There's no escaping
the fact that Station 55 is a concept album
(as indeed, to an extent, was Rescate 137);
how do you get from pummelling lunatics in strobe lit
basements with relentless techno to epic sci-fi narratives?
Well, I didn't really set out to make a concept album,
although looking back you could say that of all the
long players I've made. I started out making club EPs,
so when the chance to make an album first came around,
I remember really working towards writing songs that
all made sense together as an album. I guess its true
to say that all my albums have had this approach, it’s
the only way I can think that an album can be made.
I mean, for me a concept album would be something that
tries to go against this approach to album writing -
some 'eternal' electronica comes to mind, ambient soundscapes,
half arsed CDs with no song titles and minimal artwork...
The musical narrative in Station 55 is an exploration
of certain ideas and concepts that I find myself thinking
about when I'm travelling to and from the shows. In
that way, they are linked directly to the contemporary
music scene I'm working in. I jot down most of my lyrics
during journeys back from solo gigs, in minimal space,
taxis, planes, airports and trains.
Can you tell us something about the narrative
in the record? What, for example, is a 'time lock'?
And why the recurring numbers and references to radios
and typewriters? Is archaic technology a particular
interest of yours?
I first heard about the Time Lock in Wings
by The Fall... ‘a small alteration of the past
can turn time into space’... Radios and transmission
are metaphor for music and its directional force. When
I read about The Conet Project, a CD documenting mysterious
shortwave broadcasts called number stations, for me
it aligned the metaphor of transmission with another
recurring theme of mine, numbers. I like numbers and
their eternal, abstracted interdimensional existence
man. I like old typewriters they are really cool. I
wish old home computers could be as cool-looking as
old typewriters, but only a select few would feel excited
about seeing a Dragon32 in 2005. It’s empowering
to think about how much technology you have outlived
already, don't you think?
How do you see the shifts in the ways you work
in relation to the development of techno as a whole?
The way I’m working now is much more based on
simple tracking, sampling drum machine and modular synth.
I guess this reflects the back-to-the-roots, the not-having-to-prove-anything
nature of the music I call techno in 2005.
You've worked in various configurations: as
a DJ; as a solo-flying techno producer; in a duo for
occasional projects e.g. with Neil Landstrumm as Blue
Arsed Fly; in a more established pairing with Jamie
Lidell in Super_Collider; as an actual band of your
own with the later S_C touring line-up; with other people's
bands, such as Virus playing on your album and your
production and arrangements for Chicks On Speed; and
now with the dancers of Gilles Jobin's ballet company.
Have you found one role in particular more immediately
or lastingly satisfying? What are the dis/advantages
of each?
I guess working solo is the longest lasting role, if
that makes sense. Collaborations involve another set
of people, and so depend upon many factors to continue.
I enjoy studio work most, and studio work with other
artists is my most favourite and most satisfying. I
love creating music, and doing that with someone else
to vibe off and to inject ideas into the mix is the
bees knees.
How was working with Franz Treichler from the
Young Gods on the new record? Did it feel good to be
'joining the dots' between newer and older electronic
music?
It was awesome working with Franz, he is a very cool
and patient dude. He has a focus and I have learned
a lot with him, but he has taught me in some kind of
passive way. He helped me step into the heady world
of composition for Gilles Jobin's dance pieces, as well
as helping me untangle a few of my own issues with my
music career. I was really honoured that he managed
to see my idea and provide such a powerful voice to
the words I had written. I'm mixing a new Young Gods
track in return, for their forthcoming album.
The album is very filmic - is film something
you'd like to get involved with?
I would love to work with music for film, or see my
music used on a good movie. But this is something that
has never really opened up for me, I don't really have
any connections to filmmakers, which after all these
years is quite surprising.
There seems to be renewed interest in Super_Collider
following Jamie's recent high profile. How do those
two albums sound to you in retrospect, and are there
any plans to go further with the band, or for you to
work with Jamie in any other capacity?
I often think of the time we spent building and living
in the Super_Collider. As well as making a lot of music,
we did listen to loads and loads of music too. When
I listen to, say, Man Child by Herbie Hancock,
I think straight away of the S_C years. I think these
two albums we tracked sound well cool in retrospect,
and look forward to being able to visit the Super_Collider
continuum again soon. We are making plans to collide
three completely formed universes in a controlled studio
experiment next year.
The first release on your new Sleep Debt label
seems to have a very funky feel; there's almost a bumpy
house element to it, though it's definitely high tech
stuff. Is that groove-based approach a conscious reaction
to your more experimental recent releases? And are you
going to be doing your own tracks for the label?
Sleep Debt is a label that needed to happen because
I'm still out there on the road hearing underground
music and playing it. It’s important to keep in
touch with the scene that you're coming from, to give
something back, without trying to prove anything.
How do you feel about the state of club music
- and whose records currently float your boat and make
you want to be out there in sweaty basements full of
dancing people?
I'm going through a back-to-mid-nineties Chitown jacking
phase. I'm always checking out what Neil Landstrumm
is doing, what Jason from House Of Fix is up to. I prefer
techno that’s perfectly in tune with an authentic
freak attitude, I don't like the eastern-toy-hammer-puke-rush
or plastic-crap-house or self-absorbed-pseudo-hypnosis
music. Sets I heard recently that have turned me on
gotta be DJ Miki B from Zurich and also DJ Justin Harris
from London.
What about in the wider world of music outside
the clubs? Who else is doing it for you?
My digital listening generated charts are always going
up at Last.fm.
But faves right now - Monks, Link Wray, Kaka De Luxe
, The Dickies, Amerie , Cat Power , Fog
Has the move into ‘art music’ as
it were - with the Jobin dance company - been rewarding?
Has it affected your solo music, and will there be more
projects like this?
I've certainly made quite a few more connections. In
fact I would never have met Marky from Knallkids (Sleep
Debt 001) if I hadn't have met Gilles, they are old
clubbing mates.
What other plans do you have for the future?
With your studio in Barcelona it seems you're keen to
work producing more bands - are there likely to be more
collaborative things like you have done with Virus and
the No Heads?
I hope to work more on bespoke mixing and producing
in my new studio for other artists and projects. The
studio is called Station
55... It seems that I will need to start looking
for a new label deal for solo albums, as the NovaMute
one has completed now, nevertheless, it’s an exciting
year ahead, lots of space and time for collaborative
ventures, and the industry itself seems to be getting
back on its feet.
Joe Muggs
|
