John Talabot
Questions: Rob Lyon
Laneway Festival 2012 is fast approaching, with many great acts competing for your attention. One worth checking out is Barcelona producer John Talabot. Talabot creates a unique blend of pop-inflected house music, fusing driving, club-friendly beats with gorgeous, soaring melodies.
Rising from obscurity with the 2009 single Sunshine, the Spaniard went on to produce a number of remixes and is now at home on the Young Turks label. His new EP Families is already gaining rave reviews and he talks to Caught In The Mosh about his upcoming appearances at Laneway.
Are you excited about heading to Australia to play Laneway Festival 2012?
“I’m really looking forward to playing in Australia. I’ve seen the line up and it’s quite amazing and I can’t wait to get there. It will feel weird heading in to summer in Australia. Playing a summer festival in January is just perfect. I don’t know much about the festival scene in Australia, but when they made me an offer, I looked at the line up, looked at the dates... Visiting all the major cities - it’s the best thing that could happen for me - playing 5 or 6 festival shows over three weeks. It is an opportunity I won’t forget. Or knock back for that matter.”
Did the Laneway Festival organisers find you or did you find them?
“It all came together through an independent record label Young Turks who contacted me about being included on the line up. I’m recording an EP in London which will be released on their label and they really like all my stuff so far, which is great.”
Rising from obscurity with the 2009 single Sunshine, the Spaniard went on to produce a number of remixes and is now at home on the Young Turks label. His new EP Families is already gaining rave reviews and he talks to Caught In The Mosh about his upcoming appearances at Laneway.
Are you excited about heading to Australia to play Laneway Festival 2012?
“I’m really looking forward to playing in Australia. I’ve seen the line up and it’s quite amazing and I can’t wait to get there. It will feel weird heading in to summer in Australia. Playing a summer festival in January is just perfect. I don’t know much about the festival scene in Australia, but when they made me an offer, I looked at the line up, looked at the dates... Visiting all the major cities - it’s the best thing that could happen for me - playing 5 or 6 festival shows over three weeks. It is an opportunity I won’t forget. Or knock back for that matter.”
Did the Laneway Festival organisers find you or did you find them?
“It all came together through an independent record label Young Turks who contacted me about being included on the line up. I’m recording an EP in London which will be released on their label and they really like all my stuff so far, which is great.”
Which bands will you be checking out when you’re not playing?
“There are so many that I really want to see; Glasser, M83, Cults, El Toro Moi, Twin Shadow and there’s others I can’t remember. As far as line ups go, this is amazing.”
Do you have a preference to playing festivals or your own club shows?
“It depends on what time, the vibe of the festival and I find people are more open at a festival because it is like a live party and all they want to do is dance. I tend to play more uplifting music at festivals, where my club shows I like to play darker sets and playing around with the tempo so people can feed off that. There’s always pressure playing at the end of the festival because I like to put a smile on people’s faces before they leave and I want to make that possible.”
What do you do if the vibe at festival isn’t working?
“That is a challenge! I try and mix it up with different style playing what people want to hear and dance to. Part of a DJ’s work is to read the crowd and then take a risk of trying this or that rather than just thinking I don’t give a shit and just opting to play my own music. A DJ should respect their style and music but should be able to read the crowd to see how they will react.”
For Australian fans who might not know much about you, how would you describe the style of music you play?
“When I DJ I play a mixture of house, disco, punk and old school electro. It is a blend of old and new with a few surprises thrown in. Each show I play is different so it really depends on the night. You can feel the change of rhythms, you can feel the change of velocity sometimes, change of style and that’s what I like to do.”
Has your style evolved over the years?
“Of course it changes because you learn and discover more music, especially from other producers who have had a big influence on my music. I like to introduce the new things I discover in to my live sets.”
“There are so many that I really want to see; Glasser, M83, Cults, El Toro Moi, Twin Shadow and there’s others I can’t remember. As far as line ups go, this is amazing.”
Do you have a preference to playing festivals or your own club shows?
“It depends on what time, the vibe of the festival and I find people are more open at a festival because it is like a live party and all they want to do is dance. I tend to play more uplifting music at festivals, where my club shows I like to play darker sets and playing around with the tempo so people can feed off that. There’s always pressure playing at the end of the festival because I like to put a smile on people’s faces before they leave and I want to make that possible.”
What do you do if the vibe at festival isn’t working?
“That is a challenge! I try and mix it up with different style playing what people want to hear and dance to. Part of a DJ’s work is to read the crowd and then take a risk of trying this or that rather than just thinking I don’t give a shit and just opting to play my own music. A DJ should respect their style and music but should be able to read the crowd to see how they will react.”
For Australian fans who might not know much about you, how would you describe the style of music you play?
“When I DJ I play a mixture of house, disco, punk and old school electro. It is a blend of old and new with a few surprises thrown in. Each show I play is different so it really depends on the night. You can feel the change of rhythms, you can feel the change of velocity sometimes, change of style and that’s what I like to do.”
Has your style evolved over the years?
“Of course it changes because you learn and discover more music, especially from other producers who have had a big influence on my music. I like to introduce the new things I discover in to my live sets.”
Your promotional images are quite interesting. Was it a conscious decision for those images to be faceless?
“It was quite deliberate because when I started the project I didn’t want anyone to have any preconceived ideas about me, or having an opinion about my music before they have listened to it, based on seeing my face. I started initially by just having a logo for the first two years and that was the only information I wanted to give because there was no need to give any other information. It was my preference for people to listen to my music without knowing anything else, not my face, what clothes I wear, what shoes I wear or whatever. I didn’t want my face in magazines either because I wasn’t comfortable with that either. It was an artistic decision because it made no sense to and I don’t think anyone cares whether it is a face or an image.”
Do you find that the more people discover your music, the more they want to know about your music as well?
“Yeah, but all that stuff is on MySpace. They can read other interviews, play my music but I don’t feel that all this information is important for the music whether they can see my face or not.”
Catch John Talabot as part of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival next year
Brisbane - Sat, 28th Jan
Auckland - Mon, 30th Jan
Melbourne - Sat, 4th Feb
Sydney - Sun, 5th Feb
Adelaide - Fri, 10th Feb
Perth - Sat, 11th Feb
Singapore - Sun, 12th Feb
“It was quite deliberate because when I started the project I didn’t want anyone to have any preconceived ideas about me, or having an opinion about my music before they have listened to it, based on seeing my face. I started initially by just having a logo for the first two years and that was the only information I wanted to give because there was no need to give any other information. It was my preference for people to listen to my music without knowing anything else, not my face, what clothes I wear, what shoes I wear or whatever. I didn’t want my face in magazines either because I wasn’t comfortable with that either. It was an artistic decision because it made no sense to and I don’t think anyone cares whether it is a face or an image.”
Do you find that the more people discover your music, the more they want to know about your music as well?
“Yeah, but all that stuff is on MySpace. They can read other interviews, play my music but I don’t feel that all this information is important for the music whether they can see my face or not.”
Catch John Talabot as part of the St Jerome's Laneway Festival next year
Brisbane - Sat, 28th Jan
Auckland - Mon, 30th Jan
Melbourne - Sat, 4th Feb
Sydney - Sun, 5th Feb
Adelaide - Fri, 10th Feb
Perth - Sat, 11th Feb
Singapore - Sun, 12th Feb