Hardcore quirks: TLOBF meets Lone

In the constant race for newness, sometimes it’s good to look back; to think about heritage, ancestry, and precursors. Nottingham’s Matt Cutler, better known as Lone, understands the importance of history, and is not afraid to incorporate it into his work.

Cutler’s most recent release, the Echolocations EP, takes elements of ’90s house and hardcore, and slots them into compositions that sound contemporary and somehow timeless. It is danceable, catchy, memorable fun.

We spoke to Cutler about influences, the trials of running a label, and his impending full-length.

Hi Matt. What are you listening to right now?

Hello! My girlfriend is watching ‘Friends’ which has just started – so unfortunately, that hideous theme tune. Heh. Generally though, I’ve just discovered the Odd Future crew (bit late, I know) and in particular, Earl Sweatshirt. Some of the best hip hop I’ve heard in a long time.

Your tracks are always instantly recognisable. Have you deliberately tried to built a ‘Lone sound’, or has it developed of its own accord?

Totally developed over time i think. It’s nothing too deliberate these days as I’ve been working on music for so long now. It’s all come together through trial and error over the years and I’m really happy that people recognise my quirks or whatever now.

Detroit obviously sounds like a big influence for you. Any particular Detroit artists that have been an inspiration?

All the big names obviously, and a few unsung heroes that put out a load of good shit back in the day. To be honest though, I’ve always been more influenced by the sort of British take on it from the 90′s.. stuff like Black Dog, Plaid and a lot of the early Warp releases, and of course the hardcore scene from ’91/’92.

http://soundcloud.com/gammaray/sets/lone-echolocations

Tell us a bit about Magic Wire. What was the inspiration behind the label? Is running a label not just a horribly stressful experience?!

The initial idea was just to put out one of my records while i waited for other labels to put out stuff i’d been doing. Now we’re signing other people, like Neon Jung. Sean is the main guy behind running the label. I’m there for writing tunes and overseeing shit. We keep it as chilled as we can though, no massive schedules as of yet or anything.

What’s next for Lone? Any chance of another full-length?

Yeah, I’m working on a full length record as we speak It’s kinda different again, not really house or hip hop. I don’t wanna say too much about it though in case I change my mind about a bunch of things and I just end up putting out another house record. I want to get it out this year though if I can.

Can you recommend something we probably haven’t heard before?

Neon Jung.