NTS and Resident Advisor invade the ICA: Q&A with Will Lynch
The ICA has been taken over. ICA Associate Artists NTS Radio have invaded the Studio, inviting electronic music online magazine Resident Advisor in for a series of debates, discussions and DJ sets. We asked Will Lynch, Associate Editor of Resident Advisor, a few questions about the event and the scene that he and his outfit cover so well.
ICA: What’s this all about then? Why are NTS and RA invading the ICA?
Will Lynch: For us it's just an opportunity to do what we do but with a new medium, while also bringing something different to NTS. The recent resurgence of online radio has been amazing, but one thing that's been somewhat absent from it is talk and commentary. Meanwhile, the roundtable discussions we do on the RA Exchange have always been some of our most popular pieces of content. When NTS came to us, we immediately thought it would be cool to do roundtable talks live on the air. As for the DJ segments, it's a chance to highlight some of the artists we've been most excited about in the past year or so, and also to play some of the records we're personally feeling at the moment.
With the rise of so-called EDM in the United States and warehouse rave coming coming back to the UK in the form of free parties, are we in a renaissance or just a rehash of the past?
I'd say it's nearly always a bit of both. No renaissance is completely new and no rehash is completely unoriginal. Obviously the scenes in the UK and US today are echoes of the past but there's quite a bit that's new in both of them.
Who are the labels that you think will break big in 2014?
It might just be because I had such an inspiring chat with them yesterday, but I think Leisure System are really onto something.
Now that everyone is swimming in social media, it’s boring; how do the acts you work with pump life into these platforms?
The same way everyone does, really: by sharing things they find genuinely amusing, without overthinking it or trying too hard to advertise themselves. Which, to be fair, is a real challenge, considering the extent to which social media platforms have become mandatory professional tools.
What’s next for RA & NTS?
What's next for anyone, really? What proof do we have that one moment will lead to the next? At the end of each second we're faced with a yawning chasm - what lies beyond is anyone's guess. ■
You can listen to NTS Radio streaming live on the NTS website right now.
This article is posted in: Events, Interviews, Music
Tagged with: NTS, Resident Advisor, Music, interview
