Los Angeles-based producer tesh is bringing a uniquely European sound to the West Coast, and he stopped by to break it down for us.
Over the past several years, the Los Angeles underground has started to see a gradual increase in European influence. One of the latest contributors to this growing new era is tesh, a hybrid UK Garage, house, and techno producer.
Happy hardcore, hard groove, and drum and bass have all started to make their way to the depths of the Los Angeles rave scene. A Euro favorite that has only begun to make a sizeable impression is UK Garage, but tesh is on track to change that. His latest single, “FINGERTIPS,” is a medley of many influences that create a breaky, hypnotic, and infectious beat, perfect for a sweltering DoLaB or Yuma set at the forthcoming Coachella.
That song is a glimpse into tesh’s debut EP, Cycles + Repetitions, set to be released on April 25 via San Holo’s imprint, bitbird. This conceptual project is based on the fictional world of Oroboros, an industrialized city influenced by Los Angeles, New York, and London. The EP is already looking to be in a league of its own, marrying tesh’s individuality of both his sonic and artistic brands.
tesh is bringing a perspective to electronic music that is uniquely his own, making him an exciting and influential addition to an ever-changing industry. Following his breakout debut with “FINGERTIPS” and ahead of his EP, we took some time to chat with tesh. Listen to the exclusive mix that he recorded at Clubhouse FM and read on to get a glimpse into the mind of a blossoming innovator.
Stream EDMID Guest Mix 458 || tesh on SoundCloud:
Hey, tesh! Thank you for taking the time to yap with me today. Let’s get right into it. Fingertips, a medley of UK garage, house, and hypnotic electro, and the lead single from your upcoming EP, Cycles + Repetitions, debuted with overwhelmingly positive feedback. How does it feel to have the first glimpse of your debut EP widely adored?
It’s been quite exciting in the sense that it fires me up to release the next one. I think there’s always a bit of doubt and fear going into releasing music, which is one of the root meanings of the project as a whole. Actually following through and getting these tracks out has been my new thing to look forward to. The feedback that has followed has definitely been felt.
Fingertips clocks in at 138 bpm, on par with the growing preference for a faster pace amongst the ravers and club kids. Have you always preferred a faster pace with electro? Who are some artists that have inspired you the most over the years?
I don’t think I’ve always preferred a faster pace. I used to make more chill, R&B style tracks back in the day, Soulection catalog inspired, but I’ve always enjoyed 128bpm electronic music like deadmau5 and Avicii. I definitely had a big Flume era for a bit, but it wasn’t until more recently in my life that I found myself getting into “faster” music with breaks and techno. I also think the type of shows I began going to helped to shape a new perspective on faster beats. In the past couple of years, I started listening to more Ivy Lab, Villager, STÜM, and MPH, to name a few.
In a world that’s only now beginning to address a loneliness epidemic, paired with intimacy struggles and a fear of vulnerability, you release Fingertips, a song about the warmth and preciousness of these fleeting feelings. What do you hope listeners take from the ethos of the song?
FINGERTIPS has a few narratives floating around in it, so it’s a bit up to you to decide how it makes you feel. There’s a strong emotional signal of nostalgia in the track, but nostalgia can be both a positive feeling and an unsettling feeling—it really just depends on the context. I hope listeners can find a bit of escape in the track and come up with their own conclusions about how it made them feel.
The world you’re building around Cycles + Repetitions is very intriguing. Aptly named Oroboros, the audio and visual snippets paint the image of a hyper-industrialized, dystopian world where the residents have artistically manipulated the situation to their own advantage. Where did the idea for Oroboros come from, and how does it reflect your own experiences?
Yeah, so Oroboros was an exciting concept to build out. I did it in tandem with my other project Port London, which is an art house composed of myself and three of my friends. The EP was already a very conceptual piece of work that it almost felt it deserved a visual plane for it to exist in. Oroboros was designed to mimic our real world in a satirical way. The music helps to bridge real-world emotion into this synthetic world we created. When you put both together, it becomes this sprawling theatrical narrative that has been so fun to execute and share with everyone.
There is something both beautifully eerie and sonically uncomfortable with Fingertips and the promo for Cycles + Repetitions. It seems to combine industrial alchemy with an element of anarchy, and the decision to wear a balaclava helps to personify this. What role does anonymity have in your art and on the EP?
Yeah, I think it helped me remove a bit of ego from the project and just allow the art to be the focus. I definitely am not a fully anonymous artist who will never show my face or something. But for this project, it just felt right. Oroboros is already quite mysterious, so the balaclava has been a good representation of that in my photos and imagery.
Cycles + Repetitions is set to be released on April 25 via bitbird. What can we expect from the EP? How are you feeling about releasing your baby into the wild?
Expect anything! I designed this EP to have a musical range to kind of set the tone early, in which you can expect a range of different vibes and emotions from myself as an artist. It won’t always be a “club banger” or an “emotional house track.” It’ll always be whatever it needs to be, free of limitation but centered in electronic music. I’m definitely super excited for the full project! By April, we would have released a total of three singles off of the project, but then there are four more sick tracks you as a listener get to dive into. And right now, I can’t wait for that day!
How did your union with bitbird come about? Any collaborations in the future we can get excited about?
Shout out to Cooper at Coop Recs. He’s been an early supporter of the tesh project and was the one who connected our teams together. I love the team at bitbird—they’ve been so on board with all the visual and artistic work I’ve presented. It’s still early in my career, so who knows what’s next.
To finish with a standard “end of interview” question, where do you hope to see yourself in the next several years?
I also want to shout out Clubhouse FM, a non-profit live music initiative created by the guys over at Afters Clubhouse. I know that’s a funny way to start an answer, but I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of this initiative which showcases local talent in a gorgeous space with all proceeds/donations going towards good causes in LA—mainly supporting wildfire relief. I’m so excited to continue to build with them and continue building smaller localized efforts around the city.
The underground music scene is so alive here in LA right now, and I’d like to be a part of building out that community—specifically in this Euro electronic pocket that’s emerging right now. Other than that, I still want to continue pushing my own musical boundaries and exploring deeper narratives and probably some albums—I really love the idea of albums.
