Todd Bodine interview

Highgrade regularly play at Panoramabar. What is your favourite venue in Berlin to play at?

In Berlin you have a few venues which are really cool. But at the end I´ve two favourite clubs here in Berlin, the Panorama Bar and Watergate. Both venues are really different but they bring a good vibe. These are places where Techno / House music becomes reality. There you have the best sound on one hand and a really cool audience on the other. So, it´s a perfect mixture.

You are a born and bred Berlin DJ, something that is less and less
common in the city. How do you feel about the influx of nationalities
that have come to Berlin to live and work here? Do you feel Berlin as
a city has retained its ethos regardless?

First of all it is the best thing for Berlin that so many people comes to join the vibe of the city. Now the city is full of different people who want to express them selves. And that´s good. I mean, if you go maybe 10 year´s in the past - Berlin was a small village. If you came back from London at these times the streets and subways
and so on were empty. And now Berlin is loud, fast and fresh, compared to other big cities. And at the end it was good for the music-scene as well. I think people forget the past if they rail against the tourists!

You've released on Mothership. How did your relationship with Claude VonStroke come about?

It was really simple. He was asking me for a remix. Then he wanted to listen to more stuff and he was asking me if I can send him some tracks. I think I was sending the stuff while he was at an airport and he was listening to the stuff on the flight later. After he landed he gave me the feedback and told me that he wanted to do a record with me. He is really one of the coolest guys in this business.
I like him and his work really much.

You play live and as a DJ. Which of the two do you prefer? Is one better suited to certain environments?

First of all I like both. But at the end I can express myself much more if I play live. It takes much more time to prepare a live show because every show is different but it´s really interesting to see the reactions to my tracks. The moment when I know what comes in next is great for me. Only I know what will happen. But it has to be
something special!

Aside from house and techno, what were your earliest musical influences?

My earliest musical influences I found in Techno. In the early 90s. This was the first moment I tried to listen and understand music. It was stuff from Robert Hood, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance. All this Detroit stuff. Many artists say that jazz and funk are their earliest influences. But not for me. Later, then I started to explore more experimental stuff. And now I love Herbie Hancock and so on. I love all this funk and jazz stuff. There you can learn allot about rhythm and moods.

What is your take on the MP3 vs Vinyl debate?

I love the sound and handling of vinyl. With Highgrade we already do vinyl but I play digital. The possibilities of playing digital are incredible. I mean you can play your stuff you made the night before. This is amazing. On the other hand it´s also important for me to hold something in my hand. A result of your work. Therefore many artists only want to release on vinyl or CD. But the biggest problem we have to see is the the kids don´t by CD´s or Vinyl anymore. The art of how to play music has changed. They use iPods and so on. So maybe cd´s are coming back? I don´t know.

What's next for you in terms of releases?

There are some projects on Highgrade beside the label-work. First there are two compilations. The second part of "Our Thing" is out now and at the beginning of November "Highgrade vs. Freak n´Chic" will come out. Between then, I will release my Album. It will be out at 26th of October as two maxi´s, CD.

What do you think the future holds for you, and for electronic
music here in Berlin?

I think the network between all the artists and labels will be closer, and I will do my best.

Underground Quality

Here is my latest RA review.

In many ways, 2009 has been Underground Quality's year. DJ Jus-Ed's charmingly homespun label has been the launching pad for a string of releases from the likes of Nina Kraviz, DJ Qu, Fred P, AKA Black Jazz Consortium, Jus-Ed himself and perhaps the release of the year so far (from perhaps the producer of the year), Levon Vincent's "Games Dub." Yet with UQ, you get the sense it's not just about the music they release, but also how they go about it — rants against illegal uploaders, special promotional CDs for one-off gigs with plenty of unreleased material, appearances with the roster of artists all wearing personalised UQ shirts — so far removed from the icy cynicism of some of the larger house and techno outfits. It is this joy in the process of house, in the community and inter-relatedness of the music, that made the recent Underground Quality night at Tape an absolute must-see.

For the first time in the label's history, six of the label's roster were brought together to play under one roof, a Cold War détente that saw the Russian contingent of Anton Zap and Nina Kraviz playing alongside their American comrades. Given the hodgepodge nature of the night, the first few hours were characterised by a free-for-all behind the decks with each act taking turns to get the crowd going. From the proud MCing of Jus-Ed, the perfect counterpart to his capriciously funkadelic cuts, to the wild hip-shaking of Kraviz, it was an opportunity to see how each act would put their stamp on the evening before the sets proper kicked off.

The relaxed opening was useful in giving an overall impression of the UQ sound, but somehow lacked the homogeneity that characterises the label. As such, it was the individual sets that best managed to combine the individual flair of the artists with the all-embracing appeal of the collective, and Nina Kraviz kicked off proceedings before handing over to Anton Zap. The Russian take on this quintessentially US sound is an interesting one, and these two offered vastly different approaches to it—Zap studiously unlocking the beat, with Kraviz allowing her soulful ruinations to take her and the room over.

Handing over to Fred P proved a turning point in the evening, as the beats became more thugged out, yet no less prone to set feet a-stomping. His new material provided some excited smiles in the crowd, but it was Levon Vincent who really showed why he is hailed by artists as disparate as Marcel Dettmann and House of House. At times coy and understated, at times flirting with melancholia, his clanging beats never let up, and when he dropped the B-side from his upcoming Novel Sound release, he brought the house down to its knees. Following on from a set of such epic proportions was a tough task, but one that DJ Qu set about with relish, and not without a little aggressive tomfoolery of his own, all growling low-ends and staccato midranges.

Aside from the hard work put in by Jus-Ed and his crew, Tape should be praised for allowing such a special night to take place, and for providing a hub in Berlin for this sort of music to flourish. Underground and quality.

Onra interview

Here is an interview I did with the brilliant Onra.

For Chinoiseries, you sampled a lot of ethnic Vietnamese music. I was wondering if you might ever be interested in working with any Oriental hip hop groups, or if there is even a scene for the sort of music you make in the East?

Hip-Hop is still very new in Asia, and most of the people only know what they see on MTV or those kind of medias. I haven't met no vietnamese band, but in China, I met a couple people who were rapping in Chinese over 90's Hip-Hop influenced beats. I've never thought of collaborating with asian groups, except Japanese, that could be an idea, but it's not something I'm really looking forward to.

Given the success of Chinoiseries, is looking for inspiration in world music something you are interested in pursuing? Perhaps taking samples from Latin or African music? Like a hip hop Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon?

Chinoiseries is just a concept that happened because I went to Asia and I managed to find some records. It wasn't planned. I'm looking for good samples, no matter the country, the time, the artist, the genre of music. I like to make albums with themes though. The Tribute one only has Soul samples, 1.0.8 is made with Bollywood samples, and Chinoiseries is Chinese/Vietnamese. My next project is only made with 80's Funk samples. After the second volume of Chinoiseries, I don't think I'll do another theme album, though it's very important for me that each project has its own particular concept. I want to move on from making beats to making songs and collaborate with vocal artists.

1.0.8 features a very different sound to Chinoiseries, lots of surf guitar and gothic soul, is that a sound that you have always been drawn to?

1.0.8 is strictly made with Bollywood soundtracks, it happened that Indian music and Chinese music have some similarities, especially in the type of instruments and percussions they used, but still I find them different.

I've seen that you consider yourself a 'beatmaker'. In a way, that is a lot like being a producer. Are you interested in working with MCs ever?

Yeah beatmaker, producer, that's almost the same thing basically. I've worked with MC's already, but nothing has ever came out, it was just demos that we did for fun. Of course in the near future, you will hear more vocal artists over my beats, hopefully around the end of next year.

If so, who would you like to work with?

I'd like to work with people that really inspired me, legends and unknown underground talents. I can't really give you any names cause I have to figure out if those collaborations are possible (budgetwise), or if it's only something I can dream about.

Do you have any plans for any collaborations at all?

I have to keep it for myself cause nothing is confirmed so far. I don't want to announce something that's not gonna happen, I did this in the past, and I don't like this feeling of unachievement.

As a hip hop fan, I'm interested to know what you think of the state of US hip hop nowadays? Things have changed quite a lot since the early days, and the power balance seems to have shifted southwards (ATL/New Orleans/Houston/Bay Area). What are your feelings of where US hip hop is at right now?

It's a very difficult situation to analyze. First, you can't really talk about US Hip-Hop in general. What you mean I guess, is the kind of Hip-Hop that is played on mass medias like MTV and mainstream radio channels. This is music for the kids and for the club. All they talk about is party and bullshit and I don't really see this changing and going back to the essence of Hip-Hop. But I have a feeling that it's gonna get better anyway, music is like a cycle, maybe Hip-Hop needs to die for real before resurrecting into something new, and more relevant.

Though, I agree this type of music is usually wack, I think some mainstream artists are really innovative. And sometimes, when I don't understand how people can appreciate this garbage, I'm thinking that I'm too old already to understand.
To finish, I'd say that real Hip-Hop is more than alive, and there's bunch of people who keep doing it right and making it evolve. People must dig deeper than what the medias are giving them,

I know that you are very passionate about hip hop, but are there any other genres of music that are drawing your attention at the moment? A lot of the forward-thinking dubstep is getting a lot of hype, is that of interest to you?

I like a lot of different styles of music. I can't name everything cause there's so many genres and sub-genres that I would need to be too precise and it would be boring. I'm passionate about Hip-Hop, but I'm passionate about Music first.
As for the new kind of music, there are some really good things. I personally don't like Dubstep, there are some good songs that are always gonna work in a club, but I'm just not into it. Though I have to admit, some elements of it are interesting and can be inspiring.

Growing up in France were you surrounded by hip hop from a young age, or did you come to it later in life?

Let me tell you that France is (or was) the second Hip-Hop nation behind the U.S. So It's pretty big here. I discovered about Hip-Hop in 91 cause my older step-brother gave me some tapes and he was watching this TV show called "Rapline" on french TV. Although, at that age (10), I couldn't really make a difference between Kriss Kross, MC Hammer, N.W.A or A Tribe Called Quest. To me, as long as I heard someone rapping, it was good.

I know you are about to start work on your next album. What can we expect? A whole new change of direction?

The next project is gonna be released in January 2010, on irish label All City. You can expect some trakcs in the veign of "My Comet", it's gonna be all inspired by 80's Funk. It will be follow by the second volume of Chinoiseries on french label Favourite Recordings, later the same year.

What does 2010 have in store for you?

Besides those two albums, I'm looking forward to travel more and do more shows. I want to come up with a new live set, so it's gonna be a lot of work, and I'll be working on my first real solo album with vocal guests.

Vital-ic

The new Vitalic album aint half bad actually. My only concern: sounds a bit dated. Like soooooo 2006.

Late Night Jam

Appearing very shortly on Tama Sumo's Panoramabar 02, this is another classic from Levon. Dig.

Shipyard

I'm quite a big Piemont fan. Thanks to Herr Trott, I got into them about 9 months ago, and ever since, they have featured pretty heavily for me (although sadly I missed them play Berghain which would have been nice). Their new EP, Shipyard, delivers on every front. Is this the funkiest techno outfit in the world? Oh and speaking of "funky", the new Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts' is quite tasty too. D'you wanna get funky?

Lucia y el Sexo

Have you seen 'Lucia y el Sexo'? It's Medem's second best film after 'La Ardilla Roja', and this whimsical little ditty is omnipresent throughout. At first I was certain it was this beautiful Gabriel Yared piece from 'The English Patient', but it was not until it appeared on the last episode of Mad Men that it became clear. But what can honestly compete with Bernard Herrmann's masterpiece, the 'Taxi Driver' soundtrack, the last movie he scored before his death.