Immaculate Conception: An Interview with Dorian Concept

It's been a packed ride for Oliver Johnson, AKA Dorian Concept, since his first record back in 2005. Releasing on several labels and taking his one-man live show all over the world, his lightning fast microKORG finger work and ear for sculpting unusual club sonics has won him leagues of fans around the globe. Joel Vacheron talked to the participant-turned-studio-teamster for a chat about past, present and future evolution of the Dorian sound.

So, you grew up in Salzburg and studied piano. Were you an aspiring Theolonius Monk?

That story is not totally true. I did study in Salzburg for three years but it wasn’t piano. It was multimedia with a focus in audio. In fact, my school had some great technological courses in sound design, programming and production. They sharpened my interest in that field. To be honest, I would always get bad grades in everything except the audio courses. I learned the piano and to compose music all by myself. I tend to say to people I am like a failed jazz musician. Electronic music was sort of my ‘compensation’ for never making it as a jazz artist. That’s my story up until now.

How did you first get into electronic music?

DC: I grew up on Austrian downbeat/ambient music. In early 2000, there was a pretty big hype around Kruder & Dorfmeister and this Vienna label called Sunshine that released compilations called Vienna Scientists. That’s when I got into electronic music. My interest was not sparked from the internet, but from one of those free, trashy, pop culture newspapers that I got at the cinema. There was this review about this downbeat, jazz based, hip hop music compilation CD from Vienna. At that time, I had also started smoking weed. I was the family rebel, so it all fitted together. Nowadays, it feels like the downbeat movement has become more commercial but there is still some stuff happening. For example, right now in Vienna, there is a festival called RUN VIE, with a lot of new artists from different genres. There is also a club night called Love Minority featuring some amazing gigs. It’s interesting to see this mix of jazz influences in Vienna. So it’s all good right now.

Do you hear similarities to your sound and that of Los Angeles' Low End Theory club night?

Well, I have known LA guys like Flying Lotus for a few years now. The first show we played together was in 2007 at a festival in Belgium. It’s funny that lots of places around the world, even like Singapore and Japan, have similar music evolutions and are into that LA sound. It seems to get a great deal of attention thanks to its many amazing and crazy artists. Right now, electronic music uses plenty of references to the past. On the other hand, it's not so genre based anymore. You don’t have to play a DJ or live set in one tempo. You can just go from garage tracks to hip hop and to dub step and drum ’n’ bass. The LA guys really know how to mix it up and put it all together.

Have any other labels or countries influenced your music?

One of my favourite Warp artists, Squarepusher, was the one to give me that confidence to go onstage with an instrument and play it. I have always been a big fan of people who could reference something from the past while making it seem something new. The UK scene has always been the strongest, thanks to its independent labels. London is still the trendsetter when it comes to new genres, new styles and new artists.

Are you strictly a one-man prod outfit, or do you play live with other musicians?

Yes, I do play with my best friends. We have very few gigs, we mostly play in Vienna and it’s just for friends. We treat the band like we treat visits to our grandmothers. We kind of feel like we have to do it, but we don’t do it too often. At some point, I want to have a Dorian Concept live band to include these musicians whom I grew up with into a live context. I will keep that for the next album that’s going to be more live, more self-played, more instrumental. Maybe early next year, I will be able to showcase more of that jazz, funk band.

Is it important for you to keep this instrumental aspect on stage?

Absolutely. With electronic music, you are the creator, you have all the responsibility. If something does not work, you get frustrated. From nothing, you have to create something that is somehow emotionally interesting for people. But if you play in a band, you don’t have that responsibility. You are like a limb, like an arm or a leg. It’s nice to just be an element as a musician. I like defining and fulfilling my role. If you work alone, you can’t take yourself out of the equation. So that’s also why I love having friends to play music with.

What other forthcoming projects are you working on at the moment?

Over the summer, I have been working on a lot of sketches. Right now, I'm arranging those sketches and turning them into tracks. It’s not going to be like the last couple of EPs I did, which were about my way of seeing club music. Now I'm really trying to make an album that has wider listening perspectives. It will be like afternoon music you listen to at home on a Sunday. It’s that mood. It will be lazy but not unexciting lazy. It will have a certain sadness but not a depressing, pulling you down sadness. It’s going to be very instrumental. I am playing Fender bass and soprano saxophone. I have tried to put all these weird instruments together in tracks. It’s going to be very different to everything I have done until now. I am not even very sure what it will sound like.

Is it important for you to push the boundaries?

I think a lot of artists want to put their listeners in the same situation that they were in as listeners. I was always into music that was challenging so I want to challenge my audience and share that feeling that I had when I started loving music. I would hear a track and not really understand it but then, after hearing it the third time, I would think: ‘OK I like these chords’. And then, after listening to it seven times, you just get it and you get hooked on the track. I love it when music isn’t just in your face and likeable from the beginning, when you have to work yourself towards liking it.