Chat between:
Mike Monday [OM /
Simple :: London]
&
Sacha Robotti
[Robosonic / Berlin Kreuzberg Institut :: Berlin]
www.berlin-kreuzberg-institut.com
www.myspace.com/robosonic
2009-06-18 00:22:23.
sacha: 23:38:08
yo
sacha: 23:38:11
u ready ?
Mike Monday: 23:38:27
I'm here
sacha: 23:38:39
ok i'll call
u now
sacha: 23:38:59
oops can u
try calling me
Mike Monday: 23:39:03
actually my
connection is really slow tonight can we do it over chat?
sacha: 23:39:15
ah ok
Mike Monday: 23:39:25
I tried voice
call earlier and it was impossible
sacha: 23:39:31
aaaah ok lets
do it over chat then
Mike Monday: 23:39:57
yes usually
my connection is super fast but big problems tonight
sacha: 23:40:03
no worries :)
i'll try and keep it short then
Mike Monday: 23:40:23
ok - no
problem! :)
sacha: 23:40:37
Soooo ...
what drew you
into music? i read that you studied music in oxford, graduated there in ’94 ?
was there a
certain moment in your life that made you obsessed with music ?
Mike Monday: 23:41:53
I started
playing hte piano at age 7, then bassoon at age 11, voice age 13, then
saxophone age 15..
so music has
been my life since I can remember.
there really
was no other choice for uni, although I did think about philosophy at one point
sacha: 23:42:52
music &
philosophy fit well together. you lived in a musical family?
Mike Monday: 23:42:43
no, no musical
parents.. although they used to play a lot of music on record, my mum classical
- tchakovsky, Mozart, beethoven, mahler
- and my dad classical indian music -
mainly tagore songs and poems. but they had no training, I'm the first musician
on either side, ever as far as I know..
sacha: 23:43:59
cool..
already at an early age, it got pretty eclectic in your family huh
Mike Monday: 23:44:09
absolutely
sacha: 23:44:13
:) great
stuff.. you play & record instrtuments when you produceing electronic
music?
Mike Monday: 23:45:12
I do now,
although this is a fairly recent development. I found it hard since the
explosion in music made completely within the computer to sound different and
apart from all the average stuff.
so I decided
to start using my instruments and stuff outside of the computer to give my
stuff a unoque sound, I don't know how many house djs play the bassoon and
saxophone for instance! :-)
sacha: 23:46:31
haha yeah.. i
know no electronic music dj playing the bassoon ;)
- i remember
in miami, i asked you about your music at some point, and you said you only now
have the feeling, that you are developing your sound as you want it, without
thinking about "genre" and"conventions" - like, you said it
got "weirder" or something
Mike Monday: 23:48:29
Yes I have
been trying to make music which only I could make! I think this is the biggest challenge
for any artist, or at least an artist with any integrity
sacha: 23:48:52
ya
definitely.. i read an interview with you in resident advisor, you were saying
you are trying to get away from sounding "like this and that", using
samples creatively, using programmes for production creatively and in order not
to sound "like a programme" (for instance, ableton... )
Mike Monday: 23:50:33
yes - its
really important for me to make the music sound like me and not like Ableton /
Logic / Reason or whatever.
That doesn't
mean that you can't use some of the effects that are well known to good effect
(ie like the Ableton stretching or beart repeat or the Logic Space Designer),
but
by allowing
yourself or learning to use as many tools as possible you can combine them and
use them selectively in each situation to create something new out of a
familiar effect or sound.
And obviously
the live instrumentation is an extension of that...
sacha: 23:53:21
cool..! good
answer...
Mike Monday: 23:53:24
Great - I'm
not completely wasting my time then! :-)
sacha: 23:53:30
haha nah
youre just fine ;)
what was your
, lets say, "first" break as a dj / producer? what was the moment,
when you started to do it professionally?
Mike Monday: 23:54:04
Erm - as a DJ
I guess it was when I did some warm up gigs for a long running weekly
Progressive House night in London called Whoop!
sacha: 23:54:30
cool.. and as
a producer?
Mike Monday: 23:54:36
As a producer
the first thing I did got released, which was a track I did with Andy Cato from
Groove Armada - we were in a band together at Uni and then lived in London
together and he bought a sampler and synth etc and we did a tune together which
was then released on his label Skinny Malinky, and I was hooked!
sacha: 23:54:51
haha, that
was it, bam mike monday. --> btw. why "mike monday" ? is it an
abbreviation of your last name?
Mike Monday: 23:56:19
Well - sort
of. My last name is Mukhopadhyay, which has quite a lot of similar letters...
Mike Monday
is also easy to remember.
I often foget
my own name you see... ;-)
sacha: 23:57:16
hehe, my
surname is "Robotti" – you can imagine that I got the piss taken
quite a lot in school ;)
Mike Monday: 23:57:55
Bloody great
name for a techno/house dj/producer though!!!
sacha: 23:58:23
thanks :) now
just need a "hit" so people know the name ...and the struggle
continues !! ;)
Mike Monday: 23:58:43
Same here -
but you know, it’s all about the struggle!
Without the
struggle we are nothing :-)
sacha: 00:00:59
speaking
about the struggle, what would you advise to a young producer who wants to
survive or make it as a producer ?
Mike Monday: 00:03:42
Try and set
yourself apart from the crowd, the scene needs more people who try to do that.
And don't
worry too much about the ups and downs, I'm rarely at my creative best when I'm
supposedly "hot"with the press.
And just keep
on struggling - the more you struggle the better you will be
sacha: 00:04:28
WORD!!! :)
Mike Monday: 00:04:33
:-)
sacha: 00:05:11
cool... think
we got all we need... oh one more thing, whats your favourite mike monday
track? the one you are proudest of?
(i guess mine is "i am plankton.. both
the original and the club dub ;) )
Mike Monday: 00:06:23
Excellent!
I'm sooooo glad you like that one - it is one of my favourites - but I prefer
the original.
So other than
that one, a favourite club tune: What Day Is It?
sacha: 00:07:13
haha.. ITS
MONDAY!
Mike Monday: 00:07:29
yes! indeed
it is... :)
...a favourite album tune: Bad Wind
(With A Touch Of Acid)
sacha: 00:07:31
nice..
- any hot new
stuff of yours coming out soon, which we should watch out for?
Mike Monday: 00:09:07
I have a
track on the Systematic 5 years release called "TR Love" that Marc
Romboy commissioned especially - its my tribute to Roland drum machines (quite
geeky I know - but then I am a complete nerd)
But I've
mostly been working on my new live set this year, which is a big headache
because
Mike Monday: 00:10:48
I'm playing
live Electronic Wind Instrument / Drum Pad / Synthesizer and live looping them
through a hardware looper all synced to a 909.
sacha: 00:11:08
oh boy.. like
a one man band !
Mike Monday: 00:11:29
Its REALLY
hard technically, both inb terms of the machines not going wring and playing accurately,
so I'm practising a lot every day
sacha: 00:11:45
....when is
it ready?
Mike Monday: 00:12:43
I've already
done it twice, once in Denmark and once for iTunes at the Mac store in Miami, so
I guess its ready now, but its very much a work in progress and guess it will
be for the rest of my life...
sacha: 00:13:39
woohoo cant
wait til you sport it in berlin !
Mike Monday: 00:14:12
Yes - neither
can I! Hopefully by then it'll be good enough for The Germans! ;-)
sacha: 00:14:04
do you have a
last philosphical shoutout you want to make, before we let you continue
practising your live act? ;)
Mike Monday: 00:14:39
Let me think
about that one - give me a few minutes...
Mike Monday: 00:18:32
...I don't
have the words, so let me steal someone elses: "It's not where you take
things from - it's where you take them to."' Jean Luc-Godard
sacha: 00:18:53
sweet :)
thank you
man...
lovely mix by
the way!
Mike Monday: 00:19:59
Thanks very
much mate - sorry we couldn't have a real chat! I was quite pleased with the
mix, I was lucky and just pressed record and did it in one take without any
working out!
sacha: 00:20:23
awesome! one
take wonder !
Mike Monday: 00:20:52
...Highly unusual
but wonderful when it happens, and often the best mixes...
Anyway - stay
in touch, I'd love to hear your tunes at some point
sacha: 00:20:47
cheers... yes
i will send you some stuff over...
have a
productive and nonetheless relaxed week!
Mike Monday: 00:21:58
and you mate
- its been a pleasure! see ya!
sacha: 00:22:04