Originally hailing from New Zealand where he was one of that country’s top DJs, Emerson Todd has achieved considerable success in Australia’s underground dance scene over the past few years. And he’s a name that has become synonymous with Sydney’s techno scene in particular, with his residency at the hugely popular Lost Baggage parties. Achieving notoriety in the late 90s as part of the House of Downtown project, in 2003 Emerson relocated to Australia to concentrate on a career in audio engineering that saw him putting aside his own producing to work with acts like The Presets, The Sleepy Jackson, Teenager and Pnau.

But while he was known for a while for his role behind the scenes, Emerson has again stepped out into the spotlight recently, releasing work on Darren Emerson’s enduring Underwater and recently signing to Claude VonStroke’s famed San Francisco label Dirtybird. He’s got an adventure to Europe on the cards very soon, but before that takes place he’ll be appearing at Lost Baggage this weekend in Sydney as well as the mega We Love Sounds winter festival coming up in June.

You’re off to Europe from early June until August. What are you looking forward to there? Any studio time planned? Any favourite hangouts?

I am actually moving over there from June, so it’s a bit longer actually, but I am really looking forward to touring and playing a lot of cool parties. As for the studio stuff, I plan to continue collaborating with Tim Green as well as my own stuff. I am shipping my studio over which will take up to eight weeks so I am sure by the time it arrives I will have very itchy fingers and be keen to get some stuff finished.

You’re playing at Sensation’s world premiere of Wicked Wonderland in its hometown Amsterdam, on the third and fourth of July. How are you feeling about this? Excited?

Yeah that’s going to be pretty crazy. I’m not sure of what numbers they are expecting but I know it will be a large event for sure. I have a few friends coming along with me and my wife, which always makes for a special time to have people close to you at events so far away from home. I am really excited to see the Dutch go crazy! Hahahaha

You produced the Lost Baggage mix CD that was launched last month. How was that?

Yeah I like to do the mix thing now. It’s taken me a while to really get a good process down for doing them. I think it’s important to have an idea and a direction before you do them, and I spend a lot of time working on that even before I touch the decks. I have done a number of podcasts now that have really given the opportunity to refine my process for doing them. So yeah, I am really happy with the results. I have another podcast out in the end of the month for Berlin’s Kreutzberg Institute so keep an eye for that, it’s a fun summer mix.

What other projects have you got lined up for the second half of 2009?

I will just working on new singles really, no doubt some more remixes as well and I have an EP Tim Green and I would like to finish, it’s a bit more on a house tip than what people would expect from us, the first track we wrote for it is a real killa and I have been playing it a lot so yeah keep an eye out for that little one.

Since relocating to Sydney in 2003 your audio engineering skills have lead you to work with artists like The Presets and Pnau. Is this something you’d once aspired to do, or rather an aside to what you really want to focus on?

When I moved to Sydney I made a conscious decision to stop producing my own music and really concentrate on the art of engineering, it was always the plan to go back to my own music once I felt I had lifted my skill levels so I could do what I wanted with sound. It has also very liberating for my writing as learnt to remove myself from my own music after working on other people’s stuff, to answer your question no I don’t have any plans to just engineer any projects at this stage.

Yeah cool label run by some very cool guys, I was very happy to brought under ‘Big Birds’ wing you could say hahaha… at the moment I am working on new material for them which is going very well I must say, I have one I am extremely happy with its very bouncy and quirky very Dirtybird, and I am looking forward to play it out this weekend for the first time as I think its going to be a big track for me.

Following your first release of 2009, the My Eyes EP, you’ve got a track called Exercise about to be released. What can you tell us about this one?

Yeah I have Exercise out in June on Cocoon which I am very excited about as it’s perfect timing with me heading over to Europe. Similar to last year with Rumple which was great timing and charting strongly when I was in Europe which made a lot more people aware of me. It’s great how these things work out some times. The original Exercise track I wrote over a year ago and anyone has been to a Lost Baggage would probably know it, the version out on the Cocoon is something Tim Green and I have reworked. I am very happy to have this on Cocoon but sadly it means I may not release the other versions.

Catch Emerson Todd playing at the following upcoming shows…

Sat May 16th – Lost Baggage, Sydney
Sat June 6th – We Love Sounds festival, Sydney