Earplug #133: Girl Talk interview
The current issue of Earplug is up, featuring my interview with Gregg “Girl Talk” Gillis, and a photo by my friend, fellow DJ-lover, Anna “Detroit” White. We make a pretty good team, I think.
Feature
November 6, 2008
Girl Talk’s Copyleft Curveballs
Sampling artist puts a smiley face on Plunderphonics
Until two years ago, biomedical engineer/mashup DJ Gregg “Girl Talk” Gillis spent more time crunching data in a cubicle than stripping on stage. His sophomore CD, Night Ripper, changed all that. 2008’s Feed the Animals reflects the RIAA-baiting producer’s newfound focus: the samples are longer and the “songs” more complete, but the pace is no less frenetic. Earplug’s Jorge Hernandez caught up with Girl Talk in Manhattan to talk irregular fashions, “Moist Vagina,” and the sonic collective unconscious.
Earplug: You’re having quite a moment right now. What are you up to?
Greg Gillis: I’m working on some music with a friend of mine, Hearts of Darkness. He does weird computer stuff, and we play together as Trey Told ‘Em.
EP: You working on anything special together?
GG: We’re doing a really long Nirvana cover; it’s really far out. We got these Nirvana multi-tracks, and we’re doing “Moist Vagina” with live drums and noisy, crazy stuff.
EP: How do you get your hands on something like that?
GG: Some kid who’s into my stuff knew I was into Nirvana. His dad had access to a studio, and so they sent me a few tracks like that.
EP: Do you have free license, or are you just running with it?
GG: I want to do an official EP of remixes of all of them, because no one else has their hands on it. I want to do something interesting. We’ve just been working on this one song this week. We haven’t really rehearsed much, but the little bit that we’ve done — you can tell it’s going to be good.
EP: Are you still working your day job?
GG: No, I quit last summer. I haven’t cut my hair since I quit. That year before I quit, I played like a hundred shows, so it was getting hard to ask for vacation time. I don’t have a job, but I happen to be able to live off this, so I’m feeling lucky.
EP: The samples on Feed the Animals are longer. Are you getting in trouble? Isn’t there a time limit to samples?
GG: That’s an urban myth. It used to be under a certain amount, but they recently ruled against that. Fair Use allows you to use however long you want, as long as the work is transformative, and it doesn’t impact the artist negatively. It’s more holistic criteria. There’s a big academic and legal movement behind it, so it’s not really that big of an issue any more.
EP: A lot of the samples you use are very recognizable.
GG: Most of the a cappella samples are available for a reason: the rap ones are on B-sides and 12-inches, and the Internet, and it’s because record labels want people to do crazy stuff with it. Stuff like my music is an effective way to promote the artists. It’s a different era. Hearing the music itself doesn’t hold value; you can go hear any song for free on Soulseek. If you pay money for it, it’s because you want to invest in it. So, I feel morally solid about what I’m doing.
EP: You use Creative Commons, right?
GG: They helped us out, gave us a bunch of specific elements. I’ve actually been getting a lot of support.
EP: From whom, for example?
GG: Representative Mike Doyle spoke in favor of me and DJ Drama and mixtapes and mashups. He compared it to Paul McCartney using a Chuck Berry riff.
EP: How did you get started, gear-wise?
GG: A lot of that stuff was just like modified children’s toys, broken stuff from the Salvation Army; whatever you can find, real junk gear. There were a couple of real samplers here and there.
EP: It’s funny how all this music is rattling around in your brain, and you respond to the smallest samples.
GG: For me, it’s a blatant form of music’s influence in general. You develop these affiliations with music, and what I like to do is recontextualize it. I guess that’s why the shows get so crazy. Regardless of what you’re into, it’s all being represented.
EP: What do your parents think?
GG: They’re cool with it, but the early shows with the noise band kinda took them a minute, because we’d be up there smashing things, and they were weirded out. But this Girl Talk stuff, they really like.
EP: Your shows are notorious for getting kind of crazy — and naked. What happens to your clothes? Do they end up on eBay?
GG: I don’t know. Even when I take a sweatshirt off, people take it all — even when I don’t throw it out there. There’s a store called Gabriel Brothers in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. They sell mis-manufactured clothing. I buy all my sweat outfits there still — they’re like a dollar or two each. When I used to be a kid, we used to go there. It was a lot weirder then; there’d be a Miami Hurricanes shirt with a Yankees logo on the back. It’s a bit more subtle these days, but that’s where I still get everything I wear onstage.
Blank Tapes
Behind every hit record, there’s a million misses. And I don’t mean single ladies. Misses, for lack of a better word, are the anti-hits of the music business. They are those records that music geeks and DJ’s treasure, those influential one-hit wonders, or sleepers that don’t move many units, generate inches of ink or hours of press. Every genre has its lost, forgotten, overlooked heroes. They’re either eccentrics, or “before their time” or prefer to work behind the scenes, content with the respect and adulation of their peers. What these records and their creators lack in commercial success, they make up for in influence.
Dance music has its fair share of influential behind the scenes and off the radar heroes. Larry Levan, Tom Moulton, Nicky Siano, Arthur Russell all spring to mind. Among them was producer/engineer Bob Blank. In the 70’s and 80’s, his New York studio, Blank Tapes, was home to a prolific class of left-field singers, producers, vocalist and performers. His credits include one of the first disco 12” releases (Jimmy Sabater, “To Be With You”), as well as Talking Heads, Chic, Instant Funk, Kid Creole & the Coconuts, Lydia Lunch, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Ashford & Simpson, Tito Puente, Donna Summer, Sting, and Patti Smith. His wife was a former James Brown singer, and he also worked with Ronnie Spector, and Taana Gardner, of “Heartbeat” fame.
With so many avant pop stars in his pocket, it was inevitable that there would be lots of left-over tape, edits, out-takes and side projects. In 1980, Bob gathered some of his fabulous friends in the after-hours playpen that his studio had become and together they produced an album called “Aural Exciters”. Most of the songs were written by the Kid Creole & the Coconuts crew with help from James Chance of the Contortions on sax, Fonda Rae, and many others on vocals. The catchiest single is sardonically titled “Spooks in Space”; its cover features black ghosts swarming the galaxy. The track opens with a doo-wop vocal that quickly switches to a cartoon-like lilting raggae rhythm and non-sequitor vocals about an imminent funky invasion. It’s one of the most colorful entry points into the Post-Punk/No-Wave music scene that helped shape mainstream disco, pop and hip hop.
These days, Bob’s studio is apparently up in Connecticut, and as evidenced by the credits on his website, he is still quite busy, mostly licensing and producing music for various soundtracks, TV shows, and commercial jingles and making guest appearance on shows like Behind the Music and documentaries like Maestro, about the early underground disco scene in 70’s NYC. He most recently appeared in person at the premiere of the movie about Arthur Russell, “Wild Combination.” Sadly, I missed the it, but you best believe I will be trying to make contact and get an interview soon.
Metro Mix
New York discophiles were treated to a perfect Saturday afternoon mix of art, live music and a DJ set last weekend when Metro Area and Kelley Polar performed at PS1’s Warm Up. When I mentioned it to BPM, the editor requested a hang-out with Morgan before the interview. Who am I to object? Previously, I’d also interviewed Kelley Polar, so the publicist hooked us up with stage access – free beer! If this keeps up, I’ll start looking like a mouthpiece for Environ, but when you’re talking about disco-rati like Geist, Polar and our chum Danny Wang, fuck it.
A few moments on the dance-floor, and you’ll be gushing too.Terre and I took a “trip” out to LIC to meet up with Anna, who was there to take pictures; we all pulled up to the line at the same time. Inside there was some confusion with bracelets – beer, or VIP, or both? How many stamps and plastic bands does one need?
Polar performed with a live band and strings for that full-on old-school real disco effect. Metro Area, naturally threw down a smart, sexy set that touched on all their influences – disco, new wave, R&B, Italo House.
Morgan’s new solo disc “Double Night Time” features Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys and will be out in October. Meanwhile, here’s some pix and flix of the boys in action. You know where to go for more.
Earplug #124: Jamie Lidell
When it comes to playing that funky music, any white boy can sashay into a studio, push some buttons, and walk out a blue-eyed pop star. But few vocalists of any shade can carry a tune while simultaneously carrying off a range of absurd antics. In addition to breaking out the beatbox, Jamie Lidell samples and loops himself into a howling chorus of banshees, unleashing his inner soul-man in a caped romp across the stage. Dressed to the nines, but no less naked for it, Lidell has banged his sweet pipes at Warp over the course of three albums, making the former IDM label sound more like Stax or Motown. On his latest release, the intimately titled Jim, Lidell brings Burt Bacharach-style harmonics to the dub plate. Earplug’s Jorge Hernandez asked the man about his unlikely career trajectory, his sartorial prowess, and how “the voice” reacts to a specific nightmare scenario.
Earplug: The “Sonic Scientist” has a band now. How’s that going?
Jamie Lidell: For once in my life, I’m not alone anymore. I’m just surrounded, in fact, by wood and brass, plastic-coated chunks of pain. And primitive-looking sticks. I guess that’s what they call progress. Hard to see how, but hey, I just sing, baby! No, in all seriousness, it’s like breaking out of a drug habit. I’m learning how to rip again, to take the mic and treat it to a night out. There’s more of me on the walkabout now, promenading about with the powerhouse behind me. A feather in a hurricane was how it felt. Now I am like a windsock — letting it blow and never suck.
EP: Jim is a patchwork of an album. How do you decide what to leave out?
JL: If I told you that, you might try and become me. That’s why all I’ll say is, everyone gets me wrong. It’s not simply a question of what stays and what goes; it’s a question of why go at all. This is far more fundamental, and crushes journalistic concerns about time and relevance, which are purely concerns about fashion. It’s as important as a haircut. That’s all.
EP: What solidified this more pop direction?
JL: All that glitching was making me itch. I’ve made electronic music for around 20 years. Now that’s scary for me to imagine, and even admit! This album was my attempt to unify the Venn diagram of “pop” and “things I like” — glitch also fits the things I like, but was not in my pop. Not this time. Just enjoy it people. There’s plenty more glitch in me.
EP: Any more Bacharach cooking at Warp?
JL: Ah, I think I’m the only one that is throwing in the Burt. Shame. Maybe the new Aphex [Twin] might surprise. I hear he’s doing a sort of Riverdance thing. Dancing and everything, but all very classical. Bagpipes, yodeling, and glock. The label is really happy about it, as there’s just four people left holding the fort. Some of them are mute. It’s pretty odd, but you know what? I love Warp [because] they let me be a spazz, and that’s all I know how to be. So, so be it!
EP: Any other soul singers to reference, besides the obvious?
JL: Chas & Dave are lesser known outside the UK. They had a few notable hits in the UK. Also Dave Lee Travis, the radio DJ from the UK. He always inspired my tone. He’s always so there and just to the point. Like a good steak.
EP: Amy Winehouse seems like an obvious duet. What’s the hold up?
JL: Well, if you could sort it out, I’d be down. Could you have a word? She’s gotta hand me one of those Grammys first.
EP: Describe your Berlin.
JL: Well, I left. I was bored of getting stopped in the street. I couldn’t get a wurst even; it was bizarre. The press in Germany and around the world went crazy after Multiply, and short of a facial op, I could see no way forward except to leave the gaff. “But I will always love Berlinnnn…” Well, that’s a lie. I hated Berlin for a long time. Then she showed me some leg, and I saw the garters.
EP: If you lost your voice, what would you do? Ever had any nightmares about that?
JL: Well, I have been having some bad times of late. Even went to a voice doctor. She told [me] that I better let off some steam. But I didn’t hear a word she said. There’s too much pressure building in my head. It’s a recurring nightmare where my voice box leaves me and walks off into the sunset… singing. I am left trying to cry for it but I can’t make a sound. Ho hum.
EP: You’re a dapper chap. Are designers just throwing clothes at you?
JL: My ladyfriend has all the taste. When she’s not around, I go back to jeans ‘n t-shirt and all that. I love it all though; you gotta wear it, after all, before it wears you and wears you out. It’s a game. Sometimes you can’t win though. You just look shit. No clothes can fix you now. Rarely happens, thankfully.
EP: Would you ever guest judge a competition show? Did you ever perform in one?
JL: [I] only performed in front of the world press. They are simply poorly paid judges of the vanity/musical contest that is forever ongoing. Everyone always respects the hard critic. And as Prince says, “All the Critics Love U in New York.” La dee fricking dah!
Danny Boy
Lately I cannot get Danny Tenaglia out of my life. In Miami, I was at almost every gig. For my birthday last Thursday, we were at Cielo for an old school set by DT. We came across Cevin Fisher at the door, and Joeski in the bathroom – the ones with no urinals, only stalls with chest-high demi-shelves. Andy, (s)natch, was “at the booth”. And now, after several weeks of back and forth between the publicist and Resident Advisor, it looks like I’ll be hanging out with Danny at his famed Long Island City loft. Allegedly, he has the old Paradise Garage “Levan” speakers. Of course, I’ll be asking him to drop the lost New Order remix that Simon Dunmore mentioned when I interviewed him. Then there’s the fact that his latest CD is on Tommy Boy, and that Andy is helping with the publicity. They used to be tight, I’m told. I’ll be sure to hit up Andy for some grease. It’s supposed to be a definitive feature, which means lots of typing. I’ve never owned a Danny Tenaglia CD, and I don’t think of him as an album artist. To me, Danny means after-hours and marathon sets of tribal, progressive house. Back in the, um, late 90’s the Friday night sets at Vinyl were essential. It was something a broad mix of people could agree on, from the bridge-and-tunnel set to the industry hipsters and downtown dimming luminaries. M.(dealer), W.(porn star), Terre and I often found ourselves prancing the dawn away in the stripped-down sweaty beat box that also hosted Body & Soul on Sundays. Man, once upon a time, Manhattan was a great place to dance. I guess when I finally sit down with Danny, I can start there…that is, once he “gets back from Ibiza…”
DANNY TENAGLIA Ultra Music Festival WMC Miami 2008
[via FoxyTunes / Danny Tenaglia]
Kelley Polar Interview: Earplug 117
A classical prodigy gone disco darling, Metro Area cohort Kelley Polar lives in a Unabomber-style shack with no running water. It may not be the easiest place to dial for a telephone interview, but the lush, dense environ of his New Hampshire home offers a great place to make heavenly electronic music. A few days before the release of Polar’s second CD, I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling , Earplug’s Jorge Hernandez rang up the reclusive star-child. The last thing Polar wants to talk about is Julliard, that toy turntable, or Arthur Russell, so naturally the conversation instead turned to UFOs, Russian movies, and mad ravers in wife-beaters.
Global Inheritance
I got a package at work today. It was a couple of back issues of BPM magazine. The clips are nice to pin up in the office for reassurance; a check would’ve been nice too. I spotted the Tony Wilson article in the contents, but I overlooked the Global Inheritance piece. While I was researching it, I stumbled on another interview with the group’s founder by one of my old high school classmates. Here’s my crack at breaking down one of the key players in the Green youth movement. Ahem.
Gui Boratto’s Beautiful Life
Deep House / Gui Boratto – Its Majik (Terry Lee Brown Junior [via FoxyTunes / Gui Boratto] Mashup Missy Elliott vs. Gui Boratto – Gossip Folks [via FoxyTunes / Gui Boratto] Terry Lee Brown Jr. – Terry’s House (Extended Mix) [via FoxyTunes / Terry Lee Brown Jr.]
While we’re waiting on Laurent Garnier who postponed at the last minute, we’ve moved on to interviewing Kompakt’s resident swarthy Brazilian platter maestro Gui Boratto for Resident Advisor, my latest online outlet. Below, a static clip of a mix by Teutonic disco-tech guru Terry Lee Brown Jr, and a mashup of Boratto and Missy Elliott. Boratto’s 2007 CD “Chromophobia” made several Best lists; his remixes and live sets have further assured his place on the international DJ circuit. Here: more on Boratto – and TLB just for kicks.
Super Natural Beats
Friday night, the Natural History Museum – yes, that one – will be hosting (along with Flavorpill) the latest in their One Step Beyond DJ Planetarium gigs featuring Superpitcher, currently one half of Supermayer (along with Kompakt boss Michael Mayer). Their new album Save the World just dropped – and yours truly has been playing email tag for another interview.
Last word, Flavorpill wants to videotape the pre-show chat, as well as run it in Earplug. Word is Superpitcher’s as camera shy as I am, so we’ll see how this goes. There aren’t too many videos online that do the mixes justice; but don’t let that dissuade you. Recommended tracks – “Two of Us” (played twice in one set by Sasha at Webster Hall Friday night), their remix of Gui Boratto’s “Like You” and the dreamy, buttery Lawrence remix of Superpitcher’s own “Happiness.”
Rave on, kids. “Mom, we’re going to the museum…See ya Sunday!”
Mr. T Chronicles
Up next on the interview slab – Anders Trentemoller. The Danish musician went from indie rocker to deck master in 1997; his album The Last Resort then spun its way up tastemakers’ 2006 lists. To support his 2007 double CD retrospective compliation – The Trentemoller Chronicles – Mr. T has hit the road, dropping crackling electro-disco sets across USA’s hipper boites.
Earlier today, on the subway platform, iPoddin’, thinking about what to ask T, it occurred to megalomaniac me that my own DJ play list – for all its exotic labels – never strays too deep underground, at least not for long. My fondness for ear candy creeps into my crates every time. I shrugged it off, “That’s why you’re not DJ’ing anywhere, anymore”, focusing on the interview again.
Chatting up Euro DJ’s can be off-putting. A lot of techno doesn’t suit my Chicago-influenced tastes; and making out their accents and references can be an exercise in miscommunication and obscure name-checking. “What did the Chicano scribbler ask the Danish spinner?” It might have something to do with connecting the Smiths, the Cure and Depeche Mode to Laurent Garnier, Alex Gopher and Etienne De Crecy. Check Earplug soon and find out. Meantime, peep this kicking live performance of “Moan” and check his own relatively accessible play list on EP featuring Sigur Ros, Mazzy Star and Jimi Tenor.
Papis Chulos & A Caribou, Oh My!
Modeselektor go from mama’s boys to proud papas
Modeselektor’s down ‘n dirty techno takes no prisoners. The duo’s live shows are bombastic assaults on the senses that leave no genre unturned — crunk, dub, and electro all get worked into the mix with equal abandon. Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary have been kicking around since 1996, but the one-two punch of their 2007 Boogy Bytes Vol. 3 mix and this September’s full-length, Happy Birthday! — both for their longtime home Bpitch Control — have set the world’s dance floors atwitter with sweaty glee. Earplug’s Jorge Hernandez rang up Szary to talk shop, babies, and bingo while Bronsert puttered and muttered around in their Berlin home studio.
Earplug: This is a new studio?
Sebastian Szary: We left the studio one year ago because the house was under reconstruction. During the production for Happy Birthday!, we did several tracks at Gernot and his girlfriend’s home. Now she’s pregnant, my girlfriend’s pregnant. It was all quite a production.
EP: When are the babies due?
SS: Mine’s coming first, in October; Gernot’s is due in December. This is the first time. I don’t know what will happen then. This is a new experience.
EP: A lot of club kids are having babies now. What’s going on?
SS: That’s the reason we called the album Happy Birthday! We had a lot of different names for it. We were going to call it 700 Years of Modeselektor, Name Dropping Volume 1.
EP: Are you guys going to take some time off?
SS: No, the babies are coming during tour stops. I think it’s a never-ending tour. The last tour we played for a year and a half, closing on New Year’s in Glasgow.
EP: Are you coming to the States?
SS: Of course. Maybe spring next year. Our first show in the US was in Missoula, MO, last year. Can you believe it? David Lynch is from there. It was on a Wednesday, in a bingo hall. The guys that booked us put in a sound system and some lights, and we had 400 people there. One day later we played Seattle, then San Francisco, etc.
EP: What was the most interesting show?
SS: Detroit was interesting. We played the DEMF, but not the festival. We played at a theater. I never saw a city like this. It’s a shrinking city, but it’s a moving city.
EP: Wasn’t Berlin like that at some point? It’s been very trendy lately.
SS: It’s a good place for working, but it’s not paradise. It’s dirty, loud. But it’s cheaper than New York, and good food. Lots of communities from everywhere.
EP: You have a lot of people on this album: Otto von Schirach, Paul St. Hilaire…
SS: With Otto, we did this amazing cover version of Scooter’s “Hyper Hyper.” I said, “Do you know it?” He didn’t, so we sent him the original and then we did it. You know Otto? He’s a big blond guy with brown skin and he does shows with big outfits.
EP: How did you hook up with Paul St. Hilaire? You did something with him before — I think Dabrye did a remix.
SS: The Paul St. Hilaire song is a Moderat track, because we did it with Apparat, so we call ourselves Moderat. It’s not in the credits, but that’s it. Gernot worked at a record store called Hard Wax and Paul would come in. He started coming to our shows, then said, “Let’s do a track together.” He’s very organized.
EP: How did that work? I imagine you’re more spontaneous.
SS: In the past, we’d go in and just start pushing buttons. But for the new album we’d start at 6am and work like a regular day with a break in the middle for lunch, then we’d work some more.
EP: Which one of you is into customizing gear?
SS: I started with an 808 back in 1990, to learn how it worked. Then I met Gernot and we started working together.
EP: What were you planning on doing before music?
SS: Gernot used to work with handicapped kids. And I did a very dirty job. I worked in a concrete plant. I did that for a few years; then I found my second life.
EP: So now it’s just music? You don’t miss your old jobs?
SS: Modeselektor is our life now. It’s everything.
Album Review
August 30, 2007
Up in Flames is more than just the title of Manitoba’s final album: it also describes Dan Snaith’s transformation into a new production entity. Forced to reinvent himself after a legal tussle with a cantankerous rocker, Snaith emerged anew as Caribou for 2005 freak-jazz opus Milk of Human Kindness. On his latest record, Andorra, the producer returns with an even tighter, more rhythm-centric sensibility. Named after a Spanish town, the nine-track EP is heavy on harmonics and cascading walls of sound. The self-produced album swings with a big-band vibe, pumping psychedelic pop full of electronic reverie. Opener “Melody Day” proves that even flutes can rock, and rave-ready mini-epic “Niobe” brings the funky white noise to a tenderly layered close. Gilding the lily, Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan joins in, as well, dropping lush guest vocals on “She’s the One.” Losing his identity may have been inconvenient for Snaith, but Andorra makes musical resurrection feel more like an act of magical rebellion.
-JH
Interview: Fujiya & Miyagi (Earplug 99)
Brighton Beats Memoirs
Fujiya & Miyagi leave their day jobs in the dust
A trio of former jocks from Brighton named for a Japanese turntable and the Karate Kid master, Fujiya & Miyagi play “exquisite corpse” with ’70s psyche rock, ’80s post-punk, and ’90s electronica. Their US debut, Transparent Things, echoes Can, Wire, Happy Mondays, and LCD Soundsystem. Head-nodding form follows hip-swaying function: lean, modernist bass lines pulsating at steady metronomic tempos as melodic synthesizers swoosh over droll, muttered lyrics. A handful of collected ten-inch singles has flipped the F&M art-rock conceit from back-page punch line to marquee sensation. Earplug’s Jorge Hernandez spoke with lead singer David Best as F&M prepared to quit their white-collar day jobs and hit the road on their first US tour.
Earplug: So what’s this about you not liking iPods?
David Best: Think about albums like Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk, and how nowadays everything’s on shuffle; you lose the album, don’t you? It’s like when you have 100 channels on TV. Without being a bit wanky, some songs need to breathe a bit. But it cuts out the snobbery because so much is available to everybody, so that’s some middle ground. I’m sure I’ll end up getting one at some point.
EP: About Spirit of Eden…
DB: It’s one of those albums you can go to sleep to. For ages and ages, six months really, I couldn’t listen to it all the way through without dropping off. Now, I do sit-ups to it. It was kind of relaxing, and then I thought, “This album’s amazing!” It’s not Purple Rain — you need to give it time.
EP: Are you tired of talking about Krautrock?
DB: I love all that stuff, but I also love a lot of other things. We grew up on stuff like Happy Mondays, Talking Heads. I don’t want to be just the sum of our record collection. Bryan Ferry’s my favorite ever, with that vocal delivery, half spoken, half whispered.
EP: How about Scott Walker?
DB: The Drift is brilliant; it has some of the best lyrics. It’s so dense and heavy. I’ll probably listen to it sporadically over the next ten years. Tilt and Climate of Hunter are that same way, too.
EP: But you also like radio-friendly, three-minute French pop?
DB: It’s just the way it sounds, really. I always listen to lyrics first. The fact that it’s in French and I can’t understand anything makes it so much more interesting. When I listen to English or American bands, I’m not that into it.
EP: You use French in lyrics; they’re very dry, but the music’s very accessible.
DB: A lot of our stuff comes from getting the groove right, the bass line and drums — we don’t put a lot of stuff on top of it. I don’t want to throw guitar solos into everything. I’d rather keep it more streamlined.
EP: Your lyrics and humor appeal to a very smart set. Do you do most of the songwriting?
DB: Yeah, then someone else might add another element — a beat, or Matt [Hainsby] might bring a bass line in — until a song miraculously appears. Most lyrics in English are about the sun shining, with obvious rhymes, and I just got sick of it.
EP: Are you a production freak?
DB: Going over hi-hats all night is not my idea of fun. Steve [Lewis] programs it all. We kind of sit there and fall asleep and wake up when he’s got something. Then between the three of us we come up with what we come up with.
EP: Do you all still live near each other in Brighton?
DB: Until the end of the month, then we stop working. Matt works in the same office as me. We’re quitting then.
EP: You mean your day job? Now you get to go on the road and be rock stars?
DB: Well, we’re recording actually.
EP: The new album?
DB: I was gonna call it Light Bulb, but we have a song on there by that name, so now we’re calling it Ventriloquism.
EP: Do you read a lot?
DB: Not as much as I’d like to. But as the title of the last album suggests, I’m a massive Vladimir Nabokov fan. I never bothered really reading [Nabokov's novel Transparent Things] before, I just got through it. But re-reading it, I was like “Oh, it’s all right.” Then I traced it back like bands that I liked before, and got into all these other Russian authors.
EP: What kind of student were you?
DB: I was gonna be one of those people who was just gonna do art, but really half-assed. I went to art school so I could start music, really.
EP: How has your music evolved?
DB: Our last album was more electronic, but it didn’t translate well live, so our songs changed. We stopped listening to so many Warp records. It’s great stuff, but I really also love Bowie, Roxy Music, [and] Wire — they’re from the same county as me.
EP: You’re also a David Niven fan. He’s part French/British, with a wicked wit. Does that explain everything?
DB: I’ve always loved that little mustache. His autobiographies are great. But it really explains nothing. That’s a recent fascination. We’ve been Fujiya & Miyagi for a while now.
