Electric Independence

Black Devil Disco Petter Squarepusher Marc Houle This issue, Electric Independence picked the brain of our guest critic, Jacob Poznanski. He’s ten years old and lives in Stamford, a picturesque town in Lincolnshire, not far from Peterborough. We sent him a CD with the tracks on that we wanted to ask him about, and enclosed with it a sheet of paper on which he could write his thoughts about each track. For Jacob it turned out to be quite like homework, only the kind of homework that he really enjoyed doing. Jacob’s favourite music is made on computers. “I like electronic sound,” he says, “and I don’t really like vocals.” Excellent. But first some more about Jacob. He’s the younger brother of a good friend of ours and by all accounts he sounds like an upstanding young man. He’s currently leafing through the Dangerous Book For Boys, that big red hardback that’s flying out of bookshops. Do you know the one? It’s an old-fashioned almanack for boys with chapters on pretty much everything you want to know when you’re ten and have yet to be distracted by girls. It’s a good way to wile away the summer holidays. So far his favourite bits in it have been about dinosaurs and how to make a catapult. Jacob describes himself as a sporty person, a pretty popular guy, and he hopes to join a football club soon. “I play right-forward,” he says. “I support Barcelona. My favourite player plays for them, Ronaldinho, and they play well. I suppose it would be easier to follow an English team but I like foreign teams.” Right. Let’s see what he thinks about four of this season’s niftiest electronic records. Here he is on the ’phone now. MARC HOULE “THIRDS IN TREES” This is from bouncy minimal guy Marc Houle’s album, Bay of Figs, which is out on Minus Records. It’s the most overtly disco track Minus have ever released and something of an anomaly on Houle’s album, which mainly judders and stammers along in his usual vein. Vice: So what do you think? Jacob: This was my favourite track on the whole CD. What do you imagine the guy who made this would be like? A guy with a big smile. What did you like about it? I liked the frog sounds. The bass line. What did it make you think of? It makes me feel that I’m in space or something. Does it remind you of computer games at all? Yes. War games. What did you write about it? I wrote: “It has a nice airy feeling because of the length of the notes. The frog sounds fit in well. I like the techno bass tunes near to the end.” SQUAREPUSHER “HELLO MEOW” Tom Jenkinson returns with a brilliant new album called Hello Everything on Warp. This one’s actually a pleasure to listen to from start to finish and doesn’t bamboozle the listener with gonzo bass odysseys about quantum physics. Fizzy rave-up “Hello Meow” sets the tone perfectly. Jacob: I wrote, “The beginning is lively and it has a good rhythm. I like it that there is no-one singing. The rhythm gets more static.” Vice: Do you know what a squarepusher is? No. Have a guess. A car? It’s a term from the middle ages meaning an archer. It’s a really old name for an archer. What kind of music do you like, Jacob? My favourite kind of music are songs that are done on computers. I like electronic sound. I don’t really like vocals, they’re too slow. What are your favourite sites to visit? Normally the Playstation one. I’ve got a PSP. FIFA Street 2 is my favourite game. PETTER “SOME POLYPHONY” This is handsome young techno guy Petter’s stunning new single on Border Community, that excellent wonky electronics label run by James Holden. While we’re here, was it just me or was the Nathan Fake album really over-hyped? Gloopy minimal rave with an almighty breakdown, you’ll remember “Some Polyphony” as one of the highlights on Holden’s At The Controls mix album. Jacob: I wrote for this, “It has a tgood techno sound to it at the beginning. It is complicated and I like the moo sounds.” Vice: Where do you think Petter comes from? He’s from Sweden. BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB “28 AFTER” Six incredible “new” tracks from enigmatic French pensioner Black Devil Disco Club, released on Lo Recordings. Almost identical in spirit and sound to his legendary “lost” 1978 original that was one of Rephlex’s biggest sellers when they re-released it two years ago. Vice: Does it make you want to dance? Some of it. I quite liked the Black Devil song “Coach Me”. It had a really good beginning. The beginning is often the most important bit because it has to capture people’s attention. On “Coach Me” I wrote, “I really like the beginning because it’s got that ‘building up’ feeling. The chorus is good as well.” Would you listen to this music before you play football? Yes. PIERS MARTIN