Interview with
Larry Lan
Hello Larry, you’re writing your musical story for the last 25 years from Barcelona, Spain, being influenced by pioneers like Giorgio Moroder or Ricardo Villalobos. Moreover, you’ve been cultivating a distinctive style ever since your beginnings, leading you to create exitLAB in 2009, a project aiming to introduce releases and events in a way that was truly forward-thinking back then, and ultimately resonating across the global electronic music spectrum.
In addition, you’ve been working on a record label together with your son Kiddo, from which the first release « Sweden » remixed by Gathaspar has just been released yesterday (30/01/2025), which makes it the proper time to discuss further about your vision of the music industry, your forthcoming projects, your favorite gears and more, thank you so much for being part of this interview.
1/ First of all, let’s introduce a bit more about you, who are evolving as an artist since the late 90s, what was your musical journey like, how did you first get into electronic music, and what inspired you to start producing in the first place?
Well, I got my first decks at the end of ’96. ”Belt drive”, hahahaha. I got interested in the music that my mother always played at full volume in the house during my childhood. Patrick Cowley, Cock Robin, OFF (electrica salsa), Chris Issak’s and other groups from the 70s and 80s.
Those percussions and synthesizers made it clear to me that, at least, I was interested in this world.
2/ After 10 years of performing and producing music, you’ve decided to create your own project called exitLAB in 2009, through which you’ve been releasing countless productions from worldwide rising creators, while you were also showcasing events all over Spain but also in Germany, would you tell me more about this era, how was the club scene like in those days?
There was no social media, it was pure meritocracy. You delivered a 90-minute cassette tape with your best set. No arrangements, no effects. It was just magic. People came to dance. When they heard the beginning of the mix and knew the track they were playing, you could see in their eyes the impatience of wanting you to let it go and let it play. There was a lot of club culture.
In the mid-2000s I decided to set up exitlab, more than a record label it was a meeting of friends.
Whoever wanted to release music and respected techno culture had the doors open. Obviously it didn’t work. The public wants names, they don’t stop to listen to the product. If the cover doesn’t interest them, they don’t stick the needle in.
3/ As I mentioned, you’ve been evolving as an artist for decades in Spain, which makes of you a peculiar witness of the electronic music culture evolution, how do you perceive the growth of the scene since you began your career, not only in Spain but also further?
It has grown very fast. I would be happy if it were natural. In my opinion, people skip many parts of this journey because of so much immediacy.
You see, I don’t have a car. I live 30 minutes away from the center of Barcelona, which is where the vinyl shops are. I travel to them by bus. It’s like a ritual, you look at the websites for new releases, you sort out your priorities in your head. What will fit into the next gig. From that moment on, you’re already thinking about your audience. You want them to dance.
You search for 2 or 3, even 4 hours. Vinyl and more vinyl. You select them based on your criteria of relevance (you have to be careful not to break the bank) and then you pay. You pay money and you get an open world, also round in shape, with grooves and magnetism that houses two, three or more cuts of wisdom and acoustic culture. Maybe at that moment you buy that vinyl for a specific track but maybe in the future, your mood gets different, your ear or musical preference might have changed, and then the other cuts will fit you.
Music moves the world, the world spins like a vinyl. Music has to spin on its own deck. If you don’t spend on music, you don’t make music, you don’t mix by using sync (without having learned to do it by ear) you are not helping music. And, are there any consequences? NO.
On the contrary, we see booths full of people who do NOTHING for music and shine thanks to it. You think you are above music by creating a character and then Frankie Knuckles’ phrase resonates :
”The moment you think you are bigger than music, you are finished”.
4/ Alphonse de Lamartine, a French poet from the 19th century, quoted that “music is the literature of the heart [that] commences where speech ends” implying how emotions are melodiously translated by artists and how endless sources of inspiration can be.
This makes me wonder, what influences outside of music are shaping your artistic identity, and which non-electronic music genres have influenced the most your production techniques?
Exactly, I like that phrase from Lamartine.
There is nothing in our body that prevents us from hearing, for that you need earplugs. If you don’t want to see, you will close your eyes. If you don’t want to talk, you will close your mouth. But the ears are always open. There must be a reason.
A blind person can mix thanks to sound. He has nothing to see or observe, only feel. A deaf person can’t, if he is guided by a CDJ screen, of course he can. But here sight comes in. I am a film lover, I watch about 150 films a year. Once I was asked what made me feel more, film or music. I answered that it was a tie. But I had to break the tie. So I decided that it’s music. Because it can make you laugh, cry, even get angry in a healthy way. And it does this without images.
Non-electronic references are what I listen to the most. I don’t usually listen to techno, nor do I go out to party unless it’s to play. I think Robert Mitchum is a reference for the moment before starting to produce a track, I like bands like Burial, Johanne Sebastian Bach, Mueran Humanos, Royksopp and of course Lana del Rey. 90s hip-hop too, like Public Enemy or Kriss-kross. I was in a rap group when I was 16. BCLK forever.
But if I had to tell you who I looked up to when I started my sound it would be : Dave Gahan, Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, Dandy Jack, RZA and Eddie Mitchell. Sorry, and Christopher Wallace. A big hug, Biggie!
5/ You’ve been releasing your musical creations digitally for the last 15 years, which means you’ve been most probably developing your skills, your style and your creativeness differently over the years, how would you describe the evolution of your sound since you started to produce?
I don’t think it has changed. As for styles, sometimes I go to 125 BPM and lately I go to 135-138 BPM.
Before I was more linear, now I cut the percussion more. I’m modulating the kicks quite a bit and I usually do it at 3×3. I don’t want to do anything that hasn’t been invented, that’s impossible. Everything is invented. You can give a production a fresh air, but it will always be influenced by something. This is not bad. But you have to sit in front of the midi with humility and repeat to yourself “Larry EVERYTHING has already been invented.” Whatever you do here you have to like it. ONLY YOU.
And that’s why my music doesn’t have the impact that others have. I put the track out of sync, I leave the clap out of sync, 15 minute tracks (influenced by some Chileans mentioned above).
You can make four loops: Kick, Bass, Hat and clap and put in Billie Jean’s vocals. And what have you done? Edit number 1749 of Billie Jean? Obviously the public will love it because you don’t make them think.
But who uses the vocal of ”Low Island”? Ricardo. Who did magic with the vocal and samples of Nina Simone’s? Luciano.
6/ To go further on that matter, what are your favorite gears to create music and how do you decide on the BPM for your tracks, does it vary much or do you have a signature tempo?
I start by whistling something, even recording a tune on my phone. When I find the tempo for the harmony of the song, I get a BPM that I want to play it at. Most of the time, it’s my mood (for me) that makes the difference.
7/ The MINIMALER community deeply values artists discoveries especially when it comes to vinyl performances, which on this matter, you’re regularly yet dazzlingly playing in Barcelona. Can you tell me more about your vision in regards to performers/promoters?
I always play vinyl and usually alone. Nobody comes to my gigs because I’m not famous and I don’t give them the obvious – as I said before, nowadays they play it safe, they don’t take risks. Neither the public nor the promoters want to fail, this way you don’t get into their planes.
But I don’t care, I’m happy playing in clubs because there are Technics (I never had one, they’re very expensive) I can play my digital tracks (I don’t have a CDJ and they’re also very expensive), this way I can enjoy good sound that I can’t do at home.
8/ You’re most definitely sharing your passion for music and vinyl together with Kiddo, who you’ve just been celebrating the KID label launch with, so first of all congratulations to both of you on this new chapter.
When did you start to be making music together with Ian, how symbolic is it for you to transmit your musical knowledge to your own remix, has it strengthened your dad-son relationship?
Thank you very much, we are really happy with the people from Curtea Veche and Vinyl Future. Also MINIMALER helped us to meet Hyden. It is something unimaginable. I am happy to see the story of my mother and myself, reflected in Ian occupying the same interest for music that I’ve put at his age.
Advice to parents : Do not force anything, let it happen organically and naturally. If you think “my son will be a DJ and producer“, it will never happen. We are talking about MUSIC, and music makes the magic.
9/ You both are most certainly a source of inspiration for others with such a duo, perfectly halfway between old school and future, and I would even add that it’s amazing to see how confident he becomes in creating music by your sides.
Would there be any piece of advice you could give to other parents who would like to make music with their children, how do you balance the music production times with school/other activities as a dad?
I would say that I learn more from him than the other way around. Production is imagination and Ian has an infinitely large imaginary universe. He has no shortage of ideas and he beats me in patience. We’re more like Old School on my part. On Kiddo’s part it’s New Old Old School because he’s feeding off of what my mother taught me. And the advice is the same as before : don’t force it.
Let them say: “What are you doing with that piano, Dad?” Then sit them on your lap and a journey they will never forget will begin.
10/ On a more general level, what has been your most meaningful music project to date, and why?
I think « Mental Album » was a difficult album, long to finish and with the most beautiful and special cover, which was made for me by a person who is partly to blame in my passion for vinyl, DJMASTER FLASH (Carlos Sanchez).
I really did what I wanted. It was released by Cubek RECORDS in 2013
11/ To wrap up this interview, are there any upcoming projects you’re excited about?
Well, nobody knows yet and I’ve asked permission to tell you exclusively so here it goes…
After 25 years of struggle, in March 2025 Cadenza will release : A Wonderful Album
Believe me, I cried. I couldn’t believe it and Luciano made me very happy 3 days before Christmas. So thank you Mama, I know that from heaven she wanted it to be like this. So thank you to the people of Cadenza and to MINIMALER for coming together to make me smile.
Finally, a big hello to Nacho Capella, Maher Daniel, Ricardo Villalobos for that strength always.
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