Nautiluss might not be familiar to some of you, but you've definitely heard of the dude behind the alias: Graham Bertie, formerly one-half of Montreal's Thunderheist. Those days have long passed, and Bertie's spent the past few years intensely refining his own sound and experimenting with a variety of forms of dance music, both solo and as part of Bassanovva.
"It really comes down to the fact that, with any kind of art, you have to put in thousands of hours," Bertie recently told SPIN's Philip Sherburne. "That's pretty much what I did in 2010 — make music, almost every day. And none of it is coming out; it was just learning."
Much of the new stuff that has come out is a propulsive, playful, sometimes pretty strain of warehouse techno (what his Canadian cohort Tiga has dubbed New Jack Techno). In the past year and a bit, Bertie's released four recordings as Nautiluss: the "Ultraviolet/Bleu Monday" single with Simian's Lord Skywave, a remix of ZZT's "Work," a debut EP, alpha, for Tiga's Turbo Recordings and this week sees the brand new Habitat EP for the same label.
Interestingly (and smartly), Bertie hasn't entirely ditched creating more accessible stuff too, recording and performing with Toronto singer ALX and remixing pop songs like The-Dream's "Walking on the Moon."
Habitat is out now on Turbo. Stream a preview below and buy the EP here. If you're in Toronto, catch Nautiluss and some friends playing the first "official" Neighbourhood Watch party, focusing on local talent. If not, here's a new two-hour mix-up at Teshno to soundtrack your upcoming Friday and Saturday nights.
Turbo135 - Nautiluss - Habitat (Preview) by Turbo Recordings.
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From DJing to performing live: the evolution of electronic music