Results tagged “DJ”

Regular readers of Fun in the Murky who bother to wade through my long-winded hack articles may have noticed a trend (aside from the same recurring questions) - namely that a lot of the time I'm also working with the interviewee on something for my label IF?, they may have just (charitably) done a remix for me, or I'm doing something myself for their label.

This isn't always the case, but as I say it is a trend, and I've even noticed this myself - god forbid.

The reason is simple. Because I'm in close contact with them working on the musical angle at the time, these people are finally vulnerable to me to hit up for an interview - and given that my other day job is hack journalism, and I only really want to work with people I (a) respect, (b) am hugely influenced by, or (c) I've become mates with and want to sing their praises, the interview/article thing seems appropriate. Luckily these people are usually too nice to say no, so they indulge me, and we end up with some interesting written fodder to browse through here.

Justin Berkovi was the latest such 'victim'.

I first stumbled across Justin's music when I picked up his Crouton vinyl on Mosquito, and it became a pivotal member of my DJ sets and my patchy radio show on 3PBS back in Melbourne just over a decade ago.

I've been a huge fan since, keeping an eye on his stylistic tangents as much as I've tried to follow up on his releases through other labels like Music Man, Force Inc., Sativae, Drought, Pro-Jex, Djax, Neue Heimat, Harthouse, and Berkovi's own Predicaments.

"I've never released anything for Tresor," he quips, "although for some reason everyone thinks I have!"

So when Simon Nielsen (aka DJ Hi-Shock from Elektrax) approached me late last year to suggest we release my Little Nobody track Metropolis How? as a vinyl release with remixes, I couldn't think of a better practitioner to suit the moment... along with, of course, two other another canny remixers in Hi-Shock and James Ruskin.

We actually released this wax at the beginning of this week (that's unsubtle hint #2, in case you're wondering).

So far as I'm concerned, biased and all, Justin's remix is revelatory - he picked apart the slow, grubby, vaguely distorted acid slant of the original track and made the journey his own entity; think a mesmerizing remix defined by little incidental noises and hisses, the occasional snare, and a subtle, slightly dark orchestral flourish.

"It's pretty laid back," Berkovi himself assesses. "I didn't want to do a slamming techno track for this one, just something a with some tech-house influences and more subtle than an out-and-out banger!"

So, as per my usual wont and as you can probably guess by now given the artist bytes (above) and the title to this story, I did something I'd wanted to do since the late 1990s - I finally interviewed Justin Berkovi.

The following is the simple Q&A; his answers are stand-alone gems.

I didn't want to bury them in more rambling text, as I figure you've copped more than your fair share of that in this introduction. Big thanks to Justin for his remix, his words of wisdom, his time - and his cracking sense of humour.

I've been into your stuff since the year dot, but a little bit of research indicates you've been producing your own stuff, first off with Mosquito or Sativae, since about 1997. Is this correct?

"I did my first tracks before this but my inaugural release was on Mosquito in 1997. My first ever track - I think! - was 'Tonight', which ended up released on Mutter a few years later in 2001."

The stuff on Force Inc. was quite mad; I loved it, of course. How do you feel about that early stuff now?

"The Force Inc. period was when I was first starting out so I loved doing these early EPs. I still like what I did back then, they were good times! The Force Inc. EPs gave me good exposure - one was an NME Dance Single of the week - and allowed me to produce my first album [Charm Hostel] quite early on."

What inspired you to set foot in the studio yourself?

"I was originally into old electro such as Mantronix, and then old school techno, Detroit stuff, early Djax-Up-Beats, and so on. I'd always wanted to produce music so it was just a question of trying to get more gear than an old drum machine I had knocking about. I was just desperate to produce music, whatever it was going to be."

Where exactly were you born, and what's it famous for?

"I was born in Watford. It's fairly famous for Watford Football Club, which was at one time chaired and funded by Elton John. However, in the main Watford is a total shit-hole and I avoid it at all costs. It's full of rich chavs who want to fight each other."

You've remixed Cristian Vogel, Subhead, Hardfloor, Digital Primate, DJ Rush, and now this Little Nobody track for me. How do you approach the rejigging process and how do you go about personalizing it with the Justin Berkovi stamp?

"Usually I'll just grab all the parts and then create my own track. If the track though has a unique thing for me such as a crazy bassline or just some element I really like then I'll work my mix around that. I don't have a set remix style and I'll often create two remixes, one harder one and one more introspective."

You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for a long time now. What's most changed in the electronic/experimental music related music industry over that period?

"That's a big question! So much has changed. Years ago I think vinyl played a very important role in the industry - people had to wait for white labels or promos, a buzz was created, and then the entire process of selling or buying a 12" was played out over time. Now everything is so instant. You've got a zillion digital labels releasing all kinds of crap and sifting through everything is really time-consuming.

"It's just a completely different landscape now, not as rock and roll in some ways as before - I mean I'd never have predicted seeing techno DJs Twittering about what Wagyū beef they're eating or how many times they've been to fucking Nobu - hilarious!

"But techno goes round and round, in and out of fads - from the minimal explosion has come a general acceptance of a much broader style of techno, so whilst the narrow fads might piss people off they often lead to things evolving later. Which is a good thing!"

What else keeps you motivated?

"Good, clever music and sounds that blow me away. I've always been a sucker for producers that use innovative and unique sounds - I'll often hear something in a track, it could be some strings or an effect or anything, and that will inspire me. My motivation now comes from producing again - I'm about to release my first music in over four years, so am excited about this and just keep wanting to produce tracks."

What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment?

"I still have a few bits of hardware left, but mainly sample it. My main production tool is Logic and my live tool Ableton. I'd like to make the switch to producing only in Ableton but keep going back to Logic. I prefer the timing of Ableton; it reminds me of my old hardware sequencers I used to produce with."

Which part of your studio is the most vital facet?

"Hmm... tough one - I'd say some of my outboard because it's now taking the flatness out of computer music and warming up my sound, making it more like my older productions."

Which current crop of artists and labels are grabbing your attention?

"Too many to mention! I still follow all the old guys but like a lot of well-produced stuff by Gary Beck and newer artists from minimal and tech-house to techno. I don't really listen to one or two genres or artists - I just go by what I like when I hear it."

If you were pressed into a corner and forced to confess under great duress, how would you define the sounds/styles you're currently making?

"That's easy, really - I'm doing deeper stuff under my Nightrax thing, and tougher, darker techno."

What upcoming Justin Berkovi productions/collaborations/events we should know about for 2010?

"I'm putting together two mixes for some artist podcasts - they'll be a trip down old school techno memory lane, and then a special preview of my new live set. I've got a Nightrax-style EP coming out on Eevolute, the imprint run by Terrace and Estroe, I have a remix for Jurek Przezdziecki coming out on Germany's Whirlpoolsex Music, and I'm in the studio working on a series of EPs for different techno labels. I'm planning on releasing a lot of stuff in 2010 as well as starting touring again with my live set."

You've also run your own label Predicaments - is it finished by the way, or just taking a nap?

"Predicaments is finished. I loved running the label but because I did everything it was just too much work in the end - you need help with running a label! Saying that, I'm actually thinking of starting up Nightrax again for my deeper music."

You released Subhead, Dave Tarrida, Steve Glencross, DJ Rush, Adam X and Miss Kittin on Predicaments, along with records by yourself. What were the label's perimeters, and how did they change over time?

"To be honest the label didn't really have a 'style' as such; it was just good techno by people I liked and got on with."


What's it been like releasing through all the other cool labels you've worked with over the years?

"It's been great - you meet like-minded people who want to release your own music! All the labels are different and it meant a lot to me to release stuff on labels that I'd respected so much in the past."

CDs are a disappearing facet of the music industry, and a fair amount of people in electronic/dance music circles are cutting back on vinyl these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. How do you feel about this?

"It's just the way it is. We could chat about the demise of vinyl till the cows come home - of course I feel it's a shame, I love vinyl! There is just nothing like it and I have to say that I miss seeing DJs use vinyl out... but times change. Vinyl can still be a wonderful way to add kudos to a release, though."

Either way, is digital download really the future of music?

"I guess so. I wonder how this will evolve, because there are so many 'digital labels' out there at the moment. Is giving everyone a chance to release music easily a good thing? Who knows! There's certainly less quality control than before!"

How do you foresee techno and electronic music in general developing over the next 12 months?

"Well, techno has just gone from strength to strength in the last few years - a big plus for me because it's made me return to producing and wanting to play out again. I think it's simply going to be a good year for techno and electronic music in general, there is some great music out there with real guts and soul."

Lastly - how do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"Well done with no water. Preferably as part of a great breakfast in Melbourne with a great coffee."

...care to add anything else?

"Just to say thanks for everyone who has supported me over the years and I can't wait to come back in 2010 with my new live set, releases, and immerse myself totally back into techno - bring it on!"

If you're a regular peruser of this site you'd already be aware of British producer Mark Hawkins, who additionally channels through music under the alias ###. He's unleashed his stuff via labels like Pro-Jex, Djax-Up-Beats, Neue Heimat, Mosquito, Victim, Kitty Corner and Snork Enterprises, and up till recently ran his own cool label Crime.

I can't be arsed going into a further bio disposition here, since we talk about most of that during the course of the interview that follows below; we interactively carved this out over the past week, to and fro, and throughout Mark has been exceptionally entertaining, interesting, at times revelatory, and right into the whole process - all of which, combined with his music, make him one very inspiring individual.

After just a few days of this banter I feel like we're mates, and his wife even took some lovely up-to-date happy snaps to add into the story.

So, without further self-centred ado from me, read on.

Yawn question. What inspired you to start making music?

"I guess my Dad leaving his guitar lying about when I was about two years old - then he played me John Foxx, and then Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force's 'Planet Rock' and I was hearing Kraftwerk and all the '80s synthpop stuff on the radio, so then I really wanted a synth; I had to settle on a cheapo Casiotone home keyboard, and I really wish I'd known how cheap you could have picked up a TB 303 or TR909 in a junk shop at that time!"

What happened to the Casiotone? Do you still have it?

"You know, I really have no idea what happened to that little home keyboard, I guess it probably ended up in a junk shop somewhere - wish I'd kept it and circuit-bent it, could have been an interesting little piece."

Where exactly were you born, and what's it famous for?

"I was born in Barking, which is a suburb of London - famous for being the place where Captain Cook got married. The River Thames had quite an effect on the place, so there were a lot of shipbuilders & a fishing fleet there. That's why it's there, it basically started off as a fishing village about 10 miles out of the centre of London. Now it's been swallowed up by the city, and to be honest, it's sucked the soul out of the place, it's more like a run down inner-city area now, a lot of crime and deprivation. It's kind of sad to see when I hear from my Dad how there used to be a cool music scene there in the late '60s/early '70s, y'know, kind'a freak scene or whatever. Probably to do with the total death of the old idea of subculture in the 21st century."

What do you believe has replaced that idea?

"Well, these days I think the people coming of age right now have a little bit of everything - maybe if you're 16 or 17 now, in the UK - at least if you haven't been sucked into the Simon Cowell pop idol machine - you're either listening to grime/dubstep or Emo, whatever that is. I guess drum and bass still has a following here, but I'm not sure if it's getting any fresh blood - I suppose it must do to be able to continue to exist."

Why the aliases ###, DJ M.H., and "The Spider" - any special meaning behind these?

"The Spider was just a nickname from years ago, so that's kind'a why it got used for my first release. I then ended up using my real name for the Djax stuff as I had no ideas no concept or anything, I was trying to think of something unpretentious and cool sounding to use, but it just never happened, so it was kind of an accident that I've ended up being stuck using my real name to put out music under, because of course once you start having records out on Djax, everyone else you do stuff for wants you to use the same name as you did for those releases.

"Funnily enough at the time that stuff came out, I did the Pro-Jex records too and I was gonna use my name again, but when I first signed to Djax they kind'a wanted my name as an exclusive thing to them, so I had to quickly come up with another name - I think there was a bit of rivalry between Djax & Pro-Jex at the time, there were a lot of the same artists releasing on both labels, so if it had been for any other label it probably wouldn't have been such an issue. Anyway, it kind of stuck and I think it fitted well for more Chicago-influenced stuff.

"### was a more recent experiment in trying to do something different - set up a kind of slower techno and house influenced thing, I guess also influenced by the more recent minimal sound too, although that's become as much if not more of a dirty and misused word as techno... so much chaff around and not enough wheat. Originally I wanted it to be completely disconnected from me, completely anonymous, but of course market forces got the better of that one, and the name I'd used for the Djax releases was requested for use again. But I guess I'm no wiz at marketing, I've just come to the point where as far as physical releases go, I don't really care what name I'm going under, I'm just happy to get stuff out on plastic now."

### is more recent and ongoing, right - but I'm guessing you've discontinued the use of DJ M.H. and 'The Spider'?

"It's debatable as to whether ### will see the light of day again as the sales of the last record weren't so good, but I might use it in future for free digital releases. DJ M.H. Is pretty much defunct unless I have a sudden desire to make ghetto house, and The Spider has definitely been killed off." (laughs.)

Do you make music under any other aliases?

"I did a record as 'M25' for the B-Rave label in 2003."

You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for quite a time now, so far as I know since that classic split EP with Michael Forshaw in 1999 - 'Beast With 2 Backs' - on Mike's label Chan 'n' Mikes. Were you doing stuff before then?

"Yeah, I was writing, learning how to use the studio as it was all hardware back then, just honing my skills really, trying to get some leads on getting stuff out, and DJing at a lot of parties."

How did the split 12-inch with Mike come about?

"He heard me playing live in a forest in the back of a van just when he was thinking about going home or going to sleep - I made him come back to the dance floor with my sounds!"

Over a decade later, what keeps you motivated?

"My love for the music keeps me motivated more than anything else. To be honest, I'm happier on a Saturday night to have the whole night in the studio just to craft something for my own pleasure than to be playing at a party - that said though, a great party can be a great motivator as then you can see people enjoying your creations, but that can't be the ultimate aim, especially as tastes change, and not necessarily in the same direction as your own."

When you do play out, is it important to make people groove? Or is it not an issue?

"Oh definitely, otherwise you might as well just be messing around in the studio on your own -although I believe it's important not to use the lowest common denominator to achieve that. 50 percent should be people saying "What the hell is that? I never heard anything like that before" and 50 percent should be people really wigging out - it doesn't always work like that, I feel it's important to experiment, but not for just the experiment's sake; there has to be a certain amount of function, but that is where real talent lies for me, being able to make something that's really fresh, you know, so fresh that it takes 10 listens to really 'get' it, but then when you 'get' it, it's just stuck in your head and making you want to move - you hear it in a club and then it's stuck in your head for the next week. If I'm listening to other peoples music, particuarly if it's 'dance music' I want it to be challenging as well as making you want to move."

What integral changes have you noticed in electronic music over the time period you've been involved?

"I think the biggest change has been just the fact you can go online and check out anything these days - I remember when it was like maybe someone you knew had a certain record, and you really had to search through the racks to find it. Maybe you would have it on a tape if you were lucky, but then you had to have the vinyl; now you can go online, get it on Soulseek and be playing with it in Traktor five seconds later.

"So then you've got no kind of restraint, everything is so available that it takes a lot of excitement out of it - add to that the fact it's so easy to run a net label now, so the amount of substandard stuff you have to wade through to find the good stuff is unbelievable. And I guess also we're a long way now from the big bang of the rave explosion - that was like 20 years ago - so it's like how say prog rock was by the end of the '70s/ beginning of the '80s, and I really don't know if there is any hope of anything, as far as music goes, having the impact like the punk or rave scene ever again. However, I could be saying exactly the same thing as some people were in 1975 and in 2010 the next big thing is gonna hit!"

So what do you foresee happening with the music we care about in 2010?

"As far as the kind of techno/electronic music I want to make is concerned, it's starting to look like the only way that it's possible to get it out there is via free downloads. If you try and sell mp3s of that stuff you end up only selling like 30 mp3s a lot of the time. And this fact really made me question my motives a couple of years ago - I almost gave up making music after writing my album and then not being able to sell it, especially as it wasn't as pure as I wanted it to be as I was trying to get it released, some of it was a compromise to get it out there.

"But then after a while I started writing stuff again just because I wanted to, and now I'm really glad I didn't sell my gear. It would be nice to take the risk and pay for some vinyl to be pressed but I'm personally in no position to do that right now. So really I'm not thinking too much about where it's going to go, I'm just waiting to see if there will be another musical revolution."

If you were to get all God-like and create that revolution yourself, where would you start?

"Seriously, if I knew the answer to that question I would already be doing it! Although really I guess it all comes down to coming up with something new that people are going to take to, and more than take to, have people going really wild about and have the confidence to stick with it - although if you're actively trying to create a new sound, you're gonna find yourself down a creative dead end - I think these things happen by accident, and no-one can predict when or where they are going to happen. I mean, you think the rock dinosaurs thought that the Pistols were going to come along in '76?"

Are you a fan at all of the Sex Pistols and their punk cohorts? Music-wise or for their ideology, I mean?

"Well, I've always liked John Lydon's attitude to a lot of issues - apart from a few things I heard him mention with regard to Margaret Thatcher recently, saying 'Well, at least she shook things up a bit' - which I think really is a bit in poor taste considering the amount of people that suffered due to her policies in the '80s: the communities that were destroyed as the manufacturing and utilities industries were either privatised or smashed to pieces, and continue to suffer due to the ideology she promoted, by which the whole world is suffering what with the financial crisis and climate change, which I believe is being accelerated due to those ideologies.

"Sorry, I'm digressing here, bit of an axe to grind as I hate what that woman stood for and where it has left us in the 21st century - although I guess it's relevant to the question in a way - it really was the last thing I would have ever expected to come from his mouth, but anyway, I think the Pistols were a real turning point for British culture and society. No-one had ever said anything like 'you dirty fucker' before on TV, they kind of blew the door off the hinges and were the first people to be really publicly obnoxious - that was refreshing at the time, I guess. Musically, though, I was listening to a lot of punk stuff, still do from time to time, particularly punk which was a reaction to the Tory government of the '80s like Crass and Subhumans; also some of the US bands like Black Flag, Minor Threat, and definitely the [Dead] Kennedys, they were great - I love that spoken word piece that Jello Biafra does that's like the mantra from some totalitarian regime: 'People refusing to give urine samples WILL BE SHOT!'.

"So it definitely had an influence on my music.

"At the end of the '90s techno seemed so smooth and the emphasis was always 'Yeah, it's really well-produced' - but to me, what's the point of having something that's really well-produced but says nothing? I'd rather hear something really raw that has awesome drum programming, or a real hooky synth-line that gets lodged in your brain. So I definitely felt that the whole thing needed a boot up the arse around that time with a good dose of punk attitude - right now I feel like I'm just ticking over, but back then when I was starting out, it was like we were on a mission. I felt that there were only one or two acts around that time that really hit the nail on the head for me - Subhead and [Michael] Forshaw. Right now I can listen to stuff that came out at that time from [Cristian] Vogel and [Neil] Landstrumm and those guys and I really love it, but I needed something with a bit more bang, like their '95/'96 stuff - so it was a bit of a mission then to go against the grain and do something different to the majority of techno that was coming out at the time - I have to say Subhead really were the original techno punks, though!"

What are your thoughts on the initial musical concepts undertaken by that other '70s movement, British industrial stuff from the likes of Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle?

"I never really heard or picked up on that really - the closest to industrial stuff I got into was all US stuff like NIN and Ministry I guess..."

What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment?

"The usual suspects of Akai MPCs and Nord modular, but I just recently updated the recording side of things with a Macbook Pro running Ableton and a SE condenser mic - I'd love to get into field recordings and just generally record random sounds, and maybe also get back into the sampling side of things; I've neglected that since selling my Akai S3000XL. Would love to have some of the old gear back that I used for the Djax stuff like the Roland JD 800, but it's the space and the money, and I have more than enough tools at my disposal right now."

What kind of sampling do you prefer to do - splicing together field recordings or snippets of movies/music?

"I've used a lot of the latter, and I'm only just getting into the former, but I think both have their place."

Would you consider any song, musician or movie sacrilegious to sample - or is anything fair game?

"There're probably taboos in regard to good taste - I mean I wouldn't go sampling from a speech by Hitler or anything like that as I think you'd be really playing with fire on that one, plus the fact that you'd run the risk of some Far Right lunatics getting into your music - but sacrilegious? I don't know - I think pretty much everything is fair game so long as it's not in extremely bad taste. I always thought cover versions of stuff originally performed by, say, Hendrix or Janis Joplin, a real waste of time - you're just going to show off your short-comings - unless it was like when Mike Flowers Pop covered Oasis' 'Wonderwall'... Although I think Oasis are pretty rubbish, to be honest. Music for people who aren't really interested in music." (laughs.)

Which part of your studio is the most vital facet?

"I guess the desk - otherwise I'd have all my machines on the floor! I'd miss my Mackie too, I think!"

What food/drinks keep you fuelled throughout production time?

"Latte machiattos all the way."

Any sugar?

"Always!"

How many teaspoons?

"More than I should have, I guess."

Which current crop of artists and labels are grabbing your attention, and why so?

"To be honest, I think the situation in 2010 as far as labels is concerned is fucking dire - almost everything released sounds like a dumbed-down regurgitation of everything that has gone before; it has become so 'safe' that to me it seems almost pointless to buy new records these days. I had a quick flick through the Juno new releases after you asking the question as I really wanted to find something to rave about, but no, nothing - particularly in the techno sections. The irony is, that techno has become a total parody of itself, a self perpetuating entity where there's a whole bunch of producer/DJs so scared to put a foot wrong with the audience that they have become as boring as everything that techno was supposed to be reacting against - it's depressing. That said, I have found some gems in unexpected places when buying records over the past 12 months - Omar S for example: he took the old school acid house sound and twisted it around and came up with some stunning moments, and then you find that in the house section; I mean, what's with that?

"And for all the flack that Minus take, they are probably one of the more daring labels out there these days but I guess they can afford to take the risks. Against the backdrop of that, there are some really talented people out there such as Youngman, JE:5 and others who do mind blowing stuff which just isn't getting out there - and that's when I really think about getting the label back together to get that stuff out there, but then it's time and money and the rest of it.

"Some of the originals are still on form - Vogel always impresses me and I like some of the stuff Landstrumm does, but I have to say his last album wasn't so much bag; some of the things he's done where he's really twisted around the dubstep thing have been great though and brought something really original to the table when most people in that scene just want the same beats and the same wobbly square wave bass over and over. It's just like drum and bass in the '90s all over again, but on 33. So yeah, I guess it's time for a counter-attack, either giving a load of stuff away for free via the website or pressing some vinyl, would be nice to do both, but I think it's more likely to be the former rather than the latter."

Why is it that talented people like Bill Youngman, Jesse Hall and even Jason Leach (despite the Subhead legacy) don't get the attention that they deserve?

"I think in regard to techno music in the wider context, the lines were drawn a long time ago as to which artists were going to be really big - not to say that a lot of those people don't deserve the recognition they have, and that the doors have closed, but it seems to me that the only new people making waves and getting really recognised to the point where they can live from the music seem to have to adhere to some kind of template and not step out of line. It's all very safe - I mean the possibilities to live from performing and producing have become very limited due to a lot of the revenue streams closing down, but I guess the real issue is, producers of real left-field electronic dance music don't make stuff which is easy for people to get with; it's music for the select few as it isn't so lowest common denominator - it's edgy."

If you were pressed into a corner and forced to confess under great duress, how would you define the sounds/styles you're currently making yourself?

"Buzz-saw bass, sample-and-hold acid, mouth house, and I have new skool folk songs planned too."

You like traditional folk tunes, or is this something that completely overturns the tradition?

"I can't get with English folk music - my Dad raves about it, but I can't be doing with all this 'Hey nonny no' business. Irish folk I can get with - proper hard drinking music. And strangely enough, I guess, American folk music sounds pleasing to my ears - I like the kind of crossover with punk that happened in the US with their folk music, particularly with bands like Bad Religion. They definitely had a US folk influence. But the strangest folk music I ever heard was from Lithuania - my wife is Lithuanian and she was playing me the folk music that they have there, and it's almost like Gregorian chants or something; I really want to record some next time I'm over there but then do something with it - something for the field recording project."

You've released stuff through Pro-Jex, Djax-Up-Beats, Neue Heimat, Mosquito, Victim, Kitty Corner and Snork Enterprises. What's your relationship been like with these labels?

"Generally amicable, sometimes strained due to financial and artistic differences - we do our best to get on though!"

Any strange or outrageous requests from a record label?

"I had some German guy calling me once who really wanted trax from me but they 'Must be over 150 bpm' - I ended up telling him that maybe he should write it himself if he wanted to be so specific. I also had a gig offer once, also in Germany, where the guy was saying 'I don't have so much money for you, but I can get you a pretty girl for the night!'. Needless to say, I declined his offer!"

You run your own label Crime; what's afoot with that outlet?

"It's currently in a coma, which I'm not sure it's ever going to come out of - I think if I was to do a label project again I'd like to start afresh, new ideas, new concept. For now I'm just getting my money's worth out of the URL registration."

In the '90s when you broke through, for me the real movers and shakers of innovative electronica were all British: Cristian Vogel, Si Begg, Dave Tarrida, Subhead, Jamie Liddell, Tube Jerk and Tobias Schmidt. Were you into any of these guys' work?

"I was into all of those guys' work! You forgot [Neil] Landstrumm there too - I didn't break through 'til 2001 really, though; I mean, the first record came in '99 but it almost fell totally under the radar until a few years later when I had all the other stuff out. But yeah, I was big into those guys, but also I was big into the Jay Denham stuff, Chance McDermott & D-Knox - that kind of Chicago-meets-Detroit techno that really rocked my world round about 1997."

Why do you think the combined output of both city styles had such an impact?

"For me, I love Chicago drums, funk and rhythm, but Detroit had the melodies and vibes - the music from Kalamazoo, the home town of Knox, Denham, etcetera, from 1995-98 was to me a perfect fusion of both. It's also music I think isn't recognised enough. I actually met D-Knox in Warsaw a few years ago and was telling him how we were all blown away by 'The Body of Christ' and records like that - real raw, and hard but really funky with these really deep melodies running through them, but you know, you could mix them up with really banging hard techno and it just worked, really awesome stuff, and he was like 'Sheesh, yeah man, that's when we were doing the crazy shit, we wanted to sound like no-one else'. I think maybe that's when music comes out the best, when the creators are coming at it from that attitude."

How about the stuff coming out of those cities today?

Well, I hear Jay [Denham] is living in Munich now, and Donnell [D-Knox] is in Warsaw, and I don't know what Chance is doing these days so I'm guessing there's not much going on in Kalamazoo - Spectral/Ghostly is based in Ann Arbor though, near Detroit, and I love a lot of their output. James T Cotton, Audion, Deadbeat, and that kind of stuff; I think Omar S is from Detroit too. Chicago is house central, though - I do love some good deep house, but it would be nice to hear some variety coming from there..."

What do you think of the 'newer' guys shaking things up these days like Luke's Anger, Ben Pest, Grimjaw, Paul Birken (not really new at all!) and Donk Boys?

"Luke I have to give props to for sure as he gave me a Zip Drive PSU which allowed the MPC2000 to come back to life, I owe him some trax for that. I guess the music he does isn't so much what I'm really looking for right now, but all credit to him for doing his thing. Grimjaw and Donk Boys I'm not really familiar with, but I love a couple of Ben Pest trax and have been trying to track down the vinyl, actually."

His 'Glitterati Fashionista' EP on Bonus Round is brilliant - have you got that one yet?

"This is the one I'm trying to track down - Ben, if you're reading this, I would be playing it out mate if I had a copy!"

What new Mark Hawkins releases can we look out for?

We have the Mark Hawkins & Je:5 'Absurdly Connected Machines' 12-inch coming on Snork Enterprises' offshoot Relax 2000 this month, and possibly a release on Input Output at the end of the year, but that might just end up coming out through my website. I could imagine in five years the concept of a record label becoming a thing of the past and every artist just having their own website with a Paypal-donate button on it; it's getting that way now, if only for electronic artists who don't want to record cliched minimal, dubstep or hard techno."

Some book publishers are following that option too, meaning that the authors actually end up with a higher percentage of the 'profit' from the sales of any books - so long as people do make that donation. Are people in general generous enough to do so?

"I couldn't say, to be honest - maybe I should try it out on my website?" [laughs.]

Any upcoming remixes/events we should know about for 2010?

"I have possibly a DJ gig in Berlin at the end of February, one for sure in Leeds at the beginning of March, and a live show in Kassel, Germany, at the end of March. Quite a few other shows in the pipeline potentially, just the dots have to be joined up. And I think me and Jess JE:5 could well be remixing my Russian friend Vadz's 'Nuclear Volgodonsk' project this year - he used to work as a sound engineer at his local radio station in Taganrog, southern Russia, and they got some voice actor in to record the warnings to go out on the radio should the Volgodonsk nuclear power station go boom, as it's only 180 or so kilometres from Taganrog - so he's still got all the original vocal recordings. That could well be quite an interesting project."

Speaking of Leeds, do you know the goings on of the Gonzo/Dead Channel crew up there?

"I didn't but I do now, I'll be checking it out!"

You seem to be doing a few different things with Jesse Hall - how'd you guys hook up and how do you find working together?

"He's an old, old friend - from before Uglyfunk, old Leicester illegal party days - and his talent has always blown us away, but he's always shied away from being at the forefront of things... Which I think has held him back insofar as people hearing what an amazing talent he is. Hopefully the projects we're working on together will make the world a bit more aware of his talent, we don't get so much time to work on stuff and I have to constantly hassle him to get stuff done, but when we get time together in the studio to work on stuff it just seems to work. We can just jam it out and it's just right; where I'm lacking in an idea he comes through with that missing idea and it just works."

CDs are a rapidly vanishing medium, and a fair amount of people in electronic/dance music circles are cutting back on vinyl these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. How do you feel about this?

"Well, the remix project I mentioned before will most probably end up being another free Net release, which is a shame in one way, but the future in another - it makes it available for everyone so it's all inclusive. And on top of that there is the financial side: if you can't sell physical product, and people in the main want only free downloads, it means I have to go and work eight hours a day and so have less time to work on music and my output becomes less and less, which is really what saddens me the most. But maybe some of that is just life choices, and my priorities have just changed as I got older."

What priorities are key to your lifestyle now?

"Well, I'm becoming a bit of an old fart to be honest - I guess my wife and daughter always have to come first, and I'm far more interested in having a family and a stable life than being in clubs until god knows what time every weekend - I mean, I like to keep my hand in, of course, and it's nice to go away and do a show every two months or so - but I certainly wouldn't like to be as dependant on the whole thing as I used to be. The downside of that though is less time to work on music, which is sad. I guess the good thing is now, though, when I'm working on music, it's because I really want to - which means the quality is always going to be higher...not just going through the motions to keep myself recognised enough to keep on getting bookings just to pay the rent. It's a real treadmill, that one!"

How old's your daughter? Mine's 4.

"She's 5 - and getting into playing the drums..."

Is vinyl itself dead - or just becoming more of a select option?

"I think it will always be there, in many ways I'd love to see it become just a collectors' thing and all the money go out of it, so there wasn't so much of this totally shit music coming out on it - save it for the really special stuff..."

Do DJs really need to continue to use vinyl, or can they instead construct entire sets out of stuff they've downloaded off the Internet?

"Why would you need to use vinyl when you have about 10 different ways of playing music these days? I'm not into vinyl snobbery, but it does have a unique warmth."

Is digital download really the future of music?

"Maybe, but I'd like to see more people actually feel the joy of playing an instrument themselves - this is something I really want to get into in the next year although I fear the electronic music output may well suffer as a result."

Which instrument? Back to the guitar your Dad left lying around?

"You know, I thought about buying a guitar again just to have around - maybe do some field recording-style guitar cut-up electronica - but really, I want a piano but the wife is saying we don't have the space for one right now. Yeah man, jazz pianist; I love jazz, you know - not the trad shit, but the like beatnik Charlie Parker/Miles Davis kind of stuff. They were like your original Aphex and Vogel but, you know, really the innovators - some of the first people to say 'Hey, you don't need to play from that music in front of you, just make it up as you go along'."

Lastly - how do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"Raw, straight from the hillside so the gills are still pink, not brown..."

There's an interview I did with Japanese duo HIFANA now online (it was originally published late last year in a now-defunct American mag called Geek Monthly, so it's a couple of months old - here's some of the text:

One thing that's hallmarked the career of Keizo Fukuda (KEIZOmachine!) and Jun Miyata (Juicy) since they formed Hifana in 1998 has been a passion for music, along with an apparent wish to share the goods round, which came across in the genial, encouraging way they worked with the kids involved on this show.

Taking into account this outing on the airwaves and their own recorded musical output, the zany samples they employ, and their enigmatic live performances - and the manner in which they've won over some of my more seasoned, cynical peers here in Japan - these guys obviously have a disarming sense of humor, yet in interviews like this it's one they tend to underplay.

"Personally I like humor," hedges Fukuda, "but it's not always necessary in my music."

Miyata shrugs. "I wish audiences would dance and have fun rather than being serious and dark," he suggests.

In my case I jumped on the Hifana ship quite late. I first stumbled across them in 2006, when I picked up Hifana Presents Nampooh Cable at the HMV megastore in Yokohama.

It was the cover that snagged me - designed by Juicy Mama's brother.

"The major influences on my art have been manga and ukiyo-e," reports the Osaka-born, Tokyo-dwelling Maharo (real name undisclosed) three years on. To my mind he's developing into one of Japan's most recognizable young visual artists, having designed some superb event fliers and artwork for CDs, DVDs and vinyl, as well as murals and for shoji (paper panel doors).

"For printing, usually I draw with a pencil, scan it, then complete the image with a PC," Maharo says of his output. "For murals, I use color gesso."

He also does some hilarious character designs for video, with the stand-outs being the Hifana clips.

Soundwise, Hifana Presents Nampooh Cable was a compilation that included a wide range of musically adept Japanese peers such as DJ/performance artist Tucker, Professor Chinnen, R&B vocalist Keyco, dub guru Zura, Incredible Beatbox Band, and 2002 DMC World DJ Final champion (and Ninja Tune regular), DJ Kentaro.

Maharo's yellow/red/black/white artwork may have been the hook, but the music that awaited therein - co-produced by people calling themselves Nampooh Office and the Groundriddim Crew - was nothing short of devastating shill. Hifana Presents Nampooh Cable drift-netted my senses and won me over in an instant; I've been a Hifana fan ever since.

As it ends up, that 2006 treasure-trove discovery relates to Hifana's upcoming body of work.

"We're currently supervising the compilation Nampooh Cable 2, which will be coming out soon," the boys reported late last year, and there's now a vinyl promo teaser that you can get hold of.

"We're also in production for our upcoming third album - as well as planning to release scratch vinyl for DJs. We're also doing session jams, producing music for various other projects, and pursuing our individual DJ activities."

Hifana has been nothing short of frenetic over the past few years, especially in the live performance domain - an area in which they're particularly admired and strikingly innovative.

A decade ago Coldcut and Hexstatic king hit me with live gigs in which they entangled visuals with audio; Hifana have taken those inroads a step higher, folding in an intuitive understanding of their machines (turntables, samplers, effects units and DVJ decks) that's somewhat scary. Their live show, which they dub Fresh Push Breakin' (actually the name of their first album in 2003), is as much an eye-opening haymaker as it is aurally insane.

Their only disclaimer? "We enjoy creating freely by not being prepossessed."

Essential parts of that freestyle creativity are Hifana's found-sound samples, one of the joys of the duo's live and recorded work - whether or not you speak their tongue. "Japanese narration on vintage vinyl is so funny," they both espouse. These Hifana then layer above and beneath hip hop beats, bleeps, train announcements, and some glorious pop-culture schlock. "Out of these recordings you can create some fresh tunes, we just have to pay close attention till they combine well."

The second Hifana album, Channel H (2005), came with 15 music tracks - and 13 music videos created by a collaboration of Juicy, +cruz (Eric Cruz), the VJ Gec group, and Maharo.

One of these videos, for the track 'Wamono' (which has Maharo-designed caricatures of KEIZOmachine! and Juicy riding out a Katsushika Hokusai-style animated giant wave, giant fish, and chance encounters with singing mermaids), won an Excellence Award in the Entertainment/Interactive Art category at the 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival.

"We don't really wish our visual images to best explain our music," Fukuda and Miyata assert. "We're just enjoying the collaboration with our visual team. Hifana wants to show audiences something we think is a fresh live performance, along with the improvements in DJ equipment."

Which relates back to the music.

"I love music," Fukuda says with disarming simplicity. "And as for making club music, it seemed so much faster for me to create it, even before I began to dig it. In the process of creating this music, I mostly enjoy the rough sketch of the idea as it starts to become music."

The man known as Juicy Mama sees things in a shade more practical. "I think I enjoy making music because I've been playing in bands since my school days. But as a part of creation, I also enjoy drafting the ideas themselves into finished sounds."

Esteemed Japanese film directors like Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu take a backseat - "I like Hitoshi Matsumoto," Miyata says, "and I recommend his on-line short film Zassa, which I saw on YouTube. His Big Man Japan is my recent favorite kaiju movie" - and, as for nominating the best ever Japanese musician, both opt for a rock muso: Lyricist and composer Kiyoshiro Imawano, who died in May 2009.

"He was the master of beautiful melodies, he had messages in his lyrics, he was rebel-minded, and had a sense of humor."

The rest of this non-fireside chat is HERE (with images + video) if you're interested in more.

Images © by Maharo & W+K Tokyo Lab

Well, I kind of had no choice, what with the plethora of Top 10 lists that currently bamboozle the senses, all focused on the decade known as the Noughties, the Naughties, the Aughts, the 00s, the 2000s or the Zeros, depending on your cultural upbringing or sense of humour; it seems everyone and his dusted-down and/or bedraggled dog is conjuring up one list or another, so - since I've been based in Tokyo most of this decade - I decided to put up my ¥2 worth about the best artists I've found working here.

This Top 10 list is in fact a Top 12 (sorry, I do have two extra fingers) and is in no particular order and by no means exclusive. There're heaps of cool cats I've met and heard over here who should also be included, but these are the people who have continuously rocked my fluffy socks.

TOP 10 JAPANESE ELECTRONIC MUSICIANS

Hifana
Takashi Watanabe (DJ Warp)
Alone Together
Shuji Wada (DJ Wada)
Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk)
Toshiyuki Yasuda (Robo*Brazileira)
Shin Nishimura
Kenji Kawai
Gadget Cassette/Cut Bit Motorz
M-Koda
DJ Krush
Magnet Toy

Some, like Magnet Toy, have seemingly stopped production work in recent years but did some insanely cool work early on in the 2000s; others, like Gadget Cassette, have suddenly changed their name (in this case, just this month, to Cut Bit Motorz).

If anyone reading this is interested in dwelling on still more inane Top 10 lists (as apposed to Top 12s) related to Japan, I've chucked a whole bunch of useless ones up on my other blog thing HERE.

This is where I hang up one of those warning signs like the one in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy - you know, the the inscription at the entrance to Hell that says "Abandon hope all ye who enter here", or at least something superfluous along those lines.

Because this is where I get all self-indulgent, nostalgic, biased, and parochial.

Y'see, I'm from Melbourne. Sure, I may have lived in Tokyo these past eight and a half years, but Melbourne (Australia) is my hometown, and it's the city whose electronic musicians were so cool - and so unappreciated - 15 years ago that it inspired me and two mates, Mateusz Sikora and Brian Huber, to kick-start our own record label to help support these people.

At the time I had a penniless indie movie-making company called Industrial Form, so I dumped that idea, took the initials, added a question mark for quirk-factor, and we called the label IF? Records. A few months later we released Zeitgeist, a compilation CD of purely Melbourne-made sounds (including a lush remix from Thomas P. Heckmann), and licensed that baby to Nova Zembla in Belgium to get it on to vinyl as well.

Yeah, yeah, I know - "zeitgeist" was a bit of a corny name, but at the time it didn't sound quite so bad. Our hearts were in the right places.

After that over the next three years we did two more of those Zeitgeist compilations in 1996/97, focused always on the Melbourne crew, with guest remixes of local stuff by two more Germans, Biochip C and Jammin' Unit, along with the debut releases for Soulenoid (aka Adam Raisback from Sense) and Guyver 3 (Scott Armstrong, alias G3).

We also focused on a rather long string of live performance gigs in Melbourne and Sydney that lost more money than gained any returns, but were always aurally mesmerizing - usually featuring the likes of Voiteck, Zen Paradox, Honeysmack, Soulenoid, Guyver 3, Blimp, Son Of Zev, Isnod, Sonic Voyagers, Frontside, TR-Storm, Q-Kontrol, my own hack project Little Nobody, the LN Elektronische Ensemble, DJ Fodder, and others.

Somewhere along the line 15 years passed continuing to do very much the same - weird, I know; I think the only thing we really changed was the logo. And although more than half of that time I've been based here in Japan, while Brian is in San Francisco and Mateusz in Kraków, we've continued to stay in touch and to work with and be inspired by our brethren back in Melbourne - a city and scene that's unlike any other in the world, even if half the time the people themselves in Melbourne don't appreciate that fact.

Which brings me, after a less-than-satisfactory opening disclaimer and a lot of subsequent hullabaloo, to the reason for this particular entry: IF100, our latest IF? release, which is also the 100th release by the label - at precisely the 15 year mark since the label was conjured up.

Count yourselves lucky... with one-and-a-half decades under the belt, I could've rambled on a hell of a lot more here, waxing insensible about experiences no one else can relate to and channeling insanely confused memories that make no sense in print, let alone in my own headspace.

Instead I'll just desist, leaving it at the first couple of years (as mentioned above), then pretend the subsequent decade has been a blur of motion and activity.

IF100 came out this week and for the compilation we went back to our roots, bringing together a collection of 30 tracks produced entirely by Melbourne artists, with some bonus remixes of their work by international producers thrown into the mix.

On top of this we wanted to toss around a selection of Melbourne that reflected the history - getting hold of new tracks from pioneers Zen Paradox, G3, Son Of Zev, Isnod, TR-Storm and a new DJ Fodder remix from Sydney's Dsico - along with the new(er) kids on the black like Ben Mill, Craig McWhinney, Kultrun, Alkan, Enclave, Koda and Rysh Paprota.

Then we lobbed into the fray some juicy remixes by Bill Youngman, Patrick Pulsinger, Shin Nishimura, DJ Warp, Secret Surfer, and a Little Nobody remix of E383, just for fun.

Anyway, enough rambling and innate navel-gazing. If you have time, trundle on over to the release itself, which we're running exclusively through Juno Download here, and check out some sample sounds of a city I still rate as one of the best in the world, even after having lived in Tokyo and London.

Let's hope that one day Melbourne itself realizes the cultural nuggets it has in its own backyard.

Justin Robertson shouldn't really require any introduction in these parts, but just in case here's a brief wrap-up tucked into a quaint little nutshell:

Robertson is the British DJ/producer also known as Lionrock and, more recently, Deadstock 33's, who started out spinning records during the Madchester period and himself impacted upon the Chemical Brothers before they dreamed up Exit Planet Dust.

This is the man who since released as much music through indie conventional labels (One Little Indian/Rough Trade) as he has via dance music outlets (Bugged Out/Nuphonic/Southern Fried Records) - and has also remixed Roy Budd, Bjork, The Sugarcubes, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Fortran 5, Talk Talk, Happy Mondays, Fatboy Slim, Luke Slater, and Felix Da Housecat.

More personally, his was the deft hand behind a remix set that I consider to be one of the best CD mix compilations. Period.

With this unshelled background guff over, in return Robertson kindly took the time out for 20 unreasonable queries.

1. Yawn question. How did you get inspired to start making music?

"Well, I have been writing songs and music since i was at school, I was in a couple of bands and we were pretty awful! But i got a real taste for it. I actually got my break by accident really, I was working in Eastern Bloc Records in Manchester; they had a band called the Mad Jacks, who needed a remix, and I volunteered even though I had never been in a studio in my life! It turned out rather well, so i was hooked!"

2. Where were you born, and what's the place most famous for?

"I was actually born in Walton Upon Thames, famous for being the birthplace of Julie Andrews."

3. You've been producing music and interacting within the music industry for quite a time now - how long exactly? What keeps you motivated, and what integral changes have you noticed over that time period?

"Been at it for about 18 years! It's just such a joy to be paid for what you love doing. I remain motivated because it's what i love; I'd do it even it wasn't my job - music is quite central to my being, not to be cosmic or anything. The biggest change, I guess, is the democratisation of music, facilitated by technology. It's a proper revolution, more so than punk."

4. Here's the mandatory inane question: If you were pressed into a corner and forced to confess under great duress, how would you define the sounds/styles you're currently making?

"Outer space thump and inner space disco."

5. You also run your own label, Neverwork. What's the story there?

"The label is asleep presently, but may awaken very soon."

6. Biggest influences on your own music?

"Reggae is massive, dub techniques from masters like King Tubby and Lee Perry; spacey cosmic disco from the likes of Arthur Russell, Alexander Robotnik Italo stuff, the irreverence of Balearic beat, and acid house of course. Raw, edgy music with a lo-fi swagger. The Fall and film music - I'm thinking of Ennio Morricone, John Barry, John Carpenter. The Mods and the '60s beat thing, psychedelic music... and that's just the for my dancefloor stuff!"

7. What new Justin Robertson releases can we look out for?

"I'm fully immersed in my Deadstock 33's project: it's all about spacey Balearic. The album is gonna be Underneath the Pines - it's Nick Cave meets Elkin and Nelson; murder ballads with a disco beat! Deadstock releases also on Paper Recordings, and I also have an EP with Guy Williams out on Arcobaleno next year called World Keeps Turning. New little dancefloor projects keep popping up all over..."

8. Thirteen years ago you released CD Scape, your entry in the esteemed Journeys By DJ series. Personally, that double-CD blew me out of the water at the time, and I still play it even now - I loved the way you (somehow) blended together such diverse sounds by T Power, the Green Velvet mix of Dajae, Cristian Vogel, Dan Curtin, and DJ Shadow. How do you feel about that mix selection now, and is breaking the mold and playing different styles important to you?

"I don't think about it too much really, I think I'm just restless, so I find my ideas mutating constantly. I also take energy from the massive amount of music that's out there to discover. It makes you want to absorb new influences and keep re-inventing your sound."

9. You've also remixed pretty much everybody - from Roy Budd, Bjork, The Sugarcubes, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Fortran 5, Talk Talk, Happy Mondays, and Gary Clail On-U Sound System, to Fatboy Slim, Luke Slater, Felix Da Housecat, and the Luke Solomon outfit, Freaks. What's the attraction of remixing for you?

"I've always said remixing should be about adding your own take on something - it's a chance to take that something in a new direction and give it a personal stamp. It's also a top laugh; being able to work with some very talented people's material is a dream come true."

10. How has the remixing technique you apply changed over the years?

"Technology has advanced so massively. I used to spend a day just time-stretching vocals and chopping up samples. That takes minutes now. When I first started I was synching-up to tape, midi was in its infancy, and everything was much more hands-on - all of which has its plus points, but I love the speed and possibility that digital allows. Plug-ins have come a long way, and now have a much more genuine sound, so I'm pretty much a laptop guy these days."

11. How would you describe the two recent remix undertakings you did for Australian producer Ben Mill as well as my own project Little Nobody? ...Sorry, just gotta ask! ;)

"Epic wonkiness. Love both tunes so was hard to improve on them, thus I decided to take them in another direction. Both tracks were so full of great ideas, and there was so much to use! I tried to keep the mixes close to the spirit of the originals but give them a J.R. slant."

12. CDs seem to be a disappearing facet of the electronic music industry, and a fair amount of people are cutting back on vinyl production these days because they say it just doesn't make back the money invested. How do you feel about this?

"Vinyl still has the best sonic integrity, though i DJ mainly with CDs now. I don't think vinyl will die as there are still plenty off people who appreciate its warmth and beauty.The electronic scene has always been forward-looking so it's no suprise its distribution has been largely digital, which has made a rod for its own back, with file sharing so rampant that being an electronic music producer is now a bit like being a busker."

13. Is vinyl dead? Or just becoming more of a select option?

"Is this question an important one? Or it simply doesn't matter? Like I say, the romance and sound of vinyl is impossible to recreate, but I think if a new generation is not turned onto vinyl it has a danger of becoming a museum piece - which would be sad, because we are loosing not only the sound, but all the other good stuff like sleeve-notes, great artwork, etc. This digital revolution has opened up the world of music, making it accessible - there's no need to deal with grumpy record shop staff! But it also means we lose the expertise of the nice record staff, and the sheer fetishism of vinyl which is priceless."

14. When we decided to switch some of the IF? Records back-catalogue to digital download, I got an anonymous email saying "You've sold you're [sic] soul to the devil!!!". So... have we...?

"Not at all, there's a reality to trying to run a label these days: It's a labour of love, but it's also important to try and pay the bills, or everything will be Warners/EMI/Sony/etc... Do what you have to do to get the music to the people! I think digital is a graet way to spread the word to the casual dabbler, who doesn't mind spending a single $ but wouldn't buy your your five dollar 12-inch."

15. What do you think of historically (and musically) iconic fellow British producers like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, et al, from 30 years back?

"I love all that Sheffield stuff, it sounds suprisingly organic now, with great sense of possibilities of machine funk."

16. Which '80s British outfit was your stand-out favorite from choices like New Order, Joy Division, The Shamen, Inspiral Carpets, Erasure, Happy Mondays, Gary Clail On-U Sound System, etc, etc?

"The Fall, Joy Division and New Order were my faves; I was also hypnotized by Durutti Column and that whole Factory thing was so sexy. One of the best gigs I went to was a festival with New Order and A Certain Ratio and The Fall on the same bill - I was in heaven! I loved the look of Echo and the Bunnymen and I loved Julian Cope, The Nightingales, Orange Juice, David Sylvian and Japan. Ryuchi Sakamoto continues to be a massive influence on me."

17. What gear/software are you making most use of in the studio at the moment? Compared with 15 years ago, how has your gear changed?

"I do everything at home now on my laptop plus one or two synths; this allows me to record on the road also. I use Logic 9 and a bunch of plug-ins; it's so fast and easy to use, compared to 15 years ago when I would spend two days chopping up vocals or fiddling with samples! The Lionrock studio was like an Aladdin's cave of synths and a lot of cables - now it's far more minimal! It's just another world now, and I truly dig it... just so many possibilities."

18. Which part of your studio is the most vital facet (this doesn't have to be technological - it could be a toy robot or a furry dice)?

"My Gibson Chet Atkins - it's therapeutic!"

19. What food/drinks keep you fueled throughout production time?

"Just water, lots of water - not very rock and roll."

20. How do you like your mushrooms cooked?

"Grilled, with a sprinkling of grated parmesan."