Appleblim
Berlin, Germany
Ungoverned & Ungovernable
Behind the Music
Appleblim“Jail Without Bars” in particular is an incredibly moving piece that I struggled to get through, to be honest. The chapter affected me for weeks, and I hope that some of the solemnity and upset I was feeling comes across in the music. I have the utmost respect for Ian, as he puts himself in dangerous situations to give others a pathway into this lawless world. I also appreciate his pragmatic style, not emotionalizing his experience of life at sea, but still remaining honest about when he felt moved, helpless or threatened.
My whole album is in fact rooted in Ian’s material. I restrict myself to only using Ian’s sound archive as the source for the sounds I generate in my music. In other words, all the basses, chords, percussion, lead synths et cetera are 100 % inherited from Ian’s work. This restriction helps me to pull out the extra emotions that I may lose if I inappropriately embellish the sounds with additional samples, synthesisers, or instruments. I slow the sounds down, speed them up, chop them about, and shorten and lengthen them in order to convey various emotions, like sadness, fear, danger, melancholy, hope, and wonder. By creating music true to the source, I hope that my listeners can feel as if they are entering this lawless world.
It seems like society is finally waking up to the hidden exploitation on land and at sea, and asking questions about how we consume. I hope my music can make learning about the issues accessible to many people. It is an incredible honor to play a small part in this project by providing a musical backdrop for the emotions conveyed in Ian’s stories.
About Appleblim
More than 10 years since he first emerged on the pioneering dubstep label, Skull Disco, which he co-founded with artist Shackleton, Appleblim continues to explore the relationships between underground electronic music genres in his productions and DJing. Appleblim, legal name, Laurie Osborne, has an innate relationship with electronic music culture that reaches back further than the early days of dubstep. He spent his youth soaking up early rave, hardcore, jungle, techno and plenty more. The exposure to these genres were fundamental foundations from which to spring into the then-unknown realms of grime and dubstep music.
As dubstep progressed, Appleblim moved beyond Skull Disco to explore different avenues of expression in the new club music landscape. Meanwhile, long-standing collaborations with artist Second Storey manifested in the hyper-modern mind-twist of “ALSO,” captured as an album on legendary rave and techno label, R&S.
More recently, Appleblim has delved into electro-acoustic and ambient production. As the existing boundaries between genres continue to dissolve, his debut album for the award-winning U.K. Rave label, Sneaker Social Club, offered up a fresh approach that brings the foundational sound ethics of rave culture into a modern framework.
Appleblim is working on two albums currently. One on his own, and one with an old friend from the dubstep days, Adam Winchester of Dot Product. These two albums will be released in 2020 alongside his 2nd LP for Sneaker Social Club. He will also be releasing several single projects for acclaimed U.K. underground labels.