Discodeine is a French electronic music group consisting of Pentile and Pilooski navigating between pop and electronic experiments since 2007. Producers of funky edits, top DJs, both members of Discodeine become famous through a series of edits for the D * I * R * T * Y team but also for productions under the name Octet and France Copland. After a debut album in 2011 with collaborations with Matias Aguyo that we interviewed there recently, the duo offers us a grandiloquent come back with "Swimmer" released on October 23rd, main subject of this interview. So today we have the chance to interview one of the pairs of the most prominent producers of the French electronic scene! This interview follows the one of other French DJs and producers like Da Fresh, Muttonheads, Rodriguez Jr., Paul Nazca. Firstly, I wanted to thank the duo for answering our questions.
"Hello guys,
Frankly, it's a pleasure and an honor to interview you because I discovered your music with your first album. In this small musical bomb where there were amazing collaborations with Matias Aguayo and Jarvis Cocker notably. You recently added a second volume which reveals another aspect of your talent. Indeed, a few weeks ago was released your new studio album "Swimmer" with tracks like "Aydin" a little more difficult to musically understand. Could you briefly tell us how this new project was born?
> This second album was conceived in different way, because the first album included tracks that could work in night clubs or slower songs, pretty pop sometimes and more experimental and instrumental tracks. Swimmer was designed over a shorter period and is itself more concise. It is probably more coherent because suddenly imagined in one moment. It is also an album with songs recorded during live sessions, but re- adapted in the studio.
In addition, I received it a few days ago, the excellent remix of Timothy J Fairplay of your track "Aydin". Could you please give us more info about this release and the choice of this producer that we do not really know well?
> Timothy was a member of the English band Battant, whose albums were released on the French label Kill The DJ. Our studio was once in the same premises and therefore we met by chance several times. But it is of course the quality of his work, like his productions with Andrew Weatherall that motivated us to ask him for a remix.
2013 is over. If you look back to it, what do you think of it? What is your vision of the past few months?
> Many highly anticipated discs by most people have been released this year like Phoenix, Daft Punk, or Arcade Fire. But for us, it was not really musical revelations. In a mainstream area, we liked the gamble and diehard's latest album of Kanye West and Beyoncé that contain great songs like the track with Frank Ocean "Superpower". In a more indie field, we liked among the other the albums of James Holden, The Knife or Jessie Lanza.
After you give us these information about your recent news, we would like to go back to your musical roots. Could you briefly tell us how did you become DJs and producers?
> Like many artists, by listening to a lot of music we naturally wanted one day to get started. It came gradually and we each worked on different projects before working together. Pentile within the electronic group "Octet" then inside of the duo France Copland with Krikor. Pilooski has made many remixes, edits and produced artists like Tristesse Contemporaine.
And besides, if it is not indiscreet, where does your nickname come from?
> For Pentile it is a friend who found it. It means nothing and it is related to my Italian surname. I recently realized that it is also a LED screen technology.
Few months ago we interviewed M.A.N.D.Y. who said to us they met on a tennis court. What about you? How did you two meet?
> We met on a court of pelota! More precisely, our first records were released on the same label (diamondtraxx), so we started in this way. Then we quickly realized that we had much more in common. We shared the same musical tastes, the same women and the same clothes.
At the beginning, did your family understand what you wanted to do in your live? And now are they proud of what you have achieved along the years?
> No, at first, they would have preferred that we have worked in the judiciary sector or at Quick Restaurant! Then very quickly (more exactly after our first platinum album) they began to see it in a different way and now they manage our fan club and all the merchandising…
More and more readers are asking us about the gear used by producers that we interview. What software or tools do you use to produce? Could you please share with us a bit more from the technical side?
> We can not reveal all our secrets ;) And we do not want to go into something nerd or too specialized. Honestly, it would be a lie to say that uses magnetic tape and scissors. We use a lot Ableton Live to edit, organize titles. Then there are lots of different things like guitar pedals, drums (Mark Kerr sings on several tracks on the album and also plays drums), old and rare analog synthesizers as the ARP 2600 but also more recent things like the OP -1 of Teenage Engineering, and even the harp or a pedal steel guitar (typically used for country music). There are no rules, and especially no specific instrument "that makes music ". It is all about the ideas.
Regarding your career as a producer, do you have a predetermined role in the production process of your tracks? How do you work together?
> We do everything together. Sometimes we start from ideas that we have on our own but soon it is a work of four hands that is developed. Then we focus on the production side of the sound itself and the mix part is done by Pilooski.
The interview will be published on a website mainly read by French. Are there some French artists that you know personally or that you simply like their music? Maybe artists of the labels Kill the DJ, Dirty or Versatile?
> We know a lot of French artists. It's not a big environment and many gravitate to Paris so we are led inevitably to meet them. Then, obviously we have more in common with some. And yes especially with the team of Versatile (Gilb'r, I Cube, Etienne Jaumet, Zombie Zombie...) with Dirty of course, they accompanied us from the start and released our first maxis with Kill The DJ since we have long worked among them and have affinities with their music. Ivan Smagghe did also two remixes of our tracks. One for the project: It’s a fine line with Tim Paris, and the other one with Danton Eprom for the Horse Project.
Discodeine, before we conclude this interview, we have a few more questions for you. Sometimes one word is enough!
Where are you at this time to answer our interview?
> In a sofa.
The track to listen to in your discography?
> "Figure in a soundscape" It is not our famous track, the most dancing or the easier but we are committed to it, as it is quite atypical of the rest of our production. A mini soundtrack.
An artist you would like to work with one day?
> If this is a singer, it is for sure Connan Mockasin because he has an incredible voice and a very unique identity. Which is quite rare, but we like also Dirty Kasimir, a new Dubstep artist that everyone will speak about very soon.
3 words to define your music?
> Elastic , economic, ergonomic .
A privilege that you can access thanks to your status of DJ/producer?
> Unfortunately little. Chocolate bars at will in the back stage?
Your favorite title right now?
> Beyoncé "Superpower" and Charles Cohen "Theater of dance".
A few words about the website that I run and where the interview will be published?
> To be honest, we didn’t know it before this interview. The timeless topic provides a great historical view of this kind of music and remembers that some tracks have already 27 years old but are sometimes more daring and modern than current productions. This puts things in perspective.
Discodeine, thank you very much for the time you devoted to Actualites Electroniques and especially for the full and exclusive interview. We look forward to hear about your next productions! "
Dj Aroy
MORE ABOUT DISCODEINE
http://www.youtube.com/user/PschentOfficial
https://www.facebook.com/discodeine
https://soundcloud.com/discodeine
https://twitter.com/DiscodeineOff
http://www.d-i-r-t-y.com
http://www.pschent.com/