Shur-i-kan Interview

Tom Szirtes aka Shur-i-kan has a career spanning over a decade and is classed amongst the global elite in the deep house world. Frequently found on respected labels the world over, most notably Freerange Records, where he has a key artist in the development of Jimpsters' beloved label and is also co-owner Dark Energy Recordings along with Milton Jackson.

Thanks for doing this Tom! I thought we should start at the beginning and how you got into music. I’ve read you started as a keyboard player?

Yes, I had classical piano lessons from the age of six till eighteen. I didn’t study music further after then but since leaving home and setting up in London I was playing jazz / funk gigs in various bands and building my chops that way.

I’ve always wanted to know what the idea behind the Shur-i-kan name is - just a can-do attitude?

It came from my time working at Sega as a games developer (my profession at the time). A shuriken is a weapon - a throwing star. At Sega we were working on a ninja game called Shinobi X so I think the idea came from there. But then I rewrote it so it had a double meaning and was more playful. I’m not like a hardcore martial arts fan.

What came next DJ’ing or production?

Production, but I started experimenting in DJing pretty soon after that. I just put on nights with Sean a mate of mine. Nobody came to them, but it was a useful exercise!

You often mentioned as a key artist for Freerange, how did that relationship come about?

Yes, I think other than Jamie Odell (Jimpster - who runs the label with Tom Roberts) I’ve probably got the longest run of releases on Freerange. My first release was way back in 2000 with Advance - a jazz-influenced album. I was introduced to Jamie through DJ/producer Tom Middleton who I met at a gig and took me under his wing a bit. He thought we had a similar sound/approach and suggested we work together and it worked out great - so thanks Tom!

Your first 6 years of music (with one exception) was on Freerange - a rare thing these days - what was it that changed after 2006 and you started to appear on a host of other great labels too?

It wasn’t planned or anything, I think my profile started building and I just got a lot of other labels to ask me to make music for them. At the same time Freerange was expanding and getting a lot of new and exciting artists coming to them also. Freerange (like most good labels) have about 12 slots per year to put out music - so those slots are a limited resource shared across different artists. I was pretty prolific around then, so it made sense to share the love onto other labels.

How would you describe your musical sound?

3 ways to describe this...

Art Speak:  Electronic compositions made by an iterative process of improvision and collage of found sounds - searching for a sense of child-like wonder and emotionality.

Genre: Deep House

Brutal Truth: Wannabe club music, made by a jazz musician who doesn’t want to sound like a jazz musician.

What or who were your biggest influences as you came into the music scene?

Early influences were jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock and electronic artists like Jean Michel Jarre. Then it kind of moved to your usual deep house influencers like Kerri Chandler, Masters at Work etc..

What do you see yourself as most… a DJ or producer?

Producer for sure. The DJing is fun - but expressing myself through playing other people’s music is a bit limiting. I’m a creative kind of person - so it’s through production and composition that you really have a voice. Plus it’s more challenging.

What do you enjoy most about DJ’ing? Favourite venue to DJ at?

Sharing something you love with a room full of people. We all know that feeling when everyone is connected through the music - it’s intoxicating. No specific venue I prefer - it’s more about the crowd than the venue for me.

Who are your personal favourite DJ’s to hear play?

I don’t go out much to watch other DJs to be honest. If Jimpster is playing I try to make it down as he’s got his finger on the pulse and he’s a mate.

How did you and Milton Jackson come to start Dark Energy Recordings?

Barry (Milton Jackson) started it so he could put out some of his own music without going through the whole label process. We were working closely at that point and discussed doing something together and inviting other artists in. As it happens after a while I just kind of took over the running of it. Wasn’t planned but I guess I was a bit more proactive on that front.

What’s the ethos of the label?

To be serious about the music but not ourselves. I used to these really silly fictional press releases for our DJ promotions as we were bored with the banality of how labels presented themselves. I also dabbled in releasing music on cassette long before it was trendy again as a kind of joke. Which was all very well but we’ve not been particularly committed to running a label. It’s a useful platform for occasionally getting music we love out there in front of people.

What’s your favourite part of running the label?

Seeing some of the artists we help discover, like Intr0beatz, grow into successful producers. Building a nice collection of music you can be proud of.

And the least favourite?

Everything else. It’s pretty boring - much better to make the music than promote it.

Tell us about The Bays?

It’s an improvisational dance group that I was involved in for a few years. They don’t rehearse or record - everything is made up on stage so every performance is unique. They stopped touring for about eight years, but I believe Andy Gangadeen the founder has a new line-up and has a gig coming up shortly. I’m no longer involved.

What does your average day involve balancing DJ/Producer/Label/The Bays commitments?

My music creation is mostly restricted to the evenings and weekends these days as I have other business interests outside of music. I’ve never done music full-time - never really felt the need to.

How do you approach production - do you have a routine or wait for inspiration to come for music?

I can’t wait for inspiration to hit me, so it’s a question of regular time in front of the computer and just start jamming. I save all my sessions, so I have a library of about 100 ideas and often I’ll start from one of these. If it’s not happening I’ll move onto the next and maybe come back to it a few weeks later or even years after.

I also occasionally search for samples online and have built up a large collection of unusual sounds over the years. They act as a great inspiration point to launch from. If I’m listening to Spotify during the day at the office and hear something I like I’ll stick in a ‘to sample’ playlist and come back to it later.

So it’s an organic continual pipeline basically.

What’s your typical production set up?

It’s all in the box. Mac with Logic Pro (I also use Ableton Live a little), a bunch of plugins (like Arturia, NI and the inbuild logic ones). Nothing fancy.

Any key things you think every aspiring producer should know or do to make their best music?

Experiment - don’t put artificial barriers on yourself at the beginning of the composition process - you can always edit and refine later after you’ve captured the idea. Also, try to find a workflow where you can work quickly don’t get lost in the technology. And most importantly - share and release your music - you can only improve through feedback.

How do you approach remix projects - what attracts you to a project?

Ultimately it has to be a track I think I can add some value. Sometimes tracks have too little starting material and others are too perfect in themselves - so I won’t work on those. Remixes are basically like working on any other track - except someone else did all the groundwork in formulating the initial ideas. Now you get to take it somewhere else. The challenge is to keep some essence from the original which is hard. I hate remixes where you can’t recognise anything from the original track - lazy!!

What’s your personal all-time favourite track or remix you’ve made?

Hard, depend’s what mood I’m in. I like my deeper cuts like Horse Play, Out of Time and Stepping Tones and more recently Singapore. I think that’s where I can differentiate myself from the crowd - bringing in more textural elements and musicality. Remix wise I guess my Robert Babicz remix of Astor was a high point.

What advice would you give to remixers looking to make a name for themselves?

I think I’m the worst person to give advice on this. Be good, be consistent, be nice.

You were rated No.45 on the Traxsource Top 100 - how important is the recognition / promotion that these things bring to the things you do?

I saw that and was pleasantly surprised because I think I only released a single EP in 2019. Actually I got to number 3 back in 2014 so clearly I’m slipping :)

Look it’s nice validation and flattering, but you can’t take it too seriously but you can’t create in a vacuum either - you need an audience. Music is a form of communication. I’m one of my harshest critics so the key is can I please myself?

What’s ahead for 2020, releases, projects, gigs?

It’s looking quite good actually - I have a Shur-i-kan EP in Feb out on Lazy Days. I think I’ve pretty much finished a cool EP with Milton Jackson which should be out on Freerange at some-point this year. Then I’ve got two releases planned of my own on Dark Energy and it’s still only January!

Gigs, I’m cutting down to the absolute minimum - it’s my small contribution to the battle against climate change.

Where can people follow you?

All the usual places. I’m not good at posting on social media which has become very visually orientated. I’m not a hot 20 something model, think its a bit naff to post your dinner, promote a high-carbon lifestyle by showing off where you landed today, and unimaginative to just wave a camera in front of your computer screen playing your latest mix.

I’m trying to think of something valuable I can do as an artist on those platforms - but in the meantime I do a regular mix on SoundCloud, Apple and Mixcloud and pop up on Facebook, Twitter to announce new bits and occasionally share music I love.

Links

Website

Shur-i-kan Interview

Tom Szirtes aka Shur-i-kan has a career spanning over a decade and is classed amongst the global elite in the deep house world. Frequently found on respected labels the world over, most notably Freerange Records, where he has a key artist in the development of Jimpsters' beloved label and is also co-owner Dark Energy Recordings along with Milton Jackson.

Thanks for doing this Tom! I thought we should start at the beginning and how you got into music. I’ve read you started as a keyboard player?

Yes, I had classical piano lessons from the age of six till eighteen. I didn’t study music further after then but since leaving home and setting up in London I was playing jazz / funk gigs in various bands and building my chops that way.

I’ve always wanted to know what the idea behind the Shur-i-kan name is - just a can-do attitude?

It came from my time working at Sega as a games developer (my profession at the time). A shuriken is a weapon - a throwing star. At Sega we were working on a ninja game called Shinobi X so I think the idea came from there. But then I rewrote it so it had a double meaning and was more playful. I’m not like a hardcore martial arts fan.

What came next DJ’ing or production?

Production, but I started experimenting in DJing pretty soon after that. I just put on nights with Sean a mate of mine. Nobody came to them, but it was a useful exercise!

You often mentioned as a key artist for Freerange, how did that relationship come about?

Yes, I think other than Jamie Odell (Jimpster - who runs the label with Tom Roberts) I’ve probably got the longest run of releases on Freerange. My first release was way back in 2000 with Advance - a jazz-influenced album. I was introduced to Jamie through DJ/producer Tom Middleton who I met at a gig and took me under his wing a bit. He thought we had a similar sound/approach and suggested we work together and it worked out great - so thanks Tom!

Your first 6 years of music (with one exception) was on Freerange - a rare thing these days - what was it that changed after 2006 and you started to appear on a host of other great labels too?

It wasn’t planned or anything, I think my profile started building and I just got a lot of other labels to ask me to make music for them. At the same time Freerange was expanding and getting a lot of new and exciting artists coming to them also. Freerange (like most good labels) have about 12 slots per year to put out music - so those slots are a limited resource shared across different artists. I was pretty prolific around then, so it made sense to share the love onto other labels.

How would you describe your musical sound?

3 ways to describe this...

Art Speak:  Electronic compositions made by an iterative process of improvision and collage of found sounds - searching for a sense of child-like wonder and emotionality.

Genre: Deep House

Brutal Truth: Wannabe club music, made by a jazz musician who doesn’t want to sound like a jazz musician.

What or who were your biggest influences as you came into the music scene?

Early influences were jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock and electronic artists like Jean Michel Jarre. Then it kind of moved to your usual deep house influencers like Kerri Chandler, Masters at Work etc..

What do you see yourself as most… a DJ or producer?

Producer for sure. The DJing is fun - but expressing myself through playing other people’s music is a bit limiting. I’m a creative kind of person - so it’s through production and composition that you really have a voice. Plus it’s more challenging.

What do you enjoy most about DJ’ing? Favourite venue to DJ at?

Sharing something you love with a room full of people. We all know that feeling when everyone is connected through the music - it’s intoxicating. No specific venue I prefer - it’s more about the crowd than the venue for me.

Who are your personal favourite DJ’s to hear play?

I don’t go out much to watch other DJs to be honest. If Jimpster is playing I try to make it down as he’s got his finger on the pulse and he’s a mate.

How did you and Milton Jackson come to start Dark Energy Recordings?

Barry (Milton Jackson) started it so he could put out some of his own music without going through the whole label process. We were working closely at that point and discussed doing something together and inviting other artists in. As it happens after a while I just kind of took over the running of it. Wasn’t planned but I guess I was a bit more proactive on that front.

What’s the ethos of the label?

To be serious about the music but not ourselves. I used to these really silly fictional press releases for our DJ promotions as we were bored with the banality of how labels presented themselves. I also dabbled in releasing music on cassette long before it was trendy again as a kind of joke. Which was all very well but we’ve not been particularly committed to running a label. It’s a useful platform for occasionally getting music we love out there in front of people.

What’s your favourite part of running the label?

Seeing some of the artists we help discover, like Intr0beatz, grow into successful producers. Building a nice collection of music you can be proud of.

And the least favourite?

Everything else. It’s pretty boring - much better to make the music than promote it.

Tell us about The Bays?

It’s an improvisational dance group that I was involved in for a few years. They don’t rehearse or record - everything is made up on stage so every performance is unique. They stopped touring for about eight years, but I believe Andy Gangadeen the founder has a new line-up and has a gig coming up shortly. I’m no longer involved.

What does your average day involve balancing DJ/Producer/Label/The Bays commitments?

My music creation is mostly restricted to the evenings and weekends these days as I have other business interests outside of music. I’ve never done music full-time - never really felt the need to.

How do you approach production - do you have a routine or wait for inspiration to come for music?

I can’t wait for inspiration to hit me, so it’s a question of regular time in front of the computer and just start jamming. I save all my sessions, so I have a library of about 100 ideas and often I’ll start from one of these. If it’s not happening I’ll move onto the next and maybe come back to it a few weeks later or even years after.

I also occasionally search for samples online and have built up a large collection of unusual sounds over the years. They act as a great inspiration point to launch from. If I’m listening to Spotify during the day at the office and hear something I like I’ll stick in a ‘to sample’ playlist and come back to it later.

So it’s an organic continual pipeline basically.

What’s your typical production set up?

It’s all in the box. Mac with Logic Pro (I also use Ableton Live a little), a bunch of plugins (like Arturia, NI and the inbuild logic ones). Nothing fancy.

Any key things you think every aspiring producer should know or do to make their best music?

Experiment - don’t put artificial barriers on yourself at the beginning of the composition process - you can always edit and refine later after you’ve captured the idea. Also, try to find a workflow where you can work quickly don’t get lost in the technology. And most importantly - share and release your music - you can only improve through feedback.

How do you approach remix projects - what attracts you to a project?

Ultimately it has to be a track I think I can add some value. Sometimes tracks have too little starting material and others are too perfect in themselves - so I won’t work on those. Remixes are basically like working on any other track - except someone else did all the groundwork in formulating the initial ideas. Now you get to take it somewhere else. The challenge is to keep some essence from the original which is hard. I hate remixes where you can’t recognise anything from the original track - lazy!!

What’s your personal all-time favourite track or remix you’ve made?

Hard, depend’s what mood I’m in. I like my deeper cuts like Horse Play, Out of Time and Stepping Tones and more recently Singapore. I think that’s where I can differentiate myself from the crowd - bringing in more textural elements and musicality. Remix wise I guess my Robert Babicz remix of Astor was a high point.

What advice would you give to remixers looking to make a name for themselves?

I think I’m the worst person to give advice on this. Be good, be consistent, be nice.

You were rated No.45 on the Traxsource Top 100 - how important is the recognition / promotion that these things bring to the things you do?

I saw that and was pleasantly surprised because I think I only released a single EP in 2019. Actually I got to number 3 back in 2014 so clearly I’m slipping :)

Look it’s nice validation and flattering, but you can’t take it too seriously but you can’t create in a vacuum either - you need an audience. Music is a form of communication. I’m one of my harshest critics so the key is can I please myself?

What’s ahead for 2020, releases, projects, gigs?

It’s looking quite good actually - I have a Shur-i-kan EP in Feb out on Lazy Days. I think I’ve pretty much finished a cool EP with Milton Jackson which should be out on Freerange at some-point this year. Then I’ve got two releases planned of my own on Dark Energy and it’s still only January!

Gigs, I’m cutting down to the absolute minimum - it’s my small contribution to the battle against climate change.

Where can people follow you?

All the usual places. I’m not good at posting on social media which has become very visually orientated. I’m not a hot 20 something model, think its a bit naff to post your dinner, promote a high-carbon lifestyle by showing off where you landed today, and unimaginative to just wave a camera in front of your computer screen playing your latest mix.

I’m trying to think of something valuable I can do as an artist on those platforms - but in the meantime I do a regular mix on SoundCloud, Apple and Mixcloud and pop up on Facebook, Twitter to announce new bits and occasionally share music I love.

Links

Website