Looking for the perfect beat.

Kirk Degiorgio has spent the majority of his adult life obsessing about music, new and old. From electro tapes to boogie 12"s to Detroit hardware, his collected recorded output reveals a magpie-like obsession with a variety of genres, but always with one common theme: soul. After concentrating on the acoustic soul of his The Beauty Room project for the past few years, he recently reactivated his seminal ART stamp, a label that played a key role in the development of underground UK techno. But there is more... the search goes on.

For many techno fans, ART remains a seminal label – why did you decide to reactivate it? Was it a decision you spent much time on?

It’s something I’ve been planning for ages, but finally decided to go for it once the New Religion label ended its run. The ART-New Religion collaboration album ‘The Electric Institute’, was the first time the label re-surfaced in 2005, and now it’s up and running solely on it’s own again.

Whilst New Religion served as an outlet for my techno material, there was less motivation to re-activate ART. People may not realise, but New Religion was actually a sub-label of EMI. Therefore the budgets for artwork and advances were much more than myself or independent labels could come up with.

The reaction to the new release has been positive, with little moaning. Were you expecting any objections?

I’ve been really pleased with the response. I think ‘Mass’ is the first track since the early Future/Past releases that I’ve done with such an obvious peak-time club feel. I put a lot of effort and production techniques into getting it sounding as massive as possible on a large system.

The kind of melodic techno I’m known for rarely has a large, open club sound. Because there are less elements to control it is a little easier to achieve a dominating club sound with more minimal productions so it’s a challenge to strip down my signature sound whilst still retaining it’s essence.

As for objections – maybe there are some purists who would probably prefer ART to stay as a ‘museum piece’ for UK techno/early IDM, but I’m confident the new material I have planned from myself and others will maintain the integrity of the label.

The past 18 months has seen a number of seminal techno/related labels – B12, R+S and Transmat on the way – and interesting producers – the likes of Russ Gabriel, 2000 and One, Luke Slater – returning. Why do you think this is?

It’s a good observation and not an easy question to answer. I’m not sure there is one specific reason applicable to all the artists you mention, but certainly the period of huge commercialisation of dance music from the mid-nineties to the early-00’s wasn’t an attractive environment for the kind of techno made by these artists.

You, of course, never ‘went away’, but your techno-related output has stepped up in the recent past – the ART and B12 releases, the recent ‘Jitter World’ 12” etc. Is this because this what you want to make right now?

You can make a decent living from this music if you diversify and make sure the long-term basics are in place

I’ve never lost my love for making techno, but the past five years have mostly been taken up by my project The Beauty Room. Whilst working on the first album I was DJing more than ever, so that enabled me to keep in touch and up to date with the latest developments in dance music.

I’ll be DJing regularly again now to help promote the label re-launch – and have just signed up with the Richard Maher Agency who handle Derrick May, Stacey Pullen and others so they will be an ideal platform for me to take the label’s aesthetic to a worldwide audience.

You have been involved in music since the late 80s, starting off working in record shops in London. So you’ve pretty much seen things coming, going and coming again. What period stands out the most for you?

The first ‘scene’ that I saw grow from its infancy and became involved in from a DJ perspective was electro from 1982-1984. The next period that stands out is the rare groove scene that started around 1985. Obviously the whole acid house scene from late ’87 onwards was the largest shift in dance culture I had witnessed and this morphed into whole orbital rave culture up to the end of the 80s.

The last period that really stands out for me is the drum’n’bass scene of the mid-nineties. Since then, other sub-genres have come along – mnml, grime, dubstep – each with their own classic releases, but not dominating in the way these other scenes once did. I wonder if that’s even possible anymore as dance culture is so fragmented.

How do you maintain an enthusiasm for what you do? 20+ years is a long time to be staring at an 808…

Simple – it’s the music! It’s been a way of life for me since I was eleven. Making charts of my favourite disco tunes back in 1979, making pause-button mix tapes in 1985, it’s all I’ve ever known. There are still amazing new tracks that blow me away – and plenty of unknown tunes from back in the day to discover. I can’t imagine a life without being involved with music.

The work you did as As One always stood out – many producers speak about the soul/funk influences, but they tend to produce quite basic tracks. With As One and Future/Past, you explored that territory even further. What are your favourite releases from the period, and do you have any plans to explore this further?

I’m working on a new side project called The Kabal which will be heavily influenced by 80s boogie. It’s been interesting watching the whole ‘re-edit’ scene from the sidelines - deciding whether to cash in or not. But seriously, I make my own re-edits for DJing but I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable releasing them – unless properly endorsed and licensed. So, this project will be more sample and live performance based – rooted in the 80s-boogie sound that I grew up with.

Of all the names you have recorded under, which one is the one that you feel defines you best?

All of them!

Any regrets?

That I didn’t choose to record my earliest releases under my own name. I think this would have helped my profile when I was starting out.

So is this a full-time job for you today?

Yes, and it has been since I left my part-time job at Reckless Records back in 1993. I’m lucky that I have a diverse career which has included scoring TV ads, writing features for Wax Poetics, penning liner-notes for jazz re-issues, regular club DJing, a monthly show on Red Bull Music Academy radio, lecturing for Red Bull Academy, music director for The Beauty Room live show, compiling mix CDs and putting together compilations, regular remixes, etc, etc…

I’m a perfect example that you can make a decent living from this music if you diversify and make sure the long-term basics are in place such as a good publisher, a decent studio and maintaining a balance between having a good profile without over-exposing yourself.

It’s been interesting watching the whole ‘re-edit’ scene from the sidelines - deciding whether to cash in or not!

Your RBMA radio series (in which Degiorgio chronicles a given genre/theme in each transmission) is excellent – it must be a pleasure for a music obsessive to be able to share what he wants with a captive audience when he wants.

Thanks – and yes, it is a pleasure and yes, it is an obsession! I’m always telling the people at RBMA it’s my dream radio show. I’m a real ‘complete-ist’ when it comes to music, so researching an artist or genre for each show is a real joy. I do probably spend too much time – and money – tracking down all the releases by the featured artists, but it’s a labour of love and I hope it continues as long as listeners enjoy the concept. I certainly won’t be running out of subject matter any time soon – the list is endless.

Tell me more about you putting together ART studios after that trip to the US to buy records in 1990…

To be honest, I didn’t really study or get particularly close to the studios I saw at Metroplex and Transmat. It was more the experience of collaborating with The Black Dog and the set up they had at Black Dog Towers where I learnt about what gear to buy and how to use it. That was a fortnight before I went to Detroit – and that experienced combined with seeing that Derrick and Juan used pretty similar setups in terms of size and functionality that really convinced me that I had to do the same if I was to start making music myself.

I bought a Fostex mixing board identical to the one The Black Dog used, a Roland R8 drum machine, Akai S950 sampler, Roland D5 keyboard, a 303 with a broken envelope control and a DAT machine.

After a couple of months Matt Cogger (aka ART artist Neuro Politique) came back to the UK after working at Transmat and he lent me some equipment Derrick had given him – including Derrick’s DX100 and Kawai K3 keyboard. I then bought an original 808, Oberheim Matrix 1000 and Yamaha SPX900 effects unit. All of my early releases were made with this setup.

Do you think everything is too… easy today? Does the wealth of information that is available to people make it too easy to bluff, to easy to succeed by putting less time in - and is music/culture suffering as a result?

It’s certainly easier to find out how to produce tracks – what to use, how to use it, etc. Sample packs and loops probably make it easier for someone to bluff too, but the way I see it, anything that gets people on the creative path is a good thing and the ones with the talent will quickly move on and develop their own sounds and techniques.

Everybody has to start somewhere. Musicians often begin by learning licks from others and the majority of early UK and European techno that is so revered today is mostly producers trying to imitate the Detroit originators. But look how most of these artists soon developed their own sounds and added their own unique touch – resulting in truly original, ground-breaking works.

What is happening with The Beauty Room? Does Ian O’Brien still play?

The second album is almost finished. We were fortunate to have a very good budget for the follow-up and I’ve spent most of the last two years in the world’s best studios producing it.

We recorded a lot of it at the legendary Sunset Sound studios in LA. We used Studio 3 which is where Prince recorded most of ‘Purple Rain’ – in fact he modelled his Paisley Park studios on the same dimensions. We also recorded at Olympic Studios and British Grove in London. British Grove may just about be the best studio in Europe at the moment.

The orchestral arrangements are by Paul Buckmaster – who co-wrote ‘On The Corner’ with Miles Davis and is most well-known for his arrangements on David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ and the early Elton John albums. We still have some orchestral sessions to organise at Abbey Road but hopefully the album will be out before the end of the year.

Ian O’Brien moved to Tokyo a few years back so he wasn’t around for this album. I’m talking to him now about him recording some pure techno for ART.

http://planetary-folklore.blogspot.com/ ’Mass’ is out now on ART. 'Isomer Shift' follows on B12 on September 28*