Gesaffelstein - Interview & Radio mix incl. commentary @ LLP/France Inter (FRAO-EN, 2013) - Interview Translation

[Streaming link] [Podcast] [Gesaffelstein - The Radio Mix]

This is the longest interview I have translated to date, and it’s probably the best Gesaffelstein interview you will ever hear/read. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Laura Leishman: Good evening and welcome to this special broadcast of the Laura Leishman Project on France Inter, 2 hours with the one we nickname “The Dark Prince of Techno”. He’s from Lyon, he’s releasing his much, much, much anticipated first album on Monday, he’s named: Gesaffelstein!

Hello Gesaffelstein! Doing well?

Gesaffelstein: Yes, very well, good evening.

LL: You’re in the evening mood now, you’re ready to be with us until midnight?

G: Yes, that’s fine!

LL: You’re comfortable being here at France Inter?

G: You’ve turned the lights off, it’s nice.

LL: Yes we’re in the dark, just as you prefer. We’ll discuss your new album Aleph, play a couple exclusives, tracks that haven’t been heard anywhere else in the entire world, and in the second hour, an exclusive mix prepared by Gesaffelstein. We’re starting with the first single from that new album coming out Monday, Pursuit.





[Gesaffelstein - Pursuit]





LL: That was Gesaffelstein with Pursuit. Gesaffelstein is our guest until midnight here on the Laura Leishman Project on France Inter, special broadcast from 10PM to midnight this evening.

So this track will be on the album Aleph, Gesaffelstein. It’s been what, 10, 12 years since you’ve started making music? How much time?

G: I haven’t kept track… I started at 16 years of age.

LL: Okay, I’m about right, then.

G: Yeah.

LL: A little over a decade.

G: Yeah but in the beginning, it wasn’t really music.

LL: Okay. We were just talking about that, you’re from Lyon.

G: Yes.

LL: School wasn’t interesting you.

G: No.

LL: You wanted to be something other than a musician, or…

G: No, no, in the beginning I didn’t want to be a musician. Because, I don’t know, I didn’t want to. It happened very gradually, in the sense that, the more I fell in love with music, the more I wanted, and it drove me to become what I am today.

LL: You’ve always been into art, haven’t you? You liked it.

G: I liked art in general, but I was more taken by drawing, graphic art, etc., because it was more accessible to me. The problem was that music, to me, was related to something very “dance”, clubs and dancing, and when you’re young you might not necessarily like dancing, to see people dancing.

LL: You weren’t the type to go to the club, arms in the air, going “YEEAAHH!”

G: No.

LL: You have sisters, and it was your sister who had you discover the music that you love.

G: Yes, actually it’s more the fact that she left a CD lying around on her bureau. It was a compilation that wasn’t that great, musically, but it happened to have a track by Green Velvet, Flash.

LL: We’ll listen to something else by Green Velvet, we’ll listen to a bit of The Red Light. What did you like about Green Velvet, for those who don’t know who that is, and what did you like in his music?

G: Green Velvet is one of the pioneers, an important person in Chicago’s music scene who participated a lot in techno and house. The particularities of this artist, on a track like this one, for example, are extremely influenced by EBM, Belgian music, etc. In my opinion, and at the time, I didn’t know EBM so when I listened to a track like that, it resonated with me because it had the atmosphere that I wanted to understand.

LL: It touched your soul.

G: Yes in the same way you can’t explain why you like the colour black, or blue… you can’t explain it.

LL: We’ll listen to a little snippet of Green Velvet, the first favourite in Gesaffelstein’s whole universe of techno.





[Green Velvet - The Red Light]





LL: Green Velvet, with The Red Light. There was Green Velvet on that compilation your sister left on her bureau. How old were you when you found that?

G: I believe I was 14, 15 years old. I think it was the very first techno track I ever heard. It stunned me even, I was left dumbstruck about how these sounds were made. When you’re young, with music… for example when something has drums, you can tell it apart from a piano, but techno when you’re young, the first time you hear it, you wonder how it’s made. That’s pretty much it.

LL: Immediately after that, you put your mind to wanting to play music too?

G: No, I was just a little curious, I had a neighbour who owned a few machines, beat makers, etc. Little by little, I started to try to understand and I quickly fell in love with the energyXT synth. I remember that by then, I concentrated on and was much more passionate about how to make a sound than how to make music. It was more about, I don’t know, sonic architecture, than anything else. It took a long time because I wanted to understand how energyXT functions.

LL: It was your personal schooling.

G: Yes, you could say that.

LL: It’s interesting that you speak about the sound, because the track that we’ll be listening to now is in part where you took your stage name “Gesaffelstein” from.

G: Dopplereffekt! Of course.

LL: Dopplereffekt, exactly. Again for those who don’t know Dopplereffekt, it’s…

G: Well that’s the track Gesamtkunstwerk, which is using the name for a german expression which means “absolute work of art”, which defines it. The video, acting, photos, music, the work of art that encompasses everything. He made an album named Gesamtkunstwerk, I don’t know how he interpreted it but it was a very important album for electro. It influenced me a lot and influenced a lot of artists that influenced me, like The Hacker. I tell myself that everyone whose music inspires me were inspired by that artist, who has a group named Drexciya nowadays which is even more important than what Dopplereffekt brought about. I discovered electro in the terms of the way it was back in the day, thanks to this music. Drexciya and Dopplereffekt were spoken about often, it was something a lot closer to hip hop than techno.

LL: Let’s listen to a little sample of Dopplereffekt.





[Dopplereffekt - Gesamtkunstwerk]





LL: So that’s Dopplereffekt with Gesamtkunstwerk. It’s the inspiration for half of your name, Gesaffelstein, and the other half is from one of your heroes, it’s Einstein.

G: He’s not quite a hero, it was chosen very quickly, I wanted a name and I asked myself what two things I liked at the time. There was this album that I adored and the concept pleased me, I thought it was very eloquent, very majestic, etc. Back then I just happened to be reading Einstein’s biography, just as I could very well have been reading anyone else’s biography, and in that moment I thought Einstein was fascinating. So I told myself I needed a name and it fell on these things.

LL: What did you find fascinating about Einstein?

G: The fascinating thing about him is that everything he’s worked on appears complicated at first glance. People always manage to pull fantastic things from it, from the physics and everything in general, without entering the mathematical context of the subject. The man, when compared to something, tends to be magnified, I find that people have magnified his work, like time travel, nuclear energy, all of those things. That’s what fascinated me at the time, all of that kind of magic, but not really the experiences as they are.

LL: Alright, so you had the name Gesaffelstein and you released your first EP, then a second with an artist that you were already signed with, The Hacker, on his label Goodlife, in 2008. You released an EP with a track named Video Exposition. Video Exposition is also a track that allowed you to meet your friend Brodinski, right? It’s a track that he really liked.

G: Yes, well we met later, this track was done in 2008, and I remember that when Variations was released, in 2010–

LL: That’s the other EP that was released on Turbo Recordings.

G: Yes, two years later, it’s the one that worked best, when things began falling into place. Brodinski sent me a message about Variations and said “Yeah I knew Video Exposition already because I have a friend in Australia who plays it all the time.” And I couldn’t believe it, I was under the impression that nobody had heard about that EP. It hadn’t really been a success.

LL: So The Hacker was really the first to believe in you, he was the first to sign you after you gave him some tracks in a club.

G: He was my first contact in that world. I didn’t know anyone, I don’t know how to access this medium, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to access this medium because there were things I didn’t like. He was the first person, my first connection, and objectively, everything began with him. That is, if I had never met him, I wouldn’t be here talking to you. Everything started from him, therefore he’s more than a contact.

LL: He’s your mentor.

G: He’s my mentor, my friend, my big brother. Many things.

LL: He must be very proud of this album, Aleph, your first album coming out on Monday. We’ll listen to a sample of this album now, a world exclusive on France Inter. Gesaffelstein, do you want to say a few words about this track, which is also the title track of the album, Aleph, do you want to give it a little introduction?

G: No that’s fine.

LL: Alright, we’ll listen to Gesaffelstein, here on LLP on France Inter this evening, with Aleph.





[Gesaffelstein - Aleph]





LL: Gesaffelstein with Aleph, taken from the album Aleph which will be released on Monday, a world exclusive here on the LLP on France Inter. So I believe that this track, Gesaffelstein, will confirm what you’ve said many times now, that this album will take people by surprise a little while still keeping the Gesaffelstein sound, because it’s not like the big sounds we’ve heard before, like Pursuit or OPR or Viol, other sounds which can work very well in clubs.

G: It’s a bit evident in the way the album operates and the way the album was created. When I started working on the album, I told myself, “I’m lucky to have come this far, to have the chance of being proposed to make an album and release it.” I looked back and thought about how I got here, what I liked and what made it so that I got to this point, then told myself that I’d put everything I love in the album without caring about others, even if my music has worked very well in clubs and been liked by those people. I told myself that I’m paying tribute to what life has given me, in the sense that it’s been 15 years of listening to this music, from New Wave to Disco, Classical music, a bit of everything. I thought that it’d be unfortunate not to put all of that into my first album.

LL: Yes and we’ll discuss your musical journey, everything you got to love in music, but I just want to get back to the name of the album, Aleph. It means “Alpha” in Hebrew, right?

G: Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, as well as the Greek one. It’s also the origin of the word Alphabet, Aleph-Bet, Bet is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It’s fairly universal. It also physically means “Alpha”, Alpha and Omega, Alpha the beginning, and Omega the end, it joins up with this whole thing about origins and beginnings. Without being too intellectual about it because that’s a little futile, I thought that since it’s my first album, it’s similar enough, I like it and I’m going with it. I put a lot of time into thinking of something, and then one day, I don’t remember when or how I got the idea, but I thought of Aleph and I didn’t even hesitate. I thought, “But of course, it’s obvious.”

LL: I see. The realization. Something obvious, I think, for you is–

G: Kraftwerk!

LL: Exactly. That, to you, is a perfect album, Computer World.

G: What’s incredible is that if it was released presently it’d sound like a current EP. If memory serves, it has 6 tracks, so it’s not very long, but it’s an incredibly well-rounded album, an excellent album. Even if what we’re hearing seems complex, worthy of today’s composers of electronica, this album has sold millions of copies, Kraftwerk sold millions of copies. It’s pretty amazing to see that kind of thing, you wonder how these people sold that many copies back then. What’s also notable about Kraftwerk when you listen to their music, in terms of sound and production, it’s perfect, you can listen to minimal wave and new wave groups in parallel to it and it seems rudimentary, crude. They were so advanced in terms of production. It’s also easy to understand because the melodies are very simple, not very musically complicated to play, but it’s all so very well done, everything is placed at the right moment. It’s an important group that influenced, who created the first hip hop rhythm with Numbers. It’s an important group for a lot of things, for electronic music, for hip hop, it’s truly incredible.

LL: Let’s listen to a bit of Computer World.





[Kraftwerk - Computer World]





LL: Kraftwerk with Computer World. Mike you summed up very well why this is a very, very, very big group not just for electronic music but for everyone. Another album of which I know you are a fan is David Bowie’s Low. So this is the easiest track, Sound and Vision, but there are some other incredible productions on it too. It’s an album that we listen to even if it’s with Brian Eno. You like it even if it’s a little too “pop” for Gesaffelstein?

G: Well I don’t really care for the interpretation of the word “pop” these days, in the sense that everything pop is supposedly bad, while for example, David Bowie was pop and inspired groups that call themselves “underground” these days. Therein is a fairly large paradox. They say they’re rejecting pop, that they’re making underground, but that they’re inspired by Bowie, by the Beatles. You don’t have to be a part of it, but you should accept that within it there can be good music. If it sells 3 million copies it’s not for nothing. David Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Prince, all of these people inspire “underground” music groups today. I don’t really know underground though so as far as I’m concerned, I don’t really have anything to say.

LL: Alright. We’ll play some Justin Bieber at the end of the show.

G: Sure, if you want to! It’s not my thing but… Well, with David Bowie, I don’t like every single thing he’s done, I won’t lie, but even if he did really bad things, I can forgive him. He’s great. He’s great!

LL: Okay! We’ll listen to David Bowie for a while, with Sound and Vision.





[ David Bowie - Sound and Vision]





LL: If only you could see Gesaffelstein in the studio right now, talking about David Bowie in such a passionate manner! Mike, Gesaffelstein, you’re challenging people to say anything bad about David Bowie!

G: No but really, David Bowie’s work reveals a kind of incredible perfection in the sense that everything he does is well done, that is, he makes incredible music, the album art is incredible, he’s handsome, and even now, you can’t really find flaw in him. You have the basis to ask him “Are you an alien?” It’s fairly strange.

LL: Is he a rolemodel to you, Gesaffelstein?

G: No, no, I couldn’t, it’s very difficult to try to get on his level.

LL: Alright.

G: I think that a single track out of David Bowie’s entire discography would aid any artist for the next ten years, while back in the day he wasn’t just satisfied with a single hit, four years later he was making ten more. It’s incredible.

LL: I’d like to see you dressed like Ziggy Stardust, because for those who don’t yet know, the persona of Gesaffelstein is always very well dressed in a suit with a nice dress shirt and all. Gesaffelstein dressed like Ziggy Stardust would be interesting, no?

G: Maybe for Halloween but I doubt it.

LL: Halloween is next week.

G: Yeah, I don’t know…

LL: We’ll see next week! So another big influence you’ve talked about is Depeche Mode for you, as a pop group, a new wave group, as electronic music…

G: No, no, I believe Depeche Mode to be one of the biggest pop groups today, because they traversed the decades, the styles, always creating their own styles. All without really, I always say this but without really betraying themselves, they’ve always done what they wanted to do, they’ve always succeeded in making hits without becoming mainstream. They’ve always done this while achieving the most complex production, it’s pretty amazing.

LL: Pretty amazing too that a group you respect so much, that you’ve always followed, asked you to do a remix for them.

G: Yes, it was really nice, I was more than happy to do it. I hadn’t expected it. Well, I was aware that the group liked my music because Vince Clarke and Martin Gore had founded a group named VCMG, which was releasing techno tracks not too long ago and I had done a remix for them, they had asked me to do a remix for their project. So they asked me to do a remix for Depeche Mode and I was happy but I was also a bit scared, because what could I do? Their music is already so perfect. And in fact for that remix I was stumped because I thought that Dave Gahan’s voice was so beautiful it needed nothing more. People overproduce things nowadays so I thought, “What if the remix won’t be understood? Because it has very few elements but the voice needs to be the focus. What can production bring to the voice? It can try to be equal to the voice but it never will be.” It’s impossible, he sings so well.

LL: I think that you succeeded very well. We can hear your sound, the essence of Gesaffelstein, without it overwhelming Depeche Mode’s track. Let’s listen to Gesaffelstein’s remix of Depeche Mode’s Goodbye and afterwards another exclusive from Gesaffelstein’s new album, Aleph.





[Depeche Mode - Goodbye]





LL: Depeche Mode, Goodbye remixed by Gesaffelstein. You must be so proud to listen to it, like “I remixed Depeche Mode!” and it’s playing on the radio. Not bad huh?

G: Yes, it’s nice.

LL: Your next challenge after the album will be to remix who, do you think? If you could remix anybody.

G: But if I tell you it won’t be a surprise.

LL: Then it’s already in the works?

G: No, no, no, to be honest I’ve stopped doing remixes because for now it doesn’t interest me. Lately I haven’t had the time either, because I’ve been working on the album. I just don’t feel like doing that right now. It’s a bit of a paradox because right now is when I’m receiving the most requests to do remixes, and from groups that I would have loved to remix. But I’m refusing because I’ve already done that and I don’t like repeating myself, maybe I want to do something else. Remixing artists today, I.. No, no.

LL: I see. Maybe it’ll happen later.

G: Yeah, or maybe never, I don’t know, but right now, today, it doesn’t interest me.

LL: In any case, this evening what interests us is your new album, Aleph, which is coming out Monday. We have another world exclusive! I should announce it with a big voice like that, right Gesaffelstein?

G: Yeah.

LL: WORLD EXCLUSIVE!! from Gesaffelstein, Wall of Memories.

G: Yes.

LL: It’s very good, it’s one of my favourites from the album. Let’s listen to Gesaffelstein, Wall of Memories, a world exclusive here on LLP on France Inter.





[Gesaffelstein - Wall of Memories]





LL: Gesaffelstein with Wall of Memories, super good, from the album Aleph coming out on Monday. It’s a track that I adore, as I’ve already told you Gesaffelstein. How did you compose it, in your studio?

G: Well, how, I don’t really know, I don’t remember exactly when I got the idea. I only know that when I found the kind of piano loop, I played it for hours and hours in the studio, telling myself that I knew I could add something to it, but that I’d still make the pleasure of it last. The track started from that, from me deciding that I liked the loop, liked when it played, and let that play for a very long time while only adding something new to it later. The idea came from that.

LL: Do you play a lot of piano? Did you learn solfège?

G: No, I haven’t had any music education. To be very honest, I can’t pick out a ‘do’, a ‘fa’, or a ‘re’ on a piano, but visually I can figure it out, because I ended up learning how instruments work in different ways. So I know that if I hit a certain key, I know it will make this sound but I couldn’t tell you which note it is, I just know it, I know the sounds. I know them, but I can’t play instruments in any academic fashion.

LL: And this music we’re listening to right now, which is beautiful…

G: It’s Chopin.

LL: Yes, it goes very well with Wall of Memories, and it’s a favourite that you chose to play for us. So what is it, why?

G: Chopin’s Op. 69 No. 2 is a valse… Why choose it? Well there isn’t much to say, I don’t really have much basis to talk about it, I just like it a lot and I don’t know why. It pleases me, soothes me, it exudes beauty.

LL: Let’s listen.





[Chopin - Valse en si menor Op. 69 No. 2 “L’adieu”]





LL: Magnificent. That was a bit of Chopin, chosen by Gesaffelstein, our special guest tonight until midnight. You were telling me his whole biography while we were listening too, you know a lot about him!

G: Well he’s pretty incredible because, like I said, he died at 39 years of age, fairly young, people think he died of cystic fibrosis, a sickness. You tell yourself that 39 years old isn’t that old, but when you look at everything he accomplished, you wonder how a man could’ve done all of that at that age, with so little maturity. At 39 years, perhaps maturity happened sooner back then, but that’s still a young age. It’s just pure genius. It’s incredible.

LL: We’ve already talked about this, you’re still fairly young Gesaffelstein, far from 39. We’ve talked about your releases with Zone, with The Hacker, with Tiga’s label Turbo, plenty of releases with Brodinski too, we’ve talked about your album Aleph coming out Monday, you’ve remixed Depeche Mode, and in the midst of all that, you also produced for Mr. Kanye West! I don’t know how you found the time for it. I remember seeing Kanye West perform this track for the first time on Saturday Night Live, I had no idea that you had worked on it with him and it really took me by surprise! I’d thought, in a positive way, that Kanye West was taking a different turn with his sound, that he’d become Nine Inch Nails, that he’d become Industrial! So tell me how it happened, who made the call? Did someone call saying “Hey, it’s Kanye West!” and you didn’t believe them or… how did it work out? Did you say yes right away, say “Yes I want to work with Kanye West”?

G: Well, my manager, Manu Barron, knew the artistic director for Yeezus, named Matthew Williams. I don’t quite know how they met in Paris. Matthew discovered that Manu was managing me and found that he was in luck, because Kanye wanted to meet Gesaffelstein, wanted to meet me. I don’t like speaking in third person. So it happened very quickly; Manu told me, and the following day, since Kanye was in Paris, he said “Come, let’s meet each other.” So I went to his place. That’s it. I went in cautiously with Louis, with Brodinski, because I know nothing about rap. I needed an ally in this affair, who was more immersed in rap, and Louis was the best person to bring. So we went over there and he had us listen to a few tracks from his album, well, they were like demos. We talked for hours afterwards and he asked us what we wanted to work on, which tracks, etc. So we thought, why not give it a shot? That’s all! A lot of people ask me this question but it’s that simple, there weren’t any complexities. I said OK, I took some parts, he came to my studio, I went to his. It’s very simple.

LL: Alright! We’ll listen to a bit of Black Skinhead, for the few people who haven’t heard it yet.





[Kanye West - Black Skinhead]





LL: Kanye West with Black Skinhead. Gesaffelstein you’re really loving this song in the studio right now! It’s like you’re only listening to it for the second or third time, wondering who did what. Because Daft Punk was part of it too, not just you.

G: No, there was Brodinski too, Daft Punk, it was a little… What seemed a little strange to me at first about working with a guy in hip hop was that that kind of artist has a particular way of working, many people work on their tracks. Kanye was having me listen to things, saying “Here that’s from Daft Punk, these are the Gesa parts, these are from someone else…” so it was pretty complicated. I was able to work with Brodinski because we were in Paris, I was able to work with Kanye because he was in Paris, I think that Daft Punk weren’t there, and so we all worked a little on the track without much consultation. The final became what it is now for Send It Up and Black Skinhead. I think that everyone is happy with it, Brodi is happy, Kanye and Daft Punk too. I think it was a rather good experience…

LL: You’re listening right now.

G: Yeah…

[con’t.]





LL: You really like the drums at the end, the beat!

G: Yeah, they’re pretty violent.

LL: So he was fairly approachable, when it came to talking with him about music?

G: I won’t tell you anything about him! I think that people are annoying him enough right now, without my say on it. I don’t think I’ll say anything more about him, because I find it unbearable, the way media behaves in regards to him, so…

LL: Alright. You remain very classy about that, Gesaffelstein. You stated that rap wasn’t really your field of expertise but I’ll play some songs, I’ll get your feedback about a few tracks, Gesaffelstein.





[Snoop Dogg - Murder Was the Case]





LL: And now, a huge smile! A huge smile in the studio! For someone who doesn’t really like rap, you seem to be enjoying this Snoop Dogg Track!

G: That’s not rap, that’s music! That’s Snoop Dogg, Murder was the… ?

LL: Was the case, that they gave me.

G: Well I like it, really. It’s fairly G-funk, it’s not very “rap”. Well, the way he’s singing is rap, but the music is more G-funk. I often have this conversation with Louis, because the things he has me listen to fall more along the lines of G-funk, maybe because it sounds more “gangster”. But yeah, I like it.

LL: Alright, we’ll listen to a little more.





[con’t.]





LL: So, Gesaffelstein is a fan of G-funk, we’re learning so much–

G: Not all of it! But there are some gems. There are always good tracks in every genre, and in this case, it’s very good.

LL: Alright, well Gesaffelstein, you say that there is always some good and some bad in every style, but I remember in the first interview we ever did, in 2011–

G: Ah, that’s old…

LL: Yeah it’s been a while, but you had told me that you weren’t a fan of rock in general. So tell me what you think of this song.

G: Nirvana?

LL: Yeah.

G: Well the thing is, right now you’re having me listen to things that surpass their genres, that carry on through generations, so what should I say? It’s…

LL: So is this a track that touches you, or…?

G: Well no, but it’s… It’s just a track that I like. I think that when something is good at this level, it transcends all genres. That’s all. I don’t wrack my brain trying to “get” music either, I don’t like to intellectualise it. I just listen and enjoy it.

LL: Alright, we’ll listen and enjoy a little of Nirvana’s Come as You Are.





[Nirvana - Come as You Are]





LL: Nirvana, Come as You Are. So another classic we’ll play for Gesaffelstein, simply because there are many people who think that you are a mysterious person on stage, I’ve had plenty of people who’ve asked me on Twitter and Facebook, “Ask him why he doesn’t smile more!” But you’re very friendly in person, during this interview, and you don’t listen to exclusively depressing or dark things.

G: I’m not obligated to and I won’t justify why I don’t goof off, or… Honestly, I don’t feel like explaining that type of thing, if people want to think I’m unpleasant, let them. However I still think it’s very rude for someone to believe that they know my type without having met me. So, I do believe that people can say what they want. I’m not lying to people, I’m only making music, that’s really the only thing that should concern them. If people believe that I don’t smile or think I’m unpleasant, well, that’s too bad, that’s all. After all, I’m not here to be friendly with them, to be their friend, I’m just here to make music. They should go elsewhere for other things.

LL: It’s great to discover you via music as well, this evening. This is a track that you enjoy, isn’t it?

G: Radiohead, yeah.

LL: No Surprises. It’s great, we’ll listen a bit.





[Radiohead - No Surprises]





LL: I love this track, from OK Computer. Gesaffelstein, you were saying that it’s “like clockwork”? What do you mean?

G: Well, just like in a clock, everything is well-designed, everything is in its rightful place.

LL: Everything in its right place.

G: Melodically, in terms of production, in terms of the placement of the voice, everything is done well. Everything is perfectly complementary, the voice is complementary to the music, the music is complementary to the voice, everything appeases everything. That is, the music softens the voice and the voice softens the music. It’s perfect, you could replay it for hours. It’s great. This track is magnificent.

LL: It’s interesting to listen to it with you, after having listened to tracks from your album Aleph which are also a lot softer. We’re discovering a whole other aspect of Gesaffelstein with this album, which is coming out Monday. We’ll listen now to Hate or Glory just before the news, and after the news, Gesaffelstein has prepared an incredible mix and we’ll stay while he comments on it with us, then it’ll be posted online without commentary just like with many DJs every Thursday night. I’m so excited to play this mix for everyone listening to us. So, we’ll leave each other for now at the end of this first hour of this special show with Gesaffelstein on Hate or Glory, from Aleph. We’ll be back and Gesaffelstein’s gone to smoke a cigarette now, he’s so thankful for the break! We’ll be back at 11.15PM after the news.





[Gesaffelstein - Hate or Glory]





LL: Gesaffelstein with Hate or Glory will be out on his first album, Aleph, Monday. We’ll be back after the news at 11.15PM with the producer from Lyon who has prepared for us an exclusive mix for this special LLP on France Inter.





[break]





LL: And we’re starting immediately with this exclusive mix that Gesaffelstein has prepared for us for the second half of the show until midnight. We’ll be commenting on it on air and then it will be posted online without commentary so that you can replay it as much as you want. We’re starting this mix off with what, Gesaffelstein?

G: It’s Malaria, Trash Me.

LL: Okay, so what’s Malaria, Trash Me?

G: It’s a female group, composed uniquely of women, in Berlin, in the 80s, and it’s genius.

LL: Let’s listen to Gesaffelstein’s exclusive mix.





[Malaria - Trash Me]





LL: You’re listening to Gesaffelstein’s exclusive mix. We’re quite a few years in the past right now, aren’t we?

G: Yes.

LL: I love this track, Warm Leatherette.

G: By The Normal. It’s Daniel Miller, he’s the one who founded the record label Mute, the label that signed Depeche Mode, Moby, Nitzer Ebb. He did that when he was young, he only made one EP with Warm Leatherette and T.V.O.D. He’s an important figure in electronic music.

LL: This track makes me so happy.





[con’t.]





[No More - Suicide Commando]





LL: You’re listening to Gesaffelstein’s radio mix, in which he literally inserted radio breaks, it’s great! We were in what year with Suicide Commando by No More, the 70s?

G: Still in the 80s. Now it’s a little more recent, it’s Drexciya, from the early 90s, or the mid-90s, I can’t quite remember. I didn’t want to make this mix like a typical electronic mix, with tracks following each other by rhythm, because objectively… I don’t give a fuck. I just wanted to play the tracks I like with breaks that I think are a little more inventive than fade-ins and fade-outs.

LL: It works very well. So Drexciya is very important to you, musically.

G: Yes, yes of course! Like you stated earlier, it’s the first group Gerald Donald and James Stinson formed. Gerald Donald was Dopplereffekt, James Stinson died, so it’s a group that doesn’t exist anymore but I believe that it’s one of the most important groups in electronic music ever. It’s kind of the first electro/techno group of the genre, and inspired hundreds of artists.

LL: We’re listening to Species.

G: of the Pod.





[Drexciya - Species of the Pod]





[Space Art - Eyes Shade]





LL: It’s an incredible sight to behold Gesaffelstein entranced by this track in his mix. What is it?

G: Space Art.

LL: I don’t know Space Art.

G: It’s a French group that makes music that sounds like that, a little spacey. Kind of similar to Pink Floyd. It takes you on a journey. It’s crazy, you saw the effect it has, it’s great isn’t it? I don’t know, I like it, it’s very cosmic, very deep… There’s nothing left to say.





[con’t.]





[Carretta and Workerpoor - Intruders (The Hacker remix)]





LL: I’m certain I heard in that break a little section of one of your tracks, from Control Movement!

G: Oh, maybe.

LL: Maybe! Everyone can listen to it again later on franceinter.fr anyway, without the commentary we’re making about Gesaffelstein’s music mix. That last track was incredible! I didn’t know it at all, Space Art, which is French. Now we’re listening to two artists which are rather important to you, Gesa, isn’t that right?

G: Yes. It’s a track by David Carretta, named Intruders, and remixed by The Hacker, yet again. So yeah, it’s important to me because they’re major influences, they’re close to me and I’m close to them. It’s challenging to talk about people you’re close to, above the fact that I’m friends with them and respect them, they’re very important artists, to me, in French music and even worldwide. Respect on every level.





[Front 242 - Never Stop]





[Liaisons Dangereuses - Etre Assis Ou Danser]





LL: What we just heard was Front 242’s Never Stop. I’ve never heard of them but I’ll stick them in my DJ sets now, what is it, who is it?

G: It’s a Belgian EBM group. EBM means “Electronic Body Music” and this is one of the leaders of that kind of music.

LL: And is it a track that you put in your mixes sometimes, Gesaffelstein?

G: Yes, it happens. It’s above all a group that influenced me.

LL: Just like the one we’re listening to now, Liaisons Dangereuses?

G: Yes, exactly. The thing is that I’m a fan of industrial music, but to me, EBM… most of it is awful, or I think it’s awful. But there are some exceptions like Liaisons Dangereuses, Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, that come out with really good stuff and that are truly incredible and changed techno too.

LL: Alright well let’s listen to Liaisons Dangereuses now in Gesaffelstein’s exclusive mix here on France Inter.





[con’t.]





[Deux - Europe]





LL: So Gesaffelstein, what were you saying? This group is really important?

G: Well, I don’t think they brought quite so much to music in the sense that it wasn’t really successful. But when I discovered this group–

LL: Named “Deux”, right?

G: Named Deux, I believe I discovered it at the same time as The Hacker did. We were asking ourselves, “How did we miss this while objectively, we keep tabs on everything, all the groups, even the EPs that only distributed 100 copies, in minimal wave?” It touched me especially because this group is from Lyon, I felt a little closer to it like, “Yeah, they’re from Lyon, they grew up in my city, and they’re making music that speaks to me.” But really out of all the minimal wave groups that are a little lost to time, they really touched me. They made an album named Agglomerat which was re-edited not too long ago, 6 or 7 years ago, and I love it. It’s really quite good.

LL: I don’t think I’ve ever given such an honor.

G: They deserve it, because I’m not quite sure why it didn’t work out for them, maybe it’s a marketing issue, or something from the time. They were at a level of writing and composition that was fairly incredible.

LL: Let’s listen to Deux, with Europe.





[con’t.]





[Joy Division - Interzone]





LL: Amazing! Interzone in Gesaffelstein’s exclusive mix, and between tracks, a small bit of your remix for Danny Brown, The Black Brad Pitt.

G: I didn’t hear anything.

LL: It was a little subliminal!

G: Yeah it was a tiny transition, a little shout out.

LL: A little shout out before Joy Division.

G: Yes. So, Interzone.

LL: Why that track by Joy Division?

G: Well because it’s the most violent, the most… Well fuck I can’t put into words… You know how it’s good, and you… You don’t need to add to it, you just know that it’s good. Interzone is good.

LL: Alright, Interzone is good!

G: It’s just great! Well it’s, I… It takes me back to when I was younger, I was listening to that and it marked me. Other than that, you can’t pinpoint why you like it. He achieved perfection on his track, which is pretty cool. So there you have it, I put it in the mixtape.

LL: It’s very pleasing, no need for a reason to have Joy Division on the radio! Let’s listen!





[con’t]





[The Electronic Circus - Direct Lines]





LL: So what’s this, it’s the complete opposite of what we just heard from Joy Division in your mix.

G: It’s The Electronic Circus.

LL: Yes that’s right, with Direct Lines?

G: Yeah.

LL: What is it?

G: You want me to explain? I’ll tell you the true backstory for this track. It’s that not too long ago, last week, I found the computer on which I’d first started composing music. It’s very old, 10 years. I’d kept it just because, and since the screen was broken I recovered the data from the hard drive and it had all the tracks I liked at the time, 10 years ago.

LL: That’s amazing!

G: So I’d recovered that and thought, I’ve been asked to do a mix, so why not put this track on it, and that’s why I did it. It was just an idea I had.

LL: So teenage Gesaffelstein was listening to this, The Electronic Circus’ Direct Lines.





[con’t.]





[Nitzer Ebb - For Fun]





LL: We’re listening to Radio Gesaffelstein here on France Inter with LLP.

G: It’s like pirate radio rather than playing a mix.

LL: And now we’re listening to a group you mentioned earlier.

G: Nitzer Ebb, yes. It’s Fun To Be Had, no?

LL: For Fun.

G: For Fun, oh yes, I forgot. For Fun from the album Belief.

LL: According to you, it’s one of the best albums of all time, right? Belief by Nitzer Ebb.

G: Yes, absolutely.

LL: Which is funny because this isn’t even the most known album by Nitzer Ebb, the most criticized.

G: No, but it’s in the ten best albums of all time, of all genres, ever since music began. On the one hand it makes me relive very personal moments, so I have my own interpretation, and on the other, it’s one of my top ten favourite albums. I love it.

LL: Let’s listen.





[con’t.]





[Clement Meyer - Chronomaniac]





LL: Now this, Gesaffelstein, we seem to have already talked about in the interview: Clement Meyer. Am I mistaken, yes or no?

G: I don’t think we have.

LL: Alright well then this is Clement Meyer playing now.

G: This is one of the tracks from Clement Meyer’s new EP, it’s Chronomaniac. It’s simple, Clement, to me, is one of the best producers in France currently, when it comes to electronic music of all genres. I follow each release of his. It touches me most in terms of electronic dance, which is one of the things I like making most. That’s all. He has his own label, and it’s really good.

LL: What’s his label called?

G: Get The Curse.

LL: Get The Curse, that’s right. Let’s listen to Clement Meyer.





[con’t.]





[Djedjotronic - Abyssal Zone]





LL: Now that’s a song I love, you already know it if you listen to the LLP here on France Inter! It’s the latest release from Zone, your label with The Hacker, Gesaffelstein, it’s Djedjotronic with Abyssal Zone. I love this song! The music video too!

G: Yeah. I already knew about Djedjo, and then I did that thing in Berlin, Boiler Room. He lives there and showed up, and we started talking about electro and stuff. I asked him to send me some tracks, I was under the impression that we were on the same wavelength. So he sent me this, and no joke, in terms of electro, in terms of pure electro, it had been a long time since I’d heard a track this good. I’m so proud to have been able to release this on Zone.

LL: It’s a big release.

G: Yeah, plus it’s doing well for him, it’s had a lot of positive feedback and he deserves to have that continue. I believe that he can become a very important artist to the future of music, in general.





[con’t.]





[New Order - Everything’s Gone Green]





LL: Now that’s genius, perfect to finish the mix on this! It’ll be the last track we listen to in Gesaffelstein’s mix, afterwards it will be posted online with a little bonus at the end. This is New Order, of course.

G: Yes, it’s Everything’s Gone Green.

LL: I’m going to take advantage while New Order plays to ask you a couple questions from listeners, sent in on Facebook before we began. You can reply very quickly, we only have a few minutes. Pierre wants to know, do you like flowers, Gesaffelstein?

G: Sakura.

LL: Alright. Didier wants to know, it’s been how long since you’ve started using Fruityloops in the studio?

G: About ten years.

LL: Alright, and you use it all the time?

G: Yeah.

LL: Henri asks, Roland, Moog, or Dave Smith?

G: Roland.

LL: Okay, Neil wants to know, how many packs per concert?

G: A whole case.

LL: Alright! A lot of people are wondering if there’ll be a vinyl release for Aleph, your album.

G: Yes.

LL: Yes. Emmanuel wants to know if you’ve ever seen a naked man in the shower.

G: And you?

LL: Next question. What’s your favourite brand of suit, Gesaffelstein? Erwan wants to know.

G: …

LL: Are you thinking about it? Next question?

G: No! No, I can’t answer that one.

LL: I have a slightly more serious question from Stephanie, very quickly, the meaning of your video for Pursuit? Which resembles you a lot, I find.

G: No, I won’t say anything, I’ll stop you right there.

LL: Alright, not even for Hate or Glory, which is completely different?

G: Nothing!

LL: Okay! At least I tried! I have here one more question from Antoine: After having finalized the album, would you still say that you made it, above all else, for yourself?

G: Yes. Always.

LL: There you have it. I believe that’s obvious. Aleph is being released Monday, we’ll listen to this last track from Gesaffelstein’s exclusive mix here on this special LLP on France Inter.





[con’t.]





LL: We’re at the end of this Gesaffelstein special on France Inter. His first album Aleph, the most highly-anticipated techno album of the year is released on Monday. Thank you to technical, to Julien, to Mathias, to Leon, to our music director Didier Varrod, thanks also to Khoi Nguyen in directing, and to Olivier Pellerin in production and above all thank you to Gesaffelstein for having given us these two hours!

G: Thanks to all of you. Thank you.

LL: It’ll be up for listening on franceinter.fr!