laptone

Representing so much more than just one particular sound, the golden wonder that is Claptone is loved by some for his catchy melodic tunes, and by others for his stomping dancefloor-oriented tracks. It’s the height of the summer right now, and the artist finds himself touring like there’s no tomorrow with limited time to produce, so he is only working on his bare necessities: the kind of brand-new bangers for the club that are always needed. A true jack of all trades, Claptone got to play them out on two vastly different stages in just one day. Time to get together, consider the differences, and dive into house music history.

THE MOST-SEASONED DAYBREAK DJ

“I’ve probably played more Daybreak Sessions than anyone else,” says Claptone as he jokingly starts leafing through his copy of ‘The Rise of Adscendo’, as if expecting to find the evidence right there, in Tomorrowland’s first ever fantasy novel. These sessions, which return to the festival every single year, are the ultimate warm-up format where international DJs are challenged to play the kind of timeslots they used to when they first started their careers. Claptone: “These sets really are a different ballgame, as people still need to get into the vibe, so I play a little more groovy than usual – even if, of course, playing groovy stuff is what I’m generally known for.”

Amidst the bombastic, drop-centered music we’re used to hearing at the Mainstage, Claptone seems the odd one out, being a house DJ at heart. That doesn’t bother him, however: “My music as I played it this morning is easy to follow for everyone, and as accessible as Timmy Trumpet’s or Steve Aoki’s, as far as I’m concerned. That said, I do always take it a little deeper during my nighttime sets. For my set at Crystal Garden this evening, I will skip the type of easy-going tunes that I started my first set with, and go right into the more energetic stuff, as people will surely be totally hyped up by then.”

FOCUS ON THE MUSIC

Claptone’s golden mask is one-of-a-kind, but he isn’t the only one DJ’ing undercover. Deadmau5, Boris Brejcha, Mad Mike of Underground Resistance, and Marshmello all at some point decided to do the same thing. What is it that made him decide to hide his human face in the booth? “I love the history behind it and the fact that you can project a lot of your own images on it,” says the producer. “If you want it to be a sexual thing then that’s what it is, but gold is also often associated with hip-hop, for example. The way I see it, the mask just has a lot of potential. It’s up to the viewer to fill things in. Due to its openness to interpretation it’s almost like you invite people to become part of something. Besides, I also think wearing a mask helps people focus on music rather than personality. It just makes it easier to have a good time dancing, and that’s what it’s all about for me.”

House Music Is A Feeling

“The key distinction between EDM and house – a broad term for the club stuff that I love – is that house is relentless music,” says Claptone. “It doesn’t travel from peak to peak. It’s designed to evoke a certain type of emotion instead, where people from different social classes or even from various music scenes connect through music. This type of dance music has a long history and it derives from a club named the Warehouse in Chicago. There was no such thing as house music at the time, but DJs like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan would merge various types of music into one thing and then at some point it was called house music, something people could endlessly dance to. In my opinion, the genre is still very much alive and kicking, with people like Fisher and Oliver Dollar doing things very differently compared to originators like Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley and Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk, but still essentially in the same spirit.”

New Material On Golden Recordings

‘Charmer’ came out in 2015, ‘Fantast’ in 2018 and ‘Closer’ in 2021. Can we extrapolate this rhythm into the future and conclude that we will have a new Claptone album by 2024? “No,” says Claptone. “Because I can’t keep up. I was able to work on ‘Closer’ because I couldn’t tour and now

I’m playing gigs back to back again.

I have started writing songs, but I still need to do a lot of production on those tracks and I also need more time to write. What I need right now is tracks for the clubs. My recent track ‘Euphoria’ is one example of such a tune. ‘Flashdance’, a collaboration with electro producer Man Parrish, is another one, based on his tune ‘Boogie Down Bronx’. We laid new production under it and sped it up quite a bit. You can actually find an interview I did with Man Parrish on YouTube. He’s an incredible guy from New York, who casually coined the terms techno and electro, and who used to hang out with people like Andy Warhol and David Bowie. I’ve got a few more club tracks in the pipeline, which will all be released on my new label Golden Recordings. The first upcoming track, ‘Big Easy’, is out on August 11th. It has distinct summer vibes and will put smiles on people’s faces for sure. The next one is a little darker, more ravey, and might be released in October. None of these tracks have the vocals that people who listen to my albums might know me for, but this is just what I feel like doing right now.”

With such deeply rooted historical references for his music, and such impressive collaborators working with him, it’s clear that behind the golden mask, Claptone is indeed hiding a deep affinity for music rather than personality. And those who were there at the Mainstage and Crystal Garden will confirm: it’s a shame that there’s no new album coming up yet, but the touring does in fact make up for it. Here’s to hoping Claptone will be back for much more of this next year!