BY ROSE PARFITT

Stood in a hot cave holding minty Mojitos we were thinking up sub-genres for Nicolette. A glass elevator moved up and down behind us emptying fresh crowds into the hollows of the Dom im Berg, Graz’s small but perfectly-formed mountain. Chrome and plasma gleamed in the UV lights; enormous screens flickered above our heads. Dr No would have pawned his pincers for a sweet pad like this.

My next song’ s called  “Unconditional Love” ! (Nicolette, sounding like Mary Poppins) & because when you have fire in your heart you can love freely, like a butterfly! Yes! breathed the flower of central Europe’ s musically-minded youth. Their foreheads shone brightly in the multicoloured gloom. Some flapped wildly with inflatable guitars as her funky-eerie vocals took off, skimmed some heavy breakbeats and bounced smartly of the naked rock surface& Space-bass? Click cabaret?

It’ s like a fucking David Lynch film, this and Nicolette live: one of the bizarrest high points of this year’ s springfive festival and that’s just the beginning. Spread out over five days and twelve venues in Austria’s otherwise sleepy second city of Graz, uncountable genres of electronic music gathered to welcome in the summer with a complicated, bass-heavy fertility ritual for the future of European dancemusic.

At any given moment you might have been watching Spoonface outside the Parkhouse while eating speciality battered buds, as broken beats boomed round the treetrunks and scattered with the falling spores. Or at the end of a steep and chill passage through the bowels of the Dom you might have caught an Al Haca Soundsystem bassline so ripe and heavy drinks were jumping off the tables like glass apples in a gale. Or, on the other side of a river swollen with melted glacial snow, you might have found Michael Mayer towering over the PPC, sowing the dark, moist mass of twisting limbs with seeds of newborn Cologne techno.

Marky, Kilo, Tosca, Kissogramm, the Mad Professor, Fingathing, Roni Size, Quantic& a line-up this eclectic (see http://www.springfestival.at for the full register) is some serious achievement for any festival, especially for one so young. It s also a sure sign that, as springfestival veteran DJ Alan Brown put it, Austria is no longer the country of 70 beats per minute . Kruder & Dorfmeister, Austria s most successful musical export since Mozart, may still be going strong in various different guises, but the monumental downtempo style built ten years ago has cast a long shadow over their country’s dancemusic.

I think one of the problems has been our success, says Alan. Having escaped London several years ago to head up both communications for G-Stone Recordings (K&D s home, along with Tosca, Peace Orchestra, Stereotyp& ) and exports for Viennese club legend turned distributor Soulseduction, this is a man who knows. Once you ve been very successful at something you re always known for that and it s very hard sometimes to break away, he continues. Kruder & Dorfmeister still sell a lot of records all over the world, but just as important is a new breed of artists like Stereotyp, Urbs, Megablast, Parov Steller, DSL that are not strictly lounge or triphop. And one of the reasons this change has happened is because of what they re doing here at springfestival. This festival is a fantastic opportunity for the people and the artists of Austria to experience what the artists of Germany, UK, France, all sorts of places are doing. So big up the springfive crew.

Springfestival is all about making connections, explains Daniela Andersen. As chairman of Graz-based label/culture and communication association Zeiger, responsible for more than 40 events and parties in the area annually, Daniela has been co-coordinating the festival with its organisers Stefan Auer and Pietro Masser since 2001 s very first springone. Eventually we want to become the meeting point between middle-Europe and Eastern Europe. Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, they re all only a few hours drive away from Graz, and since the borders opened up there has been a lot more exchange between cities like Ljubljana, Zagreb and Trieste. For us those cities are closer than Vienna, she says.

In fact, a more-than-healthy rivalry between Austria s two major cities and an equally healthy sense of pride in Graz music as something unique and independent of Vienna s are two major forces shaping the character of springfestival. Thanks to Zeiger, a scene structured around groundbreaking labels including Houseverbot and Soundsilo, artists like Dr Nachtstrom or Binder & Krieglstein and innovative clubs like the PPC and Postgarage is being consolidated and celebrated every year. Springfestival has already made its presence felt outside Austria, and with international events like last year s Styrianststylez showcase at London s

Electrowerkz, the Graz sound is already on the map and giving Vienna a run for its money.

The music scene here in Graz is very creative, says Stefan Auer, Zeiger s deputy chairman. We have a strong breakbeat and drum & bass community as well as

an alternative techno and tech-house scene which is very different from Vienna s loungy, downtempo flavour. It will take time to create something special, but the whole Balkan-jazz and turbo-folk movement is a strong influence. I think this sound will become something typical for the region now that the club scene is getting more into it.

With all these elements thrown in the mix, the springfive vibe had a distinctive flavour of its own raw but sophisticated, home-made but hi-tech, a feast balancing all the major food groups against a hi-calorie techno base. A touch more jazz and Escoffier would have pinched the recipe. There s a lot going on here that s really different, says Spoonface, co-producer with Bugz in the Attic s Seiji of this year s massive dancehall gets bruk single Yin Yang . I ve met a lot of artists that I would never normally listen to, which is cool. But it needs a bit more vibes from some of the nu-jazz, broken beat heads; some of the more organic stuff. I m real to the fact that broken beats are still quite an underground form of music. I don t understand why though,  cause it s so jazzy, and so fun. There s no hostility going on there, there s no attitude it s just straight hardcore dancemusic.

Spoonface on the controls

Straight and hardcore it may be, but maybe not enough for Austria just yet. (After two Spoonface sets dancing solo in a corner, Mundovibes can tell you that for free!) That said, springfestival is still in its infancy compared with events like Sonar, and the process is all part of the fun. When it came to extra-curricular activities it was untouchable, and not just in terms of crazy venues, scorching weather and mean Mojihos. The Red Bull Academy sessions, for example, had Michael Mayer, Cleveland Watkiss, DJ Patife and MC Stamina talking shop over two chilled afternoons in the Hotel Daniel. Opportunities like that for punters with a deeper interest in what they were dancing to and where it came from don t happen every day.

The visuals also came directly out of the top drawer with a line-up of VJs including Vienna s Fritz Fitzke, London s Mox and VJ Anyone and local Graz outfit Exclusive Lingerie, and a visuals workshop was running right through the festival, hosted by 4youreye (Vienna) and Headspace (London) with support from Graz s University of Applied Sciences. As VJs we re latecomers to the scene, and so in general the balance is not quite there yet with recognition, says Montreal-born Anyone, aka Olivier Sorrentino, DJ Magazine s 9th best VJ of 2004. But I got the impression that the audience was really quite cultured in visuals and I think this festival has had a lot to

do with that.

Music is a tree with many branches, Cleveland Watkiss told his Red Bull Academy audience a perfect pearl of eco-sonic wisdom for rounding up springfive. Some branches reach further than others but they all just keep on growing, and with events like this opening up fertile ground still untrampled by the festival establishment, we re in for a bumper crop.

For more on springfestival and Zeiger http://www.zeiger.com events that fall somewhere between art and commerce, at the intersection of subculture and mainstream, and on the cusp between the demands of passionate youth and those of the cultural establishment http://www.springfive.at for this year s line up. Keep an eye out for http://www.springfestival.com later on this year for future information and past line ups, which can presently be found at http://www.springone.at, http://www.springtwo.at, http://www.springthree.at and http://www.springfour.at

springsix

festival for electronic art and music

May 24-28

The 6th update of the spring-festival holds on to the philosophy of the previous festivals: International electronic pop acts, superstar-DJs, visual artists, clubculture-pioneers together with local hopeful electronic artits, offspring DJs and Graz based underground heroes will rock through distinctive venues in the city.

Spring Festival website

00 SOUL SERVE UP SPICEY SOUL FLAVORS

By J.C. Tripp

Some things, like cocktails, food and music, are all about the mix of ingredients. And it´s the mix of its member´s musical histories, cultures and influences that makes Long Beach’s OO Soul (Double-O-Soul) the groovey outfit it is. Reflecting the cultural and racial mezcla of its Southern California home, the band’s members represent a broad range of experience, culture and age. The band´s 8 members have played in seminal funk, jazz, experimental and punk bands stretching as far back as the seventies–an era who´s influence on OO Soul´s sound is strong.

For anyone with a sense of underground music history OO Soul´s members have played a part in several recent movements. Drummer Troy Howell came out of the hardcore punk and paisley underground scene, playing in such bands as the Salvation Army and later the Three O´Clock. Bassist Steve Armstrong, from the seminal funk band Sol, joined the band early on. And sax-flautist Jack Fulks has played with the likes of Roy Porter, Billy Higgins and Garbo Szabo. Trumpetist Hank Ballard Jr. has worked with War, Lonnie Smith and Theodore Wilson, and the list goes on. Says Howell, in a recent phone chat, of this wide mix, “It´s a very diverse band. We come from all creeds and colors and age ranges. When the band first started we had some kids in the group, now we´re a bunch of old guys, but we still kick it.

That’s a wide gap for a group to bridge, but 00 Soul manage to put their diversity to work, combining tight musicianship, fresh ideas and funky arrangements into the perfect soul stew. There´s a strong nod to their influences in 00 Soul´s sound: a blend of soul, jazz, latin and soundtrack, without going too retro. As founding member, guitarist Ian Yater explained, “The hard part is not to be a retro band, you know? Even though it is, we try not to be. Our sound happens to be what everyone in our group likes and so it just comes out in that way. Its not like were trying to copy an old style or anything.”

It’s this diversity of influences and depth of experience that make 00 Soul one of the funkiest and tighest outfits playing out live. Like New York City´s Groove Collective, the band are in a category of their own making and are a big draw on the SoCal scene. Since forming in 1994 by DJ Gary Tesch and guitarist Yater, the band has been an innovative and popular force on the scene.

And whereas DJ-based bands are now common, combining loops with live instrumentation then was definitely a new thing. The genesis of 00 Soul was a humble attempt to make electronic music more organic, as Yater explained in a recent pre-rehearsal phone chat. “From the start it was trying to make dance music. We wanted to make music that you could dance to that wasn’t electronic. At the time there wasn’t anything I liked. Now there’s lots of stuff I like. But that’s why I started this thing: ‘I want to go dance but there’s nothing I like’. But, with all of our influences with Afro-beat, and Brazilian and a lot of latin and we just mixed it all together with all of our hip hop likes.”

The SoCal acid jazz “scene”, which blew up to give birth to 00 Soul as well as bands like the Galactic and Greyboy has since moved on. 00 Soul have evolved as well, growing from a three-member outfit to a full-fledged band. Gone is DJ Gary, who played a considerable role in forming the band’s early sound but who’s role seems to have stagnated as the “band” became a Band. Now technology isn’t such an important element in 00 Soul’s sound. “When it first started it was me and Gary with samplers. I was writing songs with samples because I couldn’t work the drum machine so I got a sampler to sample drum loops that I liked. And he would come up with loops and would write a song around a loop. And that went like that and some of the loops we would never use and some were just a noise that kept some kind of tempo. But that doesn’t happen anymore. Since he’s gone, especially, but even when he was here for the last few years of his time he wasn’t putting in any of the technology into it in the songwriting process. It was more of an after thought. We would write songs and he would put his stuff into it,” said Yater.

If technology is no longer a big part of their live show, it has certainly been useful in putting their self-released CDs out. The recordings, both done on low budgets and with home studios, have garnered them an international following–without ever having toured outside of their state. For their debut recording, “The Solid Sounds of the 8-Piece Brotherhood” the band hooked up with Chris Fuhrman, who was a big fan of the band. ”He really saw that he could do something with us. So, he cut us a nice deal but we really didn´t give him a chance to produce us because we had our own ideas about what we wanted. He was amazed, he said we were the first band that ever cared so much themselves for what they sounded like.” If the results were less than the band expected, nobody noticed. “The Solid Sounds of the 8-Piece Brotherhood” received stellar reviews and still sounds fresh.

For their second CD, the aptly titled “All Brothers, Different Mothers”, the band really took charge. “On the second CD we just did it ourselves. We just kept it low key and with friends equipment. We just recorded recorded the drum and bass tracks in our garage. We had one of those Roland digital recorders and everyone took it home and did their own part. I just did all my guitar parts at home on my own. Then we took that to a friend´s studio down the street and had him put it to tape, which warms it up.

And with 8 members contributing their opinions, how exactly does OO Soul create music? Well, democracy still exists somewhere, as Yater explained. “There´s probably three schools within our band and they all mesh together. There might be three of us that totally understand where ´someone is coming from and the other people dont even get it at all, even if you explain it. But they have their own vision and we we just give and take and what happens happens.”

Their songwriting process is basically jamming, which the do in twice weekly sessions. “I would say at least half of our songs are from us jamming and everyone in the band can tell that ít was cool. And we just keep working on it, you know?”, said Yater.

The process is exemplified by the standout song “Arroz Con Grandules”, an infectious latin groove from the second CD. “Well, that was just a jam. I don´t know if it was me doing that lick or Mike Vasquez coming up with the latin drum feel. But I had that guitar lick and it sounded somewhat latin so we just took it that way. And the song was pretty much done and Mike came up the lyrics. Every new song now has some lyrics to it and it is always an afterthought. After Mike listens to it and hears it he´s like ´I got an idea for some words to it.´

Samples also play a part in the process. “Sometimes we name a song after the sample that´s in it. We still call the song by the name of the main sample and we´ll have to change it to put it on the CD.”

With two CDs under their belt, one would think OO Soul would be touring heavily to promote them. With a strong international following and outlets like Dusty Groove and Amazon selling their releases, a tour would seem a must. But 00 Soul seem perfectly content with their SoCal presence, only occasionally venturing out of the hometown. ”We are not really pushing ourselves too hard because we have local shows and make good money,” said Yater.

“It is hard to get everybody in our band to go on the road and if you want to take a band further that´s what you have to do. And a lot of the members have families so we´ve accepted that we can´t do that. So, we just do what we can do, playing songs and doing our gigs.” A Southern California attitude if there ever was one.

00 Soul website

00 Soul Myspace

IN FLAGRANTI + ORGANIC GROOVES + CODEK RECORDS SASHA CRNOBMJA

BY JOHN C. TRIPP

As a founding member of New York’s Organic Grooves, a stalwart of the city’s dance underground, and as a prolific producer, Sasha Crnobmja has explored the outer galaxy of dance and groove music since the ’80s. Growing up in Switzerland, Crnobmja’s globally attuned ear led him to drumming and DJ’ing. Studying drumming with master percussionist Cosimo Lampis of Brainticket, Crnobmja began a rhythmic quest which continues to this day. In 1993 he moved to New York, initially working in fashion. Then in 1995 he started Organic Grooves with partner Erica Lively. The travelling event started in an apartment building basement on the Lower East Side, where four musicians came together to create music beyond the usual confines of rhythmic music. The early events attracted a small but receptive group which steadily grew through word of mouth. From the start Organic Groove’s was a fluid event, landing in settings ranging from Tribeca rooftops to Brooklyn warehouses, always putting the music first. The band’s lineup evolves as people come and go and includes musicians playing turntables, trumpet, keyboard, melodica, kora and multitude of percussion instruments.The music is a melting pot of styles reflecting Crnobmja’s eclectic tastes, as well as the revolving crew of musicians.Various types of world music, deep house and Afrobeat all meld together to create a sound with its own distinct character. The fact that Organic Grooves is still going strong after seven years is testament of the collective’s dedication to its rhythmic roots. While other scenes have come and gone, Organic Grooves still packs in a dedicated group of dancers who feed off and give energy to the music.

In addition to Organic Grooves, Crnobmja runs the Codek record label, which he co-founded with Alex Gloor in 1996. Codek is a homespun operation with an inspiring D.I.Y. approach. Codek releases all of the Organic Grooves recordings, as well as Crnobmja’s projects his alias “Cosmic Rocker”, which are often in colloboration with Zeb or Alex Gloor. The label’s most recent projects include “Care of the Community: the Discerning Dancefloor”, a compilation of outer rhythms, Track and Field’s (Mike Kohler) “In Search of” and “Organic Grooves 4”, twelve tracks recorded live in New York.

MundoVibes caught up with the extra-prolific Crnobmja via telephone after just returning from a very long weekend of DJing in Puerto Rico at an underground hangout.

MV: Do you travel much to the Caribbean?

SC: Well, in the Caribbean I’ve only been to Puerto Rico so far.

MV: Well, a lot of it comes to New York. New York is such a microcosm, such a musical melting pot.

SC: It is and it isn’t. It’s always in certain kind of neighborhoods or in certain ethnic places. It kind of stays there. There’s just a few places where people venture out and try to connect with other people. For example, in Puerto Rico, people probably think J Lo or salsa music, but in the field I’m in there’s really a lot more in Puerto Rico, which I was surprised by when I went the first time. They’re really into music there, anything popular and underground, from dance music to ambient to rock. They’re really into it.

MV: Do you try to be universal with your music?

SC: Yeah, absolutely. We don’t really have a name for our music style but we kind of have that sort of cosmic thing which can by anything really as long as you like it. I’m basically all about grooves and then when you get down to the roots you ultimately end up Caribbean, Africa, Brazil cause that’s where all the dance music really comes from. Even with house music, if you trace it all the way back you end up with reggae and dub, cause they were the first ones putting out 12-inches.

MV: It’s really incredible when you consider how much influence Jamaica has had.

SC: And Puerto Rico has had a big influence, especially here in New York in the ’60s and ’70s. And not just the music, but art, the whole graffiti scene, break dancing, was really big in the Puerto Rican community. And there are certain dances there where you can see where the whole breakdance inspiration comes from.

MV: I guess Puerto Rico is the place to go. Now, you grew up in Switzerland, right?

SC: Yeah. I grew up in Yugoslavia actually, in Belgrade until I was ten and then we moved to Switzerland. My teenage years were in Switzerland.

MV: There’s a lot of music coming from Switzerland now that has many influences.

SC: Switzerland doesn’t really have it’s own music, really. And the young people are definitely not into Swiss forkloric music, so you look anywhere you can for good music.

MV: Did you find it pretty much an open environment where you were exposed to a lot of music?

SC: Totally. It’s pretty much the same as everywhere.It’s more when you start getting deep into it, you realize it’s very limited to what you can do in Switzerland itself, because there’s no music industry. It’s a very small country, very conservative so you get to the edge really quick and you kind of have to make a decision if you want to keep doing it and you know you have to leave the country. And that’s what happened to me. I always wanted to leave the country just because I wanted to live somewhere else, I wanted to live in a bigger city. Not necessarily New York but that kind of happened.

MV: And how long have you been in New York?

SC: Ten years now.

MV: Did you have a vision or did things just fall into place?

SC: I wouldn’t say I had a vision, it’s just the things I was already doing in Switzerland and the

things that inspired me in the first place, I just kept on doing. Like with Organic Grooves, I did something very similar already in Switzerland.

MV: Was that “Go Global”?

SC: Yeah, we did “Go Global” soundsystem but we soon started playing drums. I wanted to incorporate live music with Djing from the beginning I got into it because to me it made so much sense. And it was good, but as I said, you kind of reach a certain level where it’s just not going anywhere. And I came here, not even for music. I came here to do fashion because I’m a trained tailor. So this guy kind of convinced me to come to New York – “hey, you should come, blah blah blah” – and I came and I was making clothes for a little bit. And, I don’t know if you remember the shop Liquid Sky? I was designing for them when they first opened on Lafayette. But, fashion is such a weird thing. You do stuff for other people and you never get credit. I really got tired of it, so I started my own thing. I started ‘Go Global’ with Erica. Even after we opened the shop I really had enough of fasion, because I’m just not a fashion person. I like the making of it, the working with fabric; making a bag or making a pair of pants was good but I couldn’t deal with fashion people so I decided ‘fuck it’ I’m going to do music and do what I love.

MV: And you found like-minded people.

SC: Yeah, Erica and I already were doing the whole clothing thing, we’d done a few parties just for fun, you know. She knew a lot of people and I was Djing. Then we met Zeb at (Club) XVI and he had a similar background. He was born in Italy and grew up in London, but we had similar music backgrounds. It all fell into place.

MV: And now you’ve almost got a mini empire going on here with a party, a label and the like.

SC: You know, it looks from the outside maybe but Erica does some things and I do the label but it all together looks like this bigger thing. But for me, I don’t look at it as “an empire”. Because there’s a few things happening, and yes maybe Erica and I are overseeing the things but only because we’re probably the most responsible out of the whole bunch. And then everyone kind of relies on us being the ones pushing it. Everyone kind of has their own thing, really. AndOrganic Grooves is the same way; all the musicians involved have their own projects going, but that’s just a way for us to get together and do what we like.

MV: So, in terms of how Organic Grooves operates, it really is a loose collabortation of musicians.

SC: Yeah, each of us are very strong individuals basically. And we all have experience in music, have played in bands, etc. We all got tired of that formula of, you know, you have a band and you rehearse these songs, blah blah blah. It was more like we just got together and we just played all night. But with time it developed to where each musician really knows when to play, what to play, and feeding off the crowd. If we play in a setting where you would sit down and watch us play – we did this one time and it was the worst gig because nothing comes out then. It’s really important for us to have the people dance and react to what we do and then you keep going and you kind of push higher and higher until you have this energy going. It’s a different type of band really and it’s hard to describe it. You know in jazz music, where you have a theme, everyone knows the theme and then you have the guys do their solo or they express the song in a way. And if you change the musicians, the song may sound totally different but you recognize the main theme. So, with us the DJ plays the theme and the musicians do their improvisation, they add to the whole vibe. That’s how it works.

MV: I always wondered how that can work. I’ve been to Organic Grooves events and I’ve always been amazed at how seamless it is.

SC: Yeah, you have to listen and be aware of what’s going on. You can’t just be there and look at your guitar and play. You always have to be aware: where is it and at what point are we here with the whole thing so you play the right thing. Otherwise it can be really disturbing if you’re totally out of tune with everyone in terms of just vibing. Like playing heavy metal or doing some crazy solos (laughter) and everyone’s just looking at you. It has a lot to do with really feeling it out.

MV: Does it take time for musicians to grab that vibe?

SC: No. I think it’s more a mental thing. You have to understand what this is all about. It’s not about how good you play or showing off your skills. It’s not about that. You have to understand the whole concept and the fact that you’re playing for the people and you want to keep the vibe. Right now the crew is really tight and we never have to talk about it, it’s just something where you look at each other and you know what’s going on. And that’s kind of cool.

MV: You’ve been in New York for this long and it’s incredible considering so many scenes have come and gone. What do you attribute that to? Just staying true to your roots?

SC: I think so. You know, you see a scene and it can be maybe for a year and then something new comes. But because no one can really pigeon-hole us so in a sense it’s never over, you know? For example, if you take any music genre like drum-n-bass, you know they reached a peak and it was defined years ago what it is and what it sounds like. So, there’s nothing you can change about that. In order to move on you have to change completely. There’s a lot of artists that have been doing drum-n-bass and now they kind of work in different scenes, and you have to reinvent. You change your whole alias and you start almost from zero again in a different scene. Where we are more like in between all these little scenes and the formula we have is the same but of course the sound changes over time. The sound now is very different than from five or six years ago. We kind of managed to stay with the new sounds, we progress but the formula we found is so basic and that you don’t have to change. It’s the sounds, the sounds change. Maybe the drum patterns change but that’s just music and if you stay on top we can progress along with the progression of different genres.

MV: In a sense your creating your own music. You’re outside labels.

SC: Yeah, totally. See, with dance music there’s not much you can change about it. I’m talking about dance music in general: music that makes a body move is always the same in a a sense. I mean, you can play rhythms that are hundreds of years old and you’re still going to feel it and it’s going to make you move your hips or tap your foot. That is never going to change. You know, even with all of these African rhythms or Latin stuff, the basic things are always the same. You may change some of the sounds or how you bring it, but in the end you go back to the main groove and there’s not much you can do different.

MV: I always consider it to be the bassline that gets me moving, which is the simplest form.

SC: Drum’n’bass really is the essential. We all recognize that fact that if you stick to the roots you’re going to stay the longest, basically.

MV: How do you transform this into a studio project? Do you record live?

SC: We do record live. We do both. We sample, we program things, we record live, we combine many different ways of making it sound the way we want to make it sound. There’s different ways to do it, but in the end because of the mindset, it’s always going to come out the way we sound. Maybe it could be more electronic, or whatever, but we’re always going to end up having that kind of organic sound. It’s always going to be about the rhythms.

Zeb, Sasha’s musical

collaborator

MV: Are you deliberately going low-fi?

SC: Well, low-fi has to do with gear and expenses and money and that’s the thing we don’t have. So, we have to do the best thing out of what we have. I know what is possible if you have a big budget. But, we’re so flexible and there’s no studio costs and that’s how we’re able to do it because we’re really self-sufficient. And that’s how we want to keep it. And every CDs going to sound different from the one before and no-one’s going to tell us it’s no good. All of the tracks that we produce I play at the parties and that’s the best test. If I play a track and people go crazy then I know there’ssomething. I have usually the basic tracks and then we work from there, we record the instruments. You have to have the basic groove and it has to be good.

MV: And are you the person at the board?

SC: I’m the one that spends most time with it. So, I do the production with Zeb. And if Zeb is busy doing other stuff then it stays up to me doing it. So that’s the whole thing with being responsible, so if we decide to make an album I kind of take charge and then just do it.

MV: Well, I spent a lot of time this summer with the D’Afro Disco CD and liked it very much. Your moniker, the Cosmic Rocker, is a defining word because the music does go into that realm. I sort of think of you guys on the same plane as, say, Don Cherry or Sun Ra, in terms of your influences.

SC: Don Cherry, definitely. I have to say, Sun Ra, I actually discovered when I moved to America. I never came across Sun Ra in Europe but Don Cherry had some tracks that I used to play. So, there’s something that definitely stuck in my head. But Sun Ra, I would say that goes even further. He’s on a higher level, you have to go even deeper. In the same way, you have musicians like William Parker that’s like dealing with people who are so deep. And we actually did this kind of remix, it’s called ‘Black Cherry’. A guy from Aum Fidelity gave me a CD of William Parker and the drummer Hamid Drake and it was just the two of them. It’s improv jazz and they’re kind of the top notch in that scene. So, we did a remix album but it’s not called a remix, it’s called ‘Black Cherry’ via the sound science of William Parker and Hamid Drake because I used a lot of their sounds and samples. But when you listen to their stuff you really have to be on a different level. It’s not something you just put in and listen to. So, Sun Ra, I think the planet is even further away that he lives on. But definitely-Takuya, who’s plays keyboards and trumpets – he actually was more into that. And I think he even performed with some of the people that performed with Sun Ra.

MV: Graphics seems to play a big part of Organic Grooves identity.

SC: Yeah, definitely, it was always important. That’s Alex Gloor, who’s created the graphics from the beginning. The flyers, the images, the covers, everything. You know, today I still listen to music by the look of it. Sometimes you can almost see the music. I remember the early ’90s with house music there was no visual aspect and it seemed faceless. Our art reflects what we do. It’s a visual look that is not about styling, that’s for commercial stuff.

MV: Speaking of commercial, do you ever feel like others are appropriating what Orgnanic Grooves has developed. Or on the other hand, have you been given huge cash offers.

SC: No, it’s hard because what we do is very unpredictable.

Codek Records

Organic Grooves

Markus Enochson’s Techno-Soul Permutations

Stockholm’s Markus Enochson is at the cutting edge of a new form of soul music that infuses classic soul with his techno- and electro-musical influences and impeccible production skills. Enochson has been an integral part of the house music culture in Sweden for years and his own productions like “I Am the Road” and “Feeling Fine” and collaborations with soul vocalist James Ingram and the Masters at Work (“Lean on Me”) established Enochson as a leading house music producer. Working within the underground house music scene, he has an impressive pedigree as a producer, remixer and a DJ and has a reputation for genre defying blends in his productions and DJ sets. Not one to rest on his laurels Enochson’s work has evolved and mutated over the years, from the classic, New York-inspired house of his first singles to the freer and more unrestrained elctronic-drenched compositions of today. Enochson is constantly hunting for new ways of introducing his version of soul. Today he lets his early rave and techno influences shine through, coupled with broken beats and R’n’B. This is a big jump and it was an awakening for Enochson when he realized he could escape from the pattern he was partly responsible for putting himself in.

With “Night Games” his full-length debut on sonar kollektiv, Enochson has created his own unique electro-soul sound. It was Louie Vega from Masters at Work who came up with the idea of an album a few years ago. Markus started off the work, but while doing it, he kept getting new ideas that he didn’t know what to do with. The pieces eventually fell into place resulting in an album of heavy electronics blended with deep soul, with strong influences from Detroit and 80s electronic underground dance. “Nite Games” is largely a reflection of what is happening today. It is a sort of soul-minimalism, distilled from his years of musical experience. Nite Games is house, techno, and broken beats woven together in a way that only Enochson can.

“Nite Games” is the first step in a new journey of experimentation and discarding tired music formulas. His recent work which is minimal yet soulful tech-house includes ‘No Only In Sweden/Chord song’ under the Two Guys & A Dog alias and a remix of Demetrius Price “No Holdin’ Back” on Sweden’s Raw Fusion label under his new alias Audiobuff. Enochson is also busy finalizing production of the full length debut of Cornelia. This is in addition to his busy schedule as a globe-trotting DJ and in-demand remixer.

Mundovibes was fortunate enough to catch up with the busy artist for this e-mail interview.

MUNDOVIBES: You were born in 1975, near the peak of the disco and soul eras. How strong an impact did this period have on you? What music do you remember hearing as a child that shaped you?

MARKUS ENOCHSON: At home I was brought up on more or less on a strict diet of soul music, mostly ballads. I remeber specifically at an early age being in awe of Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Thin Lizzy and many more. Since my father was involed in music for several of my early years there was a lot of music around, intruments to play and people playing and singing at home.

MV: Your uncle was very formative in your childhood exposure to music and electronics. Tell us about this.

MARKUS: My uncle had a synth and studio store for many years in Stockholm and I strongly remember my first visit to this store as a 5-year old and experiencing a synthesizer for the first time. I was truly amazed. This is one of my strongest childhood memories and I truly felt that I wanted to be around synthesizers for the rest of my life. Later on my uncle had this amazing home studio with more or less all the goodies you could imagine and I loved spending time in there when we were visiting them.

MV: We all know that Marvin Gaye lived in Sweden. Was soul music popular there?

MARKUS: Traditionally Sweden is a rock country and I imagine Marvin came cause of the women… although in Marvin’s days it could have been different.

MV: You come from a musical family, yet you pursued a different sort of musical career. What made you want to do things diffferentltly

MARKUS: I think any kid wants to form an identity in polarity of sorts towards your parents. In my way I started listing to synth, the early body music and techno as my “revolution” came about.

MV: When were you first introduced to techno and house music what were your impressions?

MARKUS: For me techno and house came to my attention in the early ’90s. I went to raves and had a few live experiences in those early raves. Cari Lekebush was in a way formentative in my musical schooling as he showed me some tricks (we’re form the same suburb) and he lent me his id so I could get in underage to parties.

MV: How did your musical career begin?

MARKUS: I did a maybe ten live gigs during the period 92-96 and organised a few parties. My first paid gig was in ’96 and I started travelling as a DJ the year before. Early on in 98-99 I had my first release (‘Follow Me’), a vocal house track and I ran with that style cause that was my first release.

MV: What was your first DJing experience?

MARKUS: More or less a disaster of sorts. I had to stand in for a friend who was double booked. I didn’t own turntabels and had just done the occasional mix for him while he was chatting some girl up. I remember that I was horrified and nothing went as I wanted it to. It got better after that.

MV: When did you realize that you wanted to produce dance music?

MARKUS: I realised early on that i wanted music to be a part of my life and dance music was not a term in those days. Eventually I was drawn towards it because my interest in music and technology so in a sense it came naturally. Muy soulful upbringing and interest for technology

MV: What were your first experiences producing music. Did it come easy?

MARKUS: I remember the first time I had a synth that could record something — again it was natural.

MV: You are well established as a DJ. What do your DJ sets encompass?

MARKUS: That’s a very tough question to answer right now. I try not to be linear these days, I’m tryin to not be held back by myself and my own ideas of what I think the audience might want and just go with the flow. I recently started DJing with Serato and its a godsend for me. I now find what track I want the moment I know what I want. Before with CDs I was lost by too many pages of CDs in the case. I still prefer vinyl and I bring what I have not recorded for a gig that I think I might play. This leads into the next question and this relefcts what I’m doing as a producer these days as well as a DJ.

MV: You have gone from producing classic-sounding house to a much more varied and more experimental sound with a number of influences. How and why has your music evolved?

MARKUS: I really started out DJing and producing techno. House was also a huge part from the get go and it was within house music I got my break. In a way you can say that I grew tired of house and all of its cliches and pastiches. I more or less did music oriented around the soulful NYC scene for close to ten years and I grew tired of it. When I started doing my album I realised early on that it was time for a change. No more live bass, no more rhodes, at least not for that album. In a way you can say that the album was the start of something that has continued into a series of 12″s and what also can become a new electronic oriented album. I’m more interested these days of exploring the combination of traditional song structures and electronic soundscapes as well as al lintrumental electronic tracks. Also I’m trying to develop other artists and working as a song writer and producer for others. I’d like to mention Cornelia Dahlgren, a Swedish gril I’m working with and we are close to finising her album.

MV: You have worked with Louis Vega and Kenny Dope of Masters at Work. How does it feel to be working with them and how did this happen?

MARKUS: I got to knew one of their bookers, Olli White in London, and we became friends. This led into the collaboration with James Ingram because he’s been wroking with my father alot so I was sort of a facillitator and a suggestor for the collab and also a co-writer for the song “Lean on Me”.

MV: Your full-length album “Night Games” is a mix of styles and of collaborators. Clearly, you wanted to mix things up.

MARKUS: I mentioned earlier that I felt that the traditional soulful scene was in a stand still, and alot of people are still standing. Other people realised this as well, for instance Louie (Vega) took to his roots and incorporated a lot of latin types of music into house and I turned to mine, hence I brought into my soul music a lot of electronica and early techno feel to it. I more or less wanted to do electronic music but with a soul sensibility. I felt that I was searching for something different rather than repeating some tried and tired formula. The collaborations came about in a very easy way. All of the people except James Ingram were living in Stockholm at the time and we are all friends so it was more of a collektive than anything else.

MV: How did the songs and collaborators on “Night Games” come together since you have so many sounds and voices.

MARKUS: Most of the songs are collaborations between me and the vocalist where I do the music and they do the lyrics. Sometimes we do the melody line tothether and at other occasions the vocalist does it all by themself. Musically I had a few tracks for all the different vocalists to choose from and I wrote them having the specific vocalist in mind. I had a clear idea of their vocal range and style from before since I worked with almost all of them earlier.

MV: Many of your songs such as “Endless Dance”, “Hear Me” and “Love is on the Way” and have an uplifting message. Do you want your music to lift people up?

MARKUS: I try to think positive even when the chips are down. So I guess it might shine through. “Hear Me” I wrote the English phrases and “Endless Dance” me and Jocelyn were very close with our minds and speaking alot of these issues at the time.

MV: ” Night Games” has a sound that is both soulful and techy. How do you balance between the machine and the soul?

MARKUS: I’m part machine 😉

MV: What impact do you want your music to have on the listener?

MARKUS: If i could wish for something it would be that the listener would try to immerse themselves in the music

MV: What are the strongest “elements” to your music?

MARKUS: I mean, its really not me who should answer this, but if I have to say one thing that I strive for it’s in how to combine an electronic soundscape with traditional songwriting

MV: Your work with James Ingram is very soulful and solid. Tell us about working with him. Are you a fan of his?

MARKUS: I’m a huge fan and I grew up with his music. My father Lars and him have done a few collaborations. It would be very har d to do somtheing unsoulful with James cause he’s a very inspired and soulful man. In a way I’m blessed to have been part of his musical life and I’ve learned a great deal from him

MV: What is your approach to remixes? Do you totally reconstruct a song? What do you set out to do?

MARKUS: In my opinion a good remix is a remix that truly takes the track in a different direction and makes it into something completely new. Remixes today are more often than not shit, I haven’t heard a good remix on a R&B track in many many years. In a way I feel that the remixer should try to accomplish to make the song/track his/her own and then reproduce the song so it feels like an original.

MV: How would you describe the music you are producing now?

MARKUS: Experimental music. I was shackled by myself for so many years and I never want to be in that situation again. It’s almost like I wanna be changing the script every other production tese days.

MV: You have a strong interest in technology. How does this affect your music?

MARKUS: I’m constantly learning about new technology and old. So, in a way I never want to stand still. Even if it’s a mic techniquie for kick drums or the latest plug-in I want to be on top of things and during the years this has been my motto in studios. I never was afraid to ask in these situations.

MV: What are some of the irreplaceable tools you use to create your music?

MARKUS: Well, I have to list a few things. The didrick de geer micrphone. All of the vocals on the album, indeed all of the vocals I’ve recorded since I got this microphone have been done with this baby. It’s truly amazing, built by a more or less fanatic guy starting out with the capsule of the akg c12. Also, for drum i use the mpc 60 mk II most of the time. I use logic as a daw controling protools hd interface. Nils, my dog, is my constant companion in the studio

MV: What trends do you see on the horizon for dance music? What is inspiring you?

MARKUS: Dance music as well as all music has alot ahead in the terms of reorganizing the business structures to fit today’s community. Musically I think today are really inspiring times. In a way I imagine that house and techno has never been as close in 15 years or more. This is truly inspiring.

MV: You’ve been working with Chicago’s Still Music with “The two guys and a dog ep”. Tell us about this.

MARKUS: “two guys and a dog” are part of five guys and a dog which is a way of naming all of us working in our studio complex. We are doing different combinations and collaborations working under this guise. We also have a myspace site and are doing a few collaborative DJ sets and future releases and co-productions and possibly a label. There is a future two guys and a dog ep on miso music very soon.

Two Guys and a Dog ep (Still Music)

MV: What projects are you involved with now?

MARKUS: Well, finsihin g the album of Cornelia, a remix for tiger stripes, the awa track is a part of tronic jams ep 1 on deeply rooted, soon cpt beard is coming out on raw fusion and a secret bootleg track that i’m sure will make some impact;)

Markus Enochson website

Markus Enochson myspace

Cornelia Dahlgren website

Complete Discography of Markus Enochson

Sonar Kollektiv

It´s been rumored that New York based Artist-Producer-DJ extraordinaire Jaymz Nylon was born with a stack of vinyl in his hands. Whether it´s true or not, his youthful passion for music led his father to compile young Nylon’s favorite tracks on a tape when he was just 3. Even then Nylon exhibited a deep appreciation for funk and soul and the mix included Fela, Santana, Otis Redding, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Al Green and a little Samba thrown in by his mother.

Fast forward a few years to age 14 where Jaymz’ father is stationed in Germany (aha–the techno connection!) and we find him turned on to electronic music which he then started to mix with early funk and hip-hop. Nylon DJ’ed his first party for young American and German teens in the parking garage beneath his apartment complex. Then at the age of 17 and through university, Nylon went underground, throwing Acid/Chicago House Music parties in basements while parents were away. From here the pace quickens.

In 1993 and we find Nylon fulfilling his musical calling with his debut 12″, Ofunwa´s “It all begins here” on the pioneering house label Tribal America. Thus was begun a prolific career that spans many tracks, DJ sets and creative output. His debut album “Afrotech” on Irma in 2000 was widely appreciated for Nylon has recorded under various pseudonyms throught the years recording music for King Street/ Nite Grooves, Loveslap, Out of the Loop, Captivating, Eightball/Empire, State and his own Nylon imprint. After this long journey of acquiring and sharing knowledge of Nylon is now concentrating on his own Nylon Recordings.

To mark the start of a new phase of his career, Nylon has released the full-length “African Audio Research Program Vol. 1” an electronic album of warmth and soul that works on and off the dancefloor. On this album are epic tracks like “Shine”, “People Still Dream”, “Morning Eyes” & “Skullduggery”, along with stunning vocals of Bobbi Sanders, Sokunthary Svay, Joshua Tree and Nylon. “African Audio Research Program Vol. 1” also features the extremely talented Jay Rodriguez (the man behind the world famous Groove Collective) on sax/flute.

Mundovibes was priviliged to hook up with Jaymz Nylon for a chat about his lengthy career.

Mundovibes: Jaymz, you have been spinning, producing and remixing deep, soulful house for a couple decades now. How does it feel to be a veteran of the house music universe?

Jaymz Nylon: To be exact I have only been in the business for 12 years, releasing my first single in 1993. I really do not feel like a veteran because for me every release is a new beginning with the sound always moving forward.

MV: How important is your African heritage to your music and how do you express it?

No matter how far removed I maybe from my African anscestors I feel them in life’s daily rhythm when I talk, walk & breath and this comes through when I create my music.

MV: What would you say is the thread that ties all of your various projects and efforts together?

JN: There is no thread that ties all my various projects together, it’s a seamless bond that will continue as long as I breath.

MV: What are the key elements to a Jaymz Nylon production?

JN: Hope, happiness & tragedy (not necessarily mine).

MV: Brooklyn is your home but you travel the world. What keeps bringing you back to NYC?

JN: I have not yet found a place that can compare with Brooklyn’s environment where art and urban co-exsist. But who knows maybe one day I will do a complete 360 and end up living in the northern beaches of Australia.

MV: Since the late ’90s the club scene in New York has been under pressure. What are your feelings about the present culture in the city?

JN: It’s difficult but I try to stay positive about the NYC club scene & not give up on her. I just started a weekly Wed. party called Nylon Sessions at Gypsy Tea 33 W.24th St. between 5th & 6th Ave. it has a sick Phazon Sound System…Wish me luck!

MV: Please give us the low-down on your latest project, African Audio Research Program?

JN: Well African Audio Research Program Vol.1 is just one many volumes to come. It provides me with a creative outlet that allows me to unleash all this music inside of me, on my own terms. A2RP is also a sharing experience with me, my collaborators and the listener.

MV: How did you go about putting African Audio Research Program together. What was the inspiration?

JN: The name African Audio Research Program came to me from a dream where I was a part of organization that willingly came over from Africa to a new world and had to find a way to communicate with the native inhabitants but only through music. The amazingly talented people around me inspired me to make this dream a reality.

MV: You also have some new 12” releases, please tell us about these?

JN: Black By Birth Feat. Ronyx “Get It Right” Main Squeeze Co-Produced with Andrew Brown

Jaymz Nylon “Virgin Sand” Perfect Toy Records.

MV: You collaborate with a lot of different artists. Who are you working with lately?

JN: Bobbi Sanders (ex-wife of El DeBarge),Mooney, Kmao, Andrew “AEB” Brown and Jay Rodriguez.

MV: Describe the creative process you employ to create your music.

JN: Go to sleep, wake up from dream and go into studio.

MV: The lyrics in your music are spiritual and uplifting and abstract at times. What do you want to communicate with these lyrics?

JN: That life is designed to be lived through the hardest of times to the most tender.

MV: What keeps you grounded in what must be a pretty hectic schedule and life?

JN: Looking into the eyes of my 14 month old daughter Bianca, the smile of 10 year old daughter Coco & the love and laughter of my wife Ria.

MV: Your knowledge of modern dance music stretches back a few decades. How do you put this knowledge to work with what you do?

JN: What strikes me the most in past decades was Black Music of the 70’s and in particular their arrangements and placement of instruments in the final mix. And with this knowledge I happily apply this to the way I record.

MV: What gives you the most satisfaction from a DJing gig?

JN: Smiley sweaty people.

MV: What, in your opinion, was the golden age of house music?

JN: Yesterday, today and tomorrow.

MV: It has to be difficult to be continually inspired. What do you do outside of the music for this?

JN: Spending as much time as I can with my family & friends which are not in music business.

MV: Dance music is about letting go and releasing and these days there’s a lot to release. What are your feelings on this?

JN: This is nothing new, every generation has had some sort of outlet for release and letting it all go. As long as humans exsit we will always need a means to escape sometimes.

MV: What can we expect from Jaymz Nylon in 2005?

JN: Music, music and more music.

Jaymz Nylon Myspace

CHICAGO’S GUIDANCE RECORDINGS

BY J.C. TRIPP

Like many Chicago-based labels, house music was a catalyst for the launch of Guidance Recordings. But unlike the now-defunct house labels that never moved beyond the genre Guidance charted an adventurous course from its inception. Releasing pioneering compilations of dub, down tempo and lounge the label rapidly expanded far beyond its original deep-house offerings. And that continual quest for new sounds and emerging artists has made Guidance one of the most dynamic and respected labels in the world of underground dance and electronic music.

Guidance Recordings was founded in 1996 by Ivan Pavlovich, Rob Kouchoukos, and Sid Stary. All shared a passion for house music and were involved in its nascent recording industry. Pavlovich and Kouchoukos met while running operations at the legendary Cajual, Prescription and Relief labels. At the time a new wave of producers were expanding upon the Chicago house music blueprint—adding state of the art production techniques and a cosmopolitan edge to art form. Guidance embraced the globalization of electronic music, assembling a diverse and talented roster of artists from across Europe, the UK, and North America.

The label released its first two singles, Free Energy “Happiness” and Projekt: PMs vocoded house classic “When the Voices Come” in May 1996. It followed with a string of timeless twelve inches that helped launched the careers of house music legends such as: Austin “Abacus” Bascom, Deep Sensation, Blueboy, Fresh and Low, Kevin Yost, and Chicago’s very own Glenn Underground, prompting Muzik Magazine to proclaim Guidance “the best new house label in the world” in its 1997 year end issue.

Although Guidance initially made its mark in the industry on the strength of its deep house singles, the label’s goal has always been to release a diverse spectrum of soulful urban electronic music encompassing but not limited to house, dub, downtempo, hip hop, lounge, electro and world influenced sounds. All three of the label’s founding partners came of age in club culture during the late 1980’s when DJ’s regularly spun rock, reggae, hip hop, house, freestyle, electro and techno all in the same set. It’s in that spirit of diversity that Guidance carries on.

Inspired by the critical and commercial success of Blueboy’s “Remember Me”, Guidance has successfully launched Mundial Muzique, Midnight Express, and Hi Fidelity House, Dub, and Lounge compilation imprints. This foray into the CD compilation market proved to be a crucial phase in the label’s expansion, exposing the Guidance sound to a wider music buying audience beyond the confines of DJ culture and paving the way for the label’s transition into a full scale record company dedicated to artist development.

Over the years, Guidance has been very fortunate to have a number of the acts on its roster grow with the label and evolve from DJ?s producing the odd one off single into versatile artists capable of releasing engaging full length albums. The year 2000 marked the release of the label’s first proper artist album, A:xus “Soundtrack for Life” produced by Toronto’s Austin Bascom. In early 2001, Guidance followed suit with “Doubts and Convictions” the masterful debut album from Marseille, France based trio the Troublemakers.

Refusing to rest on its laurels, the label has continued to keep the quality level high, delivering the sterling sophomore album “Numero Deux” from Milan based duo, The Dining Rooms; the debut full-length of Nuspirit Helsinki, a multi-talented collective of local DJs producers and musicians that ascended to the forefront of the European nu-jazz scene; Norwegian folk electronica trio, Flunk’s stylish synth pop love affair “For Sleepyheads Only” and Caia’s “The Magic Dragon” a captivating album of far east inspired electronica from Andy Cato of Groove Armada.

In an increasingly challenging industry Guidance has branched out, licensing tracks to television programs like “Six Feet Under” and tapped into the burgeoning video game market, compiling the soundtrack and companion soundtrack album for the popular Play Station 2 game Smuggler’s Run, and placing songs from the Guidance catalog on Midnight Club 2 and Grand Theft Auto III. With last year’s signing of Bent, Nottingham, England’s undisputed champions of leftfield dance music, as well as exciting new artists such as Seattle’s Young Circle and Tennessee’s Skyway 7, the label’s future is looking positive. Add to that a strategic partnerships with companies such as E Music and Apple’s I-Tunes store and Guidance are posed to thrive in the digital era.

Guidance’s cluttered office located in a non-descript building in Chicago’s West Loop might be anti-climatic for an article in, say, Wallpaper magazine. But clearly it’s all about the music and Guidance makes no pretense about it. It’s a cold spring Friday afternoon and things seem pretty guiet at the office, with just two of Guidance’s “family” members in presence, founding principle Ivan Pavlovich and operations manager Tony Mesones. With the Bent LP playing in the background, we sat down to talk about Guidance Recordings, the Chicago scene and the music industry.

JC Tripp: From the start it seems like Guidance has been on a dub and spiritual kind of vibe.

Ivan Pavlovich: Even from the start there was always one song on the e.p. that was different, it wasn’t straight deep house. As we’ve grown older and our tastes have matured, we’ve gone from more club oriented music to more down tempo, a lot of orchestration, just a more mature sound I think. Music we can listen to at home, not having to go out to clubs and bang our heads against the wall. But Tony will still do that but he does that for fun (laughter).

Tony Mesones: Yes, to diversify the catalogue as well, you know, in the long run.

JC: Are you, in terms of genres of music, are into any broken beat or is it primarily down tempo?

Ivan: Down tempo. I think the problem when you deal with broken beat is that you’re talking about 2,000 people in the world who are into broken beat and you’re only dealing with these people. The only people who understand it are the people who are in it.

Tony: To make the scene, you are closing it off. Also, it’s a West London thing. The thing about broken beat shows that I’ve been too, I’ve noticed when I went and saw Dego, everybody stands and dances in the same place. It doesn’t get crazy.

Ivan: But, we’re not downtempo. In the beginning we were just trying to do quality music, whatever appealed to us, you know? So, it wasn’t about classification or anything, it was like “do we like this on its own. Do we just like this on its own.

Tony: And can we do something with it, you know?

JC: What were some of your first projects.

Ivan: Josh Michaels, who’s since moved to San Francisco, did the first release. Some of our big 12” artists at the beginning, we had the Glenn Underground’s, the Kevin Yost’s, Larry Heard. Just really pushing the deep house sound. And at the time things were getting a little harder and we just wanted to bring it back to deep house.

JC: Your roster is very international now.

Ivan: I think it always was. Somebody asked me this the other day, ‘do you only sign Chicago artists?’ And, we only have 2 Chicago artists and they’re not even in Chicago. We had like 3 or 4, but Glenn Underground’s the only one who did an album for us. We really don’t work with that many people from Chicago, not by choice, that’s just the way it worked out.

JC: So, it’s not about Chicago artists, it’s about wherever the material comes from?

Ivan: We just started gettting projects from overseas and they snowballed. It’s a weird thing, you go territory to territory. You get an album or some tracks from a couple of French artists and all of a sudden you get 40 demos in that territory. And then in Scandanavia the same thing happens. You do a couple of things and all of a sudden it’s a flood. I mean, we may as well be a Scandanavia label now. (laughter)

JC: Well, you’re more like a European label in the sense of what you’re representing. Do you get that comparison?

Tony: Yeah, I think it’s an easy comparison to make, a natural association. It doesn’t bother us, if that’s the question.

JC: You have at least two very successful compilation series, High Fidelity Lounge and High Fidelity Dub Sessions. That’s a big part of your operation.

Ivan: Yes. I guess there are three levels of operations: you have the twelve-inches, which we’re now relegating to promote artist albums, with remixes. And sometimes to test out new artists. And then you have the artist albums and the compilations. I think they all are equally important.

Tony: They all help each other out in some way.

JC: And how do your compilations come together conceptually?

Ivan: It’s just a matter of somebody coming up with a concept that can be spaced out over a series. With the new “Star Gazing”, Tony just kind of came up with it and hopefully we can carry that over through a number of volumes. That’s always important.

JC: Do you think there are too many compilations out there now?

Ivan: It’s definitely tough to set yourself apart in the compilations. If we hadn’t started the lounge series years back when there were just a couple of chillout lounge compilations and the market was really open for it. I don’t think we’d be doing it anymore. It wouldn’t be worth it because the sales drop.

JC: But you pioneered that in the States.

Tony: Yeah, luckily we were there at the beginning, you know, especially for the US. Because without that it really wouldn’t be worth doing it.

Ivan: I think “Star Gazing” is a brand new concept unto itself.

Tony: Synth-pop but a little bit edgier.

Ivan: A little bit edgier, a little bit folktronicish. But I don’t see many compilations like that out there.

JC: It’s not in the club realm at all then?

Tony: No, it’s more of an electronic-rock vibe, right? Stuff like Flunk, Telepop, Les Rythmes Digitales, that kind of vibe. I haven’t seen a compilation that kind of devotes itself to that genre yet.

JC: I want to talk about some of your specific artists, firstly with Nu Spirit Helsinki. Do you typically look to develop artists or do you go with one record and see how it goes?

Ivan: The hope is to be able to develop them. Up until know it’s been really tough for us because we’re always doing first time artists. So, we’re really breaking them and then having to wait for the second album to sell.

Tony: As a record label, you really have to look toward developing the artist. There’s all of this time and money and energy into breaking them. If you have nothing to follow up with then it really hurts.

Ivan: You’re just getting your feet wet with the first, and then the second time. The Nu Spirit Helsinki album resonated.

JC: It’s an awesome album. Too bad radio couldn’t pick up on that.

Ivan: Yeah, you know in a lot of instances I think “this would be great for R&B radio” but it’s a very “European” album, I guess.

Tony: They’re doing a lot of shows in London now and they’re really starting to catch up. That’s an album that is going to take a long time to get to the point where it’s understood.

Ivan: I think it’s just harder to understand, it’s not an easy album to get. You’re going to have to really sit with it and that’s why it’s talking so long. Which is great, because that album is going to be around 10 years from now.

JC: It’s definitely got a classic feel.

Ivan: It doesn’t date itself. Those guys are amazing musicians and producers. They are perfectionists.

JC: In terms of breaking an artist, what is your strategy?

Ivan: The strategy is to sign really good artists and hope for the best (laughs). It depends, it varies from artist to artist.

Tony: And there’s the twelve-inch thing and see if we get the response.

Ivan: It depends, from artist to artist. It depends on what kind of artist they are and what their abilities are. Some people can’t DJ or tour live, and you’ve got to figure out some other way to break them. Maybe it’s like the Dining Rooms. Maybe instead of bringing them over for a tour, maybe you just do a lot of film and TV licenses and try and get the word out through that. Another artist we’re looking at signing has an amazing live show, so the focus would be to bring them over and do a tour.

Tony: As a label, we’ve been making a push to try to get a national tour together. The difficulty is that our artists are overseas. Now we’re making the push, we’re gettting the buzz where the audience wants to see and hear them in the states. For example, flunk, which will be touring in the fall. It’s new territory for us here at Guidance.

Ivan: Yes, well it’s a live tour and that’s tough. The problem with Nu Spirit Helsinki is you’re talking about 12 people. That doesn’t include sound guys, technicians, etc. You can’t bring 12 people over from Europe and have a shitty show, so you’ve got to have these other people, you know?

Tony: It’s more hurtful to have a bad show than it is not to do a show. It’s cost prohibitive: you’ve 12 people, we’re a small label here. I’m sure the response would be great if we could get them over here and there would be a demand to see them. But if they keep doing more shows overseas and maybe there will be a buzz and we can do something.

Ivan: We don’t have radio here like they do overseas. You have to use alternate methods of marketing bands, things like video. Very few electronic artists have been able to get on MTV. What’s cool are things like Cornerstone Player, Res magazine has a DVD with a lot of electronic artists. So, you have to look at those options to spread the word.

Tony: There are alternate avenues. We don’t get much radio play but we do with stations like KCRW. There are certain tastemaker stations that have been good to us.

Ivan: It’s this grass-roots kind of fight to find the best means of exposure for your artist and figuring out how to make that work for you.

JC: You have a very strong graphic image with your packaging. It’s part of what attracted me from the start.

Tony: We try to make it a definitive statment like with our lounge series. If you’re talking about marketing that first impression is so important. How do you get somebody to go towards this CD? That’s why the Ultra releases have done so well, or the Naked look. And we’re doing it a little differently but we’ve got some great artists creating work for us.

Ivan: I think we’re getting better with the art work. There were a couple in there that just snuck by (laughs).

JC: Getting back to the music, do you put people together and say ‘hey, I’ve got this concept’.

Ivan: Rarely. Mostly we’re talking about finished product. Where it’s developing an artist, meaning with the 12-inches, the whole farm league thing. You keep putting them out and it’s like ‘wow, this is what’s working’, giving them feedback, working with them on that end. But not really starting from zero, where you’re like ‘OK, I’m going to take this person and this person and put them together and lock them in a hotel room together for a weekend and then we’ll have an album’. We did that once with a relase called “Urban Renewal”, which was spoken word. So, that was the only time where we actually put people together. We took Chicago spoken word artists and sent them to New York to work with Rahzel . Different things like that, we called King Britt and said ‘can you and Ursula Rucker deliver something for this project.’ But beyond that it’s really up to the artists.

M: Do you have certain clubs that you do things with?

Tony: Ivan and I have taken it upon ourselves, and Tobias as well. We started a night, on Mondays, at a place called Spoon on Wells. The night reflects the label, the diversity. We do the house music thing but Tobias willl throw in some ‘80s. Everybody does a house music night here in Chicago and it’s boring. It’s about just keeping it fun and it reflects our tastes.

Ivan: On that whole vibe, people take music soo seriously sometimes.

Tony: Especially in this town. They’re so serious about it.

Tony: Even the musicians on the Bent album, they’re having fun when they make their music. They’re trying different things, it’s quirky. A Captain & Tenille sample for a house track, you know?

Ivan: With Nu Spirit, it’s great to be serious like that. That’s a serious album but other times music can be fun.

M: Do you think Chicago gets too pigeon-holed in the whole house thing? Everybody’s like ‘Chicago, house music!’

Ivan: There are other scenes. The whole thing they’re doing with say, Thrill Jockey. They’ve got their own scene with Tortoise and Cake. That’s a great scene and it’s viable and you’re making it work. But you’re getting crossover into our magazines, the electronic magazines. But you still have the history of, like, this is where it started.

JC: I had a pre-conception of Chicago that everybody was all together in one place, as a family. And then I realized it’s very north-south.

Ivan: Yeah, totally, as split up as neighborhoods.

Tony: I’m relatively new to the town, I moved here two years ago and I had the same pre-conception as you, where it’s kind of a family vibe.

Ivan: I think if you’re actually in Chicago it’s pretty diverse, but for people who come over here they’re always amazed. They expect to see, like, Frankie Knuckles and everybody’s just jackin’.

JC: Now it seems like every trendy bar has a compilation.

Ivan : Every bar, every national retailer, anybody you can think of now has a compilation to make it a lifestyle.

JC: Is that anything you would get into?

Tony: We do it. That’s just another way to reach that market. You don’t have radio, but you have these comps that are everywhere. There’s major retailers that do this. My mom goes into these places, Joe Schmo from whatever college goes to these places. This is how to reach these people. You can’t go through radio, so you go to these major retailers and you get on their compilations.

JC: Do you find that there is any unity amongst member of the scene, in terms of working together on projects or promotion?

Ivan: I don’t know, there’s no sense of unity, everybody’s off on their own running their own race. Which is good and bad. I think if it was there’d be some inteesting collaborations and maybe more music that pushes boundaries if people did put their heads together. Even when we’ve tried to do things with other house labels, downtempo labels and it never really worked out. I am sure there’s some underlying competition or egoism about what everybody’s doing, but it’s very hard to bring people together. That said, we’re on really good terms with a lot of the labels. Everybody shares information, the people who know each other help each other.

JC: In terms of Guidance future growth and direction. Do you see things as getting bigger or what?

Tony: They need to get bigger.

Ivan: The market right now is awful. Anybody in the U.S. will tell you. Any label, save something like Ultra, who still is spending the marketing money, Eighteenth Street Lounge Music based on Thievery Corporation sales, not their other artists. Their other artists are hurting just like anybody else. Definitely, everybody is feeling it. You talk to people in France, and they’re doing all of the Buddha Bar compilations like Vagram, who’s the main distributor of these compilations—they’re hurting. Even though the French market just went up like the only market in the world to increase their sales. Our genre of music has gone down like 30%. So, everybody is hurting, a lot of labels that were distributed by majors have been dropped. So, now is not the time for somebody to start their own label. The labels that are still in the U.S. doing it, it’s getting harder and harder you know?

JC: What do you attribute that to?

Ivan: The economy, for one. The economy is hurting everybody. People aren’t spending the money on music. So, you’ve got somebody who’s going to the store and spending $20, instead of the $60 you’d allot yourself a couple years ago. That’s why the artwork is important, that’s why all of the marketing is important. You’re vying for one person’s 20 bucks with everything else that’s in the marketplace. Like I said, if we hadn’t done the lounge years and years ago it wouldn’t be feasible for us to do it now.

Guidance Recordings website

An audio interview with Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra leader and vocalist Ray Lugo

By John C. Tripp

A DJ doesn’t have nearly the setup of a full live band, but there are certain technical requirements that are of utmost import, one being the mixing board. DJs live and breath by their mixers. Things get a wee tense when it’s learned that the contract-specified mixer never showed. No mixer, no music, so a last minute shuffle ensues to get the board, which is somewhere midtown. It’s the sort of thing that gives a DJ nightmares but cool prevails and with a board in place some 30 minutes later Nicola Conte opens the night with a seductive bossa nova-esque groove. Ursula 1000 settles down in the sleazily bedecked backroom, joined by his wife and a case of Rolling Rock. Not exactly Hotel Costes but, hey, this is the real world.

Ursula 1000 (AKA Alex Gimeno) displays a genuinely affable personality: mild mannered, eager to discuss, devoid of attitude, and loaded to the hilt with musical references. In a music scene that’s smothered by attitude Ursula 1000 is definitely in it for the right reasons, namely a love for music and underground pop culture. With three records behind him for Thievery Corporation’s ESL label—The Now Sound, All Systems Are Go Go and the latest Kinda’ Kinky—he has a firm standing in the international club-pop/loungecore scene. His sampledelic pastiche of cha-cha-cha, mambo, ’60s go-go and modern beat programming has been embraced by underground hipsters, ultrapop aficionados and fashionistas alike.

Though ESL music is recognized for its ultra-suave downtempo vibe, Ursula 1000 feels right at home with the label. “I think I initially fit in in a more of a stylistic and design sense even though my music was a lot more hyperactive than anything on the label,” he explains. “But I think the label was looking for something like that cause they don’t just want to be a downtempo label. And when they heard my stuff they thought ‘this could expand our roster and give it a different sound.’ It’s funny, I think people dig it. You know, when you want to chill out you put on your Thievery Corporation but if you want to pick it up a notch then you listen to Ursula 1000. I think they realize it’s good for the label to have me,” he says.

Ursula 1000’s populuxe musical tates may be partially attributable to his Miami upbringing. After all, a world of pastels, palm trees, guayaberas, and ’60s vernacular architecture is bound to seep into anyone’s psyche. For Ursula 1000 that influence came in a roundabout way. “The only thing that may have contributed is probably the really awesome thrift shopping. It was great stuff. How could you not buy a Martin Denny record for a quarter with this amazing cover? I could just stick it on my wall cause it’s so cool looking, you know? Even if the record sucks. But then you start listening to it and at first it’s like, whoaa check out this cheesy thing but the more you play it you’re like ‘wow, I really like this.’ And that’s what was happening,” he says. “I was also into some jazz and some soundtrack stuff but not in an ironic sense. I think the more loungey stuff like the Martin Denny and the Esquivel was kind of comic at first; I grew in appreciation for it and I think that mixed with the flipside of the thing—drum’n’bass, house, breakbeat, techno. Those things eventually fused.”

Today’s thrift shopper might not revel in the supreme coolness of old Martin Denny records, since they’ve all been picked over. But, with the recycling of all things retro, it’s natural that artists like Ursula 1000 would become popular reworking those fabulous sounds. But while others have dabbled in its built-in irony and moved on, Ursula 1000 has stuck to his kitschy-guns. “When my first record came out, there were a lot of people like D’Mitri from Paris, Fantastic Plastic Machine and the Bungalow label from Germany. A lot of people were doing similar kind of stuff, where we were dabbling in late ’60s—kind of campy but with groovey elements. But then it seemed like everybody shifted gears immediately and I just thought when I started working on the second album that there were areas of ‘loungecore’ that still needed to be explored.”

On ‘Kinda Kinky’ Ursula 1000 has been able to stretch out, without betraying his loungecore roots. With its Shag illustrated cover and collaborations with Saturday Night Live band guitarist Dr. Luke and Brother Cleve of Combustible Edison, Kinda Kinky is a step up in quality and variety. “There’s definitely a twist on this record,” says Ursula 1000. There’s more electro elements, there’s a samba kind of house element that I’ve never explored.”

Still, for its all of its new explorations, Ursula 1000 won’t be pulling a Madonna on us anytime soon. “I felt like it more like sticking to my guns. Some people reinvent themselves and sometimes it works for some people like Blur for instance. But some bands, when they do it, it’s just a little too much like ‘who are you now?’. Or it sounds exactly like the first record and that could just be a bore too. I was kind of prepared for that with this record. I knew there might be some people that might think ‘oh, god this guy’s still stuck in the ’60s, but I love that period.”

In both his DJ sets and his produced music, the idea is to get down to a fun(ky) beat. “I still get such a kick when I hear a cha cha mambo rhumba kind of beat mixed with a hip hop, modern kind of break. It just sounds so cool and I still like it. And it’s fun: it goes straight to the hips,” he says.

Ursula 1000 also enjoys mixing today’s sleazy electro-disco, ala DJ Hell’s International Gigolo label with the real old-school deal. “It’s fun to spin that kind of stuff and back it with a Divine or a Bobby Orlando track. So you’re like, ‘this is where it came from but here it is again.’ It’s fun to do that.”

“I DJ for a fun groovy vibe but it gives people a good laugh too. I might be playing something that’s got a funky house groove but there might be some kind of quirky little sound in it. But then I might back it up with a Prince song or something. It’s fun when you can throw in classics: out of context you throw them in and people are like ‘wow, that is a great song.’ For instance, if you playing Human League back to back with Soft Cell and Culture Club you’re like ‘OK, this guy’s on some kind of ’80s twist’. But if you’re playing something else and you throw that in there and suddenly it mixes in you’re like ‘Wow, here’s a Human League song. We didn’t expect that.’ That’s what I like to do,” he says.

Ursula 1000 cut his teeth spinning in Miami and South Beach’s Lincoln Road with its ultrafab Morris Lapidus designs. For several years you could find him spinning his hyper-pop at the now defunct 821. For Ursula 1000 there’s not much left to miss about Miami. “I mean I hate to slag it. It’s what it is, you know. To me it’s a vacation town and it’s great for that. And I’ve done it from like ’91, from the early stages of techno, before drum’n’bass. I would just listen to what was happening in England or whatever and try to bring it here. I’d play it Miami and there’d be like four people who’d like it. They just don’t get it. It’s a weird thing and I don’t know what that is. Maybe it’s the weather. Maybe it’s just too hot to think.”

Since landing back in New York City Ursula 1000 has wasted no time landing prime DJing gigs at some of the city’s hippest joints like Apt and Soho Grand, where he spins weekly. He’s also a regular on the fashion show circuit. And what does Ursula 1000 think of this often attitude-dominated scene? “I’ve never done any gig where I’ve come home afterwards like ‘Oh my God, what did I just DJ?’. It’s always kind of fun. This is funny; things like fashion shows and hotel lobby gigs and things like that can be really super pretentious, you know? And it’s good to give it a little something different.” And that’s said with a big cheekey wink.

Ursula 1000’s latest release, “Undressed” is a seductively cheeky remix album collecting exclusive reinterpretations of tracks from Ursula 1000 last studio album “Here Comes Tomorrow” and recent 12″ vinyl singles. Included are both the DJ Deekline and JStar remixes of underground dancehall fire-starter “Step Back” (championed by DJ Tayo), a funked up version of “Electrik Boogie” by Fort Knox Five, a percussive jazz redo of “Boop” by Skeewiff, and a pounding semi-industrial rework of “Urgent/Anxious” by the critically celebrated robo-rockers Ladytron. All tracks previously available on vinyl only! A seductively cheeky remix album collecting exclusive reinterpretations of tracks from Ursula 1000 last studio album “Here Comes Tomorrow” and recent 12″ vinyl singles. Included here are both the DJ Deekline and JStar remixes of underground dancehall fire-starter “Step Back” (championed by DJ Tayo), a funked up version of “Electrik Boogie” by Fort Knox Five, a percussive jazz redo of “Boop” by Skeewiff, and a pounding semi-industrial rework of “Urgent/Anxious” by the critically celebrated robo-rockers Ladytron.

Ursula 1000 website