You’d be forgiven for thinking that Asmus Odsat has a discography stretching back a good few years, such is the maturity of Ecstatic Half Truth, his debut EP for FALK Discs. But then again, with a tenure as Culture Box resident and co-founder of key club-nights Ritual Malmö and BULK, Asmus has roots within a scene whose influence stretches far beyond the Scandinavian borders – and one that makes techno seem effortless.

Speaking with the artist on the eve of the release, we delve deep into Asmus’ musical past – from MJ cassettes and jungle raves, to FALK Discs and beyond.

Asmus Odsat – Ecstatic Half Truth EP is out 26 October on FALK Discs. Pick up your copy via the official FALK Discs Bandcamp store.

 

Origins
My dad was a musician, so I’ve been around music as long as I can remember. Tell me if you’ve heard this story before, but I was very intrigued by my dad’s Juno Alpha 2, and we’d record these sound-theater journeys where I think I was.. Batman? Or something along those lines. I also remember getting Michael Jackson’s Dangerous on a cassette tape as a 6 year old kid, and being very intrigued and slightly scared by the broken glass samples and other found sounds that feature on the first track of the release. As a young teen I ended up at Jungle nights in a venue called Operaen which led to a long period of listening to drum & bass.

Introducing
Ecstatic Half Truth is my debut release. Some of it was recorded in Denmark, most of it in Iceland. It features the previously mentioned Alpha Juno 2. My production workflow changed a lot during this period, as well as my chops, to be honest. As with so many other producers from CPH, I had a lot of good tips and directions from Troels Knudsen, aka CTRLS. Maybe for the next EP I’ll learn how to not add so much shit. But I doubt it.

Foundation
One of the first key moments where I knew electronic music was my thing, was probably the previously mentioned jungle nights. Too bad I didn’t know any of the artists or track titles back then. Bezz, one of the owners of various record shops in CPH helped me amend my ignorance in the following years, so I’m thankful to her, her colleagues, and good record shops in general for that. I later started working as busboy at Culture Box, and collected a lot of bottles before I felt confident enough to try and switch lanes into hosting nights and DJ’ing in there, with our BULK nights. It seems like the place has changed directions after I moved to Iceland, but in its earlier years I was there every weekend.

Present
I moved to Iceland since I got a grant in Iceland to do my day-job as a researcher. I can’t remember how I first met Bob from FALK, but at some point they’d heard I was also producing, and asked for some demos. Luckily for me, they were insane enough to believe in me enough to put me out on vinyl. And I’m very thankful for that.

Future
Who knows tomorrow?

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