The fast growing phenomenon of boilerroom.tv is welcoming two of our own this Wednesday November 16th in the form of Carlito and Wooly. This Detroit meets Leeds by way of Dewsbury alliance has made waves both across the atlantic in Carl’s home town where he welcomed Paul early in the year and in our room of doom, Space’s discoteca way back in June for their Planet E showcase.
It’s hard to put your finger on why the Boiler Room works so well as a format. The combination of desirable guests, rare sets (Thom Yorke!), simplicity of concept (essentially two turntables and a webcam) and creation of scarcity through an invite only audience admission policy goes some way to making this essential viewing for a generation who’ve grown up without Top Of The Pops (Sir Jimmy RIP).
So save the date, and check out Planet E’s inimitable terremoto press agent on twitter if you’re hunting for an invite. Joining Carl and Paul will be muso rockers Friendly Fires and master of the low slung after-hours Axel Boman. Check out the video below from our 20 Years of Planet E vinyl only showcase from earlier this summer.
We’re never shy of taking a risk here at We Love, bringing a concert pianist and a grand piano into one of the world’s temples of dance music could certainly be considered so. It’s never entirely surprising when two avant-garde musicians come together from across musical divides, but in Ibiza it’s not so commonplace.
Take one part Detroit techno legend, add a bit of Juilliard trained classical protegé, a piano imported from Valencia and a few thousand cosmopolitan clubbers in Ibiza and check out the results below. Carl Craig and Francesco Tristano will be joined this Sunday September 18th in the Discoteca by our Kompakt brethren Ewan Pearson and Michael Meyer, check the event page for full lineup, TICKETS HERE.
Estamos complacidos en anunciarles el lineup de nuestra fiesta de apertura de We Love…space, el domingo 12 de junio de 2011. We Love es única en Ibiza, con seis pistas de desenfranada exploración musical. Sigue los links de los artistas para videos, mixes y mucho más.
Seguir @welove_music en twitter para actualizaciones.
La fiesta de apertura de este año se plantea como la que definirá la temporada de Ibiza, ya que We Love… Space celebra los 20 años de Planet E. Pocos sellos discográficos han logrado superar la prueba del tiempo, y de haberlo hecho, no han sido muchos los que han podido proclamarse tan reelevantes e influyentes como lo fueron ellos,hace veinte anos ya. Planet E, no solo ha sobrevivido los ultimos 20 anos,sino que sin dudas se ha deleitado a lo grande durante los mismos. Al cerebro del techno de Detroit Carl Craig se le sumara Derrick May y Paul Woolford, quienes recientemente han realizado lanzamientos explosivos en el sello. Estos cerebros tambien estarán acompañados por el residente semanal de We Love Jem Haynes, quien tomará el control de la Discoteca y hara una inusual y prestigiosa sesión solo de vinilo, para celebrar este acontecimiento de la discografica.
Mientras tanto, la mundialmente famosa Terraza de Space tendrá de invitado a James Zabiela exibiendo su sonido house para el 2011. Los DJs de Hot Chip, Felix Martin y Al Doyle regresan para la primera de sus tres exclusivas fechas como residentes y Heidi, la favorita de “In New DJs We Trust” de Radio 1, traerá el sonido ‘jackin’ con el apoyo de Made to Play’s Jesse Rose. A continuación tendremos a la apuesta de We Love Mat Playford, haciendo un show en vivo de tres horas, utilizando un sistema análogo personalizado.
El 2011 trae nuevas caras para compartir esta serie de eventos de verano. El sello discografico Moda de Jaymo & Andy George estará auspiciandola Sunset Terrace antes de que el proyecto “Afterdark” de Mr Doris tome el control, luego de la media noche. Ryan O’ Gorman regresa con el Burlington Project para auspiciar doce citas íntimas en la Redbox, la pista que disfrutan entendidos locales y turistas por igual.
We are delighted to announce the lineup for our opening party, We Love… Space on Sunday June 12th 2011. We Love is unique in Ibiza with 6 rooms of unbridled musical excursions. Follow the linked names for videos, mixes and more.
This years opening party is set to define the Ibiza season as We Love… Space celebrate the seminal 20 Years of Planet E. Few labels have managed to stand the test of time and if they have, few can claim to be as relevant and influential as they were twenty years back. Planet E hasn’t just survived the last twenty years but positively revelled in it. Detroit techno mastermind Carl Craig will be joined by Derrick May and Paul Woolford, who have both recently presented the label with blistering releases. These masterminds will be joined by We Love weekly resident Jem Haynes to take control of the Discoteca for a rare and prestigious vinyl-only session in celebration of the label.
Meanwhile, the world famous Space Terraza plays host to James Zabiela showcasing his house sound for 2011. The Hot Chip DJs, Felix Martin and Al Doyle return for the first of their three date exclusive residency and Radio 1 current “In New DJs We Trust” favourite Heidi bringing the jackin’ sound’ o’ Chi’ Town with support from Made To Play’s Jesse Rose. Kicking off proceedings is We Love’s own Mat Playford playing a three hour live show using a customised analogue setup.
2011 brings new faces to share this summer’s series of events. Jaymo & Andy George’s label Moda host the Sunset Terrace before Mr Doris’ “Afterdark” project takes over after midnight. Ryan O’Gorman returns with The Burlington Project to host twelve intimate dates in the Redbox, the room for clued up locals and holiday-makers alike.
The Gaîté Lyrique is Paris’s newest theatre. The beautifully restored 19th century facade gives way to a room containing 360° visuals and three collaborators. Carl Craig, consistently lionised by techno fans, Moritz Von Oswald, the producers producer and Francesco Tristano, pianist and figurehead of Infiné records. Each trigger from the musicians causes interactions with the visuals above them. Parts of the performance have been recorded as raw material for further production in Detroit.
This recording took place last night, and a very special night it was indeed. The performance begins at around 34 minutes. Recording by Arte.
It’s often hard to judge a “club” mix on it’s merits without the boundaries of the dancefloor. Especially when said floor is the hallowed turbine hall of Berghain. Paul Woolford continued his techno excursion with Carl Craig’s 20 years of Planet E tour featuring in a recent show at the revered Berlin institution.
Picked from a large and carefully chosen crate of vinyl, it’s a fine and joyous journey through techno and bass music which works perfectly well beyond the club. Wooly’s decision to use only records (in our view the most appropriate medium for electronic music) certainly gives the mix a certain je ne sais quoi and great artistic moments are often borne from self imposed restriction.
Hit “play” and enjoy Paul’s warm-up of sorts, joining the dots between the genuine Detroit sound and the European progeny it continues to spawn.
Ten years after he became the head booker at Ibiza’s most credible and critically important party (We Love) at the island’s most influential venue (Space), Mark Broadbent‘s advice for landing a gig is impressively (if deceptively) simple.
“Make friends with us,” he recommends, “reach out.”
Well aware of We Love’s career boosting potential he’s equally conscious that every new booking means an established player loses out, a side of his job he admits continuing to find more than a little tricky.
“It’s a terrible thing to have to do to tell someone you’re no longer booking them and over the years I’ve dropped quite a few acts who were mainstays of our programming back in the day,” he admits.
‘You’ve got to remember that most of these people have become friends but at the end of the day you’re not doing anybody favours by just booking them for the sake of it. Everybody can tell when a booking has been made for those reasons. Still, it’s the worst part of the job and it keeps me awake at night sometimes,” he admits.
Pursuing a policy of mixing big name ‘underground’ names (this season’s stars include Carl Craig, Claude VonStroke and Joris Voorn) with rising talent (notably Deepgroove, Berghain’s Marcel Dettman and Jesse Rose), We Love is broadly centred around techno, though Mark’s keen to avoid being pigeon-holed by genres.
“We book acts from all four corners of the globe and given that we have six rooms to program you can often find lesser know genres like dubstep, for example Appleblim – being played in the club at the same time as big room house, for example by someone like Steve Lawler,” he points out.
“Music is our passion and we hunt it out in the best venues and parties and try to replicate what we experienced through our programming here at Space. This has also helped keep our parties very cosmopolitan in terms of our customers.”
He’s also impressively unflustered about the actions of rival Balearic clubs such as Pacha who made a dramatic move this season booking minimal / deep type Luciano for a season of Sunday night affairs.
“After 15 years living and working on Ibiza I have found that people who like to go to Pacha will go there but on the same token, if you don’t like Pacha for one reason or another, no DJ booking is going to make you go there,” he says.
“I think maybe we have lost the odd soul to Luciano this summer but if you’re a regular customer of ours, there is no competition really.”
Jonty Skrufff: What’s your take on 2010 so far: business as usual? Are there any significant trends you’re noticing and/ or pushing?
Mark Broadbent: “Attendance to We Love has been pretty much the same as last year, the numbers aren’t amazing but the parties have been fantastic. This summer will be a hard one again for many and the World Cup hasn’t helped but I’m sure all the main players on the island will see a big jump in numbers over the next few weeks. We don’t really do trends to be honest which is why we are still at the top of our game; keep the quality high and avoid all trends!”
Jonty Skrufff: How are the Ibiza authorities these days: towards clubs and Space in particular? Do they still mount drugs raids on clubbers approaching the club or monitor your closing times closely?
Mark Broadbent: “We have absolutely no problems with them as we stick to the rules in place. We don’t sell drugs behind the bars and we close when we are supposed to. The police here are not interested in people taking a few pills in to the clubs for their own consumption they are looking for dealers and they generally have an angle on this.”
Jonty Skrufff: Fabric owner Cameron Leslie talked this week about London nightlife being affected across the board by massive unemployment amongst the under 25s, how much do you believe Ibiza is immune to economic pressures afflicting Spain / the rest of the world?
Mark Broadbent: “It’s not, many businesses here have been massively effected and the number of tourists this past two years has fallen by over 30% in some sectors.
Jonty Skrufff: He also talked of the need for some ‘very grown up conversations’ about DJ fees with agents/ managers (‘the reality is that, the artist fees that are being asked for don’t go hand-in-hand with dropping attendances’): are you already having the same conversations? or planning to?
Mark Broadbent: “Good luck to him, although he is in a good position as one of the only big room venues in London that acts really want to play at so maybe he stands a chance of lowering fees. We have had this conversation once with a big act that we occasionally book and were very pleasantly surprised with the answer although it’s not something I’m going to make a habit of doing and I would certainly not make a point of doing so across the whole field of acts that play for us. It is easier for us as we have only 16 weeks in which to host the parties at Space so we can plan for most eventualities and figure this into our budgets, a weekly party year round party has its own ongoing budget problems that differ from ours.”
Jonty Skrufff: You spoke to AddictedToIbiza last year who recently described San Antonio as ‘ex-pat English wasteland in the sun’ populated by ‘chavs, teenagers, washed up ravers, has-been English DJs, first-timers’: how much time do you spend in San An personally?
Mark Broadbent: “I go there for bacon from Pete the Butchers once a month in winter and there are a few very nice beaches hidden in far flung corners that way that I’ll visit occasionally in autumn. Outside of the occasional visit to Ibiza Rocks in summer I stay away from San Antonio not out of any fear of the place but there is simply no reason to go there if you live in Ibiza Town as I do.”
Jonty Skrufff: Their use of the term ‘has-been English DJs’ seems a little cruel, how difficult is it for people to stay on the island once they’ve passed their peak in career terms?
Mark Broadbent: “Ibiza is certainly a cruel island to be on if your star has dwindled. However having said that if you’re willing to get stuck in there is always work to be found. It’s ego dependent.”
Jonty Skrufff: What did you do before Space? What was your route into club culture?
Mark Broadbent: “I was a refrigeration technician back in the real world. I worked as a sub contractor for two large breweries for ten years then decided that was not what I wanted to continue doing so left for India as many do to try and find out just what it was I wanted to do with myself. I came home a year later to find the country in the grip of the first recession so there was no work in the field I came from which turned out to be actually a fucking blessing. Anyway, misadventure and good luck in the shape of (We Love chief) Darren Hughes prevailed. Darren was looking for somebody to run his affairs in Ibiza for Cream and we – myself and my wife Sarah – were looking for a job we could do for four months of the year enabling us to travel for the rest of the time. That was 12 years ago.”
Jonty Skrufff: Why aren’t you a DJ yourself?
Mark Broadbent: “I’ve always been a huge music lover so for me this job is really an extension of what I love. Programming the nights musically means I can have a certain amount of input into the whole venue. I have been asked many times to DJ at ours or at other people’s events but to be honest I could never be a performer. To stand up in front of a crowd and be judged, the thought of it makes me feel sick. I prefer to be in the background controlling things out of sight.”
Jonty Skrufff: In the AddictedToIbiza article you also recommended bringing lube (lubrication) to Ibiza why, can’t you buy it on the island?
Mark Broadbent: “Because it’s a small island and there’s only so much to go around! This comment is a little out of date now as it goes. Since I first made it – as a joke – Durex have introduced their own lube and toy arm to the company and you can now buy lube and vibrators in most of the chemists on the island. How times change. I can remember not so long ago when it was impossible to buy condoms in Spain.”
By all accounts there is a special moment predicted for the Discoteca on Sunday. Endearing innovator Carl Craig will be joined by neo-classical collaborator Francesco Tristano for an exclusive live performance involving a grand piano, moogs and a juno. An electronic-meets-acoustic showcase for our post-digital age. To get an idea of what to expect, check out the video below…
Although the origins of Simian Mobile Disco lie in the relatively prosaic rock n’ roll territory of a bust up of indie band Simian at a fish restaurant in Texas, the depth and breadth of James Ford and Jas Shaw’s passion for electronic music is apparent on listening to their diverse but focused catalogue.
Below is a mix James and Jas have given us for our soundcloud page. We hope it’s a good indication of where their “wobbly, psychedelic, atonal techno” will be going this season, both on the Terraza and in the Discoteca. It’s apparent on listening how their sound has developed from “hip-house crunkadelic poonstep” to a love of unadulterated, long-form, four to the floor acidic beats.
SMD will be releasing a series of 12″ singles on their new imprint Delicacies. Each track in the Delicacies series “will take the name of an exotic, and often bizarre, delicacy from around the world.” The first release is Aspic / Nerve Salad a set of driving instrumentals, dark beasts with enough futurism to keep your brain occupied.
You will find Simian Mobile Disco playing an exclusive residency in Ibiza for We Love at Space this summer on the following dates – Sunday 4th July, Sunday 8th August, Sunday 5th September and Sunday 19th September. They bring an infectious brand of hypnotic minimalism meets maximal electronica and their sets are guaranteed show-stoppers from start to finish. So come on down for an act you won’t find anywhere else in Ibiza this summer.
You’ve got something to do while you listen, take a read of SMD answers to our 11 Questions. James and Jas, over to you…
Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
James: The first book I really remember having and impact on me was The Twits by Roald Dahl. It was gruesome and funny and really opened up my imagination as a child.
Jas:Über Sinn und Bedutung by Gottlob Frege is one of the most interesting books I’ve read. Not exactly a page turner but it outlines an alternative logic to that set out by Aristotle. The paradigm is not without it’s flaws but it was instrumental in opening up enquiry into the basic logic of language and meaning rather than assuming it to be sound.
Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
James: There was always a lot of music in the house when I was growing up and my parents forced me to learn piano, which I hated but now I’m thankful for. My dad played in a band so there were often instruments around the house that I could learn on. I was playing in a band by the age of ten so my parents had no option but to support me, although they often asked when I was going to get a “proper job”.
Jas: No, quite the reverse. In fact they still ask me when I’m getting a proper job. Slightly annoying but I can’t really blame them, the music industry is irrational and unfair and not something that you would recommend anyone to get involved in. That said, I love making music and never forget what a privilege it is to be paid to do something that you love.
How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
James: The good thing about music is that you can never totally figure it out. It’s black magic. Every day you learn something new which you apply the next time you make music but just because something worked once, it doesn’t mean it will work a second time. The more experience of making music in different circumstances, with different people, the better. Every day’s a school day.
How did you begin to work professionally in music?
James: I have played music from a young age and been in many different bands ranging from a 20 piece Sun Ra type outfit to playing in clubs. The first time I earned decent money was probably when I started drumming for 808 State in Manchester, although I was still at college. I suppose I became “professional” when our band Simian got a record deal after college?
Jas: I’ve been making music since I was a kid, playing violin then guitar and keys in bands. At college I got into recording and James and I started building a studio with some friends. The first time I could really have been called music my profession was when Simian got signed but I had been doing music seriously for many years before that.
Where is your current studio and what is it like?
James: The studio where we make SMD tunes is in Hackney. It’s a room basically filled with analogue synths, drum machines and odd sound processing boxes we pick up on the way. Each bit of equipment has a quirk or an interface that alters the musical decisions you make at every level. We have a computer but we try to use it like a tape machine. Most of the sounds are made with real machines and our hands. I think it makes you use a different part of your brain than when pushing a mouse around?
Jas: It’s slowly grown from a dodgy computer and an old mixing desk with a few guitar pedals in a bedroom to a rented room in a rehearsal studio with pro-tools, a vocal booth, tons of synths and some nice bits of outboard and a better mixing desk. Many of the old guitar pedals that we started off with still get a lot of use though and I still think that a bedroom studio is a valuable thing. All the fancy gear in the world is no help if you can’t get at it when you have an idea in the middle of the night.
How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
Jas: We don’t worry too much about marketing, I’m still a fan of the idea that good material sells itself.
James:I think any modern musician is aware of marketing to some extent. It’s hard not to be. There is a danger of being too self-aware though. I’ve been in a few situations where trying to second guess peoples expectations is detrimental to the music making process.
How would you describe your work?
James: When we started SMD we were aiming to make “good old fashioned analogue party music”. We have strayed through many genres including electro and pop but at the moment we are aiming to make techno. Wobbly, psychedelic, atonal techno.
Jas: I feel lucky to say that my work involves messing around in studios and then playing the results in some of the best clubs around the world. It really is fantastic and I don’t take it for granted.
Who were your teachers?
Jas: There was a shop in Manchester called Pop records and the guy in there recommended me a new record every week. Some I liked immediately, some it took a while to get my head round. He got me into many great bands, nice second hand vinyl copies as well.
James: Lots of people have inspired me. Some of them I have met, some I haven’t. The ones that come to mind are: Joe Meek, Brian Eno, Phil Spector, Graham Massey, Conny Plank, Rick Rubin, Vangelis, Aphex Twin, Oliver Huntemann, Carl Craig, Moondog, Prince, Raymond Scott, Delia Derbyshire, Sun Ra.
Your home is burgled but fortunately the culprits are caught and your possessions returned to you. What would you deem a suitable punishment for the burglars?
James: It really depends on the situation, what was taken, was any violence used, what were their motivations? To a certain extent, it someone was desperate and trying to feed their families then you wouldn’t want them to be severely punished. I would leave it to a judge and jury. Someone who spends their whole lives trying to administer fair punishment is surely in a better position than me to decide what should happen.
Jas: They’d have to wire my studio back up.
You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?
James: Excluding insects makes it difficult, as I would definitely get rid of wasps. I hate wasps. Pointless, spiteful creatures. I’d maybe get rid of rats instead then?
Jas: Let’s go for chickens. A strange choice you might think but lets face it, everything tastes like chicken; we are not going to miss it. Yes, eggs are nice too but other animals lay eggs and they are just as nice.
If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
James: I reckon the week leading up to man landing on the moon would have been pretty exciting. That, mixed with the late sixties cultural explosion and acid would make for a pretty fun week.
Jas: Quite probably a week working at Moog Music in the 60s, tinkering with synths and establishing the logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave pitch control and separate pulse triggering signal.
Many thanks to James and Jas for taking time out of their hectic schedule to answer our 11 Questions, check out below to get an idea of the kind of thought process which goes into every aspect of their work…
