Road Of Life - Francois K

Road Of Life

Francois K [Deep Space Media]

#09 in this month's The 20

• Written by: Terry Church
• Filed under: The 20: deep space media francois k radio slave

When the legendary Francois K asks you to do anything — anything at all — you do it.

Whether it’s picking up his clothes at the cleaners, carrying his record bag or taking a bouquet of flowers over to his mom’s, you’d be wise to answer the call to duty.

But it’s not as if this New York City resident would ever feel above any of these tasks; in fact, you could say it’s his humility that’s placed him where he is today.

Always willing to recognize a talent with staying power on the horizon, he graced Radio Slave with the opportunity to not only play at his club, but to remix his track.

“The mix came about as Joel Martin and I were playing with Francois as Quiet Village at Deep Space,” recalls Radio Slave, AKA recent Berlin transplant Matt Edwards.

“In the middle of the night, he just drops this track out of nowhere, and we’re like ‘What the hell is this?’

“It turned out to be a demo Francois had been working on.”

Call it a reward for good ears on either side of the equation, because the rest of the story sounds spectacular.

Mixing organic sounds and body movement so synonymous with Francios’ long-standing ‘Body and Soul’ events with a strong dancefloor groove, the Radio Slave dub of the Quiet Village remix seems to capture the spirit almost perfectly.

“It’s funny,” laughs Edwards, “as Joel can’t believe the reaction it gets in the clubs!

“It’s been a lot of fun playing this mix over the summer — and it was great to hear it being dropped by Marcel Dettmann at the Panorama Bar.”

When talking to Radio Slave about what he feels makes a good remixer, his ears quickly point to underground favorite Ricardo Villalobos, and it’s this approach that explains why Radio Slave is so successful at his own remixes.

“The way that Villalobos treats his remixes is really exciting and creative, and you can always hear the vibe from the original work.

“His rework of Beck was a real highlight for me this year.”

Not one to rest on his laurels, he still dreams of remixing classic artists who have been both experimental and mainstream in different phases of their careers, Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.

And, of course, Radio Slave is leaving room in his remix catalog for Germany’s ambient master, and one-time Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel member, Klaus Schulze.

With luck like this, who knows what could happen?

Click here to see Radio Slave’s ‘Bell Clap Dance’ in December’s The 20 on Beatportal.

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