According to a 2018 report from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, any metropolitan area with over 10 million inhabitants could be considered a megacity. When I think of the term, though, my mind doesn’t go to any place that exists in real space. Instead, I start to conjure up a dreamlike urban environment rendered entirely in CGI. Gleaming skyscrapers, sleek surfaces.

Australian producer 1tbsp’s new release megacity1000 wouldn’t be a bad soundtrack to this unreality. Beyond the name, which is used to anchor a conceptual project based around a fictional city, much of the music on megacity1000 is a precise take on contemporary Latin club styles—one whose impeccable sound design and rhythmic thrust would work well inside a sparkling digital club inside of a sparkling digital city. 

1tbsp is an indie dance project from the mind of Maxwell Byrne, who some might also know from his work under the Golden Vessel moniker. We sent him some questions about megacity1000. Give it a listen and read our interview below.

Where does the title of your new album come from? What does a megacity mean to you?

I came up with this concept of a dance record that was a promotion for a fictional city. For me I found some balance in that concept—between making fun dance music or DJing and reading the news every morning. It's been a pretty overwhelming year for everyone and I was thinking a lot about all these new "solutions" to problems, a lot of it involving the way we live and where we live. So the record kind of leant into that sense of irony I was feeling.

Did you come up with “The City Never Felt So Good” around the same time as the album title? What was it like making that one?

My process is generally just to start making music everyday (working towards an EP/album) until a concept appears. Then once I have it I steer heavily into that direction. “The City Never Felt So Good” was made after I had the concept, and I knew I wanted an anthemic song for the album. I made it lying in bed in a hotel through the laptop speakers and used the built-in mic for the vocals. Then Mietze Conte and my friend Noé added some add-production.

There seems to be a major dembow and reggaeton influence on some of these recent singles. How did you get interested in those genres?

I think 3 years ago Rosalia was definitely my gateway drug into that world. Once I started to discover dembow and trying out songs in my DJ sets I knew that I wanted to reference those genres in my production, and find unique combinations between that music and more house/techno/Eurodance music.

What other music inspired this record?

I think the main inspiration for me comes through DJing. I'm always playing songs I found the day of the show that I barely know so that I also get surprised. And when I DJ I try to find interesting combinations (like a dembow song looping into a techno song, or placing an aggressive vocal over an ambient track). And then I try to recreate those combinations in my production.

Could you tell us about some of the collaborations?

 

Yeah, I have songs with Beaks & Mietze Conte who are two friends from Vienna who also release through my label Sumoclic. Beaks generally makes post-punk overlaid with beautiful spoken word, and for our song "U-Bahn Ride" I asked her to try and write in German and sing the choruses. Mietze and I have worked on a lot of songs together and this was another one we'd made while I was visiting him in Austria. I also worked with Cherry Chola for the first time who's an Australian artist who writes songs in Spanish. And Ninajirachi, who's an old internet friend, and I'm so glad we finally made something together after all these years. 

What are the musical differences between 1tbsp and your older moniker, Golden Vessel?

Not that there's hard and fast rules, but I try to keep them separate through limitations. Golden Vessel is songwriting, breakbeats, guitars, photo album covers, filmmaking. Whereas 1tbsp is samples, minor keys, synths, illustrated covers, DJing.

What kind of music are you enjoying playing out nowadays? Is it stuff that is in line with the music you produce? Any leftfield cuts that some people might not associate with your style?

I'm always trying to find pockets of dance music from anywhere in the world that I haven't come across before. I've been exploring some Korean and Mexican scenes at the moment. I also really love ambient music so I often try to sneak in a song at the start or end of a set as a bit of palette cleanser.

Do you have a favorite club in Australia?

I don't think that one stands out to me in particular. I've had great experiences at Black Bear Lodge in Brisbane & Club 77 in Sydney, but I think that the lockout laws in Sydney especially shut down a lot of iconic places that were a bit before my time. RIP.