A word with Hybris on his 'Not Bug' EP

Hybris spoke with us regarding his latest EP titled ‘Not Bug’ on his very own imprint, Pseudoscience Recordings.

Since launching his outlet back in 2017, Pseudoscience Recordings has seen some incredible Hybris releases. The previous 2, ‘Say Hello to the Future’ & ‘Internet Expert’ conveyed some incredible cyber-styled sound design and complex drum patterns. This month, the Czech based producer returns with another incredible release that certainly reinforces his label’s trope.

Hey man, so your new EP ‘Not Bug’ is coming soon. I have to say, The drum work in this really caught my attention. I notice that although you’ve attained your signature ‘deadly cyber’ style on each track, The drums & percussive patterns between them are so diverse. Is there a reason behind this?

The terrible grammar in 'Not Bug' is intentional, kind of in a Slavic Cookie Monster way. I suppose the reasoning behind the diversity of the EP is I really wanted to cover as much territory as possible with 4 songs. I haven't released a D&B EP since the first release on Pseudoscience, and I was originally planning on just doing a single, but then I realised that I have a massive pile of tunes, and releasing two of the weirdest wouldn't really do it justice.

So after much deliberation and consultation with my local homies, I selected 4 tunes that I thought would be most representative of where I am now with my sound. These tunes have been the result of the last two years of work, and are the cream of the crop. Much of the pile probably won't get released, and I'm cool with that, I just wanted a strong representation of where I'm at these days.

I remember in Pseudocast 001 you mentioned that a lot of the percussive elements in your track, ‘Say Hello to the Future’ had been sampled from some of your daughters toys. I thought this was a really interesting concept. Did you take a similar approach to any of the tracks in your new EP?

To be honest, not at all. My Zoom recorder has been collecting dust for a little while, and my inspiration for seeking out field recordings has kinda dwindled. I think it's mostly due to the fact that most things in a city kind of just sound like traffic, and I really exhausted a lot of my creativity as far as banging on objects and recording them. Having said that, I do have one tune in the pile that is largely composed from me banging on shit in the industrial building where I have my studio, but that's coming out elsewhere.

This EP was heavily influenced by me tinkering with some new toys, trying to find new and inspiring ways of working outside the box. I went through a bit of a lull about a year and a half ago, where I wasn't really sure whether I actually liked making music anymore, and came out the other end realising how much creative ground I had yet to cover. So much of this EP was made on my OP-1, in planes, trains, hotel rooms, and on my Octatrack, which I find to be one of the most versatile creative tools I've ever played with.

If you had to pick a favourite track from the EP, which would it be and why?

I'd have to say Not Bug. I think it's a risky tune to make the title track, and I wanted it that way. It has always been a large obstacle for me, doing what I want vs doing what I think people want, and this is my way of overcoming that. I had a moment of insecurity before making the decision, where I dropped the tune on a super bass heavy rig in the UK, the crowd looked confused, I felt like running away, and I decided I'd never play the tune again. Then after the set people were asking me what the tune was, the promoter was asking me to send it to him, and I realised that I just gotta go with my instincts and do what I think is dope. Maybe it will be confusing for people, but eventually some of them will get it, that those are the type of fans I'm looking to keep.

I’m really enjoying the concept of Pseudoscience, what does the future hold for the label?

To be honest I'm not exactly sure. I'm kicking around some ideas with regards to our commitment to promoting bad science and misinformation, I have my ever growing pile of tunes and collaborations, and when the time is right I will put some more stuff out.

We just had the first Pseudoscience night in Budapest, hosted by the Hive, and it went off. MVRK dropped a certain VIP, which we might have to do something about, and I've been eyeing a few other up and comers who are just on the brink of being ripe enough for release. I've got quite a few bits done with DLR, so we're gonna figure out what will be released where, and I'm working on bringing a Pseudoscience night to Prague next year.

For me there's no rush. I'm gonna do dope shit, and that's really the only requirement. It has to be fresh and interesting for me, which sometimes translates to "weird" for others, and that's fine by me. I'm just doing my thing, and if people like it, that's great. If they don't, that's cool too, because I'm genuinely enjoying doing what I'm doing.