Premiere: Davut Yildiz – Mistlands
Davut Yildiz or more commonly known as Dreams of Empire is a versatile DJ and producer coming from the city of Roermond in The Netherlands. With a very rich music culture spanning over all kinds of musical dimensions within and outside electronic music, he possesses the incredible ability to create a consistent and emotionally rich vibe throughout his performances and productions. Today I will give you a glimpse of who he is, and I have the honour of premiering a track from his forthcoming EP ‘’True to Sound’’ to be released on 11th of July. Sit back and enjoy getting to know this wonderful talent from our scene.
Davut started making music when he was only 17, but it wasn’t until he was 22 that he took it to the next level and started to produce and play professionally. In those first years he spent a long time learning and exploring. The young artist shares further: ‘’When I became more serious about producing, I also became more serious about learning and, in the end, I learned a lot more in that period than the beginning. Sometimes I miss that childish innocence and just playing around though. I want to return to that a little sometimes.’’ Understandable! When you do something without the idea of potentially sharing it with the world, the way of enjoyment is a lot more carefree.
Having experienced Davut’s performances and music on multiple occasions, one of the things I love the most about him as an artist is his broad taste of music and the way he combines inspirations into a wholesome seamless experience. I wonder what inspires him and enables him to achieve that? ‘’I joined the clubbing scene quite late, and for me music has always been the most about emotion and not so much only about the partying. I didn’t have context like some people who go out a lot might have had. I could listen to Drumcode, but then at the same time Aphex Twin or Autechre or dub reggae. I am influenced by UK music a lot – dubstep, garage and the more experimental side of those. I think you can still hear that a lot in my music, especially those intricate rhythms.’’ I can confirm that this is absolutely the case, and if I had to describe him with only a few words I’d say he is a ‘vibe master’!
Davut Yildiz
I was curious to learn more about his journey as a producer from the beginning till now. ‘’Interestingly, the sound which I play and like right now developed through producing instead of the other way around. During the period where I was becoming more serious with music, I developed this philosophy that I wanted my tracks to breathe, to move and be organic. Not necessarily organic in the sense of organic techno, but I just wanted all the elements to breathe. So, I started producing that way and suddenly friends of mine started to compare it to things that were out there like Northern Electronics for example, and I haven’t been listening to that label at all at the time, I just followed my intuition. I guess there are a lot of other producers who share the same philosophy so our music ends up in the same ‘category’. ‘’ The fact that the process was reversed is very curious, but if there is one thing which I think is a valuable part of any artistic process it is the act of following one owns intuition as it always leads one to where they have to be in the end.
So far Davut has been releasing his music independently on Bandcamp, and I was wondering if there is a reason for that? ‘’I always felt like labels are ‘far away’. I have tried a few times to send out some promos, but never really put too much time into this. When I release music, it is mostly because I was done with it and I wanted it to go out in the world and to be finished with the process mentally for myself.’’ That sounds like a good motivation – having a certain deadline in your head. ‘’I think it’s actually the other way around, you keep changing stuff in the music and at some point, you are just finished. Releasing it is like reaching the moment of ’ok it’s finished I will no longer touch it’, which normally takes me a very long time to reach.’’
‘‘Most of the things you hear are sound design by myself. From these sounds I make patches, and from the patches I make the track and while making it I change the patches too. Every sound becomes quite unique to that track. ‘‘
On that note, I wanted to hear more about his process in the studio. What is important to him, how does it go and what are the main factors for success. ‘’Hard to say. I just do mostly. I work completely in the box. Sometimes I record some drums that I play, but mostly it’s in the box. I have a keyboard which I use to play some ideas. I find musicality in the sense of harmonies and these kinds of technical aspects quite important. I create all of the sounds myself. Most of the things you hear are sound design by myself. From these sounds I make patches and from the patches I make the track and while making it I change the patches too. Every sound becomes quite unique to that track. It all kind of blends into each other. It’s hard to control, because suddenly each part influences the other and if you change one thing the whole track can fall apart. I can almost describe it as modular but then in Ableton.’’
I sense that Davut likes the challenge of complexity in his process, and that working this way gives him the most satisfaction. ‘’Yes definitely, but it is painful sometimes. There are days where I just feel like making a quick jam and I use sounds I have previously made on another occasion, and I end up making a track in one day and some people like those tracks the most.’’ Says Davut though a cheeky laugh. In the end for the listeners, it is mostly unknown how the track came about, but I do understand the frustration of much versus less effort and the perception of the final result. Listening to the young artist share his mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if there is a particular reason for taking so long with finishing music when it’s technically possible to achieve it in a day? What happens in his head when he prolongs the process?
‘’Mostly I listen to it over and over and when the track doesn’t become boring after 200 listens then I feel like that’s the one.’’ Well, if that’s not dedication, I do not know what is. Being very impressed by his work ethic, I wanted to shift the conversation towards finding out more about Davut’s DJ side. ‘’When I was 18, I bought my first controller and I started playing, about the same time as producing more or less. At some point I had used the controller for 5 years (around the turning point to being serious about being an artist), I just decided that this is the moment I wanted to switch to vinyl only. Obviously, it’s more fun and there is much more feeling when playing records. In the end I like the mix of digital and vinyl, because you still retain some of the feeling and some of the spontaneousness. When I play vinyl I feel much more in touch with the music. If I’m in the flow with DJing I have that thing that tracks that I want to play next just pop into my head without me actively thinking about it and I trust on that feeling, but with CDJs I end up scrolling and looking for it, which interrupts my flow a little.’’
‘‘Producing is very much my own world, and with DJing I have a very broad music taste, so there is the challenge of bringing that to the people and making the connection with them and feeling something.’’
As both producer and DJ, I wanted to know about his relationship to both crafts and how does he want to split his time between the two in the future. ‘’I think I like both equally, but in different ways, and I interact with the music differently in both instances. Producing is very much my own world, and with DJing I have a very broad music taste, so there is the challenge of bringing that to the people and making the connection with them and feeling something.’’ That impressive quality of blending opposites or things that one would not normally expect to hear together like for example darker deeper experimental techno with ambient, dub or breakbeat are brought to the audience in the utmost soft and warm way. ‘’That’s kind of my approach to DJing. How I interpret music is that for every moment there is an ideal track that empowers it, and as a DJ I have to find that obviously keeping to my taste. Once you capture that moment you can build on it and play another track that fits it or that is a continuation of it or a twist while still fitting. When I produce, I let people into my internal world.’’ Feelings, thoughts and emotions packaged into one track and put out there. I like that a lot, and I know Davut for quite some time now, and I can definitely tell that this is a very genuine reflection of who he is as a person too.
We are coming closer to the end of our chat and I wanted to dive deeper into the upcoming release ‘’True to Sound’’ and more specifically the track premiere of today ‘Mistlands’. ‘’The tracks are a collection of work from the past 2 years. I spent a long time on them except the last one, which I made in one night. When creating I was very much led by my thoughts and emotions at the time, and talking about ‘Mistlands’, that was not a very positive moment of my life. I chose this name, because I think it describes well what’s happening in the music. I think it’s the case for all of them except ‘Stoomwollken Boven Pernis’. I wouldn’t say there is much of overlapping story in the EP, except for the idea of announcing that I would be changing my artist name from Dreams of Empire to my given name Davut Yildiz.’’
When I heard the EP, I was instantly drawn to ‘Mistlands’ because it is the deepest, and profoundly dark track of them all. It’s no secret that my personal taste has always lied with this part of electronic music, where melancholia turns into a soothing experience for the mind driven by solid rhythms and experimental and deep textures, which once again made me choose that track to premiere today. Despite the fact that this composition stems from a difficult life moment, I am happy that the artist turned it into something so beautiful and shared it with us. I am surprised by Davut’s announcement of the change of artist name and I wish if he could elaborate: ‘’When I came up with ‘Dreams of Empire’ it was during the ‘non-serious chapter of my career, and recently I started to overthink everything - the interactions under this name like sharing promos, social media etc., and now I do not identify with it anymore. It’s a great name but it’s a little over the top, especially because I have a whimsical aspect to my artistic persona and it doesn’t fit. I’d rather go by my given name.’’ When something causes you more stress than it enables you to create and to develop your artistic identity to its fullest potential, it’s time to let go and move on to the next chapter. ‘’Definitely! Music is really personal to me and that name started to feel more like a block rather than being myself, therefore it’s time.’’
‘‘How I interpret music is that for every moment there is an ideal track that empowers it, and as a DJ I have to find that obviously keeping to my taste. Once you capture that moment you can build on it and play another track that fits it or that is a continuation of it or a twist while still fitting.’’
Lastly, I wanted to know what Davut’s plans are for the near future. ‘’I plan to start a label somewhere in the upcoming years. For me it’s very much about finding those special artists that have their own voice. Of course, it has to be my taste but I want to invite artists who are very uniquely themselves, and when you hear one track and one bit and you can immediately say ‘Oh that’s them!’. What a great way to end this lovely chat with another awesome announcement, and something special to look forward to! I am very happy to have such a talented wonderful person like Davut on my platform, and it was a true honour being able to support him by premiering his upcoming music. I wish him all the success in the future and am very much looking forward to his upcoming projects. Enjoy the brilliant compositions and don’t forget to buy the music and support the artist!