Untold Sequence interviews Ascion

Techno producer Pasquale Ascione, also known as Ascion, was born in Naples Italy. As a child, he was fascinated by electronics and his hunger for technology quickly matured. When the introduction to electronic music emerged, Ascion immediately indulged himself into the local underground scene. Soon he met friend and future collaborator, D. Carbone, who would play a major role in Ascion's electronic voyage. He began to experiment with different software, creating his own style and unique sounds. As his skills developed, so did his growing reputation.


USQ: Tell us about Ascion

I begin by saying that Ascion is my surname without "e" and anywhere in the world I've stayed in, they have pronounced it differently. I was born 1988 in a town called Ottaviano near Vesuvius. Since childhood I have been passionate about computers. By 12 years old, I started to wander around the web and make websites. In those days, I was very keen to house music because my sister went to parties and I could not, but I knew all the songs. After high school, I moved to Urbino with my best friend (D.Carbone) to study multimedia design at the Academy of Fine Arts. I graduated and now I moved to Berlin, the place where I feel best at the moment. I love art and, besides being an artist in the techno scene, I've made videos, pictures, different music and so on.

USQ: What was the setup that you used to record USQMIX022 and why do you prefer to use this?

I used two Turntables and a Computer. I recorded the mix in my studio in Berlin. I used this setup so that i can play promos and my unreleased stuff because I'm bored to make cds.

USQ: We can see that REPITCH 000 is on air, what was the inspiration to make this release/track [Untitled 1]?

It's what i feel as "repitch sound." Its my label and i can expose myself 100%.

USQ: How often do you play week by week and what can we wait of ASCION'S show?

I'm not playing much lately, maybe because I'm done with my old bookings and I (maybe) don't promote myself enough. But I assure you, when you can play every weekend in a month, it is very special. Especially if the crowds are people who know your music, it is very exciting. The only flaw is that they should invent teleportation, or end up hating airports! In my sets, I try to lead the audience on a sound trip. Sometimes I can be with a deep vein, or also more industrial at times, and also when I can, I like to experiment bringing on an all futuristic concept. It also depends on location and what turns me on the head. But overall I play what I like without an outline.



USQ: What is the biggest reason to move to BERLIN?

I moved here because I was not happy with the way you live in my country, and in Italy I have never found enough room for my art .Especially because I feel that Berlin is now the nerve center of a given techno scene and I wanted to live it! Here I am also inspired by what I see; I am a person that lives from many sensations including visual, so sometimes it's really nice travel with the imagination.

USQ: What do you think about the digitalization issues, production and mixing. Digital is a good way to innovate or tools will always be better to use analog?

Surely the heat from any analog-machine can never be replaced by a plug in a computer. Also the fact that touching vinyl or pressing a button is totally different. The thing I regret is that many young novices are not informed. They want everything at once. For this reason a lot of things are going wrong, especially for vinyl. The two could continue to coexist; for example, it takes the same time per track to rip vinyl, which usually come out before of the digital release, or i mean an "only vinyl" release. And you can use your computer, if you want play with traktor or something else. In these modern years everything is simplified, and I admire this progress and I use it, but we must not forget the things that led us to where we are now and support it! I do.

USQ: A few months ago, we have been listening to a very different Techno from what we heard earlier by you, what led you to take this evolution in your music?

To be honest when I started to play around with electronic music ,I did my first production at 140 bpm!I was really young - something like 14 15 years old - but already by then attending clubs, documenting about the minimal and techno music bpm were reduced and the sounds were those who could please me at that time, was the time when I followed many minimal DJs and consequently they influenced me. Entering then into the scene, with the passage of time, many tracks did not satisfy me and, after much research, I understood what kinds of sounds really give me emotions. I have definitely moved on techno scene which eventually was always in my heart right from beginning, leaving behind an "almost certain" future in the techno-minimal scene. I'm happy right now even if I do not play every weekend. I find myself in a rewarding ambient. It's nice to do what excites you and you really love.




USQ: Between running a label, producing, remixing and touring do you find the chance to listen to music that isn’t dancefloor orientated?

Yeah sure!! Just 5 min ago i was listening to "Murcof" and 10 more at "Bjork - Unravel" (live in tokyo).. i simply love her voice and also her Icelandic accent. Sometime i listen to varied electronic music, idm, 2step, dustup as well but above all I love music without rhythm when i need to relax.

USQ: What's coming for ASCION for the rest of year?

Repitch 001 as "Repitch" that is always a project between me and Davide, also some original tracks always on REPITCH recordings. Some remixes for Brian Sanhaji, Max_m, Bcr boys, Cabarete groove and more projects and collaboration that I can't speak about right now… I will also start to work at my album when i feel in the right mood.

USQ: Top 5 of best tracks ever for you?

This is one of the most difficult questions that I have ever been asked. I will list some of the tracks (dancing enabled) that always give me emotions when I am listening:

Jeff Mills - The Bells
Teste - The Wipe (5am synaptic)
Matthew Jonson - Decompression
James Ruskin - Lahaine
Regis - Speak to me

Untold Sequence interviews Markus Suckut

Markus’ own musical history began in 1999, at the brink of the new millennium an interest in electronic music was awakened in the young, Germany-based Markus. At the time it was less about committing to one musical direction, than about the excitement of DJing and testing sonic limits. Carried along by the excitement of these inital impressions Markus began to teach himself to mix and within a few short years his first productions followed.


USQ: What was the set up used to record USQMX21 and where was it recorded?

I've used two Turntables, two CD-Players and a two-channel mixer. I've recorded the mix in my bedroom at home.

USQ: Tell us a little bit about Markus Suckut?

Well, I was born 1987 and I life in a small village near Duesseldorf, Germany. I am into electronic music since 1999 I guess.

USQ: How do you define your musical style?


USQ: Which are your biggest influences at the moment to produce music, and why?

My surrounding, friends and everything what happens inspires me somehow.

USQ: How is the process of making your music? Do you have a pre-idea before making something or just let everything come out in the moment? Tell us about that?

Sometimes I have an idea, sometimes I haven't and I just go with the flow. I use a mixture of analogue and software for producing my music. I hope to collect some more analogue gear in the future, because it's a lot of fun to have your hands on drummachines and synthesizers.

USQ: We have seen your appearances on Stroboscopic Artefacts and Figure SPC, two very important labels nowadays. How did you get to release music there?

After i've heard the first three couple releases of Stroboscopic Artefacts and I really liked that stuff, I was like, just giving it a try and I've send a few tracks to Lucy. I guess a few days later he answered and he wanted to give me a call, he told me about the future projects, at this time it was the Monad Series and no one knew about it, and he asked me if I would like to get involved. I said yes and things went like they are right now.
For the Figure SPC stuff, I have send Len nearly a year before the first release some Tracks, they were harder, it was more thought for Figure. He liked that stuff, made edits of some tracks, but he never wanted to release it. But he told me, that I should keep him up to date. So we kept in touch, I've send him a huge package and the Figure SPC J was born few weeks later. It's a huge honor for me to be a part of that Figure crew, because I followed him for some years and I also have a couple of Podium and Figure releases at home on vinyl. We really keep in touch and keep our selfs up to date once a week and you can expect more stuff on Figure SPC in the future I guess, but I don't want to release to much details for that right now. I really feel home there and it's a huge family. You simply should have an eye on that.


USQ: How does the idea come to make SPC K (Figure SPC) with Jeroen Search? How was the work method to make that release?

Jeroen and I have met a month before the release of SPC J or so in Cologne. He was playing live there and Cologne is not that far away from where I am living at the moment. We had some chat via Facebook before. So we finally met in Cologne that day, we had dinner together, talked a lot and were kidding around that we should produce some tracks together. Some days later Jeroen was sending me some loops he has recorded with his analogue gear. He asked me if I could work out that stuff and I did. That's how we got together. Sadly we never were together in the same studio, we were sending a lot of loops back and forth and discussed everything via chat.
After we've finished the first track “JSMS1.0”, we thought it just would make sense to release it on Figure SPC because we are both artists of that nice label. You know, Jeroen is somehow the reason why Figure SPC came real. So we've send Len that track, told him our idea and he was totally into it from the first second and asked for more material for an EP. The whole process started again then, it took some weeks to get it all together, cause we have totally different ways for producing but in the end it was totally worth it and we became close friends.

USQ: We can see SCKT is on the road and is going to be “vinyl only”. Tell us the main reason to do not want to make a digital/vinyl (both formats) label and what’s behind this project.

The main idea is just to release my own stuff and the good thing is that I have no rules for that, I will be able to do what I want. I have 100% control of the music and the artwork. Also the artwork, which will be always be black and white, I always will do on my own. So you will get 100% me when you hold a SCKT record in your hands. I will keep it vinyl only, because I still believe into that kind of medium, you have something beautiful in your hands and not just a crappy file on your computer. I guess the whole music industry has huge problems since all that digital stuff developed. I have started Djing with vinyl ten years ago, I also tried out that digital djing for a period of time... but somehow I came back to my roots, I guess it was a sign somehow. It's not the same to dj with a laptop. It sucks that everyone calls himself a dj just because that person knows how to use that sync function... If you will give them two vinyl records, I bet, they won't be able to mix them... Those people never went through the history of our music which we are doing. Also I hate it, to come into a club and nothing works, nothing is connected right or you have acoustic feedbacks and if you ask me, it's also sad to have a technician in a club that doesn't know how to solve a problem... or knows where the mistake is... We never had those kind of problems before all that digital stuff! That are some reasons why I will keep it vinyl only.

USQ: Which has been the place you remember the most, among all those places you have been playing? And why?

It was Techno Revolution in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Everything worked out so well, it was really the best party I have played, it was in an old fabric for cigarette filters and the crowd totally went crazy. Also I enjoyed everything around the party, the promoters and I had a nice day, the showed me their city and I had some typical russian food.



USQ: What’s coming from Markus Suckut in the next months?

Of course I am working on more material for Figure SPC and SCKT. There will be a 12” released on Repitch, the label from Ascion, D. Carbone and Shapednoise, including a really cool remix by Marcelus and there will be a few remixes I've done. Last but not least there's coming the debut EP on my label SCKT beginning of 2012 but I guess the best to be up to date is my website or my facebook page.

USQ: Top 5 of best tracks ever for you?

Hard to pick, so I choose simply 5 of the tracks which never leave my iPod.

Joy Division – She's Lost Control
Radiohead – Idioteque
No More – Suicide Commando
Portishead – Machine Gun
Grauzone - Eisbär