Machinedrum Talks Leaving 'Vapor City' Behind

came to Travis Stewart in a dream—visions of an imaginary city with fully functional districts danced through his mind as he slept. Rather than shake it off with a cap-full of Nyquil, Stewart used his dreams as inspiration for a series of tracks and EPs under the name Machinedrum. The tunes from his aptly titled initial foray were intended as an exploration into that world. After the album was released to critical acclaim, a website launched with an interactive depiction of the city itself. Through a game-like setup, it allowed subscribers unlock the city's districts and reveal exclusive music and content.

Fast forward to now―the Vapor City project has grown to include worldwide tours, a series of EPs, and a slew of new music exclusively for his Vapor City Citizenship programme subscribers. The final chapter of his project is set to be released today on Ninja Tune. THUMP was lucky enough to talk to Travis about this culminating event and the origins of Machinedrum.

Machinedrum was born of accidental inspiration in 1998. "I remember listening to my friend's jungle vinyl back in '98 or so and skipping around on a track with the needle and landing on a beat halfway through the beat," he recalls. "I was listening to [it] differently as if the snares were mimicking the pulse of a hip-hop beat. I instantly saw a connection and started experimenting with it. At first, mainly with a hip-hop tempo with occasional jungle breaks."

Whereas footwork legends like DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn seem to have found their way into the genre through dancing, Machinedrum was inspired out of the actual, physical motion of a beat being spun. Today, Travis seems determined to continue the spontaneity of that original moment. "When it comes to creation, your first thought is your best thought… Sometimes you are wrong and sometimes you are right, but every time you advance."

You can hear those advances within each progressing Machinedrum release. Somewhere in the eye of this one man storm―hip-hop, jungle, footwork and drum and bass still retain their musical identities while uniting in his imagined cityscape.

Though we consistently hear a strong coherence within Machinedrum's work, Travis reminds us that that identity is composed through a set of interrelated forces. "I need to open myself up to ideas that happen outside of my being so that I can channel a voice from some other place. It is my job to translate and channel ideas into reality." Across the Vapor City releases, you can hear the progress of those ideas from concept to reality. From the night-and-day contrasts of Gunshotta to the playful leaps and ecstatic cascades of the Fenris District―a city comes to life.

In all his work, Travis combines his influences and ideas with an open-minded perspective. At the time of our interview, he was listening to Jonas Ostholm's rendition of Steve Reich's "Electric Counterpoint 2 x 5 III Fast." Though this piece has little relation to dance music, it's not hard to imagine how these sounds would excite a producer like Travis Stewart, or be relevant to a project like Machinedrum.

Like most of today's forward-thinking musicians, the idea of strict genre categories is not that important to Travis. "It's an exciting time for music no matter what kind of music you're making," he says.  As a result of the rise of North America's millennial dance scene—you know, that thing we begrudgingly refer to as EDM—Machinedrum has gained new fans from a variety of musical backgrounds. But Travis doesn't mind being looped-in with EDM producers. He gets that the phenomenon provides his music with a greater, more diverse audience.

The 10 tracks that appear on Vapor City Archives will be released for purchase to balance out the free releases that constituted the "Vapor City Citizenship Programme." Whether an old or new dance music enthusiast, Machinedrum's work should be something you dabble in if you haven't already. And if you decide Machinedrum isn't your thing, perhaps his Sepalcure project, his JETS project, or his new releases on Ultramajic (the label he co-runs with other-world phenom, Jimmy Edgar) will be.

After more than 15 years in the game, Stewart is only now pausing for breath as he merges his many identities and projects with the world of his friends and family, so he can settle down, play some piano, build a home, take a breather and enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Stream Machinedrum's latest single "More Than Friends" above. You can purchase the album today on iTunes and Ninja Tune.

This piece was written by Nick Yim – follow him @theoldny