A Different Kind Of Beast – Ultra Harmonizer
Fast Forward Productions, co-founded by Sugar (Nikolaj Jakobsen) in 2015, has come to be synonymous with Copenhagen’s blistering trance-infused techno scene, and the staunch activism surrounding it. Over the course of three compilations they’ve provided a unique example of the types of sounds that are shaping the scene, whilst concurrently fundraising for marginalised voices in their local community — with all proceeds from sales being donated to charity.
As the world grapples with Russia’s unjustified invasion of Ukraine, they turned their attention to supporting those fleeing the atrocities of war. Originally slated for later release, Peachlyfe and Sugar announced their first collaboration as Ultra Harmonizer in late February, and it carries a sense of urgency like no other. We spoke with Nikolaj (Sugar) and Petra (Peachlyfe) about activism, collaboration, and community.
Hey Nikolaj & Petra! Thanks so much for the chance to chat.
I wanted to start on the subject of activism and music, given the urgency of this release.
How do you see the relationship between your art and politics and has it always been this way?
Nikolaj (Sugar): It’s been a part of how we operate at Fast Forward since the beginning, to be involved in fundraising for various causes. It’s a small drop in the ocean of what can be contributed via techno releases, but I think it’s important to try and help where we can through the projects and music we invest so much time in.
For me personally I’ve always been around and involved in music scenes involved with politics from the early days with punk music, and still to this day with fast forward.
Petra (Peachlyfe): To me, everything is political since existing and co-existing calls for opinions. Art and music can be extremely powerful tools for creating attention to a topic. It hasn’t always been like that for me. When I was younger I was more focused on bettering myself on my instruments, but since I started having an identity as a composer and musician, I’ve wanted to express my opinions.
It seems as if a new sound has really emerged from you two working together.
What determines and is essential for a good collaboration in your opinion? Are there other artists you’d like to collaborate with or will be teaming up with soon?
Nikolaj: To keep an open mind throughout the entire process and to be curious of the other person’s ideas and the natural output during sessions is key I think. Actually, this is also what has excited me the most about our collaboration. I feel like it was somehow easier than making music alone because all the self doubt and constant inner dialogue on whether something is good or garbage was just out the window, as you feed a lot on the other person’s reactions in the room. While making sounds and stuff it was always like either it’s a keeper or let’s scrap it and move on.
I have a collaboration record coming out in the near future which I can’t reveal too much about yet, but I’m pretty excited about it! 😉
Petra: Thank you, we think so too :). To me, I think a good collab is determined by how the flow is. I don’t do it so much, so I can’t speak from experience, but in our case, we’ve been more interested in saying “yes let’s try it”, instead of discussing the ideas too much first. I don’t have any concrete plans for collaborations, except for making new stuff with Nikolaj and of course the occasional “let’s make a track soon!” when I see my friends in the club :)! I really like making remixes as well so I hope to do more of that in the future.
To touch on your Danish roots and surroundings, Can you talk a little more about the music you grew up listening to in Denmark and your trajectory in terms of getting into club music? How do you compare the scene there to other European nations?
Nikolaj: I grew up with punk and hardcore music and was involved in the now evicted (since 2007) Ungdomshuset community space, and that place and time has definitely shaped the person I am today, both in my approach to making music and being involved in cultural scenes.
I was in 5 different bands, a booking agency and a record label from 2003-2014, and the turn towards electronic music around 2013 came quite naturally for me. The last band I was in naturally came to an end, and as I began throwing some raves with friends around that time and generally going out more for that type of music, it was necessary for something new to happen. My friend Lukas and I formed Fast Forward Productions in 2015, and the rest is history 🙂
It’s really hard to compare cities to be honest. Everywhere is different, and not one city or culture is alike even though it’s of course different in Western Europe than it is in Eastern Europe or South America etc.
What’s special about Copenhagen, and probably cities similar in size, is that everybody knows each other and I think we have a quite inclusive and helpful community whereas with bigger cities it seems to me that it can be harder to get your name out and get together with the people that you aspire towards. But what do i know, I don’t live there so maybe its assumptions lol.
Petra: I didn’t grow up so much with music, I grew up on a farm riding horses, so it wasn’t until high school I started getting into playing. At my high school, there was a school jazz band, so I did that, and I kept playing jazz. The energy, the harmonies and melodies, and the improvisational elements of (various kinds of) jazz music have really shaped my musicality and it’s what I always return to. I’m not really interested in playing jazz anymore but I’m really interested in incorporating the ideas of jazz into whatever I make.
You both are purists in a sense, incorporating a lot of hardware into your studio workflow.
Has your approach to using digital tools changed over the years?
Nikolaj: I don’t know if I’m a purist haha. I perhaps used to be some years back when I made my first record or 2 but that was because it confused me too much to be using both hardware and Ableton at the same time, so I decided to focus only on hardware the first few years and make all tracks in one take. Nowadays, I really use everything I can get my hands on really. I do prefer the hardware, outboard, console sound of things over only VSTs and plugins, not as a general thing or some sort of rule, but for myself to work with. But I love to combine the 2 worlds now which is also what we did with Ultra Harmonizer all the way. Tracking hardware jams, sounds and sequencing and mangle them piecing it all together in the computer at the end.
I just switched DAW from Ableton to Bitwig but Petra doesn’t want me to talk about that as I sound like a salesperson!
Petra: Haha, I am definitely no purist! I’ve always just worked with what was in front of me and coming from playing instruments and borrowing my brother’s Machine Drum, hardware made the most sense to me, and then I just went from there. I guess the only purist bone there is in me is that I really don’t like to use a computer for live playing. It’s just too unstable and has too many uses. I need something that goes ‘boom’ and that I can trust to go ‘boom’ when I want it to. I tried using a computer recently (for practical reasons), and it turned out it was way more impractical than not using it. I use a lot of digital tools in the studio, but what I also like about hardware is that it’s not so far from thought to action. Maybe I’m just a ‘practicalist’.
You’ve talked about how this project provides space to explore outside of your usual techno palette. Hints of electro rhythms, crystalline synth stabs alternating with sparse, distant percussion — and that’s just the first track!
The EP covers a lot of ground… Could you tell us a bit more about some of the successful experiments that led to these four cuts?
Nikolaj: I think the general theme was just that we talked very little about genre or style in the process. We just started jamming with sequencers and samplers and when something good was coming out the speakers we just sorta went with it and started overdubbing and manipulating etc. “Basic Beast” which is the only 4/4 technoish track on the EP was actually the one track we were discussing back and forth if it should be there, just because it was in the domain of what we already previously have been messing with but we ended up liking it and going with it.
The main experiment for each individual track is kind of hard to describe, but something along the lines of just making cool sounds we vibes with and chucking them in, and forcing them to fit the bigger picture!
Petra: I think it’s just 2 ideas + 2 ideas = 4 ideas. When you’re used to 2 ideas, 4 ideas are obviously very interesting, but it’s also nice to return to the calm land of 2 ideas. We just hooked up some of our hardware and took a lot of takes, me controlling some instrument parameters and Nikolaj controlling some effect parameters and vice versa. We brought very different ideas to the table which I think is what made it interesting.
I understand you both discovered electronic music via quite different paths.
What were some of your defining musical experiences and interests before that?
Nikolaj: I guess I already answered this in one of the above questions, but I really believe that the defining musical experiences just never really end, and keep manifesting as long as you keep an open mind and keep exploring new ways of working and approaching music.
For me in the beginning it was the punk energy and attitude, and today it’s something different and more nuanced than that, but it all springs from there I guess.
Petra: I came from playing jazz and later rock and pop music. What led me to electronic music was the rave! Raves are this incredible mythical space where you can have lifetimes of experiences in one night/day. And it’s all facilitated by music (granted, not entirely by music, also by drugs, people, places, etc. but music plays a very big part). Being a music creator already I thought I needed to try and see how I could influence that space and that’s what I try to do today; see if I can give people and myself a fun/nice/weird or maybe even sometimes life-changing experience. I know I’ve had some at the raves.
Thanks for speaking to EQUINOX Melbourne!
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