This time we get straight to the point with Cari Lekebusch and hear about his new label . . .

Cari Lekebusch is a Stockholm-based sound architect along side other Swedish Techno profiles like Adam Beyer, Joel Mull, Alexi Delano and Jesper Dahlbäck. He has borne many pseudonyms over the course of his illustrious career to date including Fred, Mr Barth, Braincell, Shape Changer, Vector, and The Mantis to name a select few. In addition to being a celebrated DJ and producer, in the mid-nineties Cari also launched his inaugural label – Hybrid Sound Architectures (a.k.a. H-Prod) and has since added Kaun Trax, Djupt, Audio Mekanixc, KGB, Trainspotters Nightmare, Audio Pollution and Grundtakt to his growing family of labels.

Your Name

Cari Lekebusch

First record bought...

My mother and father had a vast record collection, and my father was trading in audio equipments and hifi products. So naturally i grew up under a mixing console and started to collect records from when i was around 5-6 and had my first vinyl player. Cant remember the first one i bought but one of the first best albums must have been Kraftwerk's "Computer World" (1982) - Every single track on there is aweness!

Last record I listened to was ...

George Lanham - Damnatio Memoriae EP - The Mark Broom Mix on Heavy Reel - out 8 May 2012. And atm the preview of the new album upcomming on H-Productions by The Advent (!!). Very happy to be able to announce this officially soon :D

The record I pretend I don't love is ...

I know what you mean - BUT sorry ..... Defenitly none!

The record I always go back to…

Everything from Kraftwerk, Mantronix, Chris The Glove Taylor, Man Parrish. African Bambaata and the Soul Sonic Force, Larry Heird, James Brown (!) ... and many more!

My biggest musical inspiration is...

There are way to many to mention, but in my early days Kraftwerk, Chris The Glove Taylor and Mantronix to name a few had a lot of impact on me. I was very much into dancing and acrobatics Kung-Fu etc, so my music still reflects that in many ways and I still stay true to all that.

My first gigging experience was…

I would say my first larger stage performance is in school, or the many "giggs" we had in the streets and corridors of project buildings around Stockholm when I was a young shrimp breakdancing, trying to make beats and painting graffiti. Cant really recall my first gigging experience, since I floated into it in a slow natural process. Suddenly I was playing almost every weekend around the globe, but off course I had some parties of my own in the early days, where me and my friends made a racket all night long with anything we could muster. Turntables, modules, synths, drum machines & effects.

My worst gigging experience was…

Never had a big super bummer strike out totall malfunction sofar really. But im also very positive in mind set about things like this. So it takes a lot to aggravate me when it comes to live performance situations. The whole concept of life is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong eventually if you repeat it over and over again. Thats the whole charm of it, people don't get upset when the record is skipping or a cable gets jacket out because a crazed dude is jumping up on stage falling over the equipment. They scream even more when the racket starts again after cables being plugged back in by myself and a faster than lightning sound crew. So if you ask me theres really nothing that can make a gig something bad :) Well except maybe, if you have a fever and youre totally strung out to max, and just want to sleep in bed, rest and get well - BUT you're in a country far far away and gotta be on stage in 20 minutes :/ Then you know that you cant really perform as well as you would like to off course :S

My best gigging experience was…

The best ones are of course when the sound is perfect, a full floor and crazed people into techno that are in the need to blow off the weeks steam properly :D Until open end! There have been quite a few off those during my 25 years sofar and i dont really know how to narrow it down to be honest :S And then we have the difference between large stage and small club etc. In a club there is more of a personal relationship with the crowd compared to a large festival where you are a dot in the sky o.O But festivals have the huge size and energy of the mass, and you always get to meet a lot of your fellow artists.

The person I would most like to share a stage with would be…

This here would be only the beginning of my list; Alexi Delano, Tony Rohr, The Advent & Industrialyzer, Jesper Dahlback, Joel Mull, Adam Beyer, Nima Khak, Nihad Tule, Dustin Zahn, Joey Beltram, Hans Bouffmyhre, Slam, Joseph Capriati, Markantonio, Alan Fitzpatrick, Rebekah, Chris Colburn, Par Grindvik, Samuel L Session, Robert Leiner, Abi Bah, Psyk, James Ruskin, Mark Broom, Luke Slater, Jeff Mills, Underground Resistance, Jean-Louis Huhta, Kimono, Kraftwerk, Gary Beck, Oliver Bondzio, DJ Skull aka The Ancient Astronaut, DJ Hyperactive, Aril Brikah, Ken Ishi, Vordul Mega, Zighix .... and many many more!

If I wasn’t a musician I would be a…

Inventor, architect, painter, visual and computer graphics artist.

Favorite YouTube video...

Hahaha!! Check out all the floorstatic channel on youtube. From one of my alltime fave B-Boys and mad inventor's Daniel Campos aka B-Boy Cloud - Here is his latest creation --- its more than awesome!

When did you start the label ?

December 2011

Why ?

I've just started my new imprint "Bad Animal" for multiple reasons. First it's serving as a platform for myself and my close friends for releasing more soulful yet obtuse sounds. After years of making "tracks" I've decided it's time to focus more on "music," all the while leaning a bit to the left.

The other purpose of this label is to be a charitable entity. I've decided to donate profits to the World Wildlife Fund. While this is not an official partnership, this is where the money will go. It seems that while electronic music has become more popular, with that comes the rock star attitudes and the trite, self-indulgent and self-serving nonsense that has plagued the general music industry for years. While I know it's part of it all, in some sense, I aim to offset this with some benevolent action and the spread of positivity via music.

Who or what was your biggest influence ?

Stylistically the influences on the label range as far and wide as old Wiggle crew records and old gritty Detroit House records like Theo would make, to the new lo-fi crunchy deep house found on labels like Rush Hour, Fourth Wave, Aleph, Circus Company, Pampa and the like. I really appreciate old school vibes sans gimmicks, coupled with the experimental edge found in a lot of those labels. I admire those who make timeless music, not just what's hot for the moment. But in the end, it's really just watching and obsessing over electronic music for the last 15 years that's really just shaped me and my sound. Watching the evolution and respecting the struggle has paved my path.

What was your biggest record ? And your best ?

The label has yet to release it's first record. But this first release is my own EP, Thirsty Eyes. It's already gained high acclaim, and while I don't like to drop names the feedback has been incredible. The release features two original tracks of my own along with remixes from dOP and Adam Port, the latter being a digital exclusive. The second release will be by my good friends Safeword (Dessous, Paso). They have embraced the vibe of the label and worked out a couple incredible lo-fi, early morning house jams specifically for Bad Animal. Smash TV is on remix duties and they've turned out a real heater.

Can you make a living running a label ?

No

If you could sign any artist, who would you go for ? And why ?

Koze. He's by far the most brilliant artist in our genre. He's a real inspiration to me.