Berlin-based OST FOX has shared his latest offering the ‘Seulement à Marseille’ LP released on 7, August 2024. The inspiration behind the Techno-influenced album came from his time in Marseilles, France where he followed a gut instinct and an encounter with a tattoo artist to travel to the iconic city. Fully conceived in Marseilles, the LP sees OST FOX use his love for the people, food, grittiness and beauty of the city to fuel the LP. Read our interview with OST FOX below:

Hello OST FOX, thanks for speaking with us here at Drum Thud, we’ve been enjoying you new album, Seulement à Marseille, for those yet to hear it could you tell us a little about this project. How, where and when it all came together?

Thank you so much for the invite to speak about the album! Having previously released 2 singles and an EP all here in Berlin, I really wanted to make a full length LP next. 

Unfortunately the past year really took quite a toll on me working an engineering job, doing work for Dark Rooms Vertical (art installation), on top of doing music and I started feeling quite a bit of burnout. Desperately needing a change of scenery, I happened to meet a tattoo artist at a previous gig in Berlin who was from Marseille. He highly recommended the city. I knew absolutely nothing about the city, or really anyone there, and on a gut feeling, decided to go and make a techno album there over 6 weeks this past February and March. Sometimes you just have an instinct, and in this case, it proved to be really instrumental in making a techno album in a city that is historically well known for its famous French rappers such as JuL. 

Where are you from and where are you living now?

Originally born in New Jersey just outside of NYC, and have been living here in Berlin for the past few years. 

Musically the album embraces the true long player format and explores a variety of genres, could you share with us some of your journey in electronic music, what has shaped your sound and if there are any particular producers you feel have been heavily influential?

Oh that’s actually quite an interesting story and I can pin it down to an exact location and person. Thorsten, aka Jackson, the owner of JACKSON RECORDS in Neukölln. JACKSON RECORDS is a very small record shop located right on the canal in Neukölln. 

I had absolutely no clue the first time I went in there what I was really doing. I had come across two old turntables (I actually didn’t even know about CDJs haha) and I asked if he could recommend some Techno and House. Jackson threw out a few big labels and names like Kompakt records, BPitch, Ellen Alien, and Paul Kalkbrenner and I said I don’t really know those haha.

 From that moment on, there was no crate digging or searching. It was like being in University. I would go almost every week, and Jackson would have records waiting and ideas on sounds and he and I would go track by track on albums together right next to his desk. He even sold me his old Behringer mixer, because at that time equipment was really hard to come by. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Thorsten and his record shop. 

Can you tell us about some of the moments that shaped the production of the album?

A lot of time at the music venue L’Intemdiare, which I cannot recommend enough. Check the calendar, as the music genre changes every single night. They might have French rap one night, then an open mic jazz night (absolutely unreal musicians btw), followed by heavy metal. The staff are incredibly friendly, they have 2 euro Pastis, and there’s a music night for everyone. The venue for me was actually very inspirational, so much that I named one of the tracks on the album after the venue. 

A nice chunk of the album was also refined, tested, and produced at a cafe and bar, Le Champ de Mars (another title track). Another place in Marseille where the staff and owner are absolutely amazing people. I would usually work quite late in the evenings on the album and then go and get breakfast and a coffee and review the material at Le Champ de Mars. They also have a cat named Janus, and as soon as I opened my laptop and put my headphones, he would come up behind me and lay on the windowsill and watch me, like he was overseeing the album or something haha. 

What were some of the pieces of equipment used to make the project, are you using any hardware or mostly working in the box on a DAW?

A bit of both actually. Living in Berlin, aka the home of Ableton, it is hard not to use Ableton for your DAW and for me I love it. It also fits really well with my live performances. In Marseille I did also take a few small synths like the Volca Keys and guitar pedals but I also picked up a Drumbrute by Arturia at this really great, little instrument shop in Marseille. As someone who is a heavy Roland TR-8S user, and given that the Drumbrute has quite an interesting reputation, it was quite unexpected…but for some reason it just really spoke to me and proved to be very useful in the making of the album.  

If you could pick just one track for people to hear from the project which would it be?

This is actually quite a difficult question…I think if I had to pick just one then I would say ‘L’Intermédiaire’. 

Can you offer us some hot tips on Marseille for anybody who may decide to pay a visit to this Southern French city?

Well actually, if you follow a lot of the track titles on the album, you will have some great adventures and recommendations such as the underground techno collective, Metaphore. That collective does such a good job if you’re looking to see some local underground electronic music. But if you’re looking for some food, then I cannot recommend enough getting a Pan au Chocolate Blanc at Pain Pan Boulangerie or CousCous at Planete CousCous. 

Lastly, can you leave us with a piece of music you’d recommend listening to during the upcoming summer days?

I would go with LA LOM (Los Angeles League of Musicians) who are doing a really cool twist on old school cumbia music.

Follow OST FOX:

Instagram – Bandcamp – Spotify – Soundcloud