Krew Kuts

One of the UK’s original electro producers, Ed Dmx aka Dmx Krew has released a slew of EPs and albums that touch on pop, disco, old school electro and ghetto. In straight-talking mode, he sets the record straight on the lack of innovative electronic music, his relationship with Rephlex and his distrust of the music industry. Check out his live/DJ set at Bloc.

Electro was hyped up for a few years and now, the proper stuff seems to have retreated back underground - how has this affected you?
“Thankfully I’m still very busy with gigs, but the whole scene, especially the part I’m involved in, has got much smaller. It seems that no one knows what dance music is anymore, no one knows what techno or electro is anymore. People seem to think techno is all about the Love Parade and German guys with funny haircuts, and everyone thinks that electro is cheesy house music or four skinny guys wearing ties. I just wish that all the rock guys would piss off back to indie and leave electro alone. At the same time, who wants to hear yet another electro track with the ‘Planet Rock’ drums and a robot vocodered vocal?”

Are you saying that there are too few original ideas and producers?
“Yes. Anyone who goes into a studio and thinks ‘I’m going to make a house track or an electro record’ has already destroyed any chance that they had of making anything new or challenging. Remember how exciting dubstep was back in 2002 when everyone was still calling it grime? Now that everyone knows that it’s called dubstep and all of those records sound the same. By the same logic, of course electro is boring: it’s 25 years old, of course house is boring as well. A lot of the electro from the US and Europe that is coming out now sounds like it was made 10 years ago.”

So apart from your own work, what music does excite you these days?
“At the moment, I’m struggling to find new music that excites me. I was really into the UK garage sound in 2001 when it morphed into something weird and I even went through a phase of buying ragga records! The producers whose records I rate are the same old people - Aphex, Dopplereffekt and Underground Resistance whenever they put out a record. I’m into Fastgraph as well as that whole Traxx, James T Cotton and Jamal Moss crew because there is something raw and primal about their music. I’m not sure what they’re releasing will still be really good to listen to in 20 years’ time. When I DJ, I mix up that stuff with older records by Juan Atkins and Derrick May and other older Chicago and Detroit stuff because a lot of the kids haven’t heard these records before.”

What about Italo Disco?
“For me, there are about 20 incredibly wicked Italo records, including ‘Spacer Woman’ and there are about 7,000 cheesy ones. I like the Classics series that Clone’s doing, although I’m sure the people who have been collecting the original releases for years must be gutted now.”

If electro and electronic music generally is so derivative, are you doing anything to chart new territories?
“The ‘Collapse of Wave Function’ series is my attempt to make music that is freakier, more experimental, music that pushes it a bit. I did eight EPs last years and some, like the Computor Rockers one, was more of a ‘robot’ electro one for the fans. It was a good track, worth putting out, but what I really want to do is release the freaky shit, but I’m not sure that it would do so well.”

What do you make about the digital sphere - do you think the internet has helped people find out about your music?
“As far as I’m concerned, the only good thing about the internet and MySpace is that people can find out about my music and I can get gigs without having to use an agent.
Before the internet existed, I discovered Parliament and Kraftwerk by accident, just by listening to the radio. I found out about Rephlex by finding a blue record with ‘TR303’ written on it in my local record store. You used to have to take a bit of a punt on music because most places didn’t have listening decks. There is so much great music to listen on MySpace and that’s great, but I hate the way that each page is classified by genre - it’s just another way of profiling groups of people.”

You have a long relationship with Rephlex - how come you have stuck together for so long?
“Because Rephlex don’t give a toss: they are genuinely trying to push it and that means it can be slow and frustrating, sometimes it takes ages to release stuff, but I’m always happy to do it. Grant who runs the label is one of my best mates and he is the biggest music fan, he’s just obsessed with music and making money doesn’t come into it. Unfortunately, labels like Rephlex are few and far between: it seems like being sincere is a thing of the past and now running a label is about second-guessing what people want to hear. Rephlex has never pandered to the market and that’s what the music is all about, pandering to tastes. The music industry is based on capitalism, which is all about people shit and convincing them that they want it - that’s why people only listen to one small genre of music. Ceephax Acid Crew released the tenth record on Breakin’ and all the people who are into electro didn’t like it and the acid techno people didn’t know about the label.”

What happened with Breakin’ - it seemed to disappear a few years ago?
“I had to take a break with the label for a couple of years because I was losing so much money, but now I have a good distribution deal with no real exposure. Breakin’ did four EPs last year and none of them lost any money. The label is helping me to get gigs, which in turn keeps it (the label) ticking over, but our sales are down. We used to do about 1,000 copies on vinyl of an unknown artist, but now it’s really a struggle to do 500-600, and the most we did of a release last year was 800 copies. At the same time, we have found cheaper ways to do things and the most the label ever sold was about 1,500 copies on vinyl. I’m sure I could do better if I was more of a businessman and hustled the label, but I’ve avoided the ‘industry’ and kept it at arm’s length as much as I can, ever since I started. When I was starting off, I was offered a few recording contracts, and if I had signed them, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation now

Comments

[Steve]

Kudos for getting Ed DMX on the record!

[jig]

Saw him in Manchester in November, he's a Quality DJ. I was exspecting straight electro but he mixed in some nice chicago stuff which went down v well

[][]

great interview,
excellent insights
thanks once again!!

[tom/pipecock]

another nice interview with an artist who knows how to connect the past, present, and the future. good stuff.

[Z]

kind of a joke if you ask me. I like how he says nothing impresses him these days and he slanders everybody for making stuff that sounds like records from the old days, yet he says the stuff he plays most is old records.

I understand there is a difference between playing the classics and emulating the classics, but surely if these people are trying to emulate the classics they have to share common love for multiple artists.

there's just no point in slagging current music or music that looks to the past when you yourself can't get past playing old records.

[Martin Dust]

Top DJ Ed, I get what he's talking about.

[kenny]

hes a quality dj and producer, but its a bit rich moaning about stuff not sounding fresh when so much of his stuff is all so blatantly retro.

[Z]

^^^totally. It's like he is basically saying "I get to do the old school tributes but you guys don't."

It's a bit hypocritical isn't it?

[chinstroking.com]

Jaded much?

[stef]

'everyone thinks that electro is...four skinny guys wearing ties.'

What, like Kraftwerk?