Features

1000names

When it comes to discussion of the current beat scene there are certain creative hubs that you can expect to come up, be it LA, Glasgow or London. Bulgaria is most likely not the first place that would come to mind. However, we would do well to remember that it is individuals that create great music, not scenes.

The 1000names duo, AKA Casio Blaster and 99 Mistakes from Sofia in Bulgaria, recently dropped Illuminated Man, one of the most breathtaking and accomplished LPs to come out of the hip hop scene in the last few years on the consistently brilliant Black Acre imprint.

Touching upon everything from slouching post-Dilla beats to jazz, disco and beyond, the album is awash with astral, kaleidoscopic synths, off-kilter grooves and deft melodic flourishes, which transport you to a swirling escapist fantasy world. Shards of colour collide and burst into pieces, hypnotic rhythms collapse in on themselves and pads drift through the haze only to diffuse into nothing again. Floating effortlessly from the melancholy to the uplifting, the sober to the playful, it is an intoxicating experience that you cannot help but be sucked into.

We caught up with the pair to find out more about them, Bulgaria and what they have got planned next.

Where do you guys come from musically? What were you listening to when you were your growing up?

We were growing up in the 90s so everything from electronic music, rave, old skool hip-hop, and later on jazz and fusion, Bristol darkish hop, etc.

What influences you outside of music?

Visual art, philosophy, unconsciousness, good and evil, fantasy and utopia books and movies.

When did you decide to move into production?

Like we said, we've always been interested in electronic music so gradually (somewhere in the late 90s) we started to be curious how all these beats and sounds are created and we remember how a friend of ours gave us a copy of Reason and we started to fiddle with it, manipulating samples mainly. It was awful, haha! Nothing seemed to work the way we wanted, but we didn't want to leave that for a sec. Then we moved on to an MPC, thinking that was the holy grail for the sound we were looking for, such lame kids we were.

How did you get together? And at what point did you realise that it was more than just another collaboration, but a new project?

We have known each other since we were in fourth grade and always kinda hooked up together sharing the outsider feeling. At that point 99 was playing piano and doing some tape recordings, layers. Maybe that was the first time he realised he was more into putting sounds together in overdubbing style than playing like in a band or something, but Casio was playing drums and his idea at the time was more to play in a band. Only a few years later we realised what we had in mind was pretty similar and we were doing long night sessions together. That's how 1000names was born.

What is the scene like in Bulgaria?

[Look at each other laughing] Scene is a big word for what is going on here!

How did you link up with Black Acre?

They contacted us and we felt like we were spiritual brothers. They trust us 100% and vice versa. It is the same thing with Eklektik, the first label who released our music.

How long was the album in the making? Was the album a premeditated decision, or did it develop into such more organically?

We were just putting this beautiful 10" together and were talking about developing it into something more complete, so we were inspired. We locked ourselves in the studio recording and everything we were sending the label was like "yeah" so we kept doing so until we had enough music to fill an album. It was an intense and focused moment.

How did you approach the album differently to the way in which you would approach a series of 12"s?

We haven't made a series of 12"s yet so we don't know how to think about it.

With the album complete and in the shops, what is next for 1000names? Do you have any other projects/releases in the pipeline?

We have another conceptual album ready to be released on Eklektik this fall, it's a collabo with visual artists so expect something for the eyes too!

Also we are working with a fresh Serbian label called Svetlana Industries who are going to put out some traxx from our other alter ego project called Nuclear Nomads and that's probably going to be a series of 12"s. We've been selecting beats for that one for a long time now... we guess that answers a bit of the previous question!