Urlaubshits

I’m rather excited to present to you the first ever Urlaubshits guest mix, from Permanant Vacation’s Bostro Pesopeo. His Falls EP was my favourite record of last year, and I am delighted that he has agreed to do an exclusive mix for the blog. First though, I fired a few questions his way…

U: The mix is great - I can really hear Bostro Pesopeo coming through in the track selection. It often sounds quite delicate and minimal but with a lot of melody and warm sounds too. Apart from the stuff you’ve selected for this mix what other labels and producers are you into at the moment?

BP: OK, that’s easy: JOAKIM! I really admire that dude. He’s simply an amazing musician, always coming up with amazing chords and melodies.
I’m also really into John Talabot’s stuff. His EP for Permanent Vacation just came out and I hope there are many to follow! Also, Max Krefeld, who’s involved in projects like Appaloosa and Candyblasta. That guy is seriously talented and producing some beautiful, poppy stuff. Apart from that I’m always kinda excited about stuff from Chateau Flight, Nôze, Luke Solomon, DFA, and Circus Company.

U: What kind of equipment to you use to make your music? Do you use hardware or software, or both? Any live instrumentation? And what are your reasons for using the gear that you do?

BP: I use Logic, and the main tool I use within that would be the EXS24 Sampler. Except for the drums, about 80% of all sounds are samples twitched through the EXS24. The samples come from different sources like records (obviously), stuff i recorded with a mic AND tracks that I get to remix. Before I start a remix I’m always checking the tracks for some cool synth or drum sounds and then cut out pieces that seem to be good use for my sampler.

I also bought a Doepfer MS-404 lately but that’s the only analogue synth I own so far. Solely due to the fact that I can’t afford any more analogue stuff right now.  The only live instrumentation right now are some licks with the guitar or bass guitar.

U: You have another alias - Ueberschalle -  why the different names? And how do you see this as being different from the music you produce as Bostro Pesopeo?

BP: I used different names because both Roccodisco and Permanent Vacation wanted me to sign an exclusive deal with those names on their labels.
The main difference would be that I’m not producing the stuff with the same software. For the Uebeschalle stuff I use Reason, but for Bostro Pesopeo I use Logic. Reason doesn’t allow you to use VST plug-ins and you can’t record any audio in reason. Besides that I started working with Logic and the Bostro Pesopeo stuff when all the Ueberschalle stuff was done so the Ueberschalle stuff is probably a bit more juvenile and naive but also more emotional I guess. It would be absolutely impossible to create this stuff now, as you can’t be 19 again in your life. Sounds dramatic!

U: Here in London disco nights are currently huge business, and it’s only in the last few years that this has happened - what is the music scene like where you live? (Munich I believe, which is also where Permanent Vacation is based). It seems that in the last few years there is all this incredible disco influenced music coming from Germany where previously the country was more associated with minimal techno - is this just my perception or is there genuinely a change taking place?

BP: Hard to tell. But I wouldn’t say there’s a change from minimal techno to disco music in Germany. The sound is maybe getting more warmth again. More house. But the common sound in clubs playing electronic music is definitely not disco, although here in Munich (I can’t really talk for other cities in Germany) there are quite a lot DJs spinning more disco stuff.

U: Permanent Vacation have become pretty huge in a short space of time - how did you get involved with them? What are they like to work with?

BP: I got in touch with Permanent Vacation through the record store that one of the Permanent Vacation heads, Benji Fröhlich, used to run. I knew him a little through the store before they started the label. I kept them updated about my music through Myspace or CDs and when I did “Bisogna” they decided to put it on the Permanent Vacation 2 compilation.

Working with them is pretty cool although it’s more working FOR them since I’m doing some little things in the Permanent Vacation office.

U: The recent Falls EP was filled with really strange samples - In “Falls” there is Gregorian chanting (I think!), sneezing -  where do you get them from? What inspired you to use samples in this way?

BP: Yes, it’s Gregorian chanting! I’m really fascinated with vocal music and choir stuff and always wanted to use that kind of thing in my tracks. For “Falls” I grabbed a record that belonged to my father with Gregorian chanting on and two records belonging to a friend of mine where i sampled that piano and the sneezing from. I was looking for the chanting and the piano sound but I wasn’t really looking for that sneezing sound. I just recorded a few minutes from the record (which was a radio drama) just to play around with the material and ended up with the sneeze sound, which I thought was pretty stupid so I basically had to use it!

U: You’ve got a new EP coming out on Permanent Vacation later this year - can you tell us how it’s going to sound yet? Any word on possible remixers?

BP: It’s hard to tell what it might sound like as it’s not finished. I did some tracks which I thought would make a cool new EP but then I did some other new stuff again, so I’m not sure yet. But I’m getting closer. And I don’t think there will be remixers on the new EP.

U: Who or what are your main influences when making your music?

BP: Hmmm. What I can tell you is that the music that probably influenced me the most is music from bands. I used to listen to The Doors a lot when I was about 12. I think that kind of influenced me. Another band that was really important for me are The Walkmen. Since the day I bought their first album when I was 15 up to the present day they are my favorite band. I guess their way of making music probably influenced my way of making music the most.

Bostro Pesopeo has a new EP coming out on Permanent Vacation sometime later this year, and as well as recently completed remixes for James Yuill and Worst Friends, and a forthcoming remix for Clap Rules on Tiny Sticks, he is putting the finishing touches to remixes for Au Revoir Simone and Peter Bjorn and John. Many thanks to him for answering my questions and doing this fantastic mix…

Download:> Bostro Pesopeo Mix for Urlaubshits (1:20:22, 73.8mb)

1) Hugh Masekela - The Boy’s Doin’ It (Carl Craig Remix)
2) Rekid - Lost Star 6
3) Praven & Benoit - Death as a Man (Worst Friends Remix)
4) Watussi - Purple Moon
5) Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses (Beyond The Wizard’s Sleeve Remix)
6) Freaks - Turning Orange
7) Arto Mwambe - Une Seule Nuit (Mix de Danse)
8) John Talabot - Afrika
9) Motorbass - Flying Fingers
10) I:Cube - Vacjack
11) Feist - Feisty Dub
12) Rhythm & Sound w/Tikiman - Ruff Way (Afefe Iku Remix)
13) Africanism - Les Infants du Bled
14) The Chocolettes - Jungle Ad
15) Cosmo Vitelli - Le Radiateur
16) Jackpot - Ragazza
17) FPI Project - Rich In Paradise
18) Break The Limits - Nectarine

And a bonus treat, his recent remix of the also great Worst Friends:

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