Artist Profile: Void
001 | Conor Francis | 08-06-23
Void is a Techno DJ and live performer who has been living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan for six years. He is a Vermont native who, prior to living in the LES, moved to Brooklyn in 2006. He has had a longstanding passion for electronic music with almost two decades of experience producing, listening, and experimenting.
He began producing music in 2004. Starting with a Korg Electribe ER2, he dabbled in electronic music production, became familiar with some DAWs, learned to use visual synthesizers, and played in a few bands, amongst other experiments. It wasn’t until several years ago when he began using his current setup which consists of an Octatrack and a Eurorack case that everything began to come together.
It was around this time that Void began making Techno, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that he started to DJ. He says the decision to begin DJ’ing was made after a friend recommended he learn about DJ fundamentals in order to augment his live performance skills. Void says that once he began DJ’ing he took to it immediately as another medium to express his passion for music.
Void’s last hardwear performance took place at his quarterly show, Electric Abyss. Hosted at Trans Pecos, Electric Abyss is co-curated by Void and held in partnership with the New York Modular Society. The last show was in April, with upcoming dates in August and December. In his words, “New York Modular Society is making waves when it comes to experimental live music. When you go to one of their shows, you’ll hear a huge variety of artists working in all genres of music and pushing boundaries. A ton of great energy and creativity there. It’s really inspiring”.
Void says his interest in modular synthesis comes from its ability to create unique pieces of sound, “For example, you get something like a hi-hat pattern with random variation on its sequencing and velocity, just something you could never program - then you record it into Ableton, and it's like pulling it straight out of chaos. If you don’t record it, you’ll never hear that exact rhythm and sound again.”
Void’s last hardwear performance took place at his quarterly show, Electric Abyss. Hosted at Trans Pecos, Electric Abyss is co-curated by Void and held in partnership with the New York Modular Society. The last show was in April, with upcoming dates in August and December. In his words, “New York Modular Society is making waves when it comes to experimental live music. When you go to one of their shows, you’ll hear a huge variety of artists working in all genres of music and pushing boundaries. A ton of great energy and creativity there. It’s really inspiring”.
Void says his interest in modular synthesis comes from its ability to create unique pieces of sound, “For example, you get something like a hi-hat pattern with random variation on its sequencing and velocity, just something you could never program - then you record it into Ableton, and it's like pulling it straight out of chaos. If you don’t record it, you’ll never hear that exact rhythm and sound again.”
When asked about his favorite live performances of recent, he stated that Oscar Mulero & Freddy K at Basement this past spring was techno perfection (I’m jealous). He also mentioned that he had the pleasure to see Mary Yuzovskaya, Jamaica Suk, Kangding Ray, and Adriana Lopez.
Regarding live techno acts, Void said that Surgeon never fails to keeps his interest. He noted that PoleGroup Radio recently featured a killer live set from Notzing and that dc11's live set for Résilience was good as well. He hopes that SpeedyJ’s Stoor project starts to tour, as he’d like to catch it live.
As for parties and collectives, Void hopes the Mind Xpansion and Facetime series continue to grow. He says that each time he has gone the tunes have been solid.
I wanted to know if Void had any non-musical interests which connected back to music. He briefly spoke of his interest in authors such as Kafka, William Gibson, Cormac McCarthy, and Kurt Vonnegut—writers whose work he can get lost in for hours.
Regarding live techno acts, Void said that Surgeon never fails to keeps his interest. He noted that PoleGroup Radio recently featured a killer live set from Notzing and that dc11's live set for Résilience was good as well. He hopes that SpeedyJ’s Stoor project starts to tour, as he’d like to catch it live.
As for parties and collectives, Void hopes the Mind Xpansion and Facetime series continue to grow. He says that each time he has gone the tunes have been solid.
I wanted to know if Void had any non-musical interests which connected back to music. He briefly spoke of his interest in authors such as Kafka, William Gibson, Cormac McCarthy, and Kurt Vonnegut—writers whose work he can get lost in for hours.
He then told me that he’s recently become interested in sensory deprivation tanks. “Being free of any external sensation and essentially weightless, it absolutely puts your brain in a completely different place. Emerging from that is like a new awakening every time.” Void highly recommends the experience, relating it to meditation, although he believes it goes way beyond that.
Meditative and hypnotic, Void’s mix for Flow Radio One marks the 34th episode in our series. He says the intention behind the set was to create a peak time mix which begins with a slower, hypnotic vibe that eventually builds towards a hard, psychedelic, and tribal peak. You can listen to his mix below, in our archives, or on our soundcloud. We hope you enjoy!
Support Void by following him on IG @erikb42 and on Soundcloud @void
Tracklist for Episode 34: Void
1 - Joaquin Ruiz - Arise
2 - Pulso - Belt Conveyor
3 - Volster - The Reason I Tell You The Truth is Because I Love You
4 - Luigi Tozzi - Spiral (Rrose Remix)
5 - Keikari - Perspectives
6 - Linear System - Convert
7 - VSK - Terza Variabile
8 - BRÄLLE - Scold's Bridle
9 - Berkel - Lucente Oscurità (Booz Remix)
10 - VSK - Sfere a Contatto
11 - Dave Wincent - Kstl3 16-44
12 - Angelo Stasi - PlancK
13 - Michel - Lauriola Bioticos
14 - Tehotu - Split One
15 - Oscar Mulero - ZW Systems
16 - Axel Karakasis - Reflective
17 - Amotik - Judna01
Meditative and hypnotic, Void’s mix for Flow Radio One marks the 34th episode in our series. He says the intention behind the set was to create a peak time mix which begins with a slower, hypnotic vibe that eventually builds towards a hard, psychedelic, and tribal peak. You can listen to his mix below, in our archives, or on our soundcloud. We hope you enjoy!
Support Void by following him on IG @erikb42 and on Soundcloud @void
Tracklist for Episode 34: Void
1 - Joaquin Ruiz - Arise
2 - Pulso - Belt Conveyor
3 - Volster - The Reason I Tell You The Truth is Because I Love You
4 - Luigi Tozzi - Spiral (Rrose Remix)
5 - Keikari - Perspectives
6 - Linear System - Convert
7 - VSK - Terza Variabile
8 - BRÄLLE - Scold's Bridle
9 - Berkel - Lucente Oscurità (Booz Remix)
10 - VSK - Sfere a Contatto
11 - Dave Wincent - Kstl3 16-44
12 - Angelo Stasi - PlancK
13 - Michel - Lauriola Bioticos
14 - Tehotu - Split One
15 - Oscar Mulero - ZW Systems
16 - Axel Karakasis - Reflective
17 - Amotik - Judna01