Mondkopf wird wahrscheinlich vielen kein Begriff sein, aber für mich gehört er allein schon wegen seinem unglaublichen Remix zu Johnny Cashs God's gonna cut you down zu den Größen des Genres. Deshalb freue ich mich auch gerade wie ein kleines Kind, dass er sich zu einem Interview auf PTB bereiterklärt hat (ich hatte ihn bereits im Dezember angeschrieben). Bevor ihr das Interview jetzt aber lest, empfehle ich euch drigends den erwähnten Johnny Cash Remix anzuhören. Er ist düster, er ist schwer und steht für alles, was die Faszination Mondkopf ausmacht. Der Track läuft unter dem Namen Plus de Sommeil und kann auf Mondkopfs Myspace-Seite oder bei hypem gestreamt werden. Enjoy:

I think, before we start, it'd be good idea if you could just answer some standard questions: Who is Mondkopf, what is the story behind the name and how would you describe your sound?

Mondkopf: At the begining Mondkopf was just a character i used to draw pretty much everywhere, from my desk at school to Toulouse's walls. My music is somewhere between techno and electronica/hip-hop grooves, in fact i think i have just been trying to do hip-hop with software designed for techno music. It might be a cliché but in the end i think that my music is better characterized by emotions than music genres.

There are many pictures from films like Stalker, Gerry and Paranoid Park on your myspace profile. I think they are a perfect reflection of your music. When I listened to your Plus de Sommeil Remix for the first time for example, I was instantly reminded of Gerry. Both a very slow paced, feel incredibly heavy and maybe even tragic. So, are films a big influence for you? And whats your relationship to the films of Gus van Sant?

Mondkopf: It's definitively a great influence to me, i think those three movies are driven by individuals who are disconnected from the civilized world, being the Gerry duo lost in the desert or Paranoid Park hero don't paying any attention to the adult matters. Maybe there is something of a floating and troubling feeling about this movies that might correspond to my blurry reverbs, i don't know, I might be seeking somehow to give people a chance to disconnect themselves with my music.

How does a Remix like Plus des Sommeil come to life? What does it start with, when is it finished and whats the creative process in the between like?

Mondkopf: I was simply listening to the original and just felt like i had to sample the song and make it feel even stronger and emotional. There was an amazing groove in the song and i just had to take advantage of it ! To make a remix the first step is really to listen carefully to the song and feel which kind of groove, rather ambient, techno, hip-hop, even dubstep, whatever, it requires. Then i just start building melodies and rythm loops and begin to arrange everything together. I just try and develop the idea of the beginning to its own end, most of the time very quickly. Then i switch to others things and after a little time i check the remix again to see if some structure or production details can be improved. Very quickly i'm bored to listen to it again and again and not finding anything new to bring to it so i stuck to it and that's a remix done.

On the 17th of January your going to play at "TILT! Party - The French taste @ VILLA Berlin". Please give us a little (visual + aural) description what your gig will be like (or what a usual Mondkopf gig is like) and finish it off with why we should be there.

Mondkopf: I think my live shows are both very physical and very narrative. Visually you'll just see me fighting with (or into) my music. Hopefully you'll dance and cry at the same time.

Have you a got a new years resolution for 2009 yet? What can we expect to see/hear from you?

Mondkopf: My new year resolution is to still avoid to take any. In 2009 you can expect my first album on the Asphalt Duchess label (due to May), i have some remixes (for Golden Filter, Nil, dDamage) ready to be released and already some new singles ready to come up, hopefully at the end of the year. I also have my Disco Dawn Boys side-project that i'm very excited to develop, we have a handful of songs waiting for a label and a special live show that i can't wait to present.

Name three artists to look out for in 2009.

Mondkopf: My good friend Nil should release a groundbreaking album this year, Animal Collective, Six Organs of Admittance.

Thanks for the interview, Mondkopf. Can't wait for the new stuff!

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Ihr habts gehört: Mondkopf wird am 17. Januar in Berlin sein. Wer in der Nähe ist, ist quasi dazu verpflichtet hinzugehen! Alle infos zum Gig findet ihr hier.