Talking Shop

Austrian producer and multi-instrumentalist CID RIM injects the fluid energy of live performance into his jazz-inflected electronica, putting his skills as a pianist and drummer to work in genre-spanning productions for the Scottish label LuckyMe. We caught up with the producer in advance of his latest record, Songs for Vienna…

When did you start making music?

“I started playing piano when I was six. Playing mostly classical music until about 11, I then found out I can just play whatever I want, without the notes, very liberating. I started trying to find out the chords of the records I was listening to. Like the Rhodes loop. Later I started playing drums, being in bands and at about 14, a friend got a copy of Reason 1. The possibilities of having a DAW with just a simple synth, a sampler and a drum computer basically blew my mind. I was using my headphones as a microphone, sampling jazz records, recording all sorts of everyday percussion objects, like playing using a glass and a pencil as a ride cymbal.”