Lachrymal and hypnotic, Louderbach’s music connects ascetic minimal techno and post-punk final experiments. Their second album Autumn renews the way we imagine those 2 types of music.
In these times of 80s revival, some might have forgotten that the 80s were not all about perky electro-pop and the advent of radio-tuned dance music. In the most hidden dark corners of post-punk and experimental production, many artists were pushing back the limits of music production (and often of moral as well). That’s this kind of music that Louderbach spreads. The duo is a project lead since 2004 between Los Angeles and Berlin by producer Troy Pierce (Minus) and his friend Gibby Miller. Together they form a weird couple representing definitely the current union of post punk and electro, but on the dark side. They agreed to throw some light on the shadiest zones of this dark album. Transatlantic dialogue.
Troy, when you were in New York, you were famous for the minimal club nights you organized. Was it for you a way to fight against the city’s disco and punk-rock roots?
Troy Pierce: The truth is that I’m not sure I was really fighting anything. I was just really involved in techno and thus, I was thinking that maybe other people might be as well. Then, it was not fair that those people didn’t have a place to meet. I just wanted to gather all those who had the same passion as I did. I didn’t care if they were going to be 50 or 200, the important thing being to get together with the music. More mundanely speaking, I also wanted to be able to play the tracks I liked so as to earn enough money to pay myself a cab to get home once the party is over.
How did you and Gibby meet?
TP: We met very simply at a common friend’s party in New-York. At that time, he was very into punk (and still is). He came to me and asked me how I got to know the music I was playing. We immediately got along and we started seeing each other. We have many interests in common, including a bitter sense of humor.
Since Enemy Love in 2006, Louderbach’s music sounds rather cold and minimal. It makes me think of this cold wave and Indus scene back in the 80s: Coil, Throbbing Gristle, Joy Division, and even New Order for the dancefloor side. Were you involved in this scene before making electronic music?
TP: In these times of 80s revival, some might have forgotten that the 80s were not all about perky electro-pop and the advent of radio-tuned dance music In fact, not really. I knew this music since Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb, but I never was part of that scene, not as a musician.
And today?
TP: Yes, I would say that I’m currently discovering lots of things about this period. Gibby knows this music very well and he made me discover several bands whose existence I didn’t even know about. It’s a very rich period, which productions are still very relevant today. But even if our music with Louderbach sounds close to it, I’m still not considering myself as a part of that movement.
Louderbach is not really a tribute to that 80s movement either? It’s not what we could call a nostalgic project?
TP: At the very beginning we were not thinking it that way, but as time went by, I must say it occurred to me it could be. Besides I think the concepts of “minimal wave” or “minimal post-punk” sound well. It’s very relevant today, while everybody is rediscovering that period. This kind of label is always a bit stupid of course, but this movement is widely responsible for what we became. It’s quite obvious when you listen to Plastikman, Baby Ford or Gary Numan in Japan for example.
Do you think that the ascetic side of minimal techno particularly owes those bands?
TP: It owes some bands for sure! It owes production and rhythmic to Bauhaus and Joy Division for example. Two of my favorite bands ever! Some of their tracks are in the vanguard, so uncluttered and strange… For me it’s already minimal techno: uncluttered and strange music, music coming from some other planet.
Gibby, you are involved in the punk, post-punk, Indus and in the vanguard movements. What touches you in Troy’s music?
Gibby Miller: I grew up in LA listening to lots of punk, post punk, indus and so on music. I started minimal techno when I became a DJ around 2000/2001. It was a progression that made sense to me because I was very much into cold wave, minimal synth music, classical electro, dark ambient, that kind of thing. Minimal techno and its clicking sound, its uncluttered side and its austerity were already inside me. I immediately loved it. I consider Troy’s music and minimal techno in general, perfect music: spare and straight to the point.
You’re managing a label called Dais records that distributes that kind of music…
GB: That’s right. I manage Dais with my best friend Ryan, who is the manager of Genesis P. Orridge. And together we release rare stuff of Genesis P. Orridge (the Coum Transmissions time for example), and of other new artists we love. We also dig up beautiful dark music from the past, unobtainable records and we try to get in touch with the artists to re-press it. We are specialized in limited record pressing: 300-500 copies. And all our releases are tailor-made, hand-numbered and so on.
You live very far from each other. Isn’t it very complicated to carry through your collaboration?
Troy Pierce: Not at all ! Of course it would be nicer if we lived closer from each other, if he lived here in Berlin. I think he would enjoy it and we could probably produce more and faster, but the distance doesn’t matter that much in the end. I’m already happy that we can make music together, and if it’s the way we must make it...
Besides, how did you work on Autumn practically speaking? By mail or together in a studio? How long did it take you for one track for example?
TP: In fact, I’m more used to working by myself, on my own. Then I send a track to Gibby when something interesting comes out and he sends back to me the lyrics he writes for it. However we spent a week together here in Berlin and we kept on refining the sound online, through the Internet. It’s difficult to give you the accurate amount of time we spent on one track because sometimes we worked on it again afterwards, and all tracks were evolving differently. Sometimes, I could work several weeks for just one track and put it aside when I got bored just to work on it again a long time after, and sometimes just abandon it.
And what about the final mix?
TP: It took a lot of time for that record in fact. I had never worked with so many vocals. It’s totally new to me, so it took me a long time. I have to admit that it nearly drove me crazy at one moment. That’s the way I am, naturally obsessive, but that time it was worse than ever: there were moments when I just lost my grip.
Talking about this, Gibby, your lyrics talk about love in a very dark way. It’s always about loss, bitterness, renunciation...
GM: I think Louderbach’s music is full of love songs and there is a side of love that includes betrayal, despair and control. I think we spend our whole life trying to control ourselves (and others) when it comes to passion and sorrow.
If you were not making music, how would you express your creativity?
GM: I already create T-shirts, record covers, posters. I also do photos. But it’s all linked to music. For me, music is THE way!
Interview by Maxence Grugier
Louderbach, Autumn (M_nus / La Baleine) Information: www.myspace.com/louderbach
Troy Pierce: www.myspace.com/troypierceminus Dais Records: www.daisrecords.com |
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