Jesse F Keeler (aka JFK) and Al-P of the Daft-Punk-ish duo MSTRKRFT (pronounced ‘mastercraft’) have been making jagged, chopped-up waves across America’s warehouses and dingy nightclubs, and are now bringing their electrofied, rock-spiked stew to Pacha this Saturday.
Never heard of them? These kids from Canadialand are the sleeper hit of ’06 and ’07, remixing indie-rock anthems from the Panthers, Bloc Party, and Keeler’s former group DFA79. If you haven't seen the milkshake-covered secretaries of 'Easy Love' or the singing nipples of 'Sexy Results,' your wet dreams are sorely missing out.
The low down: MSTRKRFT = punk, disco, house, electro, techno, rock and all that foul stuff between the cracks. Sound nasty? You bet it is. And heads will be lining down the street to dance knee-deep in their glittery grime.
I sat down with a hung-over Jesse F. Keeler at Winter Music Conference to squeeze out some sweet n’ tangy juice…
Clubplanet: Why did you decide to do the tour with Digweed?
JFK: We wanted to do something different. I think it makes people look at Digweed and us differently. It shows a side of us that people didn’t know about before. We’re also trying to bridge a gap between our underground and his mainstream world.
Do you see your work going more mainstream?
Of course. I think it’s going to expand and get bigger. But if I didn’t think that, then what the hell am I doing?
What do you look for in a song to remix?
Good vocals; everything else is going to get scrapped anyway. Vocals are the most important thing. It’s kind of unfortunate. That’s why we say ‘no’ to some remixes—because the vocals are dumb.
Do you consider yourselves pioneers?
No. Wait, Pioneer mixers?
No, pioneers of your genre.
Is Pioneer a genre? Riding horses and making log cabins?
Uh, ok. Nevermind. What are you guys working on right now?
A log cabin.
A log cabin?
I think I missed a really important word from your last question.
Alright, take 2. Do you consider yourselves pioneers in the music scene?
No. I think it’s everybody’s goal to try to do something special or different. Something that helps them create an identity. Isn’t everyone always trying to do something that people take notice of? And is that considered being a pioneer? If it does, then so be it.
Where do you foresee the electro scene heading?
Luckily we’re at a time when kids are realizing that having a laptop with music production software is better than buying a guitar, because then they can be their own band. Kids are collaborating over the internet and doing things a different way.
Electro and technology—who would have thought?
As our forms of media and technology change, it seems pretty backwards to live in denial of that and not take advantage of it. I think this next generation of kids has really embraced electro as a way of expressing themselves because dancing is fun and you don’t need to get radio play to be successful. They just need club play which is a fun game trying to make a song and getting it into the right DJ’s hand.
Ah, democracy at work.
It’s an open floor to everyone; there’s no Clear Channel or whoever getting involved—just a big open playing field. I mean, I’ve played drums since I was like, a baby, but this is so much cooler than a bunch of big noisy boxes. Not to mention trying to find five other people that have the same or similar ideas. Great music has been made that way, but I think this next generation won’t be interested in that. People don’t write letters, they send text messages. The antiquated way of doing things will be phased out.
Wow. Good answer. Here’s a bonus point: If you shot your music into outerspace, what would you hope that alien life would say about it?
Ah. I don’t know if that’s even possible. Maybe they’ll think, oh, these guys don’t even know they were influenced by so-and-so famous alien from their planet. Oh, look, there are a lot of similar things happening. So, yeah, that’s what we do, we make alien music.
It is the music of the future. But what’s one thing you would change about the present?
No more bad sound systems. They all have to go. Don’t tell us to play at a party and not have a real sound system. It’s depressing. You come in, and have all this music that people have agonized over so it sounds the best as possible and then you can’t even hear anything that’s happening in the song. I hate that.
You’re in luck. Pacha has a great system.
(laughing) I am not worried at all. That’s absolutely the least of my worries. I’m very confident that the sound system at Pacha will be amazing.
What’s next?
Well, we’re going to go to the moon for a little while (laughing). We’re actually working on another record right now. And yeah, that’s about it. We’re just working on that. And we’re going to keep going until it’s done.
You seem a little sick.
I’ve been up since six or seven in the morning. Smoking and drinking.
That’s how you should be spending your time in Miami.
That’s why we’re here.
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Buy your tickets now for MSTRKRFT.
Check out MSTRKRFT's videos for Easy Love and Sexy Results.
Buy The Looks at Amazon.com.
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