Introduction

Alex Crossen is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter, DJ and producer from Guernsey in the Channel Islands. He found his way into electronic music aged 15 after becoming inspired by artists such as Gorillaz and Hudson Mohawk. Muramasa has collaborated with BTS, Naar Rogers and Sheik, Stormzy and Naio among many others. His first full-length record picked up two Grammy nominations, best recording package and best dance electronic album.

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Episode notes

Thanks to SoundBetter for supporting this episode of Tape Notes.

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In this episode, John reunites with Alex Crossan, a.k.a. Mura Masa, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced his latest album ‘Demon Time’.

Reflecting on the process of working out what a lockdown album would sound like and making the complete opposite of that, Alex shares his thoughts on controlling the vibe of a record while still managing to explore every random studio idea with each of his collaborators.

As well as giving us a tour of some of the weirdest sounds in his sample folder, Alex treats us to production gold, demonstrating some of the simplest yet most effective Garage tricks, and the ways in which he created the impression of fake DJ across the album.

Listen to find out how a citrus salad led to a revelation about frequencies, why if an idea’s making you laugh then that’s the right one to follow, and how to sneakily get people to write for your album in their own writing session.

Tracks discussed: demon time, hollaback bitch, e-motions

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Listen to ‘Demon Time’ here.