow me away. The DT Tapes series. ENiGMA dropping ‘Severed’ at the release party, never fails to send chills down my spine. There’s also the classic sets, y’know? Skream & Loefah on Rinse, Mala at Boiler Room London, Alix Perez’s 140 section at Keep Hush…all brilliant.
When did you start listening to dubstep? What was the main thing that first got you into dubstep?
I say this with no shame, 2012. Brostep. Skrillex, Excision, Datsik. People underestimate how good Skrillex’s stuff actually is. Like sure, you can hate on him all you want but, look at him now! He’s got 2 tunes with Flowdan! And they’re like, proper UK dubstep! I respect him so much, and his brostep stuff will always hold a special place in my heart, especially Scary Monsters and his tune with Damien Marley Jr. Still slaps!
Now as for ‘real dubstep’, Burial was my gateway drug. Same time I discovered Aphex Twin. If AFX was what primed me for IDM, Burial primed me for dubstep. It was thanks to him I discovered the future garage guys, and the rest of the UK dubstep scene. Shout-out Vacant and Sorrow, and all the other guys. And from then on, I found Mala, Coki, Skream, Kode9; the old guard. ‘Eyez’ was incredible to hear then, still is now.
You live in Edinburgh, Scotland which is a beautiful city but I don’t know a thing about the local dubstep scene. Is there a dubstep scene or bass music community there?
Yeah. It’s not as big as it is in say, London or Glasgow, but it’s definitely there!
If a basshead, from among your fans worldwide, would go to Edinburgh, which club nights, bars, festivals should they visit?
The Bongo Club has this night called ‘Midnight Bass’ every Thursday. It’s not really dubstep, more drum and bass oriented, but sometimes they have 140 sets, so I’d say it's still worth going. But if you REALLY need something dubstep or dub-oriented; SSL have held dubstep nights, also at The Bongo Club. And of course, the legendary Messenger Sound System puts on nights too, if you want something more ‘roots’, every month on Saturdays. Even got handed a flyer from when I went to college, just before COVID hit funnily enough!
How do you feel about the dubstep scene nowadays globally?
I feel like it’s in a healthy spot at the moment. There was this odd, ‘shaky’ feeling during COVID, but it came out just fine. And there’s plenty of producers still doing it out there. Especially abroad! I think in places like America, thanks to Ternion Sound (absolute dons by the way), the UK sound is making a big impact there. Same with the rest of Europe too.
Do you have any forthcoming releases? What are your plans for the future?
I’m currently in talks with a New Zealand label. EP, 4 tracks. As for the future, I wouldn’t mind playing a few shows, doing some more releases. Just doing stuff. I’ve even got plans for a sketchy DIY tape release. Like they did back in the 90s, in Norway.
Please recommend five tunes and a dj mix that should be essential listening for every human being – the sort that would leave your life incomplete if you’d never heard them.
If I had to narrow it down to 5 tunes it’d be:
Aphex Twin - Xtal
Burial - Archangel
Mala - Eyez
Darkthrone - In The Shadow of The Horns
Bathory – Sacrifice
As for a DJ mix, I’d say it’s even harder cause I’ve got so many favourites! But if I really had to choose…Mala’s Boiler Room set in 2015. I know Gantz played that very same night, and his set comes very close (Fuck Mountain VIP!). But I had to pick Mala. Just so many classic tunes, along with some great stuff that came out around that year too. View it here.
Thank you for taking time and answering the questions! Really looking forward release your free download EP!
The pleasure is all mine, and the feeling is mutual.
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