Active since 2005 and with a score of singles and EPs on his discography, Distant Fragment has steadily been working towards a carefully produced artist album as the next logical step in his career. The first demos of the release caught the attention of Black Hole Recordings, now proudly presenting Distant Fragment’s debut album entitled “Passage To Wonders”.
At first only listening to bands like The Prodigy, Greek DJ/Producer Distant Fragment a.k.a. Nick Tsitlakidis gradually found his interest in the various soundscapes created by computers and synthesizers in house music. At age 15 he made his first steps in music production, heavily influenced by Sasha's seminal album "Airdrawndagger" and the acclaimed Global Underground mix compilations. In 2005 he mailed out his first demos and soon after his releases found their way to the big audiences. Nick's "Utopia" EP put his name on the map, and his follow up singles all harvested the support from artists like Sultan, John Digweed, Tiesto and Markus Schulz.
Now with the release of his own debut artist album "Passage To Wonders", Distant Fragment follows in the footsteps of the great names he admired as an early producer. The 14-track album "Passage To Wonders" is like a trip through a young producer's mind, and offers an enticingly varied selection of trance, progressive and chill-out tracks. The two vocal cuts on the album were recorded in collaboration with Nick's fellow producer and friend Theofilos Karsanidis.
From the mystique of the intro "Alchemy", to the slow paced "Another Dawn", Distant Fragment paves the way for the more trance/progressive dance tracks with "Born Above The Sky". Finding the right exchange between up and downtempo album cuts, Distant Fragment manages to deliver an album that entertains from start to finish, and demands multiple replays like a true "Passage To Wonders".
Press play on your CD player and enjoy Passage To Wonders while you read this extensive and very informative interview with Nick at Distant Fragments.
Interview is written and conducted by Dimitri Kechagias, Music Journalist/Radio dj
Dimitri: First of all it would be great to give us some background about your childhood. Do you come from a family that has any connections with music and when did you decide to pursue a career as an EDM producer and were your parents supportive of this decision?
Distant Fragment: Although I'm the only one in my family who decided to start a music career, I was very lucky to grow up in an environment full of music. Eventually I became a listener of many different styles than those played by my parents or my brother when I was young, but having music around me constantly shaped my love of rhythm and melody. Regarding my decision to pursue this kind of career, I was also lucky to have the support and honest opinions of my family as well. Being an EDM producer is not a perfect example of a “safe” career, so it would be weird if they didn't express their concerns.
Dimitri: What kind of music were you listening to as teenager and can you pin point for us the artists that have influenced your music, and if possible to explain in what way?
Distant Fragment: Most of the time I would listen to various EDM bands or producers who were focusing on big beat tracks or other similar genres. Some artists from this spectrum were Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers etc. I was also listening to a lot of Hip Hop at that moment, and I think the main influence of all these styles was my great love of sampling music for my tracks. After that I discovered progressive house just when it was going through its golden era. I was spending hours trying to understand all the technical details of the tracks produced or played by artists like Sander Kleinenberg, Sasha and James Holden, and when I finally understood how they did it, I was spending even more hours trying to achieve the same results and experimenting with music software on my computer. Lately I find inspiration in genres far from house, and perhaps that's the reason for the small amount of dance oriented tracks in the album.
Dimitri: Do you have any formal musical education? Have you attended music production courses or are you 100% self taught?
Distant Fragment: I've never had any formal musical education or production courses. It's not a bad thing but I was always fascinated by experimenting with music or technology and see what I can create on my own. As a child I used to listen to different songs and I was trying to play their chords or melodies on a small keyboard I had, so maybe that helped a bit. Also friends or other producers have shared some of their secrets with me, but that's the closet thing to a music production course for me. When it comes to new software, Google helps a lot as well.
Dimitri: What kind of equipment did you use to produce your very first tracks and what kind of equipment did you use to produce your excellent album Passage to Wonders. Do you have any favorite hardware or software that you always enjoy using making music with?
Distant Fragment: I think that the only change worth mentioning in my equipment since my first tracks is the addition of Ableton Live in my workflow. Live made the creative process faster so this is definitely one of my favorites. I'm not a fan of hardware synths or effects so I'm always juggling with many software plugins to make something sound just the way I want it to, and as I've said before, sampling is a big part of my workflow too. It's like playing a game and many tracks have started just by sampling some sound and doing all sorts of crazy manipulations on it. That being said, I think that the biggest change since my first tracks is the completely different music I listen to nowadays. Passage To Wonders is based on a combination of all the above.
Dimitri: Which is the track or tracks you consider being the ones that helped you to gain recognition at a global level, and got support from big name DJs?
Distant Fragment: Utopia, the collaboration with the extremely talented Steve Mill, is probably the one that helped more than others. It came out at the right time, and it had quite a big impact.
Dimitri: Is it possible to define the elements that constitute the Distant Fragment sound?
Distant Fragment: This is a question I use to ask myself as well, but I'm not sure I can answer it. I'm always trying not to repeat myself when I'm in the studio, and I think I can achieve it to a certain degree so I think that all my tracks are different. I may be totally wrong though.
Dimitri: How did you manage to attract the attention of Black Hole recordings and how did you feel when they offered you the contract to do an album with such an important record company?
Distant Fragment: Some years ago Mr Sam released his second Opus compilation on Black Hole and an exclusive track of mine was included in it, so that's when I had the first contact with the label.
Black Hole was one of the first options that came to my mind when I started thinking of where to send the album demos to because they release a wide range of quality music. Having a label of this magnitude releasing my debut album was obviously great, and I couldn't be happier with the way things worked.
Dimitri: How long did it take you to produce the whole album? Are all the tracks specifically produced for this album, or does it include older tracks that you have produced in the past?
Distant Fragment: The older ideas in the album are five or six years old. Of course that doesn't mean that all of them are that old. Since the beginning, the plan was to create music for an album in the future. No deadlines have been set and I let the creative process take all the time it needed.
Dimitri: Did you work full time to produce it or did you have another daytime job as well? What other jobs have you done so far, except producing music & DJing?
Distant Fragment: I've been working on it at a time when other tracks (more dance-oriented) were being released, as well as remixing music for various labels. It sounds like it needs a lot of time and it does, but DJing and producing is not my only job. I'm also a web developer, and this takes all the remaining energy before and after studio sessions.
Dimitri: Was it an easy or a difficult adventure to produce the album? Can you highlight the main difficulties that you had during the production process?
Distant Fragment: I guess it could be a lot harder so I'm grateful that it worked out as planned. It wasn't all easy though. I think every artist faces challenges when he tries to complete such a task. For example making new tracks blend with slightly older ones was a difficulty I wasn't expecting. It took some time to overcome such obstacles but it was a learning experience.
Dimitri: It would be great to take us for a virtual tour of the CD and describe with your own words each track from the album. This can be about the production, collaborations, influences, etc
Distant Fragment:
1. Alchemy
I've always liked the concept of having a small intro track to an album. That's what Alchemy is. Although the first track on the album, it was the last track I produced after having a clear picture of what the rest of the tracks were.
2. Another Dawn
Another Dawn was one of the very first tracks I've finished for the album. It was one of the tracks that I have changed a lot when I was mixing the album because it's initial version was 4 years old.
Another Dawn was one of the very first tracks I've finished for the album. It was one of the tracks that I have changed a lot when I was mixing the album because it's initial version was 4 years old.
3. Born Above The Sky
This is the only track produced without having the album in mind and ended being on it. It was sitting on my hard drive for a long time, and I was thinking of sending it to labels for a single release. One day I was listening to it and it suddenly made sense to be a part of the album.
This is the only track produced without having the album in mind and ended being on it. It was sitting on my hard drive for a long time, and I was thinking of sending it to labels for a single release. One day I was listening to it and it suddenly made sense to be a part of the album.
4. Backyard Ghosts
I've started this one after sampling a soundtrack (which will remain anonymous) and dropping its speed to the tempo of a trip hop track. It was difficult to find elements that fitted well together, but when the drum loop and the bass were ready it became easier.
I've started this one after sampling a soundtrack (which will remain anonymous) and dropping its speed to the tempo of a trip hop track. It was difficult to find elements that fitted well together, but when the drum loop and the bass were ready it became easier.
5. Every Second Flash
Every Second Flash started as a personal challenge. I was away from home only having my laptop with me which included the setup for my DJ sets. I wanted to try and complete a track using only Ableton Live with no midi controllers, no synth plugins and no proper soundsystem. I failed miserably but half of the track was ready and the rest was made in the studio. One of my very favorite tracks.
Every Second Flash started as a personal challenge. I was away from home only having my laptop with me which included the setup for my DJ sets. I wanted to try and complete a track using only Ableton Live with no midi controllers, no synth plugins and no proper soundsystem. I failed miserably but half of the track was ready and the rest was made in the studio. One of my very favorite tracks.
6. Clarity
I think that the album was 70% complete when I started feeling weird for not having a more house influenced track for it. This was the time I picked Born Above The Sky and started working on Clarity as well. It's one of the tracks that leverage the power of using Ableton Live and Propellerhead Reason together.
I think that the album was 70% complete when I started feeling weird for not having a more house influenced track for it. This was the time I picked Born Above The Sky and started working on Clarity as well. It's one of the tracks that leverage the power of using Ableton Live and Propellerhead Reason together.
7. Motion Stopper
Created as a small tribute to the stuff I was playing back in the day. It's a typical breaks track which provided the challenge of keeping it interesting without including a breakdown in the track. It keeps going and going.
Created as a small tribute to the stuff I was playing back in the day. It's a typical breaks track which provided the challenge of keeping it interesting without including a breakdown in the track. It keeps going and going.
8. Haunted
Haunted was very close to being deleted from my hard drive. At least it's initial ideas, which included the main hook and some of the drums. I recall being frustrated by what could be added that wasn't already in other tracks, and I thought of sampling some non-lyrics vocals because that's the only thing that made sense at the moment. It was written at a time when I was shocked with Burial's music and how he used samples for it. It was also winter, so maybe that's why it's so moody.
Haunted was very close to being deleted from my hard drive. At least it's initial ideas, which included the main hook and some of the drums. I recall being frustrated by what could be added that wasn't already in other tracks, and I thought of sampling some non-lyrics vocals because that's the only thing that made sense at the moment. It was written at a time when I was shocked with Burial's music and how he used samples for it. It was also winter, so maybe that's why it's so moody.
9. No Hopes (featuring Vicky & Foulo)
I think No Hopes is the excellent follow up to Haunted although they were created at very different periods. It's a collaboration with Foulo, the guitarist from Fantasies and Sunny Contemplation, who this time had an epiphany and wrote the melody using my keyboards in 4 or 5 minutes I think. The vocalist is Vicky, and if there is a second album I'm planning to work on more tracks with her.
I think No Hopes is the excellent follow up to Haunted although they were created at very different periods. It's a collaboration with Foulo, the guitarist from Fantasies and Sunny Contemplation, who this time had an epiphany and wrote the melody using my keyboards in 4 or 5 minutes I think. The vocalist is Vicky, and if there is a second album I'm planning to work on more tracks with her.
10. Underwater Duck
Also a favorite of mine because it's quite different and it set the ground for further experimenting on other tracks. It became quite emotional although it started as a simple exploration of various software capabilities. There is also a hidden meaning in the title...
Also a favorite of mine because it's quite different and it set the ground for further experimenting on other tracks. It became quite emotional although it started as a simple exploration of various software capabilities. There is also a hidden meaning in the title...
11. Clockwise
I was listening to Telefon Tel Aviv and various ambient artists like Carbon Based Lifeforms when I was working on Clockwise. I think most of its ideas were a result of my attempt to interpret some of the inspiration I got from the music of these artists. At first it was a completely ambient piece but when I finished the drumloop I thought it fitted too well to keep it without drums.
I was listening to Telefon Tel Aviv and various ambient artists like Carbon Based Lifeforms when I was working on Clockwise. I think most of its ideas were a result of my attempt to interpret some of the inspiration I got from the music of these artists. At first it was a completely ambient piece but when I finished the drumloop I thought it fitted too well to keep it without drums.
12. Burn All Particles
This one is influenced by dubstep and the whole hype around it. To be more specific, the meaningful dubstep. I've tried to combine some structures found in that genre with the other styles included in the album to avoid making something that sounds completely out of place.
This one is influenced by dubstep and the whole hype around it. To be more specific, the meaningful dubstep. I've tried to combine some structures found in that genre with the other styles included in the album to avoid making something that sounds completely out of place.
13. Sunny Contemplation (featuring Foulo)
The second collaboration of the album is also with Foulo who provides the guitar parts of the track. I've always wanted to make an ambient-dub track and this seemed like the right chance to do it, because the guitar material we had was in the right tempo and had the right mood. Production-wise, it's also using the power of Ableton Live and Reason as it's based equally on sampling and the synths found in Reason.
The second collaboration of the album is also with Foulo who provides the guitar parts of the track. I've always wanted to make an ambient-dub track and this seemed like the right chance to do it, because the guitar material we had was in the right tempo and had the right mood. Production-wise, it's also using the power of Ableton Live and Reason as it's based equally on sampling and the synths found in Reason.
14. Escape Routes
Last track on the album and perhaps the most optimistic. It's been produced during summer and 50% of it is samples taken from other tracks and being heavily manipulated. Setting it as the last track is something I knew as soon as it was finished.
Last track on the album and perhaps the most optimistic. It's been produced during summer and 50% of it is samples taken from other tracks and being heavily manipulated. Setting it as the last track is something I knew as soon as it was finished.
Dimitri: Now that the album is finished and is out, do you feel 100% satisfied with it, or are there things that you would have liked to have done differently?
Distant Fragment: There are always times when I listen to my released tracks and think of a different approach I could take for some parts, but eventually that process helps me learn and inspires me. So I can say that I am happy with the result.
Dimitri: Are there any plans to release tracks from the album as singles with additional remixes? Can you pick up your favorite producers that you would love to remix tracks from your album?
Distant Fragment: I am currently working on some remixes for the album so there are plans to release some singles. Trying to pick favorite artists though is impossible. There are too many from a very wide range of genres.
Dimitri: Are you planning to perform your music live and are you going to support it with tour as well?
Distant Fragment: I think that live performances need very careful planning to make sure that everything works as expected on stage. It's a lot more complicated than mixing music in a DJ set. It's something I would be interested in, but maybe some time in the future. At the moment I try to blend elements from a live performance into my DJ sets.
Dimitri: Of course the other side of your talent is DJing. Would you like to tell us what kind of music someone can expect to listen to on a Distant Fragment DJ set?
Distant Fragment: It depends on the venue and my latest influences. Calling it dance-oriented electronica might be the best possible description. It's an umbrella term for many styles I try to play so it works for me. We go through a period in which there are so many interesting genre-hybrids so I try to avoid labeling music anyway.
Dimitri: Do you spend a lot of time communicating with your fans through your social media? Do you consider Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be very important marketing tools for EDM artists?
Distant Fragment: Social media have become the best option of someone who wants his music (or any other kind of work) to be noticed. Most of the people not only have access to the internet but they use one or more of these service daily to decide what they will listen to, what they will buy, and what they will share with the people close to them. I try to use them as much as possible, but it takes a lot of time to have a very active presence in all of these networks.
Dimitri: You come from Greece, which for many years is at the spotlight of international media as a result of the economic crisis. Does this difficult situation has an impact upon the Greek EDM scene or not? Would you like to tell us if there is a vibrant club scene with great events and festivals in Greece at the moment?
Distant Fragment: The way I see it, the economic crisis affected the local EDM scene in two ways. Firstly, the big clubs which focused on this kind of music have vanished overnight. Most of them were based on big audiences so when the amount of people going out was reduced, the clubs shut down. Secondly, there are now a lot of small places playing quality music which try to support the local scene. They also try to keep prices low, even when they have some big names as guests, which is also positive because it encourages people to go out and not think twice before they do. Regarding festivals, there are older and new teams that always try to push forward and organize interesting events, but they are definitely fewer than before.
Dimitri: Do you have a radio show or a podcast? Do you consider that a radio show is an important marketing tool for your promotion? Do you have a favorite radio show that you never forget to check out as often as possible?
Distant Fragment: Radio shows are a great medium to showcase who you are as a DJ. They help you reach more people without forcing them to follow your gigs. During recent years, DJ sets of mine have been hosted by various internet radios such as Frisky and I also used to have a monthly show some time back with some guest artists providing their DJ sets as well. I think its time to start planning a new one.
Dimitri: Lets finish off with your message to all the young producers who aspire to get into the EDM scene? What kind of advice would you like to offer them?
Distant Fragment: They enter the EDM scene in a very exciting period but at the same time very frustrating. My best advice to them would be to focus on the exciting parts of the scene and try to get inspired by them. Having the frustrating parts in the back of their head will help, but thinking too much about them can kill all their creativity and take the fun away. They should do what they do for the right reasons, it's a cliche but its the most helpful advice.
Many thanks to Nick for finding the time despite his busy schedule to reply to this interview.
Many thanks to Jeroen Polak at Black Hole recordings office for his awesome support in helping organise this interview .
Many thanks to Mark at Black Hole recordings office for his great support in my radio shows too.
Many thanks to Paul at 1mix radio for proofing the final version.
Additional info:
http://el-gr.facebook.com/pages/Distant-Fragment/42479239726
http://www.blackholerecordings.com/music/albums/distant-fragment-passage-to-wonders/
http://www.blackholerecordings.com/music/albums/distant-fragment-passage-to-wonders/
You can buy this great album from the following shops:
