Conforce preps Machine Conspiracy

How did you choose the name Machine Conspiracy? I think this name really represents how most of the tracks feel. I really think the deepness and focus on detail in some tracks gives a machine-like feeling. But still there is a human touch, you can hopefully notice that in the album's evolution and subtle modulations, etc. I also used a vocoder in a few tracks, and that is a pure meeting between a human and a machine, I think. Basically that is what techno was and still is about: a meeting between humans and sound generating synthesizer machines. Or maybe in this case a machine took over my soul and that is where the conspiracy started. "Love-Hate" really represents that feeling for me. Which track took you the longest to finish? Well to be honest all of the tracks just got shaped in an intuitive way. My fundamental idea of a track should be ready within 3-4 hours. If it takes me more time than that it becomes a struggle and I don't get inspired any more. My tracks need to have a certain base pattern that keeps inspiring me during the production process. When I intuitively start to create an idea above that groove, it goes really fast, so it's hard to name a track that took a lot of time. Tracks that are a pain in the ass and take a lot of time mostly don't see the light of day. I heard that the first bit of house or techno you ever heard was on an old cassette tape your father found in the woods. Can you tell me a little about that? Yeah, it was in a summer that my father was working as a forester was on a patrol in the Eastern part of the island. He used to be a bird watcher in small house up in the dunes, but he always found rare stuff that people lost, in this case a black cassette with early rave and acid techno. When he took it home, he gave it to me with the words "perhaps you could do something with it." I think I just had my first tape recorder, a yellow toy-like thing with a microphone on it. [laughs] I already played some radio but the next thing I did was put the tape in and tok a listen. Soon there were all kinds of weird and freaky noises coming out. It attacked me in a way. I thought, "what is this shit?" After that listen I put it away in the closet - only for a very short while. I realized that this must have been the first serious house music I had ever listened to. On the tape was Detroit orientated techno from producers like Orlando Voorn, Speedy J, Joey Beltram, etc. I remember the word "ecstasy" and I was always wondering what they meant by that! [laughs] Not much later my nephew from the urban city started sending me commercial and underground house music from the early/mid-'90s, so in this way I was able to import music in a pretty isolated environment. What's new in the Dutch techno scene? Luckily there still are wonderful stronghold labels like Clone, Delsin and Rush Hour that have their spirit and hearts in the right place. I think that there is a lot of dedication to good techno and house in the Netherlands by a few good and pure artists related to the labels I just mentioned. They keep refreshing themselves. I want to mention new artists Delta Funktionen and Mohlao that have a very fresh and respectful approach to techno music in a time full of crappy "soulful" plug-in house. I personally can't wait for more output from these guys. What are you up to next? I'm gonna stop producing for a few months because I've been producing like a machine for the last year. I think the results are there and it gave me a fulfilling feeling which was important to me. My ambition was to get myself to a higher level and create stuff I can still play over a few years and search for my own signature sound. There are some releases coming up though. An EP on Delsin will be scheduled soon, and Modelisme will release a track called "Black Stroke" including a KiNK & Neville Watson remix. Furthermore, I will focus on relaxation, health and some cool gigs abroad.