Name: Gerald Brunson
Nationality: American
Occupation: Producer, DJ
Current release: Brunson's Intimacy Between Friends EP is out via Rekids Special Projects.

If you enjoyed this Brunson interview and would like to know more about his music and upcoming releases, visit him on Instagram, and Facebook.

For a deeper dive, read our earlier conversation with him about Intimacy Between Friends.



Are there examples of minimalism in music that impressed you? Were you interested in minimalism as a style – from Philip-Glass-variety to minimal techno?

I am from a small town in the plains of Colorado, my parents listened to lots of commercial grade contemporary music from country to rock, RnB etc. Classical and Avantgard stuff not so much and classical was only available to me via Bugs Bunny cartoons.  

I would say Pink Floyd would be the first earliest minimal sounds I heard. They were more of a deep space vibe or dystopian machine vibe. I liked how you could internally visualize a texture or landscape that would match the moods on, say, the entire Wish you were here album or "Echoes," etc. The "concept album" of the 70's was kinda cool like that at times.



Later, when I was 28 or 30 years old, I was able to get into New Order, Joy Division and Philip Glass. I really liked Einstein on the Beach; I found all the layers to be very independent on their own, each locked in a repetition that forces an observed reality from the effects of inevitable juxtaposition.



Very comparable to life as a human, forced into a society that very much is the same end product of forced juxtaposition and finding its own ebb within the flow.   

I had never really paid attention to Glass outside of his Aphex Twin remix, which I grew to like more than the original.



Minimal Techno to me as a kid / teenager was a hard sell; everything needed to be upfront and in my face and most minimal techno needed a different sound system to hear correctly at home and most parties in my area were House, Acid house, Progressive House, Trance and Drum and Bass, Big Beat etc. So I never got to hear that sound when I was younger.     

Especially in very minimalistic house and techno, the line between a “tool” and a carefully crafted “composition” can be a fine one. How do you see that – and the difference between “tool” and “track” in general?

I never really got into that concept. To me, electronic music is part of a living interactive syntax that transcends the limited pop music boundaries.

All that copyright headache with sampling back in the early days of trying to reduce it down to marketable elements that rock and roll or hip hop / country were subjected to and that ultimately caused their death via homogeneous erosion is extremely unfortunate and should not be a factor in underground artistic expressions.

I always hated being in conversations with music majors explaining to me that there is no music theory in Techno or saying Progressive Trance was music because it used theory. I never wanted or needed theory to make it real for me; trying to explain to them that you mix the track with the heavy chord progression with the track with the heavy bassline and strong percussive track to make that end product or 3rd record, instead of making one track do all of that as one track, was very mind-numbing.

So, to make this shorter, I feel it's a tool that the user uses to create the current living version of the sound. You're supposed to mix the track some woman made in Sweden in her spare room 2 days ago with the tracks that Todd Terry made in a million-dollar studio in New York 28 years prior on obsolete equipment and production theories to create this experience that is happening in the here and now and then again in 5 minutes tomorrow or next Saturday.

At best, what I'm trying to say is: maybe tracks are more of a solid blueprint to be used to create a master design. But even in that, those tracks are still tools. I dunno; I'm kinda bad at answers sometimes.

Do you tend to find that, as many claim, “less is more?” Are the notes you don't play really as important as the ones you do play?

I am finding in my daily life less is more, quality over quantity. I used to obsess over the records that Richie Hawtin didn't play back in the day when he was one of the master craftsmen of this magic.

My friend Rob would always say, "I like this track; it seems very crammed together though, it would be nice if there was some space in between, if there was a way you could let it breathe." I feel as if I'm starting to factor that formula into my tracks. I actually program in holds and rest notes. I also limit my drum machine and synth channels, so it's not just a constant barrage of acid and beats or EFX tails etc.

In America I find our flavor palate to be fairly basic, designed for mass consumption. Most food is designed to be chewed two or three times and then swallowed. So you keep eating and purchasing products in the case of pop music, which is formulated in the same fashion, listen to it for a week, then get served another overprocessed synthetic and easily consumed single of no real substance.

When I was younger, my friend’s dad made this amazing beef jerky. It was such a big deal I started eating it and quickly got reprimanded; I was just eating piece after piece, like McDonald's French fries. It was explained to me that I was wasting the jerky as the recipe is designed to release flavor over a long period of time; the more I chewed it, the more flavor would be released. I would need to learn how to make the experience last with one piece of jerky, or I was not allowed to eat the Jerky - they had no time for heathens.

I figured it out, leading me to keep chewing jerky so long I would get sores in my mouth. It was amazing how much flavor was locked inside, even though it was just a piece of dried meat.

Later in life, another friend would make fancy food; it was delicious. I really offended him one day by asking for no onion or tomato as I don't like onion or tomato and tend to shy away from vegetables sometimes. This guy proceeded to explain how the flavor shelf was designed in this dish, pointing out how this was not a Burger King whopper with cheap onion and pickles or tomato.

He reminded me that he grew everything we were eating. He is using heirloom tomatoes grown in specific soil with a consistent PH level and the exact nutrient profile. So when combined with the other elements, they create a very rich flavor composition instead of just being five separate loud, raunchy flavors just thrown together meant for a strong reaction to trigger continuous glutinous ingestion. This was carefully concocted, down to the soil PH level, which creates an aftertaste that blends with this other aspect of these other ingredients.

To me, that is the best example of minimal techno when made correctly. You might only have 3 or 4 elements, but they are so cared for, well-crafted and used deliberately that you can unravel the flavor layers the longer you play the track, the same as when you chew the jerky.

If you need to consume a bunch of cheap filler, the F.M. radio is always on, EDM is here for that ... If you have a refined palate or want to pass on hypertension and sonic diabetes, Basic Channel or Robert Hood have options for you as well.

Do you feel that music is a process of adding elements until it is done – or one where you chisel away pieces from something that is already there?

That's a tough one for me. I have made tracks in a DAW and gone in edited pieces in and out, changed bass lines etc, which hurts my brain and makes me feel like I'm dying. I dunno why.

I use the first-take method and hear the track only a few microseconds ahead of what is supposed to happen. I always ask other people, "Hey, so when you made that track, did you hear it in your head or just kinda jam around and figure it out or?" I never really get an answer.

I feel it should be either way. Chipping away pieces seems like a good method. Adding seems like a good method. I don't know how to read or write music, so I just make it work and get what I'm feeling out. I guess I add and subtract to create tension.

In terms of the creative process, do you like to set yourself limitations? If so, what were some of those limitations for the new pieces?

I have weird limitations that don't make sense that I'm always amending.

I went through a strict no-computer phase, and then I learned all the jungle I love was made on Octamed which is a computer program. My gizmo wizard at Michigan Synth Works made me a very cheap USB to MIDI (CV as well) converter, which is very cheap and easy to use with maximum results. So now there's no reason not to use my laptop in conjunction with my external gear.

My main limitation right now is being in the right mood. I sometimes cannot even walk into my studio or hear anything, so I focus on DJing or letting someone use my studio to record etc.

Really, though, I just need to get in there and make tracks. I am afraid of infecting people with my feelings, so I try to be in a good mental state when I record tracks to keep the bad vibes out. Vibes are a part of life. I feel the next set of limitations are going to be stripping down to four tracks and programming longer sequences with theory into my pieces.  

How do you arrange these pieces? All have a floating feeling, as if they're performed live rather than laid out in a DAW …

Live one-take-only format. I might work out a riff, I mainly try to create tension and then add to the tension with effects or a good filter pass, then much like the tide, start reloading for the next session of tension release.

I have some DAW tracks somewhere, but I can't really operate in that realm. It's too many options, I'd never leave the house.

Would you say that minimalism extends into other parts of your life as well?

As I get older, yes, I'd rather eat less food with more flavor that has a better nutritional spectrum than consume poorly crafted sugar, high fat, and fake dyes food because it's available and cheap. I listen to less of what I'm not focused on. Therefore I respond to less of what is irrelevant.

When I'm doing visual installations, I purposely will bring one laser and force myself to figure out different looks and positions to get the most effect out of one laser. To force my brain to stay active, or doing a laser show with no fog - to really explore what a laser brings to the table other than just beams comparable to a chef friend getting unique flavors out of a homegrown tomato.

I am not diminishing my interactions with other humans, as I don't really interact with too many of them, I do make sure to focus on more minute aspects of our interactions to allow them to be very intentful without actually doing or interacting more.

Even just taking that extra moment to hold a hug and just breathe for a moment, knowing you intend to do this again as soon as possible whilst also accepting the fact this very moment may be the last time you hug that person. I am focused on getting the most out of the smallest aspect but not choking myself out with abundance.

Lately, I've been dealing with people I truly love that die, so now it's about dealing with the unwanted or unexpected subtractions in my life and still having productive output. It's really an interesting sensation trying to generate light when someone else’s light goes out and you realize a lot of the light you thought you were giving was just you focusing all of those peoples' light through your lens and blasting it out through yourself, not it being you generating the light on your own.

Just have to keep blasting light even when you're down to your last spark, even when it hurts.

Many artists are becoming more minimalist in their music as the years go on, focusing on the “essence.” After many years of making music – how is that for yourself? I dunno if that applies to me. I am not able to read or write music. I have a good ear etc. Great DJ.

I would say I'm deep in the essence now, so it's not a far-fetched concept that I would be the opposite. I can see myself focusing on the theory after a while, cracking that code would not be so grating on me. Would be great to have a conversation with my musician friends and actually communicate succinctly.