808 State - Ozawa / Cubik 80830

UK 2019 7"; Electronic Sound: ES758

03:57 Ozawa
05:47 Cubik 80830

Release Date:

10th July 2019.

Credits:

Written & Produced by 808 State.

Notes:

With Electronic Sound Issue 58.

'Ozawa' / 'Cubik 80830' black vinyl seven-inch

808 State's Graham Massey walks us through the tracks on our limited edition seven-inch.
There's something old with a new slant, and something new that draws from a past master...

'Ozawa'

"We had all these extra tracks that could have been on the album, but we picked 'Ozawa' because it was particularly synth heavy. I was probably listening, as I always do, to a lot of Weather Report. They still fill me up when I'm hungry. Joe Zawinul is one of my musical heroes, his use of synths has always been a big influence on me, it's that kind of landscapey music that comes from rhythm versus melody. So this track has a Weather Report/Joe Zawinul vibe. It's got a shape within the melodies that never resolve, so that's where the title comes from, it's got his vibe.

"It also has a Korg theme to it. It uses a Korg Prophecy, which we'd not used for ages. It's an interesting synth, that. We used it all over 'Don Solaris'. It imitates real instruments, it does really good horns and acts like a trumpet when it says it's a trumpet, so we dragged it out for this one. It also uses a Korg DW-8000, which is a very Zawinul keyboard.

"I actually got to meet Joe Zawinul once. We did a support slot with another band I'm in, Toolshed, at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. It was in 2007, shortly before he died. He was on his last wing round basically. He was a boxer, wasn't he? His handshake nearly put me out action for a fortnight and he talked a lot about Duke Ellington."

'Cubik 80830'

"The version of 'Cubik' on the single is one we did especially for the 808:30 tour last year. We opened with 'Cubik' and ended with 'Cubik', but they were two very different versions, and it just seemed like we should use that track here because it's quite a new version of it.

"We had an old two-inch tape of 'Cubik' from way back, and then we applied some of the new equipment to it, so it is an updated version. We had to remake it so we could tailor it to fit the 30th anniversary set. When you're doing a set like that, coming out of the computer, you have to get all the weights right. You especially feel it on a PA system if you haven't got the weighting of the bass drums correct.

"This version has a massive weight compared to the original, which we made so long ago now. It seemed a shame to just leave 'Cubik 80830' on the shelf, so it's great to be able to get it out and I'm delighted it's going to be on a seven inch."