Podcast & Interview for Electronique.it

Podcast & Interview for Electronique.it

I’m very happy to share my new mix (probably the best podcast I’ve recorded up to now) for the great Electronique.it, considered as the best electronic music webzine of Italy (and world-recognized for the quality of their podcasts). It’s a real deep introspective journey between various styles and surprises. Also, you can read an interview made in English and available in Italian too. I hope you’ll like it !

Link : http://www.electronique.it/podcastA2714C10_Podcast_Poisson-chat_E-P-171

Streaming :

Tracklisting :

01. Nico Gomez, Emilia Rey, John Barokskki – Drops – R’23 is moving in a fast light at day breaks & night heals mix (Poisson Chat Musique)
02. Photek – Glamourama (Science)
03. Schatrax – A question of timing (Sister Phunk)
04. Carl A. Finlow – Motion (Sur Muzique)
05. Luke Hess – Unity (DeepLabs)
06. Dj Spider – In the land of demons (Plan B Recordings)
07. Conforce – Fictional Environment  – Delta Funktionen remix (Field Records)
08. Baby Ford – Messenger (Sender Records)
09. Zadig – Maniac mansion (Synchrophone)
10. City 2 City – Black planet (Courtesy of Balance Recordings)
11. 2deepsoul – The deepness (Altered Moods Recordings)
12. Housefactors – Freestyle (Black Market Records)
13. Vincent Floyd – I’m so deep (Dance Mania)
14. Simoncino – Do it again – Gene Hunt remix (Skylax)
15. Roger 23 – L.A.D. (Neurhythmics)
16. Charlie – Spacer Woman (Mr. Disc Organization)
17. Morphosis – Dirty matter – NWAQ’s via mezzacapo dub (Delsin / M>O>S / Morphine)
18. Mark Du Mosch – Salmiak (SD Recordings)

Update (July 12th 2012) :
The mix has already been downloaded more than 500 times ! Thank you for the support !

+ Find out the review of Terra incognita (in Italian)


INTERVIEW :

To start out, can you tell us how you got into djing and producing electronic music ?

I’ve always been fascinated by electronic music. I’ve never been into rap, rock, skate, goth things… Always been an electronic-boy, since the first cd I bought (a “Dance Attitude” compilation with Corona, commercial dance stuff like that, when I was 9). I come from a small city in France, in Bourgogne, at 130 km from Paris, and in the mid-late 90’s there were no Internet or record-shops to learn about this culture and to buy records.

I’ve been “initiated” by my old half-sister who picked me up from time to time at school with her car, and she was into free-parties / teknivals / rave culture. Every weeks / months she went with her bunch of friends to crazy parties in the middle of nowhere, in fields, forests, industrial places, listening to loud techno, acid, trance, hardcore music for days. I was intrigued by these stories, and in her car she had a lot of tapes, and she gave me some from time to time. So my first techno experience is not the softest to discover this genre, listening to mixes from Manu le Malin, Spiral Tribe, Teknokrates, Radiobomb… These sounds and energy were so magic, so mysterious too.

Then a French magazine called Trax appeared, and gave away a 10-track cd every months, that’s how I started my musical learning. Trying to understand what the journalists named as “deep house”, ”detroit techno”, etc… Always alone because no one of my friends or family were interested by this music. Before the age of 18 I’ve never met someone who shared the same passion as me, except one friend which made me discover Portishead in high-school. I’ve started to mix when I’ve got turntables for my 14th birthday, and had the chance to make a trip to Paris generally every 6 weeks (holidays) to buy few vinyls and cd’s.

About composition, well, we had a Mac at home when I was a child / teenager, and unfortunately all the demo-softwares I could find in music production magazines were almost exclusively for Windows (stuff like Music Magic Maker and co.), that was really frustrating (I broke many times the balls of a friend of mine to go to his place to monopolize his PC in order to test the demos !).

I played the piano, but I already knew I wanted to experiment the (electronic) sound, the matter, not playing melodies on an exclusive instrument only. I had my first electronic experiments around 16, when a Windows PC finally arrived at home. I’ve experimented on a MC-505, for a while on a Korg Poly-800 an uncle had lent me, and on softs like Acid, Soundforge, and finally Reason. Today I still use it but far less (since the V4, when they have changed the sequencer).

Could you describe your current studio setup? What are you making music with ?

My main tool is Live, I use a lot the Sampler instrument (my favorite one) for experimenting, re-sampling again and again the audio matter I’ve created from softwares / plugins, synths, or from a microphone. I never sample music from other artists or use ready-to-use loops. Just audio from my own experimentations.

For drums, I use samples (and found sounds I record), and I rework each element separately. Working on the sounds, making them sounding really personal is the main part of the job. I’ve also integrated last year two modules from Vermona : an analog mono-synth (Mono Lancet) and a drum-synth (Kick Lancet).

I think it’s a good formula to keep a solid analog ground for basses and kicks, mixed with digital synths, in a software environment like Live with many possibilities about improvisations, experimentations, and arrangements.

How do you define/describe the music you make and play ?

What I’m looking for when I’m composing music, is an isolated, quiet, and peaceful environment (like the deepness of the ocean). Going like a fish(-cat) to a new world to express what I feel. With my music, I think people can imagine their own underwater stories, and swim into some nice places.

Djing is a little bit different of course. I like to mix (on vinyl only) various styles in a strong core of multi-dimensional house or techno, with elements of dub-techno, electro, (italo-)disco, more raw and minimal sub-genres, acid, NY / Detroit / Chicago / weird / dirty Netherlander stuff / French bits / German diversity / old and new…

But always surrounded by (any kind of) honest and real deepness. I really dislike when a dj plays the same genre during one or two hours or more, it’s so boring. I like the real musical trip dj’s like Roger 23, Delta Funktionen, Marcel Dettmann (specially on Sunday afternoons at Berghain), and some others, can express, beyond genres, beyond everything, with a strong personality.

Where did you record this podcast and what can you tell us about it ?

First I would like to thank very much electronique.it to have given me the opportunity to do this mix. It’s an honour to be a part of this renowned website. So, I wanted to do my best ! The mix has been recorded with vinyl records only in my studio in Berlin on two Technics SL-1200 MKII and an Allen & Heat Xone:22 mixer.

It reflects my taste for various (deep) electronic styles I’ve explained in the previous answer. It’s a serious and real deep journey between house, techno, and less identified styles, with various feelings (dark, light, introspective, abstract, melancholic, unexpected…). I wanted also to add some light Italian touches here and there… Like a wink to please (even more !) the local readers / listeners of electronique.it . As bonus, you’re the first to discover one track from the (forthcoming) Ep on Poisson Chat Musique (PCM04).

What are you working on at the moment ?

We’re starting the promotion of the PCM04 planned for September. “Drops” is a great song made by my good friend Nico Gomez from Brussels with his partners John Barokskki and the singer Emilia Rey. It comes with two killer remixes by Roger 23 and Break SL. I really love this record in every way (music + item) and I hope it will be successful. It really deserves it.

Who/what is your biggest inspiration ?   

“Biggest inspiration”? I can’t name one thing, or one person in particular. I have many influences, from many electronic styles and artists. And in music, I’m not faithful at all.
I judge the current piece I’m listening. It can come from an artist or a label I really like, if the new record is not really good, I will not buy it and play it. That’s tough, but it is how it works. I spend hours and hours listening to records in (web-)shops or on Discogs / Youtube… that’s my main process to find great music and weapons.

Since a while, when I’m composing, I like to strip-down the sound, and go to the direction of something around the early Swayzak’s material / mixes and the Theorem collabs on Minus THX. I’ve always been amazed by this kind of real minimalist (deep and emotional) sound.


Subscribe to the newsletter to not miss any posts here

Buy vinyl records in the Shop Musique
PayWhatYouWant to get PCM05comp / PCM06 digitally on Bandcamp
This entry was posted in interview, mixes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.