Originally from New-York (USA), but living in Berlin (Germany), Adam Mitchell is known in the…
Originally from New-York (USA), but living in Berlin (Germany), Adam Mitchell is known in the industrial- and EBM scene for his minimal-electro driven projects Adam-X and ADMX-71. Adam is also running Sonic Groove, which is a visionary dark-techno/body label releasing productions from artists such as Orphx, Rhys Fulber, Fixmer / McCarthy, Monolith, The Panacea, Blush Response ao. He is a renowned DJ, producer and event organizer (Tresor Club). For more than 10 years now he’s also releasing music under the Traversable Wormhole moniker. This project is definitely more techno-driven, but always featuring a dark touch on top. After numerous EP’s, Traversable Wormhole is now back with its first self-released full length album “Regions Of Time”. The album is available on digital platforms and as a double vinyl edition. The work stands for the obscure side of techno music and is for sure worthy of examination.
Q: You set up Traversable Wormhole already a while ago, but you didn’t
really release new stuff under this moniker for a few years while you were more
prolific with your other projects Adam-X & ADMX-71. Where was this break
good for and what brought you back to Traversable Wormhole and this new production?
Adam: Traversable Wormhole is a very specific conceptual sound for me.
I’m very much into creating soundtracks for space travel themes. For a while I
felt I pushed the boundaries as far as I could go with the sound. So I needed
to take time and space from the project until I could come up with new ideas. I
was also busy with another formerly anonymous side-project titled The Secret
Initiative, which ran consecutively at the same time as the Traversable
Wormhole releases. This project was a bit more loose feeling and fun for me to
make from Traversable Wormhole as it’s taking old techno and EBM ideas and
transforming them into the present day. I had way less restrictions recording
this project and recorded 20 songs over the course of the last decade. So I had
my hands full with other projects and lost focus on recording new Traversable
Wormhole material.
Q: “Regions Of Time” is the first full length album so what incited you
to achieve an album instead of new EP’s and what is the album all about?
Adam: I created it more on instinctual feeling then anything else. I
made two songs for a single, but then the ideas just kept flowing. I thought
why not just go all the way on it as I know the fans of the project would love
hearing a full length album way more then a single. It is also way more
gratifying as an artist to record an album then a single. I wanted a new
challenge and so I took it on.
Q: You always claimed this projects stands for the sci/fi side of techno
music, but what do you really understand with this ‘quote’ and what does it
reveal about your personal interest for science fiction, space and wormholes?
Adam: I love astronomy, star gazing and all things related to outer
space. I also love science fiction movies & comics and that has a big
influence on me too. I love the segment entitled “Jupiter & Beyond The
Infinite” in the movie “Space Odyssey : 2001” where Dave is traveling through
space and then entering into the rings of Jupiter. Traversable Wormhole songs
can easily be my rendition of a soundtrack to that particular scene in the
movie. Also I’ve always had a huge passion for techno that has a sci-fi
futurism feeling to it. It invokes thoughts in me of outer worldly subjects and
fantasies and I love music that creates thought provocative images.
Q: Tell us a bit more about the writing of this album? What have
been the different stages you’d to go through? The equipment you used? And do
you notice main differences in the composing process between Traversable
Wormhole and your other projects?
Adam: I have been making music solely with Ableton and plug in synth’s
since 2005. I’ve done the hardware thing for the 15 years prior to this of
releasing music. For me it’s not about the tools you use it’s how far you can
expand your mind to create. I also love total control in every event happening
in my songs. I’m a total perfectionist. I go deep into automation with several
events often happening at once on a note with effects, filters etc. You cannot
do with two hands and hardware. I’m limitless now where as when I worked with
hardware I felt more constricted. With that being said when I tell other
producers that I don’t use any hardware many are quite in shock stating my
music sounds like it’s done on hardware. What I really love about using Ableton
is I usually will create several different song sketches at first. Then I will
bounce back and forth between the sketches so as I don’t get bored of working
on the same song for hours on end. It also helps me keep the flow of the album
this way as I’m hearing several different songs in a day. I’m more in tune with
the overall feel this way. This process of writing and recording is the same
for all the projects I do.
Q: Whatever you want to call it, I experienced “Regions Of Time” as the dark
side of techno music! It’s filled with icy sound treatments and hostile
atmospheres, but it all remains definitely techno- and danceable like. There
clearly is a scene in Berlin for this kind of techno music. Tell us a bit more
about it? Is it an important scene (clubs, artists, promoters etc)? Why is it
that specific for Berlin?
Adam: What you experienced is my actual intention for the listener to
feel. I want the listener to feel very heavy low, deep bass, the sonic boom per
se in space travel. In technical terminology the sound of Traversable Wormhole
is often 10-15 hertz lower in frequency then most other techno music. Most low
bass in techno music is recorded in the 50 and higher Hertz range of low
frequency. Traversable Wormhole is hitting much lower in the 38-45 Herz range.
This creates a huge feeling on a sound system with great sub bass
cabinets/speakers.
There is a scene globally for this kind of music. I’ve played many
countries under this project. The Japanese especially love deeper, dark music
as such. So I wouldn’t say the sound is more enjoyed in Berlin then other
places. It’s quite universal in techno.
Q: How do you see this scene evolving and how do you see yourself
evolving towards your next productions? What brings the future for Traversable
Wormhole?
Adam: I’ve entered into 30 years in 2020 since my first record came out
in 1990. One thing I’ve learned in this time is it’s awfully hard to predict
what comes next. I really have no idea what the next changes are to come in the
music scene itself. Early in the 1990’s when I began music styles were changing
rapidly year to year. Changes are super slow in modern day times. There really
hasn’t been any significant changes in techno since the early part of the last
decade with exception of some artists speeding the BPM’s up plus 10.
As for my own productions it’s also hard to say. I try not to think too
far in the future because I’m already nearing 50 years old and have lived more
then half a life. I prefer to live day to day and let my music take me
instinctually to wherever it can without over thinking how I can evolve with
it. I will always have an urge to push boundaries as long as I’m creating
music. So you can expect more futurism forthcoming in the industrialized techno
bubble I live in.
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