Fuck Buttons is not the kind of name you forget in a hurry. Neither, for that matter, is their music. Comprised of art school graduates Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power, the band have garnered something of a cult following since releasing their “sounds-like-the-end-of-the-world” debut Street Horrrsing, on the All Tomorrow’s Parties affiliated label ATP Recordings. The overwhelming potency of their music – described by one magazine as “an adrenaline-pumping, ear-purging slab of towering pristine noise” – has been underlined by their scintillating live shows (they toured with Mogwai in 2008), and confirmed by their recent sophomore effort Tarot Sport. Produced by veteran auteur Andy Weatherall at his Rotters Golf Club Studio in London, Tarot Sport blends the duo’s trademark melodic electronics and searing ‘toys and noise’ shtick, creating something that’s as unhinged and ecstatic as it is thrilling and unique.
How did you come up with such a charming and evocative name? AH: We both used to work in this chocolate truffle factory and the boss, who was a real arsehole, used to call all of the workers “Fuck buttons” to demoralise them or whatever. That’s where the name came from.
What are the best ‘censored’ versions of your name you’ve heard? BJP: They call us F buttons on the radio. It’s fine.
Which elements of that feed into your music, directly and indirectly? AH: I studied Fine art specialising in Video, and ben studied Illustration. I guess not having formal musical training and instead having broad creative outlets, we’re not constrained by what we think constitutes something as “music”. That word is so open to interpretation as it is anyway. If you’re talking about the institutions that we both started the music in, then none of it, although it could be argued that our environment facilitated us to do so. If you’re talking about our practices, then it all feeds into each other for sure. BJP: We still create all our own artwork and videos. We like to be in charge of our visual side.
Your live shows have been as raved about as your recorded output. Was that something you’ve tried consciously to master? BJP: It was never intentional for this to become our jobs. our only impetus to make music ever has been the desire to write music and experiment with sound together. The rest kind of fell into place around us, but having the opportunity to do what we do on a day-to-day basis is a blessing which we are both humbled by.
What have been your best gigs so far? Any highlights from the current tour? BJP: Highlights from this tour include the discovery of the word ‘daggy’, courtesy of our touring buddies HTRK. AH: Haha… this is a great word. It’s an australian word, and a dag is literally a piece of shit that hangs off a lamb’s arse. What it means is something that is embarrassing but equally endearing. Most dads are daggy for instance.
How did you come to link with Weatherall for the new record. Why did you choose him? BJP: Andrew made a fantastic remix of [remixing] Sweet Love for us and upon hearing the great job he did we realised that he had a strong grasp of our music and displayed a special sensitivity to the sounds we use. It was a great month we spent down at Rotters Golf Club.
What specific input did he provide for the new album? AH: Well, he was a filter and facilitator. He understood space and distance in order to work and judge. Like us, he was interested in his sensibilities being achieved prominently. So we were constantly communicating and articulating each other’s ideas, so that the ideas generated were an amalgamation of all of our conversations.
For music lovers across the world, the Internet has become an almost indispensible godsend. Whatever your background the net provides a resource for any style of music you happen to be into – ambient, dubstep, techno, funk, rap or even Brazilian samba.
In the midst of all the ballyhoo and debate surrounding the “illegality” of downloading, music lovers across the globe are united, downloading music whenever they feel like it. They gain access to artists they may have never been exposed to. In a way similar to exploratory archaeologists they are involved in a process that uncovers seeming mounds of levels and sub genres not normally seen on the surface of the music landscape.
So whilst celebrities, rock and pop stars writhe in angst over this widespread and illegal file sharing, there are a thousands of artists who are enjoying a small but warm return to the spotlight courtesy of the Internet.
Let's put all this into context, the governing body for the global music industry IFPI recently stated that forty billion music files were downloaded without payment in 2008, meaning 95% of all digital music was downloaded illegally. A spurious fact, but nonetheless quite startling. It is also been reported that sales of albums in the last decade have halved. Any artist beginning in today’s climate doesn’t really stand a fighting chance of commercial success. This is of course unless you tour your behind off and you capitalize on the lucrative world of publishing.
Many unknown artists, who existed prior to the development of the Internet, have cemented there small but indelible place amongst the world of crate diggers. Crate digging is defined by DJs to refer to the activity of checking record stores for old, rare or unusual music on the vinyl format, which can be used by DJs, turntablists, or be sampled.
But now, the world of crate digging has been updated; these people use album blog websites to do their digging alongside their large hard drives and mouse. The amounts of niche blogs and genre specific sites have grown enormously in the last few years. Dedicated to ‘80s fusion jazz, Japanese death metal, Russian blues, Greek pop, you name it, it's all out there.
The people behind these blogs know their shit. They spent years waiting behind the scenes to finally upload their unbelievably organised and large collections and give the content out. It can be thought of as a beautiful thing, music from all sub continents available to all people. In this way the floodgates have opened, and I can’t see the Internet shutting down any time soon.
It’s quite uncommon that someone can take apart one of the greatest bands of all time - the Beach Boys and blend the results seamlessly with the beats of visionary producer J Dilla. Yet that’s just what English producer Bullion managed to pull off back in 2007.
Hailing from Acton in England, Bullion took the Beach Boys’ symphonic masterpiecePet Sounds and intertwined it with the beats of the late great J Dilla on his 25-minute mix, Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee. The short, anonymous EP set the blogosphere on fire, raising the question of “Just who is this kid?”
Well, we were asking the same question, until one Nathan Jenkins raised his head after finding himself on the excellent One-Handed Music label, home to Fulgeance and Paul White.
Bullion is only a newbie, but he has already made an indelible mark with consistently top-notch remixes, 12” and EPs, such as 'Say Goodbye To What' and 'Get Familiar'. Like AM radio blending into FM, Bullion delves into back catalogues, seamlessly channeling the past right into the present. His critically acclaimed 2009 EP Young Heartache won the hearts and minds of skeptics right across the scene.
In 2009 heavyweights Tricky and Amadou and Mariam came out the woodwork, asking this young man for a helping hand. Check his remix of Amadou and Mariam’s ‘Ce N’est Pas Bon’. You can also get your lucky mitts on this lovely mix Bullion recently did for Fact magazine.
And finally, check out this fantastically hilarious interview right here. Lets hope an album follows soon.
Jimmy Edgar is a bit of a musical Houdini. Prone to doing the odd disappearing act, the one-time wunderkid’s career is littered with tantalising glimpses of greatness. Snapped up by Warp Records in 2003 at the tender age of 18, this pale-faced prodigy was hailed as proof of a new dawn for the Detroit scene. But a serious drug addiction, a feverish temperament and a creative calling outside music have all held him back. After all, when you’ve started your career off playing at warehouse raves with legends on the scale of Derrick May, where is there to go but down?
And down this creative maelstrom eventually went. after the release of his critically acclaimed Warp debut, 2006’s Color Strip, whose R&B-tinged electro was a hit with critics and fans alike, Edgar went silent. Swept away on a tidal wave of heroine fuelled destruction, for a while the Motor City son’s future looked as bleak as his hometown.
Rewind back to 1999, a 16-year old Edgar has releases out on Germany’s mighty Poker Flat label, hip NYC imprint Isophlux and Miami’s renowned Merck Records, with the latter winning the right to put out his debut LP My Mines I (2002). With his star burning brightly, the mysterious prodigy, who claims to have been laying down beats from the age of ten, caused a stir at the 2003 Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Making his first live appearance as a Warp artist, his now legendary performance ended with burly security boys getting down with the local b-boys. It was the stuff that musical myths are made of.
Now, this enigmatic maestro who calls himself a ‘dancefloor designer’ is back with a new, clubbier sound, a breathtaking live show, an almost-ready album, and a slew of releases on upcoming labels. Ten years on from his first success, he’s managed to escape the tortured artist cliché, kick the drug habit and find himself included on Warp’s 20th anniversary album with his classic track ‘I Wanna be your STD’.
In the flesh, he’s full of feverish energy and promises it will be my “wildest ever interview”. He seems sober, but who knows, and in reflective mood: “It’s an honour to be included on Warp20 and be considered one of the defining artists in electronic music. Getting an email from Steve [Beckett, Warp head honcho] when I was just 18 was really cool. I cried, jumped up and down and hugged my art school roommates a lot. Warp set my career up and I have a lot of respect for the guys there.”
But despite Jimmy’s positive chat about Warp, it’s still not clear if he will release his long-awaited new album on the iconic label. He says “maybe”, they say “definitely not in the next six months”. Undeterred, Edgar claims he has got all ten tracks fully polished and is carefully weighing up his options.
“The industry has changed so much, you have to do more than sell albums. you have to think. I’m deciding whether or not to give the tracks away for free via my website. unfortunately, much as I love my art, I do need to make a living. My creative master plan is to create a multimedia package of art, music and design which will give my releases more of a multi-sensory impact and earn them the recognition they deserve.” According to the Detroit troubadour, this isn’t really a comeback because he’s never been away from his art, be it photography, design or music. In true Houdini style, he’s just made himself a bit hard to find for his fans, adopting elusive aliases, honing his fashion photography skills, moving to New york, and working on various mysterious side projects.
First, there was the acclaimed ‘secret duo project’ Plus Device in 2007, whose electro pop-funk styles had Edgar written all over it. Released on Chicago’s innovative Hefty Records, it generated a big online buzz. Then there was the sexual synths and live instrumentation of Her bad Habit, which evolved the Edgar sound in a new direction. and these are just the tip of the iceberg – there’ve been numerous other rumoured collaborations. But doesn’t having all these different personalities leave him feeling a bit, well, confused?
“Isn’t being fucked-up the norm nowadays?” he retorts. “I like to think of myself as more quadripolar. I’ve come to terms with it. Everyone knows I’m part of Plus Device, Noir Friction, Her bad Habit and Creepy Autograph. you can expect more from all of those soon.”
“Recently, there’s been my project with the beta band’s Steve Mason. It’s called black affair. He had a big budget so I ended up doing all the production, mixing the whole album and designing all the artwork. I was busy but I just found ways of getting things done, without sleeping ever.”
Chronic insomnia has plagued Edgar throughout his life regardless of his drug use. “I’m happy to be clean. I still sleep very little but I find it easier to focus and create new art and music. I thought drugs opened up gates, I used them to be inspired, but now I’m off them my creativity is really flowing.”
This does indeed seem to be the case. The musical magician looks set to pop up in several places over the next few months. He’s got releases coming out all over the place. Snap up a copy of his ‘fave ever’ track Funktion of Love which is out on techno goddess Magda’s Item & Things imprint. And keep ears peeled for sexy electro-soul number ‘Hush’, which is due out mid-November on Dalston newbie Glass Table, complete with a video by hot directing duo Hope Audikana.
Aside from producing his own work, (he’s also got three paintings hanging in Detroit’s 555 Gallery), he has of course been remixing others. There’s talk of some seriously hot pop collaborations. Which he absolutely, definitely can’t talk about. Ok? “I can’t talk about Justin Timberlake. When I did, I got in trouble – it ended up on over 100,000 blogs. Not good. I’m trying to get at Cassie, and Missy Elliot heard some tracks and loved them, but this is all unconfirmed, ok?” Whatever you say, Jimmy.
His detractors might say Jimmy Edgar is full of hype, and at times I’d be inclined to agree (apparently there are ‘8,000’ unreleased tracks on his hard drive). But even with the ups, the downs and the embellishments, this 26-year-old has achieved a remarkable amount in a career which has spanned one of electronic music’s most innovative decades.
Air are touting their new album as a ‘rebirth’. Paul Sullivan chats to Nicolas Godin about their brand new studio, growing wise and how – despite their best efforts – they can’t stop sounding like Air.
It was ten years ago that Nicolas Godin and Jean-benoît Dunckel drifted on the scene with their coruscating, cockle-warming debut Moon Safari. As inaugural albums go, it was quite the sonic statement. The prevailing downtempo sound at the end of the nineties was still defined by introspective, sampladelic trip hop acts like Massive Attack, DJ Shadow and UNkLE. Then suddenly, here was this pair of elegant, floppy-haired Frenchmen with a sound every bit as life-affirming and breezy as their name suggested.
After a decade of urban music that reflected anomie and angst, Air’s music-for-reveries came as an enlightening experience, allowing us to indulge in a little romance and some gentle escapism for a while. Ten years and several albums – The Virgin Suicides soundtrack, 10 000 Hz Legend, Talkie Walkie, 2007’s Pocket Symphony – on, the duo are back with a fifth album that sees them move (or at least try to) away from the trademark ethereality that has made them such a household name. The new record, intriguingly, is called Love 2.
“It was time to start a new love story,” explains Godin. “We felt Pocket Symphony was the end of a cycle. When Moon Safari exploded 10 years ago, we travelled a lot and met musicians and producers, singers and songwriters, collaborated and had lots of side projects. We wanted to get back to the feeling of being in our bedroom, back to that intimacy. I have a lot of nostalgia for those early times and it felt right to start something new. So we built our own studio and took all the kit we’d assembled over the last 20 years and went crazy.”
Some of the key differences with creating Love 2 include the use of a spanking new Paris studio (they’d previously recorded in rented places) and the avoidance of big name guests (Beck and Jarvis Cocker have been collaborators in the past); the only other person on the album aside from themselves is drummer Joey Waronker, who does a stellar job of supplying extra swing and groove. The other notable difference is the absence of their regular producer, Radiohead / Zero7 don Nigel Godrich, which must have been quite a leap for the band. Was Godrich’s presence and input sorely missed? “I miss him as a human being and a friend, and for sure many things could have been better,” laughs Godin, “but that was not the point. This was about rediscovering the essence of the band. It was important to make a record for ourselves, and ask ourselves along the way: “Why do I want to do this? Why would I want to make a record right now?” These kinds of questions don’t depend on a producer or anyone else, they depend on your heart and mind.”
The net result is that Love 2 does sound a bit like a break from the old routine, especially after the mega-mellow Pocket Symphony – but not that much. True, opener (and single) ‘Do The Joy’ sounds fresh and invigorating with its loping, krautrock rhythm and heavy Moog action. And there’s extra weight and funk in tracks like ‘be a bee’, ‘Eat My beat’, and the DJ Shadow-esque ‘Night Hunter’. “It’s the most upbeat album we’ve done,” asserts Godin, “which is a direct result of the new freedom we found. We just don’t feel like making slow music any more, maybe because we’ve made too much of it. The last album was influenced by Eastern styles, more Japanese or oriental music. This one is more located in the equator, in South America or Africa. It’s a return to the roots, but on the other hand it’s of course very different from Moon Safari.”
That’s as may be, but tracks like ‘Heaven’s Light’, ‘So Light Is Her Footfall’ – which is way too easily read as ‘So Light Is Her Football’ if you’re not paying attention – and ‘Sing Sang Sung’ are typical weightless air confections, the kind of insouciant soufflés that the band have long been serving up. In fact, for all its nuanced differences, Love 2 remains unmistakably an air album. Godin replies with a defeated chuckle. “We try very hard sometimes to make a different-sounding album but it always ends up sounding like us. We don’t really know what to do about that.”
Incredibly for a band so popular, the air sound hasn’t managed to yield many copycats, something Nicholas puts down to the band’s unique way of approaching music. “In France we don’t have pop music in our culture so much, so when we throw ourselves into music we don’t think about writing songs like normal bands do. We don’t care if something comes out as a song or not, which I think is very French. We like pop and pop songs, but we don’t have that tradition. This gives us a lot of freedom. We can have classical music on our albums, for example, and it creates a very thin line that is hard to emulate.”
It seems so long ago that Moon Safari’s gentle fireworks exploded inside our eardrums. yet for the band it has “all gone so fast – it’s felt like being inside a tornado. That’s why we want to do things for fun again. We don’t want to suffer from having a career. It’s now time for some wisdom.”
I will go on record and state that Emika’s ‘Drop The Other’ is the first great single of 2010. Likely to scare off competition for the coming months, this young Berliner has all the qualities to make it to the top of the heap. By November last year she had inked herself to preeminent electronic hip-hop label Ninja Tune, and now this purveyor of dreamy dub-pop and is readying her haunting debut, which I believe is worthy of some serious anticipation.
Classically trained and brought up with a healthy dose of techno, the story behind this artist is illuminating to say the least. She nearly lost her life in a botched operation in London, somehow survived being hooked on morphine and then found herself being courted by her bank, who offered free flights to any European destination after “upgrading her account post graduation”. She chose Berlin and has never looked back.
Since then, she has been enjoying heavy support from BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs who has also commissioned a radio mix from Emika, which will be streamed online from Friday the 22nd till Friday the 29th of January.
We’re convinced her flirtatious vocals mixed with a commercial flair, and an underground sensibility will give Emika that extra leg up. Add a sublime remix from dubstep’s golden boy Scuba into the mixand we think that this young Londoner has found the recipe for success. You can listen to the Scuba mix here.
Her single ‘Drop The Other;’ was released on the 18th of January on Ninja Tune; soon to follow will be her next single ‘Double Edge’ which is set to l have even more tails wagging.
Portuguese quartet Buraka Som Sistema have whizzed through the last few years of their career, enjoying the fruits of their success with their debut 2008 album Black Diamond. Their infectious mix of raucous and abrasive electro have won the hearts and minds of not only the mainstream press but also the underground world.
The group specializes in an updated form of the traditional African/Spanish genre called Kuduro, a worldly brew best proven on their new single “Restless” released on the Fabric label last year. Their homeland has showered them with five charting singles and an MTV European Music Award in 2008 for best Portuguese act. They are gearing up to release their own take on Fabriclive soon and ready to get down and dirty for their sophomore LP.
Through all this Lisboan mayhem we found some time to sit down and chew the fat with one quarter of Buraka themselves, Kalaf Ângelo.
1. So, what gets you going in the morning? Beside early checkouts? All sorts of professional obligations such as interviews, flights to catch and etc.
2. What five records would you take to a desert island and why?
Broken Flowers (OST) Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (OST) In the Mood for Love (OST)
Rockers (OST)
Superfly (OST)
I would just take albums that I associate with images. 3.What inspires you to create?
The curiosity to know and understand why do we consider certain things beautiful and others ugly. 4. What book or piece of literature are you reading at the moment? Drown by Junot Díaz. 5.Favourite piece of literature and why?
Poems by Paulo Leminski (1944/1989 Brazil). Because of poems like this one:
“Between external duty
And eternal doubt
My commercial
Heart goes Roundabout”
6.Favorite club or bar? Right now: Mezzanine, San Francisco. The cosiest venue we ever played at.
7. What one historical figure inspires you or would you like to meet? I would like to meet Emile Berliner for a tea and show him the iPod.
9.Favorite director and actor?
Director - Hayao Miyazaki (Japan)
Actress - Fernanda Montenegro (Brazil) 10.Favorite piece of architecture or building? Casa da Musica by Rem Koolhaas in OPorto-Portugal.
11. Favorite combination of food or recipe?
Nothing fancy. A sea food barbecue - Angola style and for desert some of Conductor's (Andro Carvalho) mother home made ice cream. 12.Favorite musical genre in the last 100 years and what would you mix it with if you could? There are only two types of music, the one I listen to it and the one I don't listen at all.
14.Who has had the biggest influence on you in your life? My friends.
15. What is one record you should never be seen dancing to in a club? Dragostea Din Tei (Numa Numa Song) by O-Zone. 16. Five music artists currently listening to?
Clipse
Lady Chann
Lvis 1990
The XX
Devendra Banhart
17.Favorite piece of art or artist and why? Empty Faces collection by Alexandre Farto aka Vhils. Because of the simple reason that I'm a proud owner of one of those pieces.
18. Artist you’d most like to collaborate with? Banksy
19.One obscure band you think should be more popular? Nastio Mosquito
20.What is your current ringtone?
My phone is constantly on mute but it vibrates when I receive a call.
21.Do Buraka Som Sistema have a favourite sauce? Home made Gindungo sauce. Something similar to the image that you can see at the cover of our latest single "Restless". Which basically consists in hot Chillies swimming in a real good Portuguese olive oil mixed up with some other herbs, species and some other secret ingredients.
The noughties have been a tempestuous and adventurous decade for music. In the last ten years we’ve seen pop get creative, alt. go mainstream and the entire traditional music industry get roundhoused by the digital realm. Paul Sullivan reports…
If the eighties were all acid-washed jeans, exuberant hairdos and chintzy synth pop, and the nineties were all hands-in-the-air house, sing-a-long Brit pop and retro chic, the noughties have been all about innovative pop, the ascendancy of the independent and the domination of the digital.
It’s been a tumultuous decade all round, what with the constant terror alerts, the spurious warmongering, the ever-impending Gaia-geddon and our ongoing global recession. Thinking about it, we can be pretty lucky we got through it alive, unless of course the powers-that-be and the mass media were exaggerating slightly (they wouldn’t, would they?).
There have certainly been some major upheavals within the music industry. The noughties were also the 2.0s – an era of, to quote Wikipedia, “web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, mashups and folksonomies.”
The inexorable advance of the digital revolution, which seemed so quaintly haphazard at the start of the noughties, went on to rock the system to its very core. Ten years and a few false starts after nascent P2P services like Napster and Kazaa allowed us to share our music collections at the click of a mouse – how novel it all seemed! – CDs really have given way to MP3s and the print media has finally begun to bow to the power of the blogosphere. Subsequent (legal) music services like Last.FM, Pandora, Spotify and iTunes, and social media sites like MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have changed the way we listen to, consume and share music (and more) forever. Not bad for a decade’s work when you think about it.
Music itself underwent seismic transformations. The fag-end of the nineties was an odd time, especially in the UK where the pop charts looked like they’d been in an M25 multi-car pile up. The Spice Girls first lost a limb (Geri), then disintegrated completely. Brit pop’s moribund corpse was given a final death blow by The Gallagher Brothers’ tumescent Be Here now (1997); and dance music, with its irksome ‘let’s-’ave-it-large’ mantra felt like some middle-aged, drug-addled uncle trying to look trendy at a party he hadn’t been invited to. By 2000 the tide had turned in favour of young, shiny American pop stars. Jlo, Slim Shady, Britney, Beyoncé, Timberlake, Christina and the not-so-young-actually-no-not-even-back-then Jay Z all stepped on the scene like a breath of fresh pop air – or at least a breath of freshly airbrushed pop.
Their bright, glossy “Pro-Tools” sound – characterised by increasing amounts of audio compression to make the sound literally ‘pop’ – gradually set a new sonic standard and simultaneously ushered in another new era: that of the super-producer. Sonic innovators like Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, The Neptunes and Kanye West (the latter two introduced to the world on Jay Z’s 2000 release The Dynasty: roc la Familia) stepped from behind the boards to reveal themselves as production paragons, broadening steadily out from rap to inject r&b and pop with new and interesting sounds. Noughties pop was thus born.
Britain’s response, at least at the beginning, was ashamedly underwhelming. With such dynamite movers and shakers as The Bedingfields, James Blunt, Emma Bunton, Corinne BaileyRae and – *shudder* – Charlotte Church representing UK “pure” pop, it was obvious that the apogee of Cool Britannia had passed (for many it had never existed). A nation knows it’s in trouble when it starts feeling grateful for Robbie Williams.
Thankfully, by mid-decade the digital revolution had taken root and was changing the scene at a rapid pace. The Internet gradually rendered the music industry more transparent. Fans could now get closer to their favourite bands and artists via personal blogs and social media nodes like MySpace (they would soon be able to monitor their every move thanks to popular ‘stalking’ tool Twitter), and artists were able to use the same kinds of tools to intensify communication and build up broader, and at the same time more niche, fan bases.
The first examples of the MySpace phenomenon were the Arctic Monkeys (who denied it) and Lily Allen (who accepted it), both of whom bothered the charts severely after building up large fan bases through social media activity and live shows. These bands opened the gates for a slew of independent acts to follow suit. Finally, indie bands could get a look-in.
The burgeoning digital realm was certainly paramount in fostering the noughties alt./indie rock explosion, heralded in the UK by Radiohead’s OK Computer (1997) and Kid A (2000), and massively catalysed by ‘garage-rock’ bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes, who dropped their hugely influential albums Is This It? and White Blood Cells respectively, in 2001.
This paved the way for a seemingly never-ending trail of guitar wielding man-bands that favoured long hair, punk-era skinny jeans and names beginning with “The” (see The Libertines, The Killers, The Horrors, The Vines and Krillions of others).
Non-“The” bands like Jet, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, PJ Harvey, Franz Ferdinand, Modest Mouse, Bloc Party, Kings of Leon and Interpol also had success channelling influences from pop and post-punk to rockabilly and rave, while Sigur Ros, Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, You Will Know Us By Our Trail Of Dead and Sunn O))) – among many others – chased rock off into more esoteric directions.
Etienne Jaumet is probably most familiar as one half of French electro pairing Zombie Zombie. However, a penchant for vintage analogue equipment and an unexpected period of having to work alone has resulted in one of the best albums of space techno that I have heard in recent times. Add Carl Craig into the mix - literally, as he mixed the album, and you have on your hands a bona-fide classic. Perhaps one of the first of the decade. Electronic Beats just had to know more.
Hey Etienne. At the moment, you are probably best known as being one half of Zombie Zombie. When did you decide that you wanted to release an album of solo material?
It was Gilb-R, the boss of Versatile, who encouraged me to do my own album. After I had finished my first EP, Repeat Again After Me,Neman, the drummer of my other band Zombie Zombie, was on tour with Herman Dune, so I had the time to work alone. It was actually not my idea!
Ah, okay. So it was not something you have been working towards for a long time?
No, not at all... I probably expected it would happen some day, but I had never worked on it before the recordings for Night Music started... I’m not an amazing instrumentalist, so I always try to develop my own expressions with my own technique... This album was recorded after years of experimentations.
So were you trying to capture a certain feeling? The songs conjure up very strong images in my head.
I only try to have fun and play, in the first instance, with my instruments. I don’t really have images in my head. My music is instrumental, so I need to find other ways to build a song without 'a verse, a chorus, a bridge' etc. I prefer to try and build a kind of story with the sound...
Did you have a particular approach to making the songs on Night Music?
Yes, well I improvised all the songs during the recording! All tracks are the first takes. 75% of each song was recorded live and I’ve only done overdubs where I felt something was missing. I can’t do in any other way - I’m a saxophonist, I love free jazz very much, and improvising is what I do the best...
It was mentioned in the press release that you were influenced partly by the idea of working to fit two sides of a record. Was this restraint helpful to the creative process?
On a LP you can only put a maximum of 22 minutes on each side. The LP is the best support for music. 45 minutes is plenty enough for me as I don’t like it when an album is too long. I love very much those album in the 1970’s with a long song one side and few little ones on the other side...
Were the sounds created mainly with analogue machines?
Only analogue keyboards: Arp, Roland, Moog, Yamaha and acoustic instruments like the voice and my saxophone.
If you could go to one place in space - where would it be?
Not far - the moon.
Were you interested in space when you were growing up?
Yes of course, but much more by life under the water in fact. More real and poetic for me.
What was it like to work with Carl Craig? And what input did he have on the album?
I would just send the separate files to him with a rough mix of each song with no instructions! He then did what he felt was right. Carl imagined the mix differently than me, but that’s what I was expected. I wanted him to push the songs in another dimension. I know very well my instruments, and the sound he has done is so much better that I can ever do – he is a master!
Did you reject any of his suggestions?
No, but you know, there is not only one-way to interpret a song. And his way made my songs more effective...
Do you plan to perform any of the Night Music material live?
I already have done! It’s not too difficult because all the songs were composed live. There's a lot of instruments involved. Sometimes when it’s possible, Emmanuelle Parrenin plays some hurdy gurdy with me! Real instruments just sound so great live...
James Holden is the visionary young producer who has created a personalised world of techno and electronic music via his own Border Community record label. Providing a platform for the intelligently twisted music of artists such as Nathan Fake, Luke Abbot and Fairmont, James has also released much of his own genre bending work via the label, such as his much lauded 2006 album The Idiots are Winning. Border Community rightly hold a position as one of the most innovative and interesting music labels, a natural heir to Warp’s experimental crown. Border Community is beacon of hope and innovation in the rather uninspiring sea of average techno of the last decade, making James Holden the ideal candidate for our final Tough at the Top this decade.
What does a typical day involve for you? How much of it is spent on music? I don’t really have a ‘typical day’ - with doing so many different jobs at once my life is quite varied. The last couple of months I’ve been a bit busy with the label/life for music, which is a little frustrating.
Is creating music still your main focus? Or performing it? Creating is still what I’m mostly thinking about. and I read synth blogs every day at least. performing not so much! I try and keep that in a box. I’m looking for good new music every day, but am thinking to DJ only from Thursday to Sunday..
Why did you decide to start Border Community ? The music industry is, for the most part, shit. I wanted to make a place where I could do what I wanted musically, and where my friends could be free of the kind of irritations I’d already encountered. We’ve always approached it with the idea of just doing what’s interesting to us, putting out records we’d like to buy, rather than any sort of concern for sales or journalists.
You have a number of quite dedicated fans, do you ever find yourself comparing the music you produce with people’s expectations of you? I think I mentally divide them in two - the ones that just get it and the ones who’ve got the wrong idea. I completely don’t care at all what the second group think, sometimes I meet them which is a bit annoying, but if I was trying to make/play music in whatever way would please them it would be fundamentally condescending and disrespectful.
What is the greatest difficulty and what do you love most about running a record label. It’s quite a lot of work. But watching people you like do well, and grow and make even more exciting things is the best.
Does it become harder or easier to discover exciting music? How do you mostly discover stuff? Finding new artists for the label seems fairly easy - next year we’ve got so much stuff we’re incredibly excited about. I don’t really know how it happens though - people reach us through different routes, for example Luke Abbott was the most beautiful demo CD we’d ever received, and came with a bonus disc of improvised noise/jazz, so we knew we’d like him. Finding new music to DJ with has been hard the last couple of years, but I feel like the techno scene has got so utterly boring that something new to replace it must be just around the corner. and in the last two to three years the British music scene has got much more exciting – people like Zomby, Lone, Bullion, Four Tet, Paul White making stuff that is totally modern and free – the opposite of the conservatives of a too-old scene.
What would your advice be to someone who wanted to become more involved creating in electronic music? For everybody’s sake, just do your own thing, don’t try and make ‘normal’ music, and don’t listen to other peoples’ advice.
How do you continue to find inspiration? Is it something you even have to think about? For a couple of years I was finding techno to be the opposite of inspiration, but being defined in opposition is a kind of inspiration, I had to sort of feel around and see where I was heading, but this year that’s crystalised and I’m on my way somewhere. When I actually have time to make music I enjoy it so much that I don’t really think about inspiration.
What have been your best and worst experiences in the last ten years? I think there are too many of both to pick some out! The worst ones were before we started BC, unless you count hauling myself through grotty foreign airports with no sleep.. The best recent things have been our London BC nights – the one last week was lovely, a psychedelic village fair with the nicest crowd ever.
Where do you see yourself in ten years time? A little house in the country, near the sea, with a dog and even more antique synthesisers.
