Jason Lindner On The Power Of Collaboration

What were some of your earliest collaborations? How do you look back on them with hindsight?

My earliest collabs with JKriv were the Joyful Noise parties starting in 2022.

There are many potential models for collaboration, from live performances and jamming/producing in the same room together up to file sharing. Which of these do you prefer – and why?

I really enjoy the process of producing together equally to live performance. They are totally different and unique processes.

All of our production collabs have been in person, not remotely through file sharing. Working in real time, in person, allows us to jam, experiment, and narrow down the parts. It’s a flow.

How did this particular collaboration come about?

I met JKriv during the pandemic when he was involved in the Hot Honey Sundays parties, which were a great source of much-needed release, fun, community, etc. during that difficult time.

J asked if I’d be a part of the Joyful Noise band, and we did that for a solid 3+ years. That led to us wanting to collaborate on production.

J also helped me with one of my own tracks, which we also perform live with the Joyful Noise band.

What did you know about each other before working together? Describe your creative partner in a few words, please.

I had heard from mutual friends in the music community about how bad-ass JKriv was as a musician-producer-DJ.

I was stoked to connect with him because we both share a musician background (which is not necessarily common for DJ-producers), and I was exploring production at the time.

What do you generally look for in a collaborator and what made you want to collaborate with each other specifically?

I felt like I could learn from JKriv, and I connected with his musical aesthetic and his vibe as an artist and as a person.

Tell me a bit about your current instruments and tools, please. In which way do they support creative exchange and collaborations with others?

My primary sonic creative tool is the Sequential Take 5, which I affectionately nicknamed the Shiitake 5. It was designed by my friend Andrew McGowen, formerly of Sequential, the company founded by the great synth and MIDI inventor Dave Smith, who was also a friend.

I am familiar with many of their synths, including the Prophet 08, Prophet 6, Prophet 12, Mopho, and the Take 5, which is a sort of update of the Mopho. I am also proud to say that I was involved by Andrew in the process of conceiving the Take 5 — in some of its functionality — and it was in part inspired by the way I play and improvise live on synths.

I also play other synths like Moog, Roland, Korg, Yamaha, Twisted Electrons, Hikari, Erica Synths, Arturia, ASM, Soma… and I play piano, Wurlitzer, Rhodes.

[Read our feature on the Sequential Prophet 6]

Before you started making music together, did you in any form exchange concrete ideas, goals, or strategies? Generally speaking, what are your preferences when it comes to planning vs spontaneity in a collaboration?

It was pretty spontaneous. We just jumped into the process.

Describe the process of working on your latest release, please. What was different from your expectations and what did the other add to the music?

After having worked on "The Disturbance Stays" — a track from JKriv’s Within EP — we sort of had a workflow and continued on that path for the tracks on the Real Ones EP.



I can’t say we had specific expectations. It was an organic process, and I think we both enjoyed the process and just followed it through until we had something we were both feeling.

What tend to be the best collaborations in your opinion – those with artists you have a lot in common with or those where you have more differences? What happens when another musician takes you outside of your comfort zone?

There aren’t any formulas. It’s all about the mutual feeling of working together.

Decisions between creatives often work without words. How did this process work in this case?

We used words.

What are your thoughts on the need for compromise vs standing by one's convictions? How did you resolve potential disagreements in this collaboration?

I don’t feel like either of us compromised, but we did flow very well together. I don’t remember having any disagreements.

For me, it was more about enjoying the creative process and seeing where it took us vs trying to control.

Was/Is this collaboration fun – does it need to be?

It was fun, and I think that helps, but I think there must be examples of great music that was made without having lots of fun.

Do you find that thanks to this collaboration, you changed certain parts of your process or your outlook on certain creative aspects?

For me, it was really cool to see how JKriv works, and I feel like I learned from this collaboration and took bits of it that maybe can help me in other situations.

Collaborating with one's heroes can be a thrill or a cause for panic. Do you have any practical experience with this and what was it like?

I have been in collaborations in which I felt anxious, and this was not one of them.

Advice for when one does feel anxious? Just be honest and open about the feeling. Face it. Admit it to yourself and to the other person even, because it will diffuse the feeling and open you to being eased.

Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable. And if the situation feels too crazy to handle, you can choose not to do it.