Ardalan burst onto the scene like a holy comet in 2010 with “Mr. Spock.” Made in a garage when he was 19, Ardalan’s debut release on Dirtybird — his first release ever — became a smash hit at parties and in clubs he was too young to enter.
Sixteen years later and Ardalan’s music is still lighting up the night sky. After a recent move from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, Ardalan dropped a gorgeous EP, Missin You, on Walker & Royce’s label Rules Don’t Apply. The title track and the b-side, “Alive,” showed a steady hand — polished songwriting and an adventurous sense of arrangement quite unlike anyone else in house music.
5 Mag spoke to Ardalan one morning from his new home in Venice where we talked production, hype, music in Iran (the country of his birth) and getting lost & found in the fires and neon nights of LA.
[Ed Note: Ardalan photo by Pedro Martinez aka pedrothehuman. Our discussion about Iran took place prior to the protests that broke out earlier this year or the current crisis.]
You’re an early riser. I don’t often run into DJs who want to schedule an interview at 10am.
Ardalan: Really?
“Early” rarely happens before noon in this scene…
I need to have my coffee early, but I feel more fresh and talkative in the mornings. Even when I sleep late I wake up early. From all the travel and flights, your body gets used to waking up five minutes before the alarm clock.
How was ADE?
I didn’t go, I’ve actually never been. I was going to go this year but wound up staying in California and writing music. I’m living in Venice, California, but I’m from San Francisco and the Bay Area, and it’s very hard to leave the sunshine once you’re here, you know? The weather’s getting cold but it’s still pretty much beautiful most of the time.
I haven’t been there in a long time and I’m sure it’s very different. It was still very bohemian when I was there.
It definitely has this charm, it’s just more expensive than it was then, like everywhere else in the world.
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Let’s talk about “Missin You” right off the bat. It’s a phenomenal song, the songwriting is great. What can you tell me about it?
Thank you! When I was writing the song, it was during a period of time when I was going through a lot of… “attachment issues” [laughs] “Missin You” really did capture a feeling — if you’re anxiously attached right now, it’s the song for you.
When I was making it, I was doing this thing called “body doubling” with some of my producer friends when we make music on Zoom. We’d all be doing our own projects but it’s a more productive way of working. It makes it easier when you have friends. “Oh here’s an idea I have, what do you think?” It’s like an office space but for producers, and on Zoom.
That’s an interesting way to work, I don’t think I’ve heard of that. How long have you been doing it?
I’ve been doing it for about a year. It’s just two of my friends, Luke and Jake, and we just do things like 30 minute challenges where we challenge each other to make a beat in 30 minutes and then showcase it. Just something to make it fun.
So I was doing that and “Missin You” was originally a completely different song that I was working on. There was part of this other song where there was a sick loop, and a new song rose out of it.”Missin You” came out of another song that’s not even been released yet. That’s just how my brain works — I love having new things grow out of other things. I have like 3,000 ideas and another 3,000 ideas just come out of those.
I’d found this sample on Splice that was like “I’ve been… missin’ you…” and it was super catchy and had a really Daft Punk/French House vibe that I loved. I never used Splice until last year. Everything I used before then was just… you know, “grassfed” — if I used samples I just made them and then sampled myself. But if you’re using a vocal sample on Splice, you’re supposed to Shazam it and see if any other song pops up, right?
Oh yeah. I know people have been fucked pretty hard by not doing that.
It makes sense. More reasons to try to be original, right? But I think if a song sounds good, it sounds good, even if it’s built around a sample you found somewhere.
But the main thing for me was the lyrics. It just happens that this summer I had to move out of my apartment and found a place to live in Venice with some new friends I met. I met this vocalist through my new roommates. That was Nicolette Sullivan. She’s a jazz singer, she hasn’t done a lot of stuff in electronic music and house music. I asked “Could you just do these lyrics?” And it was perfect, she nailed it. And “Missin You” was born.
The process was interesting. I didn’t even think about it when I was writing it, but the song has a visual story, and there are parts sound like a telephone keypad dialing in the song. I actually synthesized that with a Juno-106 and without even knowing I made a keypad tone. I thought it just sounds like a cool melody, but I really unintentionally synthesized a keypad tone. That’s one of those happy accidents. That’s the beautiful thing about making a song that has a premise, a theme, that’s about something. The song has all these aesthetics of disco, house, the era when people would talk on the phone. It has such a physical feeling and a nostalgia to it that it deserved to have a real vocalist on it. It all came together. And then Rules Don’t Apply, Walker & Royce’s label, was a perfect fit for it, and working with them has been super fun.
Was it much different for the b-side?
That also came together when I was body doubling with friends on Zoom. There was a period last year when I felt like I wanted to make a song that was like… “I’m still here.” Kind of a rise from the grave, a Frankenstein meets Thriller track but in a more electronic kind of way. I was using the Juno-106 for the bass line and all the drums I have. I have a group called “40 Years of Drums,” elements from every kind of genre, from disco, tech house, techno, all these different drum patterns on one layer. I wanted it to sound fat on the lower end but also wanted it to sound funky.
I got inspired by this song called “Walk The Night” —
Oh! I know that, the uh… the brothers… why can’t I think of their name right now?
It’s slipped my mind too. It’s from 1978, I gotta look this up now…
Believe it or not it’s a disco song made by a bunch of musicians that had worked with the members of KISS, that’s where that rock element came in. DJ Spun did a really great remix of it some years back.
Right, it’s great, honestly such a banger… Oh the Skatt Brothers! That’s was their name. So I would play “Walk The Night” in my sets all the time. The song is from 1978 but it has these crazy sustained chords that come in, the bass line comes in, it’s just so fucking punk rock. I wanted a punk rock element without it being punk. I don’t know how to describe it but you feel that rock and roll, that grit, it was really inspiring. “Alive” was a mix of that, slightly more modern, but with my own twist.
And the song has a tunnel of light at the end. Everything is visual for me when I make music. Later in the song there’s a drop where it’s all melodic. At first it’s funky and gritty and then there’s this tunnel of light that reaches into this hypnotic, melodic part, a breakdown where you’re floating on air and then it takes you back home.
I was moving to LA at the time, and the most inspiring thing about living here is just driving at night. Living on the west side it’s kind of far out so I would drive at night to go to my friends’ parties or Basement, which is a really sick underground party. That part of the song was very representative of driving out and seeing the skyline, and then driving back and seeing the skyline. It has this super sick majestic Knight Rider vibe, which I love.
So is this typical of how you write music?
Absolutely. There’s a cinematic element in my music. Even though it’s dance floor-oriented — I want to make people dance, I want to dance, but I also have this element of nostalgia and the imagery is imprinted in the music. Being a Bay Area person, it’s just such an experience down here driving through the city. I feel it’s the same way about Chicago too. There are cities that are just alive at night. Los Angeles is definitely a city that comes alive at night, especially because during the day driving here is a nightmare.
people are always like ‘you’re in limbo, we can’t put you in a box’ and i love that. i’m starting to accept that i can make whatever i want about whatever i’m feeling.
“Alive” is just really about that feeling of nostalgia. For me, growing up in Tehran, Iran and then moving to San Jose, I went from city to suburbia and there’s this memory of driving up to San Francisco to go to raves or parties. That feeling of seeing the city — like “Wow, it’s alive!” — I wanted to capture that. Nostalgia plays such a big role, for me and my music. Maybe I’m just addicted to it.
Are you going to start making synthwave now?
I have! I actually have a whole album that I made which is kind of like Italo, like John Carpenter meets Drexciya-esque cinematic techno. It just came out of me. I’d just gotten out of a relationship — like a not-good one, I guess that’s how it usually is — and I’d just moved to a new city. Everything was going wrong, but then I had this “first day” feeling, all this energy. I’m thinking I’m going to go for a run, I’m going to get healthy again… and then I see this big cloud of smoke because LA is on fire.
I needed to get this energy out and I made a whole sci-fi album out of it. But it didn’t stop — I drove down to San Diego to my buddy’s friend and wrote four more songs for it. It just comes to me like that: I can make a whole album in one week… or if I’m commissioned to do something, it’ll take me three years. I’d been feeling depressed and stressed and there’s no way I can write music like that. The sadness came through and now I can write some music, and then all of a sudden LA is on fire. This energy is crazy, so I’m just going to capture this energy while it’s happening.
So I wrote this album and I don’t really know what to do with it, it’s doesn’t really follow the path of the music that I’m writing now as Ardalan. But that’s something I’m always trying to figure out as an artist. Do I need to go on this path? People are always like “You’re in limbo, we can’t put you in a box” and I love that. I’m starting to accept that I can make whatever I want about whatever I’m feeling.
i wasn’t expecting ‘mr. spock’ to be #1. at all. and it changed my life. i mean i didn’t even know what an ‘agent’ was. i was a 19 year old kid just excited to make music.
You came right of the gate with a smash hit. I mean you were 19 and had a huge level of success right away with your first release, “Mr. Spock.” You’re an older person now, are you able process what a crazy experience that must have been for you as someone that was still technically a teen?
You said it, it was the craziest experience ever. You have an idea and you’re fortunate to be surrounded by amazing artists who are such sweethearts, like Justin Martin and Christian Martin and the whole Dirtybird crew. It was such a dream to be on Dirtybird at that moment. I had been experiencing it as a 17 year old in 2007, 2008, and the mid-2000s was such an incredible time. I moved here from Iran as a 16 year old with a CD that my friend gave me, it had “Deep Throat” by Claude VonStroke on it. I was so into minimal back then, and all of a sudden I hear “Dirtybird” and it was incredible. It was funky, it was fun. I couldn’t even go to the parties because I wasn’t 21, so I’d go to the barbecues in San Francisco. I met Justin, I met Claude, I met Christian, everyone was so cool, their dad is making toast and everyone is dancing free in Golden Gate Park. This is what I wanted to be part of. I felt so fortunate that I got to see that at that age.
So I was making “Mr. Spock” in my garage in San Jose, going through samples from my brother’s folder of music from 2003 that he was playing on WinAmp. It was on his computer. There’s The Avalanches on one side and you had Snoop and Farrell on the other. I threw them together with Reason which I still use now. I came up with a 10 minute version of it and sent it to Justin who was like, “This is so cool! But there’s so many ideas!” He structured it to the point where it was functional and yeah… I wasn’t expecting “Mr. Spock” to be #1. At all. And it changed my life. Coming in right off the bat with a #1 was overwhelming. I mean I didn’t even know what an “agent” was. I was a 19 year old kid just excited to make music.
I’ve always tried to keep the same feeling I had when I made “Mr. Spock” — make things fun and exciting and with nothing interfering with that. Being able to replicate that excitement now — that’s my goal. Never mind about making music to book gigs, or that it needs to sound “more tech house” to make more people like it, or think of the shareholders — this is something I want to use in the future — “The shareholders want a bigger drop, Ardalan!” and I’m running away from people in suits.
I didn’t have any of those problems, it was pure art and I think with nostalgia I try to replicate that. Sometimes I still make music the same way using Reason, it takes me back to being that 19 year old kid that no idea what the fuck he was doing but it just worked. I’m 35 now, I’ll be 36 next week, and it’s like the second phase of my career. It’s honestly a trip, but I try to remind myself to be that kid and being that excited. I’m so grateful to be able to be able to have my career start with a banger…
So you went from Dirtybird fan to part of the core roster. You’re still friends with the same crew, right?
Oh absolutely. We’re still homies. I think leaving San Francisco … I mean San Francisco is everything to me, it’s the city that I’ve lived in the longest, since as a kid I was moving back and forth between Iran and the US. Being in SF and living there in the 2010s was incredible.
Justin — I owe Justin a lot. I became his roommate and we were making music together, it was a fun time, such a crazy fun time. We’re all still boys and homies and I just did a writer’s camp at Dirtybird in June. They’re owned by Empire now which is a whole new thing.
I wanted to bring up Iran because I read an old interview in which you mentioned there are all of these little musical happenings going on in the country. I have a friend who is Iranian but was born abroad, he sends me clips of parties in Iran that look almost like a sidestage at a festival — maybe 100 people listening to something that sounds like Ellen Allien-type techno. He sees it as a recent development, but I read this interview where you mentioned that this has been going on for quite awhile now.
The thing is: everything is underground in Iran. You don’t have nightclubs, you don’t have alcohol permits, alcohol is forbidden in the country. But you have this giant counterculture outside of that. Iran has a very young population, the majority of the population are all relatively young.
So I haven’t been there in 15 years, but I grew up there. I speak Farsi, I write Farsi. Honestly part of my story that hasn’t been told is the Iranian part of it. But as a kid I would see parties in a resort town called Shemshak, back in the early 2000s. I was too young but they were called “Shebiza,” like the Ibiza of Iran. I know people, like Nesa [Azadikhah] of Deep House Iran, and my best friend who I grew up with, Sepehr, has a label called Shaytoon. He’s in Europe now but he’s really connected with the country and the Iranian artists released on his label. There’s so much talent still there doing so many cool things. There’s underground parties, giant raves, there are even legal raves too which I’ve seen. It gives you a glimpse of the country that is outside of what the news tells you. We have a relationship with music and we’re hungry for it too.
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Do people inside the country ever seek you out? You’re really well-known as an Iranian-American in the electronic music scene.
Yeah they do. My parents still go back and forth and I definitely want to go back at some point. I’m writing a new album with some Iranian elements to it. I’ve done this one song that’s almost like a Kraftwerk, Underground Resistance-style electro track but it’s in Farsi. I can’t wait to release this album…
But to go back to your earlier question: it’s funny because I feel like I haven’t really shown a lot of my Iranian roots yet in my music, I think that’s the one puzzle that needs to be put in the right place. That’s my next phase, for my new album. I feel fortunate that I still have that part of me and my story that feels completely fresh even though I’ve been doing this for 15 years and haven’t really dabbled in that. Like I made a song with my mom and dad when they were visiting. My dad plays the saxophone and my mom sings and we did a song in Farsi and… yeah. I feel like it’s a very deep connection and feel sometimes that I haven’t really expressed that side of me. And it’s a dream of mine to go back and perform in Iran.
You have a really different background than anyone I’ve ever interviewed for 5 Mag, I think. I wrote down that I wanted to ask you to tell your story and what part of it hasn’t been told, but I guess you answered that and it won’t seem as clever as I wanted.
Well I told you in such a non-linear way. But my story is so non-linear, you know? I have a lot of family in America and a lot of family in Iran. I think as a young boy I was privileged to be able to come to the US and live here and also move back to Tehran and live there.
In theory that really did help being a touring artist! As soon as I started making friends, we were moving to a new place. Being a good DJ, it’s not about what you play or what you don’t play. It’s all about reading a room. Not necessarily that you need to play all bangers if there are a bunch of college girls requesting Bad Bunny, you know, but reading people and understanding them. I went to an international school in Iran so I was learning to speak English there before moving to the US and then moving back again. I felt like I had a superpower of meeting people and being social. I think it helped me understand the world.
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[…] Ardalan: 2010—Today. Sixteen years after Mr. Spock blew up clubs he was too young to enter, Ardalan’s music is […]