Resurfacing for air two years after the release of his psychedelic αριθμός τέσσερα LP, the Bristol-based producer John Hislop has come up for air with another minted project. Stretching back to his formative days with the Dubsaw and Inspected labels, Culprate has become a staple producer in the arc of bass music and contemporary audio production. His Deliverance LP shines just as brightly now as it did ten years ago, and both it and αριθμός τέσσερα feature an abundance of lush instrumentalism, novel arrangements, and nooks and crannies that feel like they’re still slowly revealing themselves to this day. In contrast, his latest release through Inspected, Normal, puts pure force on display, harkening back to the energy in the formative years of Culprate compositions.

It’s dark, dense, and frenetic in ways that feel leagues removed from the expectations set by his previous LPs. And yet it doesn’t come as surprising, with the foundational elements of fundamentally heavy bass music having always been a part of Hislop’s skill set. A merging of club-centric rhythms, lumbering half-time, drum and bass, and high-fidelity sound design deliver on the Culprate seal of quality, while exploring dance-floor relationships that exceed the boundaries of his previous contemporary works in many respects. Some might find there to be a lack of the melodious and harmonious elements that made him an indelible part of many burgeoning palettes throughout the 2010s, but that would be a disservice towards the altogether fresh interpretation of Culprate music that we’re now gleefully chewing on.

In collaboration with this publication, Hislop agreed to an insightful interview that has given us a proper lens into his thought process, approach, and interpretation of his own productions and some of the wider context to his career so far.

The Rust: Your time in the limelight stretches back to early releases on Dubsaw Recordings over 15 years ago, well before the establishment of the sound you're concurrently associated with. Looking back from "Normal", what are your thoughts on records like Flatline and Colours? How does your early work hold up in your ears?

John Hislop: Indeed! It's been a wild ride! Those records still hold up for me, especially Colours! Obviously they don't sound as huge as some of the stuff being released nowadays. But the ideas and vibes are still interesting, to me anyways. Sometimes I even think the ideas on those records are better than the ideas I come up with, now!

The Rust: For those of us on the outside of the process, the synergistic unveiling of your label Open Outlets and the "Deliverance" LP 10 years ago feels like a waypoint in your career, with a clear before and after. Can you speak on your influences at the time, and what your initial vision was with the genesis of Open Outlets?

Hislop: Yea, Deliverance was definitely a departure from what I was known for at the time. I actually created it to get less shows, if you can believe it! Being an in demand DJ is fun, but it's not as easy as some may think. At the time of recording all the instruments for that LP, I found out my wife and I were expecting our first child. At that time, I was away in 3-4 different counties per week doing shows. Not really sustainable for a parent. So I guess I subconsciously knew I needed a change of pace. The main reason for the birth of Open Outlets was the fact that I couldn't find a label willing to take on Deliverance.. So I decided to put it out myself. As for my influences at the time. I was really into Amon Tobin, Squarepusher, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and had just discovered footwerk. I still love all of that stuff, but Deliverance was definitely the record which really took all of those things and blended them into a single package.

The Rust: Your last two solo LP's, Deliverance and αριθμός τέσσερα, are primarily known for their lush instrumentalism and pensive atmospheres, where "Normal" clearly has its influences in breakcore, neuro, and other techy forms of broken beat music. Can you speak on the divergence and development of your sound from then to now?

Hislop: Deliverance and αριθμός τέσσερα are really the sort of records I love to make. I find it more difficult, therefore, more fulfilling than "regular" club music.

I guess you could call Normal an experiment, too?? For me, it's just that. It’s definitely got a weird energy to it. Not what you’re likely to hear on a lot of dancefloors. I was trying to think of things I haven't (or rarely) covered, and put them all in a somewhat familiar package which might be accessible to people who might never really listen to that sort of thing. There is a clear divergence. However, I can't really explain it.. Other than to say.. I think artists should try new things and explore new areas. All of my favourites do this. I think I'm always going to try new things with my music. To me, it's important to keep things interesting for myself.

Developmentally, I think I have upped my mixing game. Not that the tracks on Normal are the most aesthetically pleasing tracks I’ve ever done. But I managed to be a lot more purposeful with how this record turned out, than on previous records. Writing-wise, much of Normal was written at about the same time as αριθμός τέσσερα, as a way to decompress from the toil which comes as part of making an overly detailed LP. The Normal tracks were a welcome break, a bit of fun, and very normal in comparison.

The Rust: The progressions and compositions in your catalogue are a clear part of the reputation you've gained under the Culprate umbrella. What's your history as a producer and songwriter? Do you view yourself as a conventional musician?

Hislop: I started making music when I was around 13. Nothing electronic, though. It was all Rock and Metal. None of it was good, haha! I started on the guitar and slowly worked my way through the usual “band” instruments. (Drums, Keys, Bass, etc.. ) I never did learn to sing, though.. My first experience with electronic music was just before I started secondary school (around 1996-97). Older family members had DnB tape packs (peak 90’s) and I quickly got into it!

I didn’t get the opportunity to create anything electronic until I was around 18, I think. I got expelled from school at the age of 14 (almost 15) and managed to get into a music college a year early. My first couple of years in college were spent doing “band stuff”. The first year was a music practice course. In which you learn how to be in a band. After getting access to recording facilities, I realised that’s where I belonged! I swapped over to the tech side and began recording the college bands on hardware and tape. At the age of 18, I discovered reason 2 on some of the college PC’s. After playing with it for a while I realised “This is how they make dance music!!!” It was a lightbulb moment! From there, I never really looked back.

Do I consider myself a “conventional” musician? Na.. I stopped practising instruments when I discovered Reason. So my standard of actual playing is now very low.. It’s all still in my head, but my hands won’t do as they're told, haha! Clearly I can write riffs, melodies, harmonies and tie them all together with rhythm. But I need a keyboard and mouse to achieve anything listenable, these days.

The Rust: Where does the design start with a record like Normal? Did you set out to write this album as a cohesive unit, or did it come together as a result of circumstance?

Hislop: With Normal, it was the latter. I had “LIGO”, “Myka” and “Area51”, from back when I was making αριθμός τέσσερα. “LIGO” got an entire remake in a totally different style, but kept the rhythm of the kick/bass sound and tempo. “Myka” also got an entire remake. It was initially a Dubstep track, which had a 2 bar 4x4 section. I decided to audition the whole thing as 4x4 and it just made so much more sense! After this, I remade all the bass sounds to better suit the new groove.

The other two stayed much the same as they were back then, except the final mix. “Singularity” came from an exercise. I was trying to make a techno rumble kick/bass type thing. Something which I’d never managed to get right, in the past. It progressed pretty naturally and the arrangement was finished relatively quickly. “Lightfold” as an idea, is actually from 2016! It originated from the tracks I made for “Dawn” but was initially shelved. This also got a total remake, from the ground up.

It’s the total opposite to how I thought about Deliverance, Colours, and αριθμός τέσσερα, which were all planned out before I started any of the writing.

The Rust: What's the musical philosophy to "Normal"? What were the sort of vibes and juxtapositions that informed the writing process for these songs?

Hislop: The writing/arrangements all feel pretty alien to me. Hence some of the track names. Like I said, they weren’t specifically made to “be together” but they all seemed to share a vibe, of sorts. I think the overall vibe mostly comes from how I mixed the tracks. I tried to get something close to the feeling I got when listening to old DnB tape packs back in the 90’s but a lot cleaner. I wasn’t going for a particularly “HiFi” sound. I was more going for a “classic” sound, without things sounding dated, if that makes sense?

To me, it almost sounds like, for example, “LIghtfold”, “LIGO” and “Area51” are DnB tunes that are made by someone who’s never heard of DnB. Once I noticed this, I leaned into it and made the other tracks reflect the same sort of thing, uncharacteristic of the genres. While having them all tell a story independent of the other tracks on the record.Almost like how original Dubstep was created by someone, I forget who, trying to make Garage, but doing it totally wrong. The two VIP’s “Ghost Machine” and “Tentacle” were tracks which I had updated to use in live sets. This is something I do with older tracks, to keep them fresh and able to stand up next to other modern tracks.

The Rust: What kind of space do you work within? Is there a place for hardware in your process and studio, or do you approach production from a primarily "in-the-box" angle?

Hislop: Until very recently, I’ve always had a tiny workspace, no room for hardware, at all.. So I’ve developed a very “In-the-box” workflow. I’m also quite stubborn with the plugins I use. I try to keep things native and not jump on the same stuff as everyone else. For example, I still, to this day, have never used NI Massive or Serum… I tend to make all my sounds with either Operator or Analog. Both native to Ableton.

Other than that, I use the Fabfilter stuff and a select few other, what I consider, “tools” to make sounds and mix tracks. I’ll only buy something new if it’ll save me time. Like Shaperbox from Cableguys. I used to spend hours layering things with specific envelopes, only to find that it sounds like s**t and need to do it all over again! I do have a few hardware synths, but they’ve thus far been kept in their boxes and out of my workflow, due to space. Something which is much less of an issue now. So who knows, I might start a new and very expensive hobby in the near future.

The Rust: 15 consecutive years into the Culprate project, what keeps this fresh for you? Are you drawn to conversations and developments around music and music tech, or do you find yourself primarily focused elsewhere in the context of your musicianship?

Hislop: I do try to stay aware of what’s happening around me, in regards to tech and trends. But I also try to make music with an almost “timeless” feel to it. I think that’s been one of my strengths, over the years. With the vast upgrades in tech, you can now get far superior tools to what I had when I first started making music. However, none of this can substitute knowing what you’re doing and more importantly, knowing why you’re doing it.

I do welcome the future, and all the new timesaving tools which will come. But I’m of an old school mindset. I’ve always been really nerdy about the physics of what I’m doing. Why things do what they do and why I’d want those things to happen, or not. I’m not sure much of that will change in the life I have left as a producer. Unless we discover a new form of physics..

The Rust: What are you hoping to achieve in the wake of "Normal"?

Hislop: After the phenomenal and unexpected success of “Deliverance” I’ve learned to temper my expectations when releasing new records. Nowadays, I just try to put out the best thing I can do and not worry too much about what I’m going to achieve after the fact. The achievement is the record, itself.

Like I said before. I made the bulk of these tracks to decompress from LP life! Which was really needed at the time when we were all locked in our homes. I feel like I’ve learned a ton while working them into what they’ve become and I’ll be using that information to make my next full LP something really unique. For me, that’s all I feel like I want to achieve from this process, in general. To get better and more deliberate with each release. Anything else is a bonus!