Walton is a 22-year old producer from the North of England. In the last few years, he's been carrying the torch for UK funky, grime and dubstep, even while others are jumping on the retro garage bandwagon. He's now prepping the July 1 release of his debut album Beyond on Hyperdub, the label that brought you Burial and LV. On the record, he makes a concerted effort to mix up genres and styles, while keeping a hard-edge sound that's truly his own.We met up with Walton in New York recently to talk about the making of the album, Dizzee Rascal and listening to Brandy. Also, check out this exclusive premiere of his new music video, "Frisbee."THUMP: You said that with Beyond you didn't want be limited to one or two genres, but be able to incorporate multiple genres and sounds. How did all of this unfold?
Walton: A lot of it was subconscious. The first tunes I did for the album were from last April. We only decided I was going to do an album in October though. So a lot of the stuff was already there—like the 140bpm grime and dubstep stuff. And then I started listening to a lot of techno and making that kind of thing. Then it was just the case of picking out stuff from different styles that worked well together for an album. It has quite an industrial feel to it.There's definitely a techno and industrial vibe on the album. "You and Me," specifically, is quite industrial. How did you put that track together?
The beat came first. A lot of my music is melodic. I was getting a bit pissed off that a lot of people were making these tunes with just a beat and no melodies, and I hadn't really made anything like that. So, I just wanted to make a hard-hitting tune—just a beat with nothing else over it. Then I got bored with it. It didn't have any other elements to it. So, I ran an acapella Brandy vocal track over it and we released the single version as "Baby." The Beyond version features a different vocal track.What current music infiltrate your consciousness in the recording process?
I've been listening to a lot of Hessle Audio stuff (Ben UFO and Pearson Sound), and then Pangaea. Hessle Audio has a show on Rinse FM every two weeks, which I listen to a lot. You download the podcasts off the Rinse FM website—they're really rhythmic and techy.The album opener, "Beyond," features synths that call to mind Orbital and even Kraftwerk. Were they on your mind when recording that track?
Well, I was using a synth plug-in called Omnisphere by Spectrasonics, which has all these samples of old synths. I was using a lot of those sounds, which is probably why you hear that.Is there a particular track on Beyond that you think encapsulates the larger vision of the album?
I really like "Frisbee." It has the feel of old grime. It's quite rhythmic, weird and mechanical.How did the album come together?
The thing is, it wasn't planned to be an album at first. So there wasn't really a process of trying to put together a concept for the album. Originally, it was going to be an eight-track EP. We were going to do four tunes for the vinyl release, then another four tunes for the digital pack. And then I met with Kode9 and Marcus Scott from Hyperdub earlier this year, and they said, "We think it should be an album." So I tried to piece it together by finding a connection between the tunes, and then worked off those eight tunes to find some more to make it a full album.You mentioned grime. A lot of the underground UK genres make their way over to America late and in a very diluted form. Are UK electronic music producers still exploring grime, funky, dubstep and the like?
Grime is still going. I prefer older grime to the newer stuff. That was the first music I really got into. The good grime is mainly from London, and I'm from Manchester, which isn't known for it. So, that's kind of where it started for me. Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner was the first album that I can remember buying. From there I found out about Wiley and others.Manchester is legendary for the Haçienda and acid house, but is there anything going on there at the moment musically?
There is but I don't know what it is. [Laughs] There aren't a lot of producers from Manchester, and I wouldn't say there is a Manchester sound.
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Walton: A lot of it was subconscious. The first tunes I did for the album were from last April. We only decided I was going to do an album in October though. So a lot of the stuff was already there—like the 140bpm grime and dubstep stuff. And then I started listening to a lot of techno and making that kind of thing. Then it was just the case of picking out stuff from different styles that worked well together for an album. It has quite an industrial feel to it.There's definitely a techno and industrial vibe on the album. "You and Me," specifically, is quite industrial. How did you put that track together?
The beat came first. A lot of my music is melodic. I was getting a bit pissed off that a lot of people were making these tunes with just a beat and no melodies, and I hadn't really made anything like that. So, I just wanted to make a hard-hitting tune—just a beat with nothing else over it. Then I got bored with it. It didn't have any other elements to it. So, I ran an acapella Brandy vocal track over it and we released the single version as "Baby." The Beyond version features a different vocal track.
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I've been listening to a lot of Hessle Audio stuff (Ben UFO and Pearson Sound), and then Pangaea. Hessle Audio has a show on Rinse FM every two weeks, which I listen to a lot. You download the podcasts off the Rinse FM website—they're really rhythmic and techy.The album opener, "Beyond," features synths that call to mind Orbital and even Kraftwerk. Were they on your mind when recording that track?
Well, I was using a synth plug-in called Omnisphere by Spectrasonics, which has all these samples of old synths. I was using a lot of those sounds, which is probably why you hear that.Is there a particular track on Beyond that you think encapsulates the larger vision of the album?
I really like "Frisbee." It has the feel of old grime. It's quite rhythmic, weird and mechanical.How did the album come together?
The thing is, it wasn't planned to be an album at first. So there wasn't really a process of trying to put together a concept for the album. Originally, it was going to be an eight-track EP. We were going to do four tunes for the vinyl release, then another four tunes for the digital pack. And then I met with Kode9 and Marcus Scott from Hyperdub earlier this year, and they said, "We think it should be an album." So I tried to piece it together by finding a connection between the tunes, and then worked off those eight tunes to find some more to make it a full album.You mentioned grime. A lot of the underground UK genres make their way over to America late and in a very diluted form. Are UK electronic music producers still exploring grime, funky, dubstep and the like?
Grime is still going. I prefer older grime to the newer stuff. That was the first music I really got into. The good grime is mainly from London, and I'm from Manchester, which isn't known for it. So, that's kind of where it started for me. Dizzee Rascal's Boy In Da Corner was the first album that I can remember buying. From there I found out about Wiley and others.Manchester is legendary for the Haçienda and acid house, but is there anything going on there at the moment musically?
There is but I don't know what it is. [Laughs] There aren't a lot of producers from Manchester, and I wouldn't say there is a Manchester sound.