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RichieHawtin

newhorizons

Richie Hawtin has always been at the leading edge of innovation in all aspects of electronic music. Now more than ever, he’s searching for fresh horizons and new

worlds to conquer. Who better to launch the first ever Mixmag Live?

Wo r d s R i c h i e H a w t i n a n d T h o m a s H G r e e n P h o t o s w w w. a l e x a n d e r k o c h . c o m

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On sTaGe in Brixton academy a giant alien craft of spinning light is taking off. Or is it a wild, luminescent fairground carousel? Whatever it is, it’s playing Plastikman’s bass-addled 2003 loon tune ‘Ping Pong’. Behind this retina-frying semi-circular LeD curtain – for that’s what it really is – glimpses of a silhouetted figure can sometimes be seen, flitting back and forth between banks of kit, controlling the whole audio-visual experience. For over 20 years Plastikman has been messing with our heads, making us dance. Once, long ago, he was a baldie, with glasses, drum machines and a relentless strobe, twisting rave brains to mush, but now he’s gone visually interplanetary on his year-long Plastikman 1.5 tour.

“Yes! Yes! YeeeaaaH!” screams a pop-eyed, pogoing man, closely followed by a female voice, and soon all is a sea of whistles and whoops. The man behind the curtain, the wizard of odd, the techno phenomenon causing this commotion from one continent to the next, is Richie Hawtin, a true original and dance music perennial. He has, he will tell us, reached the end of one era, but is about to take off into the next chapter – into the future and onward to new horizons. if anyone can, Hawtin can.

G iven THe noise he’s capable of making, Richie Hawtin, 41, is a calm presence. He sits on a sofa backstage before his gig at the Brixton academy, a lean figure in a

thin grey jumper, dark jeans and baseball boots, emanating a friendly but businesslike manner. around him on the walls are large framed photos of bands, such as The Clash and Faithless, who have rocked the venue. His hands reach for his blonde fringe, a gentler variation on the severe, asymmetrical cut of a few years back, and push it

from his lively blue eyes. He’s in dance music’s premier league these days, an immediately recognisable name atop bills at clubs, raves and festivals and someone who is these days recognised even in the least likely of places.

“i took a vacation on the coast of Morocco with my girlfriend,” he says in his relaxed Canadian accent, “walking though streets without pavements, so far away from our world – and someone was like, ‘are you Richie Hawtin? Can i get your autograph?’.” He laughs – “But it’s alright, people who come up are long term fans, not ‘i know that guy’s face from a magazine.’ it’s a nicer sort of fame.”

as Richie Hawtin he is the DJ who brings techno to party, a long-term regular on the decks at Cocoon, inventor of minimal, and the man who startlingly pre-empted modern DJ technology on his astounding ‘Decks/FX’ mix series, showing everyone the possibilities and even helping design some of the kit involved. as Plastikman, symbolised by a sinister psychedelic sprite logo, he is an electronic musician par excellence, maintaining an underground agenda of techno propulsion and avant-garde dissonance over six albums (and two compilations). as the business mind behind Plus 8 Records and Minus he has nurtured a plethora of talent into the limelight, from speedy J in the early 90s to Gaiser in the 2010s. He does all this, paradoxically, by always changing and always staying the same. Last autumn, for instance, many were shocked when DJ/producers Magda, Troy Pierce and Marc Houle, the core of Minus, the ones who originally came with Hawtin from Detroit via new York to Berlin, left to form their own items & Things label.

“You try and stay in control, but evolution is always around us,” says Hawtin, completely sanguine. “Minus started in ’98 but really didn’t get going until we found a group of people i wanted to support and develop. Marc Houle, Magda, Troy Pierce, even on a different level, Marco Carola – these are people i felt connected to on a friendship basis. i believed in their artistic ideas, and wanted to introduce them to the world. There’s a point in artistic development where you must move away – at some bittersweet moment you have to graduate, take everything you’ve learned, and stand up for your own ideals. That’s really where we’re at with Minus.”

Hawtin rarely talks specifics and is useless for juicy anecdotes or gossip. He speaks in terms of concepts, broad ideas and occasional metaphors, very much his own censor. He is, however, happy to analyse himself, reckoning that Richie Hawtin, the party DJ, and Plastikman, the shadowy studio

warlock, derive from his family’s move on november 14 1979 from the northamptonshire village of Middleton Cheney to Lasalle, Ontario, Canada, when he was nine years old.

“My main memory of Middleton Cheney is a strong sense of extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles, a very close-knit family, everyone getting together regularly,” he says. “That’s why the Canadian move was such a big change: becoming isolated, introverted. The ‘DJ Richie Hawtin’ aspect of me reflects what i remember of myself before i went to Canada: having all these people around, being in elementary school, the cool kid in class who everyone talked to. Then suddenly i was the weird foreigner who spoke differently. That was the beginning of my introverted side. i found a connection to the rest of world again electronically: Plastikman, hiding behind machines.”

Hawtin wasn’t the only one isolated by the move. His father, a robotics technician, buried himself in music and technology and encouraged his son’s interest in it. Hawtin’s younger brother Matthew was also a beneficiary and has gone onto be actively involved in Hawtin’s career, both in music and artistic design, as well as his own art career. Hawtin describes him as “team leader on Plastikman live, ‘arkives’ [box set] and richiehawtin.com over the last two years.” His parents are also actively on side, attending the sónar festival every year as well as multiple other events, including Bestival and [laughs], “my mum was in the booth dancing with Magda on the Terrace at amnesia.”

1970June 4 1970: Richard Michael Hawtin born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, to Michael & Brenda Hawtin, a music-loving robotics technician and a teacher, respectively.

1989Meets and hits it off with Canadian DJ John Acquaviva (born Italy, 1963). The duo record a mix for Derrick May’s radio show, start recording together and form Plus 8 Records which becomes one of the 1990s’ most vital techno labels, releasing

Kenny Larkin, Speedy J and others, as well as Hawtin and Acquaviva’s Cybersonik collaboration with Daniel Bell.

1988Starts being paid to DJ, $20 ‘gas money’ per gig. Starts producing his own mix shows for Detroit’s 96.3 FM radio station.

1987Starts buying records in Detroit and begins DJing under the name Richie Rich in a basement club called The Shelter, as the warm-up for Scott ‘Go-Go’ Gordon.

1979Moves to LaSalle, Ontario, Canada. Michael Hawtin takes a job at General Motors. LaSalle is a suburb of Windsor just over the Detroit River, across the US border from the city of the same name.

1972Sole sibling and occasional collaborator, Matthew, born.

1986Attends Sandwich Secondary High, by night tuning into seminal Detroit radio broadcasts by The Wizard (aka Jeff Mills) and Duane ‘In-the-Mix’ Bradley. Is drawn to the music of Detroit techno trinity Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. Sneaks into The Music Institute, The Majestic, St Andrew’s Hall, and other key Detroit clubs.

The evolution ofRichie Hawtin

Plastikman @ Brixton Academy,

London

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“You try to stay in control but evolution is all around us”

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T He TeenaGe Hawtin was famously into Detroit techno in the mid-80s, becoming a DJ, setting up Plus 8 with John acquaviva and setting the techno world

alight with Plastikman’s birth on the ‘spastik’ single and ‘sheet One’ album in 1993, the latter arriving in a cover that looked like blotter acid.

“‘sheet One’ as an album transcends ‘spastik’,” says Hawtin, ruminatively. “‘spastik’ wasn’t on the CD version of ‘sheet One’, and most people i know who are Plastikman freaks sat at home listening to that album. The idea wasn’t to make a load of singles, it was to get back to the immersive electronic album experience.”

Hawtin ruled 90s techno from his base in Windsor, Ontario, via Detroit, his public image that of the ultimate techno boffin, shaven-headed, serious, with glasses. Things changed after the millennium. His long-term relationship ended, he moved to new York for 10 months then headed for Berlin where he grew his hair, lost the glasses and threw himself wholeheartedly into the party lifestyle.

“i felt so pigeonholed into techno, iDM, artificial intelligence – it was a reaction against all that,” he explains. “so that’s who you think i am? That’s what you think i look like? Well, fuck you, let’s play with that. The move to Berlin was a crossover moment. Troy, Magda, moving over there in force, what everyone was seeing was me coming out of my shell, a whole bunch of us having fun together and not really caring about what was going on outside that circle, just the mission we were on. it was more public, more fun and just kind of explosive.”

Fortunately for him, what was “going on outside that circle” was a huge interest in minimal, a stark

stripped techno style pioneered by Hawtin and revelled in by all at Minus. it was a phase that energised clubland; clubs became sexier and more hedonistic seemingly overnight, the cheesiness apparently stripped out as dance music went back to its percussive roots.

“it was easier for me than for some of the artists tied into it,” he says, “because as it exploded in 2004–5 i was already fifteen, sixteen years into my career. We’d had conversations in the early 90s about minimalism with Plastikman, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, so it was like, just enjoy the ride, let people put their stamps on it and introduce it to more people than before.”

M iniMaLisM’s MOMenT as the buzzword du jour passed, but Hawtin remained as popular as ever, his residencies at Cocoon and association

with sven väth tempering the dark twitchiness of his Plastikman persona with an unexpected joie de vivre.

Hawtin’s status is solid with the new generation of american electronic musicians. The day before we met he had dinner with skrillex, who’d been working with Ray Manzarek of The Doors. skrillex was thrilled because his parents love The Doors, and Hawtin was reminded of how chuffed he’d been to introduce his own father to John Peel, years before. Hawtin is watching as america and electronic music slowly fall for each other…

“america has a moment with electronic dance music when it connects with rock ’n’ roll,” he says. “Things that are having success now are fast, furious, aggressive – like if nirvana made electronica. i don’t think it’s so much different than in the early 90s when i went on the Rave new World Tour with Cybersonik [Hawtin, acquaviva and Daniel Bell], Moby doing his [madly fast] song ‘1000’, The Prodigy kicking it with breakbeat drum ’n’ bass, a little more dayglo but a fucking rock ’n’ roll show. The problem was there was no big home-grown talent. now there is: Deadmau5, skrillex, kids who grew up in north america, hitting off like you’ve never seen before. now, 15-year-olds who were listening to rock, plus hip hop, and now dubstep, are having an epiphany.”

all of which raises the question of what’s next for

Matthew Hawtin ‘Dimensions’) showcases his work from 1993 to the present and shows Matthew’s collaborative relationship between art and electronic music. Elements of repetition, symmetry, colour, textures and reduction are explored within Matthew’s artwork, where many of the ideas run parallel with the development and progression of the music released on my labels Plus 8 and Minus.

The exhibition runs until February 26 at Red Gallery, 3 Rivington Street, London EC2A, or go to www.red gallerylondon.com for info.www.mhawtin.com

Richie introduces the people exploring new horizons

1992Hawtin and other second-gen Detroit DJ/producers such as Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Carl Craig etc, are now kings of techno. Hawtin’s

warehouse parties are Detroit’s key events. F.U.S.E. debut album ‘Dimension Intrusion’ is the first in Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series.

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“My mum was on the terrace at Amnesia, dancing with Magda”

CLIFF MARTINEZFormer Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ drummer behind the soundtrack to DriveI was first introduced to the work of Cliff Martinez via his beautiful soundtrack to Steven Soderbergh Solaris remake, and you can hear his newest work on the sound- track to the movie Drive. He was originally more connected to the rock scene, working on the first Red Hot Chili Peppers album. A chance introduction to a drum machine changed the course of his career...Richie: I read that in the early 1990s you were introduced to an early sampling drum machine while working with Red Hot Chili Peppers. What new possibilities did this give you, and would you say it changed the path of your career? Do advancements in technology still influence your current works?Cliff: The first Red Hot Chilli Pepper album was recorded in 1983 and was produced by Gang Of Four guitarist Andy Gill. Andy introduced me to a Linn drum machine, which, in hindsight, was a pivotal moment for me. Andy wanted to use it to impart a modern sound to the album, but in deference to me as drummer, suggested that I do the programming. Like a silent film star facing the dawn of talking pictures, I was both fascinated and threatened by this powerful, groundbreaking gizmo. The sounds were

reasonably realistic, the timing was Swiss clock perfect and the programming and sound design possibilities went well beyond what any mere mortal drummer could create.

I knew it meant that drummers would be the first musicians to get placed the endangered species list. I would have to evolve or die, so I began the process of gradually re-thinking and re-tooling my skills. I eventually landed in the world of film composing, where I’ve managed to hold obsolescence at bay for 23 years.

I still have an intense love/hate/fear/respect relationship with technology. The speed, power and creative possibilities of music-making in the computer age are what make being an electronic musician so magical and compelling. But I know it won’t be long before some 12-year-old creates a masterpiece on his iPhone that sells a billion copies or wins an Oscar for best score. I keep up with technology not just because I’m constantly in search of that certain some- thing that’s never been heard before, but I also know that if I don’t; I run the risk of going the way of the brontosaurus.

CARSTEN NICOLAIGerman modern artistRichie: Science, mathematics and technology all play key roles in your work. All of these fields strive to discover, create and explore new ideas and possibilities. How important are their new ideas in the inspiration of your new work?Carsten: I follow up new developments and the latest outcomes of scientific explorations, especially fundamental research like they do at the CERN, for example. It serves as a source of inspiration for me, since raised questions in science usually also touch on philosophical issues that reach the very core of our perception of the world. This opens up a creative space of thought and imagination to produce new ideas for works of art. RH

inspirations

1991Plus 8 launches spin-off labels Probe and Definitive. Hawtin records under aliases such as Robotman, Chrome, Circuit Breaker and Xenon. ‘Substance Abuse’ by F.U.S.E. becomes a European hardcore rave staple.

1990Drops out of the University of Windsor where he was studying film. Hawtin releases production debut (with Acquaviva), the

‘Elements of Tone EP’ under the moniker States of Mind. Hawtin records as F.U.S.E whose ‘Approach And Identify’ lays a blue- print for ‘intelligent techno’, later called IDM.

MATTHEW HAWTINModern artist exploring the relationship between art and electronic musicMuch of my interest in modern art came from the influence of my brother Matthew. A current exhibition (Red Gallery & Minus present

1995Effectively banned from the US for 18 months, he tours the rest of the world which changes his musical outlook. Puts half-finished Plastikman album ‘Klinik’ on hold. Plays at Glastonbury, which proves a watershed gig.

1994Release of second album ‘Musik’, plus a collection of early tracks called ‘Recycled Plastik’. Hawtin and Acquaviva’s warehouse parties now legendary and celebrated on !K7

‘X-Mix’ CD. First volume of ‘From Within’, an ambient music project with Peter Namook. Hawtin held at the US border, accused of working illegally.

1993First two Plastikman singles, ‘Spastik’ and ‘Krakpot’

are released,as well as ‘Sheet One’ album. His Mixmag Live CD set pioneers the use of effects

1998Sets up Minus. First release is the third Plastikman LP,

‘Consumed’, followed by ‘Artifakts [bc]’ created from the shelved ‘Klinik’ album. Plus 8 Records on hiatus.

1996Pursues techno to its logical stripped-down conclusios on Concept 1 12”s. Helps invent minimal techno along the way.

1999‘Decks, EFX & 909’, Hawtin’s sonic ode to DJing, demon- strates what modern DJing can be. Tours it with dance- floor-wrecking results. His installation for a French millennial exhibition is based on the hiss and crackle of vinyl.

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SINCE THE mid-90s I’ve had a fascination with art and artists who have developed ideas I feel connected to. This is what

drew me to Anish Kapoor, whose work inspired ‘Consumed’, and it’s what draws me to James Turrell, with whom I’d like to develop a project.

James works purely with light; he does these installations called skyspaces which are rooms where you can sit or lie down and look upwards and there’s a hole in the ceiling where he frames the sky in such a way that you get deep, rich colours during sunrise or sunset. They’re about a slow, subtle movement of colour, temperature and feeling. Once you let yourself go, you get sucked much deeper into the experience. It’s like standing in front of a painting: the longer you stay there, the more detail you see. It’s like my work too, I hope, where subtle interplay in my sonic landscape draws you in deeper.

Thirty years ago James bought an extinct volcano in the Arizona Desert, the Roden Crater, and he’s slowly carving it out to create a natural skyspace so people can come in, meditate and view the sky. To him it can be a transformative experience. The world today can be so instantaneous, but here you have one of the last great

LIINE The company redefining how people interact with soundLiine was set up two years ago to further develop GRIID and KAPTURE, both of which were used during the Plastikman Live tour. Currently Liine is developing new REMIIX iOS apps, has just introduced an IOS version of Lemur and continues with its long-term goal to redefine the way people interact with sound. I asked Liine developer Nick Bugayev to explain more. Nick: With traditional instruments like the guitar or piano, the mechanical aspects are fixed and predefined and you need to adapt your body (through years of practice!) to play music. But with electronic music nothing is predefined. We have an opportunity – a duty I would go so far to say – to put ideas and concept first and then adapt the interface to fit the idea. That’s one of the reasons I’m so interested in working with touchscreens – it’s an interface which is a hundred per cent dynamic. Whatever the structure of your song, performance or live set, a touchscreen inter- face can change to fit exactly what you need. In electronic music the design of the instrument can be subservient to the demands of the concept. I want our products to reflect that. Offering tools and software to make this type of experience accessible is one way I see Liine achieving that goal. It’s a technological and also pedagogical approach.”

artists of his generation, in his late 80s, running out of money, trying to complete a project he’s been working on for 30 years.

Over the last thousand years, when men have created things that are larger than themselves, that will exist for longer than their lifetimes, it showed us – and shows us still – how incredible the human race can be when it sets its mind to something. RH

jamesturrell

Richie on the incredible Skyspace-designing artist

who’s still creating in his 80s

Hawtin and Plastikman? We’ve heard rumours of Plastikman 2.0 and a project called ‘Control’. Hawtin says he’s not ready to talk about that; we should ring him in three weeks. He gets up, slim and fit and ready to hit the machinery: years of late nights and week-long studio sessions seem to have left him trim.

“i train,” he admits. “i swim, or do some type of sport multiple times a week. if you don’t keep yourself refined how are your ideas going to be? if your body goes to shit, everything goes to shit.”

and he’s off to slay London.

T HRee Weeks LaTeR, Hawtin is in a hotel in La on the end of a phone. He’s been checking out the annual naMM (national association of Music Merchants)

exhibition, investigating the latest sonic technologies. He sounds excited. He’s taking two months off to let inspiration percolate, to develop new twists to what he does, but is he ready to tell us about Control?

“The name has already developed away from that,” he answers, “But what i’m seeing at these electronic shows is incredible new ways to control software. There are so many possibilities, and not learning how to use them will mean you’re just another kid on stage looking like they’re checking their emails.”

Hawtin always works amid a flux of ideas, floating them until the ones he requires crystallise. Plastikman 2.0 will return at the beginning of 2013, and much of this year will be spent in the studio creating new Plastikman material. Will it be the stranger, more thoughtful fare of, say, 1998’s ‘Consumed’, or simply lethal space-age dancefloor crunch?

“My head’s more into the sound and feeling of early techno right now,” Hawtin replies, “visceral, energetic, primal, basic and more physical – but i don’t expect that to take me down the path of a full- on dance album. in the final Plastikman 1.5 show in italy i started to play one song at half speed, at 60 instead of 128 BPM. The italians are my biggest market but they love 4/4 techno and don’t usually deviate too far from that. They went mad for this weird, half-time syncopated tempo and it really brought me back to the feeling of Plastikman: rhythmic, experimental and infectious but not typical boom-boom-boom. That’s what i want to capture in that studio, that’s at the heart of Plastikman and that’s what’s missing from dance music today. Which is why it’s time for Plastikman to come back.”

You see, somehow what his contemporaries are doing doesn’t seem to matter to Richie Hawtin. He has never, and will never, take the easy or obvious route; he really is doing it his own way, staying on the front line, oblivious to passing trends, always looking for new horizons, new worlds to conquer.

“i’m happy to be the guy who was doing this ten, twenty, thirty, years ago and still doing it,” he agrees emphatically, “Yeah, i live what i do.” tHomas H gReen

DAVE CROSS & 60 WORKSDesigner of custom devices for DJs and musiciansWhile at Cornell University Dave Cross became fixated on the technical aspects of electronic music and DJ culture, later writing his honours thesis on the history of the mixer. With 60 Works, Dave now helps musicians and DJs create custom devices to empower their workflow. Instead of a “one size fits all” approach, he creates hand-made solutions to help unlock your creative potential. www.60works.com

ROGER LINNDrum machine pioneerIn 1979 Roger Linn introduced the world first’s drum machine using digital samples. Later he designed one of the most used sampling drum machines ever, Akai’s MPC series. Now, he’s looking to the future with the amazing ‘LinnStrument’:Roger: LinnStrument captures each finger’s subtle movements in three dimensions for fine control of expression, pitch and timbre. With this level of control, musicians will be able to approach the expressiveness of traditional instruments like violin, sax, clarinet or guitar. www.rogerlinndesign.com

DAVE SMITH INSTRUMENTSSynthesizer guru known as the ‘Father of MIDI’Dave Smith’s instruments are part of the reason I’m involved in electronic music today. In 1990 we had our first under- ground hit with Cybersonik’s ‘Technarchy’. That record introduced Plus 8, Daniel Bell, John Acquaviva and me to the world, and we haven’t looked back since. The key to it was Dan’s blistering bassline. It was created with one of Dave Smith’s early keyboards, the Sequential Circuits Pro-1, and since then my studio has never been without a Dave Smith synth of some kind. Dave is a legend in the world of music and technology. He was responsible for the first poly- phonic and micro-processor-controlled synth, the Prophet 5, and he introduced the concept of multi-timbrality for electronic instruments. He currently runs Dave Smith Instruments and is still creating some of today’s most sought-after electronic instruments, such as the Evolver, Prophet 08 and the new Tempest drum machine, developed with Roger Linn.Richie: Is the future bright for electronic music?Dave: Kids who started with free software synths are discovering analogue hardware, and hearing the difference. We’ve been able to design real analogue instruments at a reasonable price compared to the old days. RH

davesmithinstruments.com

Richie introduces the people exploring new horizonsinspirations

James Turrell’s work on the crater is still ongoing

The Roden Crater, Arizona

2010In March, at the Timewarp Festival in Mannheim, Germany, Plastikman unveils a visually astonishing new live incarnation, going on to wow festivals around the world. Also releases Plastikman ‘greatest hits’ collection, ‘Kompilation’.

2008Minus Presents Contakt tours internationally, a live show featuring Hawtin, Magda, Troy Pierce, Marc Houle, Gaiser, Heartthrob, JPLS, Ambivalent and Barem accompanied by a spectacular LED show.

2006‘Minimal’ is now a huge buzz- word, headed up by Minus, whose tours are roadblocked. Produces ‘9’20”’ with Italian composer Enzo Cosimi for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin. Enters global superstar DJ league.

2012The future… Richie kicks off the year as the star of our first ever Mixmag Live concept.

2011Plastikman Live 1.5 Tour continues. In February the box set, ‘Arkives 1993–2010’, appears. Landmark gig for Anish Kapoor at Paris’s Grand Palais. Richie is one of the first artists to visit Japan after the earthquake.

A view of the sky

2005‘DE9: Transitions’ is a third journey into what DJing can be, again with over 100 tracks, this time mixed using software and accompanied by a DVD. Releases ‘The Tunnel’ single under his own name along with surreal video.

2004Throws himself into the development of Minus, building the careers of Heartthrob, Troy Pierce, Magda, and Gaiser, among others. Plastikman Live at Mutek Festival marks beginning of collaborative work with Ali Demirel, Derivative Inc and Timewarp. The show pushes the boundaries and technology of live electronic performance to new levels.

2002Splits with long-term girlfriend and moves from Ontario, to New York. Begins a particularly hedonistic phase of his life. Becomes resident at Cocoon in Ibiza and mixes their ‘Sounds of the Third Season’ comp.

2001Pushes ‘Decks EFX’ concept further with ‘DE9: Closer To The Edit’ mix CD which jams in 100 tracks. Tours it using boundary-pushing Final Scratch technology, pioneered by John Acquaviva and himself. Begins the transition from vinyl to digital as DJs say goodbye to their record cases. Hawtin and Acquaviva set up N2it to promote new technology.

2003Plastikman album ‘Closer’ appears, a curiously personal

album which even features his voice. He sets up a secondary office in Berlin.

2000Performs at the first Detroit Electronic Festival in May to a crowd of 200,000, with Juan Atkins, Derrick May and other techno originators.

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i’M a PReTTY optimistic person, but for some reason over the past year i’ve been a

little concerned by the explosion in popularity of eDM in the Us. Perhaps because our sound hasn’t been central to this new wave of interest, perhaps because many of the artists leading this next wave in the Us are half my age and inspired by rock and r’n’b rather than kraftwerk, or perhaps it’s just me being overly protective of a genre of music i’ve spent the past 25 years of my life supporting. But thanks in part to the time i’ve spent on this article and the series of conversations i’ve had with friends and colleagues, i’m feeling more optimistic about it now.

so where should i start? Well, let me pick on skrillex right away. Like it or not, skrillex, aka sonny Moore, is the man of the moment, and is defining many people’s first electronic music experience. sonny is a ‘one-man laptop powerhouse’ who brings as much energy to his concerts (these are not your typical old-school club nights) as any rock band would have done in their heyday: blistering melodies, bass- lines that vibrate you to the core, and stops, starts, and stutters that make me trip over my own feet when i try to dance to them (hence the current eDM trend of head-banging and crowd surfing to show your appreciation!) as someone who grew up dancing to music in long, dark warehouse sessions with his eyes closed, i’m still not sure what i think about all of this, but it has an energy that is extreme and undeniably engaging.

Two years ago i’d never heard of skrillex, so the first thing i asked him was how long he had been in his basement practicing...

“i’ve been touring since i was 16,” says sonny, “so eight years. not many people know that. People think i just stumbled on some bandwagon, but i slept on floors and made no money for

Richie Hawtin has watched the ‘EDM’ explosion in North America over the past couple of years. But, he wonders, is it really a good thing? Here he asks some of the biggest figures in dance music from past and present – including Derrick May, Loco Dice, Skrillex and David Guetta – what they make of the rise of rave in the US

event horizon years. i never thought i’d get to this place. no one cared what skrillex was doing. Dubstep wasn’t popular when i first started to make it; it was still very underground.”

This may not be the electronic music that i play, but does that mean it’s not relevant or, at the very least, a great doorway into the ever-expanding world of eDM for the uninitiated to step through? i asked techno pioneer Derrick May what he thought about the growing popularity of electronic music in the Us, and he summed it up nicely: “i can only imagine the fascination and excitement of people; hearing this music for the first time after never having had any thing close to it all their young lives.”

Man, i can identify with that! i can remember hearing my first Derrick May record in 1987, and thinking i was listening to music from the future! Damn it, i’m starting to wish i was one of those kids having their first electronic music experience at a skrillex concert. sonny was born in 1988: the year after that Derrick May record had caused me to become so obsessed with electronic music that i spent half a year locked away in the basement trying to learn how to DJ with one Technics sL-1200 turntable! How did he get so good so fast?

sonny’s early days of touring were with the rock band From First To Last, having switched to electronic music only a few years ago. But this early schooling on tour seems to have taught him a few things about how to engage and entertain a crowd – a crowd who, like him, were bought up in an age where hip hop, r’n’b and grunge dominated Us radio and when pop music had started to absorb many of the ideas from those early pioneering techno and house records. Madonna incorporated Derrick May-inspired hand-claps and hi hats, and hip hop records used Cybotron and Juan atkins samples, and other more radio friendly house tracks. “new York house meant the most to me,” remembers sonny. “Robyn s i know from childhood – i grew up with that.”

What a mish-mash of inspiration, references, sounds and ideas. it’s no wonder that the tracks currently dominating eDM in the states seem to be nearly schizophrenic. is this how you successfully bring eDM to the masses in north america, by fusing the best bits of hip hop, rock, techno and house?

“Hip hop has long used loops and sounds from techno (Missy elliot/Timberlake),” points out former novaMute label manager seth Hodder, “and the current pop queens Beyoncé,

Lady Gaga, Rihanna and katy Perry and artists such as Black eyed Peas and David Guetta are releasing electronic pop influenced by house, techno, rave, trance and good old fashioned Uk synth-pop.”

electronic music now occupies multiple levels simultaneously, each exciting and each demanding a different kind of understanding and appreciation. i asked David Guetta for his thoughts, a man who has taken this sound to the top of the Us Billboard charts but is now held responsible by many for the scene’s current mainstream focus. “i think the popularity of eDM is wonderful for all of us,” he told me, “no matter if we play or produce crossover music or more underground sounds. The success of our scene makes all of us stronger. Why would we be afraid of such a positive change? There will always be both scenes, and i think they need each other for eDM to stay strong.”

Minus alumni Magda sees things from a similarly optimistic perspective: “The current interest in dance music has a lot to do with the trickle-down effect from commercial pop/dance collaborations. if you turn on the radio nowadays, more than half the songs you hear are dance-influenced. This opens up the eDM world to people who may never have been exposed to it otherwise. They start to dig deeper and are able to discover other forms of eDM.”

Our musical tastes continue to develop over time as we become exposed to new and inspiring artists. For every Robin s there’s an aphex Twin. For every skrillex there’s an Underground Resistance. Doorways are opened, and it’s up to us to take that step through and continue our journey of musical discovery and enlightenment.

“Fads come and go,” agrees Josh Wink. “We’ve all seen that, and electronic music constantly changes, which is a great thing. The more people get to know about something doesn’t always mean the worst-case scenario.”

in some people’s minds i’ve changed and i’m no longer the underground techno artist i was at the start of my career. But from my perspective there’s been a slow, natural development in both my ideas and aspirations. and with so many other creatively driven and talented artists involved in electronic music, it’s no wonder eDM has become larger and increasingly more popular.

Liz Miller, who’s spent the past 15 years involved in the electronic music scene and is the managing director of relaunched Warners imprint Big Beat, home to some of the biggest acts in eDM including skrillex, Chuckie and Martin solveig, sees it this way: “increased exposure

“The tracks dominating EDM in the US seem to be schizophrenic”

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to the mainstream will mean a bigger pool of upcoming talent. More ideas and different points of view will add up to a broader range of styles and artists, which, of course, means more fans, which means new generations of continued development.”

Twenty years ago i could have never imagined touring as Plastikman to festivals on a bus with ten people in tow: lighting and sound technicians, stage managers, back-line support and all the components that have been common on conventional rock tours for years. The development of the electronic music ‘show’ has even taken us out of the nightclubs where we once felt comfortable and onto the main stages of festivals around the world. You might say that as the artists’ ideas and concepts have developed, the scene and the music’s popularity have grown larger.

“now is the first time you’ve seen loads of artists putting on incredible live shows,” says skrillex. “it’s not just a

guy playing records any more.”now we have new ways of engaging

with our audience: stage design, a light show, LeD and video walls producing a new concert-like experience. These were all key elements in the development of both our Contakt and Plastikman shows. in 20 years we’ve gone from club DJs to entertainers: just look at the diversity of live shows being offered by electronic artists today. But is there still the possibility for electronic musicians to have success without a huge production behind them? Can the underground still develop?

skrillex certainly thinks so. “absolutely, man. Think about Burial: no-one even knows what he looks like, he doesn’t play shows, but people still

LIVID INSTRUMENTS & MINUS PRESENT THE CNTRL:RIt doesn’t matter how powerful your computer and software are if you don’t have the right interface to control it. With that in mind, Livid instruments and Minus set out to find the right balance of size and function that could deliver what Minus artists needed for their live performances. Over a few months we discussed our needs in a private Facebook group, and slowly whittling it all down into the CNTRL:R. With encoders, knobs, buttons and faders to work with Ableton Live, Traktor, Serato or any other piece of midi enabled software, we feel the CNTRL:R packs an incredible amount of power for its portable size. Working with Ableton Live? Load the custom Max4Live patches which I helped design and which take the CNTRL:R from controller to full-on intuitive sequencer and performance instrument! www.lividinstruments.com

TEENAGE ENGINEERING OP-1 & OPLABEven though it was a beautiful machine I wasn’t so impressed with the functionality of the OP-1 when I saw it last year. But with the new OS and expansion board update the OP-1 gets the connectivity it deserves. It’s now the most beautiful and powerful portable midi-enabled keyboard synth there is. Eight built-in synth engines, powerful effects, a four-track recorder and USB/midi connectivity give you the power to play around with your creativity on the go. The new OPLAB Musical Experimental Board lets you connect any electronic musical instruments, bringing together the beauty of Teenage Engineering design and the openness of the “tinkering with electronics” DIY culture. With sensors called Flip, Tap and Poke and Midi, Sync and USB ports, it’s an electronic musician’s dream come true. www.teenageengineering.com

QUNEO 3D MULTI-TOUCH PAD CONTROLLERI’m still not sure how to say it, but this is yet another option for your controller needs. With a nod in the direction of Roger Linn’s Linnstrument, the QuNeo offers a new angle on control pads and faders, with touch recognition in multiple dimensions. Trigger pads with 127 levels of velocity, X-Y response and continuous pressure are just some of the ways the QuNeo takes your subtle physical movements into the computer (via USB) and offers new possibilities of control and expression. It’s powerful, compact and sexy! Interestingly, Keith asked his customers to support the development of the QuNeo with a Kickstarter.com microfinance project, which is a great way for other independent inventors who might also need the help of the public to bring interesting and inspired new ideas to fruition. www.keithmcmillen.com RH

NEW HORIZONS TECHNOLOGYRichie rounds up some of the most exciting new tech around

love him. He doesn’t want to be a rock star. aphex Twin – he doesn’t put out many releases or do marketing but he can still turn up and rock it. if people can connect with the music that will always speak louder than anything.”

it’s clear the underground scene remains as strong as ever world- wide. However, america remains the biggest challenge, and there are now positive signs. insomniac, the promoters behind electric Daisy Carnival, are collaborating with my team to bring a new experience to american audiences. Loco Dice, a modern star to emerge from the underground scene, is also positive for the future.

“it’s great to see electronic dance music experience another blossoming in the Usa,” says the German DJ and producer. “eDM has finally become a topic for mainstream media, festivals are bigger than ever and the club scene is in fine shape. i feel there is a great exchange of ideas going on in

our scene, and on a bigger scale than it was in the past. That can only be a positive thing.”

i’m also encouraged by these comments from the promoter of Detroit’s influential Movement Festival, which stands out in america as a beacon of past, present and future thinking. “The national audience is beginning to learn and understand the roots and potential of eDM more and more with its ever-growing popularity,” says Jason Huvaere, “and that has resulted in an increase in attendance and artist participation in the Movement Festival every year.”

We are in a ‘year zero’ scenario for many of the people in and around this scene. The whole history of electronic dance music is there to be referred to, and knowingly or unknowingly drawn from. The possibilities are endless, reminding me – once again – of what excited me about electronic music in the first place, and further challenging my own ideas of where electronic music should, and can, go. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic. new horizons indeed. RH

Loco Dice

1. SRA ‘Phonomatik’Delayed sounds and voices take us slowly from our reality and into that of the mix. Plenty of space for the decays of sound and rhythm and a simple, infectious bassline.

2. JUSTIN JAMES ‘Suck My Soul’Justin sent me his original version of ‘suck My soul’ and over a few days we discussed it by email, allowing it to develop into its current form. a no- nonsense looping techno throbber perfected over the internet.

3. MATADOR ‘Lamana’The newest edition to our Minus/Clonk family, Matador isn’t messing around. Here you hear the Matador sound: a fine balance of melody and technique that create grooves that bring us to those early morning trance-induced states we all crave.

4. JOOP JUNIOR ‘Exclusive My Ass’straigh-up, no-messing techno that hooks us in and transports us to the amnesia dancefloor where we wait for the bass to kick and the CO2 blasts to take our heads off!

5. BRIAN GROSS ‘I Give You’Over the past few months new- comer Brian Gross has been sending me new ideas nearly daily. With a step towards Minus and a nod to classic Marc Houle, ‘i Give You’s offbeat notes give it the power and momentum to drive directly onto the beat and back onto the dancefloor.

6. NSOUND ‘Lavitsh’Developing the classic Minus sound, nsound delivers a pure groove. ‘Lavitsh’ is proof that all this Minus artist’s trips to Columbia did not go unnoticed and some of their weirdness seeped into the local population!

7. NSOUND ‘Waterfall’Here nsound develops from

minimal groove into hypnotic, mind- altering loops. if we had never left the Packard building in Detroit after our spastik party in 1994, this is what would be playing right now!

8. JORAN VAN POL ‘Untitled 2’Picking up the bass/pace, Joran brings the swing back in with this low-riding groove that winds between techno and house and shows that the Dutch sound is still very much alive and well!

9. WHyT NOyZ ‘Volcano’starting with a nearly typical modern house groove, the Whyt noyz boys quickly drop it out and take a left turn into uncharted and disorientating territory. infectious, deep and hypnotic and just what the doctor ordered – if the doctor was allowed to prescribe a heavy dose of acid (house)!

10. JOOP JUNIOR ‘Hipster Panic’Joop returns with that uncanny Dutch ability to fuse together the technical and melodic, and sucks us back into the void with our hands in the air.

11. SRA ‘Crash’Releasing the tension and energy ‘Crash’ gives us a moment to catch our breath as the space opens up and the bass envelops us.

12. MATADOR ‘Dikspring’Blending references to Lil’ Louis and classic stomping techno, Matador once again delivers a sign of things to come.

13. LEO CHOI ‘Just Kidding’all DJs have special records that need to be played at just the right moment. Dropping ‘Just kidding’ at the Minus Bermuda afterhours at Watergate last year twisted the room into a playground of melody. We’re all searching for those moments that make us feel like kids again. RH

More info at m-nus.com

YOUR NEWHORIZONS cd

Richie’s guide to your free cover CD: new music from developing artists, each following their own unique path in the ever-expanding world of electronic music

5. JOKIGEN (SAKATA BREWERy, yAMAGATA, JAPAN EST 1946)Sakata Brewery was established by five small breweries who merged to produce the best quality local sake. The predecessor of Sakata Brewery was called Hashimoto Brewery, which was established in 1844. The high quality underflow water of Mount Ukai is used for Jokigen, and this brewery uses different types of rice such as Miyama-Nishiki, Dewa-Chocho, Yamada-Nishiki and Koiomachi.

1. ISOJIMAN (ISOJIMAN BREWERy, SHIZUOKA, EST. 1830)Isojiman is considered to be one of the most popular sakes in Japan, yet it is not so easy to find it around. The natural water from Mount Fuji, the iconic mountain in Shizuoka Prefecture, gives it such refined taste, and the rice is the premium A class Yamada Nishi from Hyogo Prefecture.

2. KAMOSHIBITO KUHEIJI (BANJO BREWERy, NAGOyA, EST. 1789) A new sake from a centuries-old family brewery, Kamoshibito Kuheijiis served at world-renowned restaurants in France, including the three Michelin-starred Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris. It is known for its revolutionary, white wine-like, smooth taste that is revolutionary to the sake industry. The spring water they use is two hours away from their brewery in Nagano, and takes over 300 years to emerge from its mountain source. The rice they use is Yamada-Nishiki.

3. SOOKUU (FUJIOKA BREWERy, KyOTO, EST 1902)A very small brewery located in Fushimi in Kyoto, Fushimi is nationally known for its refined water which gives Sookuu its silky taste. The brewery closed down in 1995 because brewer /director Fujioka’s grandfather passed away, but he reopened it in 2002.

4. JUyON-DAI (TAKAKI BREWERy, yAMAGATA, JAPAN, EST 1615)Juyon-dai is most definitely one of the most hard to find sakes. The amount of production each year does not reflect the popularity of Juyon-dai, so many stores actually take part in a lottery in order to win the chance to buy some! Juyon-dai means ‘the 14th generation’, reflecting 390 years of long history.

spirit of japan

“I’m a bit of a Japan freak, quickly feeling very connected to and interested in the people, culture and customs upon my first trip nearly 20 years ago. That fascination fuels my interest in the Japanese national drink, sake. I’ve been studying in Japan under the Sake Education Council, and am now certified as a Sake Professional. Basically, that means I’ve learned a lot about the history of sake and how it’s made, and drunk enormous amounts of it along the way!

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Thank-you to Yuuki Itoh, John Gaunter and Hoichi Hasegawa for assisting with this article. Read more about Sake at John’s homepage: http://www.sake-world.com/ And further info at: http://www.hasegawasaketen.com/english/index.html RH