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VIERMALAIR: BERLINER NOUVEAUX CHIEFS…
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How many are those who, speakin’ of NYC, come to say that there’s nuttin’ like it! As a matter of fact, I’d be pretty much tempted to add that the very same applies to those places which have a soul. To such extend, quoting Berlin amongst them shoud come as no surprise, in regards to both the geographical situation and the history of the capital of the now reunified Germany. A city whereas you may feel a definite appeal to modernity melted with a strong multicultural background inherited from the past. This being no doubt for much on what appears as the definition of a new type of mixing process we can locally perceive in the way of both cooking – what people tend to call the Berlin Nouvelle Cuisine - and makin’ music as illustrated by the examples of Turntable Terranova, Funkstörung or Âme. Peeps who should quickly be joined by Ron Ractive and VJ Rekardo Rivalo better known as Viermalair, judging by the efficiency of their recipees. Remember where you’ve read this first!
Guten Tag mein Herren, wie geht’s (Sorry how R U doin’)? Looks like there’s been quite a buzz around you guys, on the basis of… only 3 singles so far. How do you feel bout this?
We are pretty comfortable with all the hype around us and this even pushes us more forward. Along that we consider public acknowledgement of the own work as a basic need. We constantly raise the bar in terms of quality in our work and are even more pleased for receiving positive feedbacks.
How have you been greeted in your own country? Presswise, radiowise, clubwise?
We are perceived by the media as very much exotic within the own country. As together with Styledriver we are up with our publicity work. We’ve decided to postpone any press-related enquiries regarding us to late Summer. So we allow the media to have a lead. There are many calls and emails lately which is an important indication for our successful publicity work.
As people may have understood while havin’ a look at our greetings, you’re hailing from a country – Germany – reknown for a strong past in the history of makin’ contemporary music. Where would you tend to locate yourselves and what have been your major influences?
We consider ourselves as all-round-musicians mainly focused on timeless music. Thereby success of music is to us of lesser importance than authenticity and some sort of attitude towards life. By this all kind of music-styles have the potential chance to enter our hearts. We are convinced ever since being open-minded grants more creative capacity through seeing beyond borders.
The people you feel connected to spiritually speaking...
There are no particular heroes we absolutely adore. Moreover we are inspired by a fusion of musicians and styles, as previously mentioned. This stretches from new age as Klaus Schulze, Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream) via E-pop with Jean Michel Jarre, Air, Vince Clark, funk with James Brown, disco with the stars from the 70’s to the elektro- and house-pioneers like K-Werk, A. Bambaataa, H. Hancock, T. Parker, K. Saunderson, F. Knuckles all the way to modern Sounds by Sven Väth (16 Bit). Our roots tie up within a vast vinyl collection.
What about Jazzanova who've had an active part in the said nu groove?
Jazzanova has to us a relevant role as much as other active idols of the presence. What really inspires us is this very exceptional Berlin international blend.
… Âme who stands as the revelation of those 2 last years?
We really like Âme, who is musically pretty close to the S.Kollektiv clan. Those guys truly shape the stylistic sense in Berlin. We are more independent though and decisions are made quicker instead of having long meetings.
Judging by what I’ve heard including your current 4 tracker EP, you’ve always declined a sort of atmospheric lectrophunk side at least on one cut. Do you feel alright with this presentation of a part of your work?
You know, we are convinced of what we do and we have faith in our music. If not, we wouldn’t release. To describe our style I’d like to take a look back in time. Back in the 80’s, the English press urgently sought a term to define this mechanical acoustic sound (by ‘83/’84). The track ‘TECHNO CITY – Cybotron (3070-One-Jon-5)’ was of great help. Other examples are ‘Acid Tracks – Phuture’ or the Chicago ‘Ware-House’-Story. We actually don’t stick much on definition as you set yourself limits by it. We want our musically output only be determined by our senses neither by definitions nor rationality. Definitions and stylistic descriptions are just an orientation for those who haven’t listened to our music yet.
In this present description, these are three words being atmospheric (e)lectro and phunk. Would be glad havin’ your observations/comments on each of them?
It’s our aim to maintain our roots and to bring them together with future sounds. Music was, is and ever will be diverse and qualitatively variable. We would just be fine by referring to our tracks as house-music. But we just don’t know, if the consumers will honour this alike?
The part of the images in your works?
We remain true to ourselves and our musical past (timeless in a timeless world). Music can be compared to a picture. Thoughts and fantasies are inspired. It’s a definite enrichment for one’s life in general. A track develops itself the same as a picture step by step. In our tracks, we incorporate and fuse experiences as well as desires. To have a more brilliant output, we give it time to develop. Others write a diary, but we capture our impressions within our music.
How do you see the art of makin’ music. I mean is there a specific element – like the bassline for instance, unless this might be the lyrics - which you would use as a starting point? Your perspective?
We have a hybrid method of production. Since we solved the problems with the latency compensation, it’s again as fun as with just a midi basis on an Atari. On our productions we use old analogue classics, acoustics and modern software. Hereby the ‘Total-Recall’-Factor is crucial. Outboard-Phrases get completely rendered to fully obtain all nuances. Each track originates on a different basis. Once a sample, we rearrange, then a laconic sound we have to process. On occasional jams there are pop up soft harmonies which in combination with some melodies unleash emotions. Such basic approaches let already anticipate good results.
Does your geographical environment have an influence? What about your hometown’s history?
We are right in the middle of the urban chaos. Every day is different and we constantly get surprised by something new. So it’s never getting boring, but we also have to be very attentive. Besides we’ve been forced to adapt our biorhythms. At the time, German producers put strong emphasis on production tools. Especially here in Berlin this is very obvious. But we also always keep the international music business in our sight. We consider international success of much importance as this strengthens our national acceptance and vice versa.
Let us know about your respective backgrounds/experiences then the circumstances which have led you to decide workin’ together…
Ron Ractive started to supply the metropolis Berlin in the early 90’s with electrifying inspirations from just an Atari ST and a keyboard. This so called Berlin-spirit sustains until nowadays. Right in this unique melting-pot he met VJ Rekardo Rivalo, with whom he merges all the influences of house, electro and pop in their common project “Viermalair”. That’s the core of their recent works.
Who does what?
Actually, we don’t strictly split the work. We are working as a team and each of us has the skills to do everything. We only share work if necessary for more efficiency. By this each of us can objectively evaluate what the other one has done. We see this mutual controlling as a key thing on our will to avoid the risk of major failure and turn out successfully. Of course this requires the ability of dealing with criticism.
Suppose havin' to give a definition to Viermalair, what then would it be?
For the time being this stays a secret, even though it’s not a one really. There are no limits for once fantasy. So feel free to find out yourself, as this guarantees you pleasant surprise. We don’t want to deprive the reader about this experience.
Would you feel like you have an urban conscience?
We need varying moods and process them. Especially study stressed-out people in a city give us a lot of input. We are very privileged by adapting our sphere of influence depending on our mood. This means, we swap places between the city and the countryside. Rekardo is living in the city, Ron in the countryside.
Already thought about doin' remixes?
Requests for remixes are more than welcome. We are always honoured to participate on the output of other musicians.
Your first effort has been snapped up by Detroit based label Women On Wax. How has it happened?
We connected via myspace.com/styledriver. It seems to be the high quality of our work which has made this happen, particularly as we just had our first physical release this year on our own Styledriver label (except some cooperations on compilations). ‘My Philosophy’ was a smash hit worldwide. We hardly have words to describe our delight about it. At this point many thanks to Minx from WOW. More license inquiries are in process at the present.
There’s been this second one – ‘Vibrations’ - which happened to become our Single Of The Week and an EP is already following. Does this mean that an album is soon to follow? If so, its concept?
The EP you’ve mentionned - ‘Summer Breeze’ - will be in stores this month. The vocals are from Fox, a well-known house DJ, whom we got to know incidentally on a trip to Ibiza. From a spontaneous idea of a joint production we elaborated a full-scale deal. Topics are ‘sun, ocean, beach...’ And there are already plans for a following Picture Maxi Vinyl as well as concept album. Sound und release dates are very much depending on the success of the recent single.
Already experienced the live thing?
It’s incredible what music can make happen. We’re pretty much open to invitations. Playing live is most important for having a direct feedback by and sharing this great feeling with the audience. For us it’s also an unavoidable step on the way to perfection.
Forthcoming projects...
We’re currently working on the live translation of our productions. We take seriously audience feedbacks as this helps us to improve our sets. There is much to expect in the future. We really enjoy to work together with artists from all over the world. Everything is moving fast in the music sector. We don’t like that. But to also make a living of it, we have to be quick with whatever we do. Because of Rekardos VJ-Roots we already had some projects in the video sector in the past. We are interested in the film and advertising sectors. Time will tell what’s coming up. We are open for everything.
Something you’d like to be added for a better understanding as to who you are and where you intend to go?
Music unites. Music is for eternity. Even though it’s getting cheaper and cheaper to produce music, there will always be a demand for quality and style.
Tschüsschen! MFSB
VIERMALAIR - ‘My Philisophy’ (Women On Wax)
- ‘Vibrations’ (Styledriver rec.)
- ‘Summer Breeze’ (Styledriver rec.)
More info: www.styledriver.de / www.myspace.com/styledriver
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