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Stefan Goldmann: Macro house
Todd L. Burns catches up with Berlin-based producer Stefan Goldmann, and meets a man musically obsessed.
For a producer who has released tracks on Classic, Ovum, Perlon, and Innervisions, there is shockingly little known about Stefan Goldmann. With the arrival of his fledgling new label Macro, however, that might be about to change. The tipping point? His latest single, 'Lunatic Fringe' 12", a combination of niggling synths and a choir of unknown provenance that sounds like nothing you've heard before. It's an avant garde take on the dancefloor that is seemingly a nascent development: his previous releases have by and large been anthems built expressly towards implanting a riff deep into your brain rather than messing with your preconceptions. But talking to Goldmann, it quickly becomes apparent that his latest streak of independence has deep roots. Whether it be growing up around Stockhausen records and gypsy folk songs or mixing Magda up against Mr. V in his DJ sets, Goldmann is definitely arriving center stage steeped in music of all kinds - everything from the avant garde to drum n bass.
I caught up with the talented Mr. Goldmann to talk Bulgaria, Macro Records and his unlikely dream collaborator.
Tell me about your introduction to electronic music. You've said that your first love was drum'n'bass, which is a far cry from what you make nowadays.
It's hard to say how I got introduced to electronics. At my parents' house the academic version of electronic music was always there, stuff like Stockhausen and Xenakis. As a kid I blatantly ignored that, but today I recognize that it has kind of left its mark on me. Drum'n'bass caught me in the mid '90s. I was completely blown away by the energy and the way it was crafted, you know, that whole "science" thing. All the incredible detail producers like Photek, Source Direct or Matrix were putting into the music back then sounded extraterrestrial to me. And the parties were ace - that's when I started to go clubbing, in around 1995. I even tried to become a drum 'n' bass DJ back then.
What other music were you into at the time?
I was heavily into Jeff Mills' Axis series and Autechre. Plus my continued jazz affinity from before. Around that time I also discovered the music of Steve Coleman, which was equally influential. Since I was playing bass, my first hands-on encounter of electronics wasn't synthesizers or samplers, but effects units. I tried to merge all my interests together and perform a hybrid of it live with various bands together with my friends.
How did that go?
Well, we failed back then - we were too young, had still too much to learn and were too ambitious. And I haven't really touched live music since. What remains is that the style I work in isn't that important to me. As long as I feel comfortable with it and have the feeling I can contribute something to it, it's fine. Therefore I always managed to take on what I learned from playing bass to drum'n'bass and from there to what I do now. The form can change, but I don't lose my tools.
Nowadays you're hooked in with Âme, Dixon and the Innervisions house thing. How did that come about?
I met Dixon back in the days of his WMF residency. He was very helpful with my first steps into the industry. It wasn't until quite a while later that we worked together though. With Kristian from Âme we were posting on the same message board and hooked up later. Soon the pieces fell into place and out came 'Sleepy Hollow'.
Speaking of labels, tell us about your new imprint: Macro.
When you go to a record shop and check the new releases, there seem to be hundreds of them a week. It's ridiculous. You know, there is more vinyl pressed nowadays than in the 70s when they didn't have any other commercial format. People don't spend much thought on what they produce and what they release. Labels are willing to put out mediocrity just to keep it going or in order to promote the name of the DJ who owns it. It's a shame. With Macro I'm trying to go the other way and to establish sort of a boutique label that gives outstanding stuff - plus my own creations, others have to judge on the quality there - the ultimate presentation on the music market. It works more like a gallery than like a music junk perpetuator, the ubiquitous label concept these days.
Stefan behind the decks at Weekend, Berlin: Forget glowsticks and pacifiers - the latest thing to hit clubland is obviously raver lightbulbs.
We won't put out anything just to keep the label going. The brand is just a frame for the music rather than the music fueling the brand. We spend enormous amounts of money on extensive mastering sessions, the manufacturing and appeal of the records. Everybody tries to cut costs at all ends, which is one of the reasons the quality of music is going down so rapidly. Cheap production, bad mastering, pressed to low quality vinyl - we just go in the opposite direction: A great tune presented the way it deserves is what Macro is about.
So, if I wanted to get a track on Macro, what would be the best way to do that? On your MySpace, you are very adamant about refusing to listen to digital demos.
It's a basic requirement for Macro that demos have to be sent in a physical format first. One of the reasons is people tend to mail out stuff to 200 labels because it doesn't cost a thing over the net. The problem is many don't spend a second thinking: Why do I want that label to hear my music? Do I really want them to release it? It's just: I want that out wherever. Often messages don't even address the label specifically. It's just like "Hello labels, listen to my new stuff." It reflects a general attitude to music, something hastily done on pirated software without any dedication to anything. It's that attitude that's flooding the clubs and shops with junk that bores people to death. I'm totally tired of it. If you don't want to invest two bucks in sending a CDR, you're not the kind of person I want to deal with anyway. When I started producing, I was mailing out DAT tapes - which are quite expensive - and hand written letters. My deal with Classic was my third demo.
You did a radio show called Macro before you started the label. What was that about?
The show was crazy. I had a two hour slot every month and I decided to fill it solely with mixed music - no talking at all. I would mix anything, not just house and techno, but not in a Jazzanova or clashy kind of way. I tried to bring stuff together from totally different ends from the musical spectrum, while showing what striking similarities there can be in the feel or mood of music that otherwise doesn't seem to have anything in common. For instance I would start with a piece from the 'Outland' soundtrack, blend it into John McLaughlin Trio, then an ambient track I produced myself, Plastikman and some French freeform stuff following after that before resolving in a Afro-Cuban voodoo ceremony.
Along those same lines, you claim John Zorn as the one artist that you'd want to collaborate with, living or dead. Why is that?
I had named him in an interview since I'm really bad at collaborating with dance producers. The reason is mainly that my studio is very incompatible with others' environments since it's all hardware - you can't import an Ableton or Logic session. I never needed that, but for others it's an issue. I also spent some time on my productions - when someone is in town for two days, that's not enough time. So I'm much more interested in working with musicians rather than engineers - I'm an engineer myself and four hands at a knob don't necessarily improve the results.
What do you think it might end up sounding like?
Well, what I love about Zorn is his open mind. He's done everything from free improvisation to opera to death metal. He has basically invented cut up and produced a band like Mr. Bungle. His electronic compositions really blow my mind, stuff like Clavicle of Solomon on his IAO album for instance. So I'm sure his first sentence wouldn't be "OK, give me a 4/4 kick at 126 bpm" if you know what I mean. It's all about putting back the edge in music.
Do you see yourself making tracks outside of the traditional house paradigm anytime soon?
Definitely. I'm already doing that, like the track I produced for Richie Hawtin's DE9 Transitions album. There are no drums at all. Rich is using some more strange stuff I produced in his sets, but puts a kick under it. I also did experimental electroacoustic stuff for some odd avant-garde festivals, like Synthese in Bourges. That's something I'm really interested in: shifting things to a level beyond house or techno. I will for sure release something in that direction on Macro in the future. The time needs to be right.
Your MySpace says that you have a home in Sofia. What is your connection to Bulgaria?
Part of my family is from there and I spent a good deal of my childhood in Sofia. I still stay some time every year. Some of my best friends are from Sofia, so I can't escape it.
"The more you can set your music apart from anything else, the more you stand out."
Do you think that being around the Balkan music there has helped give you a different perspective?
Of course. That's roots, background. Though I rarely cite Bulgarian music explicitly. When I was a kid you couldn't escape traditional Bulgarian music in the media there. It was ubiquitous, but my friends and I hated it. That was a class thing. We came from a very western oriented part of society and that music was considered rural and old fashioned. We wanted heavy metal. Anyway, it gets stuck in your head and you understand it - the rhythms, the melodies - when you listen to that all the time.
Was there anyone specifically that you did like? Or do like now?
Well, two things changed the attitude: Theodossi Spassov, an incredible musician who crossed traditional stuff into jazz and made it interesting for the urban audience and later Goran Bregovic, whose soundtrack to the film 'Underground' became THE party soundtrack for my generation throughout the years of anarchy. (Bulgaria went through an economic breakdown and quite a bit of political chaos in the '90s) You can't imagine what things I've seen going on to that music. Including bullets fired at the ceiling in an apartment. Never again did I have so much fun in my life.
Let's talk a bit about DJing: Compared to many in Berlin, it seems like you don't play out very much. Is this a conscious decision?
I play fairly enough. I'm a bit paranoid regarding tinnitus and possibly losing my hearing. That's really an issue when you are producing music. So I limited my performances to three or four a month. The good thing is that that way I have a bit of choice where to play. I mean, when you play three nights every weekend it's like wherever they want to book you. Sometimes I get requests where I feel the audience there wouldn't want to hear what I'm doing. They just request you because they heard somewhere that this guy is in demand, he played this and that place or whatever. But in fact they expect me to play banging electro or something. I'd rather turn these down.
It seems like your charts mix a lot of deep house with Holden-style trance elements. How does that go down on the dancefloor? Do you find half the floor leaving when you switch gears between the two?
I don't find the recent Holden stuff trancey at all. In fact I feel a lot of deep house producers and DJs employ much more trance and progressive elements than the entire Border Community stable altogether, but sell it as deep. Also I want tracks to have some development, really something happening in there. You rarely ever find that in deep house records, it's mostly too static. I have to balance them with something with more attention to detail in the arrangement. No one has ever left a floor because I played James. It's rather like many who find more traditional deep house boring get into it when it is presented in a fresh way.
So it's all in the presentation.
Yeah. For instance, when I play a Mr. V record between two Magda remixes the whole thing gets a totally new meaning - both, Magda and Mr. V. Also people who usually hate minimal dig it when it is mixed with something they love. Or Kerri Chandler blended with Fairmont's 'Flight of the Albatross' - awesome! Instead of playing a trancey deep house record, I prefer one that is really straight deep and put it together with something that's pretty much 2007. I don't like to play like I wish I was there in 1987. I prefer presenting things that in my opinion stood the test of time and mix them with stuff that's totally future forward.
Finally, I have to ask: what's up with the choir on 'Lunatic Fringe.' Did it come first or was it the last thing that you added on the track?
I had that recording of the vocal and arranged everything else around it. It's a great lesson in terms of how it pays to go on roads less traveled. For commercial success you don't need to stick to any standards. Just the opposite is true. The more you can set your music apart from anything else, the more you stand out. I mean, check Villalobos' 'Fieheuer Zieheuer'. It doesn't resemble anything out there and it was an instant hit. That's a bit like what happened to 'Lunatic Fringe.'
Have you been surprised at the huge response?
Sure. I mean, people's first reaction is "What the hell is this?" and the next thing is they get hit by the beauty of the vocal. I didn't sing it myself so I can honestly say: that performance is one in a million. It's so intense that I was crying in the studio. Then that apocalyptic synth line is set against it and it's just complete frenzy. It didn't surprise me that people like Ivan Smagghe or Ricardo Villalobos are on it, but I didn't expect it to be picked up by some pretty conservative DJs too or to be played at all the huge festivals. So I was pretty surprised it really crossed a lot of boundaries.
"What begins as "awww, look what our quirky little friend has done," turns by track's end into "holy shit, look at what our quirky little friend has done."
"Skip the A and go directly to the solid groove on the B – Stefan's got the zeitgeist down to a T." "File with 'Mouth to Mouth', 'Full Clip' and 'Doppelwhipper'. This is really the sound that defined 2006."
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Published / Monday, 15 October 2007
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