Hard Times, Soft Music – the eagerly-anticipated debut album from Berlin-based live duo Brigade – is released today, October 14, via Laut & Luise. A diverse and multifaceted body of work spanning myriad sonic influences, the long player features a total of twelve exquisite original compositions as well as previously released album singles, International Communication, Vendetta Theme and Worshipping Comments.
In a time where electronic music gets harder and faster each day, Berlin-based duo Brigade’s debut album Hard Times, Soft Music reclaims easy listening as a badge of honour. Out now, the record is a meticulously calibrated work of room temperature, a home cooked meal between friends or a warm sonic blanket that tucks you in after a rainy day. Pushing their club roots to the side, Brigade’s debut album confidently sits between ambient, house and hip-hop.
A beautifully crafted record encompassing moments of stripped back ambience alongside a manifold offering of laid-back, groove-inducing cuts, Hard Times, Soft Music is an emphatic stake in the ground from the in-form duo, who have been going from strength to strength since forming back in 2013. We caught up with Brigade to find out more…
Hey Brigade, thanks for taking the time to chat. How are you both today?
Really good. I (Niels) am on holiday in Scotland for a bit whilst Julius is keeping down the fort sorting out the last couple of things for the release. I reckon we are both pretty good.
Where are you answering this interview from? What’s it like there?
I’m half-regretting visiting Scotland in October but nowhere gets greyer than Berlin so I feel right at home.
Tell us some background about yourselves, how you met and how you got to this point?
We met around 2014 or 15 when we were both resident live-acts at the now defunct Keller club in Berlin where we had this crew of producers/live-acts and worked together on releases. It kind of clicked and we just went from there.
Where does the name Brigade come from?
It seemed catchy at the time. We are really not militaristic or anything like that though so we are kind of regretting our choice. It is what it is though and the music hopefully speaks for itself.
Growing up in Germany, what was it like musically? Do you remember the first time you experienced electronic music?
Julius really grew up listening to techno in Berlin. I was more of a stay at home, listen to Ninja Tunes or Aphex Twin kinda guy. But we both started producing pretty young so that influenced our listening habits a lot as well.
Talk to us about your new album “Hard Times, Soft Music”. What should fans expect when it comes out next week?
The last few years we were fairly focused on writing club tracks, after corona came to Germany we wanted to make something a bit away from that. As a result the record is filled up with some super relaxed, jazzy hip-hopish sound. We would definitely recommend taking a nice warm bath while listening to it.
If you were to describe the album in 3 words, which words would you choose?
Mom – likes – it
What was the production process like? Do you always work together in the studio or do you have another way of working?
Depending on whatever else we have going on, we usually go to the studio together about 3-5 times a week. We both use our own laptops connected via Ableton link and then we have a lot of synths and some modular gear connected to Julius Computer. I (Niels) am more on the software side so I use a lot of Reaktor and Max/MSP patches and recently have gotten into VCV Rack as well. Once we have a lot of material, we’ll end up putting our individual ideas into one session and arrange it together.
The past few years has been difficult for everybody in the industry. How did you make the most of the situation and what got you through it? Did you manage to stay creative whilst in lockdown?
Financial problems aside, we did what we always do: Sitting in a dark basement and turning some blinking knobs forever. Therefore we even had some productive phases during the pandemic. Having this album project definitely also helped us to get through this.
Now that everything has opened up again, what is your touring schedule like?
Busy. It’s really nice that things are moving again. We are also playing not just live but also DJ sets at the moment and that keeps it interesting.
What does you live set up look like?
We play with Ableton live and then add different hardware synths to it which Julius plays live. They change from time to time, but right now it is a Poly D from Behringer and a Keytar from Yamaha. We also use some other bits and pieces like a kaoss pad and a couple of different midi controllers.
Finally, do you have anything else in the pipeline for 2022 that you’d like to share with us?
Just doing the last stretch of promo for the album and then see where it takes us. We also have a lot of new material we made after the Album that is just really smooth fast house music and we’re really looking forward to playing that stuff live.
Thanks Brigade!
Thanks for having us!
*****
Brigade – Hard Times, Soft Music is out now via Laut & Luise
https://open.spotify.com/album/3r8a0LCXDTgEOsdNu8FNqK?si=A6bQ2iDoR6aX_Rsnxuhrcg
