Interview: Neko Neko

Article published: Saturday, March 24th 2012

Neko Neko is the alter ego of Graham Shortland, an electronic musician with a knack for successfully interlocking samples into fresh, soulful and funky settings. Ian Pennington meets the artist to find out all about it, and what he’s got in store.

For Shortland, Neko Neko’s Indonesian meaning – “someone who has creative ideas that are damaging or get in the way of normal life” – was too fitting with his musical outlook to resist as a moniker.

The project is indirectly the result of a defining experience at the age of 16 that lit up a path in electronic music. “Late on one night, I was having a cig in my garden and I heard this amazing music coming from a neighbour’s window. Immediately, I ran round and knocked on until he answered. He told me it was Four Tet and gave me a bunch of records. That was it, I was hooked.”

The path has so far led from listener to composer and on to performer, with many and varied modes of musical production, which is what keeps Shortland interested. Sitting in front of flashing LEDs and digital complexities, he has a simple intention: “to create something with soul.”

“With samples,” Shortland explains, “it’s generally one little part of a song or phrase that catches my ear. Sometimes it’s not even an obvious bit, might just be a single note or chord I can hear which I know I can transform into something else.”

Fulfilling the ambition of creating something with soul is no easy task with the possibilities of melodic structure so vast that options can clutter any musician’s thought processes. To counter this, when writing Neko Neko aims for a clear mind in order to produce something “that’s different and has a new sound. I don’t think I have any big notable influences that I try to emulate.”

Once pinned down, the samples are then often looped and it is a technique that walks the tightrope between mellow bliss and monotony bereft of meaning. That’s the risk at stake for any musician and Neko Neko’s output so far not only avoids the potholes, but shows early promise.

It’s also always a risk to rework any song considered sacred to many, but that didn’t stop Neko Neko taking on the Pink Floyd classic album The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, finding right amount of clever embellishments, tempo shifts and idiosyncrasy to make it something distinct enough from the original to take on a new life. Its title of Orange Side of the Moon is typical of his abstract and light-hearted approach to making music, with the orange part a reference to an unreleased album of his named My Favourite Sound is Orange.

Since then he has released two singles via Manchester based My First Moth Records – the latest of which sold out of physical copies soon after becoming available to buy last month – which have been punctuated by another longer recording project in the shape of remixes from an old Reader’s Digest mixtape. He filmed the process via webcam as an added innovation to accompany the Balearic grooves, which is something that is interesting to watch up to a point but at nearly 50 minutes in length would test the patience of anyone unfamiliar with or uninterested in electronic music production. The mixtape itself repeats samples of formerly middle-of-the-road easy-listening records and adds funky beats, smooth rhythms and instrumental ambience that recalls trip hop by Aim or RJD2. For something he describes as being born from frustration, it makes for delightful listening, although not much of this has been retained for live sets.

What does merit inclusion in the Neko Neko live set varies between subtle clips and better known remixes, such as the B side to his latest single, ‘Ya Playin’’, with its lyrical nod to Jeru The Damaja. Now sought after by his peers, Shortland sets himself a high standard in remixology but aside from his own material he can appreciate anyone who achieves a composition “where the remix ends up standing up as a good song in its own right, like the Machinedrum remix of Bonobo’s ‘Eyesdown’.”

His realigned soundwaves are scheduled to be featured on the forthcoming record by Frameworks & BluRum13, while a recent gig supporting local trip hop trio From The Kites Of San Quentin at Salford’s Sacred Trinity Church proved an opportunity to air remixes completed last year for an EP by The Electronic Exchange. And following a spot on their recent northern tour in Leeds, there are plans to develop this further in imminent performances as The Electronic Exchange’s vocalist, Najia Bagi, will make the step from an electronic sample to a live appearance in collaboration alongside Neko Neko.

The project is in its nascent stages, having been aired to the public for the first time at a My First Moth Records showcase in Chorlton earlier this month, but, given Bagi’s natural synchronicity with electronic music, the pairing is has the potential to develop Neko Neko’s live show in the future.

It is a sign that Neko Neko is an evolving artist with a busy year in the pipeline. Shortland admits that his current guise is by no means the finished product so there is plenty to look forward to in the foreseeable future. “This year there’ll be an album, another beat tape, a remix for Frameworks’ album, an EP and some possible collaborations with a local mc, but that’s early days yet. I’m also planning to step up the live set, hopefully introducing some live instruments.”

Ian Pennington

Neko Neko’s next live performance will be at Islington Mill on Easter Monday (9th April) along with iconAclass, Vieka, Dayse & Aver and Raikes Parade. His latest single is available for digital download here.

This interview is an edited version of the interview that appeared on the Now Then Manchester blog recently.

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1. […] I did a little interview for Now then Manchester & Mule magazine, which you can read here. […]

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