Perc Trax is ten. That’s kind of strange when you think about it. Given the pointed antagonism of early releases (read: songs about lazy fat people, tapeworms, the inconvenience of violence delaying dinner) and sheer brute force the label’s quintessential mesh of curdled 303s, serrated edges and gleeful overdriven kickdrums carry, getting to any milestone has to be regarded as a minor triumph. Plus, it’s well over halfway to Happa‘s full age.
But inexplicable as it may be, Ali Wells‘ namesake label has survived a full decade in business, so we thought a commemorative party was in order, featuring the oldhands – Perc himself, as well as fellow miscreant Truss – plus the (relatively) fresher faces of Randomer and Happa.
Mr Perc apparently didn’t have enough on his plate already, so he kindly opened up to a global array of Boiler Room worker drones for questioning. What a champ.
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• Work Harder •
How do you balance the responsibilities of running a record label, and that of just being a producer / DJ? Do you see them as intrinsically related or does one affect the time you can input into the other, and the success both can have?
— [Raj Chaudhuri; Head of Music]
To me they are completely interconnected and what I learn from one part feeds back into the other parts of my working life. The label management stuff definitely reduces the time I have for producing, and often has to take priority over everything. But I love all the aspects of my job and would hate to do just one. If the workload of one means I have to focus solely on that for a while then that is no problem at all.
Regarding CD1 of the compilation: Was it a selective process with a batch of unreleased tracks? Or were they created for the sole purpose of being compiled to represent a quintessential Perc sound through the years?
— [Joshua Kracer; LATAM Editorial]
They are mostly tracks produced especially for the compilation after I approached each producer asking for contributions, with a few exceptions. The Sawf and Happa tracks were written before I spoke to them but are still quite recent. My remix of Clouds has been kicking around for a while and Turbo could not find a way to release it after commissioning it, so kindly let me have it. As a package, it’s a great indication of where Perc Trax is at present, rather than representing the range of sounds the label has released over the last decade.
How do you tackle A&Ring? Let’s use Forward Strategy Group as an example: after their first 12” almost every release has been with Perc Trax, including one of only a handful of albums you’ve released. How did that progress? Did you welcome them into the fold clean off the bat?
— [Gabriel Szatan; Senior Editorial / UK Programmer + Host]
It’s a strange one. It is quite hard to get onto the label, but once you are releasing with me you have a lot of freedom with what you put out. I get a lot of demos but most of the artists on our books have been invited by me to record purposefully for the label. I heard the first Forward Strategy Group 12” on their eponymous label and instantly got in touch with them. Like all the other artists they are not exclusive to Perc Trax — if we get on personally and I like their music and they like the way I release and promote it then we continue.
Albums are such a huge commitment in terms of time and money that I would never really want to do more than one or two a year–currently there are none planned for 2015. With FSG and Sawf it was a case that I knew they were prolific and covering enough different sounds to make an interesting album so I asked them if they’d consider an LP. There has to be range in a Perc Trax album, 10 bangers in a row is the last thing I want to be putting out.
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• Rotting Sound •
What are the essential industrial records that influenced you? Did labels like Ant-Zen, Hymen or Hands Productions play a part?
— [Michail Stangl; Director of Berlin / “loud shirt dude“]
I know some of the Ant-Zen and Hands stuff, a lot of it was introduced through conversations with Adam X. He’d mention them in passing and I’d make a mental note to look into them more. To be honest I am not that clued up on the rhythmic noise side of things, for me it was always about Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle to start with and then I moved on to Test Dept, SPK and Einstürzende Neubauten, then some EBM. My knowledge of industrial and its many sub-genres is far from authoritative: I know very little Coil for example or much non-UK European industrial music outside of Neubauten.
What’s one piece of gear that you don’t ever want to turn your back on?
— [Gosia Herman; Director of Poland / former Head of Production]
The boring answer is my laptop. The classic answer is my Jomox Mbase11 and my current answer would be my modded 4ms Noise Swash pedal.
“Volley” reminds me almost of an evil boss track on a 8-bit video game. Do you usually start with a clean undistorted base and then proceed to saturate everything in the mixdown process to get those signature lo-fi but sharp transients?
— [Joshua Kracer]
No, things are distorted or overdriven on the way into the computer as they are recorded. The mixdown process just focuses on levels, EQing and controlling the dynamics with compression and limiting. On “Volley” the core rhythm is a Vermona Kick Lancet kick going through both channels of a Deucetone Rat pedal. It was recorded and tweaked for the length of track and then the other sounds were added on top. The track was finished in 3 or 4 hours which is very, very rare for me.
During “Two Hundred” there’s a bunch of shouting at around the 2 minute mark. Who’s shouting and what are they saying?
— [Matt Chlebek; UK Programmer]
It’s a British cabbie who has his own YouTube channel where he just parks his cab and films himself talking about an issue currently in the news. He always starts off talking quite calmly about it and by the end he is swearing and shouting like a maniac. This particular video was about trying to borrow money to buy a house in London’s increasingly costly housing market. A strange sample choice for a techno record, I know.
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• Interpretations •
Do you think your music has a different sound depending on the context you put it in or is it predestined to send a particular message across?
— [Gosia Herman]
I think it does. People are a lot more receptive to a noise or experimental track when it is included on an album. Otherwise some people assume it is just some throwaway track, added at the end of a 12″ simply to fill up space. For my album and increasingly my EPs too I want there to be a message and an angle, both for the people listening to it to make a connection to me and what I am feeling, and to help the press approach the release intelligently.
I want there to be artwork and track titles that make people think, not just a white label with A1/B1/B2 titles or, worse still, some hollow concept like saying your album is inspired by space travel, some planet’s moons or some author’s vision of the future. That kind of thing just leaves me cold. I’d rather focus on my life and feelings and leave the big themes to people that can tackle them better, which is generally not electronic music producers.
Wicker and Steel was met with some over-interpretation as to its relation to the state of modern Britain. You mentioned that “London, We’ve Got You Surrounded” was less a violent clarion call for political upheaval and more a comment on the Home Counties and their curious relation with the capital. Does it bemuse you to receive this level of commentary?
— [Will Davenport; UK Editorial]
I love it! It fascinates me and yes, sometimes I am bemused by it. Once you release music, you lose control of it and people build their own unique and unpredictable relationships with it. The connection with the London riots of a few years ago is bizarre – I think it has actually made me more politically aware and more confident to express my feelings about the current social and political situation in the UK through my music. If people are going to shoe-horn your music into some kind of political theory then you might as give them a few clues to your own feelings on the subject so there is a better chance of you being interpreted correctly.
On that point, you gave a really interesting interview lately where you once again hinted at political undertones in your music. Is it fleeting, or an ever-present consideration?
— [Hayley Walkerridge; Berlin Production]
It comes and goes. Not in a crass way where it is tacked on to a track or release that needs a bit more personality, but more in the way that sometimes you are really angry about the present situation, whereas sometimes these issues are a bit further back in your mind and you get on with your day without thinking about it too much. I don’t agree with either complete anarchy or head in the sand apathy, I’d just like people to be aware of the wider situation and how it affects others rather than only jumping into action when something directly affects them.
The name Slowly Exploding implies expansion/progress through the label’s years of operation. Whereabouts does Perc Trax stand in this explosion heading into 2015?
— [Joshua Kracer]
I have no idea where Perc Trax stands in the current techno or wider electronic music scene. It is impossible to have an objective view when you are in the eye of the storm. I think the majority of people see Perc Trax as a techno label and that is fine with me as long as they also understand that it is not purely about techno, and are open-minded enough to investigate releases like my EP with Neubauten. For once I have very few plans for the label as we approach a new year. My main focus is for the label to continue to break away from the current three or four safe and acceptable templates for underground techno that 90% of producers and labels slavishly adhere to.
More broadly, how do you perceive the growth in the UK techno scene over the 10 years since Perc Trax was born – we’ve seen a big flurry of new artists break over recent years. Do you think that it’s developing its own unique sound in the way that Berlin has? What is it that makes the UK sound unique (if you think that it is)?
— [Jack Hart; Business Development]
There is definitely a UK sound developing, it is multifaceted but there are still some elements that most current UK producers share. The clubbing culture here affects things a lot: short sets due to earlier club closing time and stacked line-ups affect how DJs play and therefore what producers produce for those DJs. Now more so than in recent memory UK producers have the skills, confidence and innovation to make a sound that is purely their own and has few recognisable links to the classic themes of Detroit and Berlin techno.
It is not a conscious thing and is not meant to be two-fingers to any other scene but it is something very distinctive and recognisable. It is really starting to spread now, especially to the Netherlands and Belgium, where they seem to love this sound. There is a great essay to be written about the cultural and economic factors that have shaped the rise, fall and rise of UK techno over the years…but I’m not the man to write it.
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• Many Paths •
What do you have in store for this month’s NTS residency?
— [Charles Drakeford; UK Programmer + Host]
A bit of everything really. Anyone expecting two hours of dancefloor techno are in for a shock. There are enough weekly techno podcasts to satisfy that demand already. My first show featured everything from SL2 to SPK and as the shows go on I think the range of music I play will continue to widen. Hopefully people will stick with me for the ride and I’ll pass on some useful musical knowledge along the way!
In a Sophie’s Choice type scenario, what would be the three releases from the Perc catalogue you’d choose to save?
— [David Dicembre; Director of Japan]
Great question. My own My Head Is Slowly Exploding 12″ would be saved, it was one of handful of records that changed everything for me – plus, how could you not save remixes by Chris Carter and Ancient Methods? Avus’ “Fancy Arse” is just a great acid track and having James Holden do a remix for only our second release was priceless in terms of gaining recognition and respect. Ekoplekz’ Westerleigh Works would be the third. Not so much for the Richard H Kirk remix (which I love) but it was the first time the label had success with a non-dancefloor release, which gave me a lot of confidence to mix up more experimental releases with those honed directly at clubs and DJs.
Because you release and play out hard-as-nails techno music for a living, do you just listen to cuddly pansy boy music when you are in the confines of your home?
— [Raj Chaudhuri]
I can’t stand DJs that say things like, “Of course I don’t listen to techno away from the club.” I listen to techno at home, both in a professional context and for pleasure, but I listen to a lot more outside of it. In terms of pop there are many favourites that you might not expect me to reach for. I’m not really one for ballads but Pet Shop Boys, Human League and Abba get played a lot. Stephen Tin Tin Duffy’s “Kiss Me” is an 80s classic that I’ve been listening to a lot recently, plus “Forever Your Girl” is named after a pretty much perfect Paula Abdul track. Come to mention it, I was just dancing around the kitchen to Man 2 Man Meets Man Parrish’s “Male Stripper”.
Don’t worry: it’s not all clanging steel pans around here.
Can Truss please explain more about the bees?
— [Matt Chlebek]
Haha, some friends of mine pointed out Truss’ ascent into government recently. I’ll ask him about the bees next time I see him, but I am sure he means them no harm.
