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“On the best concerts the audience forgets that there is a band on stage and just dances.”
A lot has happened for the rad Austrian acoustic techno band Elektro Guzzi since we have talked to them the last time. Many gigs, musical developments and ultimately they are about to release their new album Observatory on Macro Recordings on the 30th of May, where they tried to create a more “noisy” and multi-layered sound and integrate their love for African and Cuban rhythms. So we checked with them about how important critics are for them, what techno means to them and how they reset in order to be creative again…
How would you describe your own sound?
We started out with an experimental approach that’s why the first record is more minimalistic. After that we played a lot of concerts what made the second album sound more dance floor orientated. For the new album we wanted to use techno just as an idea and get beyond it. We tried to create a deep and multi-layered sound which can be also much noisier than the albums before. From the point of rhythm we tried to integrate our love for African and Cuban rhythms.
You are about to drop out a new album and already got lots of good vibes for it so far. How important are critics for you as artists? Or is it something you don´t care about at all?
We do care, I think everyone cares about critics even when he says he doesn´t but we try to not let bad and even good critics influence our way of working. We are very critical with our work so that´s the only thing which really influences the music.
What does techno personally mean to you? I am talking about this history thing of electronic music; the time of rebellion, of freedom, of creating something new. Is it something that you still relate to? And what has changed in the techno scene since then?
We are big fans of Detroit techno and the way they did present their music in the early days like underground resistance. Everything they did was just for music and not for presenting egos. Also the futuristic aspect which techno had back then was really radical… we can adapt to this way of thinking very well and it´s also the bands intention to not present our music in this rock band masochistic way. On the best concerts the audience forgets that there is a band on stage and just dances.
video by Karin HAMMER & Klemens HUFNAGL; set design: Michel JIMENEZ
Tell us a bit about your new video for “acid camouflage”. What was the inspiration behind it?
The first thought was to get away from the way we presented ourselves before this album. “A band who plays techno with bass guitar and drums”. We wanted to do a video which creates an atmosphere to the music. We are big fans of this video: Black To Comm “Water” Ho Tzu Nyen which was the first inspiration. And then we had Karin hammer and klemens hufnagl ho came up with the idea how the video looks now.
How do you reset to be creative?
It´s not easy to always stay creative but there are times when we listen a lot to new music or a certain style in which we are interested at the moment. In other times we just jam in the studio and see what’s coming out of this and just develop ideas. A very important point for us is to always be very critic with our work. We never did anything which was not 100% authentic for us.
Do you think that art and commerce rule each other out?
No, because commercial success doesn’t say anything about the quality. But we do understand artists who do not want to have a connection between art and money. Like I mentioned above for us the most important thing is to stay true to ourselves.
What is the most important album for you that has ever been written in history?
That´s impossible to answer, because there are so many albums which had been important at a certain time.
The most important thing in life is?
To not think about the most important thing in life.
www.elektroguzzi.net
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