Radio KUL

One of the most influential figures in modern music, Richard Mowatt aka Solarstone, will be touching down on our shores this week. He already has an extremely prolific discography covering award winning original releases and compilations, but on this trip he brings along music from his new album Touchstone, the follow up release 2 years after the very successful Rain Stars Eternal.

Touchstone has received critical acclaim and positive reactions, and features collaborations with Bill McGruddy, Lucia Holm, Orkidea, Christodoulou, Julie Scott, Nigel Summers, and many more. The first single “Electric Love” has already garnered solid support from DJs and fans all around the world, and has been remixed by Rafael Frost and John “00″ Fleming, among others.

Besides making music, Rich operates the labels Molecule, Solaris Recordings, and Crashing Waves, and has an internationally syndicated radio show called Solaris International. Most interestingly, the Solarstone fan community called solarSwarm is also now a recording label, the world’s first ever social network record label, spearheaded by Rich himself.

This former IDMA winner is also a sought after DJ and tours extensively.

Here he is for this Radio KUL Extra interview.

Solarstone

Rich, it’s really great to be able to do this interview. Where are you currently?
Hi there! I’m currently at home in Wales, slightly fatigued after a heavy few days in the studio. I’ve been taking a mini-hiatus from doing club mixes of tracks from Touchstone to work on some dark film score stuff which has been really intense, although hugely enjoyable.

Touchstone is the new album, out on June 28th! So much buzz around this release, tell us all about it!
Well … the album theme is inspirations. To me musical inspiration comes in many forms. It can be artists that I’ve fallen in love with wholesale and still venerate to this day, or simply fragments of music that made a lasting impression at arbitrary points in my life. Touchstone is a culmination of all those inspirations. One track on the album “Intravenous” is influenced by Pink Floyd, one of my favourite bands. Another, “The Best Way to Make Your Dreams Come True Is to Wake Up” was influenced by the Pet Shop Boys. The title Touchstone seemed perfect because one of the definitions of Touchstone is the recognition of, or reference to, a visionary source of inspiration. Several things were important to me on this album, things that I have noticed about other artists’ records over the years, such as the space between instrumental vs vocal tracks, the space between male vs female vocal tracks, all these things have to be balanced against the light vs shade on the record, the dynamic build and flow throughout the album. It’s almost a science in itself! Musically, it’s a blend of trance, progressive, rolling breaks, cinematic electronica, ambient soundscapes, synths, guitars and some beautiful vocals… all contained in a beautifully designed CD! We’ve also made a digital booklet available for people who either download the album from the Solarshop or from iTunes.

“Electric Love” is the first single from Touchstone. How has the response been all over the world?
Well, as it’s a vocal track, receptions are always mixed, you either like a vocal or you don’t … but it’s gone down well and has been supported by the key DJs. My favorite mix is the Elfsong mix because it is so weird and warped and unusual. I also got a wicked drum & bass remix from Royal Sapien which is beautiful, and the Bottin remix has recently been requested by Hugo Boss for their new catwalk music – so it’s going well!

If you could only pick one track to showcase the album, which would it be and why?
That would be impossible, because the album is the sum of its parts! Apart of the Solarstone ethos is having a wide variety of sounds, styles and changes of pace on a record, to pick one track would not represent what the album is about. But I have a solution! There is a 10 minute Touchstone minimix over on the website www.solarstonetouchstone.com – does that count? ;-)

And there’s also a series of Touchstone documentaries on YouTube?
Yes, we decided to some something a little different to allow fans to get behind the scenes a little, in the first micro-doc the camera crew came around to my farmhouse in Wales and spent some time with me in the studio having a chat about production, then in the second micro-doc they came out on the road with me to a gig at the O2 in London. They are well worth checking out on my YouTube channel.

Who are some of your favorite artistes on Solaris Recordings right now?
Well I’m a big fan of Forerunners, Brenden’s new single is about to go to promo, it’s fabulous. I also have an artist named Piotro signed to one of my other labels, Molecule Recordings. His music is an incredible blend of minimal, prog, trance, we call his sound Microprog – he will be making some waves over the next 12 months. Also we have Alucard working on an album for Solaris which I’m excited about – he’s an amazing producer.

We love “Zeitgeist” that features Orkidea. Have you guys always been good mates?
We did get on exceedingly well when we first met, I think we are kindred spirits when it comes to music. Orkidea and I totally understand each others approach to production. He is the only producer I would trust enough to hand over the controls to. His heart and soul are firmly lodged in the unity aspect of 90s trance music, his production skills are incredible and as a DJ he knows exactly how to rock a floor. He’s also un-flappable and possibly the nicest guy in dance music!

And there’s also “The Calling” that’s out on Lost Language. Why did you get RAM for the remix?
Actually RAM approached me about it when we were doing a gig together a few years ago, he said that it was one of his favorite tracks of all time and would be thrilled to remix it. I must admit I was reticent about it, because I’ve not really liked many of the remixes of that track, but he did pull it off well and did a great job I think, it is faithful to the original Still Waters mix, but modern in other ways.

What can fans expect from the gig here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
I will be showcasing brand new club mixes of tracks from the new album, exclusive material from my labels and I also have some brand new mixes of a selection of Solarstone classics which I’ll be dropping in! My sets are pretty exclusive much of the time, I also like to play a few trance classics and mix things up with prog and trance and sometimes a bit of breaks too.

Lastly, a quick word to all your fans around the world reading this.
Thanks for your support over the years and for believing in the music.

Solarstone performs live at Zouk, Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 30th July 2010. For more info go to http://www.solarstone.co.uk/.

Catch an exclusive guestmix by Solarstone on Radio KUL 151 with Simon Lee & Alvin. The first hour will be mixed by Simon Lee & Alvin, followed by the guestmix from Solarstone. Airs Friday, 30th July 2010 at http://www.radiokul.com/ and available as a podcast on iTunes and on Mugasha. Radio Hi-Tec Netherlands and 1Mix Radio UK will also stream the show live, see website for schedule.

Touchstone is out now on Solaris Recordings.

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