Thanks for having me. This summer has been incredible. I moved to Ibiza in June to be a resident at All Day I Dream’s first full summer season in Ibiza. I’ve played at Cova Santa every week mainly in the club for “After Dark” but also out on the Terrace. I’ve also had a few shows in the US, my debut in Paris and an amazing show at E1 London with Musique De Lune which stand out. It’s been special!
2 ) Congrats on your latest «Klaatu» EP on Lee Burridge’s TRYBESof imprint. What was your inspiration behind this EP?
Thank you! There are different inspirations behind each track, to be honest. Klaatu is named after the alien from the classic 50’s sci-fi movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. The track samples his speech which seemed appropriate for the times we live in. I love Latin music so “Paraiso” goes down that route and ends up being a bit of acid house (it doesn’t sound like it should work on paper but I think it does haha).“Symmetry” is more melody-driven and synth-heavy than Grizzly Bee is a bit more organic feeling with the eastern instruments I used. I actually made those tracks around the same time as my All Day I Dream EP so Lee and I have been playing them out for a while now.
3 ) Lee Burridge is a prominent figure in the scene, what does it mean for you to be affiliated with him and his brand?
In short, Lee’s support has changed my life. This EP is my 5th release across his labels since 2019 with two on Tale & Tone, two on TRYBESof and my debut on ADID. I’ve also played for ADID in London, Dubai and in California at the first ADID Festival and for him to trust me enough to be a resident for the first full summer here in Ibiza has been a massive honour. Hopefully, I was able to repay him with some decent sets! He really has been the biggest influence on my career to date and it means the world to me to be part of the ADID family.
4 ) Based in London, how has the city’s electronic music scene influenced your sound?
I actually moved away in June but I moved there originally in 2012. There aren’t many places where you can see the best artists in the world every night of the week and there’s such a rich musical history to the place. I was lucky enough to work and DJ at some big venues and support loads of my favourite artists which is definitely a baptism of fire. You can help but pick up inspiration if you’re playing with Booka Shade one week and Todd Terry the next, it definitely stopped me from only playing one sound which I think you can hear in my music.
5 ) You have done a lot of DJ’ing around the world, how much did this experience inform your approach to music production?
Like with supporting different people in London you can’t help but pick up different ideas the more you travel and experience different cultures and scenes. My music has always experimented with different instruments, melodies, scales etc so it all adds up I guess.
6 ) How does your setup look like?
At the moment it’s Logic, a little Akai Midi 25-key keyboard and some studio headphones as I’m living out of a suitcase here in Ibiza. I’m looking forward to getting settled and getting a bigger studio set up again. I usually play my percussion live through a mic plus have a few synths and little FX units I use.
7 ) Can you mention some of the instruments ( digital or analog ) that you believe define your sound?
Digitally I’m a big fan of UVI and regularly use 8 or 9 of their plugins, I use Logic’s Alchemy a lot as it’s really powerful and you can drop your own stuff in to create some mad sounds. Also, you can’t go wrong with Retro Synth! In terms of hardware, it’s a fairly simple setup of a couple of synths, an AKG compressor mic then live bongos, congas, shakers etc.
8 ) What has been your highlight gig this year?
That’s a really tricky one! The ADID Ibiza sets this summer have been amongst my favourites ever including a fun B2B with Tim Green a couple of weeks back. There was also the ADID Festival in Cali, Do Not Sit On The Furniture in Miami, Elysium Affairs in Washington DC and the Musique De Lune show in London.
9 ) What can we expect from Jim Rider in the near future?
I’m moving to Mexico City in a couple of weeks, one of my favourite places in the world. From there I’ll be playing another US tour, making my debut in Costa Rica, and doing some gigs in Mexico. I’m also working on a tour of South America and will hopefully get back to Canada at some point. Release wise I have a collab with my good friend Robbie Akbal on my label “Signs” later in the year then I’ll be working on an ADID follow up amongst other things. I’m very excited about the rest of this year!
10 ) Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer our questions, is there anything else you would like to mention before we go?
You’re welcome! I would like to say a big thanks to Lee Burridge, the FM Artists team (Jazz, Chris and Parker) and everyone at Cova Santa for everything this summer plus a special mention to Jonny “Disco” Turnbull for putting up with me all summer! 😉
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