I hope, dear readers, that you are familiar with the works of LA’s dandy maestro, Daedelus. In a time of redefinition of what it means to be a DJ and performer, Daedelus has been proposing a style of live performance of intricate live-sequencing of original sounds, thick layering of sampled loops from diverse sources, and a bit of spice and magic all piped through a custom-built magic box called the Monome. His compositions are journeys and his sense for texture and sound mining are broad and fantastical.

Recently Daedelus and producer Daddy Kev’s label Alpha Pup Records teamed up to release “Live at the Low End Theory” which attempts to capture the magic of one of his enrapturing performances.

I have a small bit of history with Daedelus having directed and produced a video for him a couple years ago. Recently Take’s “You High” remix by Daedelus hit Palms Out on one of their Remix Sunday’s and I spotted the “Low End” album in my local shop and it seemed like a good time for a catch up.

DDKZ: How are you and what have you been up to?

Daedelus: Triangle Jumping, dashing, and mushroom power-ups. Tired and touring, happy and missing a normal life I’ve never known. Wouldn’t change a thing!

DDKZ: I know its been a while, but did you get any good feedback from our video?

Daedelus: It’s been way too long, that video really was a moment, Exquisite Corpse was quite a break thru album for my career. I think my first record to attempt far beyond my own small set of experiences. Your companies video for Just Briefly was eye opening, but the same could be said for hanging upside down for shooting the falling sequence…

DDKZ: You’re often cited for using some pretty eclectic musical sources in your music. Would you attribute this to your own eclectic taste, or is it possible you feel a drive differentiate your style from others?

Daedelus: I don’t worry to much about others, I certainly try listen with wide ears to a lot of what is being played and what has been, but it has always been about finding what is right for the song. I think doing that is appropriate will yield more timeless and confusing results, which is my favorite. Why not do the Charleston over a classical set of strings? Well there are probably good arguments, but I’m not listening…

DDKZ: I’ve always been curious about your production process and I know you have a pretty strong musical education background and wondered if you could tell us a bit behind how you approach production of your tracks.

Daedelus: Every moment is so full of pressure in the music world. You have these limitless machines commonplace in the home studio, endless mp3 on the internet, and tidalwave of what has been. So the first thing I do is try to turn off the brain, it gets in the way too much! it is probably the most important thing, find a way to improvise in the studio, riff in synths and samples and instruments. Tell myself there are no bad choices just bad results and failed experiments. Some of my favorite songs were once failures that find new life eventually!

DDKZ: Anything different you consider when doing remixes?

Daedelus: Well you must consider the material at hand and where the remix might then live… Was the song a soulful slow jam that will be a dance single? Is that indie rock tune really supposed to just be a digital download with 5 minutes they are depending on you to fill? Not ignoring these realities make for fun work with remixes, making them puzzles to solve can be fun, and make the process faster.

DDKZ: I was pretty blown away when I first saw you perform in Tokyo a few years ago. Has your performance style changed much since then?

Daedelus: Experimenting with less rules lately, I’ll play other peoples music more confidently, I know I won’t transform the material into something outside myself, I have more confidence to play dance-y musics, play sad sets, play both on that thin edge of forgetting oneself and trusting the moment together. Oh and the Monome keeps improving, getting more reliable. There is nothing worse then all these words above being cut short by a laptop crash. Part of this business, I’ve learned to accept that. People seem forgiving for a restart or two…

DDKZ: How’s the feedback been on the “Live at the Low End Theory” album so far?

Daedelus: I’m amazed! What was supposed to be a document of an evening, just a window into one nights method, seems to have caught a little fire. The Low End Theory is a special night in so many ways, and to be now part of it’s history is an honor.

DDKZ: What was the motivation behind releasing such a live album?

Daedelus: I wanted to set the record straight, so to speak, to answer the question about how this material can be changed, largely in the moment into something wholly other, and perhaps appropriate for that situation, the energy that is there between audience and artist. Definitely not an end, but perhaps it’ll make kids hungry to come to a show and be part of making the night happen.

DDKZ: Whats next? Whats your dream project?

Daedelus: What’s wrong with living the dream now? I soon have another LP out entitled “Love To Make Music To,” I have a project with my wife (The Long Lost) out later this year, and a strange new group called FMB (with Taz Arnold from Sa-Ra), more Adventure Time, it’s a good life!

Daedelus - Abracadabrant

Daedelus - Its Madness (Nosaj Thing Remix)

Take - You High (Daedelus Remix)