Due to their busy live summer tour schedule with Hot Chip, We Love… Space Ibiza will be the only place you can hear Felix & Al DJ this year, making their summer debut tomorrow night. Over the past few years they’ve really grown into the notoriously discerning Terraza and took to the Discoteca como pez en el agua. Through Hot Chip they’ve cultivated a balance between accessibility and high-concept pop music while through remixes and side projects kept a foot firmly planted in techno. Currently working on a number of projects, Felix & Al’s latest venture is Grown Men. It seems they will be using the moniker for their more rarefied 4/4 leanings. Their website is reassuringly sparse for a new undertaking as is their twitter, saying in the description: “Al Doyle and Felix Martin are Grown Men. We are DJs & producers who play techno and house music. We also play in Hot Chip.”

A recent aural highlight that has been on rotation on the office gramophone is Carl Craig’s remix of the title track from their latest album One Life Stand, check it here. It’s a genuine pleasure when high calibre artists from the We Love stable get together for a collaboration, especially when it’s as rolling, squelchy and punchy as this. One wonders how they met, maybe over a hierbas in El Salon…

You’ve got three opportunities to catch Felix & Al DJing anywhere in the world this year, and it just so happens they’re all in the hallowed walls of Space for We Love. They’re guaranteed to rock the house but the choice cut would probably be our opening party tomorrow on June 13th. They’ll be back on July 11th and September 5th incase you can’t make it to the white isle tomorrow.

Below you can check out a mix they’ve sent us to start the summer with and probably a good idea of what to expect on the terrace this year. Below the mix are Al’s answers to our 11 Questions.

Starting Summer 2010 Mix by Grown Men

Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?

And I can’t say the Bible, right? Ok, seriously not the Bible… Erm, well since me and Felix’s new project (coming late 2010 possibly) is called Lanark, then I should probably say the novel Lanark by Alasdair Gray, a pretty crazy book about a young artist in real and fantastical worlds.

Did your parents encourage you to work in music?

My mum bought a piano for the house when I was 4, so that was definitely an encouragement.  She also told me not to become a teacher, so I kind of took that as the green light to try to make it in pop music.

How did you begin to work professionally in music?

I used to do workshops with kids in composition and music technology amongst other bits of work, and then when we got signed as Hot Chip I jacked in whatever various day jobs I had and started making music full time.

How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?

Like any other learning machine I suppose… Coffee hot, don’t gulp down coffee straight away; Girl like nice smell, take shower before speak to girl; Ibiza people like when big bass drum go away then come back, take away bass drum then bring bass drum back.

Where is your current studio and what is it like?

Our current studio is near brick lane in east london, and it’s somewhere between a pro studio and a home studio – what Sound On Sound Magazine has taken to calling a “hybrid” studio.  It’s dark and windowless, in classic studio style, and it is pretty much home to our engineer Tom Hopkins, who maintains our wide array of sonic toys.  It’s basically one big room with loads of stuff in it.

How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?

Not much. We all have side projects to scratch the itch of our more esoteric musical leanings, and with the Hot Chip project we’ve been left alone by and large… I mean, when it comes to the album launches then there are various hoops we have to jump through, but that doesn’t really affect the music on the record, over which we have complete control.

How would you describe your work?

Pop music.

Who were your teachers?

Brian Eno, John Cale, Carl Craig, Dominik Eulberg, John Tejada, Leonard Cohen, Devo, Demis Roussos, John Dahlback, Jamie Principle, J.S. Bach, Robert Wyatt.

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?

Burglars round my area?  I think the crack withdrawal will be punishment enough…

You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?

Obviously humans, but if not us then it’s gotta be wasps.  Just don’t need wasps.

If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?

Ancient Egypt, as long as I was Pharaoh.

Many thanks to Al Doyle for the words and both Felix and Al for the mix, check out their new website here. You will find links to their blog, soundcloud, facebook and all that jazz. The tracklist for the mix above is as follows:

Nicolas Jaar – Mi Mujer
Santos Resiak – Carnival
Aki Bergen – Freak Out / Rescue Me
Pol On – Poloniusz Style
Mark Broom – Supersnout
Butch – Joy
Adultnapper & Mr C – Keep Off (Wighnomy Brothers)
Filthy Rich – Deeper
Sascha Braemer – Dirty Talk
[e]rik_Mnml – Lump
Alex Celler – Isolade
Makam – Hide You
Dimitri Andreas – Snickerz (Santos Guardingo Remix)
Walls – Burnt Sienna

Hot Chip – DJ Profile

Hot Chip – Official Site