Though the Brussels-based French producer basile3 has worked in a variety of electronic music modes, an interest in tactile sound design has been one throughline throughout their catalog. That command is on full display on their newest collection of music, which focuses on the chiller side of basile3 but retains a scintillating sonic quality. Influenced by a variety of downtempo and experimental music styles and methodologies, inside (winter 24-25 song collection) might’ve been made during a frigid, sealed time of the year, but we think it would sound great coming out of a Bluetooth speaker on the grass or at the beach. We sent some questions over to the artist. Read the interview and listen to inside (winter 24-25 song collection) below.
inside (winter 24-25 song collection) is a bit of a departure from some of your more banging, rhythmic material. How did you compose this body of music? What were you inspired by?
basile3: Yeah, true, it felt quite intuitive to do that. I started in November, in the beginning of winter. It was a moment where I finally had time to do whatever I wanted with no expectation of anything. I really just started to create music just for my own pleasure. I think I was quite attracted to this ambient, dub, whatever thing that is in the air right now with labels like 3XL or West Mineral, but also by the glitch/clicks and cuts/electronica scene from the early 2000s, with really clean sounds.
I've always been divided between rhythmic stuff and ambient/beatless songs, but at this moment, I was just making music for having a good time. I was a bit high and, like, really cozy at home but also feeling doomed by all the news on my phone and some other more personal stuff, so I guess it gives a very romantic/escapist vibe to this collection of tracks.
Is winter your favorite season? What do you like about it? Are you sad we are in spring?
It is not at all LOL. It's too cold and grey here and I don't like it, I go out way less. I wish it didn't exist to be honest (not a great heatwave summer enjoyer too though, LOL).
As I’m typing this, it's pure spring vibes here now with all the flowers blossoming, blue sky and sun and more hanging out outside, and I just don't understand how we survived winter basically LOL. But yeah, I guess winter is also a time of focus and work a bit more.
You talk about honesty being a guiding force in your creative process. How does that manifest itself in the music?
I think specifically with this project, I decided to use a lot of the very first recordings of my vocals, some of them are not even lyrics—it was just a vibe I was feeling at the moment. I could have curated more of this project and made it more "efficient" but Idk, I feel I'm more and more attracted to vulnerable/fragile music against overproduced, perfectly clean stuff. Still, I think I have a lot of habits that lean towards a pretty clean/quiet produced kind of music, but somewhat I try to find a balance.
Also this idea of honesty is pretty basic, it's about letting you dive and feel touched by what you are creating, whether it's more clubby tracks or a more intimate song. But somehow I feel it's a reason why my tracks often tend to have this intimate feeling even if there are club elements.
Where are you living in France right now? How do you like it?
I'm actually now living in Brussels! I've been in Belgium for three years, more or less. It is pretty great musicwise and socially, a lot of great musicians and people, with this kind of chill but passionate vibe about things. It's not really big but there's a lot of different scenes. In Paris, where I used to live, everything is a bit more competitive, tense, judgemental, hectic, even if there's nice people, but there's something in the air (probably the fashion industry :p and the size of the city).
But not everything is great in Brussels, the weather is pretty shit, the far right government is taking over, ready to destroy social policies, the police feel free to do whatever they want, and the cost of living is rising.
What was the process of making “Love Machine” like? Where did those lyrics come from?
I had the synths and leads since a long time, first the beat was a bit more Kanye West/Hudson Mohawke-like, but I flipped it in this pop/punk but pretty clean style at some point, and since everything on it was so clean and tight, I felt it would be a good idea to have a singer with a more punk attitude. I was following Daisy Ray's work and I felt it could be a great addition to the tracks. She said yes, started to try some stuff and progressively we put the pieces in order. I processed her vocals a bit differently than what she's used to do, I think it's pretty clear I was channeling Uffie energy LOL.
Lyrics come from Daisy but we had a chat before, I was talking about the vibe of my album, stuck between very intimate relationship kind of vibes and the need for shelter or super joyful moments to contrast with the sense of powerlessness going on right now.
How did your collaboration with Deena Abdelwahed come about? Could you talk a bit about the EP you made together a few years ago?
So we were signed on to the same label, Infiné, but we knew each other before that. I used to live in Toulouse and she did too. And one day it felt like the right moment for me and for her and for the label to try to do a collab EP to see what could come up. I sent her some melodic gimmicks and then she started making rhythmic patterns and quite easily these three tracks started to be put together. Then we had a few sessions together in Paris to make more sense of the ideas. Then I spent a bit more time on the structures/arrangements and tiny details, then she spent more time on the mixing part. So it was quite a nice and simple workflow, I have to say. I think with the tracks, we were finding elements we knew we both liked, but it was very intuitive and simple.
Is there a piece of gear or plug-in that you feel is essential to your workflow?
For this latest project, I used the granular synth VST Quanta a lot to make all this ambient soundscape-y pads, also here and there I use GRM Tools Evolution, which is a trick I learned from the masters Visible Cloaks because I had the opportunity to do a kinda masterclass/workshop led by them. Also Spectral Gate VST for this Audio Parasite kind of sound.
Also the vocals are all processed in the Kaoss Pad first, with pretty cheap effects, it's pretty fun to use live, too.
What kind of music have you been listening to lately? Anything been exciting or surprising to you?
I'm a big radio show enjoyer mainly, I think. Pam Early Bird Shows on NTS have been on rotation these past few months, I also love his vinyl resell website, a lot of amazing stuff there. Except that I'm pretty hyped by what Cruel Santino has been dropping recently, I'm looking forward to a new project, it's the perfect blend of cold synths, fun rhythms, sexy vocals, and very efficient tracks with this dreamy vibe. Loved the new bambinodj, I love Windowseeker, too.
I also was finally listening to this userband group from Marseille with colleagues Sarah-Louise and Yann; it's super well produced and fun, really nice to listen to in the sun these days. I also come back often to the latest Tristan Arp album. I'm really enjoying what Wisdom Teeth are putting out recently. The new one by Jorg Kuning is so fun, I just want to be on acid with cute people on a beach somewhere and dance to this in … weird ways.
Photo Credit: Raphaël Massart
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