Triad is a new act consisting of Henree, Bass Tikal and LF Flow. All three are experienced solo producers in their own right but together they're taking things to the next level with some sublime drum & bass, downtempo and deep house. Bass Tikal, who also runs German drum & bass label Phunkfiction Records, tells us more

Tell us more about the Triad members...
Triad is a project consisting of three members: Henree, LF Flow and I. Henree is a DJ and producer hailing from Cologne. Some people might be familiar with his bits on CIA Deepkut, Vampire, Soul:R or Phunkfiction. I'm a DJ and producer from Hannover and I run the label Phunkfiction Recordings. My brother Florian, aka LF Flow, is a professional sound engineer who currently lives in Stockholm and comes from a slightly different musical background. Whilst Henree and I have worked in the d&b scene for quite a while now, Florian mainly makes electronic downbeat, nu jazz and chill out productions.

How and why did you decide to form Triad?
Henree and I have been friends for quite a while we always intended to work together but for some reason it never happened. After some time passed by, we decided to try it again and we came up with the layout for a track called 'Spellbound' about six months ago. I had this drum layout and Henree had the idea for a bassline, synth elements etc. So we put our ideas together and the track was done.

 

After that we recognised that the way we were working and the style we were feeling fitted together perfectly. At the same time we were both looking for a project where we could do something totally different that pushes the style boundaries a little further. Hence we just did what we wanted to do without caring about any style restrictions. So that was the initial click that led us to write lots of tracks together. A little bit later we started involving Florian as well because I did the project Madmen & Poets with him. Florian is the guy with the big hardware selection and with his knowledge as a sound engineer and his slightly different background he adds another musical dimension.

Is your combined sound quite different to your output as individual solo artists?
It's more the development or next level of our solo outputs mixed together in one project. Henree and I were both looking for a way to do something different and where people don't expect a certain sound because of your name or the stuff you were doing in the past. So we intended to create something where we could easily play around, produce experimental music and don't care about style restrictions. We even don't limit ourselves to the drum & bass genre - we also write stuff in different tempo ranges. Some tunes might be labelled as electro, deep house or dubstep. We don't produce anything in order to get it signed to a specific label. The vibe our music transports can be described quite easily: deep, dark and moody.

What are your roles in the studio?
Henree or I usually come up with the layouts. As all three of us live in different cities we mainly produce via the internet. As Henree and I both live in Germany we sometimes get together in the studio for a day or two to do some final mixdowns and stuff like that. Henree and I both have quite a similar Logic set up, so we can share projects quite easily. There's no definite workflow or anything. We just put our ideas together and create something that we all feel and are happy with. In the end it's always a new challenge to create a special piece of music by team work.

Going by the amount of tracks you have signed you seem to be quite prolific at making tunes together, is this the case?
Yeah it's quite a funny story. As mentioned earlier, the whole thing was just meant as a little side project where we simply wanted to have fun in the studio and do something different. But the first two bits we finished, 'Spellbound' and 'Fiasco' got such a big response and people like Flight, Instra:mental, TeeBee, Goldie, Total Science and Loxy started playing the tracks. So we all locked the studio doors and did mainly Triad productions as first priority.

Tell us more about the tunes you have made and the labels they'll be coming out on...
At the time the first two bits were signed by Deep Soul Music and Engine Recs we were already working on quite a few more tracks. So we finished the flipsides for them, 'Last Gasp' and 'Fortune'. The Deep Soul Music release is out now ['Fiasco' / 'Last Gasp'] and the Engine release should be out in November. Then we did a track called 'La Calma' that will be on the new Critical album. Two other tracks, 'Out of Scale' and 'Utopia', got picked by Loxy for his X-Tinction Agenda label and should be dropping later this year. There are still a lot more tracks that need to be finished now. We'll see if they find a good home too!

What else are you working on?
We recently finished two remixes for UK soul singer Omar which will be released on a remix album on Peppermint Jam Records, Mousse T's label from Germany. The first one called 'Lay It Down' (featuring Estelle) is a minimal half step drum & bass kinda thing. The other one, 'Stylin' featuring Angie Stone is deep house mix, which is a style we will definitely do more in the future. We also recently remixed 'Global Enemies' for Lynx & Kemo. The guys liked it a lot so we'll see what happens with it.

Anything else you'd like to tell us about?
There's a lot of fresh stuff and some great talented acts coming through at the moment. It's such a good thing for drum & bass. We hope that this new sound will bring back people who gave d&b the cold shoulder because they weren't feeling the deepness and creativity in the music anymore. It's great that people start stripping the whole thing down to the key elements again and start experimenting with it again...

 

We also want to thank Flight again for being the very first supporter, we won't forget that.

www.myspace.com/triadaudio

 

Triad in the Knowledge download store

 

• Triad
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• Henree
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• Bass Tikal
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• LF Flow
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• Phunkfiction Records

Related Links:

• Madmen & Poets - Scandinavian Sunday CD
• DSM Launch Digital Sister Label
• Blu Saphir & Syncopix Join Forces
• Deep Soul Music Lacoste Collaboration
• Freaky Flow Releases New DJ Mix

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