Stefan, what are you
up to at the moment?
What do you mean? Musically, I am into experiments and
testing how it is to work with guitars and other instruments
and cut them hard and rough.
Do you work in a specific way or would you rather
not set yourself any rules?
I always worked in a specific way; this is part of the
Pole idea. I mean, don’t misunderstand me, but to have
an idea how to work on things doesn’t mean you’re not
flexible at the same time, and keep your eyes open to
see the little mistakes and all these nice things to
find the real interesting things in music.
Your three first albums formed a trilogy. Was it
always your intention?
Yes.
German musicians have always dominated electronic
music. Why is that?
I don´t know. It depends how you see electronic
music. To be honest, I have no idea if it is like you
say.
Who are your favourite artists at the moment?
Well, I really like to listen to hip-hop at the moment.
Producers like Mos Def and Pete Rock or Skeme. But I
also like to listen to jazz, stuff like Art Ensemble
Of Chicago. It looks a bit like I am coming back to
my roots, which doesn’t necessarily mean that I will
produce hip-hop albums in the future.
What is the last album you bought?
Dj Spinna on Rawkus, and the Velvet Underground 5 CD
collection.
You¹ve recently collaborated with Kieran Hebden
from Four Tet, and, on your latest album, you¹ve
also had people remixing some of your work. Is working
with others something you are keen on doing?
I didn’t collaborate with Kieran. I did a track in my
studio, and he remixed it, and I did the same with his
track. But we never met in a studio, which is, in my
opinion, necessary to have a collaboration, or let’s
say, the minimum would be to work on one thing together,
if not meeting in a studio.
Who in particular would you like to work with?
I don’t want to talk too early about future things.
You are a respected remixer yourself. Is there anyone
you haven¹t had the chance to do a remix for and
would be happy to do?
Well I think it is not really my business to decide
this, but I think there are a lot of interesting producers
in the world, and it would be really interesting to
remix their music. Not every track is good for being
remixed though. Some, or maybe most of them, should
stay as they are, because they are good enough. Sometimes,
they’re just not my cup of tea.
How did you get involved with the Slag Boom Van
Loon project, and what did you think of Mike Paradinas¹s
own remix, which sounded very similar to your own work?
Mike asked me if I would like to do a remix, and I agreed.
Sometimes it is really very simple and I thought: I
like Boards Of Canada and I like Four Tet, so why not.
But to be honest I never thought that Mike’s mix is
similar to my music; that is interesting. Why do you
think so? Maybe because he used some sounds that I could
have used? Maybe I should listen to it again.
What about people you certainly wouldn’t remix anything
for?
Do you talk about music you don’t like?
How would you describe your influences and how do
you think they’ve influenced your music?
Do I have influences? I mean is it realistic to say
so?
Since you started releasing records, there seem
to be a handful of musicians who get their inspiration
from your work. How do you react to that?
Well I enjoy it and I hope these producers will find
their own way of producing music. So long as they only
get inspired by my work, it is totally fine, but if
people start copying things, than it is kind of boring....
R compiles Raum 1 & 2,
originally released on Din three years ago, plus variations
on these tracks, remixes by Burnt Friedman and Kit Clayton,
as well as Raum 3 & 4. Can you
tell us how the project started, and how it ended being
what it is today?
Well we had the idea to work with these ultra rare tracks
I released on Din Records, and Burnt said that he would
like to do a rework of both, and I did the same. But
in the end, I did four new tracks instead of a rework.
It took us a long time, and then Kit Clayton joined
us, and I had these new tracks I did with D. Meteo on
the guitar and finally we decided to release it on ~Scape.
That’s it.
What decided you to set up your own label, and how
do you manage between ~Scape and your career as a musician?
I like good music and I like to release it. When I met
with Barbara (we are running ~Scape together), I decided
this was a good time to start the label, since I could
share the workload with her. And this is how I manage
between ~Scape and Pole. Without Barbara, it would be
impossible.
Who would you like to sign?
We have this phrase in German: don’t talk about the
egg before the hen made it.
You recently mixed Komfort.Labor for WMF Records.
Why wasn’t it released on ~Scape?
We have a ~Scape residency at the WMF club once a month,
and Komfort.Labor vs ~Scape is the name of the night
there. All residents (four of them all together) are
doing it and it was never supposed to come out on ~Scape.
How do you see your music evolving? Is it something
you think about?
Yes of course I do. But I don’t talk about it.
Thank you to Stefan.
Email interview September 2001.
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