Cosmic disco doyen Prins Thomas discusses the vagaries of process versus result in making music. New kid in the Discoteca jozif on the importance of crafting a sound. Philosophical Swedes Minilogue profess artistic inspiration comes from being a human being and someone has to play Joris Voorn’s records.
Featuring performances from Prins Thomas, Joris Voorn and Jeff Mills.
Grown Men
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
Here is part 3 of our radio transcription of an interview Jeff Mills gave to RBMA. You can check out parts 1 and 2 here. You can listen to the radio show in full here or download it here. The accompanying tracklist is as follows:
Jeff Mills – Landscape (Utopian Dream) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Blue Print – Tresor
Underground Resistance – Eye of the Storm – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Predator – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Base Camp Alpha 808 – UR
Underground Resistance – Final Frontier – Underground Resistance
X-101 – G-Force – Tresor
X-102 – Ground Zero (The Planet) – Tresor
X-102 – The Rings Of Saturn – Underground Resistance
Jeff Mills – Perfecture (Somewhere Around Now) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – The Bells – Axis
Jeff Mills – Transformation B (Rotwang’s Revenge) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Robot Replica – Tresor
Click the vinyl sticker pictures to hear the tracks.
Life in the Jeff-set
We started with Saturn, we chose it mainly because of the physical aspects of the planet, in that it resembled a record. We were interested in using very small things to relay certain messages so the label design was used as the main part of the explanation of the release and the music would explain or support it – in the grooves. So the Rings of Saturn was a perfect release. The rings, like a tree when you cut it open and look a the rings of time it tells the history of the tree itself. We looked at the planet as the rings telling the history of it. Months and months of research about the planet, and then we began production in the summer of 1992. From X-101 we learned that each of us have a very unique way of producing music. We designated who would do what for that particular release. Rob didn’t have that much experience at the time. He had set up a small studio in the corner he had very small pieces of equipment but very interesting sounds. So we designated that he produce very simple, very minimal type of tracks. Mike would produce more orchestrated strings because he could player better than both of us. And my job would be to have the more experimental parts. We would put all these things together and that would be the album. X-102 would be something we always wanted to finish we never thought that we ever finished that release. So that brings us to the year 2009 so we decided to go back and revisit it, update the album and create a performance.
Ring ding
I got an offer to move to New York as a resident DJ at a couple of clubs. Part of the deal of my moving to New York was that I would have to have an office so that I could run the label from there. When I moved and realized that Mike did not want to bring UR to New York, I had all these resources – and office, telephone, all these free things that this club had given me. With all this I should start a label myself! After a few months of thinking about it and thinking about the type of music I would like to do I came up with the idea of Axis. Until then the music was very song structured so you would have the introduction and bridge, even though they were instrumentals you got the idea that if someone was to sing on top of these songs that would be OK, they were structured in that way. So I thought that being a DJ it would be great to produce music that was more simplified so that you could manipulate it more. By limiting how layered the tracks would be – it would be better. Back then as DJs we used to really seek out dub versions and instrumental versions so that we could extend and create our own songs. I thought that producing in this way would set a tone with DJs. It was always my intention to make a label where the music was more simple, easy for the DJ to play and program. I asked Rob who was recording on his own label in Detroit, if he would do the first recording on the label jointly with me. It was called Tranquilizer, it was so different it did not take off so well. The second release which was Inner Sanctum by Rob only, did a little bit better as it was more danceable. By the third release which was Step To Enchantment, the Mecca EP, things began to take off, at that time.
Mecca steps
The label Purpose Maker was created soon after I had moved to Chicago from New York. I had no friends, I was basically alone, so I had plenty of time to produce a lot of music. I thought I can produce so much that it would be interesting to produce a case of records just for me. So records that were even mastered, pressed. But no one had any copies, I had all the copies. I had begun to make music just for me to play. Things like The Bells, Alarms, they were just for me. I had begun to play them as I was making this box, as I was playing them DJs were asking what these songs were. I got the indication that The Bells was something people really responded to and DJs wanted to have. So I said ok. Maybe I should make it available to release these tracks. That’s how I started the label Purpose Maker. Once I got he notion the DJs understood exactly what the music was for, and began to hear other producers and DJs try to emulate it. I thought the task is done, now I can move on to the next.
The bells, the bells!
Metropolis is an epic film by Fritz Lang that was produced in 1929, it’s become on of the most popular science fiction films of our time. There were many years that brought me to the point of working on that project. There were many discussions about how electronic music could play a role in cinema, where it might serve cinema the best and vice versa – what type of films it might work the best for. After so many discussions with so many people I thought that someone should do something, so I’ll try to produce an entire soundtrack for an entire film! Just to see what happens, even if it doesn’t turn out too well at least the news that I tried to do something, if that news got round to other producers, maybe it would give them some indication that somebody’s trying to do something to broaden and expand electronic music into different areas. So without permission from the film company I just went and bought a VHS tape of Metropolis, took notes, divided it into 12 different parts and produced music for each section. Many different versions for each section and chose one that would work. I went to an editing studio, taking the VHS tape and put the music that I produced to this tape. Then I began to search and find out who might have a contact to the film company in Munich that maybe IU could show this film to them of what I did and maybe that they would allow me to show it to other people. I did that, being lucky enough find a contact through Tresor Records in Berlin who knew someone who knew someone, who knew someone that worked at Transit Films in Munich. Luckily someone in that office was young enough, maybe an intern or something to know who I was as a DJ. They decided to say ok, they would give me rights to show the film for academic reasons, just for the example of putting electronic music to this film, we could have one of rights to show the film. That’s how the project came. That’s how I did it.
Underground Resistance – Official Website
A Lawler unto himself
Dynamic, driven and drastically obsessed with performing – Steve’s passion for electronica has seen a career spanning almost two decades, from the aforementioned illegal raves to residency at superclub Cream throughout the 90s and of course his residency at We Love… Space in Ibiza. By pushing boundaries, technically and creatively as both artist and businessman – we’re left in no doubt as to why We Love… Steve Lawler.
Steve has kindly provided a mix from a recent “after after-hours” session in a Moscow nightclub, something he rightly predicted we would personally love. He explains it thus: “On the Sunday night after two days no sleep in a very small, very strange, low lit, sleazy restaurant called ‘Ketamina’ – honestly. The decor is made for being out your mind, everyone sits on top of or under giant mushrooms… Anyway, I played there, I played very deep, trippy, slow, beautiful house music… and this mix is an hour of it…” Download it here.
We are delighted to announce Lawler’s six date residency for the summer, performing on: July 11th & 25th, August 8th & 22nd and September 12th & 19th.
Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
Wonderland Avenue, just because I enjoyed reading it the most.
Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
No not at all, quite the opposite actually, I constantly heard the sentence ‘Get a proper job!’ I dont hear that any more.
How did you begin to work professionally in music?
My first job really I suppose was playing some records on pirate radio although I never got paid, and promoting illegal party’s, they cost me money.
How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
The main past experience from my life that I constantly apply is atmosphere, and dare I say it, it’s not all about the music. I grew up in a time when things blew you away – not just that they would suffice. I started DJing when it wasn’t about DJs it wasn’t just about the music, it was about the party, the vibe, the sound, the lights, the friendliness, the ‘atmosphere’ and this is something that I always apply when DJing. This is why its more than just playing a selection of records, you have to play them in such a way you bring and experience.
Where is your current studio and what is it like?
I have two studio spaces, one is in my basement at my house where I write and compose most of what I do and also where I generally put idea’s together. The other studio is a room at Abbot Street Studios in East London. I share this room with my engineer, this is where we finish projects most of the time.
Long arm of the Lawler
Unfortunately it’s a big part of a DJ’s career now, something that has been abused by certain people and used to almost even create a career, which I dont agree with. But it’s part of the game now, some for more than others. However this isnt something that we as DJ’s get massively involved in, this is what managers are for, so in answer to your question no it doesnt effect my creativity.
How would you describe your work?
Not really a question I can answer. I dont want to sit here and big my self up or put my self down. My work is my life long love and passion. My work is my life.
Who were your teachers?
No one, there are no such things in music I don’t think. I had influences like everyone else, Doors, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Scott Walker.
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?
It depends on the circumstance of the culprits in question. Are they scum, aggressive thieves or are they desperate people caught in a bad time with no help. I think everything in life should be judged with integrity and acted upon in the same way.
You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would that be?
Lizards without a doubt, and this whole thing about they eat mosquito’s… well they don’t eat enough of them! Not in ibiza anyway.
If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
Without a doubt the 60’s… the birth of new.
Many thanks to the Steve for taking time out of his ridiculously busy schedule to answer our 11 Questions, you can check out our other artists who have answered here. Don’t forget to download the live mix and have a look at the video below to see Lawler an interview with Lawler at our closing party from 2009…
Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger to his friends) had to contend with not being the only famous son / daughter of Germany in Torino, Italy last weekend. In conjunction with our friends at Savana Potente; Ellen Allien, Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock flew in from Berlin to sample local cuisine and indulge in a techno marathon taking place over two clubs in the historic city. Here is a taster of the film we’ve made of the night (and day) with some screen shots to whet your appetite…
Like all good nights in Italy, it began with fine food
Queue in the park outside Chalet Del Valentino
Marcel Dettmann in the mix
Smiles everywhere!
Dania questioning Marcel Dettmann
Love from the crowd for Ellen Allien
Location for the after hours...
Ben Klock plays at the after party by the river
Have a look at this short video created to promote the event online. The soundtrack is composed exclusively and originally by Jozif to complement the visuals. The musical brief was to make something that sounds like Star Trek on drugs yet is fluffy and acidic and with something four-to-the-floor for “the heads”.
Apologies for the rather long wait for part 2 of this short series, it won’t be so long until part 3 we promise. There’s not much intro needed to (cliché as it is) one of the godfathers of techno music. Incase you do, check out the informative intro in part 1. In this transcript (part 2 of 3) of a recent interview he has given to the Red Bull Music Academy Radio. Listen to the radio show in full here or download it here. The accompanying tracklist is as follows:
Jeff Mills – Landscape (Utopian Dream) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Blue Print – Tresor
Underground Resistance – Eye of the Storm – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Predator – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Base Camp Alpha 808 – UR
Underground Resistance – Final Frontier – Underground Resistance
X-101 – G-Force – Tresor
X-102 – Ground Zero (The Planet) – Tresor
X-102 – The Rings Of Saturn – Underground Resistance
Jeff Mills – Perfecture (Somewhere Around Now) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – The Bells – Axis
Jeff Mills – Transformation B (Rotwang’s Revenge) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Robot Replica – Tresor
His Jeffness
It wasn’t until maybe about a year after that we had the opportunity to go to Europe together as a unit. So for a year we were working blindly, we were working off of what we imagined Europe would be like. We thought that America would be the same as Europe. We were working with Urb magazine on the West coast and Billboard magazine in New York. It wasn’t until we got a call from a guy whom neither of us really knew, we knew of him, we knew about him. Joey Beltram called us and introduced himself. He said he had just got back from Belgium and had played one of our records and it was doing really good, he had played it to a crowd of thirty thousand people and we should make more things like that. We were like, “Who the hell is Joey Beltram?”, but “OK” so we took his advice, make more things in that direction and see what happens.
Military attire in early Underground Resistance days
Hood, Mills, Banks
Underground Resistance – Official Website
Jeff Mills is undoubtedly one of the founding fathers of techno music. In this transcript (Part 1 of 3) of a recent interview he has given to the Red Bull Music Academy Radio, you can read all about him starting out on Detroit radio in the mid-80’s, meeting Parliament bassist “Mad” Mike Banks, the evolution of techno, Underground Resistance, traveling for the first time to Europe, Axis, rescoring Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, The Rings of Saturn and treading that careful line between dance-music and high art. Click the record label art to get an idea of the tracks Mills is talking about with links to relevant Youtube videos. Listen to the radio show in full here or download it here. The accompanying tracklist is as follows:
Jeff Mills – Landscape (Utopian Dream) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Blue Print – Tresor
Underground Resistance – Eye of the Storm – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Predator – Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance – Base Camp Alpha 808 – UR
Underground Resistance – Final Frontier – Underground Resistance
X-101 – G-Force – Tresor
X-102 – Ground Zero (The Planet) – Tresor
X-102 – The Rings Of Saturn – Underground Resistance
Jeff Mills – Perfecture (Somewhere Around Now) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – The Bells – Axis
Jeff Mills – Transformation B (Rotwang’s Revenge) – Tresor
Jeff Mills – Robot Replica – Tresor
The Wizard
Cooky batter
I was a DJ for many years before I went to radio, I had done residencies every day of the week at three or four clubs. At the time I was so busy as what we used to call a ’street DJ’. I really didn’t have an off day. I have always had this skill of programming of being able to cue records very quickly and smoothly, to manipulate three turntables and tape machines were things I learned very early. Now I still have the ability to do those things but just the style of music really dictates how I approach it. As music over the years has gotten more minimal and faster in tempo and almost to the point where you are dealing with individual tracks like you would in a recording studio, so has the technique that you apply in order to program it for people. Three and four turntables has become a way of dealing with that. Not so much reorganising compositions, but using frequencies so you hide sounds within the track by manipulating the EQ and layering, and things like that.
Now That's Funky
Eye Of The Storm
Yolanda - Your Time Is Up
More to come in Parts 2 and 3. From that Waveform EP…
Underground Resistance – Official Website
You may have noticed a lack of specific music reviews on the blog so far. This is because they are generally completely superfluous and can infact malign the actual enjoyment of music. So please understand the following is a recommendation: Night Music – a Steve Reich-inspired, five-track album of “loops and hypnotism” performed by Etienne Jaumet and produced by none other than Carl Craig.
Cascading compositions
It may look like the ultimate safe bet, Carl Craig being one of the very few unshakable pillars in modern electronic music making, but Carl did a lot more than simply mix the album. He based his work on a common musical culture. Long talks with Etienne about Liaisons Dangereuses proved once again that Craig is the most European of all the Detroit producers. He ripped the heart of the record to bring it to its full Electronic and Psychedelic life. Without adding anything but magic, Carl Craig took what Night Music was already was and enhanced it. – Ivan Smagghe
One half of French horror-disco outfit Zombie Zombie has joined iconic techno producer Carl Craig for a collaboration that may at first seem unlikely. However, anyone who has witnessed any of Carl’s galacticly epic sets this summer at We Love… Space in Ibiza may not be so surprised. This collaboration between Etienne Jaumet and Carl Craig indulges in their jointly held passion for synthscapes in a pinnacle of elegant Paris meets Detroit electronica. The opening track “For Falling Asleep” takes 20 minutes to reach its goal – a climax of astral proportion. The joy Jaumet’s exploration in this journey takes, with wistful saxophone and gentle but insistent machine rhythms “directed and imagined” by Carl Craig. This deceptively minimal epic subtly informs the listener of what is to come over the next 4 songs – tightly wound but seemingly infinite in their scope. There is a patient process at work in the construction of each track. Jaumet’s writhing, eerie synths are warped and manipulated between what sounds like bagpipes and Middle Eastern strings and horns. The autobahn-ready metronomy of the pulsing dance groove provided by Carl Craig gives way to melodic noise and anthemic classical sections with ominous significance. There are also peaceful acoustic touches which are soon swallowed up by crashing waves of sound. On the whole, it is a dark but enchanting piece of work.
Not actually on FM
The Dutch west coast and the city of the Hague in particular is a hotbed for the current techno revival. Intergalactic plays round the clock old, new and true school techno. The programming policy is brilliantly relentless. Intergalactic’s blog has a great feature called, “Portraits of the electro scene”, showing photographs of Dutch DJs and artists at home surrounded by keyboards and shelves of records.
The Guardian: Launch the Flash player and there are two other equally niche channels to chose from – Intergalactic Classix focuses on 80s-style synth dance and cheesy disco (every day at 11am there’s a slot I like called NRG Formaggio), while The Dream Machine is a kind of anything-goes ambient-space-jazz freak-out channel, and quite possibly the only place you’ll ever hear the instrumental saxophone-noodling soundtrack to an Italian movie called Porno Shop On 7th Street followed by an ancient clip of James T Kirk reading his captain’s log accompanied by some bongos.
Would make rats extinct
Q. Is there one book that you have read that has been life-changing for you?
A. Probably John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”. We had to read this in high school. It was the first real book (besides Silver Surfer comics) that I ever read. The book was short, but vivid in its description.
Q. Did your parents encourage you to work in music?
A. No, they pressed me to consider working as a electrical engineer or electrician. I wanted to pursue Architecture or Advertising. In Detroit where I grew up, Music was compulsory. Everybody was connected to it in someway, so jumping into that professional wasn’t really a big step.
Q. How did you begin to work professionally in music?
A. I auditioned for a DJ group called the Dale Willis Organization. My older brother was part of that organization. They provided the Dance Music for parties and events around Detroit in the 70s/80s. After begging him for months to arrange a audition, I got the chance to display what I had been practicing for and in a real club with grown up people. I was 17 at the time. Dale Willis liked what I did and started working at a club called The Lady in Detroit on Tuesday Nights. I was under age, so I had to stay in the DJ booth the entire night. It was there, Dale and others taught me how to program, read, measure and pace the crowd and a lot other things that I still practice today.
Q. How do you apply your past experiences to what you do today?
A. I think to be a DJ, one generally has to have a un-bias view of people and on the other side, a realistic way of generalizing. A understanding that the distance between you and your audiences isn’t really that far. Rationalizing is a big part of the profession. As a child, I could get along with everyone and never had any problems expressing myself. I think that at a early age, I understood that people are not perfect. This is only something we can strive for.
AXIS-001
A. The main one is in Chicago. It’s a small room, many keyboards w/ all red MIDI cords, 2 desk lamps, no overhead lighting, no signs or posters, 1 small window with a view of other buildings. In Berlin, it’s all on the floor in the bedroom. Using the boxes the equipment came in, the keyboards and units sit atop. I rarely use the return studio monitors, but prefer headphones.
Q. How much have you had to consider marketing issues since embarking on your career and how has that affected your creativity?
A. Marketing issues consume about 70% of my time. Between our label, Axis and the clothing shop Gamma Player, structuring ways to relay to people what we’re doing takes a lot of time, preparation and execution. For this, we’ve assembled a team of people that I’ve worked with for over 10 years to handle certain tasks. Because we creating so many projects at the same time, it can be difficult to make sure we’re all on the same channel, but we managed a system of shuffling information quite well considering. The marketing does not drive creativity. It’s the opposite. Every project is different and requires various strategies. From this, we’ve learned a lot over the many years.
Q. How would you describe your work?
A. It’s difficult. My actions are moving towards something, but I’m really sure. I feel that it’s important, but I really don’t know why. Luckily, work has never been a struggle. I’ve never had a creative block or anything – it evolves on a time system that I control. I favor the subjects of Science Fiction and the work is just a reflection of how I envision it.
Q. Who were your teachers?
A. My father and brother. Dale Willis, Arthur C. Clarke, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Martin Luther King Jr, Pierre Cardin, Oscar Niemeyer and many, many other. Without knowing their individual names, decades and decades of people at parties have taught me how to communicate musically.
Q. 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?
A. Moderate jail time. How much time should be determined by the true reasons of the burglary. Was the culprit committing a crime for necessity or preference? Was their a family or a addiction to feed?
Q. You have to make one species of animal extinct. Excluding insects, which species would you make extinct?
A. The Rat. We’re longtime enemies.
Q. If you could spend one week in any period of history, which period would you choose?
A. This is a tough one. Musically, I’d have to say in Harlem, New York between 1939-1945. The Great Jazz era. Spiritually, during the completion of the last Egyptian Pyramid to see what they were really made for?
