A MERE GRASSHOPPER: JAMES HOLDEN "Most of the exciting music is in the new scenes, or at least outside whatever is dominant at the moment - if there's another me out there I hope he likes my tracks."
Dance music's number one non-conformist became trend setter. James Holden needs no further introduction. His music is as unpredictable as the man himself and as founder of Border Community he paved the way for all the other idiots out there. We tried to unveil some questionmarks.
In what aspect you feel your music differs from the more popular genres of electronic dance music?
"Hopefully mine/ours isn't 'genre' music - there aren't too many cliches, it isn't trying to fit in or please anyone."
Whatever people say, it's undeniable you explore new boundaries. Are trends and charts something you totally ignore?
"Pretty much yes, I always found charts and message board chatter really boring - compared to the never ending discoveries you can find _in_ the music, the world around it is pretty flat. Most of it is like watching a nature program about these strange bald not-cute monkeys, battling for status in their social group with MP3s instead of tree-thumping. That said, most of the exciting music is in the new scenes, or at least outside whatever is dominant at the moment."
Your music has a 'trippy' feel. Is that a coincidence, the result of an expanded mind - or something you carefully plan having a pre-defined palette of layered sounds in mind?
"A lot of the music I like is like that, though I wouldn't use the T word as I'm not sure it's really that strongly linked to drugs. Lots of people who use drugs like the most pedestrian music possible - and I know teetotallers who make complete brain-melting madness. I think "The Border Community old-guard are all working on new stuff that seems a leap forward, and especially exciting about this year is we have so much new British talent."
I probably like that kind of thing more because of maths and boredom with straight-sounding stuff than any other reason.
"There's not a lot of careful planning in any of my work, I'm a firm believer in judging things by how they feel."
Comparing you with other electronic musicians, there's just one coming to mind - Aphex Twin. Can you identify with that?
"I wouldn't invite that comparison. I guess I respect the attitude problem that he and lots of the 90s British warp-scene lot have though. But I am but a mere grasshopper."
Emotion is an integral part of music experience - do you think, as a musician, you have control over the emotional impact of your tracks?
"Not really, no, as experiences like that are pretty subjective. I can only know what someone else exactly like me would feel. That's my target audience I guess - if there's another me out there I hope he likes my tracks."
To what extend are your DJ sets influenced by what's happening on the dance floor? How do you monitor that?
"It'd be pretty hard not to be affected by what's in front of you, but I think most DJs totally misjudge crowds - really simple dynamics (the fucking white noise breakdown again) look like they're getting a great 'reaction' but prodding the synapses of drug users for a predictable reflex-action response is facile and pointless. Oh the kick drum comes back in - great, where did I put my coat?
"When I'm at a club I'm not the kind of person to come to the front and go crazy, or do the international hand gesture for 'please play something more stupid', so I tend to try to ignore those people and look for happy faces slowdancing around at the back."
It's been a while since you released 'The idiots are winning' - an experimental EP demanding for more! What we can expect from Border Community this year?
"It's a funny time for music at the moment. In a lot of ways it reminds us of the way things were when we started BC. On either side there are quite fixed, conservative scenes about to implode - Minimal and Neo-trance, whereas 6 years ago it was Prog and Trance - and we get mentioned in connection with both but want no part of either, and see an obvious gulf between us and them. But just like back then, I think
we can see a way forward, and there seem to be like minded people around us. The BC old-guard are all working on new stuff that seems a leap forward, and especially exciting about this year is we have so much new British talent. I'd got so used to the UK being a backwater dominated by all these awful British 'superstars' and now we have all this fresh box-escaping brilliance from people like Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell - our newest signing."
You have been called a nerd, an outsider and a rebel. Do you feel misunderstood?
"Maybe I am a bit of all of those things. I think being separated from everyone else by a stage and some decks makes anyone into an outsider, but I love that. The objectivity it gives you about the music but also about human behaviour is great. It's also hard to do anything but misunderstand musicians. I'm not sure I really understand my friends and I've met them - so understanding someone you've only read about seems like a bit of a leap."
Source: Laptop Rockers
