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ArtistMap Coordinates feat. Spencer Hardwick
Every artists' journey has a starting point. Check out Spencer Hardwick's top 5 influential tracks!
Every artists' journey has a starting point. Get ready to unlock the musical GPS of your favorite Artistmap members with Artistmap Coordinates. Each artists charts the top 5 tracks that sparked their creativity, fueled their passion, and guided their artistic journey. Buckle up and dive into the playlist that shapes their genius and hopefully gets you inspired as well! This installment of Artistmap Coordinates features Spencer Hardwick
A lifelong fascination with how human beings respond to sound inevitably led Spencer Hardwick to techno. After studying it for many years, the Portland DJ and producer now offers his own compelling interpretation of its artistic philosophy.
Experimental yet true to form, Spencer’s style of electronic music teases out a cerebral tangent between lush, progressive atmosphere layers and artful, atonal noise. Groove remains paramount throughout, however. This keen balance between what techno is and what it can be serves as a north star — not only for his output as a producer, but also for his record label and event banner, VAST.
Here are Spencer's top 5 inspirational tracks:
Vangelis - Blade Runner Main Theme
The GOAT, Vangelis. The soundtrack and film that inspired decades of artists, musicians, and film/video game scores for decades after. The beautiful, haunting, and iconic sound of the CS-80 synth. And, in my opinion, the greatest science fiction film of all time. I'm also a massive fan of Philip K Dick, who wrote the original short story the film is based on. The second these synths come in during the intro sequence, you're transported into another world. The dystopian setting- questions like what is real, what is being human, what does it mean to be alive? These themes have stuck with me for more than 30 years and I swear I still get goosebumps listening to the score. Hans Zimmer carried the touch in a fantastic way in 2049, also a fantastic film & score
Explosions in the Sky - Your Hand in Mine
This is my favorite track from their 2003 album, The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, which I used to listen to on repeat and still put on from time to time. I've had a hard life, like so many others. But I also pushed forward, hoping for something better. And now, I'm in the best place I've ever been in my life, better than I could ever hoped for. That has always been the story I tell with my music - melancholic, but still hopeful. It's also the music and the art that I tend to gravitate towards, because to me that's the human experience. it's real, and it doesn't pretend to be anything else. This song in particular goes from soft and quiet, to having a giant wall of sound that just wraps around you. It's a little sad, but still hopeful. It's bursting with emotion, tension,and release. Love this track, love this album.
Sailor & I - Black Swan (Maceo Plex Remix)
God I love this track. It's dark, heavy, and absolutely bursting with emotion. I think this was the track that started pushing me towards the world of techno, even though I don't think I realized it at the time. Such fantastic groove and sound design, and the vocals are so haunting. If you're trying to take the dancefloor down a rabbit hole, this is what you play when you're reaching the bottom. I actually played this to a sold out crowd at Exchange LA when I was doing direct support for Late Night Alumni, Shane 54, and BT. I'm sure everyone was wondering where the hell I was going with this. But, I wanted to spend most of my set meandering around in the dark before slowly marching towards the light. I mixed this into Sasha's legendary remix of "Innerbloom", into a few others, and finally closed with Yotto's "You", which just built up so much tension to finally bring it home into something triumphant and celebratory. We found our way out of the dark. It was a sold out show with 1100 people in the crowd, and we were all on the same vibe... it actually made me tear up a bit. The highlight of my artist journey, for sure.
Oliver Winters - In The Flood
One of the other tracks I played towards the end of my EXLA set. Now, while this is a fantastic track with wonderful sound design, groove, and texture, that's not why it's on this list. This was the next to last song I played in the set I mentioned above. I felt like I had taken such a big risk going so dark for so much of my set, but when I got to the breakdown I pulled out my phone because I wanted to capture the moment - people started cheering and I just felt like the crowd was loving the journey as much as I was. The energy in the room was electric. It was the first time I'd ever felt that as a DJ and I swear it was the best feeling ever. That was the moment when I was 100% certain I was on the right track, and that I never want to do anything else. Whenever I think about packing it in, I think back to this specific moment and it always drives me forward.
I actually have a clip here, forgive the crappy camera (they weren't very good in low light back then)
Dan Sieg - A Sense of Wonder (Album)
I really can't tell you how much I love this album. I tend to put it on when I'm feeling thankful, or when I want to be cheerful - it never fails to put me in a good mood. You're probably noticing a theme with all of the music on this list. Tons of atmosphere, texture, groove, and emotive melody. This album is an absolute masterclass in modern progressive. I think this might have been the first album that showed me that you don't have to stick to one genre to have a "sound" - this album has progressive, breaks, funky tech house... a little bit of everything. Absolutely timeless, and always guaranteed to move a dancefloor.
A note from Spencer:
"So, first off, thanks so much to the team at 6AM and the ArtistMap program for giving me the chance to share some music that has been a big part of my journey. As I shared before, my influences aren't techno, and are sometimes not even dance music at all. But I definitely think you can hear their impact on everything I do as an artist, even outside of music. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do.
I did want to take a moment to shout out some other artists not on this list who have had a massive impact on my sound. Stephan Bodzin, Logistics, Nu:tone, London Elektricity, Calibre, SpectraSoul, Calyx & TeeBee, deadmau5, Above & Beyond, Gabriel & Dresden, Andrew Bayer, Bomm Jinx, Jaytech, Mat Zo, ATTLAS, eekkoo, Oakk, Ivy Lab, BT, and so many others."
