Interview: Motor City Drum Ensemble

Interview: Motor City Drum Ensemble

10 March, 2010 | 6.12AM

• Written by: pollylavine
• Filed under: Music News: faces records, motor city drum ensemble, rebirth

It is February in Dublin. Danilo Plessow, a skinny white 24-year-old DJ from Stuttgart, spins vinyl to a tightly packed dancefloor in the Crawdaddy section of the Pod nightclub in Harcourt Street.

Now known as Motor City Drum Ensemble, Plessow has worked under several aliases including Hypster Wonkaz, Aphro Pzyko, and Inverse Cinematics (previously his most successful project and a joint creation with Joachim Tobias), before he launched MCDE last year.

Through a number of high profile remixes and a standout series of EPs called ‘Raw Cuts’, Motor City Drum Ensemble hit all the right notes in 2009.

Both deep house master Moodymann, and Detroit pioneer Kenny Larkin, publicly praised Plessow for taking the classic Detroit sound and turning it into something new.

Plessow’s simplistic studio approach meant each one of his Raw Cuts was created in around two hours. Fused from samples of funk, disco, and custom beats made from old Roland drum machines, the sound of Motor City Drum Ensemble is deliciously analog.

His latest remix of Nufrequency ‘Fallen Hero’ is a prime example of the kind of superb soulful deep house and sexy drum rhythms he is capable of.

Over the years, Plessow has moved away from software, plug-ins, and presets, to a studio of real instruments and electronic machines. As a youngster, he trained as a drummer (hence his love for, and his rather large collection of, drum machines), and by the age of 11 he played jazz in a big band in his hometown.

His listening taste as a teenager was a little more eclectic then your average teen. Influenced firstly by jazz, by 1994 he had moved onto hip hop acts such as NAS.

Trip hop artists like DJ Shadow followed next, then Nuyorican Soul and Masters At Work. However, it was the samples and sounds behind Moodymann’s ‘Silent Introduction’ album that he finally connected with.

Nu jazz and broken beat became his signature sound and though he remained true to electronic music by continuing to make house and techno he opted not to release it.

“I just didn’t feel at the time that it was good enough to release it,” he says.

The vinyl he plays tonight is classic Chicago house, Detroit soul and techno that kicks and rolls out from the speakers.

I’m part of the age group that could be considered as the first internet generation, and all the research I did for really rare jazz records or any of the Detroit stuff that was hard to get, was through the internet, or a record shop in my town

Plessow is a die-hard fan of vinyl. He believes that “Vinyl is the only medium that is going to be there forever,” and thinks it is still the best way to break a dance artist.

“I get so many promo MP3s because so much music is coming out digitally,” he says. “There’s no common way to break an artist any more. The best thing to do is make vinyl, see if it sells, see if there’s good feedback, and then see if it works." 

Detroit, the city that Plessow’s music has become identifiable with, is far from his home city of Stuttgart, which is more known for its electro house pioneers such as Tiefschwarz.

So how did Motor City Drum Ensemble come to fall in love with the sounds of Detroit?

“I wasn’t really raised on Stuttgart music, or by a certain music style in that city,” he says.

“I’m part of the age group that could be considered as the first internet generation, and all the research I did for really rare jazz records or any of the Detroit stuff that was hard to get, was through the internet, or a record shop in my town.

“I wasn’t finding the music, just the information, as in 1997 the internet wasn’t really capable of music downloads. My collection grew through this kind of jungle of nothing, I was just lucky.”

In the end, it doesn’t really matter how or why Motor City Drum Ensemble honours Detroit. Watching the fresh-faced twenty somethings on this Dublin dancefloor hoof their bodies to a sound more associated with the late 1980 and early 1990s reiterates the music’s wish to be free. It doesn’t need to change or be re-branded into ever-more ridiculous sub genres.

House music is firmly established, and maybe like any other music scene, it’s just the faces that need to change.

What is the definition of a true artist in your eyes?


For me it’s really, really simple. It’s about having a love for whatever you do, for the people you make music for. Say for example you get a DJ booking, you get a lot of money for it, but initially you made that record for yourself and these people feel it. You should be grateful for that, and not act like a dick.

Always remember that the people that share or buy your art are somehow like you, because they connect to what you do, and initially to what you did for yourself.

It’s about love, it’s about inspiration, it’s about never saying ‘I don’t have to be inspired, I’ve seen everything, I’ve done everything.’ You should always be open to everything. I don’t like artists who say ‘I only like this music or I only like this music’. There is so much to be discovered.


What was your inspiration in 2009?


For me there is lots, all kinds of music. I don’t give a damn what genre, folk, rock, jazz. Jazz always inspires me though. The thing is, I try not to listen to what is coming out right now. It’s a kind of self protecting thing, because I grew up in the old internet days I kind of have a really narrow space of what I know house music wise.

I get a shitload of promos and MP3s and I don’t listen to them because I think subconsciously even maybe I will change my sound to what I’ve heard.

If I listen to something I’m very specific. I really have to get that record through someone who knows me and who I trust. 


So where do you get all your music for your DJ sets from then?


I usually play a lot of old records. I’ve been DJing for 10 years so I still only buy records from record shops, not online. I always go to record shops and maybe I buy a record that’s four years old and just start playing it now, just as everybody else has kicked it out of their boxes.

But I don’t give a damn just as long as it’s good music, y’know. I just have to have this feeling in a record store and then I don’t mind if it’s a brand new record or if it’s hyped. If it’s good I will play it, but it could also be a record that is four years old and nobody is taking any notice of it any more.

For me the most important thing is to have some consistency to the music.


Underground or overground?


Underground, well it’s actually a good question. Underground from a soul kind of view. The music should sound underground but I don’t have a problem if it reaches the overground when it sounds like something someone has just done for themselves and still has an underground soul feel to it.

If it reaches a wider audience I don’t really mind. I don’t consider people to be shit if they listen to overground music but I want to reach as many people as possible through real emotions and real music, then I don’t care if there is a lot of people listening to it as long as it’s really good.

There are a lot of records that made it to the overground that were actually considered to be underground that were done with no thinking as to whether they should be a hit. You can hear that from the early house records that were never meant to be pop.


What about if a major label came along to you and said ‘we want to sign you’?


That’s a different thing. As long as I have artistic freedom, maybe I would consider it. But, I’ve just realised that I can do it all by myself and do really well with it.

I mean I need to survive and pay my rent but I’m not someone who is going to buy a Porsche, so as long as my living standard is ok and I have the feeling that people appreciate it and really see it as the humble thing I am doing then I’m ok, but I’m not going to do something because somebody is offering me a €100k advance. That’s not me.

I mean though if something is going to be a hit and I earned a lot of money from it and it wasn’t really meant to be, I don’t see where the problem is.


Do you think DJs and producers lose their credibility if they sign to the big labels?


For me it’s not about credibility, credibility is something I really don’t give a shit about. For me it’s about either you make good music or you make bad music, also if you have a big hit and you play out and you start to play shit, then it’s shit. If you just stick to what you want to do for yourself and you offer that to the public, then I don’t give a shit if you sell one record, 2000, or 20,000.


So as a producer you make tracks firstly for yourself?


Yes, in the first sense I make music for myself and if I have that feeling that I’m happy then I’m sure that when I show it to the public, it’s like I’m showing something of my soul to somebody.

I was never making it to sell records I was just making it for myself and in the end it turned out that some people like it as well. For me it’s all about getting that special deep feeling. 


What is that feeling?


It’s the moment you have in the studio when you realise that you made something that touches your soul in a deep, deep way and you feel this joy, this rush of happiness.

Do you think electronic music production is art or just technical now?


Every art needs some kind of commitment to something. You cannot be an artist without being committed to music.


Being a nerd or being cool?


Being cool while being a nerd. Just remember that not everything in life is about being a nerd. You have to separate your nerdism from basic human values. You shouldn’t be a geek that only lives in a ‘nerd’ world, you should still be able to communicate and enjoy and share and love, and not only be like ‘oh he’s playing that record, that’s shit I’m going to leave now’.


Why Detroit?


For me it’s just a big fascination, I know a lot about the history of the records and music that was before such as Motown and jazz labels like Strata, not only the techno and house history.

In this music you can hear the struggle of people trying to survive, social issues, before there were human rights for everybody. You can hear so many emotions.

I’ve never heard so many emotions as I have from the tracks of Detroit. The fascination of Detroit, is one thing that some people think, because I am white and from a suburban wealthy German city, I don’t really have the right to comment on how things were there, because I’ve never been there.

But I can hear so much of that social struggle in the music and it fascinates me deeply. I mean I can’t say I’m a black guy, but it’s not about race. I’m not a poor guy having to struggle, every human being has everyday struggles, for me the best way to express them is through music.

I’m not saying I have the same hard times but I can identify with the emotions in the music from Detroit. Music was the only shelter and rescue people had, for me this is something that I want my music to convey and to achieve. 

Every time I travel I can see not only the good things I can also see what is wrong in society and what should be different and then you hear this music where it can be so touchingly beautiful and being thankful for life and joy.

Why do you think Germany is the epicentre for a lot of electronic music at the moment?


Well, I mean there is lots of good stuff from the UK and the US also, I don’t really know. Maybe it’s coincidence.

Berlin has a huge impact; Berlin is the city where everybody wants to move, yes, I will be moving there soon, but not just for music reasons. It’s the capital for electronic music.

But I mean a lot of the people you would consider German artists are not originally German, they just moved to Berlin. For the German guys they realised in 1998 it was the hotspot, then all the interest from the other countries came in 2002/2003.

At the moment it’s the only city I can imagine where there are really no rules. Everybody can just do whatever they want. It’s really anarchistic in some way.


Why do you think house has re-emerged in the last 18 months?


It’s the backlash to minimal. People have been overfed the same drum patterns, the same cold sound, they just want to have some vocals and feeling in the music again. I don’t know how long this is going to be up again but I’m still going to make the same music when minimal comes back around.


Why is dance music so retrospect?


Music, fashion, art - it’s always the same. Stuff comes back every 10 years, period.


You recently released the ‘Lonely One’ EP on 20:20 Vision. How important is it to you as a producer to get released on the right label?

The 20:20 guys came to me. There were quite a few labels after them which were maybe a little bit more credible labels. 


Do you not think 20:20 is credible?


I have to be honest and say I don’t really fit with the other artists on that label. And I’m not really the biggest fan of what is coming out on that imprint, but I have to say I really love the guys there and they were really humble for me to work with them. 

It’s not about being on a credible label, it’s about doing good music and actually being able to communicate with the guys and seeing that the guys are doing their maximum to make something out of it. I don’t really give a damn which label I am on as long as they are not telling me ‘you have to do this or you have to do that’.


What hardware to you have?


I have loads of old school hardware. I almost have the complete Roland TR set, 909, 808, 606, and 505. The only one I don’t have is the 727.

Then I have about 10 classic synths, some classic Oberheim synths, a Fender Rhodes piano, some Korgs mono polys and a Poly-61, a Juno 6, a Yamaha DX7. Everything I do is in hardware.

How does a typical Motor City Drum Ensemble track come together?


I use Cubase to arrange, record synths and samples, and to do the mix down. Cubase for me is just like a DAT machine in the 70s.

I just use it to record and to arrange. I use only a really small amount of plug-ins, and I stick to freeware for about 90%.

Other than that, everything is hardware. I stopped using any software synths as for me it feels just easier and more comfortable to work with the real deal. Not to mention that it still sounds different as well, plus you’ll make certain mistakes that will eventually turn out to sound great.

In my studio you’ll find also more obscure stuff like a rare Vermona DRM from the ‘80s or an EMU Drumolator. Synth wise, the Yamaha DX7 is the main source for the typical MCDE chords, plus an Oberheim-Xa, Matrix 6 and Korg Poly-61.

On the mono side I have a Roland MC202 and SH2000, a Yamaha CS15, and I’m currently investing in some old Roland Modular systems.

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