Interview: Heartthrob

Photo Taken by Markus Jans

The world of techno has a revolving door of faces and styles, but over the last 10 years a constant has been the M-nus label. Founded by Richie Hawtin, the label has flourished as of late with a roster of talent that continues to push the boundaries of techno. One of the new stars of the label is Heartthrob, aka Jesse Siminski. His melodic yet dark productions, as well as his live sets have made him a standout in the already stellar M-nus group. Heartthrob's new album Dear Painter, Paint Me will be released June 30th.

Here's an interview I did recently with Heartthrob. If you're lucky to be in any of the towns below, go check out an experience you will soon not forget. Your mind will thank you, later.


FoeWeel: How has your environment, from living in a small town in Michigan, to New York, and now to Paris affected your music ?

Heartthrob: The track's that appear on Dear Painter, Paint Me were written in Paris. The feel of the city, mostly the experience of being an outsider influenced the way they sound. Paris is a very romantic museum of a city, but it also can be cold place at times, especially after living in New York for 8 years. Being on the road constantly also had a hand in how the songs turned out.

FoeWeel: What's albums are you listening to now ?

Heartthrob: Radiohead's "In Rainbows" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" Both are very powerfully emotional records.

FoeWeel: What is your live/dj setup and how does playing live influence your production ?

Heartthrob: I use a computer abelton live and a sequenced synth/ drummachine. I do a lot of stuff on the fly which sometimes becomes elements of new tracks and I always play new unreleased ideas live.

FoeWeel: What city do you most enjoy playing live ?

Heartthrob: I love Fabric in London, Paradiso in Amsterdam, Rex in Paris and Watergate in Berlin. These cities all have great venues and very eager crowds.

FoeWeel: I get this sense of being in an altered reality listening to your new album, Dear Painter, Paint Me, what track took you the longest to produce ?

Heartthrob: Confession is the most complex tune on the record and took the most time arranging. I made a real effort to layer the musical elements to create a rich atmosphere while keeping things more of less stripped. Its more epic than the other tracks and has a few twists and turns...


FoeWeel: Thanks for your time. We look forward to your appearance in San Francisco on the 30th at 103 Harriet.



MINUS ANNIVERSARY TOUR

RICHIE HAWTIN, MAGDA & HEARTTHROB live

MAY 24 detroit @ st. andrew's hall
MAY 25 detroit @ demf
MAY 28 vancouver @ celebrities
MAY 29 portland @ holocene
MAY 30 san francisco @ 103 harriet st
MAY 31 los angeles @ cinespace

A House With A Hole In It

bernal heights, san franicsco

i came upon this house a few months back and it's an interesting idea in terms of bringing more sunlight into the top tier of the house, but will it stand the test of time? the lower northern part of bernal heights has some interesting homes from some adventurous people. some look odd stuck in between victorians, but they seem to have some forward ideas, at least from the outside. i'd like to build a circular house. well, a house where the outside form is a circle. no square or rectangular base structure. somewhat like frank lloyd wright's guggenheim in new york. it would be 2 floors. think of a barbell. the two floors would be separated by a tubular elevator and the top and bottom floor would have glass wrapping around the entire outside structure. practicality has no place in my dream.

now, to the songs that will help you dream,

Radiohead - Worrywort - a b-side from the knives out single. maybe a little bit to straight forward for where radiohead was at the time, but such a great song with a warm melody.

Fridge - Ark (Herbert's Fully Flooded Mix) - now that the supergroup, where two thirds of the members are adem and four tet, have reunited for an album, here is a lookback to what we can expect.

Badun - Fyrtarn - i don't know much about badun. this track was taken off of the new wire tapper compilation and it has the twisted beats with the jazz infused base that makes it so interesting. need to do some more exploring on this one.

False - Fed On Youth - this matthew dear track is part of the new best-of compilation, 'nothing much' from richie hawtin's minus label and it proves again why dear makes his best music off of this alias. there's no denying that his varied musical talents lends itself to having so many different monikers (audion, jabberjaw, false), but with all of the attention to his current matthew dear proper release, 'asa breed', a vocal pop techy offering, this track which i think hasn't been released 'officially' yet, will probably get lost in the mix. hopefully not. because it is probably one of the best techno tracks i've heard in a long time. it has that grooved sub bass and layered kicks to make your organs clean themselves. warning: this track may damage your speakers, or cause you to go out and buy speakers that can handle the low frequencies.