Lost And Sound

UFO95

• Paul Hanford • Episode 196

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I sat down with Parisian‑born, Brussels‑based producer UFO95 to trace the line between brutalist architecture, Detroit machine soul, and live techno. From early days in punk bands and birthdays above his parents’ club to a Tresor residency and a nerve‑tight Berghain performance, he unpacks how structure, space, and human error can turn a set into something physical.

We dive into the design choices behind the new UFO95 album A Brutalist Dystopian Society Part 2: concrete‑solid kicks, saturated drones, and spacious pads that carry the grey, functional, futuristic mood of brutalism without ornament. He explains why half his shows remain improvised, how shrinking his hardware rig sharpened the energy, and what different cities teach him about pacing a room. Expect thoughtful nods to Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Surgeon, and Regis, reframed through a personal lens that swaps copycat nostalgia for living lineage.

We also explore the craft behind the scenes: producing with the live arc in mind, writing twenty‑minute passages that breathe without a kick, and treating the club as a place to express, not excess. UFO95 talks candidly about resisting trends, favouring slow, minimal, and mental tracks while much of techno chases extremes, and why keeping protest and experimentation at the heart of the genre still matters.

If you enjoy Lost and Sound and want to help keep it thriving, the best way to support the podcast is simple: subscribe, leave a rating, and write a quick review on your favourite podcast platform. It really helps new listeners discover the show — on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

UFO95 on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ufo95live/?hl=en

UFO95 on Bandcamp:

https://ufo95.bandcamp.com/

Huge thanks to Audio-Technica – makers of beautifully engineered audio gear and sponsors of Lost and Sound. Check them out here: Audio-Technica

My book Coming To Berlin is a journey through the city’s creative underground, and is available via Velocity Press

Follow Lost and Sound on Substack

You can also follow me on Instagram at @paulhanford for behind-the-scenes bits, guest updates, and whatever else is bubbling up.

Paul:

Okay, so I've got a question for you. Is there a way that you feel brutalist architecture and techno have something in common? I'm sure you already think, yeah, of course, Paul, of course there is. Well, to make that connection a little bit clearer, my guest on Lost and Sound this week, UFO95, has some answers. Hello. Yes, it's Lost and Sound, the show that goes deep with artists shaping music and culture from the underground up. But before we get going, Lost and Sound is sponsored by Audio Technica. For over 60 years, this family-run company has been making the kind of gear that helps artists, DJs, and listeners alike really hear the detail. Headphones, microphones, turntables and cartridges, studio quality, beautifully engineered, and designed and built on the belief that great sound should be for everyone. So go and check out their stuff at Audiotechnica.com and now here's the show. We're creeping, creeping, creeping. Oh, I don't like the word creeping, it's a bit creepy, isn't it? We're heading straight to episode 200, coming up very, very soon. I'm really excited about that. I'm Paul Hamford, I'm your host, I'm an author, broadcaster, and a lecturer. And each week I have a conversation on Lost and Sound with an artist who works outside the box about music, creativity, and about how they're navigating life through their art. So whether you're new here or you've been listening for a while, it's great to have you along. I hope whatever you're doing today, wherever you are, you're having a really fantastic one. I'm speaking to you from a little street in Neukollen in Berlin where I woke up this morning and it's very snowy again. My guest on the show is Parisian-born, Brussels-based producer Killian Vaissade, who has been making music for some years now, a few years now, as UFO95. As you'll hear in the interview, he pronounces the more European way of saying uh the name, which is UFO95. Um, I'm English and I've got a bit lazy, so I'm calling it. I'm gonna probably switch between UFO95 and Ufo 95, but that was something that during the interview I didn't really realise until we were started talking. Um but anyway, yes, he makes techno music that is sleek, it's minimal, slightly out of spacey, as the name would suggest. And one of the things that I think marks what Vaissade does out from a lot of other techno artists is that he is purely a musician and producer. He doesn't DJ. Instead, when he plays live, he gets the hardware out, he goes up on stage and he does a live set based partly in uh what is already there and partly in improvisation. He has a residency at Berlin's Tresor and he's played all over Europe. And I can hear how particularly the Trezor residency gets fed into the sound of his recordings. Like when you actually think about the building that Tresor is hosted in itself, um, the Krafferk building in Berlin, which used to be a huge power supplier. It was like basically like the power factory for that part of Germany. And it has, if you've not been there before, even if you have, you know, it has this sort of, it feels like you're stepping into metropolis in a way. It's got this very other timely industrial vastness to it. And I feel that Ufo 95's music has some kind of response to this building and other environments like that. And that's actually it's not just what I feel, that's something that we go on and talk about it during the podcast quite a bit. I've talked before about the relationship between the environment and music and how artists draw on their surroundings to create music. Most commonly on the show, this has involved having conversations with composers that work within electroacoustic space, such as Lea Bertucci, Sarah Davachi and Caterina Barbieri. And a lot of these ideas are drawn into something that I feel anyway is connected to ideas that Paulina Oliveros first put down and expressed and and and did stuff with with the deep listening process. Um but with UFO 95, there is this real connection with architecture. This new album, A Brutalist Dystopian Society, part two, draws on the fascinate a fascination with brutalist architecture, and it does sound like something you might want to experience on a good system in an industrial location. Um and the result I get is there's a sound world that's it's very minimal, it's very functional, and it has this otherworldly quality that I think echoes back to 90s techno and the founding sounds of the Detroit pioneers, as well as something that feels very brutalist. I mean, Detroit, Berlin, all of these places, there's there is something very, you know, industrialness is at the heart. There's something so deep at the heart of the these music. And somehow this comes together in UFO 95's music or UFO 95's music. Anyway, as I mentioned last week, I've recently started updating my Substack. I'm I'm on a roll, I've done three weeks of updates in a row, and I I'm I'm trying to keep it up like a little bit every week where I kind of put down extra thoughts about the episode, the guest, maybe even other stuff. You know, uh let me know if there's any other things that you think might interest you if if I put them in a substack. Like I'm thinking about playlists and things like that. But anyway, please head over, give it a subscribe. Uh it's lostandsound.substack.com. Okay, so we had this chat on January the 27th, 2026. Um this is what happened when I met Killian Vaissade, aka UFO95. Yes, good. Hey, how are you doing? You alright? Yeah, all good and you? Yeah, good, thank you. Good, thank you. Whereabouts are you? Um based in Brussels. Right. What's what's the weather like? We've in Berlin, it's terrible at the moment, it's just snow everywhere.

UFO95:

It's not snow, but it's cold and rainy today, so yeah, it's not that great either.

Paul:

Well, thanks for speaking with me today. Um yeah, I wanted to start by just uh getting a little bit of an idea about the name. I love the name UFO95, it brings about so many images, and I was wondering how it came about, what it means to you, that name.

UFO95:

So 95 because I'm born in 95, and UFO because um when I started this project, I really wanted to focus on this non-conventional sound, you know, like weird sound and experimental and loopy, and really inspired by the um yeah, experimental and like weird stuff. So it was the case like in I think the first two years, but now I'm I'm a bit shifted to the more classic techno sound, I would say. Yeah, so it's less strange, but still a bit blippy and mental and experimental, but yeah. So that was the story at the first place.

Paul:

I think does the name still mean the same thing to you now, or did you feel like it's sort of it's just become part of who you are?

UFO95:

Or I mean I still like the name because for me it's also allowed me to try different stuff and to just experiment, you know. I don't be just in one box in kind of like sound. So I really like it to be able to be like a an alien, you know, sound wise, and to try different stuff and uh and things, so yeah, like yeah, yeah.

Paul:

And I think another one of the one of the big things that immediately strikes me about not so much like the music, because I think the music's amazing and exists in its own realm, whatever, but it's the the way you perform it is like a lot of artists, particularly in the electronic sphere, uh focus on DJing as their main kind of live live experience with people, but you concentrate on live performance. I was wondering what drew you initially to focus on doing live sets in the first place.

UFO95:

Um, I come from the rock music, so I used to bands play instruments, and so when I switched to electronic music, I wanted to have the same feeling of playing live for an audience and playing with like instruments or machines. So that's why I directly focus on playing live instead of DJing. Actually, I never DJ.

Paul:

So do you find that um with the I imagine when you're kind of you could you uh recently you know you've played a lot of sets, like recently you were at Bergein, I think last week. Firstly, how did that go? Oh, it was amazing, loved it, super fun.

UFO95:

Did you get the photo outside the classic photo? Uh yeah, of course I did it. Yeah, of course. But yeah, it was amazing, it was like good crowd, and I was super stressed, but uh it was it, I mean it went perfectly, so I'm super happy.

Paul:

Yeah, awesome. I mean, I'm talking about the super stress. I mean, because I imagine, like, if you're on a bill with like mostly DJs, um that there's the I imagine there's a lot more technical considerations that you have to think about before you go on enduring and then afterwards, you know, like how do you manage the sort of technical side of things? Is that stressful?

UFO95:

Or if you if you got it down to a fine art now of getting in it used to be stressful because I used to use a lot of more machines on stage, and now I try to um have like only like a one or two machines on stage, so to use like a reduced setup, which is less stressful, I would say, because I only need to focus on one, two, three machines maximum. And so I also know my machines like pretty well, so I know I can trust them and rely on them. So yeah, the technical aspect is not really stressful for me. I will say it's more how to keep the energy going for like two hours, especially at Baganda. It was two hours live, and as you say, between DJ sets. So it's always like a big, like not a big, but always like a small challenge, you know, to keep the energy going compared to DJ set, which can be a bit easy to go in different directions. So yeah, and you've got the material laid up ahead.

Paul:

Sorry, I didn't mean to cut it.

UFO95:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um all my materials are like almost, I mean, everything I I would say it's like 50% ready and 50% improvisation. And so yeah, I know I have enough material to to play for two, three hours, and so I just charm with everything and go with the flow. And now I'm pretty happy with the live. So I know I know how it's gonna sound and what I'm gonna um express, you know, through through the live.

Paul:

So yeah, and how important for you is that improvisational aspect?

UFO95:

I mean it's super important, so it's like 50% of the live it's improvised, and I really love this feeling of just going with the flow and doing mistakes. Also, I love mystic, you know, and for me it's super important, you know, to do mistakes, especially doing a live and um yeah, just love it, you know, to uh feel the energy, see how the people react, and maybe I can add some stuff or erase some stuff, you know, and yeah, just super fun to really go with the flow, like you know, minutes by minute and see how how I can improve or or not things.

Paul:

That's really interesting because I I think um I think yeah, definitely uh mistakes are something that I feel personally a lot of really great creative decisions come out of, but then also when you're playing in environments where there is like a dance floor, there's a certain sort of expectation that you know you you have to deliver you know something functional as well. How do you approach that? Because I I love the idea that you're you you embrace the mistakes, but do you feel that at the same time have there been any ever any situations where you feel like maybe that has gone a different direction from the crowd?

UFO95:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, some live didn't work, you know. I mean, yeah, I mean recently I'm super happy with the live and how it sounds and how people react to it, but at the beginning I tried stuff, and like for example, playing breakbeat in Berlin, it doesn't work, you know. And so at the beginning, I mean, like three years, four years ago when I started the live project. I started, I mean, I tried, you know, to do this kind of like weird regular stuff, EDM, but it didn't work, so it was like a failure. But also, like it was a good exercise for me to try stuff and also for the audience, you know, to try to make them try something different. It works sometimes in Berlin, it doesn't work. I think people are really interested in the 4 to 4 kick drum and like the techno classical aspect of it. But yeah, so it's always I mean, always like you know, to experiment and even if it doesn't work, I still love it. You know, it's I mean it's not it's not on me anymore, you know. When I'm playing live, if the people like it or not, it's on them, you know. But I just want to create emotion, you know, for them and if they like it or not, it's up to them, you know, it's not up to me.

Paul:

So I'm yeah, yeah, it's gotta be real for you, basically. Yeah. Where would you say um where would you say that you find like a crowd? Which country or club, even would you say you find the crowd where all of the experimentation, all of the different genres that you mash in sort of hits the most, you feel?

UFO95:

Um I would say, I mean, Kiev in Ukraine is really amazing. People are super open, really open. Spain in general are really open too. You can really play different kinds of techno and music, they're always open to it. Amsterdam also, the crowd is really open. I mean, Netherlands in general, people are really singing in a lot of different genres of music, so that's cool. But um, I mean, I love Berlin, you know, I love to play there, I love to play Trezor. I have to I have the residency there, and yeah, in Trezor, you can play different kinds of music, people are quite open, it just depends on the night, you know, and the lineup night. But yeah, I mean, I think in general, Berlin is really more focused on classic techno, so you need to respect this in a way, you know.

Paul:

There's there's like a there's a there's like a preset idea, isn't that definitely? Yeah, if you put in Berlin, you want to be on the straight techno, you know. Yeah, okay. Um but the new album or a new record, a brutalist dystopian society. I love it. I you know, it's I think it's really immersive. It's sort of one of these like pieces of music, sort of collections of music that is clubby, but there's so much atmosphere going on there as well. Um, you know, I I I've listened to I've not experienced it on the dance floor, I've just experienced it through my headphones, but it's one of those sort of things that does physically move me. Just sat down listening to it. Um, and I was really interested in this idea about like how you were drawing on brutalist architecture with the album. And I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about like why brutalism and what what what how you made this connection between brutalism and your music?

UFO95:

Um it inspired me by its like super raw and direct and functional structure, you know, architectural structure. And so I try to translate this into music so I would use like super like heavy and brutal king drum, like with a super like heavy bass frequencies and rolling. And then for me, also the brutalism is a bit like futuristic, you know, in a way, and mysterious. I mean, there is something strange about it, you know, it's it doesn't feel like natural, but also like super grey and dark for me, I would say, like something really dark about it, and that's why also I try to recreate with like a lot of drones and atmospheres and um a bit like harsh and saturated ambience, you know, and drums. So that's really how it's it's uh yeah, it's inspired me.

Paul:

Yeah, and was there something without particular buildings that you were drawing on with particular tracks?

UFO95:

Yeah, I mean there is this one in uh in New York, it's like the um what is it called? I think it's like uh a building without windows, uh just for like computers and stuff. I don't remember the name, but it's like super super weird. There is like no windows at all, it's just like a big building of like concrete in the middle of New York. And I absolutely love this building. Every time I go to New York, I try to go there just to see it and walk around it, feeling and be inspired by it. And I love it.

Paul:

Yeah, I I really love how uh composers can draw of like really visual ideas, you know. And I and I think sometimes it can sort of sound a little bit like um to like a passerby, it's like, well, how how are you inspired by this? It's like you're not singing about it, you know. How how do you draw on that? And I think you you sort of explained by about like the kind of connection between the kinds of the sounds you were using and how that relates to the space in the architecture, yeah.

UFO95:

And also for me, like brutalism and this kind of like this dystopic idea of like um architecture and how it was supposed to be, but now it's like a bit like a forbidden idea, you know, for of architecture, and I love this aspect of it, and that try to translate it with a dissonant science uh synthesizer or like pads, really weird pads, which feel a bit sad and um and grey, you know, grayish vibe. So that's how I try also to recreate this aspect of like the the brutalist.

Paul:

Yeah, and I've I think for me listening to it, I've what I connected it with that there's a sort of uh there's a lack of mess to the music. Um, I think I associate with brutalism, it's very particular, you know. There's no extra, you know, it's not colourful, it doesn't splay out everywhere. It's like everything has a place and a sort of function, yeah. And that's like the music, I think. You know, it's it's it's not sort of zooming all over the place in a sort of chaotic way. There's like a sort of structure and order to what's going on, yeah, definitely.

UFO95:

It's super structured with like uh everything has a purpose, has a place, and it's functional, weird in a way, but it's like minimalism and functional, you know. Yeah, definitely.

Paul:

Did you like the film The Brutalist?

UFO95:

Yeah, I love it.

Paul:

Yeah, yeah, me too. Yeah, I'm not enough as an expert of architecture to criticize it. I know it got a little bit of backlash from uh architecture nerds, which is fair enough, but you know, I think the movie was super interesting.

UFO95:

I mean interesting to yeah, to know more about the movement behind it and how it appears in the US at the first place, and how it came like around Europe, then it's super cool, super combo.

Paul:

Yeah, yeah.

UFO95:

How did music come into your life? My parents always played music at home since I'm a child, and then I started playing guitar when I was five years old, I think. And this is in Paris. It was in Paris, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Then so maybe around 11 or 12 years old, I start playing in a rock band with my friends every week, every like Saturday. We we used to like yeah, just hang out and play music together. Then it got a bit more serious, so we tried to play shows also in Paris and stuff. How old were you, did you say? Between 15 and 17, I would say.

Paul:

Right. And what kind of influences were you into? So if you're born in '95, uh, this is sort of like uh early tens. Yeah, early tens. So, what kind of uh influences was the rock about?

UFO95:

I mean, I'd never been into like this super like pop rock music, which was really famous at the moment, but was really more into like the punk rock, like the Ramons or sex pick stores. Oh, right, yeah, yeah. The doors, uh Pink Floyd, this kind of artist. So I've always been into this more or punk or psychedelic rock music. Yeah. So it had always been like um yeah, in super big interest for me, and also I'd never been into this super pop and uh famous and uh commercial music in a way. And so yeah, it's the same in electronic music. I don't like this super commercial electronic techno or house, and I always try to dig for like the underground or like the weird or like the yeah punk stuff. Yeah.

Paul:

Yeah, yeah. What is it about that? Because I I'm the same, and I do sort of sometimes feel like I'm for example, I was at a party on Saturday, and it was more it was like a house party, and like people were kind of passing around a guitar, and there was this massive sing song, and the song I just didn't know, but everyone apart from me and my partner really knew this song really well. And it was a song that was I think it was like I think we worked out it was like Chapel Rowan or something, and like I had no idea. Like apparently it was a song that was obviously so famous to most people, but to us we're like, what the this is weird, everyone knows this song. We how come we know this video?

UFO95:

I know this video, yeah.

Paul:

Yeah, and what what is it? I mean, I don't know, because for me it's like I sometimes sort of wonder if I'm being like an elitist or a snob in that I don't connect with pop music in you know the most mainstream pop music in a way. And I know a lot of people, even like underground like writers and artists, do have like a pop side, and I do love a lot of older pop music, but just just generally, I I wonder what that is in me. And I was wondering what it is in you, you know, maybe just as a reflection on that. What why what is it that doesn't appear? Why why don't you go there?

UFO95:

Yeah, I I don't really know. I mean, I've never been interested into it. I think when it gets too mainstream and like I think it also lost a bit of uh simpliness and truth, you know, in the music. For me, it's just like um commercial product to deliver to the mass, to the people, like easily, the best, easy, easiest way possible, without any like strong messages or like really like art research, you know, into it. Yeah, like strong meanings, and I miss it, you know, sometimes when I listen to I try you know to listen to like the new pop music or mainstream stuff, and I'm like, okay, but there is no taste, there is no like deep inside, you know, like deep meanings, and I really missed it, you know. That's why I try to focus on underground because for me, underground always cares this message into it or meanings or like research. Yeah, yeah.

Paul:

No, I I get that as well. I feel like it's sort of um maybe there are pop genres that do connect with people on a deep level where it's like um, but I I find yeah, I I'm the same, definitely.

UFO95:

Maybe it's you know, I don't know, but uh yeah, it's really not attracted to it. I'm like, yeah, okay, what's the point? It's like it's gonna be easy. You just play those three same chords with like shitty lyrics on it, and then it's a tube, you know. But what's the point, you know, of it? You know, okay, you're gonna deliver the product to the people, but I want I don't want to create something the people want, I want to create something they don't know they they need it, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's the point, no.

Paul:

And I think that reminds me a little bit of what you were saying about making mistakes live. It's like um, and I was actually having this conversation with Nicky Nair yesterday, and he was sort of talking about like he liked about how he makes mistakes live and about embracing them during DJ sets and with like live performance with you. I imagine it's like because otherwise it's like things don't move forward, you know. Like uh if everyone stays doing within like a confines of not wanting to push things, is you you don't end up with a moving music exactly.

UFO95:

Yeah, and also I mean just part of the you being a human, you know, mistakes. You know, we are full of mistakes, you know. So it's for me just normal that uh the art we create is I mean it has also to be full of mistakes, no, in a way, otherwise it just gets boring and like it would be like a machine work, you know, and we're not machine, you know. So yeah, like and for me it's the same when I'm going to listen like any DJ playing. If there is no mistake, it's like the perfect thing for like two, three, four hours just get boring, you know. I love when it's like the mid the bit match is missing, or like it's 10 bit match, you know, and you're he's like working the vinyl or the C DJ, and I love it because it catch catch you again, you know, the mistakes.

Paul:

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's the same as when like with live bands where you see like a really great live band and the guitarist all hit the wrong note. Um, yeah, but like the way it's like how you recover from it and like where you go from there, isn't it?

UFO95:

But it just I mean it just clicked you, you know, because sometimes you've been yeah, being lost or thinking about something else. And if something wrong happened, you're just going back to the moment, you know, like oh, something happened, I I hear it, but now can I focus again, you know, and I love it, you know.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Paul:

And and uh keeping in the past a little bit, like um, it's really interesting what you're saying about like starting off in like bands and coming from that side of things. But I I also heard that your parents owned a nightclub.

UFO95:

Yeah, yeah.

Paul:

Like, were you living above that at the time?

UFO95:

Or yeah, exactly.

Paul:

Yeah, and what kind of music were they playing?

UFO95:

Uh, it was um like mostly French touch, French, yeah, French touch music, so a lot of dank punk and startups, this kind of music, like a lot, a bit of disco as well, and some weird uh music from Brittany, you know, like some deep stuff. I don't remember the name, but it was super fun, and I remember doing all my birthday and Halloween and New Year in the club, you know, with my parents and friends, and then you know, like three some balloons on top of the people dancing at midnight and stuff like this. So it was super fun. Were you allowed into the club at a young age? We were allowed just until midnight, you know. So the club opened at 10 pm and it's until at the morning, but so yeah, at midnight we had to go um back to our room and to sleep. But we were able yet to go to the DJ booth to see the guys playing because we were super interested uh about it with my brother. So we were always with him in the DJ booth and asking, Oh, can you play Daft Tank again? Can you play this track? It was fun.

Paul:

I imagine that the midnight close, the midnight you having to leave at midnight was like a little bit of a way of maybe your parents, was it like your parents saying, Okay, no one's really gonna get too high or too exactly.

UFO95:

It was like safe, it was still safe last night. It was also like the open door to the to the rest of the night. So yeah, I mean, we were like we were like eight and ten years old, so you know, so midnight, it's time to go to go to sleep, you know. You're just a baby, you know. So, yeah, but it was fun, it was really super fun.

Paul:

That's amazing. And was that connected to your entrance into electronic music, or did that, or did your I yeah, I think it played a role for sure.

UFO95:

Yeah, I don't know how, but for for sure I got interested into electronic music and club music and see like the opinion of the club, you know, from it for sure.

Paul:

Yeah, and did you have like any other like experiences of was there something that like was your own that kind of came into you as like an electronic music experience that sort of steered you out of making rock music into um electronic music?

UFO95:

Yeah, so I stopped playing rock, then I always been listening to electric music like Daft Punk and just this kind of like French hero, you know, at the time. Yeah, and then one day, I think when I was 15, I went to this Paul Kagbrenner concert in Paris. He was playing live at uh the Zenith, and um it just blew my mind because when he played, you have like this big screen when you can watch him, you know, doing uh the stuff and the mixer and the machine. And for me, I was like, then this is screen. So the guy's playing like a live show alone on stage with all these machines playing electronic music live, and it just like blew my mind. I was like, okay, this is what I whatever I want to do now, you know.

Paul:

Yeah, so that kind of created an entry point where you could see it was like something that could be like live music rather than just a DJ, and that was like a connection, right? Yeah, sorry, so no, I'll go for it. Yeah, yeah, and did it take a while for you to find the sound that you were happy with?

UFO95:

Or yeah, for sure. I mean, it takes some time, and I'm still I'm still searching, you know, sometimes experimenting. I'm quite happy with the direction I'm taking now, but it took me years for sure. I mean, I would say I'm really happy with my sound since my release on Trezor so two years ago. Yeah, like okay, I think this is what I'm want to do with my with the UFO project now and with my sound, but of course, it's still evolving. If you listen to the Trezor record and my album now, it's more deep and minimal, I would say, the album now. So it's still evolving, but I would say in the same spectrum of like a bit dark and driving and yeah, minimalist a bit. Yeah, but I'm still evolving. I also want to try different kinds of music, like ambient and experimental. So I'm also working on it, but yeah. I don't want to only do one kind of music and only one. You know, I want to be able to try everything if I want to.

Paul:

Yeah, I think all artists, like all good artists, anyway, I think it's an important ingredient for art to always evolve. Absolutely. I mean, you get inspired from everything, you know. So try everything. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's interesting that you were saying that it was like the Trezor time, the first release on Trezor that kind of helped helped cement that. And I feel like there's a there's a little, I mean, I don't know if this is just something I'm picking up in my own hearing of the music, but there's something like a little bit of a nod to some of that the techno classics going on in in your music, like particularly like a lot of the the Detroit sound, you know, there's a sort of a sleek uh a sleek soulfulness, I guess.

UFO95:

Yeah, machine soulfulness, you know. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'm super inspired by uh underground resistance and Jeff Mills. Yeah, but yeah, also, I mean, of course, I'm really inspired by Detroit music, but also from the the UK music like Birmingham is like a big inspiration for me, and uh like Surgeon Ragis, this kind of artist, and then I have like a big respect you know for for them and for the legacy that they build, and yeah, I try to like to use like the same not the same, but like the yeah, like this sound, like the old school sound, and to mix it with like uh my new approach because we're not born in the same yeah, years and stuff, so we don't leave the same things, but I try to mix like the old school music with like the new school and try to mix it and do my own stuff with it. So yeah, I have big respect for um the old school and like the first artist who created genre, the the techno music, and I try to honor them with like uh including these kind of old school rules. Yeah.

Paul:

That's a I've that's a nice way of I guess like articulating the difference between sort of like uh copying something and taking some influence and knowing that it's there's something to pass on there, and what that is, it's up to you to find you know whatever you want to pull out of it.

UFO95:

But it's not about replicating, it's about taking a taking something, yeah, exactly, and taking stuff from different areas of music like Birmingham or like uh New York, a bit of Berlin, and to mix everything with my own identity as well. Yeah, I love it.

Paul:

Yeah, and and I just wondering about like because um I think a lot of people that make electronic music, you know, they are doing both things of like there's the live stuff. In most cases, that's DJing. It's interesting. With your case, it's more it's like live performance, and then there's the studio stuff. And I think there's like I always sort of feel like there's two very distinct kind of lifestyles going on there that uh most electronic artists have to sort of squeeze together, you know. Like, I mean, studios can be very long hours, like a lot of time on your own, and and like going out and playing involves late nights and being around a lot of people. Like, how how do you feel about that? Do you do you find like you manage to mix both of them well? Is there one or the other that you prefer?

UFO95:

Or I mean I'm a studio rat for sure, and uh always been and will always be probably. I love being at home in the studio and make music, that's my favorite thing on earth for sure. But I also like you know, playing live for sure. I mean it's super fun. You have like this adrenaline shot every time, and this little stress, and I love it, you know. This is about butterfly in the stomach. I love this feeling, and but actually, but I've never been like a big raver, so I'm not like going crazy when I go playing, I'm not drinking or doing drugs and stuff. You know, I'm like here to work, do my best on stage, and so I've really seen it like a like a professional performance, you know, like uh I need to deliver like a not the perfect performance, but I need to deliver my best, you know. So uh yeah, I don't see yeah, I don't see the club as like a party venue anymore. I really see it like a venue to express myself and to express what I've been working on. So yeah, I love this two-sides of like being alone, like the rat studio and go on stage to express what I've been working on in the studio. Yeah, I love this balance, yeah. I mean this two-sides of it.

Paul:

Yeah, and do you feed the live experiences back into the recording? Does that influence how you go on and make music?

UFO95:

Yeah, for sure. I mean, usually when I make music, I make music for the live, actually. So I'm always thinking, okay, so um, for the next live, I would love, I would like to do more banging or more like a 20 minutes of like really deep or even without any kicks. So what can I produce to make this moment in my life? So I'm then I'm going to the studio and produce this track or this elements, you know, for the live. So I always produce for the live.

Paul:

Yeah, so it's always kind of like a dialogue between both sides. Yeah. And do you, when you're recording when you're producing your own music, um, are you one of these people that's able to kind of get a track going on a plane or on a bus, or do you have to be like in the studio?

UFO95:

I like everywhere, and it's like super also inspired to be outside of home, like traveling or at the hotel or in other or in another country, you know, and to feel inspired by this new environment and to make the track.

Paul:

I love it. I mean, I don't make music anymore, but I definitely one of my favorite things in the world is taking a laptop into a cafe or particularly when I'm traveling and just absorbing stuff in around me.

UFO95:

That's the best feeling, especially when you go to these like big cities like in the US or in Asia, and you're like in the middle of this like monster of buildings and stuff. It's just so inspiring for me, you know.

Paul:

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, and you don't know how anything works yet in the city, like wow, okay.

UFO95:

I love this feeling, yeah.

Paul:

Definitely, and you set up your own label as well, archive.

UFO95:

Um yeah, uh so this one is closed, actually. Archive is closed, and now I start a new one called Tisseract uh with a had on.

Paul:

Right. What's the di what was the story there? Why why did the archive close and what's with the new one?

UFO95:

I think I wasn't ready to work on a label by myself all along. Uh I didn't have much time and energy to put into it, so um I did one release, then I stopped. Then, yeah, when I moved to Brussels, we became really close friends with Haddon, and we had the idea to start this new project called Civic Instruction. So we did like an IP together, and then we had the idea to just like create a new um label for our project and also our solo project and for friends. And so, yeah, the label is growing. We have like also label nights everywhere now, so it's cool.

Paul:

How do you feel in your role then as like a label co-runner and an artist? Is there how do you balance that? Do you feel like it's a good balance?

UFO95:

Or yeah, I love this balance of I know I I just love but um being able to direct, I mean, to have like a world in like all the creative direction of the label and for the artwork to the music to everything, you know, you can really like think about everything by yourself, yeah, and um and create the product from start to finish, you know, and I love it.

Paul:

Yeah, and would you say like so if you took all of everything together? I mean, this is a bit of a big question, and I know it's one that I don't think I would have an answer for for myself, so I apologize in advance. But do you feel you know, if you look at all like all of your work, do you feel that there is like a core message or a core feeling that comes through with it that you find yourself you keep going back to or that keeps driving you?

UFO95:

Yeah, I mean I would say to go to the opposite of what is trendy or what is famous at the moment, you know. That's always been my message and what I really want to do with my music, and I'm I think I'm still doing it, you know, because when the I mean, especially I mean at the moment, like the trends in techno is like all the super hard art techno or the super like groovy, a bit take house music, and I try to yeah, go to the opposite, go back to like super slow and super minimal and mental music. And if one day the trend is going to that direction, maybe I will go to another direction to try like jungle or I don't know, like experimental or like ambient music, you know. But uh it has always been my my interest for my music to just do what people don't listen to at the moment, you know, to to create something new for them, like a new experience in the club and to surprise them with my sound, you know.

Paul:

Right. Do you think that connects back into the thing we were saying about like pop music and split? Yeah, you know, exactly.

UFO95:

That's it. No, even it's techno. I mean, techno now is really is becoming pretty mainstream, I would say. It's so big, but you can still find super niche sound in techno and super underground techno sound, you know, and that's really always been my interest into this music, you know, to find like the music people never heard before in techno or like forget about, you know. Yeah, like bring it back. I'm like, yeah, it's been there for 20 years, nobody playing it anymore. But I'm here to play it and I want you to listen to it again, you know.

Paul:

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And that can get gonna get drowned out in like as you say, like techno, the mainstream techno has become such a big thing in the last couple of years that it feels like it also feels like it's like if anyone decides to start making that now, it's too late, really. It's too late, yeah.

UFO95:

I mean, there is some good side of it for sure. Beh, we have more gigs, there is more artists, more things around techno, so it's good for everyone. But it's also good to remember why we play techno, what's the meaning of techno, you know? Back in the days, it was like to experiment, try new stuff, being against the government and the capitalism, all those things, no? And so for me, it's important to not forget it and to try to bring it back also because it's a bit lost. I would say the first meaning of the techno music is a bit lost. And we need that now more than ever, really. What's going on in the world? It's we need we need to protest techno or punk music is the best music to protest, you know. So it's good to bring back this meaning of it.

Paul:

Yeah, definitely. And just finally, um, if you could go back to your younger self, is there something you would tell your younger self?

UFO95:

Yeah, just work your ass off to make your dream a life come true, you know. And um yeah, keep going. Trust yourself, trust your music and your artistic capabilities, you know, and it's gonna be fine, it's gonna be hard for sure, but you're gonna make it, you know. So keep going, follow your dream. Thank you, Killian. Thanks so much. Thanks for your time.

Paul:

Okay, so that was me, Paul Hamford, talking with Killian Facade, aka UFO 95 or UFO 95, and we had that conversation on January the 27th, 2026. Thank you so much, Killian, for sharing your time and thoughts with me there. The album, A Brutalist Dystopian Society Part 2, is available now on Maud Records. If you like the show and you haven't already, please do give it a subscribe. Give the show a rating and a review on a platform of your choice. It really, really, really, really does help. And as I mentioned earlier on, I've restarted my Substack. If you want to subscribe and you haven't yet, head on over to Substa uh lustenstown.substack.com. Great, right, Audiotechnica, the global but still family-run company that make headphones, turntables, cartridges, microphones, studio quality, yet affordable products because they believe that high-quality audio should be accessible to all. So wherever you are in the world, head on over to audiotechnica.com to check out all of their range of stuff. The music that you hear at the beginning, at the end of every episode of Lost and Sound is by Tom Giddens. Hyperlink in the podcast description. So yeah, that's it. Hope whatever you're doing, you're having a really, really fantastic one. I've now been stood outside talking to you in the snow for I don't know, it feels like about 10 minutes. So I'm gonna get inside, have a cup of coffee, and get warm. Take care.

unknown:

No,