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Music

ADULTROCK's Transcendent New Single 'Goldwaves' [Exclusive Premiere]

New music from Dublin electronic music producer Gavin Elsted

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ADULTROCK, the electronic music producer Gavin Elsted, is starting to make a bit of a name for himself. Coming out of the burgeoning Dublin electronic music ferment, Elsted appropriates a particular brand of the early-to-mid '90s electronic music (think Underworld and The Orb) and transposes it with the more modern flavors of Blondes and Teengirl Fantasy, for instance.

On "Goldwaves", Elsted creating gorgeous washes of sound atop a gently throbbing bassline and druggy house beat. It's not exactly hard dancefloor material but a mental and bodily palette cleanser between more raucous club bangers.

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I caught up with Gavin to talk about "Goldwaves", his past work with rock bands, and how he dances "horribly".

THUMP: "Goldwaves" has a sort of early-to-mid '90s vibe to it. Traces of Underworld and The Orb, to my ears, with the washes of colorful synths and the gentle propulsion forward without demanding that the listener step onto the dancefloor. Can you talk about what you were after with the track?

Gavin Elsted: I guess I just wanted to make something that I would want to hear in a club if I was out. I'm really drawn to melodies rather than structure or form, if that makes sense. I'm after something that grabs the ear, then moves the feet. But, I guess in this case I wanted a combination of both. Plus, I dance horribly. So this track is for serial dancefloor head-nodders like me—made for vibing it out without looking like a total dope.

What's your background in music?
I mainly played in rock bands up until now, so I'm more well-versed in traditional instrumentation than electronic composition. While naivete can produce some fairly good results, more often than not it concludes with you being totally stumped as how to why everything sounds like it was recorded through a soggy toilet roll. Am enjoying the learning process, though? Totally. And it feels like more of an achievement when something goes right or sounds good because it's just me.

What's your studio setup like? Are you pretty minimal with a laptop and plug-ins or do you use hardware as well?
Currently just using laptop and a couple of well-chosen plugins and samples from analogue synths I've come across from hours of trawling. I have a couple of hardware samplers that I use occasionally for processing but that's about it. I very much want to make the switch to all-hardware for playing live. It's more dynamic and the mistakes you make can be kind of cool. Expanding to a full band isn't really in the plan for ADULTROCK, so making things a bit more real would be a good step I think.

What are some bands that might be consciously or subconsciously influencing your musical direction at the moment?
I don't really know. I guess I have been listening to stuff like Blondes and Boards of Canada, but that's what I've always been listening to. A lot of really good stuff is coming out of Ireland as well at the moment, not just electronica-wise. Biggest influence has and always will be friends and their recommendations. Good, bad or indifferent I can always glean something from something new.

What are you working on at the moment in the studio or outside of it?
Getting tracks together for some sort of release. It's a total cliche to say that the tracks on a release need to have some sort of uniformity but it's very true. I haven't decided what way I want to put that across yet. Not going to be doing anything totally unexpected but I'd like there to be a progression of sorts. Outside of music I am currently upping sticks from cozy Newbridge (home of MMOTHS and a load of really cool bands and artists) to Dublin, setting up a little studio by the sea. Can't wait. I think it will be the impetus I need to finish off what I'm doing.

Have any strange happenings occurred in your life lately?
Just a lot of change, both bad and good. And a lot of really strange dreams with some people I lost last year giving me garbled advice. If I got them analyzed I'd say I wouldn't get out of bed—I'd be that afraid, but at least I know they're there. I'm not a spiritual person but the connection is nice to have.