Solid liquid

>> Ottawa’s Liquified maintain the humane

by HEIDI CHAPSON

Ottawa five-piece Liquified proved, on last year’s release Maintainin’, “that electronic music can still have a humane sensibility to it.” A melting-pot blend of hip hop beats, smooth soulful vocals and lounging-around drum & bass push mechanically produced sounds to another level. Producer/
songwriter Roland Marckwort gave the Mirror some insight into the whole process.

Mirror: What is Liquified all about?

Roland Marckwort: We try to have a live take on things, using real people to make soulful electronics. It’s about vocal drum & bass, but at the moment we’re more shifting towards garage and deep house. Things are moving quickly. Sometimes more quickly than actually being able to get the music out there. We like to try to think that we’re somehow evolving as a band.

M: Did you guys have a previous background in making music with live instruments, and then discovered the potential of samplers and computers as another tool, or were they always an integral part of the music?

RM: It’s really a blend of both worlds. It’s live vocals with hip hop and turntablism elements that DJ Pho brings to it, the vocals are kind of Erykah Badu influenced, and I’ve kept the drum & bass element going. We’re a set-up of six people on stage—female vocalists, an MC, a DJ, a bass player and myself.

M: What kind of electronic scene is happening in Ottawa, right now? Here in Montreal the minimal glitch and tech-house things are thriving.

RM: Ottawa is pretty small, so it’s a small scene, but there are a bunch of producers who are doing cool stuff. There’s probably more of a downtempo lounge thing going on here. The types of styles that you’d find on the Compost label. :

At Quartier Latin on Friday, March 1, 10pm