In Flight Entertainment which features contributions from the likes of Poolside, Moonlight Matters, James Curd, Herr Styler and Drop Out Orchestra, is out now via Eskimo Records and is available on Juno.
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Where are you at the moment? You’ve been to Australia a few times , do you like coming here?
I’m in Sydney, I fly to Melbourne (to play Roxanne) tomorrow. Yeah I really like it here, my girlfriend is from Sydney, she lives with me in Belgium but we have a lot of friends here.
You’re playing at The Ivy on the weekend with Moonlight Matters?
Yeah I am but I read something somewhere that he can’t come…
He was one half of Villa wasn’t he? Have they split do you know? I’ve always wondered…
He was one third of Villa. It moves around, one of them is still in it but now he’s making music with another guy that wasn’t in it before, but of the people who were there in the beginning, there’s only one left.
He was one third of Villa. It moves around, one of them is still in it but now he’s making music with another guy that wasn’t in it before, but of the people who were there in the beginning, there’s only one left.
In October you released In Flight Entertainment, a VA compilation that you mixed yourself. The album is really interesting in that it starts with the very chilled, almost acoustic sounds of Poolside, yet ends with tracks from James Curd and Moonlight Matters that are of a French Touch style intensity. How did you make it flow?
That was a big part of the work, making all these songs fit together in one same product and make it sound like it had been made for that record – an hour before I sent the album to mastering there was one more track that at the last minute I couldn’t fit anywhere and no matter how good the track was, it was breaking the flow of the mix so I had to make that horrible decision at the last minute to take the track out so it would all flow, not just as separate bits… a lot of compilations are for record companies to make money out of singles because these artists aren’t going to release albums, but with this I wanted it to be like my monthly mix on Soundcloud – I sometimes put songs on there that if you listen to the song by itself it doesn’t really sound like much, but as soon as its put into a deejay mix it enhances the quality of the song. That’s the old school way of deejaying… making the songs work with one another [using] really quick and precise mixing…
In a normal set would you usually make such quick transitions?
It depends on the song, if the song require to be mixed fast its mixed fast, when two songs fit together in a nice way then it’s great. I remember when deejay once being really proud of this - I was playing two songs that had nothing to do with each other, it was the Hercules and Love Affair remix of Chromeo and an old Carl Craig remix from 2005, and somehow when you put them together it sounds like Solange Knowles is singing on top of the Carl Craig track, it just fitted perfectly....when you play that, people are like “omg yes I would have never thought to put these two records together but they work perfectly” - well I wouldn’t have thought about it either it just happened randomly and magically it works.
It depends on the song, if the song require to be mixed fast its mixed fast, when two songs fit together in a nice way then it’s great. I remember when deejay once being really proud of this - I was playing two songs that had nothing to do with each other, it was the Hercules and Love Affair remix of Chromeo and an old Carl Craig remix from 2005, and somehow when you put them together it sounds like Solange Knowles is singing on top of the Carl Craig track, it just fitted perfectly....when you play that, people are like “omg yes I would have never thought to put these two records together but they work perfectly” - well I wouldn’t have thought about it either it just happened randomly and magically it works.
Its good that you take risks though, I mean you can listen and really enjoy a smooth house set but when a deejay is happy to challenge himself it makes the experience something else..
Yeah I mean it’s a different process, it’s about having a wide taste in music and trying to be a deejay that tries to push new stuff and old stuff or whatever you think good music is…not just being there to make money. Of course I make money but my main point is to play records I like…
Yeah I mean it’s a different process, it’s about having a wide taste in music and trying to be a deejay that tries to push new stuff and old stuff or whatever you think good music is…not just being there to make money. Of course I make money but my main point is to play records I like…
You do push cool stuff I’ve noticed even with the mixes you do every month, there are some good finds in there, songs you would have had to really dig for…
...Every week and all month long I’m just looking for new music everywhere, listening to everything, sent from people, websites listening, buying music, listening to the radio with Shazam in my hand… I put stuff in my mixes that no one really plays, [sometimes] people are kind of like ‘what the hell is this’ but then I mix it into something else and it works perfectly…
How did you approach the artists that you got to contribute to In Flight Entertainment, a lot of them were friends obviously…
Yeah most of them are friends – and friends in the internet meaning of friends… Some of them I’ve met, some of them are friends I’ve been exchanging emails with over the past year, people who have similar music taste… some of them are just people whose stuff I like and I just email them ‘hey what’s up, I’m doing this do you wanna be a part of it’. Others heard what I was doing and emailed me…and I was like yeah sweet – that’s how it all came together.
Did you have an idea of what you wanted the mix to sound like? Did you have to tell the artists what kind of track you needed, or did you just try and make it work once you got them?
Actually that’s a good question that I’m never asked but it was a really big part of the job too…. to make sure I could make this thing grow. If I had 7 songs at 110bpm and 7 songs at 125, how do you mix them together? So I needed progression… I needed each track to be able to work with each other. I didn’t give anybody proper direction… [there’d be] two slots left on the compilation and I’d say ‘okay you have a choice between 114bpm or 121bpm’, so that’s how we split the producers and the bpm... I waited for my song until the end of the compilation because I knew that if I had trouble at some point to fill a gap or I miss one song, I’m going to be able to do it exactly the way it needs to be.
Actually that’s a good question that I’m never asked but it was a really big part of the job too…. to make sure I could make this thing grow. If I had 7 songs at 110bpm and 7 songs at 125, how do you mix them together? So I needed progression… I needed each track to be able to work with each other. I didn’t give anybody proper direction… [there’d be] two slots left on the compilation and I’d say ‘okay you have a choice between 114bpm or 121bpm’, so that’s how we split the producers and the bpm... I waited for my song until the end of the compilation because I knew that if I had trouble at some point to fill a gap or I miss one song, I’m going to be able to do it exactly the way it needs to be.
Do you think you’ll do another one?
Yeah I wanted to call it In Flight Entertainment Volume 1 which would imply there’d be an Inflight Entertainment Volume 2, Volume 3 etc because that’s what I wanna do, but I didn’t call it that because if I don’t do another one, it can just stand as one compilation on its own. But I really would like to do a new one.
Yeah I wanted to call it In Flight Entertainment Volume 1 which would imply there’d be an Inflight Entertainment Volume 2, Volume 3 etc because that’s what I wanna do, but I didn’t call it that because if I don’t do another one, it can just stand as one compilation on its own. But I really would like to do a new one.
Who would you like to get on there next time?
Most of the people that are on this one are people I’ve discovered within the past year or before so you never know who is all of a sudden going to appear… I just discovered this guy, he’s 23years old, never heard of him before he’s called David August - there’s a song that’s called You Gotta Love Me that I’m probably going to put in my mix this month. Really amazing… sounds like disco on really dark drugs… oh and I’m just talking to Moonlight Matters as we speak and he’s just confirmed he’s not coming (to the Ivy on Sunday)…
That sucks, why?
They didn't sort his Visa on time…
They didn't sort his Visa on time…
Have you played The Ivy before?
I haven’t played The Ivy before but I’ve been there…
I haven’t played The Ivy before but I’ve been there…
It’s very Sydney isn’t it…
Yeah, but I’m used to Sydney. The first time I came to Sydney I was about to have a fight with everybody who crossed my way because I was like these people are all really weird, what’s going on, why’s nobody wearing clothes… so bogan. But then I got to understand what was going on and realise this is the way it works and the only reason I don’t understand it is because I’m from a different culture… but you learn, like last night I was out with fifteen Aussies and it was pretty wild…
Yeah, but I’m used to Sydney. The first time I came to Sydney I was about to have a fight with everybody who crossed my way because I was like these people are all really weird, what’s going on, why’s nobody wearing clothes… so bogan. But then I got to understand what was going on and realise this is the way it works and the only reason I don’t understand it is because I’m from a different culture… but you learn, like last night I was out with fifteen Aussies and it was pretty wild…
You travel a lot, what’s your favourite city in Europe?
To be honest ive been to so many places that I don’t really have a favourite city… but im quite happy with Brussels, it’s a good in-between solution – I’m an hour and a half from London, an hour from paris, and hour from Amsterdam and hour from Germany…I think Berlin is really overrated – nothing is going on. It’s a bit like New York to me, I like to go there but after 3 days I’m ready to go somewhere else. ..
To be honest ive been to so many places that I don’t really have a favourite city… but im quite happy with Brussels, it’s a good in-between solution – I’m an hour and a half from London, an hour from paris, and hour from Amsterdam and hour from Germany…I think Berlin is really overrated – nothing is going on. It’s a bit like New York to me, I like to go there but after 3 days I’m ready to go somewhere else. ..
Tell me about Save Me Now, your only track on the album – I read somewhere that you were happy to shake the pressure to make quite fast paced dance music, and to produce something that is at say 105bpm for you is ideal?
Save Me Now was made in a weird time, I was moving house, moving studios, the studio was being built and re-built and re-re-built, and so it was made half on the computer, half live, half in one place, half in another – and so it was a bit complicated… I’ve touched so many fields with the music I’ve been producing that at the end of the day nobody actually knows what I’ll come up with. If I come up with house music some people are going to be happy some won’t, if I come up with indie/dance or some kind of psychedelic stuff, some people will be happy and some won’t and if I come up with straight nu-disco some will like it and some won’t. I just have to free myself of this really tiny circle I was put in and just come up with whatever crosses my mind.
Listening to Save Me Now it’s really not nu-disco at all, these days ‘nu-disco’ is something you almost don’t want to be labelled… it’s been totally overdone…
But also nu-disco was 2001 we’re in 2011,…..now I’m trying to make something that maybe doesn’t exist. People absolutely want to listen to music that they’re comfortable with, and for that there’s MTV, you can just turn on the TV and listen to the same songs for the entire day and that makes certain people happy but it doesn’t make me happy, and at the end of the day I make music for myself. If I don’t enjoy it then it’s not music anymore … there is a thin line in any type of art, it needs to be inspired but how do you get inspired if you don’t like what you’re doing? When music comes from the heart, from the soul you can hear it – when music comes from the wallet, you can hear it too…
But also nu-disco was 2001 we’re in 2011,…..now I’m trying to make something that maybe doesn’t exist. People absolutely want to listen to music that they’re comfortable with, and for that there’s MTV, you can just turn on the TV and listen to the same songs for the entire day and that makes certain people happy but it doesn’t make me happy, and at the end of the day I make music for myself. If I don’t enjoy it then it’s not music anymore … there is a thin line in any type of art, it needs to be inspired but how do you get inspired if you don’t like what you’re doing? When music comes from the heart, from the soul you can hear it – when music comes from the wallet, you can hear it too…
Coming from a classical background, how do you see electronic music - machines vs traditional instruments. Are they equally worthy?
It doesn’t matter how you make it (music), you’ve just got to have an idea in your head. You can be sitting in front of a laptop or in the most expensive studio with a grand piano and 120 people singing in front of an orchestra, but if you don’t have an idea you’re not going anywhere in both situations..
It doesn’t matter how you make it (music), you’ve just got to have an idea in your head. You can be sitting in front of a laptop or in the most expensive studio with a grand piano and 120 people singing in front of an orchestra, but if you don’t have an idea you’re not going anywhere in both situations..
Mylo made Drop The Pressure on a PC…
Exactly… I’ve spoken to him (Mylo) about it, I was like how did you do this and this and that? And he was like I dunno man I put a fader on it and it worked… I mean wow, that’s huge you know, that is when music touches people. Drop The Pressure, it doesn’t matter how big it is, is an amazing track.
Exactly… I’ve spoken to him (Mylo) about it, I was like how did you do this and this and that? And he was like I dunno man I put a fader on it and it worked… I mean wow, that’s huge you know, that is when music touches people. Drop The Pressure, it doesn’t matter how big it is, is an amazing track.
Are you going to make another album?
Yes I will. I haven’t started yet because I’ve been trying to finish this new studio I’ve been trying to build for the last year... it should be set up by the end of January. I’ll then be touring the US and when I get back that’s when I’ll start working on the new album… I really wanna get back to an album because for me it’s probably the space where I can explore myself from close to the heart; where I can go as far as I want. It’s basically like 12 songs with one idea, and see how far you can push that idea and that sound.
I guess it will be quite different to We Can’t Fly, not only because you’ve changed but because Stephen won’t be contributing on it…
I dunno if I’m gonna go exactly in the same direction but everything that’s in We Can’t Fly is everything I like – there’s a bit of the Rolling stones, Pink Floyd, Georgio Moroder, all the things I like are in there. Maybe the shape will be a bit different but the essence of the music will still be the same, except with more experience.
I dunno if I’m gonna go exactly in the same direction but everything that’s in We Can’t Fly is everything I like – there’s a bit of the Rolling stones, Pink Floyd, Georgio Moroder, all the things I like are in there. Maybe the shape will be a bit different but the essence of the music will still be the same, except with more experience.
What do you drink?
Maybe champagne…good ones.
Maybe champagne…good ones.
Musical guilty pleasure?
75% of my taste is guilty pleasures. I like bands like ABBA, all the stuff that we like but won’t admit to… there’s a lot of pop music from the 70s and 80s that I really like, I really love all the 90s hip hop, that’s the music I grew up with.
75% of my taste is guilty pleasures. I like bands like ABBA, all the stuff that we like but won’t admit to… there’s a lot of pop music from the 70s and 80s that I really like, I really love all the 90s hip hop, that’s the music I grew up with.
That’s a good thing. Who’s an artist you’re looking out for, an up-comer?
…there are a lot of people who are in the shadows right now who I’m waiting to break out. For example a guy like Martin Dubka, who is on the compilation, he’s been producing all his life, producing guys like Ali Love and I can’t wait for him to come into the spotlight and do his own thing.
…there are a lot of people who are in the shadows right now who I’m waiting to break out. For example a guy like Martin Dubka, who is on the compilation, he’s been producing all his life, producing guys like Ali Love and I can’t wait for him to come into the spotlight and do his own thing.
Worst request you’ve ever had?
I was in Germany and this lady walked up to me and asked me if I could play TheLambada Song, and when I said I didn’t have it she said ‘oh that’s okay, play Linkin Park’. I was like yeah I’m playing house music but I’m going to stop and play Linkin Park just for you.
/w love aunt hazel & f
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