WITH THE RECENT RELEASE OF THE 'STRING LAYERS' COMPILATION, 7K! RECORDS CONTINUES TO BE AN IMPORTANT HUB FOR ARTISTS CREATING CONTEMPORARY MUSIC INSPIRED BY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION. NEIL HOUSEGO CAUGHT UP WITH CARLO GARRÈ FROM THE LABEL TO DISCUSS THE PROJECT.

What is your role at !K7?

I started working for !K7 about three years ago when they decided to open a new department called 7K! which is dedicated to contemporary sounds. I was in Berlin by chance, I had "run away" from Italy because the situation was driving me crazy. The Italians are fantastic but also often fanatics, fans (in the football fan sense), ideological and above all self-referential in particular in the musical world. I have been coming to Berlin for 2 months and have been here for 3 years. I was lucky, but in reality, I have been working for over 20 years between promotion, production, tours etc., etc., etc.…. For 7K! I do A&R, or research of interesting things and project development. In addition to this, I also work for the management department within! K7, here I deal with the management of artists such as Hania Rani, Niklas Paschburg, Alex Braga and Maike Zazie. I keep my eyes open on what's going on around me.

The !K7 label is known for its groundbreaking techno and electronic music artists. What was the driving force behind setting up the 7K! Imprint which is more focussed on contemporary classical music?

Since I was a teenager, I have always been a fan of! K7, in particular on records like Swayzak or Funkstorung, for me it has always been a label like Warp and Ninja Tune for the research and the innovations that they introduced on the market. I think the push came from there and from the fact that observing the world they saw a new movement that had, like techno in the 90s, the nerve centre in Berlin. I think it was natural for a well-rooted reality like K7 to understand the potential of the current contemporary scene.

The 'String Layers' project brings together a wide variety of artists. Can you tell me more about how the project came about and how the artists became involved? 

The idea of making compilations such as String Layers or Piano Layers is basically for 2 reasons, the first being that I wanted to have fun. The second is that I wanted to try to open a small passage where from the outside, I could look into a world unknown to many and find out by being facilitated by it. String Layers was born this way, with the idea of divulging and making digestible instrumental music that is thought to be complicated and not "easy to use". The idea is to break down a few barriers that always make you think that instrumental music is for few when instead it is much more assimilable even than very mainstream which I find extremely annoying even if well packaged. In everything I do, I try to convey a message, an idea to try to broaden the audience of this particular way of creating music. This is essentially what I said to the artists who took part in String Layers or Piano Layers, trying to open up new horizons to new listeners.

What were the main things you were looking for when picking the artist/ music?

What I wanted from the artists is only that they express themselves in complete freedom, that they passed their message to me through their music. Expressive freedom is the key to sincerity and sincerity in this world, and at the moment, I believe it is extremely necessary. 

How is the !K7 label adapting its business for the economic challenges that lie ahead?

It is not a simple moment. Like all dramatic moments, it will lead to a change in habits and many certainties that we have built up in recent years are melting like snow in the sun. I believe that a quality to be highlighted at the moment is the constancy and the continuous search for new stimuli, I believe that the !K7 group is moving very well from that point of view.

The String Layers projects is a digital-only release. Is this something you're going to be doing more of in the future and how does releasing to digital differ from when you release a vinyl version?

Yes, it's a digital project we created with the idea of having something light and well done without printing or make it too complicated and slow. We wanted to give space to the music and to the artists. Give them a big window where they could express themselves the way they wanted. On top of that… It's music to listen to and to immerse, probably the best way to listen is leaving the flow going for the 80 mins of his length, something a bit complicated to do if every 20 mins you need to flip the record on the deck…. Secret: I'm not a fan of vinyl but don't tell anyone! 

Did you have any input on the final Mastering process for the album, choosing the engineer, giving feedback etc.?  

The mastering was done by Greg Moore at Finyl Tweek. What we were mainly looking here was to have the tracks melted into the others in the way that they flow and you feel like on a journey. This is more or less what we told Greg before the mastering process. I think he did an amazing job as the tracks are very different, but in the end, they really run well together. We wanted it accessible. I think we did it well, thanks to Greg. 

Such a lot of great music out at the moment, which new artists have caught your eye?

I listen to a lot of music. All the time. Too much. I was working on the next ‘Layers’ compilation about ambient music, so I've been listening to a lot of great records in the electronic world and contemporary electronics to get inspired. One of the best records I've to listen recently is Culturecide by Tilman Robinson, Circle by Phil France and Mirages by Jonathan Fitoussi… but also new names like Darian Thomas, Dobrawa Czocher, Simon Goff, Bryan Senti, Casual Melancholia, Libeskind… there is a lot of great music out there if you have the passion for it, it's great, on the other hands too much offer means a lot of confusion and to find the quality you need to dig a lot… need to search and look for the good stuff. I like digging. Always. This is the only good thing of streaming platforms, if you know how to use them and not let them use you. 

‘String Layers’ is Out Now on 7K! Records