Click on the picture to listen to and/ or buy Chris' new album

“If I wanted to be a big star I would maybe bleach my hair blond or shave it and wear sunglasses, make totally different music and start selling my face. So yeah, good question, why make an album . . . But honestly. .  Why even make a single?”

Chatting to Skrufff this week to promote his new instrumental electronic album Electric Horizon (http://bit.ly/IB7e4i (click to listen/ buy on I tunes), German producer Kris Menace admits he’s less than enthusiastic about the technological advances restructuring and/ or ravaging traditional music business models.

“We’re living in an era where people are used to downloading music for free; in a time when music has lost all its value through technology and innovation and where anybody can produce a track in a few hours . . . Nowadays, there are programs and tools that make it easier for the normal consumer whereas in the past you needed a huge studio: nowadays you need just a laptop and some cracked software,” he points out.

“And nowadays people are overdosed by blogs, Youtube, Soundcloud, Facebook, Twitter and hobby DJs . . . it’s all about clicks, charts, promotion . . . and that’s very wrong,” he complains.

“It’s not about content and music anymore, it’s about hype, glimmer, glitter lifestyle. The concept and idea of the ‘artist’ has been lost, and the level of people’s open-mindedness is also totally fucked up too.”

“People are used to getting music everywhere for free,” he repeats, “so I really can’t give you a simple answer to why I still make albums. And you’re right, the dance scene always was about singles anyway and good albums have become ever rarer. Maybe because labels can’t effort to release albums anymore, and if they do try, they don’t manage to recoup (cover) their costs.

“So why am I doing a record like Electric Horizon, an instrumental album, in times when people even put a @krismenace in their twitter messages with a link to an illegal download link?’ “I just wanted to do it,” he explains. “On my own terms, my way.”

Though a cursory glance through his Discogs page  includes numerous high profile crossover club hits he’s currently operating solo, adopting a DIY approach for virtually all his activities.

“An album like Electric Horizon is so special that no commercial label would have spent a penny on it,” he continues, “And an independent label wouldn’t have had the money to release it the way I wanted.

“To me such things as artwork, the look of the actual CD itself and the music have a high value in themselves and it would break my heart to see my music being released by a 3rd party label without putting the effort into it, I personally think it deserves.”

“I will definitely lose money on it for sure, and it’s clear that an album like Electric Horizon is not about making profit, as it’s too special.

I do believe in something and I do believe in my music and I do believe in the moment where I created it. I might be stupid, but who the fuck cares anyway?”

That he does care- passionately- is immediately apparent, however, as he continues to outline his music making philosophy.

“An album nowadays is rare and a thought through concept as well,” he muses.

“Most people release and release and release one single after the other, but where is the value in that? I thought to go another road and to release an album to create something special, something outstanding.

Of course you need to promote an album with singles and music videos to make it at least a little different all the other millions of tracks being released commercially or independently or even given away for free. I’m very happy with the positive feedback I’ve received so far but I also know that I will never recoup what I invested. It’s a very sad development in the music business but I’m proud that, in such hard times, I’ve been able to release what I like.”

Skrufff (Jonty Skrufff): I know you make tracks usually in a day and have hundreds: how did you decide which ones went on the album; what criteria did you us to select them?

Kris Menace: “I always wanted to create a kind of Space Odyssey album, I love the cosmic energy from 70s psychedelic music but I also like techno, house, melodies, nu-disco and disco. A few years ago I started making more experimental music, which I never released and the idea for Electric Horizon came from that period.

The tracks were created in between others I was working on for another vocal album I’m releasing soon. I was just recording what I liked without any thought of releasing them- the idea for that came when I was in hospital and was listening to all the work I’ve done in the past year. I really felt the songs and thought that this could make a great instrumental album. So Electric Horizon really means a lot to me as it reflects a very hard time of my life and as it really comes deep from my heart.

Skrufff: How good a judge are you on when your tracks are special, or not so special?

Kris Menace: “I have no idea. I just do what I like without thinking too much of what is hype, cool, special or not. Every track I create is something special to me and I mostly try to make something different from what I’ve done before.

If it’s a team-up with Spooky or if it’s a techno-ish track like Steamroller, I always try to go one step further for myself and to develop what I’m doing. I’m fighting myself alone out there without a crew behind me, without a management and even without a booker at the moment.

How stupid do you need to be to release an album investing a lot of money and not to even to have a booker when the only way you can expect to recoup any money is through gigs? Well anyway, I mostly feel instinctively when a track has something magical about it and I hope people feel the same. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

Skrufff: I read a review of Electric Horizon on TheArtsdesk which went into great detail about ‘trance’ (http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/cd-kris-menace-electric-horizon. : how do you feel about the word ‘trance’ being used to describe it? How do you feel about the word in general?

Kris Menace: “Just because a song is melodic doesn’t mean it’s automatically trance and trance has anyway become a very bad word for the normal consumer. How stupid and limited can somebody be to automatically put something in genres? Of course someone might feel a record or not, but don’t tell somebody else bad things about it. If you don’t like it, well, just shut the fuck up and don’t destroy what it means for somebody else.”

“I would personally never go so far to say that there is anything bad out there. Everything done is made because somebody somehow believed in it. Of course there are overtly commercial tracks but I’m not talking about those or the major label driven industry. But again for them, they want to make money since to them it’s a ‘business’, one in which people have to make a living and shareholders expect some reward for their investment.  So there is nothing wrong or uncool, whatever, in how they operate. If there is a market and people are happy then what is wrong with that?”

“I’m so fed up of this hype thinking bullshit limitation shit and ‘this is cool, that’s uncool’ fuck ups. What is that all about? I just do what I like and I personally don’t have a problem. If somebody calls my music trance, trance is and was everywhere and I’m a sucker for melodies. Whether that’s so called “cool” things like Lindstrom’s ‘I Feel Space’ to certain Daft Punk tracks, trance elements are everywhere. It’s time that people wake up, open their minds and start thinking for themselves again. For me, my album of course has trance elements like most of my tracks do. But that’s mainly because I love melodies and sometimes I need a pad or a string to make the melodies sound the way I feel and want then to sound.

Skrufff: How would you describe your music?

Kris Menace: “I couldn’t say what genre it is, for Electric Horizon I decided to used the term ‘cosmic disco’ when by distributor didn’t know how to release it. And its quite interesting that most of the reviewers also don’t even know what they are reviewing but they still feel what I wanted to express. I’m very happy about that, because this shows me that I have created something new and therefore something special, and that’s all I can wish for.”

Skrufff: How much affinity- if any- do you feel with the likes of Paul Van Dyk and Tiesto?

Kris Menace: “I don’t know them personally and never saw them DJing, so I can’t say anything about them. I know they fly around the world for a lot of money and I’m sure they have and had a lot of work getting where they are… and this is something that I do respect that a lot.”

Kris standing in the shower . . . .

Skrufff: How much of a temptation is it to dilute your music so you can target Vegas/ US style pop-dance success?

Kris Menace: “I don’t give a shit (don’t care at all) about all that glammed up dance scene nor the European hype that’s following it either. If I wanted to target Vegas and/ or America I would make totally different music and would sell myself a bit differently too.

I never appear in my videos, I do promo pictures without properly showing my face and only concentrate on spreading my music, without having any ulterior motives in my mind about achieving crossover success or putting my profile in the spotlight.

“If I wanted to be a ‘big’ producer I would start by producing more commercial music but I don’t feel to do that right now. I’ve been offered many opportunities to become a producer for pop artists in the past but if you follow that road you work completely differently and I love to create my music the way i like it.

“I wouldn’t have a problem to go more commercial in the future, if I would feel it! But when I listen to most of the stuff out there at the moment I just have to say, that I don’t think there is a soul in this kind of music anymore. It’s rare that I feel love or soul in any kind of major released music and even in electronic music nowadays.

And also if you go on such a road, it involves allowing a lot of people to talk about your work who have the power to force you to change things if they say so. If I ever do that, I might really just do it for the money, at the moment I can’t see it happening but you never know.

But I do totally understand the people who do that. They work hard and they had a dream or whatever and they went there and they are there because of a reason. I hate that mentality thing where everybody envies somebody else’s success. If you don’t like what someone does creatively, just shut the fuck up: and always think twice before you post shit (abuse) on the artist’s Youtube channel. He or she might read it and you hurt their soul with a throw-away malicious comment. Amen!”

http://bit.ly/Jnbtzm  (Kris Menace- LIVE with Hexstatic / Electric Horizon Album Release)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click to access DJ mag

Chicago house pioneer DJ Sneak launched a unilateral assault on pop dance trio the Swedish House Mafia, in a no holds barred interview in DJ magazine.

“It’s a sad thing when the Swedish House Mafia is being paid big money to come to the US to play house music,” said Sneak, “For the record, they do not play house music.”

He followed up on Twitter defiantly telling Steve Angello that he was ‘exposing the fake shit you guys portray’, provoking an impressively thoughtful response from the Swedish superstar spinner.

Click to read Steve Angello's response in full

“He might hate me and what I do but in the end of the game not everyone can like everything. I just think it’s immature to do it on twitter when we can do it in person,” said Angello.

“In the end of the day its all about music and no beef. That’s what dance music is about and that’s why its the biggest music genre out there. We built this together and we’ll sink it together if we continue to handle success as kids. I die for this and dedicated my whole life to it. Doesn’t matter if you like me or not I’ll continue this journey with the love we have from our fans and we’ll never stop!” he vowed. (Twitter: http://bit.ly/HvPENd )

Sneak’s latest outburst came over six years after he launched a similar tirade against trance DJs during an interview in Skrufff in which we quizzed him whether he still owned a T shirt saying ‘Trance sucks’.

 “It didn’t say ‘trance sucks’, it said ‘Fuck Trance’ and l still stand by it. There’s nothing about that style of supposedly music that I can even comprehend,” Sneak retorted.

He was similarly outspoken when asked why he thought trance music was then so much popular than ‘house’?

“It’s like comparing pop music and real music. You work really hard to get somewhere then you get some little Pop Idol dude coming up and doing his shit who gets everything that you are supposed to be getting if you work hard,” he complained.

“Or somebody just gets it handed it on a plate because some executive or a manager has put this project together and said ‘hey this is where we going in New York’. Trance is commercial and anything commercial sells. If you are the cheesiest person in the world and you can play it out then you don’t mind because basically you have no dignity.”

https://twitter.com/#!/dj_sneak

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Canadian tech star Deadmau5 left Madonna’s larger than life persona in tatters this week, after ridiculing her for making an apparent reference to ecstasy use in front of thousands of ravers from the Main stage of Miami’s Ultra Music festival.

“I’ve finally made it to Ultra music festival. I’ve been here in spirit for many years,” she told the crowd as she made a guest appearance alongside Avicii.

“Electronic music has been a part of my career since I started, and I can honestly say a DJ saved my life before asking ‘How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?’

(Youtube; watch  from 51 seconds)

Though a portion of the crowd cheered, techno-pop polemicist Deadmau5 (who wasn’t in attendance) was distinctly unimpressed and launched a fearsome tirade via Twitter soon afterwards.

“very classy there madonna. “HUR DUR HAS ANYONE SEEN MOLLY???” such a great message for the young music lovers at ultra. quite the f’n philanthropist. but hey, at least yer HIP AND TRENDY! fucking cant smack my head hard enough right now,’ he stormed.

“Seriously I giveth not a fucking single FUCK for slating Madonna for reaching an entirely NEW level of idiocy,” he continued moments later.

“That’s your big contribution to [electronic dance music]?” he asked. “Thats your big message to ultra attendies? hipsterspeak for looking for drugs? fuck off you fucking IDIOT. fuck.”

As deadmau5’ comments were recycled by newspapers and blogs worldwide, Madonna responded (also via Twitter) posting an image of herself from the 80s with mouse ears and a message printed in a cartoon bubble coming out of her mouth.

‘From one mouse to another I dont support drug use and i never have. 

‘I was referring to the song called Have You Seen Molly written by my friend Cedric Gervais who I almost worked with on my album,” it read.

‘Communication is always best. You should have called me first, we could have cleared it up ‘privately.’ ” she Tweeted soon after, “See you on the road.”

Though Deadmau5 uncharacteristically backed off he couldn’t resist further pops, as the story continued to reverberate and grow.

“Sure. regardless, just be a little more aware of what you *should* represent at EDM events,” he responded to Madonna, “and ill watch my mouth.”

Both Madonna and Deadmau5 each ended up attracting criticism on message boards, such as Mixmag’s online forum at Mixmag.net (http://bit.ly/HhvTMU )

“Every time I go to EDM festivals I take looads of mdma, but you don’t see me on the stage being basically all like ”Heelloo police? yes everybody here is on illegal drugs! come shut us down please!” not a good fucking idea,” Robbie Beaudry · Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island suggested.

“Coming from another “pop sellout” those words are pretty strong,” Domenic Buccilla countered, “Stop being a Fucking idiot and wearing a gimmicky mask to win grammys.”

https://www.facebook.com/deadmau5

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

A Washington man has been charged with bigamy after his first wife discovered he’d apparently married a second one, after Facebook introduced her via its People You May Know’ feature.

“Wife number one went to wife number two’s page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake,” said US Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.

“Facebook is now a place where people discover things about each other they end up reporting to law enforcement,” he warned (AP/ BBC: http://bbc.in/A8M9uJ ).

Details of the case emerged just as influential music industry polemicist Bob Lefsetz launched a furious tirade against the social networking giant in particular over its ‘privacy’ policies and Orwellian-style data monitoring activities.

“I’m sick and tired of having to protect my privacy. Facebook is one giant cesspool whose raison d’etre is serving up targeted ads based on what I do on the site,” he raged.

“Please, please, please. If you’ve got a site and you’re thinking of tying in with Facebook, please give us the option to register without either needing to be on Facebook, or scrobbling all our data if we are. And without us, without our data, Facebook is nothing. Think about that,” he urged. http://bit.ly/wBa3bn

Also slating Google, he failed to mention Twitter, however, the vulnerability users face was instead emphasized in New York this week, when Occupy Wall Street protestors revealed that US authorities have started retroactively following their posts.

“URGENT”, civil liberties campaigner Jeff Rae, who was arrested during a March on the Brooklyn Bridge in October, posted this week, “The District Attorney in NY has subpoenaed my twitter account.” https://twitter.com/#!/jeffrae

http://scr.bi/w89Fsb (Twitter subpoena)

http://defendrush.org/

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff