- Africaine 808's "Everybody Wants To" came about from a fishing trip, when Dirk Leyers and DJ Nomad (AKA Hans Reuschl) met a man called Blind D.D. outside a tackle shop. He was jamming on an electronic organ, which they recorded on the spot and paid him for in bourbon. (Blind D.D. refused to set foot in a studio.) If that sounds like a folk tale—the sort that sprouts new details after enough tellings—then it's in keeping with the serendipity of the track's talkbox funk, where every note feels like a happy, sloppy accident. Leyers and Reuschl write music in this way, too: inspiration might come from a salvaged instrument, or exhaustive studio experiments. You can sense their approach in the squidgy insides of "Everybody Wants To"—from the whistles and mouth pops, to the freeform hand percussion and organ squelches, nothing besides the duo's ever-present TR-808 feels automated.
After Lagos, New York / Zombie Jamboree in 2014, Everybody Wants To is Leyers and Reuschl's second disco-laced EP. But all that these two tracks have in common with their predecessor is an excellent restlessness—rhythms and harmonies tip-toe around each other as if crammed together in a squat. The "Disco Dance" version of "Everybody Wants To" squeezes a few extra minutes from the original. Leyers and Reuschl also tried something unusual for their mixes: they left the tape with Blind D.D.'s organ part on it in a tackle box, where "some of the creepy crawlies crawled into the tape and stank it all up." A more credible explanation wouldn't do justice to Everybody Wants To, a record brought to life by a touch of fantasy.
TracklistA Everybody Wants To
B Everybody Wants To (12" Disco Dance Mix)