“Computer music is naff really, unless it has that punk feel.” It’s been a long time coming, but James Holden’s debut album is on its way. The headman of Border Community drops ‘The Idiots are Winning’ in November.
Holden watchers will know the lead track ‘Lump’ from his ‘At the Controls’ mix on Resist this year, but what should we expect from the rest of the tracks? With the press release comparing it to more album-oriented fare such as Aphex Twin, Four Tet, The Knife, Herbert and Boards of Canada, it looks like Holden has crafted a less dancefloor-oriented home listener.
“The likes of Josh Wink and Jeff Mills have inspired me to improve my DJing, but most of my other influences aren't dance orientated,” says Holden. “I've always been more into obscure bands, lo-fi guitar things and leftfield electronic stuff.”
Don’t expect sleekly programmed Ableton smoothness though. Holden may have graduated from his freeware Jeskola Buzz days, but it’s still the loose and improvisational side of electronics that fascinates him. “What I want to do is make electronic music that feels more human and more live – just letting the machines malfunction and me be barely in control of them,” says Holden. “You just need to know where to inject the life into it, and how to, and then the computer can become an instrument just like any other. Computer music is naff really, unless it has that punk feel. Those dirty bits. That's what makes it human, and that's what I'm focusing on now.”
As with all BC releases, the cover art for ‘The Idiots Are Winning’ comes via the BC website colouring-in competition. This time the cover artist is Gregory Dourde from Switzerland, who submitted a full-size canvas oil painting as his entry.
Don’t know what we’re on about? For more background to Holden and Border Community, check out RA’s Holden ’The Outsider’.
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