Human Movement Defines Australian Techno on New Single “Robots Have a Voice”
Sounds from Down Under continue to rise to the top of the underground-to-mainstream heap as showcased by Australian techno duo Human Movement’s latest single, “Robots Have a Voice.” The tandem is composed of 19-year-old Blake Gilray and 21-year-old Edward MacDonald, who impressively showcase a level of talent and skill as producers equal to their combined 40 years of age. The new single is featured on their latest EP, Dancing Room, an eagerly awaited, four-track release following up on a whirlwind year that’s seen everything from extensive touring and festival slots to receiving a key cosign from Apple Beats 1 radio selector Anna Lunoe.
The Human Movement sound is dark, heavy and soulful, a trio of modifiers falling directly in line with the groove that’s likely up next to define the sonic tastes of dancefloors worldwide. Bearing a groove in the same vein as breakout singles “Paradise” and “Shake,” “Robots Have a Voice” lives up to the hype and is more than deserving of a listen.
We caught up with Human Movement to discuss their new Dancing Room EP, the Australian electronic scene, and their evolution as artists.
For newcomers to your sound, what would you tell them inspires your work in the studio, from a musical and emotional standpoint?
We’ve always been interested in dark, heavy music, so we usually try to emulate this in our production. We find this sort of music is what really drives a dancefloor when playing in a club or festival. Even when in the audience, it’s these sorts of songs that we remember from the night.
Australia’s clearly a massive place, so where Down Under are you from, and what about Australia do you feel is allowing all of the music from there these days to sound so refreshing to ears worldwide?
We’re from Sydney—Maroubra, to be specific—right next to the beach. There has been this whole thing about Australia having its own sound, and I think Flume paved the way for that. We’re on the opposite side of the spectrum to that whole world of electronic music, in our eyes. And in the techno world, there are a lot of upcoming artists in Australia doing some really cool shit. Artists like Made in Paris, Stephane 1993, and Sweetland have all dropped really good records this year that all have a unique sound, but are still under the same banner of “techno.” We, too, like to think we’ve got our own sound going on and fit under that banner as well.
From, say, “Paradise” to “Robots Have a Voice,” what are some of the progressions you two have made behind the boards as producers? How are they reflected in your sound? What skills/techniques have you improved of which you’re most proud?
When we released “Paradise,” we were still an act trying to find our sound. I don’t think we’d really found our niche, and although it’s a decent track, it’s almost like an EDM banger. We never really wanted this in our music, so with this EP, I think we really tried to make a point of moving away from that sound. “Robots Have a Voice” is a lot darker, and eerie. We think we put a lot more thought into how to make more of a well-rounded track than a dancefloor banger with a big build and drop.
What is it about techno that gets you excited to either produce or play tracks? Also, what for you are the productions that made you want to leave the dancefloor and get into the DJ booth?
The whole thing that really excited us about getting into techno is just how anything is possible within this genre. Any sound you want can be created, depending on your capability. There are no real boundaries as to what works and what doesn’t work; it’s just an open playing field for experimentation of different sounds, textures and melodies. As for when we got into DJing, we started quite young—at the ages of 14 and 15. Electronic music was always a passion of ours throughout our teen years, with French labels like Ed Banger and Institubes catching our ears and influencing us to make dance music as well as perform it.
Tell us about your imprint, BEHM, and how that was formed. What are your goals with the label?
BEHM basically formed from us shopping round the EP to other labels and not feeling 100 percent in our gut with any one in particular. We figured we’d just do it ourselves; that way, we have complete control of our creative and marketing input/output. I think it would be cool to expand the label and hopefully start being able to sign artists, as well as use it as a platform to release our side projects.
The Dancing Room EP from Human Movement is available now on the duo’s own BEHM imprint.
Marcus K. Dowling is a techno-head to the purest degree. Follow him on Twitter.
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