Gramaphone Children

What is your name?
Jaree but friends call me Jerry. Last name Thanapura.

Where are you currently based?
Bangkok.

You recently released an album called Slice & Dice, how has the feedback been?
Feedback has been good and CDs are almost sold out. Got a few features in local thai and english newspapers, magazines and blogs as well as podcasts and radio play.

Where did you record?
A lot of my main recording comes from my home studio where my synths are. After the backbone and instrumentation is done I head to my professional studio called Sky Tone to do some final touches, mixing and mastering. Sky Tone not only produces music for artists but mainly focuses on music for television commercials.

Who produced the album?
I produced the entire album on my own. But had a friend at another studio help me out with the mastering.

Did you collaborate with anybody?
I’ve collaborated with a few labels and artists. Before I was into Glitch / IDM stuff and collaborated with a Hongkong based label called Dicksonian. Other labels include Smallroom, Hualampong Riddim, the defunct So:On records, Box Records, Color Code and other Thai indie labels. I also run an electro / nu disco label called Kitsch Cat with a couple friends. For this album I collaborated with PYRA and Sinnamon from Dujada on 3 tracks, which they’re featured on.

Artists I’ve collaborated with are Cyndi Seui, The Cheebacabra, Yuri’s Nominee, PYRA, Sinammon from Dujada, Magana, Talkless, Flippers Guitar, Slow Reverse, Stargazer as well as producing some Thai indie bands with my partner at Sky Tone. Such as Lomosonic and Electric Neon Lamp.

What equipment did you use?
For this album I used an Elektron Octatrack rather than a computer for the backbone. And various analogue synths were used: Roland Juno 106, Yamaha CS5,  Arp Odyssey, BassStation (first gen) and a Dave Smith Prophet 08, Electro Harmonix Vocoder and a Banshee Talkbox.  For my Candy Cut project a lot of the sounds came from a Roland JX10 and my Arp fed into a Roland RE-150 Space Echo. I unfortunately don’t own a clavinet. And since I have no idea how to play the flute, all those sounds were played using Native Instruments Kontakt.

Real bass and vocals were recorded through an Avalon while all my synths were recorded through a Universal Audio Solo 610.  I used other outboard gear during my mixing process by summing with a CL1B Tube Tech and a Urei LA4. Our studio’s Metric Halo sound card also does some marvellous mixing tricks as well.

You have also released a couple of cosmic jazzfunk tracks that will be for a new label of yours called Candy Cut. What influenced the sound of these tracks?

I’m a huge fan of all kinds of funk and love collecting vinyl. When I started making some jazz funk vinyl mixes I was inspired by the sounds they were producing by incorporating funky synth lines fused with organic textures with an outcome that’s laid back and psychedelic. Some albums by Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock and Azymuth are a few good examples. Or if you listen to The Beastie Boys ‘From Sounds Way Out’ album, that’s the vibe you’ll get.

Please tell us how and why you decided to start your label Candy Cut?
Candy Cut was started by me and a close friend of mine. His artist name is Cyndi Seui. We both run Sky Tone and Kitsch Cat as well.

Candy Cut came into perspective when we wanted to do something absolutely different from what we were doing from our Kitsch Cat label. We wanted absolute freedom to explore very niche genres that a lot of people overlook, from jazz funk, boogie to cosmic disco and disco funk. It’s basically our playground to voyage into different types of genres that are currently influencing our minds.  I released a couple tracks already. One is called D.A.F. (Dirty As Funk) while I did a cosmic jazz funk reconstruction for The Cheebacabra. Soon to be released will be Cyndi Seui’s stuff.

How do you prepare for your live sets and DJ sets?
For my live sets I have a simple setup. An Octatrack, mixer, a couple synths and a guitar and talk box.

For Djing I love using vinyl but since only a few places in Bangkok cater to this I have to adapt and use CDJs or whatever’s available at the venue.

How did you learn to DJ?
I accidentally became a DJ. There was one gig we had in Singapore for The Mosaic music festival. They asked if we could have a DJ set after our live set. I was the one who had to DJ and I had no idea what to do. So I pre-made a bunch of cut and paste stuff I made in the hotel room but had no concept of beat matching and properly EQing tracks like a proper DJ, I just pressed the space bar and played back whatever I did. I felt horrible about that and slowly got into DJing with ableton and then went backwards, from spinning digitally with Traktor and eventually vinyl.

What’s up for the future?
I’ll be working on more material as usual in the future. But probably going towards a more modern boogie and jazz funk sound. Also thinking of doing some cosmic disco like tracks.

Who are you listening to at the moment?
Lagos African boogie, disco compilation called ‘Doing it in Lagos, and another band called Ibibio.

​Favorite food and place to hangout?​
I’m not a picky eater, I eat and enjoy about anything out there as long as it’s good. Don’t really have a hang out spot besides my Sky Tone studio or the venues at the events I spin at. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a hermit.