Finch: Meet the Banksy of Techno

Finch is unconventional. We meet Easter to discuss dark house. Captivating in his atypicality, the faceless artist remains an enigma. This is part of the intrigue that is Finch. Mystique in the age of the internet is a rare commodity. Despite throbbing dancefloors and untiring beats, he seeks to sidestep mainstream club culture. His music rejects commerciality. It’s ear candy served on underground subwoofers. The producer’s edgy records border the fine line between bass-house, tech-house, and G-house. Dark soundscapes fuse with cutting-edge growling basses giving a cinematic feel. However, Finch has no reservations about drawing influences from everything heavy techno, deep modulars, subtle spacey ambients, groovy harmonies, steely shades to futuristic nuances. Like an alchemist balancing textural layers and rhythms for the perfect sound, the seasoned producer favors complexity over catchy melodies. His mixes are a sonic journey of rugged basslines and chest-thumping tracks. Imagine the musical love child of Tchami and Malaa, masked as the Banksy of the techno scene. While an unearthing of his true identity is unlikely, one thing remains clear – a lot of talent and versatility lies behind this artistic facade. This is a new artist to watch. But who is the elusive beatmaker? From new releases to social media allergies to making wavemaker magic with a nasty beat, I interviewed Finch to find out more in an exclusive interview.

Where are you from originally? I’m originally from Holland.

Who are your influences? Tchami. AC Slater. Malaa – he’s French.

Who inspired you to make music? And who still inspires you? I switched genres a couple of times, so my inspiration has changed. If there’s someone who really inspired me and who still inspires me now: it’s Tchami.

How would you describe your music? It’s a little bit dark, but also very energetic. Definitely not commercial.

Is there a genre you’d label yourself under?

Tech-house, bass-house, and G-house.

Can you tell us about your growth from young anonymous beatmaker to mysterious artist?

I started making music when I was like 9, but I didn’t make beats. I used a webcam microphone to record raps, so it was kinda shitty. But I was always busy with music.

When I was 14 I downloaded FL Studio and created my own beats to rap over. Soon I moved on from rap and started to make house and dance music. It was always the darker side of house, not the commercial stuff – the dark, grimy shit. Then when I was 18 a friend of mine said, “Listen Finch, I like rap. Can you try to make a hip hop beat for me?” I didn’t like rap anymore, but I thought, “Yeah...No... But I”ll try...” I tried making a hip hop beat and it went reallyyy well. I thought, “Hey, this is fun!” A friend was recording his lyrics over it and it actually sounded quite nice. At that point, I was listening to old rap like Snoop, not the new hip hop shit I didn’t like. But I just tried something new and thought, “I want to make a living out of this.” I searched Instagram for famous Dutch rappers and just thought I’d try it. I sent my beats over to lots of rappers, and one day a big rapper said, “Hey Finch, this shit is nice! I want to work with you.” That rapper was EZG. So I started working with him and his label, and it went really well. Then I got in contact with aCtive, a rapper signed by RedRiot, who lives in my neighborhood. I knew him from when I was a kid. I listened to his raps when I was young. He’s the only rapper in my town and I liked his stuff. We got in touch and he told me he wanted to work with me. At that point, he said, “Come over to Amsterdam, to the RedRiot studio! ” And then I got to know Jan. I talked with Jan and we had good conversations, and so forth!

What are your long term ambitions? I just want to make a living out of this, and make music that a particular group of people like. Build a fan base, but not the commercial type. Only a few people. But enough people like my stuff, I think.

What are your ambitions for the next year? A lot of new music of course! More towards the tech-house genre. Some more dark basses and more groovy melodies. I think that’s it.

Would you like your music to develop in a certain direction? Phew. No.

What are the themes in your music? The main themes in my music are mysterious and intense things. A little bit shocking. I love to get on the edge. You know, things that are a little bit provocative?

Does your music reflect personal things that you’re going through? I try not to reflect my personal shit in my music.

That’s interesting. You try to keep your name and background anonymous.

Why the anonymity? What’s the idea behind it?

I don’t like social media – the voyeurism, the narcissism, the lack of privacy, the consumerism on steroids. I’m also not very commercial, so it wasn’t a fit. I started removing myself from the whole internet a while ago. I don’t like to be on the front of everything. I don’t want to be a sheep. I wanted to be anonymous.

Can you tell us a little bit about your creative process? I make music 40 hours a week, sometimes 50. I sit and listen to music I like, and find the stuff I don’t like. Then I filter it till I make one genre. Sometimes, it’s not a genre. I just make shit I like. I relax, and start writing music. I focus mostly on basses. I think it’s the most important aspect of music. You can have a great song but if it lacks bass it’s not a perfect song. You don’t feel it. Bass is the only thing in music you actually feel in your chest. A lot of producers focus on the melodic parts of music in the creative process – I start with a small creative idea and if it works, I accept it. Then I work on the technical parts. For me, it’s more important that it sounds perfect. If I have to choose between a catchy melody and good production, I’ll choose the well-produced song. Not the idea of the song – the melody – but the foundation of it. Good production is complex pieces fitting together. Anyone with a feeling for music can write down a catchy melody, but it’s a whole other level to process that melody in a perfectly produced song. It takes years of experience to do it. I like to hear that experience in other producers. I have no songs that I love that are just catchy melodies. AC Slater, for example, his melodies are fucking easy. They’re simple. But his production is so advanced and so perfectly balanced. That’s the reason I love it!

Can you tell us about some of your up and coming tracks? A little bit. The songs I released before were leaning more towards bass-house, and now I’m going to focus a little bit more towards tech-house. So like, less melody, more groove, and more basses. No high synths or anything. If you listen to “Forest”’, it’s aggressive. The shit I’m working on now is funkier.

Can you tell us about your collab with Consumer Junk? Of course. It was quite simple, actually. Jan asked me, “Do you want to make a remix out of the USA track from Consumer Junk?” I said, “Of course! I’m gonna try.” So I asked Gerwin to send me some scores of the original song, so I could tweak and fuck them up. He sent them to me and I made a new song out of it. I sent it back to Gerwin, and he said to me.... Let me find the message. It was quite fun. “I can honestly say that in my 25 years of music production, this is the first remix I’d really like to put out. So much respect!”