Tactical Delay.
When the room breathes together.
On “Haze Out”, music as a personal photo album and the idea behind Green Tea Techno.
Jonas · Tactical Delay
Not every track has to take the same route. “Haze Out” began as a university project, sat on a hard drive for a while and eventually came out without a big campaign. For Tactical Delay, that softer, dreamier side belongs within his sound too. Jonas talks about how personal experiences find their way into his productions, why small rhythmic changes can have a big impact and what he wanted to build with Jaiden Wild through Green Tea Techno in Salzburg. Along the way, he connects creative freedom in the studio with paying attention to the dance floor.
Tactical Delay is a DJ and producer from Salzburg. His sound combines trance and bounce with psychedelic influences. He co-founded Green Tea Techno with Jaiden Wild.
Letting “Haze Out” out
You wrote that “Haze Out” had been sitting on your hard drive for a while. When you listened back, what made you decide to release it after all?
“Haze Out” originally came out of a university project in which I produced three tracks together with a fellow student. We managed to release two of them through labels relatively quickly, while “Haze Out” initially stayed on the hard drive.
The track is a little softer and dreamier than my other productions, but it still has that trance and bounce character that defines my sound. At the time, it did not fit into my release plans.
But I had always thought it was cool, and eventually I felt it was far too good to just gather dust on a hard drive. So I decided to release it myself, without a big promotional campaign.
A musical photo album
When you make something in the studio that differs from your DJ sets, how do you decide whether it should still come out as Tactical Delay?
Over the past few years, I have tried out quite a few things musically, and about a year ago a clearer direction began to emerge for me. Today, my sound mainly sits between trance and bounce, combined with psychedelic elements and influences from various other genres.
In the studio, I usually approach things without a fixed plan. Many of my tracks come from a particular emotional state or are inspired by personal experiences. Music is also a kind of outlet for processing things that are on my mind.
What I find especially beautiful is that my productions have almost become a kind of musical photo album for me. When I listen to older tracks, I often connect them with particular memories, feelings or periods of my life when the music was made. In that way, every song somehow preserves a small piece of my personal story.
Of course, most of my productions follow my current sound. Still, I think it is important not to restrict yourself too much as an artist. I appreciate artists who experiment, let in new influences and develop musically. Not every track has to work in the same way or be successful. For me, that freedom is a big part of what art is.
As long as I can identify with a track and feel that it fits me as an artist, I see no reason not to release it under Tactical Delay.
Sometimes it almost feels as if the whole room is breathing together.
Groove lives in the interplay
What small change in a rhythm makes the difference for you between a track that is simply fast and one that really grooves?
For me, groove mainly comes from the interplay between the different drum and percussion elements. I like experimenting with hi-hats, rides, claps, snares, bongos, toms and so on, but I also record and shape my own percussion sounds. I like bringing rhythmic influences from different genres into my productions.
The classic four-to-the-floor rhythm is, of course, an important foundation in electronic dance music, and it keeps working really well for me. At the same time, I find it exciting to play with that basic pattern, place rhythmic accents in unexpected spots or deliberately break out of familiar structures.
Often, it is the small changes that make a big difference. Adding an extra open hat, a clap or a small percussion element, for example, can change the entire groove of a track. I find the effect of pauses just as exciting. Sometimes less really is more.
I listen to a lot of different music myself and enjoy drawing inspiration from different genres and musical cultures. For me, that is also one of the most beautiful things about electronic music: you can connect all kinds of influences and create something of your own from them.
Ultimately, a track does not just have to be fast for me. What matters is how the individual elements interact and whether the rhythm really takes you with it. Often, I am not even doing that consciously; it simply develops intuitively from a feeling.
The nights we would go to ourselves
When you started putting on your first Green Tea Techno nights in Salzburg, what did you want to experience yourselves?
I founded Green Tea Techno together with Jaiden Wild. We had already been active in various collectives, but at some point we wanted to put on our own events exactly as we imagined them, both musically and conceptually.
From the start, creating musical variety and giving each artist the freedom to present their own sound were especially important to us. What is special about our collective is that we all produce music ourselves, but some of us work in very different genres.
That is exactly the variety we wanted our events to reflect. Our nights are therefore structured to have a certain musical progression. Each artist brings their own style, while the energy and tempo keep building throughout the night. That creates a varied evening that still fits together musically, despite the different genres.
Another important point for us was connecting with other artists and collectives, both in Salzburg and beyond. We wanted to create a platform where people could support one another, make new contacts and build something together. That now also includes collaborations and collective exchanges, where we invite one another and bring our respective sounds and communities together.
Basically, we just wanted to create the kind of events we would enjoy going to ourselves.
When the whole room breathes together
What have your own events taught you about the people in front of the decks that made you approach your next set differently?
One thing our own events have really taught me is how important the musical progression of a night is. In my opinion, the warm-up in particular is often underestimated. The artists who open the night have an enormous influence on how people arrive, find their way into the music and how the atmosphere develops over the course of the night. A good warm-up can be crucial for the entire evening.
At Green Tea Techno, it is important to us that every artist can present their own sound. At the same time, I have learned how important it is to pay attention to the crowd and develop a feel for the energy in the room. You do not necessarily have to change your style, but sometimes even small adjustments to a set can make a big difference.
What I especially love about DJing is that moment when you really enter a flow state. When you feel the energy of the crowd and have the sense that the music, audience and DJ somehow merge. It is hard to describe, but sometimes it almost feels as if the whole room is breathing together. For me, that is one of the most beautiful feelings in DJing, and it can definitely become addictive.
I think that interplay between my own musical expression and the audience’s energy is exactly what I now pay even closer attention to.
Tactical Delay
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. Michael Schletz · SCENE:ID colour treatment · Sami Jabeur · SCENE:ID colour treatment · Raphael Haas · SCENE:ID colour treatment