Lost And Sound
Lost and Sound is a podcast exploring the most exciting and innovative voices in underground, electronic, and leftfield music worldwide. Hosted by Berlin-based writer Paul Hanford, each episode features in-depth, free-flowing conversations with artists, producers, and pioneers who push music forward in their own unique way.
From legendary innovators to emerging mavericks, Paul dives into the intersection of music, creativity, and life, uncovering deep insights into the artistic process. His relaxed, open-ended approach allows guests to express themselves fully, offering an intimate perspective on the minds shaping contemporary sound.
Originally launched with support from Arts Council England, Lost and Sound has featured groundbreaking artists including Suzanne Ciani, Peaches, Laurent Garnier, Chilly Gonzales, Sleaford Mods, Nightmares On Wax, Graham Coxon, Saint Etienne, Ellen Allien, A Guy Called Gerald, Jean Michel Jarre, Liars, Blixa Bargeld, Hania Rani, Roman Flügel, Róisín Murphy, Jim O’Rourke, Yann Tiersen, Thurston Moore, Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family), Caterina Barbieri, Rudy Tambala (A.R. Kane), more eaze, Tesfa Williams, Slikback, NikNak, and Alva Noto.
Paul Hanford is a writer, broadcaster, and storyteller whose work bridges music, culture, and human connection. His debut book, Coming to Berlin, is available in all good bookshops.
Lost and Sound is for listeners passionate about electronic music, experimental sound, and the people redefining what music can be.
Lost And Sound
Luke Slater
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Luke Slater has remained an authentic titan in underground clubland for over 35 years. Among the very first European DJs and producers to be influenced by the techno and house coming out of Detroit and Chicago, he speaks with Paul ahead of the release of his new LB Dub Corp album.
Luke and Paul dissect the seismic cultural shifts that propelled a once clandestine scene into a global phenomenon, pondering the balance between the rebellious soul of the genre and its mainstream allure. The dialogue ventures into the impact of technology on music creation, revealing how artists like Slater are not just navigating but shaping this science-fiction reality we live in today.
The episode crescendos as we explore Slater's alchemic process of fusing diverse musical influences, from dub to collaborating with legends like Robert Owens and a spontaneous musical partnership with Miss Kitten. As we recount the journey of Planetary Assault Systems and the birth of tracks shaped by the unique acoustics of venues like Berghain, we draw back the curtain on the philosophy that drives this techno virtuoso's life and art.
The new LB Dub Corp album ‚Saturn To Home‘ is out on Dekmantel on May 24th 2024. Pre-order it here.
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Lost and Sound is proudly sponsored by Audio-Technica
Paul’s debut book, Coming To Berlin: Global Journeys Into An Electronic Music And Club Culture Capital is out now on Velocity Press. Click here to find out more.
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Lost and Sound title music by Thomas Giddins
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Speaker 1Thank you, hello and welcome to episode 126 of Lost in Sound. I'm Paul Hanford, I'm your host, I'm an author, a broadcaster and a lecturer, and Lost in Sound is a weekly podcast where I chat with an artist who works outside the box, from global icons to trailblazing outsiders and emerging innovators. We talk music, creativity and perhaps that most daunting part of being an artist the praxis of life. Previous guests have included Peaches, suzanne Chiani, jim O'Rourke, chilli Gonzalez, cozy, funny Tootie, jean-michel Jarre, miki Blanco and Thurston Moore, and today you're about to hear a chat I had with producer DJ Luke Slater. Meanwhile, my book Coming to Berlin is still available in all good bookshops or via the publisher's website, velocity Press. If you've not read it yet, go on, give it a spin. You might like it, you might not, whatever.
Speaker 1Today on the show, however, we got a true pioneer Back in the late 80s. Luke Slater was one of the very, very first Europeans to pick up on the new sounds of techno and house coming out of Detroit and Chicago. A resident DJ in 1989 at the legendary Heaven Nightclub in London, he was also involved in the early rave scene at the time. For over 35 years since then, luke has moved through the evolution of house and techno, through aliases like planetary assault systems, the seventh plane and what we're here today because of LB Dub Corp. He's always enigmatic in what he'll do next, how he'll move his sound on quite, how he'll interpret things, but there's always something that connects his music in some way to those detroit and chicago influences. He's remixed everyone from depeche mode to madonna and he's one of the only people that can play comfortably both in bergheim and in the panorama bar. And he's got a new lb dub corp album coming out in may, hence the reason we had this chat. The album is called saturn to home. It's a really sort of housey dubby techie record featuring guest vocals from miss kitten and house pioneer robert owens, and in places it's even got luke's own live drumming, which echoes back to his very, very, very early roots.
Speaker 1Now I didn't know what to expect. I never do when I turn the Zoom on or turn the recorder on and we start chatting, and with Luke, I was so surprised I don't know what I was expecting, but it was really nice. So I'm not going to waffle on anymore, I'm just going to hand over to the chat that we had. This is what happened when I met luke slater excellent, nice, right. Well, thanks so much for joining me today. Luke, how are you? How are you feeling? How? What's your sort of like spirit like at the moment? My spirit, yeah, or your? Your energy?
Speaker 2yeah, yeah, um, it's a good opener, it's a good opening question. Yeah, well, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm one, I'm one of these people that kind of live by. Uh, it sounds extremely hippie-ish and to the you know, to it's easy to kind of like dampen it down into a kind of a passive sort of uh, everything's good, man kind of attitude. But I actually really do live by kind of vibes and synergy of stuff and really take notice of how things amazingly connect or disconnect, regardless of what you do. So over time I've become more and more like that.
Speaker 2So, even though things are like crazily busy, I always try and find that kind of level where it doesn't matter what's going on.
Speaker 2It's it's kind of looking out for these kind of signals and joins and disconnects between things and how that's feeling and that.
Speaker 2That I think that's my way of kind of finding and that that I think that's my way of kind of finding happiness and joy through how chaotic everything can be and it can, you know, because life can be chaotic in so many ways. You know, there's it's not just like work or you're trying to promote something or you're doing a gig or or money. There's there's a lot of different aspects of life that affect you and can affect you at any point. You know, and we're, we're all on this journey, all of us, and I find that intensely interesting the way we I always have, just the way we have. We have this kind of timeline in our lives and it's not really that long, and we kind of navigate through this in different ways and learning how to do that. It's it's, it's a challenge, but it's it's really. I find it really intensely interesting how you react to things and how you process things and the decisions you make and things like that. So that's how I'm feeling today brilliant.
Speaker 1That's such a good philosophical opener on that as well, and so you use kind of like. So it's basically like you've found a way to, I mean, I guess, find a balance through detaching yourself from immediate stresses that can come up in life, would you say.
Speaker 2I suppose so, but you can't help them. You know you can't help things happening. There's no pond of calmness really in life. I think there's always something around the corner. Life just has its own way of presenting you with interesting things I don't.
Speaker 1I find myself as well. I think for a while I got I did get quite. I do kind of subscribe to my own version of what you're saying but I found for a while that I tried to make everything calmer than it was in times when there wasn't calm, and I realized that that was kind of like an anti-energy in a way, but it was more like I had to kind of find a way of accepting that sometimes I'm not calm or situations aren't calm, and not to pretend they are when they're not but to. In doing that I think I found a way to kind of let go of it rather than forcing the calm yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2Well, I think we kind of want things to be calm, we, we want to feel kind of complete, um. But I've actually found quite like like you in a way, what you're saying is there's a kind of a joy in chaos, and however uncomfortable and confusing things are at any certain point, I still think there's some kind of energy in that that can be positive. It's not necessarily bad, sounds like a kind of psychological session we're having, but I have to say, say, I think these kind of things in general are is kind of evolvement in us anyway, because if you go back, you know like 50 years or something. If we were having a chat like this, it'd be be like oh, what are you going on about? You know, like you know talking all this wishy-washy stuff. You know let's get down the pub and you know.
Speaker 2But I think things like this are kind of where we've just we've learned. Anyway, it's just part of the direction of things and I love it, man, I love this kind of. It's not a, it's just part of the direction of things and I love it, man, I love, I love this kind of. It's not a hippie idea, it's more just about, um, processing things and making decisions. Every single second, we can make a decision to do something, and that's amazing, I mean you could literally change anything at any point if you really wanted. You could. No one's stopping you really. Yeah, um, but you just need to deal with the consequences. And if you can't, if you can't deal with the consequences, you know, if you, if you, if you, if you, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime so this is very, very good point as well, isn't it just in all aspects of like our behavior as well?
Speaker 2yeah, yeah, um, I mean it's.
Speaker 2It's a funny thing in my career because I've had a long career now, but there was a point, probably about 15, 20 years ago, where it was like a decision had to be made and I had to decide whether I was going to carry on with the same mindset as I'd had previously or whether I was going to pretty much stop, whether there was an end point, and this was.
Speaker 2It felt like there was a decision to be made, but I knew if I made the decision to carry on, it would have to be a hundred percent, like there was a decision to be made. But I knew if I made the decision to carry on, it would have to be 100% and there was no plan B. So it was like you make this decision now there's going to be consequences and you're going to have to handle that. And I made that decision at that point to carry on. And that's kind of the part in my life where the change really from going along and all this stuff happening and then having to make a decision to carry on or to stop. But once I'd made that decision, I I was like 100 committed to whatever may come from that and that and own that. You know, own the consequences of, of doing that.
Speaker 2So, uh, yeah, it's um, it's an interesting it's always interesting man, you know I think life is just very, very interesting and you know it's not always happy, it's not always good things, you know. Yeah, I think life is just very, very interesting and you know it's not always happy, it's not always good things. You know have really shit days and you know stuff like that. But in general, when you weigh it up, it's just part of the whole. It's part of being human.
Speaker 1totally, we can't have one without the other. Really, you know, it's all about the balance and thank you for sharing that with me as well. It's such an interesting philosophical perspective and to sort of talk to you now about when we go back, because you've been visible as a DJ and producer for over 35 years now, and this goes into the time when techno and house was just leaving detroit and chicago and and spreading to europe and internationally, um, and I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about that and like I think the first one and you might have kind of already answered that, like in terms of a sort of spiritual way but how do you think that you've changed the most as an artist over that time?
Speaker 2well, um, I mean, I think initially um, because I was there at the start of the new um, the evolution, really, I like to call it to in some, in some ways, I think it was an evolution in music and in, you know, clubbing philosophy. Uh, in everything there's a massive change and I I happen to be around at the point where this massive change happened at the right time for me, because I was a certain age and for me it was a completely 100%. This is what's right, this is the way forward, not just for me but generally in the way of looking at things, and it was life-changing for me. For me, even when I was at the start of house and techno, I was intensely interested in what was coming from the States. So Chicago and Detroit particularly, were really innovative at the time, just massively forging ahead, and that for me was my kind of anchor point in what was what was right. So when he had or I mean, I was before I made records, I was djing, so I was d lots of these, a lot of underground cuts as well. So all this music was where I started DJing. A bit of acid came in there along the way, but the bulk of it was kind of from Chicago and New York to a degree, and this music was not only did I understand it, but it absolutely made perfect sense for me as a direction of travel and based around the club where I started playing in London. It was like the whole thing came together. So the club was attached to the music. It was completely relative to the club experience. And then Detroit kind of was there and music from the original guys was coming through at the end of the 80s.
Speaker 2What I wanted to do initially was emulate what was coming out, because I felt that the way it felt then was I know about this. This is so on my wavelength, I understand everything here, this is it, but no one around me knows anything about it. It was like I have a secret. So when I, when I, when I, when I took that and eventually I started making tracks, I was trying to emulate the, the vibe of what was coming from there and I still felt like I was the underdog in the uk. So what was happening at the time was there was a lot of the uk version of house and techno always seemed to get watered down. Yeah it, it was always kind of commercialized or there was some kind of even the sound of it. It didn't sound the same. On the pressings there was, the UK were very quick to kind of jump on it and then make it into a pop track or something like that, and I kind of held on to the other side.
Speaker 2So I felt like I was kind of a rebel warrior spreading the underground when people didn't really understand that they needed it and that that kind of energy just drove me a hundred percent. It was I fed off, that energy that I was kind of um, I wasn't playing the game. I was playing this new thing, this new game where people were making records at home and the whole structure of the you know, the especially the uk record business with your oh, it's who you know and getting the big studios and everything. That I was totally going up against that I, what I? Because I didn't grow up with that available. I didn't have the path into that, so so it was like a punk ethic, to be honest, but a punk ethic that had this massive backing of the music coming from the States.
Speaker 2So it wasn't just me. It was like I'm in it with you guys. You know that was the feeling it with you guys, you know that was the feeling over time. I mean, I've always, I think all my, all my music's in some way influenced by those early records, because I love them and the it, it, it, it buys into my soul of music. I think over time I've kind of taken that and added things from my past before techno in-house and I think that's what creeps in and out of what I do now is the joy of bringing in different elements from my past before techno in-house, which is quite varied, so more and more so. Actually, I've kind of wanted to revisit some of the really early influences of what drove me from the really early days before djing stuff like that could be an age thing, I don't know, but I think there's a lot of I'm a quick study with music.
Speaker 1I've always soaked it up to just like a sponge, to the point where you can't really speak to me if I'm listening to something and it's I'm just a complete sponge, for music and sound is yeah, it overwhelms me yeah, it's like you're you kind of like you go into like a natural bluetooth state where it's like you and the music and it's yeah, um, it's, it's just what you're saying then I love what you're saying and it reminds me.
Speaker 1This is because I teach as well and there's a quote that I use from you sometimes to my students, um, which I can't quite get right, I'm just, I'm just improvising now to try to remember it, but you're talking about like the when when techno and acid house first broke in the UK and you were describing it as being like it was music for people rather than for the radio or for the mainstream as well.
Speaker 1And obviously over this 35 years, and particularly in the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen such a big business evolution of it as well. Yeah, and how do you reflect on that like in terms of like an artist, that you've always kept your values? How do you navigate these values and musical integrity in a world where it has become like a big business, whether that's through how much it costs to tour or or like kind of uh, festival lineups, um, even in the big underground clubs where I live in berlin, there's this kind of real emphasis on headliners, really, or big names. You know, how do you keep your sense of authenticity, which I think you do really well, grounded through this?
Speaker 2it's, uh, yeah, I think. Well, first of all, I think it's. It was a. You know, everything has a course. So I think it was always inevitable that the, that what we were talking about before the, the origins it was. For me, it was inevitable that this music would dominate the world, and when I used to do interviews in the 90s, I said this I'm trying to think what I said now something like this is the future. What's happening now is the future. You know, there's no science fiction anymore. We are living in science. We are living in science and this is some of the ideals for futurism back then is now there's no fiction anymore. This is it. Science is dominating everything.
Evolution of Electronic Music Industry
Speaker 2And I'd be a hypocrite if I said I don't like this, because that's what I always wanted. So I have to embrace the path that everything's going and you know the, the gigging scene going out doing gigs. You're right, it's like um, it's almost a separate business because there's a lot of money in play. There's big events, huge artists, a lot of artists, headliners, production are all massive. You have the clubs as well, but some of the festivals are just huge and I really embrace it. I love doing the gigs.
Speaker 2I think the only thing you what I've kind of felt is you can't control the world. You can't control people and what they like and don't like, and you can't control what people do. You have to accept it. I think what I can control is what I write and what I play. That's literally the only thing I have control over and again, the consequences of that. I own them.
Speaker 2So when it comes to writing, I think that's for me the sensitive spot. You know, listen, you're going to have to do this record and you're going to have to get this singer in because they're really hot right now, or something like that. No one can say that to me because I will literally turn around and go well, I just don't feel that. I don't feel that's right. It doesn't feel right and I've kind of got used to doing that for the right reasons, for the reasons of writing really and creativity for the right reasons, for the reasons of writing really and creativity. You can't, you can't be truly creative if you're doing something for the wrong reasons. You can't, you can't. You will, you will make a product, you, something will come out, but it won't be actually. It actually be a representation of what you were trying to do in the beginning. So that's probably one thing I really hold on to 100%.
Speaker 2But I think it's great that the whole scene is so big now and I think of all the people that go to the gigs having this experience, and some of them for the first time, and the whole ethos is still the same. You know the whole, from the early clubs and then to raves. You know, because I was that was another thing man because you know, in the beginning there wasn't any raves, right. So when I started playing clubs, the whole kind of underground scene was only in clubs, there wasn't any raves.
Speaker 2And then I think I'm pretty right in saying that suddenly the uk were doing these massive raves around the m25 and this whole concept of this big gathering in in this music suddenly became a thing, you know. And then the government's tried to stop it and you know that. But that kind of mindset around, especially in Europe, you know of, around this music is, is just huge. You know. It carries on, you know, and these kids and people coming to the gigs, for me they're, they're everything, because they're the ones, they're the ones experience, they're the ones there. You know it's going to be part of their lives, you know, and it's better. It's better than listening to Coldplay man. It is trust me, definitely, definitely.
Speaker 1It's so funny and I also remember like hearing and I don't know if it's true or not, but like hearing, like when some of the Belleville Free would come over to the UK about this time that things raves were beginning to develop, and hearing that they were so surprised that the music was being taken in this way. You know, um, that maybe something that had become, you know that started out as this sort of expression of of, I don't know, science fiction and sort of like youthful alienation and bonding uh, had become this huge explosion with people yeah it had.
Speaker 2I mean, you know, when I look back now it's easy to see the sort of it's always easy to kind of put into boxes the timeline of how things connected, like that at the the time it didn't register so much what was actually happening, but what did register was definitely the music that was coming over. Also, I found it really interesting what the UK did with that music I was intensely interested in. You know, something like Champion Records released something from the US. There was always this sort of other mix on it, or they didn't put the dub cut on. That was the one that everybody you know I was playing or other people playing, and I thought, well, that's interesting. Okay, so they put the more commercial one on but they didn't put that dubby one on.
Speaker 2That basically is the one that everyone's been playing, right, I thought, yeah, okay, yeah, interesting. So I think those guys must, must have been blown away. Because the the states, is such a big disjointed country that sadly, I don't think it's ever reached any kind of stage where, you know, initially, the UK and Europe has reached in this kind of the idea of techno and house and you know, it's never. It's just too big a country, the States, to kind of focus it in. So if I was coming from over there and yeah, I can imagine they were blown away.
Speaker 1Yeah, I really can definitely, definitely and and and like going and sort of going to the new uh lb dub corp album. Uh, as well, it feels to me like there are elements of the past in it and you mentioned earlier on as well about, like your pre-techno roots and I I get a sense of this from like this, your, your drumming, I believe, on the album. Yeah, some of the tracks, some of the tracks, yeah, and it this kind of live drumming sounds of some of the tracks and um, but it obviously it's not an album that feels too rooted in the past. That just feels like an element of of this, uh, from perhaps how we hear things now. Um, and I wanted to know what this kind of process for you was with this album. You know, did you have a starting point for it that was like a definite idea, or is it more like you kind of record, and then the idea rose out of the recording and the writing I think there was.
Speaker 2There was there was one particular drive once I decided to do another lb dub corp album, which in itself was like not only a challenge but a risk, because if I'd done a, just focused on doing another planetary assault systems album again, that would be something that would make sense commercially and would actually, um, revolve around the gigs I'm doing. But I knew in my heart that it wasn't the time to do that. So once I'd settled that I wanted to do an lb dub corp album, and then the question came of what could I do on it. That actually filled me up. You know, what could I put together with all this technology that I've got here and all the things I can do that actually makes it worthy? You know, it has to be worthy and not just for the sake of it, because it's easy for me to like I can knock up some kind of dubby music and say, yeah, that's pretty dubby, but it's just not enough. It's not enough. And so as soon as I've decided it's got to be, I've got to really wheel out the you know, the armor and the swords for this. I've got to go 100% in on this. And that's how I am. I'm like, okay, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to backtrack and go, not just start at the beginning, but before I even start I'm going gonna see what I can do, what I can, what. What can I add to this decision?
Speaker 2And I think the first thing was these influences from before Techno and House and Dubb, you know, especially Studio One, dubb and Lee Scratch Perry, and all those guys were part of before for me, part of before house and techno and even like things like new wave and progressive rock. So in my really early years when I started drumming, we were all really influenced by really early Genesis and people like that, this sort of otherworldly thing, you know. And and I was always mad on drums. So I thought, okay, now is the time to bring the drums out. And technology posed a question because it probably take me about an hour to whip up some live drums on the computer and they would sound like a kit. But I thought, no, I'm gonna have to get out the kit and I'm gonna have to record some drums here. And it took, it took two months to record the drums because I'm not I'm not like a live studio engineer, I don't have a lot of history of micing drums. You know I'm an electronic guy so I'm faffing around trying to experimenting with all the sounds and how I play, trying to keep things in time, you know, and all these experiments were going.
Speaker 2It took two months to kind of find something where I thought, okay, that that that's got some soul to it. You know, that's got some some feel to it. It might not be perfect, but it's got the feel and I really wanted that feel of being authentic. I didn't want to cheat anyone. You know I could have done, but I didn't want to. Yeah, you would know yourself, I'd know myself. And whilst in the bigger scheme of things it probably doesn't matter that much, nobody's going to listen. Well, I don't know whether those drums are real drums. You know no one's going to do that and I appreciate that. But for me it was really important.
Speaker 2So it started like that, but it opened up a whole new kind of idea of how I could structure tracks differently, almost like going back to more sort of authentic ways of recording. When they used to record drums. You know, when a band used to record in a studio and they had to get it right, they had to tune drums. You know when, when a band used to record in the studio and they had to get it right, they had to tune it as they went, that kind of idea started to really come up and on tracks like golden star with alex, that was actually kind of a heart back really to almost kind of scar influences. People like the beat and people like that. So there was this kind of reggae scar and the sound that those drums used to sound like, which always blew my mind when I was a kid.
Speaker 2I wanted to kind of bring that in. I wanted to kind of bring in LB Dub Cor Corps relating to the releases that I'd already done, and the piano and the string tracks are kind of how I always love to do LB Dub Corps tracks. But then immediately I thought, if I'm going to do another one of these tracks, I want some vocals on it. But I don't want just any vocalist, you know, because this I don't actually own this music, this. This comes straight off chicago from the early years. So I managed to get in touch with robert owens, yeah, and he was totally up for it, man, you know, I mean he put a lot of work into um working on that track. There was something like uh, I think about 25 layers, wow of what he done he didn't.
Speaker 2He didn't just, like you know, do a few lines and then bung them up. This was a complete, you know, serious thing and it was just so surreal. It's like my god, you know, I'm working with robert here and he, he's like he's where I started, you know, with fingers ink. And he, he was there when I was just looking at the covers and hoping to get to play that record out, yeah, and and in in part, people like robert and you know, realizing that and making that a real thing and, and, you know, showing it in music that way, uh, which I thought was it just felt the right time to do that. Yeah, so it was.
Speaker 2It was just this feeling of wanting to bring all these elements together for internal reasons. Really, the tiki man track was a different experience because we already had this track and from the old album, but I was never really happy with it because, I mean, I was happy with it as a track, but I always felt it needed something with it and at the time it was just a different time when I did that track. So, somehow, and to be honest, the that was quite a chaotic path, another one of these. The more chaotic that got, the more I was enjoying it.
Speaker 1I found right, okay, so it goes back to what we're talking about the beginning yeah.
Speaker 2So this path with tiki man was quite chaotic and not straightforward, but the result was really good. So again, it's this sort of um, I love that, that kind of. It wasn't easy, you know, but we put that together and I was happy with that, uh. And then Miss Kitten that was again, this is the whole synergy thing coming in. We were both doing a gig in Spain, I think, and I just finished playing and she was taking over from me. So I said, hi, I haven't seen her for a while and she's a great lass Stood around a bit checking out what she was playing and I thought, oh, I'm going to go back to the hotel now.
Speaker 2So I start walking out. And we were just walking out the venue and I said, hang on a sec. So I went back in and I kind of went up and said, do you want to do some vocals? And he said yeah, yeah, yeah. I said okay, okay, I'll get in contact.
Speaker 2So just out, this kind of chance meeting I'd with with her um and I'd really been struggling with that title track sat into home because it's really it's kind of like an influence of bob james. I was really like trying to get bob in it, because there's something about bob james that you know, apart from the fact that nearly you know he's been sampled like billions and millions of months off the scale, but just that whole bob james concept really I've always loved that, so that that whole track is kind of in that vibe. But I couldn't find any vocal. It needed some vocals and I tried my vocals and it wasn't, it wasn't working. And then just out the blue she turned up, you know, and, um, she was well into it and she did these amazing kind of space traveling vocals and that was that. So the whole, you know the, the whole thing. There's a couple of cuts on it, uh, crank and your love, which pretty much is influenced from the panorama bar. So those cuts I was playing probably a year ago to test them out when I did.
Speaker 2I don't do a lot of sets there, but when I, you know now I'm getting a play there, so I was already testing them out, seeing how they were going down, so I wanted a couple of cuts from there. There's kind of a lot of elements in it, you know, and it feels for me it's like a very full meal. Yeah, it's a bit kaleidoscopic to me.
Speaker 1I'd sort of describe it as. Oh I like that, but I like the idea of a full meal as well.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, when you do these things, you know I've had a long enough career now to know that when you do something like an LB Dub, call power boom, some people are going to go oh, I thought luke was a techno guy, but I'm happy to own that kind of that, that that confusion. But I I think what's interesting is if people do buy into the album, if they get into it, they'll realize the connection is totally relative. It's all relative to what's going on now. It's the same instruments. The 909 has existed in this music since the beginning and it's still there now. It's not a fad, this is the drum machine of the music. So it's all relative. And I think if just a few people kind of oh, who is this robert owens guy, you know? Ah, oh right, okay, he did that track back then and that sounds a bit like this one and that the connection, you know, maybe they're gonna step through the, the history a bit and there's lots, there's so much in there. So am I being a bit of a teacher in this, probably?
Speaker 1well probably, but I think I think I can now I mean, that's a really interesting thing that you say that you think you can now as well, because it's like, I guess it's like when people are starting out and like so, when you're in your 20s and stuff, maybe being a teacher is a little bit cheeky um, it's a bit cheeky, yeah. And then also, maybe the thing that you're in your 20s and stuff, maybe being a teacher is a little bit cheeky um, it's a bit cheeky, yeah. And then also, maybe the thing that you're really exploring in your 20s is just yourself and the discovery of yourself. But when you get older it's like you do, you have had experiences, you know. So, in a way, maybe it's a little bit cheeky not to be a bit of a teacher it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I mean, I think there's a difference between teaching and lecture lecturing. Yeah, you know when, when I go and do gigs, I'm not, I'm not trying to lecture anyone, I'm not. I'm not really trying to teach people, you know, at gigs. But when it comes to music, I think I've always managed to slip something in. Yeah, yeah, there's always something. There's always something in there. So, yeah, I think you get to a stage where you want to pass something over, some kind of knowledge, anything really and it feels good to do that. So, again, I think that's a natural thing. You can't be of the same mindset of when you're 20, 30 years later. You can't. It's wrong to hold on to. Uh, you know, you can't be. If you're a rebel, then you just can't be the same rebel yeah, in 30 years, you have to have learned and changed and developed and experienced.
Speaker 2So you, you know, only only an idiot like just think well, I was a rebel then and I'm a rebel now and I stand for all the same things that I stood for then. Yeah, you know, believe in all the same.
Speaker 2You know, you just end up like one of the sort of punks knocking around yeah, who, uh, as as much as I love johnny rotten, um, who just want to exist in that very short period of time. Yeah, yeah, you know, and I think that I get it. You know it's part of their history, but you can't stay there. Things have got to move. Always changing man, always changing.
Speaker 1Definitely, definitely. Also, you mentioned about Panorama Bar there as well, and I really, the last couple of years I've been really loving the Berghain-Thom sound that a space brings to the you know, the performer, the DJ, the producer and and what that connection with the audience there as well, and it felt like with that album it was like a sort of direct interplay between what the venue is as a space and how you interpret it, you know, and, and what, what is you know for you? You, I just sort of. I guess the general question here is is like how, how do you, how do you feel like, say, particularly like in a place like panorama bar or bergheim, that you've fed off or also nourished out, um, the energy yourself?
Speaker 2oh, totally, you know. I mean, I think for me the connection with gigs has always been the influence on records. So I've never really been an insular producer. In that I'm comfortable, uh, you know, not not being out, and those experiences have always massively influenced what I write, because of this unquantifiable connection that happens on a night and I still, after all these years, can't really put into a box and decipher what happened.
Speaker 2But there is just something, whether it's a sound or just the vibe of the people, you know you've got a group of people, it's, it's, it's a different thing to you know, it's, it's an animal in itself. There's a lot of energy coming off these people, you know, and it's all there. And this always has a direct effect on, I mean, berghain. Always did. I mean, when I released the albums on Oscar I think all of the planetary albums were kind of descendant of experiences of Berghain and still, when I play there now and I've been playing there a long time each time it's like it's almost like a new experience. You can never go into Berghain and play like, oh yeah, I'm just going to roll up and do what I usually do and yeah, there's always this kind of first time feel to playing there.
Influence of Music and Travel
Speaker 2And there's other places that are like that too. There's other. I get really influenced by that. I mean, we we were in japan last year for about a couple of weeks doing a few gigs and I, as soon as I got back, I was like knocking out a few. Um, you know those gacha gacha machines? No, I don't know what are they. I have these uh arcades there of a mix of claw machines and once you you put like 100 yen in, you turn the thing and you get a little toy out ah, yeah, right yeah, but over here we have, like you know, it's maybe five machines and a couple of claw machines.
Speaker 2There's a place there where they've got like something like 500, so it's it's this huge space near a station and it goes on forever and it's just all. That's only what's in there. So you got like claw machines and catch and the music's going. You know've got the Japanese kind of tones, like kind of cute kind of tones, and yeah, we were wandering around that and I was just getting overloaded with these Japanese Casio tones. And then I got back and I just laid down a few I don't know just a few tracks.
Speaker 2I'm really susceptible to getting influenced by things that I do. So, um, the funny, the funny thing, the thing I've always found amazing about bird kind and that sound, is that actually it's it's scientifically, it's just an accidental phenomenon of the venue, of the shape of the venue and the almost accidental positioning of the speakers. You know let's, it just kind of happened and it's definitely got a sound. You know that it's there every time. So I've always found that amazing. You know, people talk about the burkine sound and it does have a sound, but I, but I love the way, you know, I'm sure in the beginning it wasn't like uh, oh, yeah, we need to make it sound like it was like all right, let's bung some speakers in this building and sit and see how it goes and it's and it has that sound.
Speaker 2The Panorama Bar is like. The Panorama Bar is actually more like the original clubs I played in in London at the ND80s Very house-driven, so there's a big connection there. Yeah, I mean I don't often play in the. I think the last time. I remember the last time I played in the Panorama, amé was playing before me and I was getting ready to go on. He just turned to me and went what are you doing up here? I went ah, you never know. That's the thing about the upstairs, downstairs.
Speaker 1Vibe about that place, isn't it? It's like shouldn't you be downstairs? Yeah, what are you doing up here?
Speaker 2yeah, I get I get everywhere, man. So, um, yeah, that was, that was a that made me laugh. But um yeah, I'm a very out there kind of guy. You know I'm not. I'm not really happy just staying in one place too long, I guess yeah, and that all feeds into the work, I guess.
Speaker 1Doesn't it like like you were mentioning about in japan, like um? Do you find like the music ends up as a form of diary for you in a way, like you know? I mean, I know, like a lot of electronic music does, it isn't so lyrically based and I don't mean in an obvious way, but just in terms of like you know, like a photographer going around and like taking snaps everywhere or like keeping a journal. Do you find that you do that with the music you make?
Speaker 2yeah, but I don't, I don't, I'm not conscious of it, you know. So, uh, I think I'm just intensely interested in a lot, so it kind of soaks up, I mean, with Planetary. Planetary has always been about the clubs. You know, from the beginning I started Planetary specifically to make records that I could play in my sets. That was the whole. Everything had to be road tested in clubs. Uh, that kind of hasn't changed. Really, it always revolves around events and gigs. You know it's all about that and in my head I always have a feeling, in a picture, of what that might be like and the vibe of something I've already experienced. And I've really kept Planetary true to that, because I try to. Anyway, that's what it's for. You know, that's my vehicle for that and people really seem to like that. So, thank you very much to them. Yeah, thank you very much to them, yeah thank you so much, frank.
Speaker 1I really enjoyed that and I love that got a bit philosophical at the beginning as well and that sort of infused the rest of the conversation a bit, which I always really like well, for all my sins.
Speaker 2I tend to waffle philosophical. That's good. Definitely I have to own that man what a lovely guy.
Speaker 1That's luke slater there talking with me, paul hamford, and we had that chat on march the 22nd 2024. The new lb dub corp album is called satan to home and it's out on deck mantle on may the 24th 2024. Um, lost and sound. Yes, we are sponsored by audio technica, the global but still family-run company that make headphones, turntables, cartridges, microphones, studio quality yet affordable products, because they believe that high quality audio should be accessible to all. So, wherever you are in the world, head on over to audio technicacom to check out all of their range of stuff. My book Coming to Berlin is available via the publisher, velocity Press or in very good bookshops, and the music that you hear at the beginning and the end of every episode of Lost in Sound is done by Thomas Giddens. Hyperlink if you want to check out more of his stuff in the podcast description. Um, so, yeah, I hope you're having a really, really awesome day, whatever you're doing, and I look forward to chatting to you soon. Thank you.