“England's Paula Temple is a highly respected DJ and producer of hard, uncompromising techno, and a technological innovator. Active as a DJ since the 1990s, Temple co-developed the MXF8, a MIDI controller designed for live performances, during the early 2000s. After a nearly decade-long break from touring and making music, she returned in 2013, releasing EPs on labels like R&S and 50 Weapons, leading up to her full-length debut, 2019's Edge of Everything.”
However, I was thinking about Paula Temple, and why she stopped producing music for ten years. Not because of her technique, not because of ideas—but because of the values of the scene she was part of.
When I read about Paula Temple and her many-year hiatus from music, I realized that the mechanism behind it feels familiar to me. Not musically—we are fundamentally different there—but in attitude.
Paula Temple left because the techno scene stopped being meaningful to her. Once, as a participant, I did the same in the Czech Republic. I didn’t want to produce techno either, because of the scene’s values, even though in the beginning, I learned to mix using techno. Paula Temple didn’t want to produce music just to fit expectations. She preferred silence over compromise. This is where we meet, because when Sidney SN started being critical of liquid DnB joining the mainstream DnB scene and losing its meaning, the silence was also an option.
At the same time, it’s important to say: Sidney SN is not about dark beats. In this regard, I am not Paula Temple, nor do I want to be. Sidney SN chose the exact opposite of darkness.
While Paula Temple found her voice in hardness, confrontation, and darkness, me after ten years (2006-2016) since my beginnings in mixing and my subsequent decision to step back from engagement, Sidney SN chose modern liquid drum and bass precisely because it allows him to speak about what he wants.
My doubts about certain directions in the techno scene did not lead me to radical beats, but, on the contrary, to music that breathes.
What Paula Temple and I probably share is one thing: we refuse to make music in an environment that denies its meaning. Paula Temple is also critical toward hard drugs and dedicates herself to social work, social services. In this, we are similar—we respect the voice of our integrity and values.
The difference is in the language we use to express it. Hers is darkness. Mine is melodies.
For those who don’t know, it’s worth mentioning at the end that Paula Temple also designed her own MIDI controller, the MXF8, which connects technology and creativity.
