From Arjun Mendiratta Sent Tue, Oct 21st 1997, 22:39
From Arjun Mendiratta Sent Tue, Oct 21st 1997, 22:39
stolen intact...
Interview conducted October 1, 1997
by Ryan Schreiber
DJs since 1987 (before it was even cool!), their new release, Let Us Play!
marks the ten year anniversary of their
original debut record. Though they've advanced light years technology-wise
since creating the first British record
composed almost entirely of samples, they're still appear to be having
some fun with it. Coldcut invented their own
Ninja Tune record label in 1990, and it's producing only the very best
electronic music one could purchase. I called
all the way to England to talk with Coldcut's Jonathon More. Here's what
went down:
Pitchfork: Being one of the originators of modern electronic music, what's
it like seeing or
being part of the new wave of electronica?
Jon: Difficult, in some respects. Having things kind of commercialized,
packaged,
consumerized and worn out by that process. I kind of don't really want to
be associated with
it. [laughs] I don't want to be labeled and boxed off. They tried that
trick before with us.
You know, "Coldcut, they were an '80s band." And they try to put labels on
you and stick
you in a box and keep you in it. So I'm not really too keen on that.
Pitchfork: The industry will just do that. They've done it with
alternative rock, late '80s
glam rock, new wave, disco and whatever came before that.
Jon: I sort of view it... nervously. Hopefully, we'll ride it a bit, like
surfing, and we'll land
on some nice little island and everybody else will probably crash on some
overpriced beach
somewhere else. [laughs] That's maybe a bit obscure.
Pitchfork: In terms of making music, what draws you to technology rather
than guitars?
Jon: It's that you can grab what you want and shuffle it together. The
guitar just doesn't
appeal to me because you can't wrench out of it the same things you can
with a sampler. It's
the ability to be able to capture and keep things and file things away
with a sampler. I have
that sort of mentality. I'll hear something, I'll grab it and I'll keep it
for ages until it fits in
with another sound. Eventually, I'll get a palette of sounds that work
together.
Pitchfork: Jello Biafra guests on "Every Home a Prison." What kind of
influence did he have
on you?
Jon: It was more his spoken words stuff -- post-Dead Kennedys stuff --
that had more of an
influence on me. I was aware of them, but they were just a bit too
full-on. I liked what he
was saying and I liked him as a person. Once the spoken word stuff started
coming out, I was
much more into that.
Pitchfork: What made you decide to do the interactive disc?
Jon: That's something we've been working on steadily now for about six or
seven years.
We're always looking for new avenues and I see the whole step to
interactive CD-ROM as
more toys and more things to go with the music. It's as exciting as
sampling was when it first
broke open ten years ago. It's an interesting, exciting new area. We're
interested in
randomness and chaos theories of music creation, as opposed to dance or
club music. Using a
computer, rather than a typewriter, as a member of the band.
Pitchfork: Can you let us in on a scientific explanation of how some of
the stuff works?
Jon: The playtime software that's on the CD-ROM is based on algorhythmic,
compositional
equations, which means you get a different performance from it every time.
What you're
doing is influencing those equations, you're not actually controlling it,
really.
Pitchfork: I had hours of fun. Hey, you guys can pretty juvenille
sometimes. How do you
feel about people like Dr. Octagon that are taking bathroom humor to a new
level?
Jon: I was in New York and he played me this outrageous CD of
psychoanalysts. It depends
on how its done, though. Certain people like Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
here in the UK
because they can get away with it. But other people can't. I mean, I've
got a lot of totally
obscene records of various comedians and rappers and things from the '70s
which are
incredible. They are almost impossible to listen to.
Pitchfork: How many video tapes do you think you drew from for all those
samples on "I'm
Wild About That Thing?"
Jon: I don't know. I should think quite a few. Its been hard work and I
had to get somebody
else to do it. And that man was Steve Stein. He had to go through that
dreadful job. But
somebody had to do it... and Steve was the unlucky man.
[laughter]
Pitchfork: What was the inspiration behind starting up [the greatest
record label in the entire
world.] Ninja Tune Records?
Jon: It was to escape the bullshit factor; to go outside of a deceived
industry. Matt [Black,
Coldcut's other half] and I thought it would really spite them because we
didn't think we
would fit into their mold.
Pitchfork: Ninja Tune puts out a lot of stuff the majors could never push,
but is literally
some of the most respectable and impressive music out there.
Jon: I see [the corporate music industry] as a polishing machine. You go
in their and you're a
nice, rough hewn diamond and you go in and get polished. Some come out
pretty sparkly,
but others looked a lot better before when they were just rough cut. We
knew we understood
what we were doing and we could bring it to people that understood and
make a living from
doing that. We can put out good music that otherwise may never have come
out.
Pitchfork: How do you find your bands?
Jon: I have a Ninja Nose. I don't know how it happens. We get loads and
loads and loads of
demo tapes and CDs and videos and shit like that. And we try to do our
best to listen to it,
but it can be quite difficult. And if you're a Ninja, that's it. But we
don't put out loads and
loads of music. We like to concentrate on the people that are on the
label, so it's quite
difficult to get on board. You've just gotta keep trying -- if you wanna
be a Ninja, you'll get
through.
Pitchfork: If you could change any one thing about your career, what would
it be?
Jon: I would have had more control earlier on. I wouldn't have
relinquished control as much
as I did. I'd definitely get rid of the My Telephone video which is an
obscenity we tried to
hoist upon the public that I'm very sorry about.
Pitchfork: After the industry forces electronic music down peoples'
throats enough for it to
just die out, what's next?
Jon: Unfortunately, I think the bastard child of techno, jungle and house
will evolve into
some sort of nightmare disco fever. [laughs] It depends on what new drugs
they invent.
Copyright 1997, Pitchfork Online