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Vive le Smagghe! The French DJ/producer/label boss turns in a selection of dance floor treats for the RA podcast.
Ivan Smagghe comes from an older school of DJing: Gloriously eclectic, unafraid of a wild jump in tempo, selfishly confident in his crate in the best way possible. It most certainly stems from his days at Rough Trade, educating Parisian record buyers to all manners of electronic (and otherwise) music. Since Smagghe transitioned to DJing and producing full-time, he's been stunningly prolific, churning out iconic mix CDs, guiding Kill the DJ to international prominence and bringing his open-minded sensibility to audiences around the world. For his RA podcast, he spans old and new in a set that you might find him playing at peak-time during his upcoming A Night With... in London. Until...well, we won't spoil it for you.
What have you been up to recently?
Quite a bit actually. We've moved the It's a Fine Line studio, which was quite a piece of work. Analog gear is nice but... We should be getting back to work soon now. In the meantime, I did a solo remix for French label Meant, something I have not done in ages. Also, French fashion emporium have just released a super limited promo CD of edits of mine, some taken from my blog, some not.
How and where was the mix recorded?
At home, involving the usual mish-mash of techniques, from scratchy old vinyl dusted off the shelves to the latest Traktor Plugs from Native Instruments. (Am waiting for the Kontrol S4.)
Can you tell us a little bit more about the idea behind the mix?
An idea? Hmmmm...
Think of it as a machine made out of cables all pulling out in different directions and me just trying to maintain the equilibrium, playing with the tension. I'm not really one for the 60 minutes tunnel, but it still has to have some kind of coherence, if not an "idea" or a theme. Not that simple when you want to have the old, the new, a bit of yours and some of your close guard, the electronic dark disco and the strange rock (I'm quite happy to have included a 140 BPM rockfish ending this time), the straight hypnotic feel and the rickety funk... To make it short, it's about trying to give an idea of yourself in 60 minutes. If that's possible...
You recently started a blog. Why?
It's the best way I've found to do "online" communication, MySpace and Facebook not being my kind of thing. (Some weird fans are doing that for me, even quite badly). Just a bit more personal than the rest... I actually started with two other blogs, for books and movies , then thought about doing it for the music...
We've been told you're into magic. What's your best trick?
Do magicians talk about their tricks? Hmmm... My best one may well be still being around though...
What are you up to next?
I'll be in the States and Mexico for Halloween. Getting back in the studio with IAFL as I said... We are going to produce Battant's second album, As I Ride with No Horse. Also busy with my label Kill The DJ (it's our ten year anniversary next year). We're launching a year-long series of digital releases. First are remixes from Chloe's album by Magda, Alex Smoke, George Issakidis, Jenifer Cardini and Plein Soleil; then there will be a 12-inch by RMVN, a collaboration between Roman Flugel and myself. Remixes of Battant by Capracara and Tim Holmes, a 12-inch by Clement Meyer, etc. Loooooads of stuff.
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