Bass meets beats, Istanbul-style
Who they?
Non Square is Korhan Oraydın, an Instanbul-based producer with a sound revolving around splintered rhythms and gorgeously heavy bass pressure. He grew up with music all around him (his father mended hi-fi systems for a living) and was switched on to electronica in the mid-90s by an Orbital gig. He’s worked across the sound industry, from commercial music and sound design for cinema to computer game soundtracks and voiceovers. An illness in 2015 caused him to reassess his priorities and he decided to concentrate on his own music.
Why Non Square?
Oraydın met Mesh label boss Max Cooper at Sónar Istanbul after being introduced by mutual friends, and they immediately hit it off. Mesh released his debut EP ‘Hold On’ last December, which picked up healthy support from the likes of Nemone, Gideon Coe, Mary Anne Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft. His new four-tracker, ‘Simple Things In Hard Times’, is full of sonic tension, with elegant melodies rubbing up against glitches and noise, and will surely follow in its wake.
Tell us more…
Originally a bassist, before studying the piano at university, Oraydın’s more orthodox musical past definitely shows in his work, but his minimal approach to music technology is also key to his trademark sound. The name Non Square came when he was asked to contribute to the ‘#Explorer 2’ compilation on French label InFiné Music in 2016 and the need for something with more global appeal than his real name arose. “Being interested in mathematics,” he says, “I started using Non Square to refer to my cyclic, yet hard-edged music.”
‘Simple Things In Hard Times’ is out now on Mesh
