Sound
engineer, producer and composer, Stephen Hitchell alias Intrusion (and
Soultek) distils, between Chicago and Detroit, a dubby minimalism that
we thought belong only to the German scene. With his friend Rod Modell
(Waveform Transmission, DeepChord), they have more and more projects
(cv313) released by the label echospace [Detroit].
As most of their productions, The Seduction Of Silence — his last album
released under the name of Intrusion (see MCD #51) — was made in the
traditional way. With analogical machines, certain of which fiddled by
himself. No excessive use of computers, nor software like Ableton. A
hallmark that preserves warmth and fullness to a tempo swaying and
mechanical at the same time, embellished by some breaks and reverb. All
of which enshrouded by an ambient-club and organic atmosphere. A
texture in the vein of productions by Moritz Von Oswald and Mark
Enerstus (Rhythm & Sound), that we also find in a more ethereal way
in his “re-interpretation” of White Clouds Drift On And On; the ambient
opus of Brock Van Wey aka Bvdub (see MCD #53). Add some tracks with
Tikiman and a dubby and hypnotic rereading of the mythical Starlight of
Model 500 aka Juan Atkins (see MCD #50), and you’ll know why we
interviewed Stephen Hitchell.
What are the references that punctuate your musical evolution?
Concerning electronic music, one of my oldest memory goes back to a
record that my aunt offered me at the beginning of the 70s: Snowflakes
Are Dancing of Tomita. An interpretation of Debussy with analogical
keyboards. That’s what took me to discover afterwards Tangerine Dream
and d'Ash Ra Tempel. My uncle used to go regularly to Jamaica and was
bringing back a lot of stuff, even before Marley. In fact, I’ve always
been fascinated by reggae and dub. Jazz has been, and still is, one of
my greatest influences. When I was a child, my grandmother taught me to
play the piano on Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and Blue Train of John
Coltrane. Jazz is as important as Kraftwerk for techno and house music.
It was an inspiration for artists like Derrick May and Juan Atkins.
It’s obvious with certain tracks (see Jazz Is The Teacher!).
It’s one of my closest friends, Josh Werner, who initiated me to techno
and house music. He made me discover The Orb, Little Fluffy Clouds and
In Dub in 1991. A new universe opened itself to me and I started buying
a lot of records. In Chicago, from the end of the 80s/beginning 90s,
house and acid house music exploded with Steve Silk, Jesse Saunders,
Sleazy D, Phuture… I remember having heard "French Kiss" of Lil Louis
on the radio, six months before it was released. But I was more
attracted by the sound of Detroit: Transmat, Metroplex, UR, Axis… I was
addicted, I had the complete catalogue of Prescription, Balance,
Cajual, Warehouse… It was very different, with this futurist aspect and
science-fiction…
In 1993, I discovered a record that gobsmacked me: Enforcement of Basic
Channel. There was a remix of Jeff Mills on side B and I thought that
it was from a band of Detroit… In 1994, Josh brandished Quadrant Dub,
still by Basic Channel, saying “people like you have to listen to
this”. And at this moment, everything that I liked shot out of the
speakers: dub, jazz and techno music mixed in a king of lo-fi, with a
very particular sound and warmth that had nothing to do with what was
done at this time. It seemed like it was from another world…
How do you judge the evolution of this connection between dub and techno music?
I came to dub with Lee Perry, King Tubby, Derrick Harriott, Keith
Hudson… The B side (a version)… It’s a full-fledged music genre that
imposed its Jamaican roots to lots of music styles. Dub became very
popular with the Clash and Police. Even rock bands like Soundgarden
created instrumental tracks with effects. Dub had a considerable impact
on popular music. And still has today, even on R&B…
It was just a question of time before it had an influence on electronic
music… And yet, there were lots of spin offs a long time before the
Berlin scene in the 90s, but most of the actors of the “techno music”
circle of influence were not necessarily in phase. And yet, Adrian
Sherwood, Meat Beat Manifesto, The Orb, Bill Laswell, Leftfield and
even Kevin Saunderson have practiced this king of hybridization with
electronic music as soon as the 80s. In itself, dub was not far from
techno music at its beginnings: it’s about altering and affecting the
sound electronically, which constituted the essential of the spring of
music.
In what circumstances were you taken to reshape Starlight of Model 500?
It’s during a long conversation with Rod, during which we were asking
ourselves the question to know “what record, among our favourite in
techno music of Detroit, we could re-mix, re-work, if we had the chance
to be able to do it”. We both replied at the same time Starlight. I’ve
known Juan Atkins for some years and I called him to talk about the
project. Two weeks later, remixes were done. It all happened very
quickly.
Can we say about you — Rod Modell and you — that you are the US “version” of Rhythm & Sound / Basic Channel?
I wouldn’t say that and we don’t want that. I know Moritz and Mark a
bit. I’ve worked for a distributor for years and we were distributing
Basic Channel in the USA and in Canada. I was in contact with their
office and Hardwax, but only on the commercial level. I met them during
the first DEMF (Detroit Electronic Music Festival) at the end of the
90s, at the Record Time stall. There were both very nice. Few years
later, some friends invited them as Rhythm & Sound, for a party,
and I was asked to do the overture (an honor). I had heard a lot about
them from a common friend, Ron Murphy, Moritz wanted to open a
mastering studio – what he did since: Dubplates & Mastering — and
Ron was giving him technical advices…
We have a lot of respect for them and their music, but we dig our own
line since the beginning of the 90s: a mix of deep-dub, hypnotic and
ambient techno-music. And Rod really develops a sound of his own, with
Deepchord. It’s really far from Basic Channel. Our label Echospace is a
gathering point for our friends: Juan Atkins, Mike Huckaby, Convextion
(Gerard Hanson), Sean Deason (Matrix Records); persons that I’ve known
for a long time.
Can you tell us a few words about your album released under the
name of Intrusion, The Seduction Of Silence, and the EPs with the
versions released on the eponym label?
Intrusion is an isolated project, more based on traditional dub and
reggae but produced with machines rather than instruments. Most of the
tracks were recorded at the end of the 90s and I took them back, I
remixed of remasterised them. As for the Intrusion label, it is the
support of a series, in 3 parts, of tracks extracted from the album and
additional remixes.
What is the difference between Intrusion and your other projects like Phase90 and Variant?
The name Phase90 was only used once to qualify a sound, mix volume,
with tri-dimensional result, for which I used a modified version of the
effect phase90. Variant is completely different from the other projects
in which I’m involved. It’s a bit more personal and it’s a way out from
techno music: it’s more ambient, classical and experimental. I use a
great variety of recording techniques and an essentially live
instrumentation.
I notably play the acoustic guitar on "The setting sun", that gives its
title to the album, and most of the tracks were created in the
“concrete” music way. I use a lot of loops on tracks and recordings.
It’s very organic. Initially, I started this project for my wife, when
she was pregnant with our first child and was directing herself to
hypno-birthing [auto-hypnosis technique aiming to accompany delivery.
Editor’s note]. The aim was to compose a “dream music” for her.
To conclude, can you tell us a few words about Soultek?
Soultek is a bit on hold for the moment. It covered a large spectrum:
techno, house, electro, downtempo music and jazz, ambient dub and
experimental music. In fact, I’ve never had a clear vision of this
project, nor of the sound that it had to have. The only determined
point was to use technology to make something intense, soulful. The
first album that I did under this name Chapter One on Kompute, is one
of my favourite ones. Tracks were recorded about 5 years before they
were released. I masterized them with Ron Murphy, in Detroit, in 1996,
but I had to give it up to continue my studies at university. When I
got my degree, I decide it was time to finally release it. But I’m not
100% sure yet if I will release an album one day…
Interview by Laurent Diouf
Intrusion, The Seduction Of Silence (echospace [Detroit])
Website: www.echospacedetroit.com
Information: www.myspace.com/echospacedetroit
Playlist:
Clancy Eccles All Stars, Sound System International Dub (Clan Disk)
Fisherman Riddim (various artists) (Blood And Fire)
White Mice, White Mice (Versions) (Basic Replay)
Augustus Pablo, East Of The River Nile (Message)
Jimmy Radway & Fe Me Time All Stars, Dub I (Pressure Sounds)
Keith Hudson, Brand (Pressure Sounds)
Steve Roach, The Dreamcircle (Soundquest)
Robert Rich & B. Lustmord, Stalker (Fathom)
Manuel Göttsching, E2-E4 (Inteam)
Rhythm & Sound, w/The Artists (Burial Mix)
version Fr
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The fall of Rod Modell
Rod's music has taken a huge plunge while working with Stephen Hitchel.
The quality and the influence of Stephen Hitchel is really something not to be overlooked.
Rod was better off making music by himself. He needs to breakaway from Hitchel badly!!
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