He visited our country once more last month for Reworks Festival. I had the chance to interview him last May because of his brand new release titled "Teufelswerk", a real masterpiece.
1. In late April you release a brand new album, which is called “Teufelswerk” that means the Devil’s Work. Why did you choose this name for your album?
"In German Teufelswerk means "the Devil's work", and that's exactly what this album represents. My work, the work of Hell."
2. “Teufelswerk” is divided in Day and Night section. What is different between them?
"The Day side of my album is a collection of ambient tracks, avant-garde electronic music blended with my own take on a kosmische music. Kosmische is an experimental genre from Germany from when I was young, it's very psychedelic and also progressive. When I was writing the tracks I was listening to a lot of NEU and Can, Jarre and Pink Floyd. The other side of my album, called Night, is the dance oriented side of the record. I wrote Night thinking back to my first influences in techno... classic German electronica, Chicago house, and when Detroit techno was ruling the world."
3. You have said that “Teufelswerk” is the best record you’ve ever made. Is it truly your masterpiece, and why?
"I think when you go through the process of making a record, it's different each time. Each time you release an album it's like bringing a child into the world. It has it's own character, it's own creation story. It's part of you, and represents you. I only make an album once every five years, so I feel like I've also been a different person each time I've released a record. For 'Teufelswerk', I wanted to show people what I was capable of. I had so much material and I had the concept to do a double album, I brought on the best of the best people I could find to work with, took my time, and gave everything I had to making this record. All of my experience from the whole course of my life and all of my heart is in there."
4. What is the atmosphere of this record? Tell us about its music style and the feelings someone gets when listening to it.
"The feedback has been great so far, and I hear from most people that they feel it's an album that everyone can pull something from. For some people I think it's very nostalgic, both discs, and for others it's a small history lesson, through my eyes."
5. You are responsible of the electroclash sound few years ago. There are also several types of music like nu rave, nu disco, nu electro, etc. What do you think will be the next movement in music?
"I think it's hard to say. Techno was always just techno and now it's splintered into so many different directions. I would like to see the music go into a more sophisticated direction. A lot of productions are getting more and more organic, by that I mean that most of the things I am getting these days have real instruments or real percussive elements mixed into the tracks somehow. I think it's probably a hard time for electronic purists. I hope this trend is going to bring some of the feeling back into dance music, open the productions up to be something more dynamic. I think in years past minimal and it's popularity changed how a lot of other types of electronic music was produced, even house music. I miss an element of depth and musicality in a lot of music these days."
6. What can an artist do if he wants to collaborate with Gigolo label? What are your criteria in selecting artists to work with?
"A lot of it is personality. I meet a lot of the artists I choose to work with while traveling and playing, I meet them on parties or festivals or I see them out somehow. The Megachurch of Gigolo is like a philosophy, a collective of artists, and the final output has to be something really good and really genuine and the whole package has to be there.... the songs, the performance and the persona. We raised up so many artists and showed them the way, people like Tiga and Miss Kittin and Vitalic. They all have that special something, they're all a part of the family."
7. Your upcoming album has some really interesting collaborations, like the one with Bryan Ferry. Tell us what was like working with each one of those artists.
"I am not a good singer so also on this side i used the best i can get and Brian Ferry is a master in what he is doing and one of the greatest singer and songwritter of all time. Puffy is a genius and to watch him is the best learning process for people like me.I think Puffy become the new andy warhol and now hes talking about after hours clubs and music thats played out in techno clubs all around the world,so poeple will listen to what he says and at the end of the day i could not get happier to work with people like this on my new album. Me and Peter are old friends and we know each other for so many years so it was clear to end up in the studio one day and getting some help from Christian Prommer and Roberto DI Gioia for playing the instruments and doing the string arrangments. What kind of music do you enjoy listening to?- I like something like classical when I am at home, and the rest of the time I am listening to demo and promo CDs."
8. What is your opinion about all software used nowadays to dj or make music? Which way do you prefer?
"I'm a vinyl DJ and I'll always be a vinyl DJ. I have software at home and have tried playing with it a few times, and I can see why people use it, I think it some DJs think it looks better to play with something like Traktor rather than to use CDs, but I am just used to the way I play and it doesn't benefit me to change now. Some of it is kind of funny, there's all these settings you can work with and it's like you don't even have to be able to mix anymore. But like anything else I think you'll only really get better at something like DJing if you practice and do it right. You can use whatever you want, but you know, you can't fake the funk.
9. Any plans to visit Greece?
"I was just there recently, but a summer would not be complete without a trip to Greece, so wish me luck."
10. The lead single of “Teufelswerk” is called “Angst”. Why did you choose this track, is it more suitable to communicate the whole record? Which will be the next one?
"I thought it was a beautiful track, one of the strongest ones on the album and so I wanted to present that as the first single from the Day side of the record. The music video is also beautiful, it was done by a director named Nicole McDonald from LA. This track was the perfect balance of all my ideas. The next single is going to be another track from the Day side of the record, it's called "Hell's Kitchen" and it will be released June 1st on Gigolo Records, with a Playhouse remix by Trevor Jackson."
11. What are your future plans?
"I will spend the entire next year traveling and DJing, and sharing my new album with the world. I will also work with Berlin designer Michalsky on another fashion show, I will release a line of men's slips with Wendy&Jim, sunglasses by a company called Freudenhaus, and I will donate my time to a feminist organization in the Ukraine called Femen to draw attention to the problems with young girls and prostitution there... just naming a few things. It's going to be a very busy but very good year."
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