Verdant visions!
Tim Green's new house inspiration
Some say that rules are there to be broken and it’s certainly a philosophy that the imaginative and decidedly different tech house music of Tim Green adheres to. His finely-tuned ear clearly doesn’t hear like anyone else and accordingly labels are climbing over each other for a piece of the Kent-born, London-based producer.
Otherwise known as simply ‘TG’, since 2006, his tracks have graced such a broad and respected spread of labels as Dirtybird, Renaissance, Trapez, Four:Twenty, Cr2 and Sci+Tec, always exhibiting a take-no-prisoners approach to the dancefloor. Constructing surgically spliced, crisp beats and peppering them with ominous synth ghouls and strange, creative samples, gems like his remix of Steve Lawler’s ‘21st Century Ketchup’ or the twisted up, k-hole bass snarls of ‘Mr Dry’ instantly stand out from the rest of the techno pack.
Though Green’s early beats were more of the dark, sinister, minimal variety, lately there’s a funkier, lighter house touch at work in his productions, signifying a return to his original musical inspirations as well as being a response to the warmer vibe emerging in dance music again.
“Daft Punk is what originally inspired me, and the first kind of dance that I was listening to was house,” Green points out. “It’s the way the music is going — it’s drawing on house elements but its still reminiscent of what’s gone on in the last three years, stripped-back with room for interpretation.
“It’s hard not to be influenced by what’s going on, and it’s a lot easier to be melodic within house music than writing a dark tune.”
Indeed, it’s clearly his versatility that has had such a wide range of labels banging on the door, and to Green, keeping his music diverse is imperative to prevent him from getting caught in a cul de sac.
“It’s definitely my aim, I get bored writing with the same sounds so I’m always trying to change myself and do something different. It seems to be working well so far, people are responding well, they don’t seem to get upset by it!” he beams.
Perhaps his biggest track to date, produced alongside Aussie producer Emerson Todd, is ‘Exercise’, destined to cause seismic disturbances in clubs across the planet when it drops this month on Sven Vath’s Cocoon.
“I went to do a tour in Australia and we started writing music together when I was out there for a few weeks, and just went from there. We’ve always been good friends, so we just thought we’d have a go at producing some tracks.
“A few months ago Cocoon asked me if I had any new music coming up for their new compilation. I thought I’d send that one in, and they really liked it.”
With further new music due on Dirtybird, including the excellent, funky ‘Bee Laying’ and ‘Kitch In’ — and a host of other tracks he’s keeping tight lipped about, this Green is set to grow and grow...