Behind the DJ Booth: Malky

Posted by Danielle Lands in FringeBlog on March 29, 2013

Malcolm Duncan, a.k.a. Malky, has been producing music for several years, developing his skills while completing a BFA in Electroacoustics at Concordia. Little did I know, hidden on the eighth floor of the MB building are a bunch of music producers.

Duncan is from Ottawa and made the move to Montreal as a last-minute decision when he was 19. Moving away from the residential side of our nation’s capital to the diverse metropolitan of Montreal, Malky was thrown into the world of music production. It was at this point that he started taking his music more seriously and became ambitious about his production.

He started dabbling mostly in hip-hop, sending tracks to his friends, who would rap over them. Now his style has broadened to include various genres, such as ambient and electronic. But his hip-hop roots can still be heard in his latest work, which moves from acoustic-instrument-driven to heavy, downtempo electronic pulses.

Duncan is surrounded by musical people, and even shares his St. Henri apartment with another DJ. This lifestyle has influenced his style and the music he chooses to take to full production. While the tracks heard on his website are not directly mixed with other people, his friends contribute by giving him feedback.

“What makes me want to finish a song is when someone pops into my room and says ‘oh that’s really good’,” Duncan said.

His work is the result of a process of daily music-making, tireless editing, re-working and yes, even more alterations. Malky is aiming to produce “professional music” and is often not satisfied with his work.

“When you make a song, something may be missing and it may take years to find the perfect sound,” he said.

“It may not be [that there is] something missing, but something that’s there that shouldn’t be.”

For the summer, Malky is looking to get more into DJ-ing on a regular basis, and continuing to develop his own style on the production side. He’s working on developing a method of bringing concert-style performances and DJ-ing together, to show the production aspect directly to his audience.

So I will be keeping my ears open for Malky’s ambient hip-hop once the snow’s all gone!

For more on Malky’s music visit his bandcamp page.