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Julien from Adam Kesher gave us a few minutes of his time before hopping on a plane for the band's first North American tour which includes NYC on Monday night!

You know I'm excited.

Adam Kesher - Irene (Strip Steve's MTV Remix) (buy the AK EPs from Turntable Lab)

I often have to tell people that you aren't just one guy. Explain the
origin of the band's name Adam Kesher? Who's in the band? Who plays
what instruments?

Adam Kesher is the name of the director in Mulholland Drive.
We thought that guy was a good metaphor of the tensions encountered by lot of rock'n'roll bands. On one hand, his producers want to impose the main actress of the movie he's making, on the other hand, he wants to make his own stuff without any pressures from the outside. It just feels like art is always impure.
Adam Kesher is not a one man band but the alliance of six french guys : David (bass), Gaetan (guitar), Jerome (guitar), Julien (vocals), Matthieu (keyboards) and Yann (drums).

How did the band get together?

The band got together when all these guys were bored with the hardcore and the experimental stuffs and decided to make songs that could please children and old people. It's defintely not a renunciation, it's really ambitious.

What are some of your main influences? How would you describe your sound?

There are lots of influences, we both love the way Lou Reed sang and the way Daft Punk discovered new ways of making people dance. We're just trying to be part of a rock band that sounds contemporary and not too nostalgic.

You work with the Parisian electro hip hop label Disque Primeur. How
did you get started working with them?

Jerome worked in a record shop, when they asked him if he knew new cool bands, he gave them our demo. That's it. Now, we're totally in love, a really strange love.

French music, particularly dance influenced music, is on the rise
worldwide. How does Adam Kesher fit into the scene?

We dance to their beats, and it's cool to know that these guys made it in such an inert country. But they're quite different from us cause we are not house producers or dj's, we're a band, and sometimes it makes things harder.

You've only released two EPs (Modern Times & soon Allegory of Chastity),
how's work on the album coming? Has your live performance & touring
influenced any changes in your vision for sound of the album?

The album will not sound like the two EPs. Some people told us we were good but we were not doing something really deep. At first, we were just upset about these kind of remarks, and then, we were like "they're right, it's time to break some hearts in two". And of course, touring is such an intense experience that it brings you to a new way of considering what composing and playing music means.

What other bands/producers are you listening to?

Judee Sill, The Black lips, Los Saicos, Gino Washington, Spaceman 3, Mr Oizo, Carole King, James Holden, Country Teasers, Fennesz, Green Velvet, Can, Mighty Hannibal, sixties french pop, Junior Boys, Liars, The Diplomats, Yung Joc, Booba, The Angel of Light...

What's the most exciting new music you've heard recently?

Gui Boratto, The Field, Deerhunter, Matthew Dear, The Soft Lightes, and Strip Steve.

Your live show seems to be extremely energetic...Got any special plans
for your NYC debut?

We wanted to play the american anthem but someone told us a guitarist had already done it.

You covered Para One's "Dun Dun Dun"...Any other dance covers working
their way into your live set?

Not for now. If you recognize a famous melody during our live set, you'll have to admit that we are plagiarists.

The band's official bio is after the jump...

Apache Beat is: Christina Aceto on synth, Philip Aceto on guitar and backing vocals, Ilirjana on lead vocals, Mike Dos Santos on bass + backing vocals, and Neil Westgate on drums and percussion.

The Beat plays the After the Jump Festival this Saturday at 6 pm on the main stage. They are prepared to wreck your brain.

Ilirjana took time out of her demanding rock star/editrix life to shoot some Apache Beat wisdom towards you people.

In as few words as possible, describe the Apache Beat manifesto for everyone?

Apache Beat want to make songs that dark, destructive and of course pretty.

Neu! What's its mean to you?

A great musical influence. It is obvious with our band name, no?

How did you (AB) start making music? Whats your personal role in the
creation of the music?

We started as Phil (guitarist) and myself (vocals) and slowly gathered
the other members to get the lineup we have now. My role? Well I
basically write vocal melody and lyrics. We generally write our own
parts, but sometimes share duties. Someone starts something and we
build from there. It would be no fun for us to have one person write
everything and no one else have any input. We all have a say in
everything. There is a reason why everyone is in the band and does
what they do.

You just got picked up by a few different labels...what is coming out
where and when? How has working with several different labels helped
or hindered what you are trying to do creatively?

It is amazing we have been approached by so many labels and we are
flattered. Having releases about to come out is certainly very cool.
But yeah it can hinder our writing a bit, as we are the ones having to
deal with all the little, annoying issues that arise.

In October and November we have Tropics and Blood Thrills coming out
as singles. Available on 7" and digital download. All over the world
on a billion labels. Ha. Not sure on the exacts but check our myspazz
for updates.

Have you played any particularly awesome shows?

A last show in Toronto was awesome. Canadians love to party.

What makes you mad about the New York music scene? What's most inspiring?

We don't really think about the New York music scene, too busy doing
our own thing. That being said, we do love a lot of the music coming
from New York. It is a good place to be, if you want to make music, as
there is so much good music being made, you have to work hard to be
heard.

What other bands/music are you listening to?

Oh we listen to a tonne of different music. Alot of old stuff and new
stuff like, off the top of my head; Studio, Deerhunter, No Age, Inouk,
Ipso Facto, Arctic Monkeys, Celebration, The Black Neon... I could go
on for a while. Five people means a lot of different tastes.

There are some remixes floating around, did you commission those? Who
is your dream remixer?

Yeah electronic acts seem to like us alot and approach us to do
remixes, which is great. We haven't really approached anyone about
doing one. Dream remixer? That is a hard one. I mean Superpitcher
wants to do a remix, which would be amazing. Eno? François K? Not
sure. Someone who is really good. Haha.

Age old question: Do you think its a faux pas when a DJ plays a band's
music when said band is in the house?

Nah. It is funny and bands pretend they are embarassed, but secretly,
they really love it.

We expect total destruction at the After the Jump Festival. Does AB
have anything special lined up to aid in the destruction?

Explosions. Big, fucking explosions. How does that sound?

ON FIRE!!!

Check out Missing Toof for a very synthy remix of Apache Beat's Tropics coming out soon on Playlouder.

So Pitchfork has this Guest List feature in which they have artists run down their favorite things at the moment: music, reading, eating, etc...

Lots of big stars don't get that into it.

Jas and James of Simian Mobile Disco absolutely kill it.

They have some wonderful recs on music and have some very poignant thoughts on the state of electronic music. Ones that I've been fostering for sometime now (evident in the less frequent state of my MP3 posts and my recent DJ sets) and have yet to discuss on this piece.

The Problem with the Ubiquity of Music

I've been finding that I've been going on all the blogs and all that kind of stuff, which is not a good way of getting music because you get all the same shit that everyone else gets

I feel that things have gone a bit-- especially with all the Kitsuné, French, very very noisy, very fast and cut up sound-- it's almost like reached fever pitch, people maybe need to take a step back

They go on to recommend you space it out a bit with Chromatics, Turzi, and Chrome Hoof. I'll add A Mountain of One & Map of Africa to that list.

Which is all the more interesting considering I saw Chromatics' labelmates Glass Candy get a very tepid response at PS1 this weekend and label bossman Mike Simonetti have to dig deep to pull out some crazy tribalish records to get people to move. He didn't connect with some awesome spaced out weirdo records (The Doors being one of them) followed by a little bit of classic house (it was 6:30 pm on sunny Saturday afternoon).

I'm all for people dancing to whatever it is that makes you dance and I'm not saying that all of the really crunchy electro coming out is bad (I really, really love most of it) it should just be handled with care and administered with some SOUL.

Of anyone, I especially would not want to see this newfound wave of popularity for dance music be squandered and left to retreat back into the repetitive, emotionless depths of genre-despair.

As I mentioned in my email last night, I had the opportunity to interview Bjork via my work with Brooklyn Vegan.

I also got to listen to Volta (released in the US on May 8th). I'm very much looking forward to seeing Bjork manifest these new tracks in a live setting (particularly exciting since its under the stars) this weekend at Coachella.

Here's my portion of the Bjork interview from Brooklyn Vegan (the whole interview is here):

You have often embraced electronic and dance music producers. Can you describe your early work with 808 State and how it cultivated your interest in electronic music?

I guess as a teenager i wasn´t so much interested in what my friends were into . The punk thing : i liked the spirit but the chord structure was pretty boring and the indie thing for me was totally lame . I did like occasional band like associates , eyeless in gaza , DAF , brian eno and kate bush . I guess what these have in common even though they are different is that they were mixing electronics and acoustics , were very rhythm orientated and the musicology wasn´t so square , ( c-f-g ) more chromatic and unpredictable . And then years passed and suddenly there was 808state !! I was so excited and so were a lot of people my age that had tolerated the indiestuff and finally here was something pagan , high energy , electronic and with polyrhythms !! So i started hanging out in clubs in england around 90 and for me it had all the excitement the indie scene had lacked .

I've always been attracted to the collective, universal nature of electronic music. What characteristics of early dance music attracted you to experiment with the genre? How has your relationship with dance/electronic music evolved throughout the years? Are there any producers currently making electronic music that you find intriguing or would like to work with, either for the first time or again?

I agree ! I also adore the whole trans / shaman element about it . It is so hopeful ! I do and will always adore a good techno track . Obviously as with every genre there is a lot of trash out there but diamonds in between ! Of fresh folks : i like knife a lot , also m.i.a. And spank rock . Clipse ? There is tons of stuff out there i can´t remember right now ...

In your role producing, what tools, methods, or processes did you learn from your work with electronic producers such as Mark Bell and Graham Massey? How does that contrast from working with producers who have more experience in non-electronic music.

What a great question ! I thought i would never be asked that ! It is very different . The word production in electronic music seems to span way too big range . Where in normal bands you have a bass player , a drummer , a guitarist , a keyboardist and perhaps a producer . In electronic music all this would just be called production . There is this mystery still around computers ...
I have learned a lot from these people and perhaps , which a not a lot of people know about , i have been writing beats all the way since debut . More and more . The majority of the vespertine beats where by me . Sounds like i´m bragging but i guess with a question like that i´m also just keen on educating people how electronic music is made . It isn´t that simple that one producer walks in a room and presses one buttton and the whole song comes out and then the vocalist sings on top .

You worked with Mark Bell again on Volta, how has your work together evolved over the years? How is he helping bring Volta to life in a live setting for your upcoming tour?

Me and mark have a gorgeous music relationship which comes from a lot of trust . I am very grateful to him on albums like homogenic , selma songs , medúlla he has had little ego enough to come into songs of mine that are almost complete , i have even programmed some of the rhythms , he has then come into it and added just the rhythm that was needed to complete the track . That is a very generous thing to do and not a lot of electronic artists are that flexible . They wanna storm into your song and change it all and make it into their own environment . Sometimes also he will let me listen to tons of beats of his and i will pick one take it home and edit to a track of mine ( like for example “wanderlust“ ) But there are also songs me and mark have done where he brought the music and i then sang on top , i think they are 3 : “i go humble” , “nature is ancient” and now “declare independance” . It is way much rarer that we work that way .

It seems that you've often embraced new technologies, both visually and sonically, even inviting average fans to remix your songs. Are there any new technologies that you find particularly enticing or that especially aid in your creative process? Did you use any production tools for the first time while you were working on Volta?

I guess the thing on volta i was most a virgin to , were the brass arrangements . That´s the place i felt like an innocent beginner . It was fun . With programming the beats into this filigree , ornament thing , i O.D.-d so much in it with vespertine which is perhaps why medúlla had only vocals . So on this one the technology was more seamless . The most natural sounding stuff on volta is actually programmed and then you get brass trying to be techno ...

Much of your work finds its way to the dancefloor. I know many who originally discovered your work through remixes. Do you have anything special planned for Volta remixes?

I have asked a couple . And funnily enough , quite a lot of people have been asking me if they can remix . We´ll see what comes out of it .

Throughout your career, have you noticed any changes to the importance of choosing production partners? Both from a technical standpoint and a marketing angle? Teaming up with a producer to reach a specific audience rather than a specific sound seems to have become more commonplace.

I have sort of just done what turned me most on at any given moment . I am so emotionally driven that i have learned long time ago that if my stuff doesn´t come from my heart it simply collapses .
Because of the hairy meaning of that “production” word , it has really varied . I think every person i have worked with there has been a different working pattern / method . But for the tracks that i don´t come up with the beats , most of the time the guys supply beats and i sit for months editing back and forth and making it work ...