Line Noise

Ben Cardew invited French house hero Folamour to the RPS studio to talk about his love for 1980s indie, Oasis, "that" ABBA moment, playing drums, the House of Love and - above all - his new album Manifesto.

Often on Line Noise we speak to artists who are in their imperial phases; but we also love new acts too, which is why it was a pleasure to speak to LaMeduza, a vocalist, songwriter, producer and - above all - junglist, based in Geneva. She first came to my attention with her vocals on the Subjective album, The Start of No Regret in 2022; and has just released her debut solo single, the LaMeduza EP for Overview music, which combines the fiercest jungle beats with the sweetest melodies. She was in Barcelona to appear at Nitsa with Phase, the drum and bass producer with whom she has frequently worked, although we caught up via Zoom, to talk flamenco jungle, working with Goldie and the importance of a good song.

Line Noise typically concerns itself with electronic music. But we couldn’t resist the opportunity to have a word with two genuine musical legends. Noah Lennox, better known as Panda Bear, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founding member of the band Animal Collective; Pete Kember, also known as Sonic Boom, is a psychedelic pioneer, guitarist, producer and vocalist, known for his work with Spacemen 3 and Spectrum. Together, they made one of our favourite albums of 2022, with the gorgeous Reset. We met them in Barcelona, before their brilliant gig, to talk about intros, Pete’s (lowbrow) love of Queen, a stage show, children, appearing on the Simpsons and working with Daft Punk.

On today’s Line Noise we speak to Nathan Fake, an English electronic music artist of the highest quality. His new album, Crystal Vision, is released on April 7 and it is a fantastic piece of work; we spoke about Crystal Vision, about Norfolk, rave, Autechre, sampling and lasting 20 years in electronic music.

On this week’s Line Noise Mar Vallverdú and Ben Cardew spoke to Singaporean songwriter and producer yeule, a non-binary cyborg entity who makes sparkling cyber pop. The interview took place at the Primavera Weekender, in yeule’s bungalow, which they had made up to look very yeule indeed. We talked about Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, glitch feminism,  hikikomori and more, in what was a fascinating 20 minutes. Picture by Sharon Lopez.

This week our guest on Line Noise is Barclay Crenshaw better known as Claude VonStroke, an American music producer, DJ, record label owner and festival organiser, whose kids still aren’t impressed by all his achievements. We talked about his favourite labels, the importance of record labels themselves, Dirtybird’s proudest moment and the one that got away, working with Green Velvet and how to introduce your kids to good music.

Today on Line Noise we bring you an interview with someone who has been making music for almost 40 years: Sean Spencer aka DJ Spen, a king of soulful and gospel house - although as we will discover later, he doesn’t particularly like to talk in terms of musical genre. We talked about remixing Diana Ross, joining the Basement Boys, working with Crystal Waters, the oddness of Milli Vanilli covering your work, hip hop’s relationship with house and so much more.

Welcome to a special festive episode of Line Noise. It’s been a long year and it is time to relax with some Christmas house music. And who better to bring it than Finn, the Manchester producer and DJ, who has capped a fantastic year with the release of No More Coal - ‘A Christmas Dance Record’, a full on festive house music rave up. I spoke to him about what makes house christmas-y, Olive’s You're Not Alone, Manchester music, clubbing at Christmas and who he would invite to this Christmas dinner: Martyn Bootyspoon, I. Jordan or Masters at Work?

From producing Warm Leatherette, to founding Mute Records, few people have done more for electronic music than Daniel Miller, a genuinely legendary figure in modern British music. His improvisational electronic duo, Sunroof, have a new album out in February and he was playing live and DJing at the recent Ombra festival in Barcelona, which is where I caught up with him to talk analogue synths, being on his own label, Kraftwerk, the appeal of synths, punk, Depeche Mode and being indie in 2022.

Ben Cardew met electronic pop sensation Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul at the Primavera Weekender to talk instant chemistry, humour, working with your mum and the reaction to their incredible debut album Topical Dancer. Oh and Charlotte laughs EXACTLY as she did on record.