Arne Loeffel
Digitaria - Brazilian Elektro...
**How long did it take you to finish the Digitaria
Debut LP?
We have been playing together on Digitaria since 2002... We have our own
studio in our city, Belo Horizonte , in Brazil . It's Brazil 's third
largest city, with more than 3 million people... Our studio is our lab,
our home, and we have lived our best moments there - you can always find
us there, there's no time to begin and no time to stop playing and composing...
So we were writing music together since 2002... In the first six months
of 2005 we worked more seriously on the tracks production, as we were
really focusing on the album. On the second half of the year (when the
songs were ready) we got in touch with an old friend of ours, John Ulhoa.
He is the mastermind of one of brazilian's biggest bands, Pato Fu, and
we decided together he could help us on the album's production - we wanted
someone not from the band in the process... So we took everyting to his
studio and finished and mixed the album there. That's the story so far,
but we keep on playing and composing. We will never stop.
**And why you choose the name "Digitaria"?
It's the name of a album by The Anti Group,
or TAGC a side project of electronic music pioneers ClockDVA.
We thought it was a beautiful word and tried to discover what did it mean...
So we learned that it was the name of a star known by the African tribe
Dogon in the last thousands of years. All their culture is based around
this star and a mythical figure that came from there to help the people
from this tribe. All the details from this star called Digitaria was known
by the Dogons, like it's size, position, rotation speed, etc... All these
things were known as a simple myth from the tribe, until the 1900's, when
astronomers discovered that this planet really existed... And it was exactly
like they knew for thousands of years... And it is an invisible star,
could not be seen with the naked eye... And somehow the Dogons really
knew it... There is no explanation for that... That's a very beautiful
story behind the name... We love it.
**Could you please talk about your musical
backgrounds and musical inspirations?
Well, we are four people with four very different backgrounds and tastes...
In the 90s we had lots of bands and musical experiences here in Brazil
... Rock bands, techno, drum'n'bass and industrial projects, electroacoustic
acts... Everything we wanted to play and try... We love good music - rock,
techno, electro, concrete music... From Radiohead to Altern8, from Manic
Street Preachers to Front242, from Tiga to Leonard Cohen, from Shamen
to Vitalic... We really do not care about genres or music styles, we like
good music made by open-mind people... Everything that touches our hearts.
**You have a very eclectic and unique
sound, like similar with the Gigolo sound. What can you say about your
sound? It is electro but with, ebm, pop, punk, techno all inside…
We simply play the music we want to. When we are in the studio, we simply
do not think about what we should or shouldn't do... We try to have no
artistic boundaries. We just feel what should be done and do that. We
love the energy of punk and EBM and all the possibilities of electronic
music and electronic edition, and we use all the tools we have to make
the music we want... Sometimes is may sound like an electropop song, sometimes
it may sound like a techno track... There's no problem about that, if
they sound like Digitaria. We love records like Radiohead's Kid A, for
example - all the songs are very different, but the album is perfect...
It's better than an album with 15 similar songs... That would make us
sleepy.
**How did you get in touch with Hell and
Gigolo Records?
We have been playing for six months when we first heard the American Gigolo
I compilation, mixed by Tiga... We went crazy… Everything in that
record touched us in a very special way – the sounds, the voices,
the energy… Of course we were very influenced by the Gigolo sound…
We spent an year listening to this CD over and over and over again...
In 2002 Fabiano travelled to Italy , where he went to a private party
with DJ Hell, Und, Adriano Canzian and I-Robots… He met DJ Hell
and gave him a demo CD and a picture, and told him we were a Brazillian
electronic band and we'd love to work with Gigolo… Two months after
that Hell wrote us "Let's Get Together... I'm coming to Brazil next
month"… So he came to spend four weeks , we talked a lot, played
together and became really good friends…. Fabiano met him again
in Barcelona (where he played soccer in the Gigolo Team, with Tiga, James
Murphy, 2manyDJs…), and went to Berlin to visit Gigolo's office…
In January 2006 Hell came back to Brazil again, and we played some gigs
together again… Hell is a very cool and intelligent person. We have
a very sublime friendship…
**You are from Belo Horizonte . Can you
talk about the electro scene in Brazil and the crowd there?
Brazil is a melting pot full of energy... There are lots of clubs in the
whole country with very cool parties, DJs and beautiful people. There
are tons of electro parties here, always mixing rock with electronic music,
beats with vocals, breakbeats and oldschool. Artists like DJ Hell, Vitalic
and Alter Ego are very popular here … Brazilian people are very
happy, creative, curious and friendly, and this way of living influences
our music and art - everybody wants to know what's behind the latest news,
everyone wants to make something different… Brazilian artists love
to mix influences and genres, and so there are lots of new good music
coming from the streets… There are lots of cool electronic artists
around, like DJ Marky, Patife, Zemaria, Menorah, Johann Heyss, Montage,
Harry, etc…
**What about South America in general.
It seems that there is a cool minimal scene there. Mutek is now held at
Chile for example and we hear that Brazilians love drum&bass or techno
very much.
In the 90s Techno and Drum'n'Bass was everywhere in Brazil . Lots of clubs
and DJs, it was impossible to ignore that… Lots of rock clubs began
to play electronic music, it was a real fever, a huge explosion, and there
were lots of DJs that became know worldwide, like DJ Marky, Patife, Anderson
Noise and MauMau… Drum'n'bass and techno really invaded the streets,
from the most trendy club to the most suburbian ones… Nowadays all
this hype is a bit gone, and rock, electro and minimal are the top genres…
We have some famous electro bands in Brazil … It is really a cool
moment for us, everyone is curious, and we have been traveling and playing
a lot… W e know that there are very strong scenes in other South
American countries… Argentina , Chile , Colombia … We have
some contacts and we really hope to play there still in 2006…
**Which tracks are your favourites on the album?
That's a very hard question. I think the album speaks by itself like a
whole. It has a beginning, a middle and an end… We wanted to make
it that way, an album to be heard entirely at least once… So all
the songs are a part of the process, and we love them equally… When
we were making the album we didn't think on this or that song as a single
or as a special song… When it was ready, DJ Hell listened to it
and choose 'Teen Years' to be the first single…
On live gigs we love to play tracks like "Kinetic", "Dogon",
"Teen Years", "New Ghosts" and "Nonsense",
a track that was still not released but is one of our favourites...
**Your track "Teen Years" is
like the Chris Korda
style. Is he one of your favourites amongst the Gigolo artists?
Of course we love Chris Korda's music... He is on of our favourite Gigolos,
with very cool tunes like "Save the Planet Kill Yourself" and
"Six billion Humans can't be wrong"... We also love his atittude
and the 'philosophy' - there is a very punk sort of feeling behind his
art...
Besides him we love the music of lots of other artists that released music
on Gigolo... Hell himself, Dopplereffekt,
Japanese Telecom, Fischerspooner, Miss Kittin, Kiko, Richard Bartz, Abe
Duque, Adriano Canzian, Tiefschwarz, Tuxedomoon, David Caretta...
People who are pushing music forwards in the 21st century...
**It is Gigolo's first digital only release
right? So they really trust you on this subject? What do you feel about
the digital media…
Well, digital media is a reality nowadays, there's no doubt about it...
We like it because it's cheaper and easier to use, you may carry and send
it anywhere... In Europe the album is going to be a MP3 release only,
but in South America it was released as a regular CD... We are Gigolo's
first MP3-only release... Of course in the first moment we thought it
would be strange, but we decided to trust on the power of the MP3... Music
technology is always moving forwards... Vinyl, Tapes, CDs... All they
had their rise and fall... And now there is no doubt that MP3s are the
world's most popular format.
**This summer you will be touring Germany
with the sponsorship of Brazil . Can you talk about this happening a little
bit…
In June the World Cup begins in Germany , and the Brazilian government
wanted some brazilian artists to tour Germany , showing our music and
culture to the world - from very folkloric groups to vanguard electronic
acts... Digitaria was one of the selected artists, and so we are touring
Europe from June 15th to August 15th... As our label is from Germany ,
it couldn't be better... They are booking us, trying to schedule as many
gigs as possible... Our concerts are very intense, and we believe the
european ones are going to be unforgettable... We are very happy and proud
to live in a country that believes and supports electronic music.
**What about football, are you in to that?
Of course! Every brazilian has football inside somehow. It's more than
a game, it's almost a dance, everything may change with a glance... It
gathers the spirits of friendship and competition in a big moment of happiness...
DJ Hell also loves football, and in the last summer Fabiano played in
Barcelona in the Gigolo Team. Of course they won....
**Aggression, lust and emotion, which
one is more important for Digitaria?
All of them. Everything has its own balance, the yin and the yang... Love,
hate, life, death, music, noise... Every life detail is important in our
life and in our art. We are four people, with four differents kind of
energy, and when we are together in the studio or in the stage, there
is a very powerful force among us...
**What do you think about the general
electro scene and music?
We love electro, thou we do not think that we make only electro music...
We always try to have our minds and hearts empty of formulas when we are
playing or composing music...
Electro brought back the human factor to the electronic music... Finally
humans and machines are cohexisting peacefully, and we think electro was
really important to make this union... 90s electronic music was only machines
playing loops... We liked that a lot, but we thought "hmmm... Why
not some vocals? why not some guitars?"... And now, thanks to the
electro, electronic music is free again... It may have a singer, a bass,
a chorus... Everything is possible in the 00s... Electro is the perfect
marriage between pop music and electronic music, a very old promisse that
now is a reality. Maybe electro is not the last trend in the underground
nowadays anymore, but on the other hand it has infected the mainstream
in a very cool way - Madonna's last album sounds a lot like electro, lots
of mainstream hiphop in the US are influenced by that too...
Electro brought freedom back to electronic music... There are no more
boundaries nowadays. You can do whatever you want. You may play alone
or in a band, you may be a performer, a musician, a DJ... Every artist
and form of art is allowed.
**What are your future musical and career
plans?
We are now promoting our first album and single, 'Digitaria' and ''Teen
Years' ... We also have lots of new songs, that we intend to finish and
record in Europe... We will always play, produce, record new albums, work
with other artists, travel, play live... We'd love to have Martin Gore
of Depeche Mode
singing on a Digitaria song... That's a dream. But we had so many dreams
that already came true...
**What are you listening these days other
than Gigolo mates? (Favourite labels, DJ's producers?).
We are always listening to lots of music… Old music, new music…
Artists like Leonard Cohen, Pavement, Radiohead,
Dopplereffekt, Belle and Sebastian, Depeche Mode, Gary Numam, Mutantes,
Der Zyklus, Fischerspooner, Aphex Twin, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Cocteau
Twins, Phillip Glass, DJ Shadow, Moby, Fad Gagget, E. Neubauten, TAGC,
Manic Street Preachers, Mt Sims, Talking Heads, Suicide, The Shamen, Clock
DVA, Altern8, Peaches, Cassius, Nitzer Ebb, Ministry, Daft Punk, The Blipo
Wafers, Plastique de Reve, Squarepusher, u-Ziq, Eric Satie, Penderecki,
Jacques Lorraine, Stockhausen, Brian Eno, Miles Davis, Sparklehorse, Placebo,
Sigur Ros, Abe Duque, DJ Hell, Belle and Sebastian, System of a Down,
Duran Duran, Ural 13 Diktators… Too many
different artists
***
Homepage: http://www.andarestudio.com.br/digitaria/
Buy Digitaria on AMAZON
