Throwing Snow

Intriguing electronic producer, Ross Tones, aka Throwing Snow has had an incredible 2012, with two EPs, the launch of his label Snowfall and a ton of gigs He invited Best Fit into his world of complexly layered concepts to talk about the current music scene, lamb stew and the busy year ahead.

The description of the 2007 EP Footnotes is, “a cross between folk, electronica, breaks and world music that strives to bring field recordings and instrumentation together in pleasant disarray.” Would you describe your music the same way now?

I think all the same influences are there, maybe some more on top of that. I think if you’re a producer and you’ve got a certain way of making your sound, it’s not necessarily related to the music you write or the sounds you use. You can switch that to any kind of BPM, or any different type of music. I don’t think it’s necessarily limited to one type of music, or one genre, you use the same ideas, and then change them up. It’s the same use of the sound, it’s just moved with the times a bit more. I strive to make everything different. That’s one of my main motivations, for that to happen, so I don’t really get worried about that too much.

Do you still use field recordings?

Yeah, all the time. There’s lots of crackles and pops, and weird sounds I find, or have been given by people. Like the one in ‘Brook’, there’s a little loop, a lady talking to some old people. Will Plowman’s sister was using the recordings for some project at Uni, and Will gave me those recordings about six years ago, and I reused them. So it’s using sounds as memories as well. I try to include a personal memory in every track.

Do you have a favourite sample?

I try not to sample too much of anything really. I use certain samples, but they’re always things I’ve produced, or that have sort of come about. I think resampling stuff, mainly from different projects I do more of.

So is that where the textural, distorted feel to your music comes from?

Yeah, I like things not being perfect.

Throwing Snow is more than just a witty name. Pretty much every write up of your music will include the word, ‘icy’, or this winter element. But when you listen to Aspera, or any of your EPs, there are songs that are not wintery or icy at all, so I’m curious what’s behind the name.

I don’t really understand why people describe my music as ‘icy’ or ‘frosty’, because they see ‘Throwing Snow’ and they automatically imagine themselves cold, and surrounded by white. So I think people just automatically assume, “oh glistening harmonix” or something like that.

The name actually comes from the guy that did the art for Footnotes, he’s one of my best friends, and we grew up in a farming area, quite remote, really beautiful, lovely place. We were up on a really remote fell, and in northern culture, you can call your friend the worse thing in the world, but mean it in an endearing way, that’s a bit like throwing snow. It’s a violent action, but it’s snow, a snowball’s going to burst and it’s not going to hurt anyone. It’s sort of an analogy for insulting somebody, to show your kind of close friendship thing.

If you had to describe your sound as a food or dish, what would you choose and why?

It’d have to have lamb in it, ’cause that’s just a personal preference. Some sort of lamb stew. Which is the most bizarre answer. Because it’s a mix of deep flavors together. I like the malcabation of sounds, so kind of all in one dish together, and quite deep.

In an interview with XLR8R, you mention you heard a lot of great music this year that didn’t get the recognition it deserved.

I think the 1991′s album was amazing. Anything on Astro:Dynamics has been amazing this year. I think they are one of the best labels. Everything by them has been really good. Then there’s been lots of world music that I’ve really enjoyed. Releases on Honest Jons, and things like that.

Sometimes you can hear bits of the rhythms in modern tracks. There’s something really nice about music from a particular place. Taking folk sounds and mixing it with more Western sounds. I think it’s far more interesting to hear things produced in other countries and influenced by Western sounds – when it’s the other way around, it’s a bit lacklustre.

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Both of your 2012 EPs are Latin words, Clamor (‘Shout’) and Aspera, (‘to make rough’). Are these two EPs connected? Is there a bigger concept or story?

I think English can be a little ugly sometimes. I love the way Latin sounds, in the way Latin words, because of the spread of languages, are in so many different cultures. I like that going back to your roots feeling about things. In my music I mix lots of different things together, kind of going back to the beginning and rebuilding. The artwork, the names, all of it is meant to be part of a story. The bigger picture is my label, Snowfall. It allows me to do something personal.

Where do your ideas and concepts for songs and EPs come from?

I collect sounds. Then it’s more techniques of how I process sounds to give all sounds on an EP, using slightly different techniques to make each song sound very, very different. So you’ll hear sounds on Clamor, as you will on Aspera, but on Aspera, it’s more melodic, so I’ll have made a little theme out of all those sounds, where on Clamor, I would have used it as a little highlight, and the rest would be rhythmic.

If I do another Snowfall release reasonably soon, I’ll do four other tracks, and release them with a t-shirt and vinyl, so you can have all three pieces together, as a different kind of product, rather than just vinyl – as something more.

Do you have other releases in the works?

I’ve got my Snowghost project coming out with an EP in April on Black Acre. Then my album is coming later in 2013 as well.

Do you play any instruments?

Yeah I’ve always played bass, and I’ll pick up weird instruments, like that thing, . It’s really old, and it sounds horrible, but we used this on the Snowghost album because it just sounds horrible and rough, but then we take it and pitch it down, and mess around with it. Really interesting stuff.

Was there a catalyst that made you want to start producing and put out records?

Ever since very young, I really couldn’t see anything else I wanted to do. I just wanted to write music all the time. And if you want something, you’ve just got to make it happen. It’s taken a long time, but it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.

Remixes. Your Happa remix was really fantastic. What makes you want to take on a remix project?

I have to like the person before really, if I’m doing it for an indie label kind of thing. I like doing remixes. I kind of just listen to the sounds and think, ‘They would be best reconfigured like this.’ It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Throwing Snow thing, it’s not so much a thought out thing. I know the guys from the Church label really well, and have helped them with their label a bit. So they asked me to do this remix, and as soon as I listened to it, I loved the track. I didn’t want to try to do a 130 BPM thing, I didn’t want to try and slow it down and make it all weird, ‘cause Church, they want to sell it as part of the vinyl. So I decided to pitch it up to a kind of Drum ’n’ Bass tempo, and making it a bit rhythmically different by crossing it with a Footwork tempo. I like being able to do something really heavy, then put out something really ambient.

What makes a good remix?

When a producer takes all of the sounds, and genuinely tries to remix them. Not just taking the vocals and putting it over a new track. Take the entire sound set, and actually remix it, change it, using the same sounds almost. That’s what I see is the skill of remixing, instead of just putting the original over a new beat.

Or just pitching down the vocals!

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Whose work do you admire when it comes to remixes?

I’d say Lukid. He’s done some amazing stuff, cuz he’s just a fucking god. I really like Vessel’s work this year. On the other end of the spectrum, Joe Goddard did a very happy, dancefloor version of that Nekka tune, which I thought was really well done. Anything Four Tet remixes is always amazing. Deft did some really killer stuff this year.

Most outlandish description of your music that you’ve read/heard so far?

“Electro-house”

What’s your live setup like?

It changes all the time. I use Ableton and APC, mics, I loop things, I’ve got two synths that I bring. If I am working with a vocalist, there’s obviously another element. It’s changing all the time, and I’m incorporating more live instruments. It’s meant to be more manoeuvrable so I can go and improvise rather than just being tied to doing set songs, which I don’t do now, but I use the same sounds from different songs, and incorporate them into stuff I just make up on the fly. I want to keep developing that, and make it more of a live show. I want to make it so that when you press a button, it looks like you’re actually doing something. There has to be some element that gives every person watching a bit of interaction.

Have you ever thought about playing bass as part of your set?

I’ve always wanted to use this electric mandolin I’ve got, like on Flight of the Conchords. You can set it up via midi, and I’ve always wanted to play synths and sounds through this, rather than using like a shitty Casio guitar.

What can we expect from Throwing Snow in 2013?

A new live show. Hopefully get the album out by the end of the year, and then the Snowghost album. Oh and I’m part of Red Bull Music Academy 2013, so I’ll be in New York in April.