VMM Album Interview Orkidea "20" Solaris Recordings
The beginning
It all began when Orkidea and a friend started organizing illegal raves in the squat houses of Helsinki in early 90s. Then he dj’ed for Jean-Paul Gaultier at a Berlin fetish club called Kit Kat after their first ever Berlin show then Orkidea entertained the rich & famous of Hong Kong and Russia and has warmed up for Chemical Brothers, Paul van Dyk and Underworld. Orkidea has also played at some of the elite Night clubs of the world including Tresor in Berlin, Pacha in Ibiza, Panama in Amsterdam and CODE in Tokyo. His recording career started in 1998 with Slusnik Luna’s Nicklas Renqvist. ‘Unity’ was signed to British Steelfish label and found it’s way on to the Gatecrasher and Renaissance compilations then Sasha and Oakenfold opened their Essential Mixes with it and Pete Tong played it on BBC Radio 1. Gigs with DJ Tiesto lead into signing to his Black Hole label while other releases include ‘Embrace’ on Five AM, ‘Beautiful’ on Sential that made the Finnish National singles chart #1, and the Andy Moor collab ‘YearZero’ was released on the AVA label.
Today
Orkidea’s new long-player celebrates his knowledge of the industry which for him spans over 2 decades and Orkidea takes a transfixing and episodic look at his personal sound experiences throughout the last 20 years of Finland’s very own trance master as he brings us into the world of “Orkidea 20”. It can be said that his music waves have paved the way for artists like Super8 & Tab, Darude, Alex Kunnari, Joonas Hahmo and numerous others to break into the scene and Paavo Siljamäki of Above & Beyond cited Orkidea has been one of the reasons he started making trance music showing Orkidea music is truly inspirational.
VMM speaks to Orkidea about his latest new journey and what’s next for the Finish Trance master.
The Interview
VMMQ: Can you tell the VMM when you were putting this celebration of tracks together what vision and vibe did you want to create for this Album?
Paavo Siljamäki from Above & Beyond called my previous 2008 album Metaverse “retrofuturistic” and I have continued on the same path with “20”. The vibe of the album is old school influenced – taking it’s inspiration from early 90s trance from labels like Eye Q, MFS and Platipus – but the production sound and quality is very much 2011.
VMMQ: The VMM would like to ask you to give us a short description about what’s behind the music and title of each of the tracks on the “Orkidea 20“ Album?
01) Orkidea – Beautiful (Orkidea’s Whiteout Remix)
2011 remix of my classic single ‘Beautiful’. I made this for my live PA at Finland’s biggest dance event Whiteout so it has quite an epic intro and strong groove.
02) Orkidea & JS16 – Hale Bopp
Me and JS16 wanted to make a new version of this prog trance classic. The reference and inspiration was from KLF’s early 90s “stadium house”. We wanted the riff to have this primitive , early techno roughness and edge to it.
03) Orkidea & Solarstone – Slowmotion II
Continuing where the part I left at. Progressive trance with a Mike Oldfield/Jarre kind of cinematic vibe. We wanted to try something different and the time signature is unusual 7/8 instead of the standard 4/4, so you have one “missing beat” every eight beats.
04) Orkidea – Sun Down
Another revisit of a less known trance classic from 1993, this time from Sven Väth’s Eye Q label. To me this is trance at it’s purest: hypnotic, groovy, melodic, emotional 6am stuff.
05) Orkidea – Pacifique
The housiest and most simple track on the album. This one has been working very well when testing the album tracks live. Title comes from annual Pacifique 2000 pax event we do at indoor water park in middle of the winter here in Finland.
06) Art of Trance – Chung Kuo (Orkidea Remix)
It was an honor to work on an Art of Trance track and even more so because the original is by Vangelis – another alltime hero. This track has no breakdown but kick drum going from beginning to the end with a seven minute contstant build up. John 00 Fleming was excited about this.
07) Lowland & Orkidea – Blackbird
Lowland has been collaborating on many of the album tracks and on the previous Metaverse album and the guy is pure genious – both musically and as a producer. Blackbird’s riff holds some hit potential with it’s Pendulumesque in-your-face vibe. There is little bit of rock’n’roll in this track wth it’s rock vibey bassline and drums. Title “Blackbird” is reference to Lockheed SR-71 airplane and the track is a modern ode to technology.
08) Orkidea – Tw3nty
Album title track always defines the album somehow. Tw3nty is very much the kind of trance I love to play out: driving, melodic, clubby and euphoric yet avoiding to be cheesy or too obvious. The main riff started out as a simple piano piece before evolving into a peak time hook.
09) Way Out West – Killa (Orkidea 2011 Remix)
New version of my Killa remix which is probably my most well known mix. I still get it requested on my live gigs so wanted to make a new version which is true to the original yet updates the groove to 2011. Has been going down very well on live gigs and Andy Moor has also been road testing this.
10) Orkidea – Hot Trigger
The most banging of the album tracks. This is actually a remake of a very cool 170bpm (!) track from 1993 which I used to play. At that time I was playing both: Renaissance influenced progressive house from labels like Limbo and Guerilla and some german rave trance like that. Still enjoy both worlds!
11) Orkidea – Unity (15th Anniversary Mix)
Unity was my debut single in 1999 and was supported by everyone from Oakey and Sasha to Tong and Digweed. It took me ten years to make a new version and this happens at the same time as Club Unity (who’s anthem this is) celebrates 15th anniversary. Oakenfold has been hammering an early version if this for quite a while. It was two years in the making so I don’t take revisiting classics so lightly.
VMMQ: You have been making music now since 1998 so the VMM would like to ask you is it difficult to create new sounds something fresh when your producing a new tune how do you get your inspiration?
The music making technology, electronic music and myself as an artist and person are all changing and developing so fast that inspiration has never been a problem. Finding the time to finish things is more difficult. Inspiration also benefits from calm and happy mind so being tired or stressed is something I try to avoid when going to studio.
VMMQ: The VMM would like to ask you will you be taking the Orkidea 20 album on tour?
Yes. There will be an extensive 30 date album release your. It’s mainly in Finland but there are also some international dates in London, Frankfurt and New York.
VMMQ: Can you tell the VMM what other new Orkidea studio projects are you working on at the moment and that will be hitting the download stores in the coming months?
I have just finished a new remix for finnish superstar male vocalist Lauri which will be released in late November. There are also some remixes of album tracks coming up and maybe couple bootlegs too…
VMMQ: Orkidea you have been in the dance music industry for 2 decades now so how have you seen the industry change since you released your first track and what are your top 3 tips to get your music noticed today?
Wow… big question! When I started there was no internet, the superstar DJ culture hadn’t really developed, vinyl was the only format for DJing and flyers the medium to gain information about events. So in a way everything has massively changed. But on the other hand clubbing is still essentially about people coming together on a Saturday night and dancing to the best and most upfront music by DJs. Regarding getting noticed here are my tips:
1) Have your own style and vision on what you want to do and sound like. Then do mixes, remixes, mashups, CDs, blogs and what not to get that vision sonified and out there.
2) Be nice and be trustworthy – nobody wants to work with unreliable ***wholes;)
3) Work, work, work… It has always been hard work to break through but nowadays when I see young DJs and producers pumping out more tracks in a year that I have during my whole career, I know you need to work even harder.
And play every gig you are offered and approach every meeting with a new person as a opportunity for something great. You never know where and when your moment will come.
VMMQ: Can you tell the VMM readers about your studio set up that you are currently using:
1. What monitors do you use? Genelec 1030s are still the best monitors to me.
2. What music sequencer do you use? Logic 9
3. What mastering software do you use? I use professional mastering engineers to master all my tracks, but if I need to do something quick I use IK Multimedia’s T-Racks. It’s amazing analog emulation software.
VMMQ: The VMM would like to ask you Orkidea what are the best memories from 2011 you can share with us?
Finishing the album is one thing for sure! Gigs with Sasha, Marco V, Andy Moor and Paul van Dyk were all great and clubbing wise the opening weekend in Ibiza was pretty amazing.
VMMQ: Finally the VMM would like to ask you Orkidea what new goals have you set for yourself now for 2012 ?
Release more music, bring more amazing artists to Finland, develop myself as a producer and continue exploring the creative possibilities of digital DJing with Traktor and S4 controller.
Tracklist
01) Orkidea – Beautiful (Orkidea’s Whiteout Remix)
02) Orkidea & JS16 – Hale Bopp
03) Orkidea & Solarstone – Slowmotion II
04) Orkidea – Sun Down
05) Orkidea – Pacifique
06) Art of Trance – Chung Kuo (Orkidea Remix)
07) Lowland & Orkidea – Blackbird
08) Orkidea – Tw3nty
09) Way Out West – Killa (Orkidea 2011 Remix)
10) Orkidea – Hot Trigger
11) Orkidea – Unity (15th Anniversary Mix)
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