Operator Is Go

Lewis MacColl is a man of many faces. Most well known for his experimental electronica releases as Operator on Scandinavia and Benbecula, he also plays bass in Black International. He's worked with Neil Landstruum on Sugar Experiment Station, and he's the man behind side projects LeithWeapon ("grime/German pop") and Gang Rap ("just me and some silly people"). Since he emerged on the electronica scene in 2002 there have been other collaborations. MacColl is the classic example of bedroom-DJ-made-good.

Armed with a laptop and the internet, Operator amalgamates electronica and IDM, coming at you from the 5am witching hour of his creativity. His live shows combine hardware and laptop with live singing. From under his sheet of shoulder-length hair, his drive towards musical experimentation has destroyed over five computers so far: "After I've played a gig I'll go home and spill beer all over them. It probably doesn't help that Apple also like to test out their hardware on the public..."

April sees the long-awaited release of his latest album. A journey of bleeps and beeps, synths and soundscapes, How To Make Bombs And Influence People continues in the same computer-generated strain as his earlier work. It's been a long time coming, though: "One of the tracks we rejected from my first EP on Benbecula. It's one of those songs we just couldn't get rid of. I've been working on other things in between, and came back to it. The title is perhaps unfortunate now but it was conceived long before the troubles in Gaza. I think electro can be political - look at the underlying atmosphere at illegal raves and warehouse parties — but I try not to be with my music."

The album found a home with Glasgow experimental electronica label Mighty Robot after being introduced by a band he was in "which we won't mention. I think people are realising that the kind of Dutch, I-F sound — poncy electronic music, if you like — is much bigger in Glasgow than it is in Edinburgh."

He may well be right — last November Operator's Bad Manor featured in the Ten Tracks bundle curated by Brian D'Souza, resident DJ with Glasgow music design specialists Open Ear. Appearing alongside his collaborative muse Neil Landstrumm, as well as other artists on the Mighty Robot label including English Electric and Dirty Hospital, MacColl admits he was happy to be part of D'Souza's selection.

"It's hard to find a scene in Edinburgh. There's been an inglorious amount of indie bands cropping up. In Glasgow it's nice that bedroom DJs can come out and find a community. Not that I'm slagging the town I was born in, you know. It's just becoming a bit of a cricket jumper kind of place, that's why I had to get out. Having said that, whenever I'm there I always go to Substance. It's ace."

Now based in London, MacColl is working on a new project with the Sugar Experimentation Station, as well as a vocal album of his own. "It's an odd one. I'm really interested in putting a human voice over electronic sounds. Electronic musicians might be quite aggravated that it's so easy to make a tune now. But to be honest, some of the best stuff will probably come out of some simple machines." He's also playing at Nathan Fake's album launch this March — "just a nice guy from Norwich" — in between checking out most scenes in the city, from old-school hip-hop to metal.

"I'm into a label called Lo Recordings and their sub label Loaf. They have a band I saw live in London a couple of months ago called The Chap. They were amazing — the Fry and Laurie of death metal. My latest music recommendation is a new disco band called John John Slave. They're probably the greatest band in the world. Seriously."

Something tells me we should sit up and take note.