Big Ever is the new moniker of Liveschool’s long time trainer Thomas McAlister. Previously operating under the names Cop Envy and Sean Thomas amongst others, Big Ever marks the start of a new era for McAlister.
As a key part of Liveschool’s Berlin operations, McAlister has his ear to the ground in the worldwide capital of electronic music. Never one to stop pushing forward, his new work as Big Ever takes the best parts of his previous projects and pushes them out into uncharted territory.
On his new EP ‘Otto’, we hear McAlister stretching his sound design muscles and pushing at the boundaries of dancefloor oriented music. With barely a nod to the conventions of house music, McAlister creates a sound of his own from the deconstructed bones of house, dub, techno and ambient. The new record combines warm subs, shining metallic textures and dubbed out abstract vocals underpinned by Thomas’ liquified rhythmic sense.
Coming out on Anthony Naples Incienso label from New York, the record is a natural fit for a label home to forward thinking names like DJ Python, Call Super and Australia’s own Sleep D. The connection with Incienso was years in the making, with Social Media doing what it does best – connecting like minded people from around the world.
“Anthony hit me up on Instagram a couple of years back, and we have been chatting ever since, sending music, and eventually meeting in person for the first time while I was in New York last year. I had long been a fan of his work and both Incienso and Polito Records, so it was an honour to release on the label.”
In addition to his work as Big Ever, McAlister has been busy contributing to a large scale art project commissioned by Berliner Festspiele, called Timepiece.
View this post on Instagram
With the sound design conjuring the impression of an industrial size clock through the skilful deployment of industrial drones, metallic percussion and skittering sideband hats we see McAlister’s sound design skills taking him outside the realm of electronic music.
Another project gaining Thom notoriety has been his massively productive studio collaboration with Logic 1000, co-producing her singles and EP “You’ve Got The Whole Night To Go”.
If you haven’t tried Ableton Live 11 yet, Thom shares some tips and discoveries as he explores the new features Live 11 video tips.