Balance Selections 254: Rich Curtis

It’s through Rich Curtis‘ unique designs and creations that we learn the true meaning of emotional electronic music – giving back to the traditional clarity of the genres of House and Techno by delicately pushing the long-established boundaries. A stimulating and driving persona and output that is recognised as one of Australia’s top electronic music exports.

Rich’s rise in popularity is partly due to the consistency of his monthly ‘Resolutions‘ podcast, which has regularly topped the weekly charts on friskyRadio.com.

Since 2007, Rich’s contribution to his local electronic dance music community has been positively enormous. Amongst regular spots at top festival institutions such as Stereosonic, Future Music Festival (Cocoon Heroes), Manifest, and Elements, Rich Curtis ran the self-created underground club night ‘Ulterior‘, which debuted many international acts in Brisbane and Gold Coast nightclubs up until 2013 where he decided the studio deserved his full attention ongoing.

Rich continues to expand onto the global dance music scene, including annual tours of Latin America, where he feels most at home with his sound.

Balance Selections 254: Rich Curtis

Tracklisting:

1. Relatvty – Ascend
2. Anton Kubikov – Dekka
3. Henry Saiz – Someone Is Here (Mikemeraki Remix)
4. Rich Curtis – Cling Wrap Killer
5. Dialoque – Sorry Eyes (Madmotormiquel Remix)
6. Len Faki – Don’t Be Stupid Day
7. Sasha – View 2 (Colin Benders Remix)
8. Jobe – Saturate
9. Rico Puestel & Michael Skopnik – SMMR
10. Weval – Don’t Lose Time
11. Duyster – Zaakje
12. Jeremiah McKnight – Seasons (Callumcantsleep Remix)
13. Losless & Roman Kyn – Ubiquity
14. Alan Dixon & Bugge Wesseltoft – Edge of Forever (Prins Thomas Remix)
15. Eric Lune & Juan Sapia – Diamonds (Eran Aviner & Hermanez Remix)
16. Maps – Fever Dream (Counter Mix)
17. Amadeo Acqua – Nobody Brings (Medway Breaks Mix)
18. Luke Garcia – Cluve
19. Maps – Thru Lights
20. Avidus – We Know
21. Royksopp & Alison Goldfrapp – The Night
22. Ichisan – Tip Top (Prins Thomas Remix)
23. Emitr – Homologic (Gui Boratto Remix)
24. James Harcourt & AFFKT – Parabola
25. ORISS & Adam Sellouk – Stellar
26. Brame & Hamo – Waves Reach (Voiski Remix)
27. Guy J – On The Go
28. Thodoris Triantafillou – Leave Them Kids Alone
29. Daft Punk – Alive
30. VNTM – Momentum
31. Applescal – Lift!
32. Laurent Garnier – Give Me Some Sulfites
33. Vince Watson – Subversion
34. Slacker – Your Face (In the Mirror)
35. Sam Goku – Lotus Drive
36. Reid Willis – Haunted Fool
37. Max Cooper – Unspoken Words
38. Murtagh – Leaving

Balance Selections Q+A

Name: Rich Curtis
Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Alias/Producer name: Rich Curtis
Labels affiliated with: Sudbeat, Balance Music, Tronic

My last 3 releases:

Rich Curtis – Hard Won (At Midnight)

Rich Curtis – Famous First Words

Rich Curtis – Baby Raver (All Tears Edition)

What music did you listen to as a child?

Thanks to my Dad’s side of the family all being classically trained pianists I had no choice in the matter, I was born into music. I took up tuition at an early age attempting a variety of instruments but eventually during my teenage years I settled on guitar and tried my best to find the will to practice practice practice. For most of the 1980’s and 1990’s I was a dedicated heavy-metal and hard-rock aficionado and to this day I still divide my listening hours 50/50 between electronica/dance and metal/rock. Artists such as Rush, Joe Satriani, Van Halen, and Devin Townsend really forged my musical taste and even though electronic music is perceived as wildly unrelated, I still feel a common thread exists across the genres through their melodic and rhythmic elements.

When was the first time that you realised that you liked electronic music?

I first knew there was more to music than guitar bands when in 1998 I heard Teardrop by Massive Attack on local radio, around the same time as first hearing Insomnia by Faithless. A few years later I was living in a share-house and my bedroom-banging DJ flatmate showed me a compilation album by Deep Dish on Global Underground. All the musical synapses in my brain must have been glowing bright-red at that point as everything locked into place and I realised the potential of electronic music and its hypnotic, trance-like qualities.

When was the first time you saw a DJ in a club?

I can’t recall the name of the very first DJ I saw in a club nor could I actually see their face but I know the venue was Ric’s Bar in Brisbane. I believe back in 2003 the cloak of DJ mystery was still somewhat intentional unlike the current world of the super-star DJ – trusting some unseen expert with their total control of the music was special enough, it wasn’t necessary to put them in spotlights or have their name continually emblazed on the club walls. The first DJ I could identify, watch and want to observe in a club was Harry Choo Choo Romero and I’ll never forget the amount of his set spent working all the various gadgets on a pair of early model Pioneer CJD1000s.

Which producers/artists/acts inspire you?

I get most of my musical inspiration from artists who aren’t afraid to create unique sounds even if it means their popularity or “reach” may suffer. The weird, odd and quirky sounds are always more interesting to me especially as a DJ as it’s far too easy these days for artists to merely sound like everyone else. It will annoy a few of my mates but I’m constantly impressed by the bonkers and warbly sounds that Maceo Plex comes up with, alongside a bunch of acts he’s signed to Ellum Records over the years such as John Monkman and Raxon. But at the heart of hearts I’m still all about the melodic geniuses who manage to pull the heart-strings in their productions such as Chicola and Jamie Stevens.

What was the last album that you downloaded/bought?

Torsten Fassbender’s album ‘Black Flower Blossom‘ on Platipus needs to be heard by as many people as possible, it’s so damn good! The range of the album is very impressive, and I found it hugely engaging. Highly recommended!

What is your current production and DJ set up like?

When in the studio I’m 100% in-the-box and have been since 2009, mostly because I’m intimidated by the thought of hooking up hardware and cluttering my room with cables! For the most part I’m happy working this way but consistently curious about what I could also achieve outside of only Logic Pro. When I’m lucky enough to still be booked as a DJ I use CDJs (no sync!) and whatever mixer is handed to me, the only stipulation I have is for there to be at least 3 decks in the booth as I like to craft mixes using extended and overlapping harmonic transitions. I have tried DJing with Traktor here and there but frankly found it a little boring and unsatisfying, maybe an indicator that I don’t play enough techno!

What releases do you have on the horizon?

I’m currently working on a collaboration project with Dowden for Mango Alley and aiming for a release in Q4 2023 as long as I can get some decent time in the studio. Aside from that it’s been a lean studio year for me due to day-job and family commitments, our 3 year old girl Violet keeps us very busy!

Where can we hear you perform?

My ongoing mix series ‘Resolutions‘ which commenced in 2010 airs bi-monthly on friskyRadio and the most recent episode was a recording of my club set in Brisbane closing after Guy J. The next episode will feature a guest-mix from one of the remixers of my current EP on Balance (Noraj Cue) and I can’t wait to hear what he’s come up with.

I have a few high-profile gigs on the horizon in Brisbane, but most notably I’ll be warming up The Triffid in October for “el maestro” Hernan Cattaneo on his Balance tour. It’s been a few years and one worldwide pandemic since I was able to tour across Latin America so I hope to recommence that schedule very soon.

Tell us more about the podcast you made for Balance?

Many of my all-time favourite DJ mixes have been released by Balance (James Holden’s 005 is my all-time favourite DJ excursion) so I must first of all express how honoured I am to have been given this opportunity to create something which I hope can sit alongside those mixes. My selections mix was pieced together in Rekordbox over the course of 3 months then mixed and finalised in Logic Pro.

I wanted to make sure the mix is memorable so decided to use an ever escalating BPM while wandering across a few genres, book-ended with some of my favourite ambient music. Similar to the way I make the Resolutions episodes I’ve crammed in as many tracks that will fit, by as many artists who’ve both inspired me and grabbed my attention now, recently, and in the distant past, so the tracklisting will show quite a few surprises and callbacks (RIP Slacker!).

My Recommendations

The top track in my DJ wallet currently is:

Olivier Giacomotto – Curandero