Passarella Death Squad

You may have seen the name Passarella Death Squad on the label of some interesting t-shirts:

The multi-talented fashionistas behind these designs also, and perhaps primarily, produce electronica. Based in London, and consisting of Danny Broddle and Kingsley Gratrick on noises, and Emilie Albisser on vocals, the group has been compared to minimalist electronica with the vocals of Siouxsie & The Banshees. They are signed to The Republic of Desire, they are releasing two 12" records in the next few months and with an album out early next year.
Danny has answered a few questions for us:

1. Clearly you guys have a flair for the evocative, both in clothing and music. Are the two related? Which field were you originally interested in pursuing?

Both really, the music started first then about 2 or so months after the idea for a t-shirt came around and the clothing went from there.

2. Your style is very minimalist, and yet it manages to "awaken our deepest, darkest sexual psyche". When you work on new material, do you try and tap into primal urges for inspiration? Is it a natural process?

Nothing as exciting as 'awakening primal urges' ever happens, but I suppose it is a natural process, we usually know what we expect it to sound like before it's started, dark, deep etc it's just a case of playing around with the drum machine and going from there.

3. The two remixes on your 12'' Ima/Blackout are very different, both from your original material and each other. Do you prefer either style? Were these the remixes you were looking for?

I liked them both but I preferred Midnight Mikes mix (now called Mickey Moonlight on Ed Banger records)

With remixes all you can hope for is that the artist has an good idea of what they want to do before they start,

rather than using the 'remix by numbers' process.

4. Were you excited when Tiga tracklisted you? Do you think you may get involved more with electro producers in the future?

Yes! It was also the first track played on his podcast show, so I was really happy about that as well.

I like electro music but I don't think I'd like to work with the producers as such.

5. What new material is on the way?

Next 12" 'Painted Yellow, Painted Black' is out in November, remixes coming from Perc and George Issakidis,

followed by another 12" released possibly in February with the album out in early 2009, all on The Republic Of Desire Recordings.

6. Have you ever considered doing a t-shirt displaying the three members of PDS nude?
Not until you mentioned it.

Ima

Blackout (Midnight Mike Remix)

Interview with Shadow Dancer - Boys Noize Records

Shadow Dancer is a duo made up of Paul and Al Farrier. Based in the UK, they got signed to Alex Ridha's Boys Noize Records in 2007. Since then they've released 2 smashing EP's from BNR; Poke (2007) and Cowbois (2008). They are quickly becoming a key act of BNR, playing at shows with the likes of Crookers, Para One, Bobmo and Surkin. The much anticipated "Soap", Wedding parties, not being able to dance and the lack of sheet music are all discussed, enjoy.

1. Did your childhood/upbringing affect your attitude towards music and also production?

Our mum and dad were both huge music fans when we were kids. Not necessarily electronic music, but I think having shelves full of records rubbed off on us. There were no musical members of the family so we were never actually encouraged to learn how to play an instrument or write sheet music or anything like that. We just liked making noises. I would have to guess that my love of heavy compression (as with many other producers) comes from taping music from FM radio as kids......I remember thinking that quite a lot of music sounded better when subjected to radio compression than the version you'd buy.

I was very shy growing up too (still am now, but far less so than as a child), and I've always used music as an escape. A cliche, I know, but it probably explains my borderline obsession......

2. What’s the BNR community like as a record label?

We get looked after ;) Alex is very supportive and enthusiastic - especially when it comes to trying out new ideas rather than just sticking to what people might perceive as a "BNR sound". We have fairly similar tastes in music, too, which I guess makes it easier to see where I'm coming from with certain ideas.

And the other artists are refreshingly free of big egos....I hate that kind of thing....they're just passionate about music. Also, I like the fact that BNR don't go over the top with the hype......it's a great way of ensuring you don't get killed off by over-exposure.

3. Are you working on anything at the moment?

Soap is finally coming out in November! And the album was finished a couple of weeks ago with a January '09 release being the current plan. In the meantime, there's a new track on the 'BNR Vol. 1' compilation which just came out, and some remixes for Fool's Gold and Suicide Club still to be released.

I just intend to keep writing and sending stuff to Alex until, hopefully, we have enough for the next EP / album.

4. Do you like the direction music is taking at the moment? What do you think about blogs, hype, and the "spread the word" culture that is evolving on the internet?

A couple of years ago, I did see blogs as a very positive thing for promoting unknown artists but, more recently, the culture of giving away 320kbps mp3s of already hyped artists comes across more as the bloggers trying to make a name for themselves than anyone else. It also seems that people are using blogs as taste-makers rather than going out and taking chances to discover something genuinely new and exciting. I have no problem with the "spread the word" culture, but posting a snippet of a track is all people surely need if they actually want to support the artists they love. There seems to be an ignorance of the consequences of not paying for music; your actions will destroy the very thing you are passionate about. Rant over ;)

5. What was your favourite party, in your whole life? And who was playing?

Actually, I've just returned from a weekend-long wedding party at a remote, (supposedly haunted) old country house in Devon that pretty much fits the bill.....we had a soundsystem and we played along with other friends of the bride and groom. In the end, a small (more hardcore) group of us stayed up all last night and I just kept on playing until we had to pack up and leave ;) I'm on a bit of a come-down from it all at the moment, wishing I was still there......but it'll be hard for any proper club night to beat it.......

6. Have you actually ever tried to dance with your shadow?

I normally avoid dancing - with a shadow or not - as I'm pretty rubbish at it. Isn't there some saying about people who can't dance taking up Djing? There may be some truth in it. The last couple of times I've got a bit caught up in the moment (and lost in the music), it wasn't so much dancing as jumping up and down excitedly: on stage with Crookers at Valtifest in Amsterdam (I fell over and got covered in bruises) and last night during the groom's DJ set at that party (I managed to stay upright, I think).....

Daytime Drinking - Shadow Dancer

A Few Words from The Dø - Interview

Photo credit: Nicolas | www.nicolaspatault.org

The Dø are a French indie pop duo consisting of Dan Levy and Olivia Merilahti. They released their first album - A Mouthful - which topped the French charts early this year, and have been touring since.
Olivia answers a few questions for us about her life as half of The Dø.

1. Why did you choose to write your songs in English?
English is my musical language. French is my academic language, and Finnish my intimate language. It's always been that way for me!

2. In many of your songs you sit on the boundary of childhood and maturity, bouncing between the two effortlessly. Do you embrace your inner kid outside of your music?
I suppose we do...but it's just about trying to get the fun out of any situation..do you know the Moomins? It's a Finnish comic strip, you should check it out. It's for kids and adults. It's poetic, comical and philosophical.

3. You have a fairly minimalistic approach to your music, would you ever consider including more instruments, particularly live?
We are planning to enlarge the family...The trio was a starting formula, it was an interesting challenge because we had to find new ways to play the songs on stage. We wanted to have a new approach to our music live. Now that the basis works, we can start adding new layers.

4. Are you working on anything new at the moment or focusing on gigging? I saw in one of your interviews you said you needed to "perfect" your live shows, are they perfect yet?
Touring takes 75% of our time, the remaining 25% we spend recording new stuff, and sleeping... It's not about being perfect on stage, that wouldn't make sense, but about perfecting something that was raw, immature, clumsy in the beginning. It's also about feeling good, more confident. Obviously, after a whole year of intensive touring, we can be happy and even proud of ourselves after the gigs, we're not slitting our wrists open if the gig went wrong... But we always end up adding some new parts in the arrangements of songs, little traps, so we avoid getting bored or too comfortable.

5. The duo dynamic is very popular in the electro scene at the moment. Why did you decide to be a duo? Was it for image reasons, or rather because your musical creativity works better with two?
Image reasons?? We never decided to be a duo, it just so happened that we'd never had such a fertile collaboration before! We're just enough for one another, in the creative process.

6. I love the contrast between tracks like "Stay (Just a Little Bit More)", distorted instrumental sections like "Coda", to the unexpected pop rap "Queen Dot Kong", poppy numbers like "On My Shoulders" and back again. Does your versatility come from a wide range of influences, and do you think you may focus on a particular style in the future?
We come from different musical backgrounds, and we grew up in quite different cultures too. Dan listened to Thelonious Monk, Coltrane, and later Bartok and Stravinski, while I was into anything that I could sing - Queen, Hole, Ella Fitzgerald, PJ Harvey, Alicia Keys, Värttinä (Finnish folk music), and then a lot of hip hop. But I also learned classical piano and guitar, which I loved as well. When Dan and I met, we listened to a lot of WuTangClan and D12, and then some Mahler or Nina Simone. We were both very curious about what the other could bring. It's much more fun to work with someone who doesn't have the same influences. We've never settled or planned anything in our music, I don't think it will change, but I suppose the more we record, the more we play, the more personal our sound gets. But we don't want to be choking in boxes.

7. Do you have any grand ambitions? Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time? Will you ever play in Australia?
A musical would be fun to do. In 5 years time? Recording our 5th album..? Yes, we will play in Australia, real soon I hope!

8. If alphabet soup was magical, what would it spell out to you?
Free your mind, and your ass will follow !

Photo credit: Nicolas | www.nicolaspatault.org


Playground Hustle

Queen Dot Kong

Thomas Von Party Interview - TURBO RECORDINGS

1. Can you tell us about some of your upcoming material?
We've got tons of great stuff coming... Sunglasses at Night remixes released this week, Proxy's monster 'Raven' coming out early October, great new stuff by Jesper Dahlback, DMX Krew, huge new ZZT, great Brodinski, Guy J... the list goes on!! We'll be doing a double cd compilation as well called Omnidance, and an LP for Proxy in early 09.

2. Is Turbo keen to follow certain musical and cultural trends? Does this have an influence on your work?
Not at all!! I think it's obvious from our releases that we don't stick to any trends, we cross genres and release records in a very personal way, not to fit in to any scene or even to please our core audience. The label is really just about putting out music that Tiga and I love.

3. Will there be a tour down to Australia similar to the Omnidance tour in the coming months/year?
I really hope so... I don't know if it'll happen before the end of the year but it's definitely something we want to do.

4. I think you would agree that there is currently a noticeable shift in the focus of new electronic music from France to Canada. Who do you think are the artists/producers responsible for this shift? Do you think this is just a temporary change or something more permanent?
That's not something I've heard at all :) I want to go along with it but I'm not sure there are too many examples... there are lots of great producers originally from Canada: Konrad Black, Richie Hawtin, Tiga, Marc Houle, etc etc... Personally I'm happy to report that I have a couple of old friends in Montreal that are starting to make some great tracks which will be on Turbo in the next months... Mike Mind and Brad Lamborghini... names to look out for!

5. What were your thoughts on Australia when you came down here to support The Presets?
I had an incredible time in Oz... I spent a lot more time in Sydney, Brisbane and Byron Bay... Melbourne was a bit of a blur... but the trip was awesome, Aussies put me in a good mood!

6. What was the best party you've ever been at? As a performer or otherwise, who played there? What would be your ideal party?
I was 14 years old. It was a halloween rave called 'Realm'. Tiga was playing trance, I ate mushrooms on a school bus on my way there... the party was in a bingo hall... the things dreams are made of!

7. Some cynics are labelling rock bands and italo-disco producers (such as: Metallica & Giorgio Moroder) as the “in vogue” influences, what do you say about this, and what are your influences?
Not a Metallica fan, myself, Moroder I love :) Disco is the best, but man it gets boring to hear people talk about how they are obsessed with Italo now... it's in a permanent state of 'revival'.

I grew up around a lot of 80s music so I guess that's the most meaningful template for me. When I was really young I loved Billy Idol, Adam Ant, Peter Murphy, Prince and Depeche Mode, but in the modern electronic world I have to pay respects to the masters: Aphex Twin and Daft Punk. Of course, I've also always been influenced by my brother, Tiga.

8. What is your favourite kind of Moose Burger?
I prefer wombat stew, mate!