In discussion with Ken Vulsion on “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division (1980).
How did you first come across “Love Will Tear Us Apart”? Was it love at first sight the time it was originally released, or did you get to know it later on?
I grew up in a sleepy part of New York State. There was little access to new, alternative music there in the 80’s. Every Tuesday there was a New Wave radio show on the Ithaca College radio station, the DJ was Mike Weidner. He played “Love Will Tear Us Apart” on that show, which I recorded to cassette. This would have been in 1981 or 82. It was love at first listen.
The song is generally considered to be one of the best songs ever written. Did you have the notion that this song is exceptional, or was it just another song you liked very much?
It is exceptional. The newness and truth has never faded.
It seems that a lot of people attach very personal feelings to “Love Will Tear Us Apart”? Is it the same with you? Does the song offer more ties with the listener than others?
I was 18 and in a doomed love affair at the time, so it is full of associations – though I can now enjoy it as a perfect pop object, without feeling heart torn.
Would you say that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is a perfect pop song in terms of composition? Is the music just catchy or does it also have other, maybe even more significant qualitities?
I think at its core there is a perfect piece of pop craft. But it is the execution that it is so unique. Just compare the original to Paul Young’s version (which I also like for my own perverse reasons!).
What place does “Love Will Tear Us Apart” hold in the works of Joy Division? Was it the exception to the rule or a logical consequence?
Certainly a standout, though I certainly have new favourites. When Anton Corbijn’s film “Control” came out I got really into Joy Division again, such a great little film. The same when “24 Hour Party People” came out, there were some songs that really stood out (another great pop music movie!!).
Would you like more music to sound this complex, meaning that a song can be sad, beautiful and wonderful at the same time?
Yes!
Of course it is absolutely not possible to separate the song from Ian Curtis. A lot of the fascination of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” lies within his personality, and the way he sings about these very intimate problems affecting his life. Yet it seems other of his lyrics are hinting more at the trouble he was really going through than these. How much of the song’s power actually stems from listeners relating to this analysis of a dysfunctional relationship, and how much stems from the legend surrounding his early death? Or is it both?
I wasn’t aware of Joy Division until after Ian’s death. Some of the lyrics (i.e. ‘were my failings exposed’) got into my head because of my own confusion in dealing with a first, difficult love and suicidal feelings. Ian’s own suicide amplifies every word.
Do you think that the song’s lyrics contain more hints at other of his problems than the description of his disintegrating marriage? Or are such interpretations just the consequence of his early death?
Some of his biography was unknown to me then (his struggle with epilepsy). Back then I was into the song, but not a “fan”….I didn’t own a Joy Division t-shirt.
A lot of Joy Divison’s legacy seems to based on him being handsome and charismatic, his distinctive voice and of course his actual suicide. Thus he became his generation’s prime example of the tortured artist. Is this unfairly neglecting his true abilities as an artist? And is his status just based on the fact that he died, or is there more to it? Was he as gifted as he was tragic?
I think the work holds up regardless, same with Kurt Cobain or River Phoenix. The ‘twice as bright’ flame club.
I always felt that “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is already part New Order part Joy Division, even if at the time it was written there was of course only Joy Division. Do you think the band could have made a change of direction musically towards a less darker sound if Ian Curtis would have lived on, or was the sound of Joy Divison always dependent on its singer’s condition?
The sound lived on and evolved. “Your Silent Face” by New Order is an interesting bookend to “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Softer vocal, sleeker production, but still that raw sad emotion.
I always found it very impressive how the rest of the band decided to carry on without him. At first they still clinged to the previous band but then they really re-invented themselves. Did you feel they had the potential to achieve this around the time it became clear that they would not stop?
New Order existed by the time I first heard “Love Will Tear Us Apart” so that timeline doesn’t exist for me. I may have bought the Arthur Baker version of “Confusion” before the 7″ of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.
Tony Wilson, the head of Factory Records, was at first very concerned that Bernard Sumner would take up the part of the singer. But then he managed to develop a performer persona of his own, and the band did so, too. Do you think this was out of defiance, or was it out of trust in their own abilities? Or did it just evolve?
At the time I was singing lead vocals in a few bands (Identity Confusion and XOX were two of them LOL). I had an almost distorted confidence. I was shy, but defiant enough to get up in front of a small town crowd in leather jeans. Defiance can be a great motivator.
Since then, both Joy Division and New Order built up a legendary status in music history. Do you think their legacy can be told apart, or are they one and the same in the pop music’s canon by now, just with different phases?
Since everything happened so fast, the bands will always be connected.
Apparently Joy Division underwent a severe crisis due to Curtis’ condition. Do you think it could have happened that the others would have continued without him anyway?
Hard to say. Crisis is part of the band dynamic usually.
Are their elements of New Order that still owe to Joy Division, apart from being the succeeding band?
Maybe they were able to use the death as an opportunity to shift into a new direction.
On the other hand, would Ian Curtis have done a seminal track like “Blue Monday”?
I wonder if he was much into dance music. He was a very interesting dancer.
If “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is the timeless classic in Joy Division’s back catalogue, what would be New Order’s?
For sure “Blue Monday”. It’s perfection. And the record is a perfect object, just like “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. The sleeve designs by Peter Saville are sublime. He was as much a rock star to me back then as Ian.
Do you think it would be possible that another band would write a song similar to “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, and it would become as lasting, or will this history not repeat itself?
I live for new music that affects me as much. So, yes!
Im Gespräch mit Carlos de Brito über “Pressin’ On” von Hidden Agenda (1995).
Wie bist Du auf Hidden Agenda gestoßen? Eine Erstbegnung in der goldenen Ära von Drum ‚n’ Bass?
Es war definitiv die goldene Ära von Drum ‘n’ Bass. Wahrscheinlich bin ich im Dortmunder Plattenladen Entity auf sie gestoßen. Alternativ kann es auch Oliver von Felberts Drum ‘n’ Bass-Kolumne Wildstyle in der Spex gewesen sein. “The Flute Tune” war jedenfalls die Erstbegegnung.
Warum hast Du Dir “Pressin’ On” ausgesucht? Was macht den Track so wichtig für dich? Was ist sein musikalischer Reiz?
Ich hab relativ lange überlegt, welcher Song/Track in ein Format passt, in dem es um Musik geht, die einem viel bedeutet, die sich tief in die persönliche musikalische DNA eingefräst hat. Songs von Wham!, Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, Sonic Youth, Aphex Twin, Moodymann, Theo Parrish und ein paar andere Großmeister standen zur Auswahl, aber dann bin ich bei meiner internen Inventur über diesen Track gestolpert.
Er steht für den Anfang eines Zeitraums von ca. 5-6 Jahren, in dem ich viel Drum ‘n’ Bass gehört habe. Eine Zeit, die übrigens zusammen mit jener fiel, wo sich viele in meinem Umfeld,am Ende der Schulzeit, bewusst/unbewusst entschieden haben, ob man sich weiterhin für neue Musikstile öffnet oder nicht.
Ich erwähne das deshalb, weil mein damaliger Kumpel Rui Fernandes (mit der Kölner Interference Crew nach wie vor in Sachen Drum ‘n’ Bass aktiv) und ich mit unserer Vorliebe für solche Musik in unserer, ähem… peer group auf uns allein gestellt waren. Indie und Grunge waren noch alle mitgegangen, Hip Hop größtenteils auch, bei Mo’Wax und Warp trennte sich schon der Aguardente vom Trester, bei Drum ‘n’ Bass hieß es meist nur noch: “Alter, geh’ mir wech mit dem Scheiß!”
Insofern mussten wir beide alleine ausbaldowern, ob die Platte nun auf 33 oder 45 Umdrehungen abgespielt werden sollte. Der Moment, als ich nach Tagen (oder Wochen?) endlich geschnallt hatte, dass “Pressin’ On” tatsächlich auf 45 Umdrehungen gedacht war und hektisch zum Telefon gerannt bin, um Rui diesen Heureka-Moment zu übermitteln…! Das prägt. Wie bei “Verstehen Sie Spaß?”: Einerseits glücklich, die versteckte Kamera entdeckt zu haben, andererseits tief beschämt, so hinters Licht führt worden zu sein! Ich bin froh, kürzlich erst erfahren zu haben, dass beispielsweise auch Leute wie Martyn – wie er kürzlich bei seiner Lecture im Rahmen der Red Bull Music Academy in Lissabon erklärte – ähnliche Erlebnisse hatten.
Wahrscheinlich habe ich deshalb “Pressin’ On” ausgewählt. Davon abgesehen ist das nach wie vor ein Knaller.
In discussion with Justin Strauss on “Computer World” by Kraftwerk (1981).
Can you still remember the first time you ever heard Kraftwerk?
Yes. I think the first time I heard them I was 17 years old, in England, recording an album for Island Records with the band I was in at the time, Milk n Cookies. I heard the song “Autobahn” on the radio there and remember thinking how different and cool it sounded than anything else out there. I bought a copy of the 7″ while I was there.
What made you decide for “Computer World” out of the many legendary albums? Do you agree with many critics and fans that they were at there creative peak with this?
Although I love all their albums, “Computer World” for me was just the best. Perfect in every way. I totally agree that this was their “masterpiece”.
Right, we’re going to set it off with “Set It Off”. Basically with “Set It Off”, growing up in New York in the 70’s and 80’s, I grew up with my parents and my brother – my brother being a DJ since 1980, and there were a lot of musical roots in my household. I was always around music. Mostly disco and electro, stuff like that. Growing up with my parents in the 70’s, they were really big on disco and I was hearing everything from “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure to so many underground disco records, like from 76, Jimmy and the Vagabonds, or Crown Heights Affair. Old school disco. I always had roots in the family. My father also had a pretty big rock collection from the late 60’s – Sabbath, Zeppelin, psychedelic rock. That was played probably when I was really younger, but 74/75 my parents were already getting into disco at that time. The roots of the music were always there with me and I would buy records on the occasion. I remember buying Fatback Band’s “King Tim III” which was pretty much the first rap record, Michael Jackson – “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Let’s All Chant”, stuff like that. I was like 7 or 8 years old buying this stuff but I was never really into DJing at this time. My brother was the DJ. He was the one buying the records and DJing. He knew what was going on musically. I would say when I really first started to pay attention to music a lot, but I still was not a DJing, was around 83/84, and I was around 12 years old at the time and I was getting into graffiti which I was actually documenting on subway trains by photographs. I was travelling from Brooklyn to the Bronx. I was going everywhere with a camera – all four boroughs that had a subway system. The records at that time were a lot of electro stuff that was being played. A lot of freestyle like C-Bank’s “One More Shot” or “Al-Naafiysh” by Hashim. I still didn’t really know who the artists were and stuff like that, but I knew the records and heard them all the time on the radio. Around 84 I went to a break dancing club at a roller skating rink to watch a bunch of people battling, and I heard “Set It Off” for the first time. I don’t know what it was with that record but it fit all the movies I liked at that time: New York movies like The Warriors, Death Wish. It was just this dark record that was kind of like the soundtrack of New York City at the time, when New York City was just like in urban decay. On my way somewhere with my parents you would see all these abandoned building like in Berlin in 1945 in certain areas. Then taking the train to the South Bronx and seeing that…I have such a vivid memory of being on the Pelham subway line going to see one of the most famous Graffiti writers in New York called Seen, who was in the documentary Style Wars, and I befriended him when I was probably like 13. He used to airbrush t-shirts in a flea market. I don’t know why music always has a place in a moment that you can remember a certain situation. I can remember being in that flea market and then playing that track. It was just like the track of tracks. It was the soundtrack of graffiti, of New York, the rawness. When I got into techno in about 1990 and I went to trace back all the records that I’d been collecting and I would go back and listen to that record it just sounded so current. Not current to what techno was, but on the production level. When you listen to other electro records or freestyle records from that time, nothing has that 808 feel like “Set It Off” does. That production is just sick. The bassline. There’s really no other record from that time period, apart from maybe “Hip Hop Be Bop” or “Boogie Down Bronx”, that should have been the soundtrack to The Warriors. It’s just an amazing track. The irony of whole record being my favourite record is that it was produced on a label located in Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn, so that record was made probably two miles from where I lived. I guess Walter Gibbons produced Strafe, but it was made in Brooklyn. It’s a 100% Brooklyn. That record… the build up, the vocals, just everything about it…I could listen to it over and over again on repeat mode.
Would you say they produced a prototype with this? It’s a lot darker than most of the electro productions around that time.
I think it’s definitely the prototype for a lot of the future electro stuff that was coming out through the techno scene in the 90’s. Anybody making electro music at that time had to know that record. You have “Planet Rock” and you have “Clear” by Cybotron but that record just stands out for me. It’s such a better record. I love the other records but when I hear “Set It Off” the goose bumps come up. It sounds like something from a John Carpenter movie. It could be from “Assault On Precinct 13”, even if you can’t mess with that soundtrack. It is in the same mode as that. It gives the same feeling, and the same vibe and mood. Those eerie chord strings in the back and the bassline. You can’t mess with it.
> Ryuichi Sakamoto – Riot In Lagos
The next one is “Riot in Lagos” by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
This is an interesting track that Bones had turned me onto in probably sometime in the early to mid 90’s. He was refreshing my memory on records that were on when we used to go to roller skating rinks, and one of the other records was Kasso’s “Key West”. I remember he was playing all these records and I was like flabbergasted by the sounds and the music and how futuristic it was for 80’/81′. The thing was when I got into techno and I realised what electronic music was, and I’m hearing Bones and Lenny Dee – this is the 808, this is the 909 – trying to get my head around all these machines, and Bones was playing me records later on saying “these are the first 808 records, or 909 drum rhythm records”, and I never looked at the music I was listening to in the early 80’s, like Kraftwerk, as electronic music or acoustic music – I never made that difference in my head. I never sat there and thought “Oh, I like music with synthesisers”. When I heard this Sakamoto record, I kind of recalled hearing it but it didn’t really ring a bell in a big way for me. But it did ring my bell. [laughs] I was like “Whoa! What the fuck is this?” because I guess it’s got that Eastern, Asian kind of melody sound to it. That is a one of a kind record. There is nothing that sounds like that. I have never, ever heard another record ever sound like that. It cannot be copied.
It even sounded different to the sound Sakamoto was doing with Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Yeah. There is another Sakamoto record that I got a little later on, once I realised who he was, that is quite rare. Not many people know it, it’s called “Lexington Queen”. It’s amazing. It was released as a 12” and also a 45 as well. I probably should have been digging a little deeper on Sakamoto stuff, when I was doing my East kind of record shopping ten years ago, when I was looking for all this 80’s stuff. But I heard a few things by him that didn’t hit me the way those two records hit me. But “Riot In Lagos” is just a special record, what a special piece of electronic music. It’s up there with Kraftwerk.
It is pioneering electronic music, but from a very different angle.
Again, it’s got that Japanese sound to it. Whatever Japanese electronic music was in the 80’s, I don’t really know much about it, but this is a brilliant track. Read the rest of this entry »
Promomixes was a website conceived by Todd L. Burns. The concept was that DJs do an application tape for a club they would have loved to play at. My choice was Front club in Hamburg, of course. The site had a number of incredible mixes, but is sadly defunct.
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Original Mix) (Power Move) Foremost Poets – Reasons To Be Dismal? (City College Mixes) (SBK) Lovechild – Sweet Ambience (Club Mix) (Strictly Rhythm) Logic – The Final Frontier (Acoustic Mix) (Strictly Rhythm) The Utopia Project – File #1 (Nu Groove) Orbital – Chime (JZJ Oh Ya Mix) (FFRR) Circuit Feat. Koffi – Shelter Me (Digital Mix) (Cooltempo) Da Posse – In The Life (Keys Mix) (Republic) Nexus 21 – Self Hypnosis (Network) Heychild – Heychild’s Theme (Network) Nicolette – Single Minded People (Shut Up And Dance) Rhythim Is Rhythim – The Beginning (Transmat) Break The Limits – Hypnotizer (Break The Limits) LFO – LFO (Remix) (Warp) N.Y. House’N Authority – Forty House (Nu Groove) BFC – It’s A Shame (Fragile) Octave One Feat. Lisa Newberry – I Believe (Vice Mix) (Transmat) Baby Ford – The World Is In Love (Dub) (Sire) The Beloved – The Sun Rising (Norty’s Spago Mix) (Atlantic) Electronic – Getting Away With It (Extended) (Factory) Sister Sledge – Thinking Of You (Atlantic)
In discussion with iamelectron on “Don’t Fight It, Feel It” by Primal Scream (1991).
This single is an outtake of Primal Scream’s seminal “Screamadelica” album. What is so important to you about this track that you chose to discuss it, and not the whole album?
The album as a whole is an amazing creation (excuse the pun) but it’s “Don’t Fight It, Feel It” that means the most to me. Every time I hear it I’m back in 1991 and it still gets the hairs standing up. It’s one of those songs that I’ll never be able to disassociate from the state, time or place I was in when I heard it.
How do you have 1991 in mind, especially compared to the years shortly before and after? What made that year special?
The summer of 1991 was a major point in my life. It was when I decided to pack in Art College and give the DJ game a serious go. I’ve been around electronic dance music in one form or another for quite a while. I was, and still am a huge fan of New Order, and some friends and I started a Joy Division/New Order cover band at school called Funeral in Berlin. I had the bass and the pony tail so I was Hooky, haha! Then I got involved in a Goth Disco band. Don’t laugh! We covered Dead or Alive, Sylvester, The Fine Young Cannibals and our Hi-Nrg version of “Jolene” was legendary (to about five people). So I was really into the sound of drum machines and synths. But it wasn’t until I went to Edinburgh Art College in ’89 that house and techno really hit me. I stayed in halls of residence for my first year. In the room around the corner from me was this guy from Aberdeen and he was always with this girl from college that I had the major hots for but was too shy to approach. So one day I went up and introduced myself to him in the hope that he’d introduce me to said lovely lady. I never got the girl, but I did get introduced to Acid House. My new friend lent me copies of “The House Sound of Chicago” and the first Jackmaster compilation, and I was blown away by the rawness of it. So I started hunting down more records. I’d done a few bits of DJ’ing before, playing at indie disco things with a few electronic tracks thrown in; Factory releases, Tackhead, Nitzer Ebb, early Ministry/Revolting Cocks, The Residents that sort of stuff – and now I was sticking in these new House tracks, completely unmixed I must add because I had no concept of how to put two records together at that point. I started to meet more people at college who were into the House scene and we’d head down to nights like UFO; a short lived weekly party in Edinburgh that Optimo’s JD Twitch ran before he created the infamous PURE night (with his DJ partner Brainstorm).
Then in 1990 Glasgow became the European City of Culture and with that came late licensing laws and Atlantis at the Sub Club (with residents Harri and Slam) so we’d head over there and got to catch the first touring DJ’s like the Boys Own and Flying gangs. Then a friend and I started driving down from Scotland to London to go to clubs there. I was being consumed by House! By now I’d completely lost interest in actually getting a degree and to my parent’s dismay I moved back home (home being St Andrews, a very small, very insular University town on the East Coast of Scotland) to ‘take a year out’. I’d unintentionally timed my move with the opening of a night in the nearby city of Dundee called the Rumba Club, and from the spring of 1991 to Christmas of that year it was absolute chaos! During those eight months Weatherall played three times – and on his second visit he dropped “Don’t Fight It, Feel It” as his very last song. I had never heard a reaction to a record like the one he received that night – and I don’t think I’ve heard a reaction like it since. When the whistle noise, stuttering percussion and that wobbly bass line started the place erupted – it was madness!!! I’d love to hear a recording of his set because I’m sure he was mixing both sides; starting with the A side and then moving onto the “Scat Mix”. When that deep, deep, bass noise he briefly uses in the track came on the place went up another gear. So I’m on a packed dance floor going nuts to “Don’t Fight It Feel It”, surrounded by all my friends who are going nuts and whack – epiphany time! Sod college, sod everything else…I want to do what he (Weatherall) is doing! So I left the club that night…“and he was never the same again”. Yip, 1991 and this track will always be really important to me.
This mix was inspired by a very memorable Macro label night we did in Paris. Peter Kruder, Stefan Goldmann and me were invited by Hardrock Striker. Of course drinks in Paris clubs were expensive and it was Halloween, so everybody with a costume had reduced admission. Which led to a whole crowd in costumes. I messed up a few mixes because I laughed so much about the guys dressed as teletubbies in the front row. See photos below.
Odd Machine – Phase Out Instra:mental – Leave It All Behind Zomby – Tarantula Stress – Down In The Dungeon Shake – Indagoo Dread & Fred – Warriors Advance Posthuman – Callisto Paul Du Lac- Blow Back Ricardo Jefferson – The Egg (Part One) Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras – Memory Fails Me (Oni Ayhun Remix) Mark Grusane & Mike Cole Feat. Deanna – Time & Space (Vocal) Marcello Napoletano – Space Voodoo B.D.I. – City & Industry Anthony “Shake” Shakir – Arise The Oliverwho Factory – Disco Nights Rennie Foster – Good Time Charlie Octave One – A World Divided (Jupiter II Mix) Gesloten Cirkel – When It’s Late Iamthatiam – Inri Moderat – Seamonkey (Surgeon Remix) Patrick Cowley & Jorge Socarras – Soon (KiNK Remix) Ben Klock – Ok (Kenny Larkin Remix) Optic Nerve – Origins Oni Ayhun – OAR003-B San Proper – December 10th Dan Curtin – Other Tama Sumo & Prosumer – Alien Mutts Kirk Degiorgio – Isidora Roska – Sheppard Lowtec – Angstrom Peter Kruder – After The Dawn As One – Freefall Newworldaquarium – The Force (Âme Remix) dBridge – Wonder Where Kinf Midas Sound – One Ting (Dabrye Rmx)
Im Gespräch mit Sebastian Dresel über “Now Is Early” von Nicolette (1992).
Wie bist Du zuerst auf “Now Is Early” gestoßen?
Das war insofern einfach, als dass alles was auf “Shut Up & Dance” kam einfach Pflichtübung war. Aus irgendeinem, mir schlussendlich nicht erklärlichen, aber ausgesprochen glücklichen Umstand, hatten in unserem überschaubaren Mannheim schon Jahre zuvor einige Leute ein sehr feines Gehör für alles entwickelt, was in England so geschah. Interessant für mich ist diesem Zusammenhang aber vor allem auch das “Wo?” . Ich habe damals in der hiesigen WOM-Filiale (für diejenigen die sich nicht erinnern – eine Plattenladenkette namens „World of Music“) am so genannten “Vorspieltresen” gearbeitet. WOM war ein Franchise-Laden, was bedeutete, dass man in der Order deutlich autarker war als reine Filialen einer großen Kette, die teilweise zentral bestückt wurden. Und so war ausgerechnet eine WOM-Filiale mitten in Mannheim einer der am besten sortiertesten Plattenläden, die mir je über den Weg gelaufen sind.
Gregor “DJ. GO.D.” Dietz (der sich u. a. als “Brainstorm” auf R&S Records bemerkbar gemacht hat und mit seinem damaligen Partner auch die famosen TZ 8 und 9 verantwortet) – der, zu meinem immer noch anhaltenden Grauen, vor 4 ½ Jahren verstorbene großartige Freund, Musiker und DJ – hat die “Disco-Abteilung” (die Zusammenfassung der Stilistika in dieser Abteilung ist ein Thema für sich, auf das ich gleich nochmal komme) geleitet und Holger “Groover” Klein (der – das muss man auch unbedingt sagen, schlicht derjenige war, der “Breakbeats” in Deutschland vor jedem anderen gesportet hat) hat ebenfalls da gearbeitet. Ich stand also am Vorspieltresen und habe den ganzen Tag für alle möglichen Leute ihre Platten aufgelegt. Angesichts der anderen Abteilungen, die durchweg von ziemlichen Freaks bestückt wurden, war das eine wahnsinnige Vielfalt an Input für einen jungen Typen. So wird mir zum Beispiel Nirvanas “Nevermind” immer in erster Linie als eine Platte in Erinnerung sein, die zunächst einmal monatelang weitestgehend unberührt im Regal vergammelte, obwohl sie der zuständige Typ aber auch wirklich jedem aufzudrängen versucht hat. Ich gebe zu, dass ich an meiner Schule auch nicht mit Wissensvorsprung-Überheblichkeit gespart habe. Wollte ja monatelang keiner wissen.
Aber zurück zur Disco-Abteilung, in der dann die erste Stereo MCs oder Silver Bullet zusammen mit diesen ganzen Soul Sachen Marke Levert, zunächst auch dem ganzen Acid-Jazz-Katalog, C&C Music Factory, Archie Bell and the Drells, Mister Fingers, KLF, Chill Records oder Plus 8 und vor allem den ganzen wunderbaren ersten Warp-Records wie etwa Sweet Exorcists „Clonk“ in einer Ecke versammelt standen. Der damalige Manchester-Rave-Zusammenhang war bei Wave einsortiert und ich entsinne mich der Debatten, warum eigentlich. Zumal Holgers Blick auf Breakbeats sicher eher aus einem Zusammenhang entstand, der sich aus The Jam, Orange Juice, Clash und dem Factory Records-Backkatalog samt des ganzen On-U-Universums (den ich eher über die Depeche Mode Mixe und dann vor allem über Gary Clails wunderbaren „Emotional Hooligan“ erschlossen habe) und eben den späteren Manchester Bands speiste und quasi nahtlos daraus erwuchs.
Biz zum heutigen Tage scheint es mir nicht fraglich, warum sämtliche Nitzer Ebbs, Weathermen und Front 242s des Planeten damals eben nicht bei „Disco“ (und damit eben in der Nähe von Techno) einsortiert waren und insofern House, Techno und Breakbeat der Zeit immer auch „räumlich“ in einem Zusammenhang mit Soul und Hip Hop und Jazz standen. Insofern auch nicht verwunderlich, dass so Typen wie Talla später wieder nur Schrott gemacht haben. Irgendwie haben wir hier so eine Hacienda-Sozialisation nachempfunden ohne es genau zu wissen (zumindest ich nicht). Dass Holger dieses „It’s grim up north“ T-Shirt abgegriffen hat, schmerzt mich bis heute. Und wenn ich jetzt den Titel von Peter Hooks Buch lese „How Not To Run A Club“ dann fällt es schwer, das nicht auch auf’s Milk zu beziehen. Eine ausgesprochen wertvolle Erkenntnis übrigens, dieses immer wiederkehrende Phänomen des Dilettantismus.
Aber nochmal zur eigentlichen Frage. Auf „Now Is Early“ zu stoßen war zunächst keine Entscheidung aufgrund der Platte selbst. Ich kannte Nicolette vorher schon weil ich „O si Nene“ als 12“ gekauft hatte und das rauf und runter lief. Die B-Seite war ja zusätzlich mit einem „Strings of Life“ Sample bestückt, was eben auch den damals ja ganz eindeutigen, ja zwangsläufigen Zusammenhang zwischen Detroit und England verdeutlicht. „Waking Up“ war ja auch noch früher und man wollte alleine des Remixes wegen die ganze Platte haben. Mal ganz abgesehen davon, dass „Waking Up“ dann im Milk zu den allabendlichen Putzlicht-Platten zählte. In einer Reihe mit „Loaded“, „Strings Of Life” (Beatless), M1s „Feel The Drums“ oder YBU’s „Soul Magic”. Ziemlich balearisch ging es da zu. Auch wenn ich dieses Wort damals sicher nicht verwandt habe.
Warum hast Du Dir dieses Album ausgesucht? Was macht es so wichtig für Dich?
Zum einen die bis zum heutigen Tage immer noch nicht annähernd ausgelotete Frage, wie aus dem „Dance“-Zusammenhang (oder wie man es auch immer nennen will) auch wieder der klassische „Song“ erwachsen kann. Also eine Art Rückwärtsbewegung im Disco-Historien-Sinne. „Now Is Early“ ist eine Signature-Platte einer Zeit, die ich für mich als irre prägend wahrgenommen habe. Es wäre schlicht verlogen zu behaupten, dass sie mir damals als so besonders aufgefallen sei, wie ich sie heute einschätze. Ich empfand das auf gewisse Weise als normal, mit Ansätzen konfrontiert zu werden, die mir unbekannt waren, mich begeistert, aufgeregt aber auch gefordert haben.
Vielleicht habe ich sie auch genau aus diesem Grund ausgesucht. Weil sie für Stilprägung steht und gleichzeitig immer solitär geblieben ist. Aufregend ist sie auch heute noch. Als Mike Skinner auf „Original Pirate Material“ bzw. auf „Sharp Darts“ fragte „’ave you ever ’eard a beat like this?“ habe ich mich schon denken hören: „yeah, mate! I ’ave. Kind of.“ Als ich über die Auswahl nachgedacht habe, habe ich mit meinem besten Kumpel King Kummi of D*ruffalo Fame auch über „Road To Nowhere“ von den Young Disciples gesprochen. Eine echt schwierige Entscheidung, weil „Road To Nowhere“ so unfassbar toll ist. Aber „Now is Early“ verbildlicht eben auch vieles, was mir Techno jemals bedeutet hat. Von ihr gehen so viele Pfade aus, dass ich sie kaum zusammenfassen kann.
Die Assoziationsketten reichen von King Tubby bis zu Grant Green auf Blue Note, den ich etwa zur selben Zeit für mich entdeckt habe. Auch die für mich absolut glasklare Logik hinter der Verbindung zu Two-Tone und so etwas erscheint mir weniger über Umweg meiner wunderbaren Vespa, als über eine tiefer liegende Ästhetik zu funktionieren. Ich würde das nicht Mod nennen, aber den Begriff im Sinne seiner modernistischen Bedeutung muss man schon mal fallen lassen. Wenngleich sicher weniger im Sinne besonderer modisch-zeitloser Vorlieben dieser Tage. Aber es erscheint mir heute schon irgendwie stimmig, dass ich meine musikalische Identität damals irgendwie als Daisy-Age-Raver-Pop-Scooter-Boy gesehen habe. Aber damals war ich schwer zerrissen, weil ich vermutlich lieber irgendetwas von all dem richtig gewesen wäre. Was aber auch irgendwie nicht ging. Man hat eben auf dem Weg ins Milk Toots & The Maytals gehört und auf dem Rückweg Inner City. Read the rest of this entry »
Kaum ein anderer in der Clubkultur hat sich so eingehend und brillant mit den Wirrnissen der Liebe beschäftigt wie Lil Louis. Als seine Weggefährten und die Fanbasis sich noch die Köpfe über seine beiden durchweg genialen EPs auf Dance Mania den Kopf zerbrachen, warf er sich vollends in sein Lieblingsthema und verkaufte 1989 Abermillionen von seinem Liebesakt „French Kiss“ an Menschen, denen es weder etwas ausmacht, im Club massiv angestöhnt zu werden, noch dazu in Zeitlupe rauf- und runtergefahren zu werden (ich erinnere mich immer gerne an den Videoclip, wo Aufziehspielzeuge die Tempowechsel nachzappeln). „I Called U“ erzählt kurz darauf die Geschichte danach, und die fünf Versionen ergeben die narrative Struktur eines Mini-Konzeptalbums, in dem Louis die Rolle des von einer abgelegten Liebe Verfolgten einnimmt. „The Conversation“ ist dieser eigenwillige Jazz-House-Track, in dem er ihr am Telefon mit deutlichen Worten klarzumachen versucht, dass ihre Beziehung beendet ist und aus welchen Gründen. Er ist dabei jedoch mit einer offensichtlich hoch neurotischen Gegenspielerin konfrontiert, die seine rationalen Argumente mit bedröhnter Aufdringlichkeit ignoriert. Im Zwischenspiel „But U Went To The Party“ flüchtet Louis aus dieser Sackgasse in den Club, um dann bei „The Story Continues“, einem böse pumpenden Track mit fiebrigem Saxofon, den ganzen Stress auf der Tanzfläche zu bewältigen. Das nächste Zwischenspiel „A Series Of Events“ schildert jedoch die Rache der Zurückgewiesenen, die nach vergeblicher Kontaktaufnahme über Telefon die Clubs absucht, um dann ihre ganze Besessenheit an seinem Auto auszulassen. „Why’d U Fall“ ist der Epilog, in dem Louis sein Unverständnis gegenüber der ganzen Situation in einem unfassbaren Track entlädt, dessen schlingernde Leitmotive noch über Jahre durch die House- und Technogeschichte geistern sollten. Diese Platte ist ein immerwährendes Totschlagargument gegen die Skeptiker, die Clubmusik pauschal konstatieren, nicht über Partyimperative und Funktionalitätsstrukturen hinauskommen zu können, und das Gefühlsleben von Lil Louis war zu jener Zeit derart aufgewühlt, dass er diese Themen noch auf zwei ganzen nicht minder herausragenden Alben zu verarbeiten suchte, bevor er lange Zeit in Schweigen verfiel. Doch er war ganz und gar nicht untätig, und hat all die Jahre an seinem Großprojekt „Two Sides To Every Story“ gearbeitet, einem Buch, dass seine gesamte Odyssee nach der wahren Liebe chronologisiert, und einer CD, die aus Sicht einer Frau darstellen soll, wie ist, sich mit jemanden wie ihm einzulassen. House braucht solche Typen mehr denn je, aber wirklich.
You’ve been around for over twenty years and you were one of the first voices of House. Now you release your first artist album since quite a while.
Yes, for quite a while. I’m like an old relic, still there, haha. I’m lucky and feel like I’ve evolved with what’s happening in the music world. House people tend to stay stagnant or stay stately within their zone. I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to travel around globally and constantly meet new cultures and stay impressed of what they’re doing. With innovation you have to be aware of what is in order to take it another level and hopefully with this new album I’ve achieved and accomplished that. Taking things into another direction and stating to the world that I’m aware of now and what’s happening. There are still elements of my origins and past, it’s all about a fusion. Being aware of the world opposed to just an area.
You’ve made a lot of collaborations, as a featured vocalist with other producers. Now you worked with other producers again but what made you decide to release under your own name? Did you feel the need to make a step in that direction again?
Definitely, because management and a lot of people were like: “You are just featuring on other people’s album and it’s about them. They are getting the profile and you’re just a feature singer. Why don’t you put out an album?” And I was like, let me turn this around and do it back to front. I’m going to get producers to guest on my album. Read the rest of this entry »
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