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Eglo presents Funkineven's 'Rolands Jam'

Funkineven talks with DJmag.com about creating 'Rolands Jam'

It's hard to tell where the acid begins and the funks ends on 'Rolands Jam', the latest release from Funkineven out on Eglo Records, 18th July.

The song's name 'Rolands Jam' came from Funkineven's experiences of "messing around" with his Roland MC-202 and TR-707.

"The concept naturally formed on its own. I was messing around with my Roland TR-707 Drum Machine and the Roland MC-202 Synth MicroComposer. The 202 was synced to the 707, and then I programmed random but thoughtful patterns into both machines," explains Funkineven, arguably one of the coolest cats in electronic music today. "Then I thought, ‘Oh! This sounds good’, so i recorded a 'Jam' into Logic Pro."

The second half of the song's name, 'Jam' is a bit of a double entendre. While it is a tune you can "jam" out to, Funkineven says he derived the name from a faulty aspect of the Roland equipment, which delightfully worked in his favour.

"With all the 707 drums on one channel and the 202 bass on the other channel, the syncing on the 707 was a bit faulty," he says. "Every now and then the tempo would jam and get stuck, as you hear it in the song."

His love for the Roland 707 and 202 also inspired the concept for the music video.

"For months I was thinking it would be cool to walk around London with the 707 and 202, visiting locations like my Gran's house, the park, the underground tube, the night club, the council estate I grew up in, the supermarket etc, etc," he recalls. "Basically all the places that are relevant to me. Places I grew up around. It's what makes me who I am, and what helps make my music.

“Listening to this track and thinking visually about it, I knew I couldn't have my normal face in the video, because it sounds a bit frightening and monstrous, so me and the director, Hiroo Tanaka, put our brains together and shopped around to fancy dress stores to see what we could come up with,” says Funkineven. “WOLFMAN suddenly came together, so we bought a few bits & pieces like the nose, wig etc, etc, then got our make-up artist Marie Kristine to work her magic.”

In the video, Funkineven's character eats "eyeballs". Funkineven says this represents him taking a "trip drug", which helps to add great images that accompany the music and feel of the song.

'Rolands Jam' will be Funkineven's first release of the year, and his fourth release on Eglo. The 12" vinyl drops 18th July with two additional tracks, 'Take Back' and 'XXX'.

Funkineven says he has also been busy releasing remixes from the likes of Ikonika, Hyperdub, Ossie and Gucci Mane. He says he enjoys remixing artists who sound completely different from him.

"When I remix, I like remixing something challenging, something completely different from what I do, it's more fun. What's the point of remixing something that sounds like myself? That won't be much of a remix," he laughs. "But if I did remix something similar to my sound, it would have to be someone I really look up to," he says.

With upcoming shows booked for the Glastonbury festival and Soundwave in Croatia, fans can expect to see big things from this guy.

Watch the music video for 'Rolands Jam' below.