The Parisian beatsmith occupies a curious, beguiling world; dark and mysterious with enigma in spades. He can rock a dancefloor yes but he can stretch your soul from its tendons too. His long-player, one of the finest this year so far, is one that demands repeated listening, atmospherics hooking you in, crisp snares and layers upon layers and layers...
Dean Mayo Davies: Your first album, Land of the Truth, has been long-awaited. Was it important to push yourself and experiment with a band? I’m interested to know as you could’ve easily just called the project Krikor if you’d wished. Who are the Dead Hillbillies and what do they represent?
Krikor: Time is always lacking but this time I can admit I really took mine! I needed time to learn the most I could then forget all about it, letting everything go. The Dead Hillbillies are my alter egos, I embraced them then I had to kill them.
It's not that I like to experiment especially but more that I hate to be bored. When it comes to making music, anything goes - a can, a wood stick, a guitar, a voice, a washing machine, it doesn't make any difference to me. The last project I made for Exit festival in Creteil was a car crash for six musicians - no recording, everything played by the musicians, a lot of distortion in the air.
DMD: Will you tour the album as a complement to your DJ gigs do you think?
K: I will be playing as a human orchestra, hillbilly-style. No laptop computer on stage, but drum machines, toms, bass, loads of pedals... It could’ve been played by a live band, but I don't have musicians with me, remember. Mine are dead .
DMD: What’s been the most memorable place you’ve played at so far? You must have some great stories...
K: I don't have a most memorable moment but loads when it’s just about having fun. I like it when it's small and dark and dirty, even though I tend to be more attracted to countryside than clubs right now. I have good memories of the year I was resident at the Mother at 333 in London, that was fun. Lots of people tell me they didn't like this place, but I did...
DMD: 2008-2009 has seen another strand of the ‘French Touch’ other than Kitsuné/Ed Banger/Institubes, which of course was a progression of the first wave such as Daft Punk, Air and Alex Gopher ten or so years ago. People like yourself, Chloé, Jennifer Cardini, George Issakidis, Pony Hoax, Pilooski and Dirty Sound System are building another culture within the electronic scene. How are things in Paris at the moment? Do you feel like you’re all part of the same family/community, that you have the same vision?
K: I barely go out these days, except to go to concerts. I‘m not into crews or so called families - when I see a crew, I have the same feeling I get when I watch the opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey. But I like individuals, I'm close to Chloé, she’s my mate! I also like the work of George Issakidis, he’s a very talented one but travels too much so it's difficult to catch him! Clovis and Guillaume from Dirty [Sound System] are good friends of mine...
DMD: Which leads to Goodbye Horses. How important has that record been for you? and how did your re-edit come about? It always gets a great reaction whatever the time, place or situation...
K: I always loved that track, but it took me a lot of time to find out what it was - when I was searching for it I only had a videotape of the movie Silence of the Lambs. I tried and tried to read the credits at the end, I searched the internet but never found it - I thought it was a male voice at the beginning, certainly because of the dance of Buffalo Bill in the movie. One night I was with Clovis from Dirty - he played it and said ‘I'm sure you will like this track’. I told him straight that I wanted to make an edit of it for the Dark and Lovely series that was out the following year.
DMD: Land of the Truth is very cinematic in places, on Wanton Boy and The Edge in particular. Do you think you’d like to work on a whole soundtrack? I think when it’s a real creative partnership it can be so powerful - Sonic Youth did an amazing job on Olivier Assayas’ Demonlover, for instance...
K: Yes that is something I’d love to do, I have some close friends who are making movies - they already know they have to hire me or I will never speak to them again! And of course they have to make videos for me too.
Cinema has always been very important to me, even more than music. It was my fantasy world as a child, I spent hours diving inside VHS jackets at the rental place, fantasising about movies that could, and that did, exist. The music brings me images, dreams and nightmares; it reflects the time from when I was a child.
DMD: Can you tell us a little about your background? I heard you have a real fascination with sound experiments and attended the Bass Institute in Los Angeles...
K: I love surrounding sounds, city sounds, trains, cars, industrial sounds. The microphone is my god, the tape is my sanctuary...
Bass Institute of Technology just drove me to the conclusion that I didn't want to be a musician in a band. I like to play music but I hate the spirit of most bands, especially whilst touring. Not everyone is like that, yes, but it's a bit like people behind the wheel, it tends to coax out the demons, the bad ones. This was when I then started to realise the importance of the production in music - frankly what would Joy Division be without Martin Hannet? Warsaw? Some good tunes rock'n'roll band like many that already existed... ;-P
DMD: Which experiences in particular do you think have influenced you the most?
K: Surprise parties when I was 10; encounters; accidents in creation;
reading sometimes (but I barely have the time now); altered perception states; love, here or not.
DMD: And do you have any recurring influences from music, art, cinema, design?
and...
DMD: Is there a record in your collection that’s in danger of being worn out from repeat listening?
K: Right now I don't really listen to music as I work a lot. But in the past months, Silver Apples. There are so many records I’ve worn out, it’s really hard to pick one!
DMD: When can we expect a Plein Soleil album from yourself and Chloé? I’m really looking forward to that one. The exciting thing about this collaboration is that it really sounds like a halfway state between the both of you - the beats seem to have that crisp structure you’re known for and the melodies are very Chloé, although I know it is a lot more complex a partnership than this. It’s hard to analyse chemistry after all...
K: Sure, we will within the year. Making music with Chloé is a great thing, we understand each other instantly - we’ve been friends for 10 years now. She is good at hi-hats and I'm good at shakers. It even makes more sense when we play live, we are going in a direction where there will be more and more improvisation, based on drum machines and voices...
DMD: What projects are you working on at the moment?
K: More crashes, more microphone takes, more hard drives to buy and burn, more guitar pedals, the new live set up, slowing down the booze, back to discipline. For some time...
DMD: And finally, surprise us with one more thing we don’t already know about you...
K: I lost 16 kilos in one year.
DMD
Land of the Truth is released this Summer on Tigersushi.