For years, Canadian trio Black Tiger Sex Machine have pushed the bass music envelope, often going deeper, darker, and weirder than anyone else in the scene.

On Friday, March 2, the Kannibalen Records founders released their sophomore album, New Worlds. They’ve teamed up with labelmates and friends across the album’s 10 songs, with each track bringing fresh and exciting angles to their sound.

Members Marc Chagnon, Julien Maranda and Patrick Barry talked with DA about the process behind the album, their BTSM Church community, and what’s next for them this year.

What can fans expect from New Worlds?

New Worlds is an album about discovery and uncertainty over what the future holds. It’s very dramatic and intense; there is a lot of tension in all the songs. All 10 tracks are very hard-hitting, with a lot of sci-fi movie influences, a lot of orchestral elements. We made all the tracks so that we could play them out live, but also wanted them to work in non-dancefloor settings, so we put a lot time into giving each one unique textures and depth. It’s got amazing contributions from other artists like YOOKiE, Apashe, Sullivan King, Lektrique, Kai Wachi, Panther and Macntaj.

How does it differ from Welcome to Our Church?

The album is more consistent overall. We didn’t necessarily stick to one genre of music but there is a certain degree of unity in the sound of the album. We’ve just matured over time as producers and songwriters so we feel the quality in general is better. We’re also telling a more complex story with New Worlds. There’s an entire world we’re opening to people with this LP. When you click play on the first song you’re entering our sci-fi world. We just shot a video for “Zombie” that ties into the story, along with all the visuals for our upcoming tour, so everything comes together to create a fully immersive experience.

What has reception been like for the first few singles from the album?

Reception has been amazing; we’re feeling great ahead of the full album release. The singles “Lions” with YOOKiE, “Zombie” featuring Panther and Madness with Sullivan King made big waves with our fans and bass lovers. The style and direction seem to have pleased fans and that’s all we could ask for.

What’s coming up for you guys in 2018?

On the album release day, the new Ceremony Tour kicks off also. We’re bringing our revamped stage to 20+ cities across North America. We’ve got a lot of the Kannibalen fam on the road with us. Kai Wachi, Lektrique, Sullivan King and Apashe will all be making appearances. After the tour we have a bunch of festivals as well as our first Asia tour which we are super pumped about!

Any tour dates in particular you’re looking forward to?

Our return to EDC is one of shows we’re super hyped on. Last year was magical and was huge for our career. We can’t wait to see how this year turns out. We’re super excited for our tour; we’re adding new gear to the production and we’ve been working hard on the lights and video programming for weeks now.

How has the BTSM Church community evolved over the years?

It’s grown into a great community where people support each other in many ways. The BTSM Church group on Facebook is very active. Everyday we read about people getting through challenging life experiences using our music. People are more and more open about sharing their issues with the BTSM Church community cause they know they will get love and support back from us and other fans. We’re a big family and the support fans show other fans is very moving. When we first started up until now, we always put our focus on the fans, because they are the reason we get to do this day in day out.

What are you excited about in the dance/electronic music community right now?

We feel the scene has been maturing a lot and that has enabled tons of original acts and sub-genres to come forward. We feel electronic music fans are becoming more and more educated and are looking for more originality from artists, and don’t want to keep listening to the same trendy sound. As artists we want to keep evolving, and sometimes that means taking risks. Knowing the fans support us in doing so is really encouraging, because at the end of the day, we want to create music that they will enjoy.

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New Worlds is out now on Kannibalen Records.

Tags: Black Tiger Sex Machine, BTSM, julien maranda, kai wachi, Kannibalen Records, lektrique, macntaj, marc chagnon, New Worlds, Panther, patrick barry, Sullivan King, Yookie

Categories: Features, Music