All The Little Things is a collaboration between Tobisonics and Scottish Poet/Spoken-Word Artist, Wee Scots Poet [ft. BBC Wales & BBC Radio 6 Music]; a Nu-Disco groove for dancing around your home to; a spoken-word exploration from the sub-atomic to the astrological, a father introducing life, the universe & everything to his newborn baby; an indie-dance bop combining the electronic production of Daft Punk and disco-funk vocoder of Parliament with the lyrical depth and imagery of Arab Strap and psychedelic whimsy of Ivor Cutler.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Tobisonics about the latest music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
I grew up in the North of England. Now I live out in the sticks in Luxembourg. I make electronic pop noise. The flavor of which depends on what I’m going for and, in 2021, who I’m collaborating with.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
I’d say I was more compelled than led; compelled, firstly, by the need to be creative, but more than that, by the need to be in service to something greater than myself. My work is seldom, if ever, auto-biographical. 10+ years [and counting] of talking therapy has left me empty of songs to sing.
Every time you tell a story, you lose a novel. In a sense, every time you have a therapy session, you lose a song. I’ve found this creatively liberating. Being free of the baggage of self-expression has allowed me to create music that is fiercely contemporary in its subject matter; from “Military Industrial Complex”, to “Eye of the Storm”, to “All The Little Things”, each one belongs to the zeitgeist of its release. ..that means a lot to me.
Moreover, it’s how I make sense of my ongoing recovery from chronic depression/anxiety/PTSD. I read that the difference between people prone to depression and those not, is inherent self-worth; those who are not prone to depression have it, those who are prone to depression, don’t. It is in service to things greater than myself that I find a sense of purpose and a reason to keep going; to keep working the recovery; to keep fighting the condition that is actively trying to kill me every day.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Disco is the electronic genre of hard times. Right now, people need their Saturday Night Fever; but they can’t go out to clubs, so I wanted to bring the disco to people’s homes.
I built the production from the bassline up for this purpose. I filtered out much of the sub frequencies, cut the boomy low mids, and avoided harsh frequencies; I applied FXs and routing sparingly to maximize fidelity, and stuck stubbornly to only what was necessary in order to create a very spacious production; all so, “All The Little Things” can be played loud on the small consumer speakers, TVs, and earbuds/headphones.
Although both positive in their intentions and ultimately, to my mind, acts of social and moral commentary, my previous two releases were more political in tone. I didn’t just want to be “the politics guy”. “All The Little Things” is a direct response to a need; a direct social act [rather than an indirect social commentary].
My original idea was to have it celebrate the little things in life, but Chris [Wee Scots Poet] took the idea and really ran with it. He conjured this expansive, psychedelic, spoken-word exploration from the sub-atomic to the astrological; a father introducing a newborn baby to life, the universe, and everything.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this over saturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
At a grassroots level, the audience is so diluted over so many blogs, radio shows, podcasts, and playlists; although great for fans of independent music, and, to an extent, great for artists as it means far more opportunities to be heard; in order to get traction, independent artists have to really grind it out and contact an extremely high number of blogs, etc. to connect with a relatively small number of potential fans. It’s very labor-intensive. Grassroots independent artists have to do an awful lot for little in return.
And, of course, with that, the pressure to raise your game with each new release is unrelenting. The very best artists do stand out in the din of en-masse upload, but the necessary standard is immensely high. “All The Little Things” is a big step up for me, in terms of production, and I feel indicates I have the potential to reach those necessary heights, but the next releases will have to be yet another big step up if my music is to stand a chance of really standing out from the crowd.
The networking possibilities of social media are fantastic. I’ve connected with so many fellow artists and supporters of independent music; and in doing so, learned so much from talking to them and from watching how they go about promoting their own music; in fact, if there were one piece of advice, I’d give anyone trying to make it on the independent music scene, I’d say, get involved!
I have learned so much by volunteering to be a moderator for Fresh on the Net [run by Tom Robinson, BBC Introducing Mixtape]. Each week we hear 200 new tracks, representing the good, the bad, and the garage of independent music. It made me realize that every genre, from dance-pop to garage-rock, has its lazy clichés; and, when you hear a lot of music, week in week out, like bloggers, curators, and DJs do; these clichés turn you right off. Equally, it makes me acutely aware of just how much really good music there is out there, and how hard each of those artists is working to try to reach a potential audience. The hustle never ends.
Audio production technology, and computers in general, have come so far since I was at Art College studying Film & Video. I learned audio production, as part of production and post-production sound for video & film; we were working on analog SVHS [Super VHS] jog/shuttle editing machines and 16mm film with magnetic tape [Art College had a tape machine the size of a Fiat Punto]. When we switched to digital editing, we were using 7,200 rpm SATA drives; we thought 120 GBs was a big drive in those days. Now I have 4 x 1 TB SSD drives just for audio production.
What was the last song you listened to?
I’m listening to my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify as I’m typing these answers. Right now I’m listening to a cracking slice of indie rock “Don’t Know Me” by NRCSSST. Never heard of them before, but I’m liking this…
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Oh, bollocks. I know what I’m supposed to say, I’m supposed to say, vinyl, right? Can I say, radio? There’s a magic to listening to music on the radio that simply can not be beaten.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
I guess I’ve jumped the gun and already answered this one. Of the options you give, I do love the convenience and possibilities of Spotify. So much music at your figure tips is hard to say ‘no’ to. My Discover Weekly playlist is a regular treat and where would I be without my Release Radar? I’d never keep track of all the bands & artists I follow.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Twitter is probably the best place – although I’m everywhere – @tobisonics on Twitter, FB, Insta, Tik Tok, and Tumblr. The best place to discover more music is my website – www.tobisonics.com plus interviews, production breakdowns, music production tips, and advice, etc.
On the subject of discovering more music, people should check out the weekly new music playlist I put together in support of indie artists, “New Independent Music Friday”. 21 new tracks each week – 100% refreshed every week – ranging from indie-rock to hip-hop, singer-songwriter to electronic. And, of course, there’s the Fresh on Net Listening Post every Friday lunchtime. A great mix of independent noise.
Anything else before we sign off?
Be kind to each other. And listen to my new single, “All The Little Things” with Wee Scots Poet. It’ll make you smile and make you shake your bottoms.
