On September 7th 2023, Vancouver experimental electronic artist x/o performed their live set of thrashing electronics and angelic-like singing on the Base 2 Stage at Rifflandia Music Festival.
The Chaos Butterfly producer has had quite the summer. After embarking on a 12 date Europe/Canada tour, they have finally reached the final days of the tour. Their latest production is on Egyptian-Canadian artist, Almaazz’s new EP Sot Wa Sada and is out now via Precious Metals.
Joshua Szirmay-Corrales had the chance to catch up with x/o after their performance right near the gates of Electric Avenue. While the sounds of the festival continued into the distance, they spoke on Vancouver’s Music Scene, Chaos Butterfly & Cocoon Egg, their crazy experience playing Berghain, Their time at HÖR Berlin, and what’s coming up for them.
Joshua Szirmay-Corrales: You just got off the stage at Rifflandia. How are you doing?
x/o: Doing great! Happy to be here.
JSC: So I believe you and I have a lot of mutual friends in the Vancouver Music Scene, like Rhi Blossom and FVDE. Tell me about the importance of Vancouver’s scene and how it’s helped shape x/o.
x/o: I’ve seen Vancouver grow through many eras, different venues, and collectives. It’s a bit of a smaller city than most cities globally, and because of this, if there’s a certain type of music you like, you’d really have to push for it here. In 2014, I was really interested in a lot of experimental electronic music coming out of Soundcloud . It was that interest in niche music that helped me find a few others with similar interests in the city. A handful of us came together to throw events under the name s.M.i.L.e., and we would bring innovative international acts we were excited about to pair with local artists in the scene. Back then, we would have artists like DJ Lag or Shygirl play in front of 30-50 people. Since then, the scene has grown so much and there are so many incredible collectives now such as Normie Corp, Made By We, Drill Events, Neptune7, and festivals like Current Symposium and a lot of people pushing for variety in both diversity and genres. In the end, finding and maintaining community is so important to me as an artist, music is really something to be shared and enjoyed with others.
JSC: Adding onto the last question, With so many spaces leaving Vancouver like 333, it’s great to hear some of the collectives still thriving and creating. How has the venue space situation in Vancouver affected this?
x/o: I think nowadays since post-covid, there is a mixture of traditional and underground venues and since there are less DIY spaces. A lot of these collectives are very clever, and are able to throw events in any space they can possibly find and sometimes these spaces are more commercial- the fact that that is even possible is still quite an achievement especially for alternative club music.
JSC: In October 2019, You played a set at New Forms Festival for an afterparty, which featured Memphis Legend, Tommy Wright III. Looking back at this performance up to now, what has changed about your sound/style and what has stayed the same for you?
x/o: In all honesty, it’s experience. It’s been 4 years since that performance, so I feel like I’ve learned a lot since and I’m still learning to this day but I’ve definitely improved and grown since then. What stays the same are my concepts towards my music, but they are more developed and fleshed out now. Stylistically, I feel more able to be myself, both on and off stage. There’s more development in the sound as well, as I’m more confident in using my voice and experimenting more with the production.
JSC: Your last LP, Chaos Butterfly, features 11 tracks and was released through the Precious Metals Label in 2022. What was the vision when creating this album?
x/o: So when I said in my previous answer that my concepts and ideas have stayed the same, I’ve always been thinking about these two projects of Cocoon Egg and Chaos Butterfly to be like one full project together. Even though they are both sonically/stylistically quite different, a lot of my concepts deal with duality through a non-binary lens, so I use a lot of hyper-feminine and hyper-masculine tropes, light and dark, soft and hard. Pairing these different sounds together to demonstrate the spectrum of my own personal experience as a non-binary person. For Chaos Butterfly, it’s the evolved sequel to Cocoon Egg. They are both dealing with similar topics of growth and transcendence. The difference is Chaos Butterfly is the more external, the more outward, the more extroverted and loud version. Whereas Cocoon Egg is the more introverted, internal, and softer version of the concept.
JSC: That’s really fascinating to know, because I don’t think many would know that these projects talk together, internal to external. So that’s really cool to know!
Last year, you joined Creamcake Berlin for a set at Berghain, Germany’s infamous club which is known as the world’s most difficult club to enter. Without going into too much detail about the club itself, tell me how it felt to be booked for a show there and to grab that iconic photo outside the club.
x/o: I feel like it’s on most music producers or DJ’s bucket list to play at Berghain at least once. When it happened I was actually quite surprised but obviously very happy to do it. The crazy thing about that show is that I actually flew from Vancouver the day before. There were so many delays that when I landed in Berlin, I had to take a cab directly to the venue to do my soundcheck and perform immediately afterwards. Then, 6 hours later I had to return to the airport to fly back to Vancouver to play Normie’s Pride show the same weekend. So technically, I was coming from Vancouver to Berlin to perform during a layover.
JSC: That’s insane, so essentially you had no time to chill in Germany, you just traveled there with the purpose of playing that show, and then headed back to the airport.
x/o: Yes! I was very lucky to have been supported by Music BC and Factor Canada to actually make that possible.
JSC: Last month saw the release of your HÖR Berlin set as part of Unguarded’s takeover. What’s it like playing in that space?
x/o: This is actually my second time playing HÖR Berlin but it’s still the same feeling where you’re going into this room, and there’s nobody there but this gigantic camera that’s in front of you and you have to just play your set without any audience feedback. For me, it’s actually very difficult because I really enjoy hearing and seeing people’s reaction to the music, so it’s something that makes me incredibly nervous but I’m always happy to have done it in the end.
JSC: Speaking of all these venues you’ve played, how is your current tour and how does it feel that it’s coming to a close? Even though you will be back on tour in Asia in October/November, is that correct?
x/o: My current tour has been a whirlwind. I have never traveled to this many places to perform my music or to DJ before and so it’s very humbling to have the chance to be able to share my music around the world. I’m happy to be back in Vancouver very soon to see all my friends and have some rest time. As for the Asia tour, yes that will be happening and the dates are to be announced. I’m also heading to Australia, and it’ll be my first time performing in Australia. I’m looking forward to it!
JSC: I remember briefly seeing the tour poster with all dates, how many dates were there again?
x/o: I played in Tallinn, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Copenhagen, and then went back to Germany to play this festival called Whole Festival. Whole Festival is at this open air museum called Ferropolis, where gigantic metal-like structures are the festival setting. After that, I closed the Europe portion of my tour at ICA in London. Upon returning I did a small Canada tour starting at Mutek Montreal, then Toronto, then Victoria for Rifflandia today, and finishing tomorrow in Vancouver.
JSC: What’s next for x/o?
x/o: I’m working on some music videos that are still a part of the Chaos Butterfly album, which I’m excited to share soon.
JSC: Any final words you’d like to say before we close this interview?
x/o: ‘Sot wa Sada’ a new EP that I produced for Egyptian-Canadian artist, Almaazz is out now on Precious Metals. It pairs Almaazz’s powerful traditional egyptian-arabic singing and songwriting, with x/o production. It’s my first time producing for someone else, so feel free to check it out.
x/o’s latest album, Chaos Butterfly, is out now via Precious Metals and can be streamed on all major platforms. Join them on tour this October/November if you are reading from Asia or Australia. Finally, remember to support the artist and support live music.