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18/08/10
Interview 007

Losoul

We speak to reticent Playhouse man, Losoul, ahead of his appearance at Louche and System.

Peter Kremeier AKA Losoul is a close associate of Frankfurt label Playhouse and has been since 1996. The man’s music, like that of the revered label, is both abstract and arty, groovy and minimal, intricate and hypnotic and rode on the crest of the minimal wave well into the latter part of this past decade.

Over the years, the German has also released on labels such Freak n Chic, Cirus Company and Moon Harbour whilst making regular appearances at places like Ushusia in Ibiza, Fabric and DDD in London as well as all around the rest of Europe. We catch up with the man himself, read on for a rare intro into the German’s psyche…

Interview courtesy of soonnight, words Kristan J caryl

There are not many interviews online with you – is that a conscious thing? Would you rather just make music and let it speak for itself?

Not too many interviews, that’s correct. Actually I don’t like interviews too much… and yes, you are right: when I release music – either tracks, remixes or as in our case here, a podcast – it seems to me that I give away quite a lot of myself that people should get some proper impression of what’s going on on this side of the record . … But giving interviews from time to time is fun for sure… so let’s go on.

As someone closely tied in with a minimal sound courtesy of working with Playhouse – I wonder what you made of the way the ‘minimal’ grew out of favour in the last couple of years. Do you think the ideas ran dry or was it just a case of too many people making too much crap stuff?

I don’t know why but from the beginning of my production life I was considered to do kind of reduced stuff. I always felt like doing something like Housemusic as I have quite some Blackmusic history with a lot of going out, buying records, djing and just sharing music with friends from the mid 80s. So I didn’t have the idea to call anything I do Minimal just because I always liked to cut down my productions to some stripped funk feel with some soul flavour. Modern Minimal does not mainly focus on tha… As far as I know it was merely referring to some 50s/60s avant garde music, to some 90s experimental electronica techno or to just an expression that sells well…

You know I do like a lot of music which is called Minimal but it’s always difficult to have something labelled.

What was/is minimal to you? Real minimal ideas will never go away, right?

Okay, as I said before, for a long time ‘minimal’ was not a genre to me, just a way of doing whatever you do using this cut-down attitude or method. Maybe that was the reason for it being so successful. It could be everything – which was not so bad, of course.

Again, my stuff was – or is – maybe quite reduced for some reasons but I never tried to use the elements of some 90s experimental techno to make a party track – or five hundred of them . … Do you agree?

What is it about stripped down sounds which you like so much? Why do they appeal to you and where does that taste come from? Can you trace it back to anything/does minimalism appeal to you in any other art of life?

There are various backgrounds… In the beginning I discovered the meaning of space being a part of the overall groove. As the sound itself was to be focussed on, as was its relation to other sounds, that brought some tension and excitement without using concrete elements but instead using space, voids, and how they develop in time. This is not some innovation Techno brought to us – you have this in many pieces of music in Classical, in Funk and Soul, Industrial, whatever. It’s not a matter of genre… What else does it refer to? Well, there are so many things in life and community which are between the concrete matters, what would make music more authentic than being an image of that dynamic and vivid atmosphere we have around us every day?

Tell us about the time you first remember being turned onto electronic music… what did you take early inspiration from and are those artists/records/labels still relevant to you now?

In my early youth when I heard music on the radio or later before I really got into electronic music it was always the music with the better grooves or the tunes with the deeper emotional vibe that got me down. It didn’t really matter what genre or style – these were the aspects I was feeling most. Later when I got into club music – first it was some 70s/80s Funk and Soul and 80s Rap and House I found the most best fitting grooves and emotions right there and step by step I got in there more and more. . … I found friends with some similar ideas, I went clubbing, grew up, made my experiences in life and it was all pretty close to music – or the music was always pretty close to life. I think if music lacks the relations to life it doesn’t really matter or I wonder how it can be created anyway…At least I still like the stuff I listened to back then … maybe except from just some cheesy tunes. But that’s just an individual story.

Despite being German there seems to be a lot of US (Chicago/Detroit) influence on your productions – would you agree? Is that where the depth and soul comes from do you think?

Probably yes, as I said I found the perfect amount of groove and emotion in Black music which finally led me to House and Techno music. And well, these are coming from Chicago and Detroit. Earlier I was intensively listening to European advanced electronic pop like Depeche Mode or was very much into the Neue Deutsche Welle music from the early 80s which brought together some German underground stuff from Punk, Schlager, Rock and Electronic but with a confident alternative German attitude – which was really new at that time. And also Kraftwerk became part of this movement though they were starting to do their stuff some years earlier. Kraftwerk were referred to by many on the House and Techno pioneers as well as the early 80s Electro and Breakdance scene … So what is the problem with being from another country?? It’s about feeling the shit, right?

Anyway, Funk and Soul have been a great inspiration to me and I am really grateful for knowing all this music but if the music you listen to, produce or deal with does not relate to the experiences in your life, what’s the point?

How much is the ‘how’ important when you make music (I.e. whether it’s made on PC with Ableton or on real analogue machines etc) Or are you just interested in how the end product sounds?

Well, it’s both. Mainly I would say it’s all about the music you hear and nobody will care about how it was made. But in my experience as a producer I have to say there are some techniques of doing it, some special choice of gear that bring the sound to that edge you want to… So if you want a warm analogue sound you rather need some vintage analogue equipment. If you want a really intensive emotional sensation you will need some musician who is completely into it. And in the end the music also represents the way on which you did it. So it’s a matter of cultivation. The more individually you take care of how you need to do your stuff the better the results will fit your ideas.

What happens when suddenly people stop buying/start hating on the sounds you make and like? Do you question yourself or carry on regardless or try and reinterpret your ideas differently or…?

I think I will leave Germany and head towards Leeds and hang out with you guys for the rest of your life … depending on your having a safe job. Do you?

When you started recording for Playhouse you brought a lot of artistry to house music – do you think that is important? Are you out to make music that’s more than just for a club’s dance floor?

Thanks. Hmm, I was always interested in doing my stuff kind of good. I hope everybody is… And so I do it as good as I feel it’s worth it.

I heard a lot of music in my life – on and beyond the dancefloor. So there’s a lot of stuff to go along with.

Having really honed your sound for almost a decade – do you still feel there is much to explore within your usual scope? Could you keep going forever do you think or is there a time when you’ll think ‘OK, I need to do something else?’

As I told before to me music is always also an image of life or circumstances. So as nobody can look into the future too far there will always be new aspects to contribute – for sure.

When you’re making records and specifically albums, how much do you aim to strike a balance between danceability and listenability? Or is that not a conscious thing?

There are a lot of unconscious things in everything we do anyway. But well, doing an album to me is always telling a story of many stages which contains some extra drama on top of the single tracks on it. As I’m a DJ and producer of club music I do not leave the dancefloor for too long here. But this might change with the times. I can’t tell you yet …

When making music do you have an idea set out at the start (I want a dark track, dancey track, happy track) or do you just start and see what happens?

Actually it depends. Usually I want to catch some vibe which I don’t plan too much. If you follow a concept too much you tend to lose the energy of unknown, more new content – and your stuff might get too reproductive.

Of course I have some background of musical socialisation, production and some theory in composition and culture, too. But at some point it’s time to leave it behind, you know.

Although you exhibit a lot of styles, you really stick to a subtle style of music… do you listen to anything more instant with bigger hooks and more explicit drama or does that not appeal to you?

Oh, I thought House music was very much about bringing many kinds of music to a certain intensive groove and thus to the dancefloor at last.

Talking about subtlety it’s just a matter of what you feel. If you’re out somewhere and wait to get hooked by the big lines, go for it! I was always out to go down with some intensive atmospheres and grooves developing to some other state of mind and soul.

At one stage your myspace said ‘Conscious of Origin’ where your location should have been. Do you ever think house and techno spend too long looking back, referencing the past, imitating Moodyman or Ricardo or something? Ever think the genres should free themselves up and experiment more?

Well, if anyone does some imitation I can’t help it. Fortunately I never was in a situation being forced to do some copy… it’s boring and people who need to do that seem to focus more on business and society aspects. There is almost too much music around anyway. Would you please start to work in a bank, guys … You’ll earn more money and there are ladies, too…

It’s not just all about experimenting I think. We are all part of something – and need to be. But if you don’t take a step out by yourself what’s the use in the world of music?

Are you as enthused about the house and techno world now as you are when you first started? Is it as exciting a scene to work in now, does it have as much experimentation and expression as back then?

Yeah, I still do like it. Music is changing with the times and even though House and Techno are rather timeless styles they are still related to contemporary spirit. But that’s more subtle here than in other genres. Nowadays I like aspects in the music I did not even know in the 90s.

Are you hopeful house and techno can still really excite people as it did in the early days or are the sounds too tried and tested, too tired now?

I don’t know. Does Rock music still excite people? I think it’s pretty different from how it was in the early days, yeah. But I see so many DJs playing a lot of the old stuff again. Maybe it’s because it’s so raw and fresh. And quite many young people discover music from the time before they started to go out.

So what can people expect from one of your sets at this time? What sort of set up do you use?

I will play a set of vinyl records here as I did in the Louche podcast. I know it’s a bit out of time but I still have these great records here. Should I get rid of them? Hm, they are so heavy.

How much do you prepare each set; do you set out to achieve something when you start or do you just go with the moment?

It’s very much about that moment but I always will be limited (and by that prepared) by the choice of records in my bag.

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