Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque.
Today, we have an absolutely legendary person joining the virtual hot seat here on ATD - New York based DJ, producer and visual artist Mr Hoosteen - known for his incredible nu disco and French house inspired music, his record label OMEAC and his dazzling visuals and branding. It's an honor to have him on the blog, and I thank him for agreeing to be interviewed.
Without further ado - I'll hand it over to him.
For those that don’t know you, who are you, and what music do you make?
Hello readers! My name is Mr. Hoosteen, I’m a NYC based producer and artist and I’ve been making French adjacent house music for several years now. I’ve dabbled in different styles of house and dance, being especially partial to disco house and overall disco from the 70s so I try to channel it as much as I can in my work. I also dabble in graphic design and visual art too and have made much of my own artwork and animations for my music and my label OMEAC Records.
Who have been your primary musical influences over the last ten years of you releasing music as Mr Hoosteen?
Before I get into the usual suspects, let me talk about Madonna. Upon discovering Daft Punk when I was 10-11, I began to remember her “Confessions On A Dance Floor” which was in heavy rotation when I was five years old. I felt a certain nostalgia upon listening to many of Daft Punk’s songs, and even songs like Modjo’s “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" and Room 5’s “Think About You” - Of course I remember hearing songs like “One More Time” and “Lady” when I was probably a toddler, but Madonna’s “Hung Up” was my favorite song at age 5 and conveniently she was inspired by the French touch movement!
I wound up taking inspiration from the Teachers, especially Paul Johnson and Romanthony, and the peers, namely Cassius and Basement Jaxx and Justice who are probably my biggest inspirations alongside Daft Punk and Madonna. Even outside the house sphere I’d argue The Chemical Brothers are probably one of my biggest inspirations visually and sound wise, they’re probably the main reason my Justice phase was short! It was almost dance-y but in a whole new way, I had no idea what big beat was at the time but between the visuals and the energy I was instantly inspired.
Like Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers were also a musical gateway to finding artists like Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, Fatboy Slim, The Avalanches, Bjork and even finding my way back to other childhood favorites, Gorillaz and The Go! Team. It was interesting to tap into my rock side for a bit even if I’ve barely engaged with it in my music, but the sort of eclectic mix of guitars, synths, and samples was just very mind opening for me at such a young age.
Your visuals and branding are awesome – can you tell us some of the inspirations behind them, and how you make them?
Honestly music has led me to finding my artistic style through cover art and animation. The Chemical Brothers have become my biggest source of inspiration for visuals, not just live but in their artwork too. I already had developed a love for Pop Art as a kid, namely the works of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, the latter of whom I still adore to this day. Kate Gibb similarly to Warhol worked with the silkscreen process but also engaged in mixed media with collages, paint, and very bright colors.
The artwork and branding she did for “Surrender” “Come With Us” and “We Are The Night” is actually what motivated me to become a graphic designer to begin with! Upon discovering her I’d also look into the works of Julian House who does similar techniques and has made artwork for artists like The Prodigy, Primal Scream, and Broadcast. He also designs artwork for his own label Ghost House which informed me in putting together the visual aesthetics for my own label.
Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall’s live show visuals have probably inspired me the most in terms of video work, and have helped me discover many experimental filmmakers and animators from the likes of Norman McLaren and Kenneth Anger.
I try to channel as much of these influences in my artwork and visuals as much as possible, even if the means are different. I’d been using PowerPoint since I was probably 4 years old and I’ve used it for quite a bit of my designs and illustrations over the years, as recently as “No Time 2 Lose” and its singles, although this is also where Adobe Illustrator has come into play with designing more intricate typography or logos. PowerPoint essentially is where I try to sketch everything nowadays.
Tell us more about your label, OMEAC Records.
OMEAC is the brainchild I conjured up when I was 12 years old after discovering the Roule and Crydamoure labels, I’m sure they need no introduction. The label mainly focuses on house music but I’ve since become open to other styles of electronic music. We’ve been relatively underground for quite some time but have made some waves over the years.
I’ve always been more partial to how Roule was organized as Thomas releasing music with him and his friends which is how I directly modeled my label, but the curation from Crydamoure, especially in the art direction and sound was so inspiring so I’ve tried to mix both together.
I’ve released not only all of my own work here but also from the big names such as Mere Notilde, Artemis Morte, Monte Hills, and French House legend Shadermader. All four artists in a sea of many talented people on the lineup are rather unique but still in the same house/electro realm. I’m glad to call many of these artists my friends too.
DJ Cockatiel, Instantreigen, Radd, Chello, and Artemis have helped me out over the years with the label in terms of organizing and just riffing off of each other's ideas. Filtre (me and DJ Cockatiel) and Morning End (Monte Hills and Radd) are absolutely the results of these collaborations/friendships blossoming, and all in such unique ways too.
You have various forms of house from disco to acid, French to Chicago, you have French electro, hints of jazz and rock influence, pure funk, techno, I’m really proud to have created such a diverse yet cohesive label over the past ten years despite the growing pains. I hope more people will discover it in the future and all the stuff we have to offer, we’re supposed to be working with vaporwave label Vault Of Discoveries on putting our entire discography on cassette so definitely be on the lookout!
What equipment do you use to make your music – and how has it changed from when you started?
Much of my work has always been “in the box”, save for some exceptions. I started out using a browser DAW called Audiotool which was used to produce much of my earlier work, namely the “Anachronism” album. Initially before that I was chopping samples in Serif MoviePlus which isn’t even a production software, but Audiotool helped make it easier! Eventually I graduated to Ableton and have been using it to this day.
It was nerve wracking at first but after producing “Vanguard” from “No Time 2 Lose” and the Filtre song “Mass Production” I’d say I got the hang of it pretty quick! My process for sampling has evolved a bunch the more I knew what I was doing, but there’s a lot of charm in the older material that’s just me messing around leading to some very catchy loops, i.e. “E.D.M.” and “Illusions” - My ride or die plugins as of late have been the Phaser-DDL plugin which recreates the phaser sound used on many French touch records, and the ABL3 which helps emulate the sound of the Roland TB-303 which has been quite a fixture on my work too.
Building onto this – can you tell us about some secrets behind the production process behind your two full length albums, Anachronism and No Time 2 Lose?
“Anachronism” and the preceding EPs are extremely interesting because virtually I had no idea what I was doing for much of my teen years. I’d been working on a slew of songs that would come together to form my first album but it was all me trying to mimic and pay homage to the various house styles I was listening to at the time. Producing in a browser DAW was no easy feat, especially when the album has transitions in between the songs. For that I had to work in Serif MoviePlus to put all the transitions together and finish the songs with the intros and outros baked in. Audiotool also offered software versions of the 909, 808, and 303 which I used to my favor, and several samplers that made for some really cool sounds, including this Rasselbock machine I used to create the glitchy noises on “Acid Track No. 1”
“No Time 2 Lose” on the other hand is the first album to be produced with Ableton, but some songs such as “Illusions” - “Demuth” and “Neue” got their start as demos on Audiotool and were redone on Ableton. There was also a bit of a learning curve for the process of this album but there was much more of a mix of techniques as a result of the new direction. This album was leaning a lot more into the nu-disco Y2K style of house and french touch, so my friend Chello wound up playing a prominent role on the album. Aside from playing rhythm guitar and rhodes for songs like “2020” and “One Day” he also ran the samples for “No Time 2 Lose" - “ I Want 2 Be Your Tomorrow” and “Neue” through an actual Ensoniq DP-4, the same phaser used by the robots. On the Audiotool side there were ways to run samples through the built in 303 so I wound up doing that for the intro of “Demuth” when I first made the song. In some other aspects drums were engineered using the DAW’s Machiniste sampler like with “Anachronism” but a majority of the songs’ drums were done through Ableton, including stock phasers on other songs as to not get too repetitive with the sound.
What’s your favourite food?
I love a lot of Puerto Rican and Italian cuisine even if it’s rather Americanized. Rice and beans has especially been a fixture since I was a child, my family’s cooking was always the best. Spaghetti, lasagna, baked ziti, different rice dishes I always have enjoyed. Even outside of that I’ve enjoyed Asian and Indian food, though I’ve had Indian food only once, but I’ve enjoyed plenty of sushi and have had hot pot a few times. I’m too much of a sweet tooth though especially in regards to chocolate, Reese’s are my weakness and I’ll make hot chocolate every winter.
If you could perform live with three of your musical heroes, who would they be, and why?
Ian Parton, Madonna, and Philippe Zdar. Ian Parton is the lead of the band The Go! Team and as a live act with his band they embody energy and happiness. I had the pleasure of seeing them live last year and managed to have a conversation with him after the show. It always seemed fun to be part of a band and especially with the eclectic sound they have mixing samples and live instrumentation.
Madonna would be a pleasure to do live production for. Her collaborator Stuart Price started out as Madonna’s musical director for her live shows and at the time was doing production work at the time as Les Rhythmes Digitales and Jacque Lu Cont. To be able to reinvent her songs and create the mixes and mashups, also performing in a band would be fantastic, and I mean it’s Madonna!! Though this style would be more up my alley doing stuff electronically.
Lastly, the late Philippe Zdar would have been a dream. Even if Cassius hasn’t performed as a band since 2007, it would be amazing to have even met the guy once before he passed away, or even a fantasy scenario where I would be on stage performing “Toop Toop” - “1999” or “La Mouche alongside Boombass and Gladys Gambie, what a powerhouse!
Boombass and Zdar were already powerful DJs and to have been alongside that would’ve been a dream. Much love and respect to Philippe.
You recently released a remastered version of EDM – the first song you released all the way back in July 2015 – what’s the backstory behind that track?
The story of “E.D.M.” goes all the way back to 2013. It was one of my ways of mimicking Thomas Bangalter’s edit of Alan Braxe’s “Vertigo” in addition to “Delite” from the same album. I wanted to try chopping samples but hadn’t found a proper way to produce so I chopped “What A Feeling” by Irene Cara in the movie making software I used, it was a very scrappy process. There are two demos of the original version before I remade it in Audiotool, only one of which I’ve managed to recover dating back to early 2014. It was shared among friends and played by RobClemz in online DJ hangouts we used to do when those sites existed. It ultimately was rebuilt in Audiotool proper and became my first released song when I finally managed to put an EP together. That EP would go on to be called “2014” and turned 10 years old this past July!
I’ve always wondered – what’s the story behind your name?
That one’s a little more personal, it’s based on my real name and a few friends on the old Daft Club forum suggested I use Mr. as a prefix instead of DJ. I almost named myself DJ Hoosteen!
What would your dream vacation be like?
My dream vacation would be a Europe trip to hang out with all of my friends in France, Germany, the UK, Italy etc. I’d love to taste all the food, go nightclubbing, see all the sights, and just be in great company. Maybe do a little DJing here and there with the friends who know how to DJ and make art with the friends who know how to make art. It'd be even better in the metropolitan areas, because I’m a city boy at heart.
What would you say is the best of your work as a producer, and why?
The best work I’ve made isn’t even out yet, but in terms of what is out I’d point to probably “One Day”, both the original and the Filtre remix. It’s the first time I’ve ever done any full songwriting and relied very little on samples, the vocals done by Chris Lawless was just the perfect addition. I’ve always wanted to go in a full disco direction and I’d argue that song managed great especially with Chello’s help. I’d also point to “Lightyears” - “Studio 54” - “U Know How” and “I Want 2 Be Your Tomorrow” as great examples of some of my best solo work. The remixes I’ve done for Discoholic, Mere, Fibre, and RobClemz are absolutely up there too in terms of my abilities to mangle and really flip a song on its head.
Have you got anything planned in the coming months you’d like to tell us about?
In the coming months unfortunately not! I do hope to release more stuff from other artists on my label OMEAC, but solo I’ve just finished a 3 show run of my live project “Metropolis” so I’m taking a much needed break while working towards new material for my next album. Much of the new material won’t be ready for a while, so I might be silent for now. I’ve considered releasing some of the live versions of the older songs I performed on the Metropolis down the line and extra remixes from others so that might be the next step until the new songs are ready.
What are some of your dream goals you’d like to reach as a producer and DJ in the coming years?
I above all want to start performing live, DJ sets and live production akin to The Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. The shows I did at Sanctuary, Beats For A Broken World, and Skylive are major examples of what I want to take to the stage, of course with more lighting! I definitely want to be able to get better at working outside the box too with performing and production too.
Many of my friends have graduated to using hardware alongside DAW production and I’d love to hop on board.I have synths waiting to be used but I’ve never found the time to set everything up. Maybe someday I could be the Stuart Price to an aspiring Madonna and produce an album for a singer, preferably in my usual style, even producing for a band like Alan Wilder for Depeche Mode would be sick too.
Do you want to give any tips to aspiring producers, DJs and visual artists?
The most I can say is be open and also stick to your creative intuition. Be open to learning new techniques and other peoples’ advice but absolutely stick to your creative guns and try to consider all the ways you can take inspiration from the world and people around you. Another thing is it’s okay if things take time, I’ve been doing Mr. Hoosteen for over ten years now and it’s still very much an uphill battle, but you’ll absolutely grab wins here and there no matter how difficult the road is. I have a hard time telling myself that but to anyone still struggling to keep persistent with music or any creative endeavors, as long as you take care of yourself and keep at it it’s absolutely worth it to see the vision through.
Do you want to give any shoutouts to anyone?
Much love to my entire OMEAC family: Instantreigen, DJ Cockatiel, Radd, Artemis Morte, Chello, Martin Fleury, Monte Hills, Rixile, Berde, Ankaph, Luce, and Shadermader for sticking by me through the highs and lows in music and in life. Also to RobClemz, Fibre, Discoholic, and Mere Notilde for being my first friends in the future funk scene and helping me to attain the platform I have now. Additional love to Ly, KiWY, Swyrles, Luma, Midnight Drift, Ivan, Peter, Cassette Cache, Zesty, Estopa Man, Yphonichs, Andy, Crystal Eternal, Meat, Manikin, Nebby, Ghastrophonic, QB9, Loze, Poetically, Penny, Beenis, and Cocoa, for being absolutely awesome. Finally, shoutouts to anybody who has ever taken the time to listen to my work, the albums and remixes, from the bottom of my heart I appreciate you all!
There you have it everyone!
I want to say another thank you to Mr Hoosteen for agreeing to be interviewed, and it's beyond a pleasure to have him on the blog. You can find his amazing work on all good streaming services and music retailers, but for now, I'll link his YouTube and Bandcamp pages.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post - make sure to follow the blog, and keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
Great interview
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