Stereosonic Exclusive Interview With Kaskade
Kaskade (aka Ryan Raddon) has reinvented himself like no other DJ/producer. Back in the early 2000s, he conquered the deep house scene, but today he’s collaborating with Deadmau5, Tiësto and Skrillex on thrilling new hybrids – blending house, progressive and electro. Yet more impressively, the California-based veteran has evolved from being an underground club DJ to a festival superstar, recently voted ‘America’s Best DJ’ in a DJ Times poll. And Australia has long been a favourite destination, Kaskade elated to be joining Stereosonic 2011. “I was happy to see that Dirty South, my buddy, is playing,” he enthuses. As it turns out, the Australian’s remix of his Sorry was nominated for a 2008 Grammy…
Kaskade doesn’t necessarily perceive himself as a canny shapeshifter – he’s just open-minded. “There’s so much interesting stuff going on,” he ponders. “I love a lot of the dubstep stuff and even a lot of the Dutch stuff – you know, it’s a lot of fun.” Ultimately, he’s a sucker for “a great song”, and vocal productions, regardless of genre.
Though he’s equated with the West Coast house movement, Ryan hails from suburban Chicago – like Mark Farina – and it was here he discovered the music in the ’80s. He enrolled in the Mormon Brigham Young University, among its famous alumni Twilight author Stephenie Meyer. (Ryan reputedly DJed in his college dorm!) He then switched to The University Of Utah in Salt Lake City – and operated a local record store. By the 2000s, Kaskade was in San Francisco, working as an A&R rep at the prestigious OM Recordings. The DJ segued effortlessly into production, his breakthrough single 2001′s What I Say.
Kaskade has since enjoyed successive hits, including the monster I Remember with Deadmau5 (the sequel to their Move For Me) – and no less than seven ‘artist’ albums, his debut 2003′s It’s You, It’s Me (the neo-soul cat Maxwell was a fan). Then there are Kaskade’s myriad mix compilations – and remixes for everyone from Beyoncé to Empire Of The Sun to Lady Gaga. His I Like The Way was licensed for the Sex And The City movie soundtrack. Kaskade even has a supergroup, Late Night Alumni, their current LP Haunted.
In advance of his Stereosonic tour, the prolific American has auspiciously delivered Fire & Ice (out through the boutique onelove Recordings). The double-album, already burning up the iTunes charts, thematises Kaskade’s dual sensibilities – his love of both anthemic melodica and slinky downbeat grooves. The first part, Fire, takes in Eyes, Turn It Down and Room For Happiness, the latter sung by pop ‘It’ girl Skylar Grey (she co-wrote Eminem’s Love The Way You Lie, featuring Rihanna). The second, Ice, comprises Kaskade’s own chilled remixes – or alternate versions.
However, the biggest track on Fire & Ice has gotta be Lick It, Kaskade’s cheeky dubstep/electro/house smash-up with Skrillex. He initially remixed Skrillex’s Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites, itself “a humongous tune” – and the pair bonded. “When he hit me up about it, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy – Skrillex has hit me up for a remix!’ Then he was like, ‘Yeah, I’m a huge fan, man.’ Sometimes you never know what to think of guys who are coming from a different genre, but it was really refreshing to hear it – ’cause I was like, ‘Dude, I’m a huge fan of your music – I freakin’ love the song, I’d be honoured to remix it.’”
Many dance types are questioning the future of the album, a major commitment for any gigging DJ – and Kaskade considers this “sad”. “I think it’s definitely what’s set me apart from what’s going on. As an artist, it’s important for me – it kinda makes a statement. So much of [dance] music is single-driven – like trying to capture that moment where everybody puts their hands in the air, and I have a really fun time capturing that moment – but I think that there’s other things to be said in electronic music. An album’s the perfect way to showcase that.”
Kaskade often inadvertently revisits his older albums. “Here in most of America – and even in South America – when I play, a lot of people really expect me to play my music. It’s very interesting. The whole [basic] DJ aspect doesn’t work so well for me – they wanna see more of a presentation, more of a Kaskade show than a DJ performance. So I get to listen to a lot of my older records every weekend when I’m doing my shows!”