Barrett Richards, based out of San Francisco, is returning to Australia after first visiting under another guise, the electro B Rich. Alas, the sometime affiliate of Drop The Lime's Trouble & Bass fold can't recall which cities he played. “I'm excited to check it out again,” Richards says bashfully of the scene, en route to the airport. “I had a great time when I was there two years ago. I felt that everyone was pretty up for what I was playing. At that time, the same as now, I was trying to push that more soulful music and stuff. I had a really good response, so I'm excited to see how it's grown.”
The Pittsburgh native taught himself guitar and piano as a pre-teen, before discovering electronic production. He later studied audio engineering. Though embracing '90s rave, Richards has long been into hip hop, R&B and soul. (He's currently listening to Kendrick Lamar.) Having moved into bassline with B Rich, he next introduced the experimental Kastle in 2009, the inaugural single Better Off Alone on Philadelphia's Seclusiasis. Richards also remixed Example's Won't Go Quietly for a Ministry Of Sound contest – and won. He's recently ventured west to San Fran. “I've always loved it out here.” The DJ launched his Symbols Recordings mid-year with the Stay Forever EP.
Today Richards is enamoured with new avant electro R&B artists like Frank Ocean, whose Pyramids he's (unofficially) remixed. Indeed, sonically, he is far removed from mainstream US dubstep, being closer to Britain's nebulous post-dubstep contingent (think James Blake). Richards can't say where he belongs. “For a while I wasn't really sure – and I think that's why I started my label, because I was talking to various record labels and either they were down, but it didn't really seem like they were super-excited, or they didn't get what I was doing. Essentially, I just decided to create my own world with Symbols and find similar artists who had the same problem – well, I shouldn't say 'problem', but who are just so unique that they don't fit anywhere else.” He plans to issue a Valentine's Day EP by Boston vocalist Xavier that will appeal to fans of Ocean and The Weeknd. Xavier will likewise guest on Richards' upcoming debut album, together with Miami vocalist Austin Paul (sample the ace Without You on the Kastle Soundcloud) and others. “It's my debut album, but I've been at this for so long that I wanted to get a lot of my friends involved, so it definitely has some cool collabs.”
The DJ welcomes The US's EDM explosion, even if he isn't into “the whole crazy dubstep party music.” “I think it's great,” says Richards, who's incongruously toured with Skrillex's homie 12th Planet. “Any time you have an explosion like that I think it's a good thing... Kids are having fun, and kids are going out to shows so it's good.” This year he actually played the countercultural Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. (Richards' girlfriend had bought him a ticket for his birthday.) “It was really great. I didn't know what to expect. It's funny – when I came back, everyone asked me, 'How was it?' I think what I was saying was, 'It's everything I could have never imagined' – because you're not ready for it. But all the [four] sets were really great. I played a lot of house music and, you know, there is a lot of house there. Even the Dirtybird guys came from San Francisco – they had a really strong presence. But I played a mixture of house and dubstep and garage and the whole thing and it went really great.”
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Melburnians can anticipate much the same when Richards heads the Late Show at Revolver. “My sets are always very varied. I usually start off at around 127bpm and just keep working up. House, garage, dubstep, R&B, it's just kinda all over the place, [it's] really hard to describe.”
Kastle will be playing the following dates:
Friday 7 December - Geisha Bar, Perth WA
Saturday 8 December - Revolver, Melbourne VIC
