The coolest canine in clubland gets all ‘Sicko’ on the dancefloor with Kompakt
Interview by Dan Prince
Jake welcome to DMCWORLD…where in the world can we find you today?
“Thanks. Today I’m at home in London trying to tidy up my electronics bench (kitchen table).”
What was the first piece of music you heard today as you flicked on your kettle and sorted Rex’s breakfast out…?
“That was Bjork I think, I’ve had ‘Stonemilker’ on repeat for a few days – she’s still so good.”
A brilliant start to the new year with another piece of Williams magic, this time it’s down to your most excellent ‘Sicko’ EP. Please talk us through the sounds and history of the track…
“That’s kind of you to say. ‘Sicko’ is actually pretty simple. A TB303 going through the formant filter on our modular synth. Each setting on the formant filter makes the 303 sound really different and robotic, so each section of the track is just the filter on a different setting. Then underneath there are two drum machines running together, the Roland TR606 and TR707.”
Vinyl pre order here : http://www.kompakt.fm/releases/sicko
We love The Prodigy at DMCWORLD. You love The Prodigy for many reasons, one being ex-member Leeroy’s dancing. We’ve seen you throw a few shapes after a few vodkas though…?
“You’ve seen us do what!? Oh dear maybe that’s true. Actually I kind of do involuntary ‘robotic’ dancing sometimes. When I’m not thinking, I do a stupid lock and pop type thing. I did it since I was 11. I first saw the Prodigy in 1993 in a really small place in Brighton, The Zap Club and it was so good it was unbelievable. It was right after ‘Jilted Generation’ came out and they had suddenly blown up. Leeroy was really good, he was the best part of the ‘No Good (Start The Dance)’ video – it looked like they had put flour all over the floor at his feet which looked great when he danced. A really good video, with JX we kept trying to recreate that video.”
What are the 5 big tunes in your box this weekend…
Jimmy Edgar ‘Burn’ (Original Mix) – Ultramajic
“It’s a simple but really effective sequencer track, very hard and clean but then you get a dirty Black Box-type vocal sample as a second-act.”
ItaloJohnson ‘ItaloJohnson 08 (B2)’ – White Label
“Their stuff is proudly hardware-based, which we like obviously. I think they don’t do much editing, they just sort of jam and move on. It’s imperfect, raw and vibey.”
Mijo ‘Working Late’ – Correspondant
“This is wicked, it’s very simple which makes all the little synth modulations all the more effective.”
John Tejada ‘Endorphins’ – Kompakt
“His whole album is brilliant, great synth sounds which are sort of half digital/half analogue sounding, fresh and chimey with lots of melody.”
Kasper Bjorke ‘Apart’ Acapella – Hafendisko
“We did that old trick of running the instrumental and the vocal version side by side and phase-inverting one of them to reveal the acapella. It’s such a good vocal.”
When was the last time you pressed rewind and listened to a track over again because it was so damned good?
“This morning! The Bjork track!”
A celebrity you would not want to get stuck in a lift with?
“Scooby Doo. That would be a pain. Big Bird would probably get on your nerves after a while too, so neurotic.”
A tune nestling in your set that just won’t go away from last year?
“Having a look now, to be honest it’s more like ‘what’s a tune from 5 years ago that won’t go away?’ For example ‘Ritmo Especial’ by Daniel Maloso. It’s like the ultimate driving sequencer track, it sounds like a high voltage plugged directly into the speakers.”
What was the last GREAT gadget you bought from the Design Museum?
“The only thing I bought from the Design Museum was a USB drive in the shape of a Lego brick. For me it was great – I was raised on Lego.”
You burst upon the scene way back in the 90s with your huge hit ‘Son of a Gun’ under your JX moniker, before being part of groups Planet Perfecto and Mekka. You admit those days were all about chasing the hits and that the creation of Rex was to escape the stigma of your early work. Is it really a part of your career you’d rather brush under the carpet?
Hmm, I wouldn’t say ‘stigma’, I hope I never said that. I think it was just a way of starting fresh without expectations. Things like ‘Son Of A Gun’ weren’t made with the aim of being a ‘hit’. But after those tracks did become popular, it seemed suddenly hard to stay focussed and not think ‘is this another hit?’ in the studio. Thinking ‘is this a hit?’ is the kiss of death for the creative process. But obviously it took a long time to figure that out. I don’t want to brush any of that music under the carpet, I’m very proud of it.”
I remember years ago Adamski taking his dog to clubs and raves with him. That was just wrong wasn’t it?
“Did he really? I saw him play in Brighton around the time of ‘Killer’ and there was no dog. He had a car number plate saying ‘ADAMSKI’ across the front of his keyboard though. I had one of those Lucozade rip-off T shirts that said NRG on them.”
Adam Ant, Depeche Mode, the themes from Dallas and E.T. were all big early moments for you. When though did you start discovering dance music and what were the early clubs you’d frequent?
“Actually the Adamski gig was a big moment, it was the warm up DJ I think. I’d been into electronic pop bands for ages, but here it was suddenly stripped-back to the drum machine and sequencer line, all through massive speakers. I was 15 or 16 and it suddenly made sense.”
Some producers doing it for you at the moment…
“Man Power, Scott Fraser, ItaloJohnson, Jimmy Edgar, Roman Fluegel, John Tejada.”
Was music always going to be the career for you…was the world of art or design for instance something you thought about?
“Yeah, art was like the ‘fallback’. I went to Art School and did a degree in Graphics & Illustration, I learned a lot there but it was always music first.”
What did you get Rex for Christmas?
“He doesn’t observe Christmas. He has some quite strong opinions on commercialism. I got myself a Korg Volca Sample and pretended it was from him.”
And finally, what is coming out next from you studio wise?
“Well we’ve been experimenting with our new modular synth, and also we’ve been making our own modules, so that’s affecting the sound a lot right now, things are getting very primal and wonky sounding at the moment.”
