LE BAIN: You've been known to produce up to 30 tracks a month, with more than 1,500 unreleased tracks on your hard drives. What are you planning to do with all that music?
KEVIN YOST: When I get into my groove I can be very productive. It just flows and flows. Since the digitalization of music and the fact that I was being so productive, making music to me is like going to the record store: I'm basically producing music that I can play and that will help me tell my story when I DJ. It's extremely personal.
Kevin Yost Live & Improvised
Music for you seems like a non-stop process...
There are still times when nothing happens. Making music or being creative in general is critical to my well being. When I go through spells of nothing coming out I'm miserable and people around me can tell.
Aphex Twin recently released 110 of his old tracks and demos on Soundcloud as a free download (he used the alias user48736353001). How does that inspire you?
Well, it makes me feel like less of a freak knowing that someone else is under the influence of creativity and is producing a lot of content. I think that today there is so much music out there that you really need dedicated fans to like what your music is saying. For example, if I release a full album with a concept and what I think are good tracks, people will pick one or two and move on to the vast amount of other music out there. That's one reason I play all of my own music when I DJ. Otherwise, no one would ever get to hear half the stuff I do.
You're a master of the genre ‘Deep House’ that has recently been hugely in fashion - that's pretty surprising for a genre that has been more like a niche. Do you agree?
I used to say back in the day that if Deep House becomes popular I would change styles, but really, genres are more dictated by the sites that sell music and how they classify music. For example, my "Messing With My Soul" was the number one Deep House track on Traxsource last year. That same song on Beatport never even made the top 200 in their Deep House chart...so really the term Deep House is a very broad and exaggerated genre - for me it's all House music.
Kevin Yost Live & Improvised (Tokyo, Japan)
You've been a resident of Circo Loco in Ibiza. Beyond the clichés, how would you describe your personal Ibiza experience?
Aside from playing once on the island a few years ago when I opened for Jamiroquai, last summer was really the first time I got to experience the island. I always had a different opinion of Ibiza being more mainstream, but the distinctions between underground and mainstream at least in my eyes and ears are pretty divided. There are people there to see the big superstar DJs that play cheddar, and there are true lovers of good electronic music who are there to experience the world's best DJs in the great clubs that the island has to offer. Playing at Circo Loco last summer was amazing. They are great guys and know what they're doing. When you go to their event you're being educated by the best DJs playing all different genres, but all great music. I'm also very happy about my relationship with the best radio station on the island Ibiza Sonica where the great people there gave me the opportunity to do a weekly radio show called Keep It Deep. I also like the fact that you can run into so many other DJs and producers in one place. Breakfast in the hotel is like a DJ meeting.
Kevin Yost in the mix
Your music teacher taught you the golden rule that “you must know what your last note is going to be before you write your first note.” Life-wise or career-wise, how do you see your last note?
I think the point is to know what you want to do and to do it. Have a direction and take the music in that direction. I don't think there will ever be one last note and when there is one last note, I will probably not be aware of it because ultimately I would no longer exist. Kind of a deep and dark way to close this interview, but anyone with a passion to create can surely understand.
(This interview was originally published in March and has been updated in September 2015.)
