Eigentlich möchte man The Juan MacLean die Vergleiche zu Hercules & Love Affair ersparen, von denen sie vermutlich schon genervt waren lange bevor dieses Album überhaupt in die ersten Produktionsphasen gelang, aber es geht nicht ohne. Ähnlich wie die Konsensüberflieger der letzten Saison halten die Labelkollegen ihre Zeitmaschine bei individuell erlesenen Referenzpunkten an, sacken den jeweiligen Präferenzklang ein, und setzen ihn dann in der Gegenwart konsequent zweckoptimiert zu einem postmodernen Popentwurf mit größtmöglicher Heißigkeit zusammen, in dem sich alle schon vorher gekannt haben. Wozu Raw Silk, Armando und „Being Boiled“ auf mehrere Tracks verteilen, wenn das nicht auch schon in einem zusammengeht? Überhaupt Human League, der Call and Response-Trick von Philip mit Susanne und Jo wird hier flächendeckend von John und Nancy übernommen, und die Haltung gleich mit. Dazu House- und Technopioniertum aus Chicago, Detroit und New York, der große englische Synthiepopsiegeszug der frühen 80er, die Wave-Abteilung von Italo, die Glitzerecke von No Wave, Munich Disco, Lime, alles was schockt und blinkt, Samples in nachgespielt, sowie obendrein nicht zuletzt die ganzen zeitgenössischen Produktionsergebnisse all derer, die das in den letzten Jahren schon immer geliebt haben. Selbst die eigenen Ideen klingen, als hätte sie schon jemand anders gehabt. Tja, und wenn das Potpourri dann wieder so viel beschwert unbeschwerten Spaß macht wie hier, macht das auch alles rein gar nichts.
This is from an old French movie soundtrack, „Le Casse“. I picked this for the string arrangement, because it puts a lot of emphasis on build-up, thus linking to the way Disco producers arranged strings for climactic dancefloor moments.
To be honest, I muss confess I don’t know Morricone’s works so well. I don’t think I have been a really big fan, partially because I don’t know it so well. My first impression of this track, which I didn’t know, was that it’s a formal composition. In my head I make a distinction between pop music, which has almost very definite rules, and people following it like Abba. It’s not formulaic, but there are very basic chord progressions that are based on Blues and Jazz that you can do in pop music and that have their own logic and their own progression. Many pop songs are actually the same song. “Good Times” by Chic is one kind of groove and twenty other songs sound exactly like it. It could be “Rapture” by Blondie or something. That’s pop music writing. And then you have soundtrack music writing and it has a different logic. It doesn’t have to follow a certain progression like in pop music, which has a reason and an impulse that keeps on pushing the song forward. When I heard this I thought it is a very good example of soundtrack music writing where you don’t really have to explain the logic of the chord progression, it just sets a mood. It makes an ambience. I think this is probably from 1967 to 71.
Good guess, it’s from 1971.
Because from 1972 on you start getting the big multi-track stuff, like Philly Disco and the more sophisticated pop, and this still sounds relatively simple. My first impression was it’s like a slightly cheaper copy of Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”, but with more drama. It has some very formal devices, like it’s basically a minor key. But at some points he plays the same theme but he opens it up with a major key.
Lately all this beautifully orchestrated obscure library music back is popping up again and people scan back catalogues for songs groovy enough to suit a Disco context.
Yeah, that’s interesting, and I think there is a good reason for that. There is such a thing as real music, in the sense that there were people who did music for films, like Ennio Morricone, or Giorgio Moroder, with a more naïve use of the rules, or the very sophisticated Henry Mancini, or Alec Constandinos, or Vangelis, or Jean-Michel Jarre. All these people were obviously classically trained and they followed the rules. It doesn’t really matter if it’s a Bossa Nova, 60’s GoGo or a Disco beat, the rules of the music don’t change. I think that is why everybody is going back now to find real music. When people like Masters At Work appeared in the 90’s, people who didn’t know anything about the basic rules of music started making music. That’s why it sounds so awful, haha. A lot of the DJ produced music doesn’t have its own intrinsic logic and sense. And chords, progression and melodies have that intrinsic logic. That’s what’s been missing. So everyone of this generation who wants to find out what is really musical has to go back to the 60’s and 70’s, and there you find it everywhere actually.
> Carter Burwell – Blood Simple
This is from the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers debut film “Blood Simple”.
It’s from the 80’s I suppose.
Yes, it’s from 1987. It’s a mood piece with a synthetic feel to it.
I found the orchestration is simpler, but it’s similar to the previous song. Again, it’s not a pop song with intrinsic deep logic. Like Bach’s “Air On The G-String”, that is also some kind of pop music because it has a very definite logic. This one has a formal piano theme that sounds a bit like Erik Satie. Simple chord, simple melody, a little bit like Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”. It is not original, it is a formal piece, it follows a form that other people have created.
You could maybe alter its logic by just putting a beat under it, and by not adding much you would have a really moody dance track.
Yeah, actually this is the thing. To be honest, and many people are going to hate me for saying this, I’m not a big fan of Portishead. It’s very easy to make a mood piece. Anybody can do it. All you have to do is take a minor key and play some stuff over it, doesn’t really matter what. I think Portishead never even use a major key (laughs).
They don’t have to, really.
Yes. I think anybody writing good music should move between major and minor keys, that’s part of the magic. Since we now accept that some people make mood music, you can have a whole album of just melancholy. Personally, that doesn’t move me at all and I don’t find it very interesting. I think a lot of people in this generation think that this is a valid way to do music, for me it’s not enough. Salsoul records only have two or three keys but they do it so well, there are so many nuances.
I think the problem is that many people think they can only sound deep by using minor keys.
Yes, you’re right. That’s very true. If it’s not melancholy and it’s not moody then it’s not deep. Which is not true. That’s very profound what you just said. Read the rest of this entry »
You managed to get in the spotlight pretty quickly on the back of strong singles on DFA records. Can you shed some light on the project and how it came to fruition?
The project has been developing over a couple of years. I have written music since childhood, and started collaborating with friends on electronic music projects in college. Antony from Antony & The Johnsons tracked some vocals for the Hercules project as long as four years ago. About a year and a half ago, Daniel Wang, a good friend and mentor to me suggested I present the music to DFA. He set up a meeting with them for me, and the rest is history.
How did the collaborations come about? How and why did you pick the people to work with?
The collaborations occurred quite organically, through friendships. Antony and I were friends for a while before we recorded “Blind”. Kim Ann and I as well, before “Classique” or “Athene”. And Nomi, I knew for a while before having her record for me as well. So, historically it has been about using the voices in my personal life. Read the rest of this entry »
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