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 TTC
Interview
interview 0216 added
08.07.04 words: Nikesh technical:
QED
Big Dada certainly knows how to find cutting edge artists, not just in this
country
but amongst our Yankee and Gallic cousins. Completely representative of this are
the experimental French weirdos TTC. Having delivered an orgasmic melange of
electronic, melodic and absurd hip-hop, they continue to push the envelope with
hip-hop/electro-clash anthem, the monster that is “Dans Le Club.” Hailing from
Paris, and rounding up a “Dans les Clubs” tour of France with Bus Driver and
Radioinactive in London’s 93 Feet East, I caught up with the sensible bastards
to ask… ca va?
 How
are you?
I’m ok, I’m fine thank you. It’s the last date of a very hectic tour. We’re very
happy to be in England.
Where have you been on tour?
It was a French tour. We had two dates in Switzerland but it was mainly a French
tour.
What are your experiences of London crowds?
They’ve always been very nice to us. We played the Camden Underworld, that was
ages ago. And when the TTC album dropped, we did four gigs in the UK, one in
Cargo. That was a Ninja night when that was still happening.
Tell me about “Dans le Club.”
“Dans le Club” is the new single. It’s out in France and it’s available through
Big Dada. It’s more of a French limited edition thing. It might be re-released
later. It’s all been in a rush, but you can buy it from the Ninja shop, online.
Is it your reply to 50 Cent?
Not really. It’s TTC doing a club track. It’s not a parody, it’s not ironic. We
don’t want to be an underground group going against the mainstream. It’s not a
joke. It’s a very club-orientated track. It’s an homage to 50 Cent, a very
classy and very French version of “In Da Club.”
So, you’re working on your new album. What’s it going to be called and when
is it out?
It’s going to be called “Batardes Sensible.”
“Sensible Bastards”?
Yes. “Sensible Bastards.” It should be out in September.
How has the sound progressed since your last album?
It’s going towards the extremes. We like extreme music. We don’t have a problem
with listening to experimental noisy Japanese stuff and Britney Spears on the
same mixtape. We don’t like the stuff in-between. We’re more and more into club
music. We started listening to electronic music through underground hip-hop, and
Warp and people like Prefuse 73. And Aphex Twin, of course. And very soon, we
started getting into the dancefloor side of electronic music, through friends of
ours who are into Detroit stuff. We really going out a lot and getting
interested in techno and electro and these things. That’s a big influence. We
started listening to hip-hop with gangster rap. Then we started getting into
Lords of the Underground and Souls of Mischief and the more true-skool. Back
then, it was really interesting.
"...We
like extreme music. We don’t have a problem with listening to experimental noisy
Japanese stuff and Britney Spears on the same mixtape..."
When the independent explosion of 1996 of all the New York labels of Fondle ‘Em
and Rawkus started, it was really exciting. The originality and the flows were
in that scene. Then it became really stagnant but at the same time, an
electronic hip-hop scene was developing. And, in parallel to that, we liked
Timbaland and the Neptunes because it was really pushing the envelope. We sort
of got into electronic music through that and then went back to the dancefloor
side of electronic music, then from that, went into the dancefloor side of
hip-hop. Nowadays, we listen to a lot of Dirty South stuff and UK Grime. Like
Wiley and Dizzee and Kano. The next album will be a mixture of all that. It’ll
still be TTC but it will be influenced by cold music. The sound is really cold
and really extreme. Anti-Pop had this EP called, “The Ends Against the Middle”
and it’ll be kinda like that.
What kind of MC’ing is there on the album?
 A
lot of the tracks are on some double-time shit. We’re singing more and more,
trying new things with melodies. It’s also very extreme, very stupid stuff as
well. You’d have to understand French. Hopefully they can get into it vocally.
In terms of lyrics, it’s very abstract. For me, the most abstract MC is Noreaga
or Ghostface. They have a lot of nonsense. Nonsense is a lot of fun. It’s not
always meant to be an intellectual thing. When Picasso was drawing a circle and
a square, sometimes you have to see the simplicity in it and not the complicated
message behind it. The same thing with MC’ing, Missy Elliot might sound really
stupid on most of her tracks. But it works. Because it sounds so stupid it’s
good and it’s entertaining than a lot of complicated stuff that sounds like
poems you would write in your agenda when you’re in high school. I listen to a
lot of the more cerebral things in hip-hop. I’m a big fan of Themselves, because
of this nonsense aspect to their writing. The way that Dose writes is a lot more
revolutionary and new to writing techniques in hip-hop. The abstract stuff is
more boundary pushing than the emo stuff.
What is the hip-hop scene in France like at the moment?
It’s very fragmented. There is now an underground scene that is building itself.
It’s slowly climbing and getting more important but you know how the music
industry is these days. It’s totally falling apart. The big names aren’t selling
as much anymore…
Like NTM…
Yeah, one of the guys in NTM is doing a solo record and I don’t think it is
doing well. All the major companies are dropping artists. Everybody is really
scared. It’s not only hip-hop, it’s basically music.
"...Nonsense
is a lot of fun. It’s not always meant to be an intellectual thing..."
Would you say it has anything to do with music on the internet and downloads?
I suppose so.
How do you feel personally about someone downloading TTC songs?
I don’t know. I don’t really have an opinion on that. It’s good publicity, good
promotion. but, I’m really against albums circulating on the internet before
they’re released.
 Half the time, they’re not even finished…
That’s a big problem we have to face. But then again, it’s not up to me to think
of new ways to distribute music because the kids are going to download them
anyway. We’re not going to stop them from downloading mp3s. We just have to
adapt to that. Maybe iTunes and paying for mp3s online will work. It’s up to
lawyers and record companies to worry about it. I can only worry about my music.
A lot of times, speaking to artists, it seems to be more of a problem for
record companies rather than artists…
Yeah, but then again, we have to be able to do another record and we have to be
able to live. So it’s going to be a problem for us but the solution doesn’t
exist yet. I think you have to offer more than just music maybe. I think DVD is
a part of the solution, getting the visual aspect of things. But with DVD
burners, it’ll be the same problem over and over again.
"...We
don’t want to be an underground group going against the mainstream..."
What can we expect from tonight’s live show?
I dunno. A lot of vegetables, chickens and women maybe. It’s very sentimental,
the show. We’re trying to come across as the modern day glitched-out Take That,
with vegetable references.
Is Kid Acne doing your artwork for the second album?
He did the artwork for the first one. No it’s a friend of his, a Parisian friend
of his called Akbal. He met Edna through us and they got along really well, did
a lot of work together in France, some exhibitions. I mean, Kid Acne’s really
great. We got introduced to his work through Will Ashon at Big Dada and we
really love. It’s really close to the disturbing, retro nostalgic aspect, a
childish way of drawing but he draws monsters. The Japanese director, Miyazaki,
he’s similar to that. There’s a childish aspect to his work but it’s also very
scary, stuff you wouldn’t want to show to your kids. It’s something we can
relate to. It’s like “Leguman”, which was originally a French TV show and it was
meant for kids, but it was really weird. It was made by the same person who did
the artwork for “Forbidden Planet.” it’s very French, doing stuff for children
but that also fights against Disney, stupid Manga… they have to make it a lot
more intellectual, so they add a lot of weird things to it and quite scary.
That’s what funny and interesting about it. At the same time, it’s very extreme.
That’s what we like about Kid Acne’s work.
 Who
else are you feeling on Big Dada?
We like everybody. We feel very close to Bus Driver. We’ve been touring with him
throughout France and we’ve been fans of his way before he talked to Big Dada.
Same with cLOUDDEAD. We like Infinite Livez, he has some good tracks. Roots
Manuva. I think Ty is a really dope live performer. We did a small tour of
France with him three years ago and it really taught us a lot. He has the most
incredible stage presence. We like Diplo. That’s some stuff we can relate to.
Before I run out of battery here, any shoutouts or shameless plugs you want
to make?
Shout outs to the whole English family massive, to UKHH.COM, thanks to the
garage scene for influencing us so much, to all the people in England making
beautiful music. Thanks to Flat 4 and Sumo and definitely UKHH.COM. That’s it I
guess.
No it’s it. It’s not it… “Dans Le Club” is it, a monster of epic proportions,
ready to consume us all. Even though it’s only on limited release, you must own
it. TTC are pushing envelopes and developing new scopes for the boundaries of
not just French hip-hop, but hip-hop in general. They really are sensible
bastards.
-
Nikesh Shukla
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