The Mix 039: Randomer

Known equally for his rapid-fire sets and his mind-bending productions, Randomer has been a favourite of underground speed-lovers for nearly 15 years; carefully weaving together hard-as-nails techno, inky bass and vanguard experimental. Why? Well some of it could be down to a personal philosophy of ensuring his work maintains a sense of playfulness, with a tongue-in-cheek strand always present even within the gloomiest of kicks or the sharpest of synths. With a decade of consistent bangers in his production repertoire, the techno pathfinder has long been a go-to for any DJ wanting to pack a punch for mind-blown crowds — and now he's back at maximum velocity, with his first EP in five years 'Everything Happens For No Reason'.

There's a subtle irony to the methodology behind his new EP, set to land on Anetha's Mama told ya next month; coming off the back of a creative hiatus, the five-tracker is set to explore themes - in his words - of "sitting in unpredictability and finding our way through chaos." The London-born artist, AKA Rohan Walder, maintains that this feeling of bewilderment and intensity has been a constant energy since his earliest musical awakening — crediting heavy metal as the original crux. "The first concert I ever went to when I was about 11 or 12, was Black Sabbath," he laughs. "It was the first or second reunion tour at the NEC in Birmingham, I think it was maybe 1997/8 and it was the original line-up: Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward on drums. My little ears were ringing for three days. It was so impressive to me. At that point in time I'd just been learning how to play guitar, so it was also super inspiring."

Read this next: Randomer shares remix of Voin Oruwu’s ‘Identify’ with proceeds going to Ukraine aid

Like many who came of age within the UK capital at the turn of the millennium, it was through pirate radio that Walder first discovered electronic music, initially encountering jungle after being picked up by his friend's dad in primary school. "I heard this music and I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever heard. my mate would be beatboxing in school and I'd be trying to copy him," he says. "I'd be asking my parents 'What's this music that goes untz untz untz?' There was something so exciting about being young and the entire dial being jungle, it was so mysterious."

While Randomer is undeniably synonymous with techno, his knack for pulling through sonic markers of dubstep, UK bass and 4x4 garage has been a huge part of what has allowed his productions to resonate with wider audiences – with releases on L.I.E.S., Hemlock Recordings, Clone Basement, Perc Trax and more being just as likely to be rinsed in Europe's techno megaclubs are they in soundsystem parties in Bristol. 2013 cut 'Bring' stands as one of the biggest club tracks in recent memory, still regularly rinsed to this day. While his sound has been ever-changing - with few being able to boast a back catalogue that features releases on both Hospital Records and Dekmantel's UFO - the consistency in creating boundary-pushing music has made him allowed him to maintain his status as electronic music's foremost chameleon.

So it was with baited breath that his eclectic following have awaited his next release, following 2019's 'Sleep Of Reason' — and with 'Everything Happens For No Reason' it appears Randomer's new era is one of finding meaning through speed. We caught up with the DJ and producer to talk about the inspirations behind his deeply-emotional turn, finding humanity in the midst of horror while fleeing Ukraine and finding a sense of catharsis in playfulness.

Your new EP ‘Everything Happens For No Reason’ is your first in five years — how does it feel to be releasing a record after such a long time?

Honestly, it's like it's my first release again, it took me by surprise. I'd forgotten what this feels like, it's so weird. I used to release quite consistently. But it's been nice, the response so far has been great so I'm happy.

How do you feel like the electronic landscape has changed since ‘Sleep Of Reason’ came out?

Yeah, the last record was just before the pandemic, so I think we can all agree that after the pandemic - even during it - the whole industry landscape changed in such a big way. Maybe that is what made me quite anxious about the release, just because of how different things are now in such a short space of time.

Half a decade is quite a long time though, isn't it?

[Laughs] Yeah. You know, it's funny because I've kind of been touring for 15 years, and there's times when I go to a club and I'm playing there and talking to the promoter or the booker, and they'll say “Oh it's your first time!” and I'll be like “No, I actually played here about five years ago.” Then it'll be at the dinner or something and I'll do an investigation, and I realise it was more like 10 years ago. I think when you're touring, time goes so fast and I think that's part of the reason it doesn't feel like that long.

You have said that the EP has come following a “reflective hiatus” for the last five years. Can you tell us a little about that reflection? What do you feel has been the outcome of taking time away?

The thought of just releasing more music for the sake of releasing more tracks that were the same as before wasn't really that inspiring to me. Maybe I would have a different career trajectory if I had done that. But I wasn't ready to release until I had a more meaningful sound or direction. There's a lot of inconsistency in my work, but something links it all together... I'm not sure what.

But yeah, the hiatus came from me stripping things back during the pandemic and rebuilding my craft as a musician — not so much music production, but writing and composing music. It was something that I was grateful to have the time to do because I felt like I didn't have the consistency... not in styles, but in how effective I was at writing. The weird thing is, for me, this hiatus... I've been writing the whole time. But none of the music that I've made has gone out. It's been brewing.

How do you think that has influenced the EP?

I'm proud of how the tracks came out. It's a step up in terms of the composition of what I was writing before. I'm happy, I think it was time well spent, for sure. Now, every time I'm writing I feel all the tools are there, the ideas are fully realised.

Read this next: “Everything changed”: How Anetha is powering up her artistry

How was it to work with Anetha on the record on the track 'I Can't Believe'? And what was behind the decision to release on her imprint 'mama told ya'?

We've known each other for a while and played a fair few B2Bs in the past so we always felt like kindred spirits musically. When she first started the label, I think she asked me to release on it — but I think that was during the hiatus [laughs]. But as it grew, I was so impressed, the curation was amazing. Because of that, and hearing the records they released, I could tell they put a lot of care into what they were doing – and because this was such a meaningful record to me, it made sense to have Mama told ya as a home and explore those themes together.

The collaboration track, we'd also been talking about doing that for years and it never happened — so when it came to it, we went through so many versions, it was fun. We were trying to hone in on the mid-point between our two styles, and we got there and it ended up being quite a deep track. I found this sound library of a Balkan choir, I find sacred choral music is beautiful, and I was playing these harmonies and they resonated with my mood when I was writing it; they combined well with the sounds Anetha was sending me - she makes incredible arrangements - and it worked.

It feels extremely timely with the state of the world right now to touch on themes of embracing unpredictability/finding our way in the chaos — has it been cathartic for you to explore this? What do you hope your listeners take away from the EP as far as this theme is concerned?

It's interesting, I don't think it's possible to embrace unpredictability — but I guess this EP explores sitting with it at least. I mean, the record's called 'Everything Happens For No Reason'; I find that sentence quite reassuring. You know what I mean? Rather than believe there's some higher force, that seems to be quite evil [laughs]. It's quite nice to sit with the randomness of the world. I'd quite like the audience to experience their own reflection and catharsis within the music that I make.

How have your own experiences with "sitting in it" informed the record?

It is heavily inspired by my experiences of being in Kyiv in 2022 during the full-scale Russian invasion, with my partner who is Ukrainian. Experiencing that first-hand. That's why the first track is called 'I Saw The World Melt' because I did feel like I saw that happen in front of my eyes. We woke up at 5:AM to the city being bombed. Nothing would be the same again for either of us, we spent several days on the road escaping Ukraine — narrowly avoiding battles, seeing columns of tanks, and people on bicycles with AK-47s and fighter jets. You can't put words to those experiences really, we were quite lucky to survive that journey. But also, seeing the desire for freedom astounded me. There was so much humanity. We crossed over the border into Poland and we were greeted by hundreds of Polish people who had been staying up for three days just helping people who were coming across the border — they weren't aid workers, just normal people who had taken time out of their lives to help their neighbours really. It was a very intense experience.

I was in two minds about talking about my own experiences, because I didn't want to shape how people feel themselves when they hear it. That is something that is so great about music, you can kind of make your own connections with your own life and emotions. Something that I've learned a lot recently is that inspiration isn't so much under my control as an artist, it's about what you experience in your life in general, from big things to your day-to-day mood — they influence the choices that you make while writing, they rear their head each second while you're composing. You sometimes have to really dig afterwards to find out where it all came from when you listen back, because at the time you're just focused on what you need to do to finish the track — but in reality, it's the inspiration that informs that.

It's a bit more of a subconscious thing than something you've been purposefully attempting to capture.

Yeah. The reason I said it's something that I've learned recently, is that for a long time, I thought I didn't have what It is that makes people create music inspired by, I don't know... that stream over there or some birdsong that I heard, or the beautiful moment I met my partner or whatever. Even though when I did write music I was feeling all these things, I couldn't really connect them to events. But sometimes, it's just there. It's kind of like therapy, where you have to investigate "What does that feeling mean? Where was I?"

And then suddenly it makes sense when you really start to dissect it?

Yeah, it clicks and you're like "Wow." Sometimes even after that moment, you can get even more meaning out of it.

The new EP manages to shift quite cleverly between deep/complex and breakneck, is fast/hard music something you feel can carry those heavy themes well? Is there a sense of catharsis within speed for you?

I think "intensity" is the word I like to use. It's kind of like, intensity doesn't have as much of a direct signifier with what is happening in the music, rhythms or whatever. There's definitely catharsis in intensity. It can break down your own barriers, and open you up to feel without you even realising. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I guess sometimes the intensity strips back your thoughts and it's more instinctive.

Yeah, I think it can allow you to be more vulnerable. That's when you can get caught off guard with emotion.

You have said before that a piece of advice that has always informed you was “be more stupid”. Do you think this emotionally charged direction will be surprising for your audience? Or do you feel these themes correspond with that as a concept? Can playful music be just as meaningful as anything else?

That resonated with me so much because I naturally overcomplicate things, so that quote reminds me to refine ideas – rather than to keep elaborating constantly. Electronic music is unique maybe in being meaningless but also totally meaningful. So it's always nice to have contrast in those playful moments, even in the darkest moments of life, you can even have dark humour.

I totally get it, those moments can remind you that you're human.

Yeah, it's that humanity again.

Many of the tracks on this EP contain snippets of influences from your journey as an artist – can you tell us about how you managed to include them within ‘Everything Happens For No Reason?’

It's back on that subject of influence again, I don't think you can ever shake it. I find myself constantly reinventing the sounds that were formative for me, and I'll listen back and realise it sounds so much like the music I've always loved.

Earlier this year you shared your rework of Voin Oruwu's ‘Identity’ — having created the track in Kyiv on the eve of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022. How did it feel to finally release that into the world, two years on?

Yeah, I had finished it literally the night before the bombs dropped. The funny thing about that track is that it represents my life in Kyiv. I wasn't living there, but my partner and I were in a long-distance relationship so I would go and stay, I was practically living there — that track reminds me of how it was before the war. It was originally going to be released not long after the war started, but there was so much going on with the label in those first six months in Kyiv. I ended up releasing it myself raising money for a charity that my partner has started, and Unicef, so it felt like the right way to release it into the world.

Read this next: Thirst for freedom: Kyiv's queer clubbing community returns to the dancefloor

Has the gradual return of clubbing to Kyiv given you a sense of optimism? After that experience?

Well, K41 [∄], at the beginning of the war, it was a shelter for families of those working there. People were living there for months, it wasn't safe to go outside. So it's been on an incredible journey, it had only opened two years before the war started. Though there is a curfew in Kyiv right now so everyone has to be home at 11[:PM], K41 is still doing daytime events and I've been back a couple of times. It's really... it's hard to put into words how special it is to be invited there to play music for people who have gone through so much, and how much thought goes into what you're going to play to people who are experiencing the worst possible thing you can experience. I think my favourite places to play are where music means the most to people, and, it's sad to say, but a lot of the time it's where people have been in terrible situations or they are fighting for their freedoms, even personal freedoms. Playing in Kyiv during the war was extremely special, probably the most special experience I've had as a performer.

Has there been a particularly poignant moment?

Yeah, when I played at K41 in August this year. In the weeks before going there, I had been struggling to work out what I would finish the set with, I always finish on an emotional note. I save the tender moments for the middle or the end. I didn't want to play something cheesy, but I wanted it to ring with how I was feeling about going there and playing and maybe how I hoped the crowd would feel when they were going to be at the set and dancing and feeling free. I found the acapella to 'Silence' by Delirium, it's so beautiful — it's vocals from Sarah McLachlan. I faded the last track into it, and she is singing "I am free" over and over again. It was too much. I actually feel super emotional talking about it.

Can you tell us about your mix?

This mix is a journey through intensity with a couple curveballs, new tracks from me and a bunch of people whose music I love. recorded live in my home studio.

'Everything Happens For No Reason' will land on Mama told ya on December 6, pre-order here

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter

Tracklist:
Bungalovv 'Smoke Machines'
Harvey Mckay 'Minder'
AADJA 'foreverending'
Lola Cerise 'Someone Famous Said It But It Wasn't Me'
edetto 'Another Tek Track'
CRAZED (BR) 'HUMILDADE E DISCIPLINA'
Randomer 'DHM Jam'
Alpharisc 'Peace be with you'
THELMA 'Gemini'
CMRK 'The ninth spell'
6 SENSE 'Pulse Development'
Randomer 'Falling Apart' (jack'd mix)
Clinical Hates 'Splash Noiz'
KiNK & Raredub 'Time To Change'
Pegassi, MCYL 'Go Slow'
Randomer 'Red Wine'
Karenz 'Plastic Surgery'
Pondi Map 'cabron' (clubclassicsedit)
Kander '???'
HUJUS 'Double Down' (JSPRV35 Remix)
Spiderwrap 'Decryption'
B E N N B E N N 'Void'
Deto BlacChi 'Its A No From Me' (Deft Remix)
Merca Bae 'La Sonora'
Clinical Hates 'Carbon'
SWART 'NO AGUA'
Franco Smith & TimiR 'Nasty'
Thomas Schumacher & A.D.H.S. 'Mirazh'
Alpharisc 'Remain Seated'
Blasha & Allatt '8am in Salford'
Randomer 'I Saw the World Melt'
TRAGEDIAN '1.25__AGAMEMNON'
Dynamo City 'One Night In Hackney' (Regal Remix)
Randomer & Anetha 'I Can't Believe'