Fairtilizer vient de mettre en ligne une interview intéressante de Jean Nipon à propos du mix “Fire Walk With Me”.
Vous pouvez lire l’interview ci-après (en anglais) et écouter le trailer ici.
Merci à Olivier et l’équipe de Fairtilizer !
Hello Jean, can you introduce yourself to our readers?
I’m your best friend living near you on Elm street. I was the one who came up with the black out idea for The Soprano’s ending. I was born in the Institubes crew in Paris.
Recently I founded Subventions to build a glass roof for Roland Garros Stadiums, because when it rains, you still want the game to continue.
What’s your new release about? Why Sixpack, and why should we listen to it?
It’s a pre-summer mix containing winter moods. It’s a collection of sounds that I love; sounds that make me fall in love with some girls more easily. It’s a love affair between Lionel Vivier the owner of SIXPACK and I. He came to me one day, driving his famous TOURANE car, and asked me this :
“Dude, can you do me a favor?”
“Whatever you want because I love that you look like Wolverine, which is my favorite Marvel character.”
“I want one hour of music with oldies. Tracks we believed in when we where young.”
“Like when we were doing shitty skateboarding?”
“Yes.”
“Like when we where stuck in suburbia with no hope of getting out ?”
“Yes”
No doubt about it, the dude was like me. He loved the same obscure gems lost in the vinyl ocean and the internet tornado. So I decided to forget about house, techno and contemporary stuff, and dive into my collection.
It was so nice to re-edit some lost songs by artists like Fleetwood Mac or Todd Rundgren; distort, accelerate, twist them and force them to obey me. The result is something very emotional to me.
It’s like my bedroom soundtrack with no commercial sense. There is nothing to promote here. Just take the car, cruise, and push play.
What do you like the best about your job?
That I’m getting paid to play whatever the fuck I want. So it means that the promoters and the audience are paying me because they trust me. It’s a real privilège. Also, I don’t know what other job I could do. I’m too much into the past. For music its perfect, but for a modern job it could be bad.
Internet has changed a lot of things in the music industry: faster communication, new ways to monetize music… from your experience what are the pros and cons?
I’m not into digital. I hate mp3s. I rework every mp3 I play. I use my software, to get a warmer, bigger sound. Of course, I’m happy I don’t have to carry my vinyls bag anymore. It’s too heavy and fragile. So playing with cd’s and the internet are the same. They make your life easier. But the darkside of the internet is that there are no longer distinctions. Free music or paying music, bad music and good music; for youngsters, it’s all on the same level. You don’t have to look for the grail anymore. You are no longer forced to have the “intention” to create your own musical quest, your own musical identity. Now evey kid can say, “Oh i know the Detroit and Chicago scene by heart! I love thoses guys!” just because he had downloaded 10 giga the day before! So, for me its a problem of self education and the relativity imposed on music. The loss of artistic values.
As a result of the internet, what has changed about the way you work as an artist? How do you use the internet on a day to day basis? How do you see it evolving in the coming years?
It changed nothing for me; I’m slow and stay slow throughout creation.
I like facebook, every day.
I think the web will get stronger and stronger, like a drug. Then one day there will be a serious back lash, and it will be the end of this delicious anarchy. It’s already happening, I think.
As an artist, has your current source of income evolved in the last 10 years?
Not really, because I also do illustrations and stuff. I think that when you are working in a creative area you should do many different things if you want to survive.
Do you think a label is still relevant in 2010 and what do you expect from it?
Yes, because it’s like a bottle of wine. You know that Château Petrus is a sign of quality, so you can buy almost all of their products with your eyes shut. When you see INSTITUBES or SIXPACK you can never go wrong, I think. It also represent a community of friends and artists who share the same visions. It’s emultation for your work.
You are stronger as a group than on your own.
What do you think about giving away music for free?
I think it sucks, I think it’s cool.
I steal movies everyday, so, I can’t say, really.
Recommend a music site, a club, a movie, an artist, a clothing brand and label?
http://www.tofu-magazine.net
It’s about art, videos, music.
It’s complete and strange, perfect.
The best club is yet to come.
“Phantom of the Paradise,” my movie for ever.
Fred Perry, Dry and Just.
INSTITUBES, do you know this one?
Where are we going?
I remember one of the best album title ever, “All Music Has Come to an End,” by Christian Vogel.
But for real life, I think we are living in the ROMAN AGE part 2 and, like it’s namesake, this empire will fall, soon.
So let’s start learning Indian and Chinese.
Propos recueillis par Fairtilizer
Juin 2010