Bakermat interview – “I love imperfection”

Give us Grace

Dutch producer Lodewijk Fluttert, or Bakermat as he’s better known, has earned himself a sizeable following and an enviable reputation both with his productions – blending house, soul, jazz, funk, gospel and pop – and his performances, which often fuse the line between live and DJ experiences.

His third album – Grace Note – has just dropped, so we grabbed the opportunity to find out a bit more from the man himself…

Hi and thanks for your time….  First of all, can you tell us where you are right now, and what kind of day you’re having…  Been anywhere already or going anywhere interesting later?

Hi! I am right now in my studio doing some prep for two very big shows this weekend in Berlin and London. Not every tune off my new album Grace Note is club ready so I’m making some special edits.

You’ve incorporated live jamming into your DJ sets – why did you start doing it and how has it developed?

Since we went from analog gear to creating music in a digital environment dance music has become more ‘perfect’ and I sometimes miss a human element. That’s why I have live instruments playing. To add a human touch.

This album has a very live feel to it – is that an extension from those sets?

I love imperfection and whenever a recording or even a midi file contains parts that are imperfect I just keep them in if it feels good. So that’s why some elements of Grace Note feel more ‘live’ I guess. Also I recorded a lot of instruments on mics in my untreated room so that gives it a live ‘room’ touch as well.  

You’ve also brought collaborators like Lady Blackbird in too, was that something you wanted to consciously do with this album or did it happen organically?  Tells us about all the other people involved.

I look up to jazz artists and it was a dream come true for me to be able to work with Lady Blackbird. I had a jazzy demo that I sent to her. When she sent her first couple of lines back I knew it would be a perfect fit for the album. This is basically how I work, not really a direction in the beginning. So I just made all this music in a couple of months and found out after they were all so religious and was wondering why I made them. So you can’t say I started these collaborations very consciously haha. But I do always work together with people I look up to.

Tell us about the title, Grace Note…

I’m obsessed with the concept of a grace note. Adding a completely unnecessary note just to give the composition some grace, that little imperfection. And it also simply sounds fantastic too.

How do see the progression between The Ringmaster, The Spirit and this one?

Good question. I feel like in some way I learned to do more with less elements. Simplified my productions to get right to the core of a concept/song. I’m proud of that because that can be quite a challenge. It’s easy to just keep adding. Very hard to create an interesting song with very few elements, but if you can, that means the song is good enough in its core. If that makes any sense, haha.

What’s next for you in the short/medium/long term?  What are you hearing that’s inspiring you?  Any more live or release action we should know about?

I want to start using fewer samples. Record and write more on my own. And the challenge is always to make music that is fresh and original. So how my life will look like the coming months is basically research, record and consume a lot of music and films to get inspired. Once you have found new production techniques or ways to create songs it’s so great to let all the creativity loose and start producing. I can’t wait. But first I need to refresh everything!

To buy your vinyl copy of Bakermat’s Grace Note album, click here

Bakermat plays:

14 March: Pumpehuset (Copenhagen, DK)

12 April: Cabaret Sauvage (Paris, FR)

23 May: Melkweg (Amsterdam, NL)