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At home in house
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by JACK OATMON Stockholm-based house producer Mikael Nordgren, known as Tiger Stripes (after an Arthur Russell track), is a genuine, homegrown electronic talent. From early on, the Get Physical label signee’s interest in music was incubated by his family members. “My father’s piano was among my first toys when I was a kid,” says Nordgren. “My grandmother, who lived just upstairs, taught me my first chords on the guitar when I was really young. So music was always around.” But the support didn’t stop at just instruments. Nordgren was even indulged in his idolization of Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore, down to the wardrobe. “From the age of 10, it was pretty much what I was all about. Clothes and music. My mother took me shopping at the ladies’ department so I could look like my idol Martin Gore, and my father bought me my first synth.” The gloomy, pulsating tech-house that Nordgren eventually began producing was, at first, an interest blocked by access to gear. “I did a few house tracks using the studio we had at my school, but getting all that equipment seemed impossible at the time, so I got into playing in pop bands instead. When I moved to Stockholm, I met a few people at a party and they needed someone to play instruments and write songs for their house beats. I was with them for a few years, learned a little about producing and then I got my own studio together.” Now getting the proper tools is much less of a problem thanks to some noteworthy neighbours. “I’ve got people like John and Jesper Dahlbäck, Zoo Brazil and Style of Eye as neighbours in the same building. So if I want to borrow a Roland 303 or a Minimoog, all I have to do is to knock on their door and ask.” The help shows, too, as the haunting, cold character of some of the most digital moments of his production are softened by the buzz of the vintage gear. “I’ve spent the last year building my studio room, and now it’s finally ready. I use Mac and Logic 8 together with the UAD-2 plug-ins, and mix the soft synths with old analog synths.” WITH CLIFFORD BROWN AT |
