Setting aside Plastikman's minimalism for the time being, Hawtin's latest release, Decks, EFX and 909 (Minus Records / NovaMute), showcases his often-imitated but never-paralleled DJ style (driving beats that seem a mile deep textured with radically reconfigured, stripped-down modulations of other artists' recordings). The album occasioned his appearance at the groundbreaking Coachella Festival in October 1999, where, as a nod to his rock-solid reputation, he performed on the same DJ tent lineup as his adolescent influences Saunderson, Atkins and May. His Coachella performance also caught the ears of peers The Chemical Brothers, who asked Hawtin to perform with them at the Brixton Academy show on December 4, 1999. I caught up with Hawtin shortly after Coachella, while he enjoyed a short respite at home amidst a hectic touring schedule.
Sean Flinn: My first set of questions have to do with Coachella: What did you actually think of the festival? Do you have any general opinions about the event?
Richie Hawtin: I think in the overall picture, Coachella was definitely a really, really well-organized and attended event, and was really, I think, a good shot in the arm for that type of festival in North America. Because it's generally something you see overseas, especially the combination of some of the bigger electronic -- well, more mainstream and popular electronic acts -- with some of the alternative stuff, which is still slightly interesting, and DJ culture.
Outside of the DJ tents, were there any artists performing on the bigger stages that you wanted to see perform?
You know, I don't even really know the final lineup for Coachella. I flew in from Frankfurt to Coachella, and shortly after flew directly to San Francisco. There were about nine gigs in a row all over Europe before Frankfurt, so it was a bit of a crazy trip.
Sounds like it.
I heard Morrissey, because it was so loud that it was coming into the tent while I was checking out Juan Atkins. And then, I heard the Chemical Brothers because they were so loud that it was coming over my sound when I was playing in my tent. So that was a bit disappointing because I was getting drowned out a bit. That could have been set up a little bit better. I did hear that The Art of Noise was playing, which sounded remotely interesting, but then again it probably would have been 10 years ago.
I completely forgot that they were on the bill after about the first hour or so of the festival because I was running all over the place. I remember being in the tent while you were spinning and hearing the Chemical Brothers… the same thing happened with the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and Rage Against the Machine. So, yeah, that's something they probably could've done better.
Yeah, they could have turned some of the things around or positioned things better. That's unfortunate, but hopefully they'll plan a little bit better next year. But you know, there were a lot of things that were done well at the festival too, so it kind of balances out. Especially when you're talking about sound structure and things, it's the most important [thing]; people are coming to hear music. They need to be able to hear one or another, not both at the same time. I think with, especially some of the electronic musicians, I know, even like the scratch guys and myself and some other people, the dynamics of what we're doing are important in the way sometimes it's about what we're playing, but also, about what we're not playing. And those pauses, those breaks, those lower volume sections, those EQ changes sometimes were getting drowned out by something else that was happening a mile away.
I know, just from listening to your recordings, that dynamics are extremely important with what you're doing, so that definitely could have a negative impact. Aside from that, you mentioned that you felt the festival may have given that type of music -- and I'm taking that to mean electronic music and underground hip-hop -- a shot in the arm. Do you think the festival could have given electronic music a chance to sway over some new fans, or do you think they were just preaching to the converted?
As an optimist, I always hope that. That's one of the reasons for doing an event like that. I'm not particularly fond of big events, but I also don't want to preach to the converted all the time. So that was a good opportunity to have some people who were sort of wandering through tents in between Rage Against the Machine and Morrissey or whoever it was, and stumble upon someone who they'd never heard of or they'd only read about, and suddenly say, "You know? This isn't too bad." And whether that brings them to go and buy the CD, that could be a good benefit. But I look at it as really giving people an appetizer for myself. You're not getting exactly what I do, but I'm giving enough of myself to the people with the equipment that's provided to me to give them enough taste to know if it's something for them. And then, hopefully, we'll invite them to see me at another event, maybe, which is more surrounded around my self, where I can play four or five hours on a better system and really show them what I'm all about. You have to use these events for what they are. America has taken a long time for electronic music to grab hold of people. Part of it is the size of the country and the communication infrastructure for getting new ideas to people -- which isn't very good in this country. So you have to take these opportunities to try and open some ears. I'm not going to sit here and say "North America sucks" because no one is into what I do without trying and going through and giving people the opportunity to maybe get turned on by it. People can't appreciate what they don't know or what they've never heard.
That's true. And you mentioned the lines of communication -- do you think then that the rapid development of MP3 technology and streaming media and all of that is going to help open some of those lines of communication?
I think one of the only reasons that the whole DJ and rave culture -- party culture has taken off so well in America and has started to come together is because of communication and the Internet. The Internet is at its most progressive in North America in the way that most of the areas are now wired. It's getting to the point where everyone has e-mail or some type of opportunity to get online, and it's a great flow of information, of music, of resources and of bringing people information about new ideas. That's the thing that's really kept this movement underground or at a smaller level than everywhere else in the world -- it's basically because of geography. The Internet is basically the first thing in our existence that bypasses physical geography.
That's very true. Do you have any plans for yourself? I know you have http://www.plastikman.com …
We have plastikman.com, and my record labels [have] +8.com and minus.com [for =8 Records and Minus Records, respectively, --ed.]. +8 has been online for about five years. We've been broadcasting RealAudio and doing our events for over four years, and MP3 has been up there for about two years. We're not new to this technology.
That's good to hear, especially since our organization deals with streaming media…
What's that? What does your organization do?
Well, RadioSpy is actually a music portal that is … built around a piece of software that we developed to help people find SHOUTcast servers.
Oh really? So are you doing all SHOUTcast streams?
Actually, we picked up RealAudio and Windows Media.
OK, cool. We're doing the same thing.
Terrific!
We have a new portal opening - going online -- in a few weeks called Clonk… .com, .net, .org. and that's gonna be similar, but precisely for electronic music.
Oh wow! I'll definitely inform our station manager about that.
You should, because when we go online we'll have a couple of weekly shows and things. There will be some Windows Media layers, there'll be a helluva a lot of Real Media, and there will also be some SHOUTcasts.
Well it's good to know that the technology is proliferating out there and that artists are getting involved with it directly.
 |
|
Richie Hawtin hits the decks at Coachella 1999. |
That's something we've been trying to get going, so it's nice to see that other people are doing it -- especially people with your clout.
We're involved in the creative use of technology. That's what my company does. We're not a record company, we're not really musicians or anything. We're creative. We use technology to get our ideas out, and streaming media or using the Internet is just another form of technology to communicate with people or to communicate our ideas. So it's all the same thing to us.
I'm going to change track a little bit here and talk about Decks, EFX & 909. Why did you decide, after working in the vein of Plastikman for a while, to release a mix album? It seems, at least at first blush, to be sort of a change of pace from your recordings -- I know it's not from your live performances. But what motivated you to do Decks, EFX & 909?
Well, I think, a couple of things. After so many years -- like, since '93 -- of spending a lot of time on the whole Plastikman idea, philosophy and sound, it was time to move on to some new things -- permanently, or for a little while at least. So I kind of ride the top of the fence -- I run an electronic label, so I see the business side; I also see the creative side as a performer. I make some very strange abstract minimalism, but also as a DJ performer, I play some of that, but also keep it quite upbeat. I'm interested in forward-thinking electronic music. So I wanted to do something that would, I guess, show people the other side of my DJ performances, but at the same time cross the lines a little bit. I didn't want to do yet another mix CD. I'd done one in the past. I'm sick and tired of mix CDs. It's an open and shut case. It hasn't done anything new for ages. So I went in with the idea of capturing what I do during my DJ live performances, and making it different enough and bringing ideas -- both the DJ side but also my production side; using the decks and effects that I use as a performer, but also maybe adding some extra production and editing to create something which, to me, for lack of a better word, is definitely more than a mix CD.
Next
