Electronic music in Istanbul is a seriously mixed, often disappointing bag. For the late night revelers among us, there are only a few options in regards to venues and perhaps even less for quality, original electronic performers. HICCUP makes a strong case for themselves as one of the city’s most creative, unique outfits currently involved in the scene. A blend of the acoustic with synthetic, live drumming and curated visual shows, the duo behind HICCUP put on an impressive performance for the nocturnal.
Mert Köse and Mustafa C. Aydın are the looming figures behind their dynamic, potent sounds. We recently spoke with them about the release of their new album MAELSTROM, the state of city’s electronic music scene and what we should be looking out for.
To start things off, could you introduce yourselves and tell us how you came to form HICCUP?
Mustafa: To date the beginning of HICCUP is kinda hard since some of the tracks were already there even before HICCUP was actually being planned. I was into electronic music for a long while, insomuch that I can say I was initiated into music by electronic music. But I can say I decided to start an electronic project sometime in late 2014 and Mert told me that he wants to make something ‘different’ with me and I asked him to join the project and he agreed, so we were formed. Then we started to perform in 2015. I guess we can say we are making some kind of electronic dance music with an experimental approach.
Mert: We’ve been working together on a music project since 2010 though. I would say, things have come about spontaneously. I was not attached to electronic music in those days but after some time, my interest has started to go up gradually.
How did you come up with the name for your project?
Mustafa: It was my call. After having some exhausting, unpleasant musical adventures with others and having to cancel everything, HICCUP came up like a hiccup really; unexpected, irrepressible, out loud. One thing was in my mind: I just want to make music and I will somehow do it, with the people or not.
Mert: I’m so bad at giving names. But I think, “HICCUP’’ literally represents our perspective towards music.
We haven’t really spoken with electronic artists before. As foreigners to Istanbul, it’s safe to say that most of us come in with zero knowledge of the local scene. Could you tell us a bit about he current state of electronic in Istanbul and/or Turkey? Are there any artists you’d particularly like to highlight?
Mustafa: I think it is interesting and kinda promising. As far as I can see there are a good number of talented electronic artists here in Turkey even though not all of them are well-known and others have started to show up. It was only (usually bad) DJing and experimental electronic stuff for a long while here but I think we are witnessing the period when things have started to change slowly.
Mert: Local scene is changing in a good way day by day and not just for electronic music. There are very various electronic sounds in the different genres in Turkey. On the other hand, DJing is so trendy in Turkey, as well as in the World, too. But most of them just playing records in the clubs without producing a sound. Yet, I also know many electronic musicians in the local scene who are really talented and have influential sound.
Are there any venues you’d particularly like to recommend or ones that you simply love performing at? Any festivals?
Mustafa: We are really struggling with the difficulty of the limited number of stages and it doesn’t seem to be getting better day by day. But I personally would like to say, I do feel home when I play at Peyote Nevizade — DJ sets or live.
Mert: We are a bit in trouble about looking for stages for our live performances in the local scene because of the need for a powerful sound system of the music we perform and they’re counting down nowadays. And yes, I agree with Mustafa, Peyote is like a crib for us.
Congratulations on releasing your new album! Could you tell us a bit about it?
Mustafa: MAELSTROM is a continuous album consisting of 8 tracks mixed with each other. So it is intended to be listened to as a whole experience but most of the tracks are also DJ friendly, could fit a DJ set smoothly. The idea was in our minds since last summer; making a DJ-set like, continuous, mostly danceable album and I was planning to make it a DVD with visuals to accompany the whole album, but when I declared my idea to friends in DECOL who made a music video for the third track of the album and also arranged the visuals, they were like whoa whoa whoa buddy, you better chill and get real. They explained to me how it is unnecessary and arduous, and I did get real. So we decided to make one music video for ‘L’ which will be released very soon. Also Cem Celal Bilge that I’m working with at Venus Music Studios has taken on the production costs of the album as he did with the former one also.
Mert: Thank you! 🙂
How does it differ from your first album?
Mert: The first album was like a thrilling experiment for me, while I was recording drums. During the recording of IGNIGHT, my main goal was catching the compatible sound between acoustic elements and electronic materials. I think we made out. In MAELSTROM, that was another challenge for us. First, there are no acoustic drum recordings on MAELSTROM. Secondly, as he said, the idea was like, making a DJ-set like, getting a fluid and danceable sound, and mixing it together. Besides, MAELSTROM has a really hard-liner sound compared to previous works from us.
We know of your label, Personal Space Records, through our friends in the Young Shaven. Could you tell us a bit about the label and how being signed has changed things for you as artists?
Mustafa: Personal Space Records is raised by the partnership of us as Venus Music and Serhat Erman, guitarist and vocalist of The Revolters who also released an album on PSR. Our first album IGNIGHT was the first release of PSR and it is such a sentimental thing to us, since it was HICCUP’s first release also and I was one of the people who backed it up. I’m also so happy that you mentioned The Young Shaven since it is also a sentimental thing to me. I produced The Young Shaven’s EP “… and Venus was the Name” and I should say we had real fun together doing it. The most drunk and on-the-go production I made so far and I believe we did a good job really and I also want to add that it was recorded at Venus Music Studios and its name was a surprise to us and I was almost like filled with tears.
Mert: And now, we asked for and went into more trouble. We started another music label named ‘avosync’ which focuses on electronic releases only. avosync’s first release was MAELSTROM and now everything makes sense hahah.
What’s next for you?
Mustafa: Party hard.
Mert: Going for it.
—
To keep up with HICCUP, check out their official site or follow them on Facebook, Instagram or Soundcloud. Also, be sure to check out some of the other artists on Personal Space Records.
Images courtesy of press team.
