American DJ David Flores aka Truncate talks about performing in Hyderabad and his musical journey

When Los Angeles-based DJ Truncate made his first visit to India a couple of years ago, he was welcomed by a rather enthusiastic crowd — something he didn’t see coming. Although he has heard about the rising techno music scene here, he confesses that he didn’t know what to expect. “I have performed in so many countries. I remember coming to India and being greeted by an energetic bunch. It was truly refreshing. It’s nice to see the scene growing in this country and I’m curious to see where it goes,” he recollects. 

Also known by his moniker Audio Injective, David is making his Hyderabad debut, this weekend, for BUDXHYDERABAD music festival by Budweiser Experiences. “Expect some peak time party tracks — rhythmic and jacking songs with some heady stuff thrown in as well,” he says. 

Mixed tape sounds
After being introduced to electronic music back in the early ’90s in California through radio, David, a teenager then, was hooked. He started to explore the genre and began mixing sounds in 1996, at the age of 18. “I first listened to EDM in mixed tapes and local stations. It took me a couple of years to start going to parties. The next natural step for me was to start DJing and making music,” he recollects. However, it wasn’t a steep rise, but a rather gradual one for David, who continued to work in a corporate company. It was in 2008, when he lost his job and decided to focus on music full-time, that he launched himself as Audio Injection. 

His Truncate releases have gained critical acclaim from underground talent such as Modeselektor, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann and Chris Liebing. He has also released original tracks on labels like 50 Weapons and Ultramajic (as a collaboration with American musician Jimmy Edgar). “I put out loads of tracks and remixes as and that’s what first got me noticed. Truncate came about around end of 2010. I started this project to focus more on deeper and raw techno, while keeping it simple and stripped down for DJs. That’s when things started to really take off for me,” he concludes.

Excerpts from our interview:
Who are some of your musical influences?
My list of influences is way too big. To name a few Jeff Mills, Ben Sims, Dave Clark, DJ Funk, Paul
Johnson, Robert Armani, Luke Slater, James Ruskin, Mark Broom... those are all more on the techno
realm but I’ve also had influences from hip hop producers like Jay Dilla and Madlib. I get inspiration
from all over the spectrum from classic rock, punk to even jazz and industrial.

What do you think about the growing techno scene in the world?
Well at the moment I feel techno is at its peak and I’m thinking it’s gonna hit a wall soon. There is a
change coming. I don’t know where it’s gonna go but a change will come. The only problem with
techno being so big right now is that people are exploiting it. People are jumping on the bandwagon
because it’s hot. Techno is a big business right now. Once the next hot thing comes along you’ll see
the shift and who was true to it all along. Don’t get me wrong I’m happy to see it come this far but I
feel like a lot of people are in it for the wrong reasons. I hope the young generation just getting into
this music do some research and look into the history of techno music and respect where it came
from. I hope they dig and find the artists that are not forced upon us on social media and massive parties. There are so many up and coming artists struggling to get heard that really deserve to be
heard.

Is there any ethos for your label or sound?
It’s all about keeping it simple and for the club. Truncate is music for DJs to play at parties. It was
never really meant to be album music or to sit at home and listen to. I want people to dance to my
music and make them forget their worries. Be absorbed in the sound.

Line-up 
DIVINE X Gully Gang (Mumbai)
Ox7gen (Mumbai)
Seedhe Maut X Sez On The Beat (Delhi)
Lifafa (Delhi)
Dotdat (Pune)

At Prism Club & Kitchen. September 13, 6 pm.