The Plug
Tell us about your album concept?
The concept was to combine some very new and some older tracks, to create a sort of a never-ending soundtrack for a perpetual journey. To get the right balance between firm club rhythms and contemplative, home-listening music. To create a piece of music, from which anyone could pick up some pieces to accompany his own journey.
Why is it called 'On the Road'?
Because our life is nothing more but a trip… a journey… And this record is an important part of my life, last few years squeezed into a compact form. Jack Kerouac reference seems obvious from the title… but we share nothing more than the first name and the constant will to go further and try new things.
What environment did you make the music for?
Any environment. For club DJs, for hipster nerds, for dancing, for home listening… This is the record aimed towards all human beings - and, of course, the aliens are also very welcome too!
Give us an example of a something (another artist, track, old song, particular feel, etc) that inspired a track for the album?
I think the musician that had the biggest influence on me was - and will always be - Peter Christopherson. Be it his work with Coil, or his late esoteric projects, he was the artist that touched something that cannot be embraced by words. Sadly, he passed away just recently… I think that the last track off my album might be strongly inspired by his work. Me, I also try to go beyond genres and cliches, to express my heart and soul and to give the listeners something, that will stay with them for much longer than a current season.
Honestly, I do not listen to the current club music very much… I'm more into 60s jazz or contemporary classical music… Generally, I love the music with a certain depth - and truth, true feelings behind the sounds. If you want me to pick up names - last Isolee album is really nice… I love his skills and I've been following him from day one… But, generally, I could say that the music that inspires me - is just plain GOOD MUSIC.
It's being released on Cocoon, how much do you think it matters what label music is released on?
I am really happy that Sven and Cocoon decided to give it a go - and to release an album of pretty dense and sometimes difficult music. It might have appear as difficult and experimental - but actually if you dig deeper, there's a lot of club potential here. I'm glad I was permitted to do this sort of stuff on Cocoon (laughs). I'm thankful for this, and I really hope that it'll benefit both sides - myself bringing my 'difficult' music to the masses, and Cocoon reaching beyond your everyday post-techno cliche. For me, it really matters where one's releasing his music - my advice for producers: choose wisely!
The Issues
Why is underground music so popular at the moment?
It's a syllogism. If it's popular, it's no longer underground. But I see your point - in out times, what was underground yesterday could be the new mainstream within days. For me, there's a lot of great, proper, sincere music all the time - when it goes mainstream, it quickly becomes the next fashion or 'now thing' - equally quickly rolling into oblivion, replaced by the 'next big thing'. So it takes some nerve to stay honest to what you do while becoming 'fresh'. I believe that the best music will stand far beyond its time or context it's forced into. We are also in a very peculiar time - with the Internet, you have immediate acces to anything - you can check it, preview it, download it, make some use of it an forget - because a myriad of 'new things' are in line. I wonder how many copies of "Kind Of Blue" are being downloaded at this moment? A million a day? And how many copies of any current electronic music "revelation"? A million, full stop?
There's a lot of great, brilliant music available at any moment. How much of this will stay with us forever? Time will tell… Personally, I'd rather let go and let the people bootleg my music right now - as soon as it will be still bootlegged 30 years from now.
What technological change would fundamentally change the concept of DJ and/or clubbing?
Nothing new - new, fast computers, new software, new digital fx… But at the end it's simple - a nice club with great soundsystem. These are still hard to find nowadays. If you have a club with really decent sound - then it just shows the world which DJ is actually worth something. Crap sound - you could endlessly make stars out of blokes flogging pirated mp3s out of their phones.
In reality, if people stopped or were stopped downloading illegally, but then still didn't buy any music (or the amount they did download was tiny), then doesn't that make illegal downloads better for artists. Discuss!
That's a tough one…Illegal downloading, like it or not, has become a part of today's culture, so there's no escape from it. But in my humble opinion it went a bit too far… imagine an artist working really hard for months to deliver a finished product, perfected to every detail, an suddenly the whole world is enjoying it without paying a single penny… which obviously affects the sales of a 'real' product, out of which this artists is getting his 'real' income for his 'real' living… Maybe we should all work towards some sort of compromise, to share the fruits of our work without losing on it big time… Yes, free downloads and oversharing is a form of promotion, but I wish the consumers would make some wise choices… like buying the vinyl after enjoying mp3s… Don't know actually, but I feel - and hope - that there have to be the way to make everyone happy… call me a dreamer…
