The world is his apple

It’s a funny thing being a dance music producer sometimes. You can toil away for years making some fine underground dance music that’s loved by those that know, and largely ignored by those that don’t. Then something changes – a remix you did, a track you made – and bang, you’re hot, hot property. The tipping point and all that.

Such is the tale of Ewan Pearson, aka Maas, aka World Of Apples. Ewan first came to our attention back in 1996/97 with a couple of fine EPs on the equally fine Soma label.
Then, last year, a remix of Freeform Five ‘Perspex Sex’ showed up. It was fast, urgent, spiky, sexy – even a bit trendy. It picked up props from a bizarre cross-section of spinners – Trevor Jackson to Red Jerry to the Ibiza massive. And then things began to move at pace with a slew of remixes for the likes of Goldfrapp, Futureshock, Swag and more.
“It was certainly the catalyst for a lot of the things that have happened since,” says the genial Pearson. “I had done lots of remixes before that but it pushed things on a bit certainly. It was nice to have a record that got played all year in 2002. I remember being in Hackney on a grey and wet Monday afternoon last September and someone phoned me from (infamous looney bin club) DC10 in Ibiza and I could hear it coming down the phone. It put a smile on my face to know that somewhere the sun was shining and they were playing a record of mine!”
Ibiza? Surely this is a million miles away from the Detroit referencing sound of old? Is Ewan still influenced by the Motor City?
“Not so much at the moment,” he reveals, “although Carl Craig is back on form with his last couple of remixes and that insane Planet E track (‘Tres Demeneted’). The best Detroit records of the last couple of years have been made by Europeans; Agoria’s ‘La Onzieme Marche’ and Luciano’s ‘Orange Mistake’ which sounds like a modern version of ‘Loop’ era Kenny Larkin. The last Detroit record that I really, really loved was Aaron Carl’s ‘Down’. I think most of the exciting music coming from the US at the moment is r’n’b and hip-hop.”
Why the move away from the sound of old?
What floats the boat at the minute?
“I love the Kompact and Bpitch stuff – there’s a lot of great dance music coming from Germany at the moment – labels like playhouse and Trapez too. I’ve certainly got a few pops, clicks and whirrs in my stuff at the moment.”
In fact, Germany is so much of an influence that the London dweller is now relocating to Berlin.
“The last year and a half has seen a lot of big changes in my personal life, combined with work going really well. But I’ve got increasingly itchy feet. I’m travelling a lot, and I’ve lived in London for eight years and I love it and have lots of friends there, but it is very expensive – like Dublin – and it can be hard work at times.
“So when I lost my studio space during the summer I got quite fed-up for a bit and then snapped myself out of it and decided to take advantage of the fact that I’m really lucky – I can do what I do from pretty much anywhere with an airport nearby. Berlin always seems like a really interesting place, with lots happening and a good quality of life. And I can rent a whole flat for the same price I pay for a room in London. I only know a couple of people, and I don’t speak the language as yet. It’s going to be an adventure.”

Ewan Pearson plays DEAF at the Storehouse on Saturday October 25