INTERVIEW FOR SUBCULTURE MAGAZINE
www.subculturemagazine.com

I Can't Live Without My Radio is released this month in the UK through French label Tigersushi. How did the idea for the compilation come to be and what was the concept behind it?
After the reunion tour of my own group from the 80´s  minimal compact I wanted to do a more personal "roots" compilation that reflects some of the 80 acts & groups that I either saw live or was enjoying listening to at the time ...the concept was to present most of the various styles of   music of this period that  influenced today's dance music.
At the center of it is the connection between punk and funk and the Transformation/interpretation of  black music by young white musicians like the temptations" ball of confusion" done by love & rockets "dance your ass off " by bohannen done by that petrol emotion or prince´s "kiss" by the age of chance.

Tell me about the process of selecting the tracks for this compilation. 
A lot of listening and choosing the tracks that I both liked and were fitting the concept at the same time. Some of them were wellknown back in the 80´s like heaven 17 song  "we don't need …"was at the top 10 at the time. And then some rather obscure tracks that deserved to be heard again.

Were there any other tracks you wanted to include but had to concede?
Yes as a cd time  is limited (aprox.76min)and then there  were  other tracks that I loved but had to let go  in order to keep it coherent and flowing.  

What was it about this new wave dance style and artists like The Residents, Medium Medium, Shriekback, Heaven 17 and Einsturzende Neubauten that influenced you so much?
The energy! The intensity! and Invention!
Its all exciting and brilliant stuff!

In recent years, we have seen bands and artists given the chance to hand pick personally influential tracks for compilation series like Back to Mine. How different is I Can't Live Without My Radio from those other "artists picking tracks" that are on the market?
"I can't live without my radio" is built up to be listen to as a whole, despite the fact that there are different music styles on it. It presents a full picture of that period.
Apart from that I did a whole series of compilations (chill out, hip hop, break beat etc.) thru the years now.  So it is not a one off affair like a lot of the "artists picking tracks" (with all due respect) stuff is.

Who are you targeting this release for?
For true music lovers! And for anybody who is interested in exciting timeless stuff.

Why have you chosen not to release this compilation with SSR, your home label for the Freezone series (which won you so much praise among electronic music lovers) but instead went with the small French indie label Tigersushi?  
I left SSR /crammed  in 2002 after 7 years of a&r  as the label went into world music (mostly) and stopped  releasing   electronic dance  music all together.Tigersushi was the perfect label for" I cant live without my radio" as they where an 80 influenced label from the very beginning.

Is I Can't Live…a one time effort from you, or are we going to see more releases of this kind, maybe even a new series?
Time will tell ……in any case there will be a new and very different style compilation out before the end of the year on a new French label. This is all I can say at this moment….

How was the process you went through post Minimal Compact era, which is switching the microphone with the decks?
In the late 70´s I already dj for nearly a year in a new wave club in tel-aviv way before minimal compact was formed. It was not a radical change for me to go back to dj a few years after the group split up. After minimal compact I've recorded and released other projects like; the gruesome twosome "candy from strangers"(with per mental overdrive & bertrand burgalat) (ssr)" hallucination generation" the first single off it was a dance cult hit in the states (billboard dance charts) and  a homage to  poetry-" when god was famous" with benjamin lew (made to measure) and oracle-"tree" (with malka spigel (m.c) & colin newman (wire) (swim).
Then I've started doing a weekly radio show on a local radio here in Brussels that led to the freezone compilations and working as an a&r  for ssr/crammed (94) and I've started to play out all over the world as people started to invite me for gigs.
I still do radio shows for: radio campus Brussels, fm4 Austria, radio grenouille France, 106 fm Tel- Aviv, and soon rum radio Portugal.
And recently I've re-started writing and singing again on different projects by various artists/producers (the penelopes, carl off, joakim, among others)

Where do you feel the most comfortable as an artist – behind the turntables? Behind the microphone or behind the piece of paper when you write?
Although It's all very different, I feel comfortable of doing all three.

One thing I noticed about the compilation is that it is not mixed the classic way (beat by beat) but more as a radio show set (fade in, fade out). Any reason why you decided to edit the album that way?  
There is no particular reason. This is what I like and what I feel. There's a build up and a continuity on it in any case. All in all the choice of music (tracks) is the most important factor for me.I always work this way …

Having been a young adult growing up to the sounds of the music you've been compiling for your album, and being an extremely active and popular freestyle DJ – When do you think better music is/was being produced, now or back then during the late 70/ 80s?
Every period got its pearls and it's dodgy stuff……the same as it ever was…..

If Minimal Compact was born today, what do you think would be the differences both career-wise and the audience reaction between now and ……..?
There would not be any difference (probably) as minimal compact never compromised.Then and will never do now and our audience knows and loveus for that. In the 80`s a group could have developed and grow at its own pace if it was signed to an Indie label, there was none of the "fast food" mentality that prevails nowadays. We (minimal compact) basically learnt and grew as we went along, something that could not be done today with the pressure of the music industry, if you are not selling enough units right away you are history…

Besides being the lead vocalist and lyricist for Minimal Compact, you have contributed your voice to quite few projects throughout the years. Recently you recorded the track "In a Storm" with The Penelopes. Tell me about this collaboration and any others you are involved with at the moment.
I did a one off project with a Belgium duo the spankers called "cracking up" (still looking for a label for that one!). Carl Off sent me a demo which I liked and turned into a ballad …that's going to come out on his forthcoming album in October 2006 (anorak super sport belgium).
I've met the Penelopes when they did a concert in Brussels and we hit it of right away, they ask me to do a vocal for the song "in a storm" on their album which became the first single off it. (out now aug.06 on citizen rec.(vitalic´s label france). Remixes of the track by Patrick Pulsinger and the hacker will follow (October 06)and we are planning to do a full album project in the near future …..and live gigs   to follow….that I am looking forward to.

What is the recent news from the Minimal Compact forefront? In 2004, your released There's Always Now (Remixes & Remakes) on Crammed but I know you guys had been talking about a new album on your last reunion. Do you remain in touch and what is going on with that new album?
Yes we are in touch as friends we never really made plans to record a new album despite the rumors. Our reunion tours 2004/05 in Israel and Europe went fantastically well and we left it at that. Everybody is busy with their own projects and families  we are scattered  around the world.

In the past 5 years, there has been this sort of "trend" of reunions, '80s and '70s bands step up and try to relive the magic of their past. Most of the times those reunion tours end with a new album release which fails to reach success both commercially and music wise for fans. I've never really heard your position about it. What is your position about reunions?
Mostly it's  pathetic…except for some…. 
In our case I was not sure of doing it at first... But after Nathan mandelbaum´s film "raging souls" came out and crammed discs released the mc cd box set we got talking and the feeling was good and the time  was right so we went ahead with it. It turned up as a fantastic experience. Timeless and magical… better then 20 years ago…..for both us and our fans (new and old)

What are your plans as for including I Can't Live…musical style on your live sets and if you do how do you think it'll fit with your chill/downtempo/ambient/trip-hop/atmospheric jungle, Jazz and overall freestyle blend?  
Although I am known mostly for my freezone compilations (chill out) I am rarely playing it out ... I play a lot of dance rock, punkfunk, and electro disco stuff nowadays, but in general I am into a lot of different types of music in gigs and on the radio.
I love it all !!!!!!!!!!!

March 07 interview with dj morpheus with jonty skrufff- skrufff net mag.