The dance floor as emotional territory.
Since its beginnings, Hercules and Love Affair It has been a project in constant transformation: a space where electronic music coexists with punk, disco, techno, folk and the rawest emotion. In this conversation with Indie Rocks!, Andy Butler reflects on the organic origin of his new EP Someone Else Is Callinginspiration in culture rave of the 90s, the importance of not obeying a single gender and the special—almost spiritual—relationship that the project maintains with Mexico.
Indie Rocks!: I wish I could do the entire interview in Spanish, but it's still not good enough.
Andy Butler: Don't worry. It will eventually pass.
GO!: It will eventually happen. Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with us.
AB: Thank you for inviting me.
GO!: I am Maria from Indie Rocks! and first of all I want to congratulate you on your new EP, Someone Else Is Calling.
AB: Thank you so much. It's interesting because, although I was working on things related to Hips and Lipseverything happened in a very organic way. And not just the music, but also the entire process, right down to the video.
I was working in Iceland on the LP Hips and Lipswhich will be out eventually — and it's a great album, so stay tuned. It's more of an indie rock album, almost old country, with a bit of a vibe. Fleetwood Mac: We record live drums, there is saxophone, guitars.
At some point, when we were done with the session, I asked, “Would you be interested in making some dance music? We have a little time in the studio.” I already had some acid bass lines recorded, and Aylin He said, “Yes, why not?” We started building the song very quickly, suddenly I had a microphone in my hand, and it was like: “maybe this, maybe that.” Two days later, the EP was practically written.
Then I came home and spent about a month producing it. A friend heard it and told me that I should talk to the people at Paranoid Londonbecause I love them and I love what they do. Quinn Whalley -of Paranoid London, Decius and other projects—helped polish it and co-produce it, and that's how it was finished.
Then we were in Mexico for the festival Akambanear Tequila. When I finished, I told Aylin: “We're not going to see each other for a couple of months, we should record a video in Mexico City. We have five days, let's do it.”
GO!: Was it a collaboration between Belgium and Mexico?
AB: It's very strange. Belgium, Mexico… Iceland. Crazy. I contacted someone from San Miguel de Allende that I know from the world of fashion and photography, Sebastian Ayalaand he recommended me to an incredible director in Mexico City: Tatsumi Milori. What I wanted with the video was to capture the essence of Mexico City. For me there is a very special magic that happens during a night out here. Many of my nights in Mexico have been magical, and I wanted to try to capture that.
Tatsumi He works with realism in a beautiful way, but he also loves surrealism and magic. He was the perfect person to take us on a journey from the nightclub to a lake, where you disappear into a state of bliss in front of a golden deity.
GO!: That video is for which song on the EP?
AB: It's for “Someone Else Is Calling,” the EP's title track.
GO!: I already saw the video, it's impressive. The visuals and aesthetics match perfectly, and I can't help but think of a certain nostalgia for the era rave from the 90s. How much of that is there in the music and the video?
AB: It is present in both. Musically, I was more inspired by the British rave scene than the American one, although being American, that influence is also in my blood. I grew up going to raves in America, but the sound of the EP looks more towards England.
Bands like LFOwhose producer, Mark Bell, He also produced many albums Björk. He passed away a few years ago, sadly. I was listening to the first releases of Warp Recordsall that sound rave and techno ranging from The Hacienda until the raves hardcore in England. That is very present in the sound of the EP.
I combined it with the beautiful voice of Aylinand that's where it becomes different, because a lot of those songs rave They were powerful tracks of acid techno without a melodic voice. That magic appeared when we worked together. It is very referential to the parties in wineries and that time. rave.
The video, on the other hand, talks about underground of Mexico City: always changing, always interesting. Sometimes the electronic scene underground here it's completely up there, and other times it's more rock, more psychedelic, more experimental. But the real fans are always there.
GO!: Do you feel that the journey of Hercules and Love Affair is also a “journey”, with different styles?
AB: Absolutely. I love almost all the genres you mentioned: indie rock, metal, goth, dark music, very soft singer-songwriter music, folk, traditional music. All of this has been appearing at different times and albums of Hercules and Love Affair. Although I work mainly in electronic music, it is not only techno, nor only disco. It's a little bit of punk, a little bit of techno, disco, emotional folk… it's a little bit of everything.
GO!: I have always thought that Hercules and Love Affair is a very brave project. Over the years, you wonder: where am I going to play this? How does it fit with the previous ones? How do new songs coexist with classics like “Blind”? At what point did you decide that that wasn't going to dictate your music?
AB: I really decided that with the second album, Blue Songs. There I understood that I wanted to explore my musical tastes in a much broader way. On that album there are songs for the dance floor, but also songs like “Leonora”a cover of “It's Alright”and “Visitor”a track very powerful techno with Negrot Air, who we sadly lost.
That record was when I said, “I don't want you to expect anything specific from me.” I'm going to go where my instinct takes me. It sounds easy to say now, but it was 2011.
Of course, there were times when I thought, “How am I going to make this all work?” I went from having a seven-piece band playing disco to dark records with live drums and little dance music. But the world of remixes It allowed me to understand that I could present the music however I wanted. The show represents the entire catalog, and in the end it becomes the most comfortable thing for me: a dance party.
GO!: Last question, and thank you very much. You recorded a video in Mexico and Hercules and Love Affair's relationship with this country is very close. Will you be back with this new EP?
AB: Absolutely. We will have more music coming out this year and we can't wait to get back to Mexico. I've had some of the most extraordinary experiences of my career here, and that's almost exclusively because of the people: their openness, their love of music… it's not like other places. If they offer me a show in Mexico, I'm going to say yes.
