Mancunian duo AnD rose to prominence in 2011 following a slew of ground breaking

releases characterised by their refurbished, stripped back and Dave Clarke-inspired brandof techno. True vinyl purists, the two maintain fierce analogue production principals and showcase this in their heavy hitting live show.

AnD’s modernistic approach has been endorsed by trailblazing UK imprints Project Squared and Idle Hands, whilst their purist ideologies have been employed by the visionary Horizontal Ground, Black Sun Records, Electric Deluxe and Repitch labels. Meanwhile covert productions on their own self-titled white label series has seen the pair embrace the shadowy outskirts of techno, furthered by a collaboration with Headless Horseman, Sunil Sharpe and D.Carbone for the clandestine Brothers imprint.

Together with Tom Dicicco, the three artists established Inner Surface Music back in 2011,which has already garnered support from the likes of Regis, Surgeon, Lucy, Norman Nodge, DVS1 and many more.

TF: Tell us something about you. Where did you studied and who influenced you to explore musical processes?

AnD: We both have quite different backgrounds Andrew studied graphic design and Dimitri studied electrical engineering. Music was something that came to both of us quite early on Dimitri played several musical instruments as a child and Andrew was collecting records and music from his early teens and started to dj at 17. With djing and producing music we both got sucked in and when we first met up to write music together 15years ago its been the same ever since. We both influence each other and this comes across in the work, two peoples creativity becoming something different.

TF: When you look back to your career with all its highs and lows, can you imagine having done things differently? Is it more fate or choice?

AnD: No one should ever regret what they have done, we all make our choices and should stick to them. We are happy we made the choices we have and worked hard to create a body of work, this is the only way to approach anything.

TF: You haven’t given much interviews and you remain quite discreet despite of the recognition your productions and contribution to the techno culture. Do you think that an excessive media exposure tends to cause harm to music?

AnD: Definitely puts a different type of focus on everything, most of the time it´s all just a big pile of bullshit when it comes to social media. People who seem to take care about what they do in all art forms, don’t get the recognition they deserve. People don’t really care! but when people post selfies and egotistical posts everyone is in for the good time!

Sometimes media also play things safe, they say they support the real underground but a lot of the time its hard for talented new artists to get features on their sites or magazines. The truth is if it doesn’t sell copies then they don’t want to know. It would be nice to see journalism and writing taken to a creative form again supporting a far wider spectrum of musical releases and not just the next big thing or the flavour of the day.

TF: Which aspects of sound do you examine recently? Is for you important the impression that your music produces on the audience?

AnD: We are always trying to push ourselves to find new ways of working or new machines to create a different type of sound than we have made before. Its probably we just both get bored too quickly and we will write a batch of tracks in a certain style for a week or two and then move on again to something different again.

For us its very important that when we play our music has a connection with the crowd and we can see that its physically moving people on the floor. Go Hard Or Go Home! 🙂

TF: What do you think is the role of new technology in composing music? Do you rely more on digital or analog sound?

AnD: There are so many new technologies all of the time its very easy to get lost in it all. It always comes down to personal preference when it comes to work flow and what you use to achieve this. We like to work more on analog machines and then record into the computer. We find this is the easiest way of coming up with original ideas and not just repeating ourselves, recording the take live is never perfect but also add a lot of character to the sound.

TF: What’s your favourite track to play live and why?

AnD: We don’t actually play our tracks live, we always have a live improvisation on stage. Again this allows us to be in the moment when we perform live. We don’t have any idea of what will happen so we go with flow and keep things open so each live show is unique.

TF: Can you tell us more about ”AnD005” and “? What does it bring to your work? What are the perspectives you want to explore through this?

AnD: Each AnD release always has a certain concept behind the sound for the ep. With 005 we wanted to have a big and bold rave sound that looked to the future. Not to just copy old sounds but to work out how to incorporate old sounds in new ways.

TF: What is the first synthesizer you have ever played? Do you have your favourite instruments or devices?

AnD: Our first synthesizers where the Korg MS20 and Korg Electribe EMX1 they both really good starting points. The electric was the first one with the valves and it had a good variety of distortion and saturation effects with it and with the valve on top it was a lot of fun. Also the ribbon strip was super easy to program arps and sequences on the fly. The Korg MS20 is one of the best mono synths ever, and has a wide palette of timbres. Plus the semi modular patching means its a beast you can program whatever type of sound you like, its a great synth to learn synthesis with.

TF: Our typical question … any book or movie that you would like to recommend to the public to feed your creative side?

AnD: Yes one book that was very inspiring was “The KLF Chaos, Magic and The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds” by John Higgs.

A very interesting biography and look into the world of KLF concepts on dadaism, chaos theory, synchronicity, magic, punk, rave, the alchemic symbolism of Dr Who and the special power of the number 23.

TF: To say goodbye, what can you tell us about the mix you publish with us? Any experience during the creative process?

AnD: The podcast we have made for you is a representation of what we have been playing on the dance floor at the minute. A mixture of techno, rave and hardcore sounds with the AnD bump 🙂 We hope you enjoy it!

TF: Thank you guys!

Tracklist:

Manu La Malin – Afrik 125
Noisebuilder – Danceflower
Ani & Unhuman – Five To Nine
Welt in Scherben – 1-2
Jazmine Azarian – Penance
Somatic Responses – Distasm
14anger – Mother Of The Null
Quest?Onmarc – Spiral
Aneed – The Fallen
Edge Of Motion – Soul Apart
Paula Temple – Joshua & Goliath (Ghost In The Machine Remix)
Ayarcana – Sharp Objects
{KRTM} & The Panacea – PQTmDY3xUhaSz3d
Brecc – Criple
D Carbone – Back To The Hardcore (14anger Remix)
Danilo Incovaia – We´re Not Born Free
Diazepin – Terror
Sour – 7
Exsiderurgica – Squilibrio
Mab – Brelique
Dj Balu & Begez – Extermination
SDBX – Stupid Sucker
High Speed Violence – Ultraforce