Continually pushing the boundaries of progressive house, Krafted welcomes MOONFACE back to their Sounds of Krafted label with his new 14-track album called ‘Fake Planet’.
Photo Credit: Phil MOONFACE Thompson – Official
Deeply entrenched with more than 30 years in the music industry, Phil MOONFACE Thompson is transcendent with hope and positivity, and many top DJs, from Lee Burridge, Anthony Pappa, Danny Howells to Danny Tenaglia, Hernan Cattaneo to Carl Cox have supported the MOONFACE sound back in the golden age of dance music.
EG caught up with Phil MOONFACE Thompson to learn more about the drop of his new ‘Fake Planet’ LP, his unique sound, and more.
EG: Hi Phil! How have you been? The last time we spoke, we had just come out of lockdowns.
MOONFACE: Hello. All is OK so far in the madness of the current world we are all dealing with. It just seems to get crazier and crazier out there and many of us are in survival mode.
I loved the lockdowns once I got used to them and was really hoping we would all come out the other side closer and more respectful to each other. Things just became even madder!!
EG: By the way, congratulations on the release of your new album ‘Fake Planet’, which is now available via Sounds of Krafted. How are you feeling about this one?
MOONFACE: As an artist, you are never satisfied. It’s a built-in mechanism to keep you moving on to create more and more. Only now can I sit back and try and enjoy the process of exposing myself to the world once again, never knowing how it will be received. My music is always very unique but familiar in some way. The people that know my sound, that I share my music with always give me feedback. The ones I can trust to tell me straight. By the time the music is released months and months after you created it, mastered it, and listened to it a thousand times over and over, turning up things half a decibel turning down things a decibel, more bass less bass, more kick less kick…You are totally numb to what it actually sounds like on fresh ears. I would love to erase the history in my mind and listen to it with fresh ears. The only way seems to be to get very drunk and listen to it loud, but then you are still over-analyzing.
EG: So, it has been a couple of years now since the release of your 2 part album ‘Pushover Mankind’…In which ways is ‘Fake Planet’ different, or similar? What can your fans expect to find on this record?
MOONFACE: Great question. I feel it’s a more refined sound and less abstract than my ‘Pushover Mankind’ album. I really spent so much more time tweaking these tracks after working with the same mastering engineer from my previous album. He taught me quite a bit, so hopefully you can hear this slight advancement. There is an underlying message across this album. They work much better together and flow into each other better than my last album. I prefer the continuous mix rather than listening to them individually. Whenever I mix just my music together it all seems to work very well.
EG: What was the recording process for ‘Fake Planet’ like? Is there a thread or concept connecting these tracks?
MOONFACE: I tend to just be in the mood for getting creative and I have a beer or two and just play with making stuff, with no direction at the start. I go with the mood I am feeling. If it’s Friday or Sunday, this can make a difference. I have set times that I like to work in the studio and just let things flow. If I come back to it the next session and I still like it, often, it’s ready for arranging. If it still works after a quick cut-and-paste arrangement then I just keep refining it. This can happen very quickly or sometimes take me a long time. I often leave an unfinished track and start a new one as that’s always the fun bit. Finishing them is very hard as you lose the buzz so quickly. Only as you start compiling the tracks can you get an understanding of how they work and complement each other. In this album, I used quite a bit of spoken word samples about life, spirituality, warnings, and truths that we all need right now in a world of mass media misinformation.
“I would love to erase the history in my mind and listen to it with fresh ears. The only way seems to be to get very drunk and listen to it loud, but then you are still over-analyzing.”
EG: Just how much work goes into an album like this one? How many tracks do you create before settling on the final cuts?
MOONFACE: Endless hours. I have so many half-finished tracks, like nearly all producers out there. I can always find more that could be included in the album, but I always have to be ruthless. I feel the flow is more important than including something that is really cool but might not fit as well.
One of these tracks is very old, but updated, and two missed the previous album but worked better on this album. ‘Truth on our side’ never made it to the previous album as it had some nasty glitching going on with it when it was being mastered. I could not fix it at the time so it got left out. Then once I fixed the nastiness, I added the ‘Truth on our side’ spoken messages and thought: “Yeah, that works now”. There are still a few lingering around maybe for the next album.
EG: There’s also a ‘Fake Planet’ continuous mix. Does recording a mix with the tracks tell you new things about the tracks individually? Have you ever had to go back to the drawing board because something didn’t fit as you wanted it to?
MOONFACE: I love recording a mix of just my own music as this is often how they work so well together and complement each other. I wish I was booked just to play MOONFACE-only tracks and billed for that. Not as a live act set up with loads of gear, as I would never be able to do that live. Only some live acts can pull off the live arrangement thing, and often it’s not even live but pre-recorded.
EG: ‘Fake Planet’ is out via Sounds of Krafted, while ‘Pushover Mankind’ was self-released. Are you pleased to work with a label for this one? What was the process of pitching the idea and working with Sounds of Krafted?
MOONFACE: I self-released ‘Pushover Mankind’ as it was during the lockdown madness. Not many labels were up for releasing music at the time. I actually made more money from Bandcamp than any other previous release since things went digital. But the trade-off is no exposure. Bandcamp navigation is bad in my opinion. It’s great if you know what you are looking for. I was intending to release it on Bandcamp again, but once I had sent it to a few close mates and got some feedback, I was undecided.
I sent it to Paul Sawyer, one of my longest music industry mates, we go way back to the early 90s. I didn’t send it to him to be released on his label, I sent it to him to hear what he thought. Only to get a message one day saying how much he loved it and can he release it on Krafted. Krfated has been releasing more and more great music over the last few years. I have been playing many tracks from the label, so I gave it some thought over a few days and responded with a: “Yeah, let’s have a chat and go for it”. It’s great to be working with a label with so much passion and professionalism along with connections to so many awesome DJs and producers around the world.
EG: What sort of things inspire you? How do you find inspiration after so many years of making music?
MOONFACE: DJ mixes. I listen and hunt for them, drive to work stuck in traffic, and listen to them at work or in the gym, or at home, cooking. Normally unknown or lowkey off-the-radar DJs. So many people are hooked on the superstar DJs that are well-established, often overlooking the new and up-and-coming talent that really put so much effort into finding new music and creating a style.
FriskyRadio also is a great source of inspiration as often the tracklists are shown. I love finding music that’s 5 months old and only a few people have watched it on YouTube. Then I go hunting for similar tracks. I spend quite a bit on new music for my DJ sets and Frisky shows I do monthly. The music I am buying and playing then heavily influences my MOONFACE productions. I never ever copy anyone, but try to create music similar to what I am playing. But it often never turns out that way.
“I can always find more that could be included in the album, but I always have to be ruthless. I feel the flow is more important than including something that is really cool but might not fit as well.”
EG: What else can we expect from Phil ‘MOONFACE’ Thompson in 2023? What new milestones are you looking forward to now?
Moonface: I already have two brand new tracks in their final stages looking for a label soon. Some gigs would be nice, but not too many either. It would be nice to be appreciated a little more for my years of doing what I love so much, sticking to my guns and not budging with my style. My style is unique and I understand not everyone gets it. It’s very heady and hypnotic and made for the right dance floor or home listening loud on great speakers.
EG: Thank you for your time, Phil! We wish you all the best for the future!
MOONFACE: Thank you too! Some great questions here.
MOONFACE’s ‘Fake Planet’ is out now via Sounds of Krafted. Purchase your copy here.
Follow Phil ‘MOONFACE’ Thompson: Facebook | Soundcloud | Spotify
