Mining The Past

Canada's Mathew Jonson, a hallowed figure in minimal techno and house circles, has tapped into the past in order to progress. His highlight of 2012 was joining Movement: Detroit's Electronic Music Festival. “It gave me a new insight into electronic music,” Jonson says. The irony? “It was guys like Kevin Saunderson and Jeff Mills who were ahead of the pack, leaving all the younger generation in the dust once again.”

The Vancouver native studied several instruments, including piano and drums, in childhood, but he inherited his father's interest in electronica and was soon dabbling with production. Nevertheless, Jonson would explore electronic jazz fusion with his band projects Modern Deep Left Quartet and Cobblestone Jazz. The (former drum'n'bass!) DJ aired music under his own name, starting with 2001's New Identity, and Cobblestone Jazz on Itiswhatitis Recordings, launched by friend Spencer Drennan. Jonson subsequently collaborated with Luciano as well as released music on Richie Hawtin's M_nus. He also co-founded the respected Wagon Repair.

Jonson, who today splits his time between Berlin and Goa when not touring, recently bought the rights to Itiswhatitis and is in the throes of reactivating it. Much of IIWII's back catalogue will now be available digitally for the first time. (Jonson holds that 2002's Freedom Engine is “probably” his “best” work, and not those later club classics Marionette or Symphony For The Apocalypse.) Meanwhile, he's preparing the follow-up to 2010's solo album, Agents Of Time. There will likewise be another Cobblestone Jazz album in 2013. “We just spent three days in the studio and I'm very happy with the results,” Jonson reveals. 

The enigmatic muso continues to challenge himself. “I've been studying piano again and practising lots, so that's the main challenge. Ever since I got this beautiful old Yamaha organ from the '70s, I play about an hour a day – between that and the Rhodes.” 

Nostalgia is antithetical to techno's futuristic pull, yet many pine for the vintage Detroit music, even as a new wave of post-dubsteppers are reinventing it. “It never left,” Jonson maintains. “People get caught up with current trends but, in a lot of ways, the best music is still the stuff that was made since the beginning of synthesisers.

Berlin, long a favourite city of experimental musicians, is increasingly being overrun by hipsters. Yet Jonson has no plans to abandon his primary base. “I'm building a new studio right now so, yes, I'll be there for a while. I don't think it's overrun by hipsters at all. The scene is the best in the world and the door policies at the clubs keep it this way – even though they can be a real downer if you happen to be the one denied at the door.”

Jonson is less optimistic in offering predictions for electronic music, underground or not. “Unfortunately, I see a lot of the music sounding more and more sharp, overly bright and digital, with most producers using pre-set sounds on the plug-ins and samples. On the other end of that, I see others getting better musically and spending the time and effort they should on making their music. I guess with electronic music seeping its way into the pop world, and vice versa, it just depends on if you want to play the musician or the super-cool DJ who pretends to be a producer just to get gigs.” Jonson may have remixed Nelly Furtado, but he doesn't follow fresh Canadian electro-pop talent like Grimes – or The Weeknd.

This hardware diehard – and regular Australian visitor – will keep it real when he brings his live show to Let Them Eat Cake. “Eighty per cent of the material you will have never heard. I've been working a lot over the last year and decided 'til the coming spring not to release much. The set-up is fairly similar to usual – [with] lots of effects, drum machines and synths... I'm really looking forwards to coming back!”

Mathew Jonson will be playing the following dates:

Monday 31 December - Cuckoo Bar, Adelaide SA
Tuesday 1 January - Space, Sydney NSW
Tuesday 1 January - Let Them Eat Cake, Werribee Park, Melbourne VIC