Stirring The Soup

Rip It Up, Issue 240, 1 August 1997, Page 33

Stirring The Soup

sitting at a bar or cafe. I think the most surprising was Breaks Co-op (‘lnject Me’) — in the singularity of what they’ve done, how it’s quite cold, and the sonic space on it. That’s my favourite in some ways, but at the same time I really like all of them. “What Joost (Langeveld) did with ‘Spoiler’ — it’s really atmospheric and that has taken it somewhere completely different. He’s changed the rhythmic structure of the song, which you really notice if you’ve heard the single a few times. You’re expecting the beat to fall in a different place, which is in a way the essence of drum ‘n’ bass, getting disorientated about where the beat is. It’s not always on the ‘one’ or whatever, it moves around. What Michael (Lawry) did with ‘Trick With A Knife’, making it darker with some beautiful, fat analogue sounds — I’m quite jealous of that. ‘Porcelain’ was the one that threw me the most. It’s almost like a sound sculpture. When I first heard it, I thought it was weird and I didn’t know if I liked it or not, but now I love it. It really has maintained the spooky essence of the song. ‘Dreamchild’ — after ‘Taller Than God’ — that’s the next most commercially viable mix, in terms of getting across to a wider market. It’s quite pop, but it’s also quite deep house, with a minimal vibe at the same time — it’s house., without being too cheesy.” You retain creative control with this sort of project, but there’s obviously less involvement than doing an album from scratch. “You have less control, and you put less effort in, so it’s an easier way of putting an album together. The control is choosing the people, and choosing the songs you want them to do. I did a bit of editing on a few things afterwards — the selection, the running order, and what’s between the tracks. It’s fun — you give someone a DAT with just a vocal, and they give you back a completed track. I imagine it’s like famous

Remixing the Strawpeople*.

painters who don’t do all of their paintings, they , give it to someone and just sign it — not that I am really trying to draw a stupid comparison like that.” Different territories hear music differently. Are remixes intended , or necessary, for foreign success? ~ . “Yes, in a way, because you can turn it around reasonably quickly, and give it a . contemporary edge that the album may be, . lacking if it was recorded a year and a half ago, though that’s all hindsight and was not the reason for the album.” ‘ . You had some success in Australia with Broadcast. Are there plans to follow that up with Vicarious and 100. Street Transistors? “I don’t know for sure, but there is some talk of them (Sony Australia), having now heard both , wanting to mix and match a bit; which is good' because it gives them part ownership over the project and an incentive to make it work.” And elsewhere.? “In the US, there are no solid release plans. In Europe and the UK, there will probably be 70% of the Vicarious tracks and 30% of the remixes. We’re hoping that the European release will happen within the next few months”. The recording approach changed between Broadcast and Vicarious. Which way do you see yourselves going in the future? “That was partly the result of doing Vicarious in a short period of time, compared to Broadcast being the work of four to five years. We sat down in February and put it all together in a more normal way. It was a conscious effort to go in the direction of songs rather than instrumental soundscape type things. A combination of the ; two is probably the ideal, and I suspect the next album will be a combination of the two ways of writing and recording”.

TROY FERGUSON