A couple of years ago, a tune on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show made me happy whenever it appeared. The tune was called “Perfect Season,” by Break Reform. Now granted, I wasn’t familiar with the group but I knew was that I was looking forward to hearing what goodies were to come. “Fractures,” the debut album from the London-based trio, has upped the ante in a big way. Some would undoubtedly make immediate comparisons to Portishead, and I suppose to some degree that may be valid. But to make that easy comparison would be to simplify things, for at the essence of it all is a deeper shade of soul. It’s a very modern take on old-school-soul with a touch of jazz, complete with nice musical arrangements as well as compelling vocals and lyrics from Nanar. Simon S. & J. J. Webster are the main producers behind Break Reform, with Hahar rounding out the trio. Simon S. was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the band…and then some.
Most of us haven’t heard of Break Reform until one of your tunes found its way into Gilles Peterson’s record bag and, ultimately, his radio show. What was your reaction when you’ve found out that he was playing the tune “Perfect Season”?
We were amazed. Gilles is someone we always looked to for fresh and exciting new music, and all of a sudden he’s playing our stuff. It just blew our minds!
How did Break Reform come about?
We all knew each other from being involved in other music projects, and decided to see what we would come up with together. We found almost immediately that it would be the start of a very productive and unique project.
The music from Break Reform seems rooted in soul and jazz…very much like old-school soul with a modern downbeat flavor.
We have various influences musically, the main ones being hip-hop, jazz and soul; so it stands to reason that our music would have these flavours. Modern downbeat stuff or current jazz and beats are stuff that I play djing and listen to generally so there are elements of that in there too.
How long did it took the group to record “Fractures”?
About 2 years in total to write and record and eventually release.
Tell me about the challenge of putting out the album. It was released in Japan in September 2002 but it took until March 2003 for the album to get a release in Europe. What obstacles, if any, did you had to overcome to ensure that “Fractures” finds its audience?
The initial problems were the obvious financial ones, but we found a good independent distributor at the right time to handle the album on CD and LP. Also we felt we should release the album in early 2003 to ensure more of an impact because 2002 was full of great albums which at the time we thought we could not compete with.
You’ve been very involved with both production and DJing for well over 15 years. Looking back over that period, what are some of the most profound things that you have seen as a DJ and producer?
As a dj, it has to be my recent spots at the Jazz Rooms in Brighton with Russ Dewbury, seeing a mass of people getting down to hard core jazz and funk. I usually dj in London and believe me, this is a rare sight. As a producer, it’s no one thing. But being able to work with such an array of talented people is very profound and inspirational.
What was your reaction when “Fractures” was received with critical acclaim.
We were overjoyed and also relieved, as you never know if people will actually like what you work so hard to do.It also inspires you to keep at it and produce more music.
Describe the label’s Abstract Blue & Furious Styles.
Abstract Blue is all about soulful, honest music that people make because they want to, not because they have to; ie, not using music as a fashion accessory but as a geniune expression.
We are surrounded by a lot of talented people and want to have a way of presenting what they do to the world, ensuring that the records are produced, manufactured and designed with quality, which is what good music deserves.
Furious Styles is the label responsible for the excellent D’nell. They have the same outlook as we do, so we thought we’d join forces to release their records too.
Break Reform has been touring during the summer and fall, yes?
We did some gigs in London at the Spitz, Rubylo and the Notting Hill Arts Club. We had a great time, the people involved were all fantastic.
The band has released new material since the summer. Tell us about it.
We released a new 12″ of unreleased material, which included ‘Ghosts’, ‘What Do You Do’ and a remix of ‘Metropolis’. These are all from the forthcoming Fractures remix album called ‘New Perspectives’ released in January ’04.
Will Break Reform embark on a tour beyond Europe soon?
We will hopefully be touring the US, Canada and Japan in the new year,
but we’ll probably do some of the festivals in Europe first.
Reflect, if you would, on all of the attention that Break Reform has received this year, and what you hope will be coming in 2004.
Well, 2003 was a great year for us, we released the Fractures album which received great reviews from the press and dj’s and went on to become very successful. It’s still selling!! We managed to collect some great remixes for the New Perspectives album by some excellent artists for which we are very thankfull. Also, we had the opportunity to release music by the excellent D’nell and Low Budget Soul through our label, Abstract Blue Recordings.
The support and encouragement has been our motivation and without it, things may have turned out very differently.
2004 will hopefully see a debut album by D’nell, a second studio album from Break Reform and a debut album from Low Budget Soul, as well as a whole bunch of 12″s from the above artists plus Aztec Productions, Julie Dexter + more.
As Ocote Soul Sounds, Adrian Quesada and Martin Perna, respective bandleaders of famed ensembles Grupo Fantasma and Antibalas create desert- and sun-soaked psychedelic funk that entwines the grit and funk of the gridlocked NYC streets, with the voices and rhythms of the dusty streets of Latin America.
On “Coconut Rock” their third album, the slipped effortlessly into their trademark psychedelic afro-latin funk groove. From the Latin breakbeat rhythms of album lead-off ‘The Revolt of the Cockroach People’ to the cumbia bounce of ‘Tu Fin, Mi Comienzo’ to the easy guitar soundscapes of ‘Vendendo Saude e Fe’ featuring Brazilian songstress Tita Lima, ‘Coconut Rock’ is the third chapter in Ocote Soul Sounds’ unparalleled journey through sonic realms beyond.
The duo of Perna and Quesada developed their musical paths in eerily similar parallel universes. Though Quesada grew up in the Texas border-town of Laredo, and Perna came up in Philadelphia (later New York), both musicians straddled borders literally and artistically. Growing up on hip hop and the jazz and funk it was built on; both taught themselves to play multiple instruments; both had founded game-changing, booty-shaking big bands; and both were deeply moved by a powerful spirit of social and political activism, the spirit that was to become Ocote.
A chance biodiesel breakdown, which left Martin stranded in Austin, led to the two playing around with some song ideas together, hitting the studio and ultimately resulted in their 2005 debut ‘El Nino Y El Sol’. Four years and three albums down the line, they have evolved into a seven-piece live outfit.
Three Londoners met in the market one fateful day: Kathrin deBoer (vocals), Ricky Fabulous (guitar) and DJ Modest (decks) struck up a conversation and soon realized they had similar musical tastes. Ricky and Modest, who played experimental turntable and guitar sets in London bars, auditioned deBoer over a cup of tea and Belleruche was born. Now with numerous singles, three albums and non-stop touring behind them, Belleruche are well-established in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and are poised to take on America.
Things began humbly enough for the band. Initially, they released a handful of extremely limited 7” records on their own Hippoflex label, including the ‘Four Songs EP’. These individually numbered 45’s (with hand-printed sleeves) quickly sold out in the UK’s independent record stores and attracted a cult following in the UK and Europe.
With the buzz generated by these singles, in 2007 Belleruche signed to Tru Thoughts Recordings and their debut album ‘Turntable Soul Music’ was released in July of that year to great enthusiasm from fans and the media alike, garnering admiring reviews both at home and abroad. Belleruche’s second, more bluesy sophomore album “The Express” thrilled its fanbase while also bringing them to the wider world’s attention and garnering many listeners. The first single “Anything You Want (Not That)” was awarded the coveted Single Of The Week spot on iTunes and the album hit Number One in the iTunes electronic album chart.
With their third full length now reaching audiences new and old, ‘270 Stories’ sees the trio hitting their stride with style, tying together all that is distinctive about their off-kilter mix-up of scratchy beats, bluesy guitar and soulful, honeycomb vocals that we know and love, with the unmistakable vibe of a band pushing forward without pretension, letting their ideas roam free and lead them to a new place. In their own words it is “layered, tougher, more aggressive and possibly at the same time more introspective” than their previous, highly acclaimed, long players.
Kathrin deBoer ups the ante with multi-layered harmonies that see her skirting the line between sugary and spiky, with a distinctly doo-wop style making an appearance on some tracks. In addition to his unique, bluesy lead stylings, guitarist Ricky Fabulous plays a lot more bass on this album, which makes for a dynamic and irresistible melodic interplay between basslines and vocals. More new and exciting sonic surprises include tougher edged beats from turntablist DJ Modest, exploring darker, contemporary influences; all this alongside more rigorous attention to song arrangements and form, harnessing the beautifully dishevelled, charmingly chaotic energy of their music for a powerful result.
Belleruche have played a range of festival dates at home and abroad, including Glastonbury and the Montreux Jazz Festival, where they struck up an impromptu jam with The Raconteurs and Vampire Weekend that was reportedly one of the highlights of the festival. The trio have developed a new live show to match the new developments of “270 Stories”: “We’re playing new stuff in new ways: Ricky is playing bass on stage now for some songs, Kathrin’s using loopers and guitar delay pedals and Modest is using Abelton and loads of new things he doesn’t really understand.” With a great reputation already for their live performances, these new developments – described in characteristic self-effacing style – are set to add another level of intrigue. Look out for headline album tours of the UK, Europe and North America later this year, but first you can catch them at a host of major festivals this summer, including the Secret Garden Party, Bestival and the Big Chill.
Mundovibe Editor John C. Tripp caught up with the extremely affable and good humored Kathrin deBoer over Skype and a cup of tea to discuss the band’s influences, inspirations and what to expect from their tour for “270 Stories”.
MundoVibe: You’ve been compared to, to some degree, Portishead or the like. I don’t want to start by drawing comparisons; I’m talking more about traditions. Your music taps into the blues but it’s also modern, so you’re carrying forth a certain state of mind and music. It’s interesting how you’ve done that.
Kathrin deBoer: I think it probably helps that all of us have come from very different backgrounds. DJ Modest comes very much from a hip hop background and soul and funk. Ricky Fabulous is definitely involved in hip hop but not to the degree of DJ Modest. He was into all kinds of music, a lot of gypsy jazz—Django Reindhart’s his idol. And then I came from a jazz background, so it’s inevitable just because of the setup that comparisons would be drawn to trip hop artists. But, out of all of us we didn’t actually get into the era when it was popular in 2002. It just wasn’t our thing, we were listening to funk and soul and obscure hip hop records, so it’s interesting and I don’t think it’s actually such a bad thing drawing comparisons, it’s an entry point to understand what you’re trying to do. But then they need to keep an open mind to what’s actually there as well. Because I don’t think we sound like Portishead at all. Yes, there’s some heavy beats and there’s a female vocalist but I think that’s where the comparisons should be left and move onto something a little bit more open. It’s very hard for us to be able to describe our music because we’re just playing or creating or making what we feel we enjoy or what feels good to us. So, there isn’t this “oh, we need to make it a certain style of music, or we need to make trip hop or blues music”, it’s just what we feel, we quite hedonistic that way it seems.
MV: You’re onto your third album so you’re quite seasoned. You’ve been on the live circuit and you’re very much an established band as opposed to just a project.
KD: Oh gosh yeah. Our live show started off being a jam session in a bar in Islington and from there it just grew. It’s just a natural progression and evolution that we’ve come from that place to doing full shows. And for our album launch, which is here in London, we’ve invited some other musicians to come and join us. Which is the first time we’ve felt we needed to because everything grew in the studio: our music and the sounds grew so to do some of those tunes live it’s a perfect opportunity to bring some other people in.
MV: I’ve noticed in “Clockwatching”, your first single, it’s got that driving bassline and from the press release you’ve got a bass guitarist that’s joining you.
KD: Well, we were meant to have a double bass player come and join us but the lady that we were hoping to get, she got double booked so she won’t be able to do ours. It turned out that I needed to learn the bass pretty quick so we went and bought one last week, I’d been using Ricki’s bass, so I’ve been learning for a month. So, one of the tracks I’ll be able to play.
MV: That should be interesting.
KD: (laughs). It should be very interesting. Ricky’s been very kind and he’s arranged the track quite easily for me because I’ve never played bass but it should be fun.
MV: Well, you know Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads didn’t know how to play the bass and they were a band.
KD: Hmm, I’m sure those comparisons will be made straight away because we’ve been learning for three weeks. But it’s fun, it’s great that music makes you do things that you never thought you would do and it just makes you a bit more adventurous.
MV: And you clearly have fun with it.
KD: Yeah, it’s got to be. Otherwise it’s not really what you should be doing. I think music is one of those things that needs to be fun, otherwise what’s the point? You’re making music to make other people feel good as well as yourself so if one of those things don’t really work I don’t really see the point. It needs to be enjoyable, the creative process needs to be enjoyable.
MV: Talking about how your music might affect people, a lot of your lyrics and your subject matter seem to be around personal or human issues. There’s a lot of “we” or “me” in there or “I” and of course the question would be are these your experiences or observations and where does this material come from?
KD: I think it’s both really, it’s from personal experience but also from observations. Perhaps I’m a little bit lazy but I’ll make something first person if it’s, say, something happening to a friend. Yeah, I’ve tried to get out of that “you” and “we” and “me” and all of that kind of vocabulary, which I think I’ve achieved a few times but I must say that I find it easier to write things in first person. But things like “Ginger Wine”, I do think I mention “we” in there – “I’m the stranger one can trust” – but it’s more metaphorical really. There’s a musician called Mulatu Astatke who I got to know last summer and we went out for dinner and he told me these wonderfull ridiculous stories about him playing all over the world and travelling by ship to all of these cities and him playing with Duke Ellington and these sorts of things. Somehow I felt very poetic, so ‘Ginger Wine’ was a product of just meeting and getting to know Mulatu.
MV: Yeah, he’s a legend.
KD: He’s a bit of a legend (laughs). He’s a lovely human being and he’s very enthusiastic and he’s not the youngest of musicians that is touring but he manages just so well and I think it is just because he enjoys it so much and he still enjoys the creative process. I don’t think in any way he’s become complacent or he says “I’ve done what I needed to do”. He just continues to try and do something different and I think that’s admirable. He’s been in the industry for a good part of his life.
So, lyrically, I suppose a lot of it’s personal but inspiration comes from many different things, it could be just observations or watching people on a bus or in a café but they’re all different.
MV: The three of you have quite an interplay in your music, it’s a completely unified sound. How on earth do you all come together to do this?
KD: I think that comes down to the amount of time we spend together and starting from the basics, starting from the bottom. Ricky always knew how to play the guitar but all of us kind of understanding our roles and I think all of us respecting each other and what each of us bring into the group. That underpins the fact that there’s always room for each of us to say something or do something and that comes out musically I suppose.
MV: Let’s go into “270 Stories” and you’ve got 11 tracks on there, everything from ‘Clockwatching’ the first single to a song called ‘Churro’ which is a delicious little dessert.
KD: (laughs) We eat them in France a lot, tastey and fatty. Yes, churros have got us through many a good gig.
MV: How would you describe “270 Stories”?
KD: Oh God, that’s really hard. Turntable soul music, and it’s just a progression from what we’ve done before. It’s just a bit harder and better, as in better produced. And we’ve all learned how to use certain bits and pieces that make music (laughs). Yeah, we’ve all gotten better at it. So, to describe it I’d say it’s still turntable soul music and within that it’s too hard for me to deconstruct it and define it as blues, soul, funk, jazz, hip hop: it’s all in there.
MV: Again, you’re probably taking your backgrounds and coming together. The Django Rheinhart of Ricky and the hip hop of DJ Modest and your jazz background. You know, I’m quite amazed at how you all met, it seems quite fateful, I’m sure you look back on it in that way.
KD: Yeah, theres’s these small things that happen that change your life and direct you in certain ways but it’s always about choices isn’t it? You make a choice every day to do certain things or to be in certain places, which you get to meet certain people. That’s the fun of it.
MV: Have you performed in the United States or is this going to be the next touring area?
KD: Belleruche hasn’t performed in the United States yet but we’re just hoping the visas will get through and then we’ve already got some shows booked in but of course that’s pending on the visa issue. But I came there a couple years ago and played with the Giant Step people, with Nickodemus and Nappy G on the 4th of July and at Water Taxi Beach.
MV: Turntables on the Hudson?
KD: That’s the one, yeah.
MV: I know Nickodemus, he’s a good guy.
KD: Yeah, he’s lovely. But that was pretty much off the record. But we’re really looking forward to it, it will be so interesting because people have made comments that sometimes our music sounds a little American, as in inspiration.
MV: I read that you have a new studio that you recorded “270 Stories” in, is that right? Called the basement.
KD: Yeah, well it was a basement and now it’s been all packed up because DJ Modest has left that place. It was kind of a massive space where you could ride your bicycle in the front, and that was their living room. And then in the front underneath the street and there was the studio and it was brilliant and I think it really shaped the sound of the album because we had a specific space which was just for writing music and a space where when we went there was like ‘now I’ve got to get to work’. Because beforehand we just recorded wherever we could, which had been people’s spare rooms. That definitely wasn’t set up for recording music. We did our best, trying to make rooms sound quite dead and put blankets up and DJ Modest did construct a few wooden, kind of strange looking apparatuses to hang things over to try and work but that part was really, really fun but not sustainable. We wanted to step up the sound and we wanted to do the best thing we could. So, having that setup, that subterranean studio was fantastic, it really helped.
MV: And you’re still in control of everything, in terms of the production and the final mixing?
KD: Yeah, we’ve kept that always in-house and that’s always been ours. DJ Modest does a lot of the production work but we all agree on the final sound. He has a lot of patience with these sorts of things – I have to say that I don’t have that much patience for tuning a kettle drum over a couple of hours, that sounds like torture (laughs). But unfortunately we don’t have that studio anymore, but we’re all geared up for touring anyhow.
MV: You certainly have a busy schedule.
KD: Yeah, it is! You get a spare moment and you think ‘Oh, I should be doing something’. Yeah, we’ve got a great tour in France, the U.K. and coming to America, I think that works out nicely with the visas as I said and after that we’ll take a month off for Christmas and family stuff and then start again in Australia and New Zealand and then America, hopefully for South by Southwest. And then, yeah, Switzerland, Germany and back to France.
MV: The three of you must have a good understanding of one another to tour so much, and create music . What’s the dynamic of the three of you?
KD: The dynamic (laughs), I think that would be different for each of us. I think we all give each other enough space and we know the signs when someone’s a bit either pissed off or needs their space. So, that’s easy to do, because there’s three of us you know? That one person can go off and do whatever they want for a bit and the other two don’t get lonely or whatever (laughs). With three people I think the dynamic is I suppose quite easy.
MV: That’s good.
KD: But we genuinely like each other as people as well and that helps as well.
MV: And you’re kind of in a good family with the Tru Thoughts people. They have clearly embraced you and you’re growing with them, which these days is kind of rare.
KD: I think so because a lot of record companies want you to do certain things or they have their vision of what you should be. When we started up I think we were quite strong in defining who we were, which as just us you know? We’ve had people say, ‘why don’t you get a drummer?’ and a bass player and ‘you need a string section’ or whatever. But that’s not the point, the point is we have a sort of do it yourself kind of sound. And Tru Thoughts, they were quite happy to endulge us in that. So, we’ve been very very lucky that when we’ve given them music they’ve like it and we’ve not had to go back and change anything. I don’t think that’s how they operate either. So, yeah, we’ve had freedom to do what we’ve wanted to do musically and I think that’s quite lucky. But I think that’s also why we chose an independent label to sign to because you do have a relationship with the people putting your music out and getting it around the world.
MV: Now, you’re already at a certain level of success and of course there’s always that “next”. What would be that next that would be something you’d shoot for?
KD: (laughs) Oh yeah, those plans. I think we’ve been in the business long enough to realize that it doesn’t matter what you plan or which you think, you’ve just got to take what comes. So, on a short term I’d love to be invited to play at the Montreux Jazz Festival again just because it’s an amazing institution and they invited us previously and we thought ‘oh, maybe they got the wrong band?’ but apparently they hadn’t. I think being invited back to a place like Montreux Jazz Festival, that would be really really cool. I think being able to get to a point where you have a few more choices as in, you want to do a tour and you can do that sustainably and so we would be able to dictate ‘well we’ll be taking the train instead of airplanes’ so we’ll need to have a day off there. And for that to be economically feasible so we could do it the way we like to do it. That would be a great luxury. But to keep making music – we’ll just see how it goes. I don’t like to put money into the equation but it is a fact of life that you need to be able to live and with digital down loads and the movement of music I think touring is the way that you need to be able to secure that.
MV: You know who comes here to the States on tour quite frequently is the New Mastersounds. Are you familiar with their music? It seems like they’re here touring constantly.
KD: Working hard (laughs).
MV: Yeah, getting out there with their music and they’ve been embraced here. I guess the reason I brought them up is because I would hope that you would be touring here in the States on a regular basis in the future.
KD: That would be amazing, it’s such an enormous country, that would be brilliant. I’d love that. It’s an enormous country and the States are so different and people are so different. It’d just be amazing if we could.
MV: But as of now I know that you’re very popular in Europe and particularly in France.
KD: Yeah, France it’s key for us. I think it’s grown that way because early on we had radio support. National radio like FIP and NOVA. I think it’s still very powerful being on the radio. We had some radio play, we’ve had a lot more radio play for this album already – we’ve had early support in the UK again in France and Switzerland. I think that’s still very much a key part of being able to tour in places if you have that radio support.
MV: You actually had support here in the States with public radio with a Song, I think, of the Week?
MV: You mentioned the digital downloads and the fact that everything is so digital and online – is that something you are actively involved in? Because you’ve got podcasts that I listened to – and that’s cool to listen to and it sort of brings people into your mindset.
KD: Into our little world.
MV: Yeah, the chocolate and beer and podcasts.
KD: (laughs) Our favorite things, yeah. Digital communication is fantastic. To be able to hear music that someone’s made in their bedroom, you know, a couple days after it’s been made and for that to have the potential distribution around the world – that’s awesome.
MV: Do you ever feel that you always have to be on it – on Facebook – or are you all kind of distanced from all that to some degree?
KD: To some degree we’re not as proactive as a lot of bands. It’s just because we like to do other things like make music. We self manage at the moment so there’s a lot of other things to deal with. So, we try to keep on top of it with Facebook and Twitter. And, as anybody who follows us on these knows, we’re not that good at it (laughs), because we’re just busy doing other things. We do try but we’re definitely not that active. We have been told we should be more but it’s all of that balancing of stuff. I just think it’s a brilliant resource and it’s available to everyone – it’s a good thing to be involved in.
MV: You live in London and London is clearly a big inspiration for you, a big part of your lives. How does that filter into what you’re doing with your music?
KD: There’s always something to do in London and there’s always something to hear. If you feel – I don’t get bored but if you do feel ‘oh, I want to be inspired’ all you have to do is leave your front door and just go wander about and meet up with some friends and go to the pub and it’s more than likely that you’ve got a band playing in the corner of that pub that’s starting out or they could well be people like Kit Downes you know, just playing in the pub with some mates (laughs). It’s just a constant source of inspiration that way, it’s quite humbling as well that people that have won enormous prizes are just at the pub with their mates and playing for the pleasure of playing and experimentation. London does encompass experimental music and because it’s so populated, there’s just so many people that live here the concentration of musicians that are ‘just hanging around’ (laughs) is quite big. I suppose it’s the same in New York that way.
MV: Yeah, it is to some degree. Although I think London’s more of that. You know I’ve never been to London (any sponsors out there? –Ed.) so I can’t draw too many comparisons but I have lived in New York. I was just in New York for a month and it seems like New York is more commercially oriented – everything is about paying the ‘cover charge’.
KD: Ahh, OK, I suppose that does creep in. In London no one really feels as though they want to pay for music, to hear live music so for the artists it’s not a very lucrative place to be but for the punter they rule (laughs).
MV: Are you looking forward to performing in, say, New Orleans? I can see you at some smoky bar there.
KD: Yeah, that would be amazing (laughs). If we were invited to New Orleans we probably wouldn’t say no. Would love to, there and New York. Over the last few months we’ve gotten to know a few people and I’m very much looking forward to meeting the people we’ve been working with to make the tour happen. And just to understand why they’re so lovely to work with. I think it’s all about people at the end of the day isn’t it – the people of the city. We’re very much looking forward to getting out and seeing as much as we can and experience as much as we can on the road.
Join Belleruche on an intriguing guided tour of the London bars, venues and other locations that informed the creation of ’270 Stories’, interspersed with music from the record.
FREE SONGS BY BELLERUCHE
Download a free track from Belleruche’s forthcoming album at http://amzn.to/auHvX5 (USA only)
This affair began with Weston’s role as a DJ back in his teens, almost by default: as any record collector knows, if you’ve got the biggest collection, you are the DJ. It was in 1995 with the monthly jazz/hip-hop event “Phony” at Ormonds in West London that Weston’s professional career gained steam. From there he and partners Mikkel Togsverd and Marlon Celestine, along with guest DJs from Japan, launched “Mukatsuku”, a highly regarded jazz and hip hop night at the Clinic which ran for 18 months. Until May of this year Weston held a weekly residence at “Bite Your Granny” and currently spins monthly at Russ Dewbury’s Brighton Jazz Rooms. Weston has also toured extensively, with gigs in Russia, across Europe, Australia and regular appearances in Japan including a full tour with Victor Davies in September 2001. DJing is hat one—hat two is Weston’s role as a publicist and compiler of underground sounds. Weston’s involvement in this realm includes a five year stint a Island Blue, and for the past 3 years he’s been principle at Mukatsuku PR, as well as being the A&R man for Exceptional Records. Weston’s compilations of music, with a bent towards Japan, includes Jazztronik’s ‘Inner Flight’, ‘Moshi Moshi – Nu sounds from Japan’ and and his latest, “Sakura Aural Bliss” an excursion into jazz, ambient, and deep house from artists like U.F.O., Calm and Takayuki Shiraishi.
A recent project of is the radio program “FORWARDSBACKWARDS” on milkaudio.com, co-hosted with Nigel Prankster.The twice monthly show features a broad spectrum of music from cutting edge nu jazz to brazilian, funk and jazz. We recently caught up with Nik, who took some time to give Mundovibes a peep at what keeps him running…
You wear many hats: DJ, publicist, radio show host, journalist. How do you manage to do all of this?
Well…in a former life i was an octopus! I think the main thing is that is that it’s my first love of music that drives me on, gets me out of bed in the morning and having an actual office rather than working from home and its obvious distractions is a help.There’s a domino effect in this business and so all my jobs in some way are loosely connected.You do one thing and it tends to lead onto something else. I also work long hours which helps me fit it in. I have a very undertstanding girlfriend which also helps.
Music is clearly your inspiration…
i think there’s nothing really like it. Someone I know was talking about his realtionship with his girlfriend; she was saying ‘you love music more than you love me!’ And he was like, girlfriends come and go but I’ll always have Stevie Wonder! Music has a great ability to seep into your pores and set off all kinds of emotions, flashbacks and feelings. Live music as well affects you like no other medium. I went to see Da Lata’s awesome live show at the Jazz Cafe in London a few weeks ago and they did a live version of ‘Pra Manha’. I turned around to my girlfriend and she had tears streaming down her face. I was like you okay? And she said ‘yeah, I’m just so happy !!’ I was buzzing because of the gig but to see music affecting my girlfriend like that brought home that there really is nothing like it and especially a live performance of a great gig. No drugs, no alcohol, just great music.
Is music the most important thing for you?
Well, it’s been my occupation for the last 8 years and all my time is spent in some way related to music. Most of my friends are in the industry and any free time is seeing djs, bands or djing myself. I think it’s important to have other interests as well but I’m the first to admit I’m a tad slack in this area. I do enjoy good food and travelling.Being lucky enough to dj overseas helps me do this—visit other countries, go exploring before the dj gigs albeit for short amounts of time. I hate turning up somewhere, djing and then getting the next flight home. If I can I’ll go early so I can chill out a bit in the local surroundings.
You’ve been DJing for some two decades. How has this evolved over the years in terms of how you choose music, the venues in which you spin and the audiences?
Well I think the audiences before were much more specialised.You had venues just playing one kind of music. But nowadays people get bored (and rightly so) with one style all night. I try and find out a little about the venue—what works, what doesn’t from the resident dj and then pack my box accordingly. I think what we have to remember first and foremost is that we are entertainers—we are paid to entertain. If people aren’t dancing then I’m not going to have a good time and neither are the crowd and the promoter isnt gonna be happy ! We can get all pretentious about it by bragging we’ve got all the latest tunes, but at the end of the day if there’s an empty dancefloor then it’s obviously not gonna work.Primarily I’d say 70% of the music should be entertaining and maybe 30% a gentle education into things that the crowd might not have heard before but still works in this context.
What is your typical DJ set like?
Depends really on many factors, but it would incorporate hip hop, jazz, brazilian and going into newer stuff as the set progresses and maybe into boogie and nu jazz.Throwing a few ‘oo i love this’ classics alongside some electronic nu jazz curve balls.
How do “old-school” DJs differ from today’s young crop?
Personally im not into djs who mix seamlessly but their sets are uninspired because they have to maintain a like for like tempo. I read a piece by Ashley Beadle (x press 2) recently who said he’d rather listen to someone DJ as a selector (playing solid good tunes than someone who was technically
brilliant). I’d like to see myself as a tune selector. A set of mine would comprise many different styles and tempo’s for example.
You host an international radio program, ForwardsBackwards. What is the concept behind it?
Well the feedback so far has been really great—quite overwhelming actually. The idea of the show is to not feel constraints from music styles or time zones.We might play a rare jazz track from early 60’s alongside a broken beat track made that day from an ‘up & coming’ producer, hence the name ‘Forwardsbackwards’. The show is very varied musically. Both myself and Nigel Prankster (co-host)have stupidly large record collections and obviously you can play stuff on a radio show which you wouldnt neccessarily be able to play in a club setting. I also have a section in the show where I play music only traditionally available in Japan. That could be productions from western artists that only came out there to home grown japanese talent.Because of the many reasons Japanese music is often only ever heard within Japan. We try to redress this (if only slightly) imbalance.
You seem to have a strong connection with the Japanese music scene. What is the scene like in Japan and how are you involved with it?
Well, I’ve released 5 compilations for various labels so far,four of which have been exclusively japanese only material with the fifth one having 5 Japanese tracks on it. I got into it in 1995 running club nights with regular Japanese dj guests. I’m involved with the scene nowadays in as much as I do consultancy for japanese labels and promote japanese music in europe. I run the uk office by Osaka based Especial Records (run by Yoshihiro Okino from Kyoto Jazz Massive )and I A&R for Exceptional records, where we’ve released music for the label from Japanese artists such as Ken Ishii, Calm, Force of Nature, United Future Organisation, Takkyu Ishino, and dj Krush.The scene is very difficult in Japan at the moment: hip hop and r & b are very popular, as is progressive house and sales of brazilian music and nu jazz are falling which is not a good thing.
What are your favorite things about Japan?
Food for a starters. I was djing with Gilles Peterson in France last month and he’d just come back from japan. He told me he had had dinner with Tosio Matsuura and they had together the best meal they’d ever had in Japan. Food culture there is very different to any other culture I’ve ever come across.people get very excited there about food.its a national obsession like the weather is with us English ! Other than that I find Japan facinating. I’m going to visit my future inlaws in January and her parents are from a place called Kumamoto in the countryside. Her mum has never met anyone who wasn’t from Japan so that’s gonna be kind of mad.
What is the ideal setting for your DJ sets? Any events in particular that you hold in high regard?
I did a Brazil night tour with Compost artist Victor Davies in Japan three years ago. Every gig was wicked: the crowds very responsive and the sound systems in the clubs was great. There’s a great night called “Wahoo” in Finland which is always great. The firsttime I played there, it was full by 9pm and 90% were girls! Saying that the Jazz Rooms in Brighton is always killer—crowd goes bonkers cheering after every track. I love playing there.
What is your opinion on the current state of music? Where is it all going?
We need to find ways of geting the young kids into music (whatever style—all styles! ) as these kids will be our audience for the next 10 years or so.
Do you have any favorite clubs in London and elsewhere and what makes them special?
PLASTIC PEOPLE: great system, nice size (200) and great music.
What impact has the internet had on promoting music? Is it more global now?
You betcha. The internet has opened up so many doors. I only hope it helps sales rather than kill it.
What is your advice to new labels on how to promote a recording?
Give it 110%. Promote it properly, exhaust all possibilities and all mediums in its promotion oportunities.It’s no good putting out music which is ”just alright”—people aren’t stupid. Only put music out you believe in that you would buy yourself.
You’ve selected the music for number of great compilations, including ‘Music & Movement Vol 1’, ‘Moshi Moshi’, and your latest ‘Sakura Aural Bliss’. How do you go about selecting tracks and is what is the common thread with these compilations?
When I put the compilations together they all tend to start off slow, build, peak and then come down again rather like a dj set from the beginning of a night to ends end, but obviously compressed. I’ve not regretted putting any track on a compilation so far and I’ve been lucky to have worked with great people who have believed in what I was doing and supported me in this and letting me keep certain tracks in which may have not been so well known. All the compilations have had very good reviews and I regularly get e-mails from people who’ve just recently discovered them or gone back to them with positive comments. It’s things like that that make me know that hopefully I’m doing something right. I’m realistic to know that the credit should actually go to the producers. I have a very small part to play—without the producers you wouldn’t have these compilations. Respects to them.
Who are some artists we should be looking out for?
Swell Session from Sweden is doing some awe inspired productions. He’s just finished a mix for me on Fat Jon for exceptional that’s killer! There’s a great project from Neo Groove from Leroy and Marcus Begg which should come out early next year. There’s actually tonnes of great music coming out: check Raw Deal’s new lp on Straight Ahead (Switzerland) next year too.
What is the best thing about what you do?
Hoping that with my involvement that artists and certain types of music gets better exposure which helps us all in the future. I still get extremely excited about music.
What is on the horizon—new projects, places you want to DJ, etc.
I’m back to Japan in January to DJ and do promotion and interviews around the “Sakura Aural Bliss” album with the Japanese distributor. In february I’m playing in France, Sweden and Denmark and then my first proper tour in Australia looks like to happen in the spring.
Ten records everyone should have in their collection?
1.stevie wonder – songs in the key of life
2.dj mitsu the beats -new awakening-planet groove
3.calm -ancient future -lastrum/music conception
4.context – if i had a band -sonny b
5.sleepwalker -sleepwalker -especial
6.various -sakura aural bliss-kriztal
7.fat jon -lightweight heavy -exceptional
8.calm – introducing the shadow of the earth -exceptional
9.various -an intruduction to contempory nordic music -nordic lounge 2 -dnm
10.anything with marvin gaye/curtis mayfield/yukimi nagano/bless/swell session on it.
An exclusive Mundovibe interview with Tortured Soul
Interview by J.C. Tripp
Rose and violet lights fall on three musicians decked out sleekly in skinny ties, pressed slacks, and starched white shirts. The mass of bodies gathered before them pulsates with a unified enthusiasm. Sweet soulful vocals rise from the man in the middle, an effect rendered all the more captivating by the fact that he is concurrently beating out an unrelenting backbeat on the drums. Flanking him on either side are a bassist who jumps up and down to the rhythm as he generates the throbbing low-end, and a keyboardist whose cool composure belies the fire in his fingers. This is Tortured Soul.
Born of the simple yet adventurous belief that modern dance music can be performed completely live, Brooklyn’s Tortured Soul packs dance floors with their unique live performances, while their recorded oeuvre pushes the genre boundaries of soul, dance, and pop. Born from the rhythm section of jazz-funk band Topaz, Tortured Soul began touring in 2003, and have become one of the premier live dance acts of this generation. While touring every continent, they have played venues as diverse as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Zouk Singapore, Bonnaroo in Tennessee, Fabric in London, and The Capetown International Jazz Festival in South Africa. They have shared the stage with world renowned DJ’s like Carl Cox, Miguel Migs, Jazzanova, and Louie Vega. They have also performed with many legendary live acts such as Chaka Kahn, The Wailers, The Brand New Heavies, and Pharcyde.
Tortured Soul has blazed an amazingly uncommon trail through the world of modern music. Following the early success of their now-classic dance singles “I Might Do Something Wrong,” “Fall In Love” and “How’s Your Life” in 2001 and 2002, Tortured Soul formed officially as a live band and booked their first nationwide tour in 2003, often playing in club settings that had never before seen a live act perform dance music so seamlessly. With the devotion of club-goers and DJs cemented as their foundation. Today, after 5 years of touring and a reputation for a live show nothing short of legendary, they are perhaps the only band in the world that can rock the main room at Fabric (London) at peak hour, as well as a 15,000+ festival crowd at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
Combining elements of old soul and funk with a modern dancefloor sensibility, Tortured Soul’s style is both an echo of the past and a challenge to the future. This blend of sounds has won them praise from palettes as diverse as Lenny Kravitz and Barry Manilow, and made them a fave pick of DJ’s across many genres. Their tracks have received remix treatment from such luminaries as Osunlade, DJ Spinna, Alix Alvarez, Quentin Harris and Dimitri from Paris among others, and have appeared on over 25 compilations by the most prominent dance labels, from Hed Kandi to Defected – a testament to the impact they’ve had on current dance music.
2006 saw the release of their highly lauded first full-length album “Introducing Tortured Soul,” (Purpose Records / R2 Records) which collected their early 12” singles with some new studio gems, and fans around the world have been waiting with baited breath for the sophomore effort ever since. In early 2009 Tortured Soul released their new album “Did You Miss Me” on the band’s own newly formed TSTC Records (Dome UK/Europe, Columbia Japan). Previewed for fans with the 3-song/1-remix “In Transit EP” in Spring ’08, “Did You Miss Me” picks right up where “Introducing” left off. As it winds its way through infectious disco grooves, heartfelt raw soul, and lyrical themes that range from melancholic love, infidelity, and party-going mirth, the album coheres as the group’s most accessibly diverse effort to date.
In Brazil they love their music; it’s in the blood and in the bones. But this bug is contagious, rather than hereditary: no one, it seems, is spared. Everybody loves Brazilian music – jazz musicians, classical musicians, rock stars, pop stars, DJs, producers, kids, cats, everyone; it is venerated, imitated and rejoiced in by old and young, rich and poor, black and white alike. By everyone who’s ever felt it get them directly where the ribs meet the stomach, setting ice and earrings jangling while some joyful sweat trickles down between the shoulder blades.
Most unusual of all, and in strange contrast to classical music, in Brazil respect for traditional sounds and rhythms is immense, even in the most innovative of its newest artists. Of these, Patricia Marx is a case in point. A child-star of Michael Jackson-esque proportions by the time she was ten, she is one of Brazil’s biggest selling female vocalists – no small thing in a country that gave us Asturd Gilberto, Elza Soares, Marisa Monte, Elizabeth Carduso. But for someone of such determined creativity, traditional sounds like samba, chorinho and bossa nova were something not only to be embraced but expanded and extended.
It was this impulse that brought her to London in 2000 to collaborate with 4Hero on their LP Creating Patterns. “It was amazing working with them [4Hero], both Marc and Dego with their own musical styles and just as people too,” she says. “Being involved with their work, which is so cutting edge, was a real inspiration. It gave me a much deeper vision of what music can be today, in the sense of independence from the rule and conventional forms of musicality. It was a blessing.”
Marx is now signed to the massive Trama Music/Sambaloco Records – home to drum’n’bass revolutionaries Marky and Patife, as well as Drumagik, Mad Zoo and Fernanda Porto. Living between London and Sao Paulo with her husband, Trama boss and veteran Brazilian dance producer Bruno E, her musical versatility spans time and space like no one else’s. She has collaborated with Brazil’s greatest artists and as well as its most innovative electronic pioneers, and with her wide open mind and inimitable style she has rocked the worlds of traditional Brazilian music and international dance culture simultaneously, gaining ever-increasing respect from both sides of the equation.
Patricia Marx has just completed a European tour promoting Nova Vida, another monumental Brazilian dance compilation from Trama to follow last year’s Sambaloco Drum’n’Bass Classics. She is now back in Sao Paulo working on a new solo album, the first since 2002’s intense and beautiful Respirar, which will be released at the end of this year featuring new collaborations with 4Hero, the legendary Ed Motta and many others.
Mundovibes caught up with her before the second leg of the Nova Vida tour at Say Samba! – Edinburgh’s highly-charged live Latin session at Cabaret Voltaire.
Why do you think traditional Brazilian music translates so well into modern, electronic musical forms like drum’n’bass, house and broken beat?
Brazil has always resonated around the world – this dates back to the 50s and 60s; from bossa nova up to the present day, the acoustic rhythms and instruments of Brazilian music have influenced very modern as well as very traditional music. And not just in rhythmic terms but in harmonic terms as well. The rhythms of samba and chorinho (classical samba from the 1920s and 1930s) were studied by so many musicians and producers globally. What is really fascinating is that all this material has been recycled for many, many years. And as a Brazilian artist, I feel that this is all valid as it just feeds back into the depth and richness of our culture. I would never wish for things to stay static.
How has your music been received in the UK? Has the reaction been good when you have performed live? How different are the crowds over here from the crowds in Brazil?
The reaction has been very good, amazing in fact. I have had great feedback from the public over here. I do adapt my show according to the environment, I have played in huge clubs as well as smaller venues, sometimes it’s about people letting go and dancing, in other places I create a calmer, intimate vibe. I have learnt that each show is a new experience and has its own charm. As any performer and DJ knows, it’s crucial to be sensitive to the atmosphere of each venue and to be in tune with the public. I think the main difference between audiences in the UK and Brazil is that here in the UK there is a more aware dancefloor culture. In the UK you can go straight out and buy the latest remix – there is more immediate access to that kind of information and material. In Brazil you have to search it out more, access to new material and club material is more limited, there is less of an active market for singles, remixes and so on. So the impression I have is that here people pick up on new tunes much more quickly, without necessarily having to rely on radio for information.
How would you describe your music? What inspires you most when you are making it?
My music is a fusion of everything I love and that I’ve listened to ever since I was a kid, black music, bossa nova, jazz, and electronic music which I’ve been into since the early 90s. Since then many other influences came into play as well. I got very into music of so many different styles and origins and that gave me a much wider perspective, so I can’t just single out one or two influences. The year 2000 was a real turning point for me musically – I was invited to record a track with 4Hero and I came to London. When I heard the other tracks on their album for the first time in the studio, I was completely transfixed. It just blew my mind. I felt liberated and I knew I wanted to make something that would defy any commercial compromise.
What are you working on at the moment? Who are you collaborating with? Does it have a different vibe or message from your last album – and if so, in what way?
I am working on my new album which will be released at the end of the year. I am writing, arranging and producing tracks for that album, so the sound will be different from the previous record. It’s about finding and generating my identity through digital and musical expression. I am working with various producers such as 4Hero who I am delighted to have worked with on three tracks, and Brazilian soulman Ed Motta, as well as producer and musician Bruno E [Sambaloco and Nova Vida Records] and I am talking with various other producers and musicians about working together … so watch this space.
Will you be performing some of your new material in Edinburgh?
Yes I may drop some new tracks into my set.
Of all the tracks you are going to perform, which is your favourite? Why?
We’re going to do a stripped down, intimate set. I’ll be playing some of the remixes of tracks from my album ‘Respirar’ [Breathe] produced by Bruno E, Mad Zoo and Makako’s Project.
Who have you most enjoyed collaborating with?
I like working with different producers. Each has their own style and charm. To me it’s always a pleasure to collaborate and create music.
What does the future hold?
I aim to finish my new album in Brazil by July, and then come back to the UK to rehearse with my band for another European tour later this year.
Is this your first visit to Scotland?
This is the second time I’ve been to perform in Scotland. I played there last year on a tour with other artists from my label Trama: Jair Oliveira, Max de Castro and Wilson Simoninha. It was a wonderful show and I am looking forward to coming back to play in Scotland.
Since Ashley and Simone Beedle founded Afro Art in the Nineties, the label’s had its fair share of ups and downs. However, in 1999 it sailed out of the doldrums that followed their split with two Black Science Orchestra smashes, “Keep on Keeping On” and Allison David’s “Sunshine”. Beedle also draughted in his old friend Murphy as captain after he left to rejoin X-Press 2 in the wake of their huge anthem, “Lazy”. Greatest Hits (2001) covers the first period; This is Afro Art (2004) covers the second, with Murphy at the helm, and despite a recent distribution catastrophe his vessel sure is shipshape now.
“Apart from a couple of tracks, this compilation is about what I’ve been doing myself – my own A&Ring – so it’s more of a piece than the first one,” explains Murphy. Many of the artists featured, including Frogsnatcher, Ashen & Walker and The Mindset, were discovered simply by keeping an ear to the ground – by word of mouth or even a CD in the post – all very much in the spirit of Murphy-era Afro Art, the label with no “label”.
“I’ve tried to make our character as elusive as possible,” he says. “Everybody’s so tied in with this idea that you must have a logo, and you must have this image so that you can say to people, ‘I am this’. But that’s something I’m trying to get away from. So I’ve kept everything very low key. I haven’t worried about creating a lot of hype. It does make it very difficult to make money, but it’s enabled me to go musically in any direction. If I hear a good record I can say, ‘Right, let’s put it out’ and now people are really noticing what we’re doing. I mean, some of the tracks on this CD are still so current, like the Neon Hights and Black Science Orchestra. Sometimes I think we’re almost a bit too ahead of the game. I mean, if we put them out now, everybody’d go, wow.”
In fact, a lot of people did go ‘wow’ the first time round. “Jazz Room”, Murphy and Marc Woolford’s jazz-with-teeth opener has been charted by more than a hundred DJs. “It’s not just big…it’s HUGE!” said the godfather of all things jazzy, Gilles Peterson, while Spiritual South’s “Green Gold” was voted Single of the Year on his BBC Radio 1 show, Worldwide. “Soul Call” (also the first single from Murphy’s forthcoming solo album) is a big Groove Armada favourite and provided the theme tune to The Clothes Show Live 2004 (“Great! Some royalties!”). If you didn’t catch these or any of the other tracks drawn from right across the deep and wide Afro Art spectrum, either you have no turntable (most were vinyl-only releases) or you’ve had your head in a box since the Millennium.
Even when it comes to where to play, which audience to cultivate or who’s “worth” sending promos to there’s a totally fresh attitude at work here. The point for Murphy is to get the music heard, which is why the post-soviet East – that inconceivably vast area, marooned for so many years and now probably the most enthusiastic fan-base for new music on the planet – is such a big focus.
“I’ve been working constantly out there over the last year,” he says [check the links for some Eastern Block parties]. “I’ve been to Lithuania, Slovakia, Estonia – I must have done all of them, except the big one: you know, Russia – the Empire formerly known as Evil. I’m going out to Belgrade at New Year’s just to do some guy’s party! There’s not much money in it, but it’s going to be such a laugh. They’re holding it in a Turkish Bath – whether it’s in use or derelict I don’t know, but I did a similar thing in Budapest three years ago and they had it in a swimming pool filled with water and they just swam to music! The hotel rooms, god, they’re like something out of Tinker, Taylor, Soldier Spy. Honestly, I was looking for bugs. But you go to somewhere like Sarajevo and it’s such a big thing out there. You think to yourself, nobody’s going to like this stuff – and they know every record! They’re so into it. They’re like, ‘Wow! This stuff is amazing.’ It’s just that they don’t have any money.”
For many it would end there: no cash, no sales, no point. But in addition to tracking down and sending promos to dozens of clued-up radio stations in places like Bishkek (capital of Kyrgystan, former Soviet republic sandwiched between Kazakhstan and China) Murphy has pre-empted the inevitable rip’n’burn chaos by negotiating a deal with Czech, Serbian, Slovakian and Hungarian magazines to give away a free one-hour mix of the compilation.
“We’re never going to sell any CDs out there because it’s just too expensive. We’re talking the equivalent of £25 just for a 12-inch single; a CD would be like £60, so all that happens is someone gets hold of one and then copies it ad infinitem,” he explains. “This way, at least we’ll get something out of it, and being a one-hour mix makes it a bit harder to chop up. The only people who are really against downloads anyway are the big companies because they’re going to lose millions of sales on Britney Spears and Madonna. I don’t really give a toss – what’s am I losing? A hundred? And anyway, how can I say to a guy in Russia, ‘don’t download my records’? How can I ask him for a week’s wages for a 12-inch single? That would be cruel!”
It may be breaking new ground both musically and geographically, but think about this compilation’s significance a bit too hard and it starts to reflect Murphy’s history in reverse. On the B-side you’ve got the “jazz, Latin and funky soul element”, which is exactly the bug that bit him back in (“Oh god. It was such a horrible place!”) 1970s Essex. The A-side is the housier side, something that for him came (ahem) a bit later:
“At the beginning when I started out, house music came along SO later that it was like science fiction,” he says, remembering the old Mecca Dance Halls (“Fucking horrible…that’s real life-on-Mars stuff in there.”) “If you’d have said to anyone back then, ‘Yeah, house music’s going to be major!’ They’d have said, ‘Yeah yeah yeah and we’re all going to have, like, personal communicators and everybody’s going to have one on their desk and we’re going to be able to communicate with, like, anyone in the world! Go away.’ And, well, here we are.”
As soon as he was able, Murphy got the hell out of Essex and pitched up in the Smoke to cut his musical teeth at a series of groundbreaking clubs (including Jaffas at The Horseshoe, the Wag, The 100 Club and, obviously, Jazz Room at the Electric Ballroom). He opened a record shop, Fusion Records, ran the Palladin Records label for two years, became WIRE Magazine’s first DJ of the Year in 1985 and generally saw the Eighties through acid jazz and the beginnings of house. Then he disappeared, to be rescued from oblivion after a 10-year sojourn in Ireland by Mod hero Eddie Piller (to whom The Mindset’s track, “Get Set” is dedicated) and returned in 1999 to a residency at the Blue Note in Hoxton just as house music looked like giving up the ghost.
“It was a strange period,” he remembers. “That whole, huge club Ibiza scene which had been dominant for the whole of the Nineties just went. One minute people were selling 10,000 12-inch singles and all of a sudden they’re lucky to do a thousand. You’d be watching Ibiza on Sky or ITV and there’d be all these football yobbos kicking the shit out of each other. It just took that veneer of coolness off it – and once you do that the dream is gone. And also, all those people – they got old! Everyone that was doing a Balearic jobby in 1987, they’re all in their late 30s and they’re mums and dads and stuff. So I came in going, ‘Oh no! Why did I come back now, it’s all ending!’ But at the same time, that just put a whole different dynamic on everything. It’s great now, clubs have definitely gone back to the way they were, small clubs. There’s loads of little splintered scenes and it’s more interesting – a lot more interesting.”
As for the solo album, it’s scheduled for release in April 2005 and is, we’re told, “very jazz”. Inspired by getting stuck on a train in India for three days, The Trip (think “journey” not “microdot”) features the aforementioned “dub-reggae crossed with Don Drummond/The Skatalites version of the music from Seven Samurai” – to be released in Spring as the first single (apart from “Soul Call”) with a Latin jazz cover of the theme from Withnail & I on the flip. “I can’t really say that I have a method,” manages Murphy, grappling with laughter. “It’s more just playing around and seeing what happens. But I’m really pleased with it; it’s exciting. Music – I wouldn’t say it’s the most lucrative profession in the world, but it’s good fun. Beats the call centre any day of the week.”
Medellín Colombia’s Mélodie Lounge sets the trends for the city’s international crowd
BY JOHN C. TRIPP
Medellín Colombia’s upscale “El Poblado” district is not unlike any other trendy tropical “zona rosa” neighborhood. Green abounds, with plants and trees sprouting like an exotic salad, matched by a multitude of trendy shops and cafes lining its avenues and sidestreets. And then there’s the continuous buzz of street traffic, both vehicular and human, creating a continuous sonic and visual canvas. It’s a chaotic and stimulating South American neighorhood where the city’s beautiful people and the occasional tourist group gather to shop, socialize and show off.
At the center of Poblado’s scene is parque Lleras, a sloped, tree- and people-packed park lined by outdoor cafes and bars. For anyone seeking a central meeting in the and hangout place this would be it. It’s all fun and fabulous — for a while anyway. But soon the continuous stream of blaring vallenato, ranchero and top 40 music grades the nerves of any musical purist. And the chattering groups of teens and twenty-somethings (not to mention the drunk Israeli guys on the hunt for Latin chicas) adds to the sense that maybe it’s time to move on. Surely there must be something other than this, something that more discerning tastes can appreciate. It’s time to explore…
Walking the side streets of any city always reaps rewards. It’s where the off-beat boutiques, shops and cafes are typically found. And the formula certainly applies to Poblado. As the maddening noise of parque Lleras fades the neighborhood’s quieter streets reveal a more subdued side to the district. And it’s here where one finds the oasis of sound, cuisine and downtempo vibes known as Mélodie Lounge.
A few years ago one might have walked from one end of Medellín’s long valley to the other in search of a place like Mélodie Lounge and come up empty. This is a city more prone to tradition, which in social terms means a bottle of Aquardiente, (an anise flavored clear alcohol that is better left to locals) and some vallenato music at a corner bar. But Medellín is growing and changed drastically since the dark days of Pablo, finding itself landing on the other side of chaos with a new lease on life. And with small steps a forward-thinking, modern and cutting-edge Medellín is revealing itself.
Amongst those with the vision of the new Medellín are Mélodie Lounge’s three partners, along with the team of architects, interior designers, chefs, musicians-Djs and other creatives that put the lounge concept to action. Mélodie Lounge, with its sleek, tropical-modernist aesthetic has become an oasis of all things cool in Medellín. With a musical selection that encomposses both tropical and downtempo sounds, a worldly menu of wraps and vegetarian entrees, delicious drinks and a mellow but fun environment it is a place to call home.
With a concept that was considered radical by Medellín standards, Mélodie Lounge has proven that the city is ready for cutting-edge nightlife. To add to the lounge’s list of accomplishments are recent promotional and media ventures, including appearances by France’s Rhinocerose, Argentina’s Bajofondo Tango Club, a radio program on Medellín’s Cámera FM station and a CD compilation of Colombian electronic artists entitled “Lounge.Co”. Much more is on the horizon for Mélodie Lounge and Mundovibes spoke with the similarly named and equally amicable partners Carlos H. Estrada and Carlos E. Estrada on the making of Mélodie Lounge and what lies ahead.
Mundovibes: How long has Melodie Lounge been open?
Carlos E Estrada: It’s been 18 months now.
Mundovibes: How did you get into the club and lounge business? How did you start working together?
Carlos H Estrada: Well, we were friends a long time ago. Maybe 15 years. We are three partners and we worked together in different kinds of businesses. Carlos and Daniel had a couple of bars in the ‘90s. Then he had a café with a friend. In the meantime Daniel and me had a house club two years ago. And later we got together once again with the idea of doing something together and that’s when Mélodie Lounge took form. It was basically like an interest, being involved with the nightlife and after all it has become a good way of putting into practice what we have learned somewhere else. And building this new company and making it work.
Mundovibes: Can you just give me a little background on you two and your inspiration to start it?
Carlos E: And the reason why we opened Mélodie Lounge was because there were not really a place with this environment, to visit. Because it’s a quiet environment, but it’s not the kind of quiet environment that you can find in the city, which are not really into fashion.
Carlos H: And the thing is, we had different businesses before. But they were very upbeat, almost dancing bars. Now we thought there was a need in the city for a comfortable place to have a good meal and a couple of drinks without too much. A quiet place, there was a need. So, we decided to open Mélodie Lounge with a lot of sofas, and a good selection of music that could make a good environment. Then we started working with several friends, which was a great thing about it. It was a good opportunity to work with many friends.
Mundovibes: From different fields?
Carlos H: Exactly. Architects, chefs, graphic designers, industrial designers. Each one of them were able to contribute their experience and their expertise to the project.
Mundovibes: What influenced you the most in terms of how it developed? The style is very modern, very colorful, very contemporary. And the music reflects that as well. Were there places in your travels that you’ve said ‘wow, I’d love to do this type of thing’.
Carlos E : Maybe. We wanted to have a lounge and this was our version of it. It was like a mix of ideas from all the team. So, that was what made it so interesting.
Mundovibes: And how did the music programming develop?
Carlos H: One of the reasons why we opened Mélodie Lounge was because even if here you can find good places to have a beer, they don’t really think that music is important. They don’t really pay enough attention to the music. They don’t really think that this is an important part of the place. We disagree with that, we think that when you think of a place you have several things to take care of. And one of the most ones is the music. Of course, the menu is important, the drinks, the design, and the prices are important in Medellín. The important thing is to put all of them together. And to put it together you know there has to be some harmony. And to at the end see the result and say ‘OK, this is the place I was dreaming of.’
Mundovibes: And from the point when you opened to now, how has it evolved? Have you stayed with the same plan?
Carlos H: Pretty much. The three of us are engineers, so we tried to plan ahead as much as we could. And we could say that what we have now is what we wanted to accomplish. Of course, in 18 months there have been too many things happening. The good surprise has been the response from the public. Because at the beginning it was a big challenge and risk for us. Everyone was telling us that we were crazy trying to open such a unique kind of place in Colombia. And after all this time working, we have been surprised of the good response. Everyone is happy and thank us for being visionary, taking the chance.
Mundovibes: So, would you say the market was just waiting for you to bring this to them or did you have to educate people and explain the whole concept.
Carlos H: Very much.
Carlos E: When we opened, we were the first lounge to open in the city. Because of the results a lot of people started to open places calling them “lounge”. And they were more with house music. So, it’s difficult to explain to people that here or anywhere in the world lounges are more quiet and for chilling out. Not really like a dance place, it’s a lounge. In that way we can say there was some work done about educating people.
Mundovibes: You’ve had some good press coverage too.
Carlos H: We have been lucky in that field because of the success of the place, the media has been getting more and more interested in our work. And it has been for us because it gave us the opportunity to talk about our work. And to open the scope of the project. Because nowadays people look for us and for catering different events. They look for us when they need music. When they want new ideas about anything they come to Mélodie looking for our advice and things like that.
Carlos E: The other thing is I think everyone goes to Mélodie Lounge thinking about one special attraction and for some people the attraction is the music that we play, for others the food, for others the cocktails. If you are thinking about going to the States or Europe to buy a couple of Cds, they will come and ask for some advice. But if you are an architect and you like the design, you will ask ‘OK, I want to know how you come up with this idea’.
Mundovibes: So, like you said, having that collaborative team brought the best of everything out with the food, the style, the music.
Carlos H: Yes, and I think the key of the success of Mélodie Lounge. Because at the beginning all of the people were really afraid of the results that we were expecting. They were all thinking ‘is there really a market for this kind of idea?’ Here, most of the people go to drink aguardiente, to listen to tropical music, and there are not really good, good restaurants here. There are just a few good restaurants. So, they were always asking us ‘OK, tell me once again what kind of place do you really want to open? As I understand it’s not really like a bar because you are telling me there is a menu. But, on the other hand, you are telling me that this is more like a sofa place. So, this is not a restaurant.’
Carlos E: It was unique, so no one really understood it right away.
Carlos H: On the other hand they were saying ‘OK, here there’s not really an electronic music culture.’ We were explaining what kind of music we were using for the place and at the end they were saying ‘you can call it whatever you want, but for me this is electronic music. And for me electronic music is for dancing.’ So, at the end you are opening a restaurant without tables, you’re saying that you are going to sell cocktails but you have a menu. And the kind of music you are going to play is dance music and you don’t have the space for dancing.
Mundovibes: It probably feels good now that you are successful and have introduced the concept to Medellín.
Carlos E: Yes, that’s what we were talking about, because now people are like ‘now I understand.’
Mundovibes: Can you give an overview of the way the design came together?
Carlos H: That’s a good question and what we did wasn’t very premeditated. When we got together with this team we wanted to put together a place that could transmit well-being and peace and a comfortable ambience. And that was our starting point. So, after all we did was put together pieces that could work to transmit that overall result.
Mundovibes: Is your regular crowd people that are in the fashion industry or people that have traveled and they understand having seen it elsewhere.
Carlos H: People ask us that question often and I think Mélodie Lounge is a place where it can be easy to understand for someone that has been traveling a lot, that is open minded, that receives a lot of information. So, you can say that designers, architects, or people in the fashion industry, they understand it very well and they feel comfortable here. For some other people, sometimes it’s interesting because it’s something really different from what they are used to. So, it’s a bit shocking but being such a quiet place and at the end of the day they begin to love it.
Carlos E: Because of all the different things that you can find in Mélodie Lounge, it’s so difficult to define a target. People say asked us this when Mélodie Lounge started. And it’s so difficult because when you say ‘this is the place to talk, to have a chat without screaming because the volume of the music is not very loud.I think that there is always time for a place like Mélodie Lounge. Because sometimes you feel like having a cocktail and talking for a while. Sometimes you have to wake up early.
Carlos H: Most of the time people try to segment the market just by age. And that doesn’t happen with Mélodie because we are not in a specific segment for the age group. We are aiming just for any kind of people who want to spend a nice evening chatting and relaxing. So, that could be from the youngest to the oldest. As long as they want to have a nice quiet evening. And, you cannot say that is just for relaxed people, or whatever. Because sometimes you can be an extreme party-goer but any time in the week you feel like going out, it depends on what you want to do that specific moment. And that’s why we open every day from five in the afternoon. That way we are available for anyone at anytime.
Mundovibes: What’s the biggest thrill you get out of running Mélodie Lounge?
Carlos H: It’s been good to be able to express ourselves, to show the people in this city our work. And that was our main objective, and when we saw the good response it was twice as good. Of course, it’s great to be in touch with people, to see their reaction, to listen to their ideas. It’s really rewarding for us.
Carlos E: I think one of the biggest satisfactions has been to be able to prove that there is space for these kind of places, even if you are in a tropical country. It’s good to be able to show a good place in a different. And that’s very interesting because a lot of people that come to Colombia think that all people here are the same thing, you know? In big cities you always find so many different people that go out to different kind of places…to try to change the culture a lot bit is a big satisfaction.
Carlos H: It has been good to break stereotypes for all kinds of people. For local people as well as outsiders that think that Colombia is a very basic place where you cannot find options or people with different ideas.
Mundovibes: Where will you be taking things — what are your plans for the future?
Carlos E: Well, so far we have found that the concept or the work we have done with Mélodie is quite unique, at least in Colombia. So, we would like to see if we can take this to some other cities. Of course, it’s a wish. We are still studying the idea, thinking whether it’s feasible or not. But we’d like to let the thing grow and see what happens.
J.C. Tripp was a guest DJ at Mélodie Lounge while living in Colombia. He can’t wait to return.
Since Deee-Lite split in ’95 Dmitry has given full justification to his “Supa DJ” prefix, awarded DJ of the Year in 1998 for his pioneering mix of techno, electro, funk and new wave and remixing tracks for a numerous and unlikely collection of artists including Sinead O’Connor, Ultra Naté, The Jungle Brothers, Karen Finley and Q-Tip. He’s also been producing material for soundtracks including one song for the film Scream and released a solo mix album, Scream of Consciousness, including tracks co-written with Julee Cruise (of Twin Peaks theme tune fame).
“I’m looking forward,” he said in 2000 when Scream of Consciousness came out. “I am very proud of the past, but it can be a barrier. People have certain expectations, and when they think Deee-Lite, they think melodic house and vocals. That’s not where I am now at all. Music has evolved with time and so have I.”
Dmitry was born in the Ukraine, then part of the USSR. When his parents upped sticks to New York in 1981 Dmitry touched down in the midst of dance culture’s Big Bang as live and electronic music touched wires and exploded to create, over the next few years, the prototypes of hip hop, house, techno, electro and much else. Playing keyboards and guitar – a gift from his mother, a classical pianist, who enrolled him, aged nine in an experimental music programme for children – and with technical skill inherited from his father, an engineer and studying computers at NYU, Dmitry was made for it.
From checking coats at Pyramid, operating the lift at Danceteria, frequenting other ground- breaking clubs like the Paradise Garage and NASA and playing in a good few crazy NYC bands (Four Dicks and a Bone, The Hello Strangers, Blue Sand, That Greek Design, Raging Slab and SHAZORK!) it wasn’t long before Dmitry took the big step and got himself a set of decks. “It was pretty funny because when I started DJing, for the first year, I didn’t have a table for my turntables,” he says. “I’d put them on the floor and spin lying down. One of the decks had pitch control and one didn’t.”
In his box, early East Coast hip-hop brushed sleeves with the electronic sounds of Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra and Dmitry soon had regular spots at places like Afrosheen, Pyramid, The Red Zone, NASA at The Shelter and The World, one of New York’s first house music clubs.
Then came Deee-Lite, the self-described “holographic house groove band” responsible for many of the audio-visual trends that characterised the 1990s. The ‘70s fashion revival, for example, can be traced back to the profound love affair between Deee-lite’s frontwoman and former go-go dancer Lady Miss Kier and Fluevog platform shoes. Deee-Lite’s massive crossover hit, “Groove is in the Heart”, with its almost indecently catchy bassline (courtesy of one Bootsy Collins) was club anthem of the decade. And – born as the group was to the deafening sound of monumental historical change as the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain and the Cold War fell apart virtually simultaneously – Deee-Lite, with its international make-up and outrageous retro-futuristic, sexually-unspecific image, epitomised a new (sadly short-lived) sense of politically liberated cultural harmony.
“They’re a mini-version of the United Nations, with one young man from the Soviet Union, another from Japan and a young woman from the United States. All three are brave or outrageous enough to wear dorky-looking clothes, designed to look like the worst of everything from the 1960s and ’70s,” wrote the Chicago Sun-Times somewhat stuffily in 1990, giving some indication of just how outrageous Deee-Lite seemed at the time.
By a strange twist of fate, Dmitry made his Glasgow debut hot on the heels of Lady Miss Kier. The two, however, are very definitely no longer on speaking terms, and since Deee-lite’s demise, Dmitry has striven to distance himself from its endearing but indisputably naff brand of funky dance vocals, moving towards an altogether heavier mix – mix being the operative word.
“I am just as inspired by Aphex Twin and Senor Coconut as I am by P-Funk and Louis Armstrong,” he says. “The biggest inspiration has always been the dance floor and some of my favourite producers are Laurent Garnier, Luke Slater, John Selway and Green Velvet.”
Mundovibes caught up with Dmitry at home in Manhattan and found him raging at the official offensive against New York clubland, perplexed by the ‘80s revival, horrified by the film Party Monster and itching to get over to Scotland.
Did you know that Lady Miss Kier was over in Glasgow a couple of weeks ago? Oh yeah? [stony silence]
So you two aren’t friends any more then?
Nope.
Right. You must be pretty fed up of people asking you about Deee-Lite…
Yeah well, you know, it’s happening less and less because I have kind of a good DJing career happening now, and people know me as a DJ as this point and they don’t have the same type of expectations. A few years ago it was a little more difficult, but now it’s good.
What are you up to at the moment?
I have a new group that I have just put together, and I have a couple of licensing things that I’m doing. I’m doing some advertising and television work. And just mixing.
Do you like to DJ in to massive audiences in huge venues or do you prefer smaller clubs with a more intimate atmosphere?
Really I can’t say that I have a preference. Personally I like to be able to be near the crowd that’s dancing; I don’t like to be too far removed, too high up on a pedestal, you know what I mean? I like to really feel the vibe from the people. So whether its 50 people or 10,000 people it doesn’t matter to me so long as I can feel ‘em.
You came from the Ukraine originally – have you been back to DJ there?
Not in the Ukraine but I’ve been to Russia a few times.
What’s it like there?
Interesting… fascinating…scary…great. All of the above, you know? It was definitely interesting to see how things have changed, because I hadn’t been back for about 17 years and then I went back and everything was…really different. And some things were really the same. So, the general inefficiency and things like that remains. But kids were really open to music, and interested. I DJed for a really big party in Siberia – I hadn’t expected anything like that! But it was really quite interesting because 3,000 kids showed up for that event and they were all really dressed up! Like Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and all this stuff! And I was like wow – where do the young people get the money to buy this crap?! So it was kind of pretentious and it was funny, but they were really trying to impress others, impress themselves et cetera et cetera. And they were very open minded when it came to the music, they definitely were very happy to hear electronic music. You know, it’s still not really promoted on the radio over there, it’s not really promoted in any way except at the parties. People were really responding to very underground music. It’s not that they wanted to hear commercial crap. They really were real listeners, you know, people that kind of look for music, that really go out of their way to try to find it. Especially more underground things. But as far as any kind of overground production goes, they don’t have that kind of thing in Russia yet. There’s a couple of radio stations in Russia and all that, but it’s in its infancy, electronic music over there.
When you and your parents came over to the States did you actually defect?
Yeah, we were refugees, political refugees, we asked for political asylum in the United States. I spent a year living in Italy and another half a year living in Austria before finally getting an American visa.
It must have been amazing, moving to New York at that time and finding yourself in the birthplace of dance music…
Yeah there was a lot of great music coming from New York in the ‘80s, and in the ‘90s, actually. It’s just now that the flood of music from New York has slowed down to a trickle. It’s partly because of the draconian dance policies of the city government that’s really basically been harassing dance clubs and dance culture as such. I mean, New York has some very old laws that go back to prohibition time when there were speak-easies and they were trying to control the flow of liquor. So they have these dance cabaret licences that you have to have. And the process is very riddled with corruption and so the city basically sends out people, under-cover officers, to bust people for dancing. A friend of mine who was running a club this weekend, they got closed down because six people were dancing! Isn’t that the stupidest thing you ever heard? Oh yeah, I mean between that and the ban on smoking I mean it really has hurt New York’s nightlife in general. I mean I’m all for health and everything, and the whole reasoning behind it was so that club workers could have a better health environment, healthy environment. Well how about providing health insurance for nightclub workers, if you really concerned about their health. But of course no-body’s interested in that.
What do you think about dance music at the moment? You said it’s slowed down in New York but what about in general?
I feel that it’s a bit of standstill right now. We have this back to the 80s trend, which is actually a little disturbing to me. But, you know, I just don’t like records that sound so retro and there are just so many records that are just doing…like, they’ll take the 80s sound and instead of expanding with it and making something new with it they’re just sticking to the same old formula. The whole electroclash movement is being fed by that new wave 80s throwdown, which is…old. For me. Maybe because when I was younger I was living through that time, and so maybe the kids today they hear if for the very first time. So get excited for it but I cant really have the same sort of excitement for it. I like electro a whole lot; I’m a huge electro fan. It’s just that I’m iffy about electro and new wave mixtures. If you have a little dose of funk in there that can work very well with electro and new wave but what I don’t like is music that’s too white. You know? I’m kind of more into the multi-culti approach, to use the trendy term. (…You gotta take the piss a little bit…) It’s a bit boring; we already lived through that. Whereas for instance if you’re talking about the first half of the 1990s you had all these future musics developing, you had big ambient, you had drum’n’bass you had techno, you had all these new languages that were really being expanded on and perfected and being very creative. And now I mean there’s still techno and there’s still drum’n’bass and there’s still ambient, and experimental stuff but what’s popular is the ‘80s. And I mean to me it can be very tongue-in-cheek and that could be fun, just to play a couple of funny things…but as a whole sound for your set it just bores me to tears.
Do you think its because it’s a safe option, you know, one that’s been tried and tested?
Yeah, but electronic music is not about safety. It’s about innovation and moving forward and the future.
I heard you used to be elevator operator at Danceteria – have you heard about this film, Party Monster, that’s about to come out?
Oh yeah, the Michael Alig story? I’m sorry to hear that. I haven’t seen the film but I’ve known Michael Aleg for quite some time and didn’t like the guy much, to tell you the truth. The guy is like a paedophile and a pervert. I mean I don’t care about how perverted he is but the paedophile I do care about. You know, and I never really cared for the guy for that reason, mainly that reason more than anything else. But I mean not to mention pissing into the ecstasy punch and then making everybody drink it, you know, things like that. It doesn’t make you want to be friends with a person, right?
It’s a weird one to make a film about it with Macaulay Culkin starring, of all people.
Well, you know, it’s a story that can sell. The thing about it, the guy that was killed was a friend of mine and he worked for me for a number of years. Yeah, so I know all the players in this scene and, I mean, it’s an ugly scene. It was an ugly scene then; and it certainly hasn’t improved much.
Is he still about then? I thought he was in prison…
Michael Alig’s in prison, yeah. But the other guy, unfortunately there was a second guy, Frieze, who was a part of it with Michael. And he’s the one that confessed. And he killed himself in jail. He couldn’t face going to jail, I guess. He felt very guilty about it.
Right, I think that’s about it…
Okay, just make sure that you convey that I’m super excited about coming to Scotland. I’ve been wanting to go to Scotland for as long as I can remember, to visit it, you know, ’cause I have this very romantic notion, which I’m sure is going to be blown to bits once I get there! But still, you now, I’m very excited and my girlfriend who’s coming with me is very excited. So we hope to do a bit of sightseeing as well as pleasing the Scottish public.
We’re done, right? So can I ask you on a different note, we’ve got to fly from London to Ibiza – what’s the best way of getting there from Glasgow? …
By Rose Parfitt
John Tripp Creative 
