Over the last few years, Noir’s contribution to electronic music has been immense. From presenting some of the year’s finest musical moment via his Noir Music label, to producing and remixing at the very highest level, Noir stands head and shoulders above the majority of his peers, and his star looks set to rise further with his latest endeavour.
Noir In The House exemplifies the flair that Noir injects into each of his live sets, distilling the experience into 120-odd minutes of flawlessly mixed house and techno. Ahead of its release next month, we caught up with Noir on the set of his recent London photoshoot to discuss increased levels of positivity within the scene, developing musical tastes and handling accusations of ‘selling out’…
The last time we spoke you were just about to play the Defected party at AIR… how was it?
It was great. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the music which was really good all night. I think all DJs did a really good job and both rooms really worked. There was the back room where it was more like sweat on the walls, and really groovy. I really liked that, contrasting with the main room which was more hands in the air. It was a great party this year.
And how was ADE in general for you this year? A lot of people said the atmosphere was much more positive and optimistic than it had been in previous years…
Absolutely, everyone was being so positive about the industry, the music business, the nightlife. Everyone was really looking into finding solutions to make things even bigger, to making things happen instead of being negative about sales and decline in interest and stuff like that. People seemed to be looking at solutions rather than thinking about how bad it was.
Noir Music has had another exceptional year. How are you looking to build on that next year?
When you have successes, it’s always hard to go for something more successful, so I just sign what I really like. I don’t think about the next big thing or the next big hits on the label. Like every other DJ, I’m moving on all of the time. You change taste in music, you get tired of one sound, you move onto another sound or the next sound. I think that people are already saying that the sounds of Noir Music have changed slightly and that’s just a reflection of what I like.
Playing two or three clubs every weekend around the world, your taste in music develops and that reflects on my label. And I try to be at the forefront of what’s happening. I want to be right up front and it’s always been like that for me. Instead of copying stuff and trying to do the same thing over and over again because I know it would make big sales, I’m trying to create something new, find new talents, find the new directions and go for what I like.
When we spoke back in March said that you thought techno was really going to come to the fore in 2012. Do you think that’s happened? Or do you think it’s gone in a slightly different direction?
I think that when we spoke last time I was talking about techno coming back but we were also talking about the 90s influences coming back into the music. And it think particularly the 90s house sound is back in house music. And yeah, I also think that techno with soul is coming back and maybe we have to wait another nine or so months but I think it will happen. Some of the big names are starting to make slightly less housey stuff again and going a little bit harder, but it’s techno with soul, with vocals and melodies.
And I think one thing that definitely had happened is there has been more crossover between genres, with artists you’d usually associate with techno championing house records and vice-versa…
I think the most important thing for any DJ is track selection. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Traktor, Serrato or Ableton, or if you’re mixing from CDs or vinyl. It’s a personal thing. But it always comes down to the track selection. You know I think right now it’s a really good time for house and techno because every DJ is playing house and techno, not just one style. And that’s good. I like to mix it up and have always liked to mix it up. It’s all about the good music and not about a specific genre. I don’t like to be narrow-minded.
Back at the end of last year when you signed ‘Around’ to Defected, there were a few people who were saying you were selling out...
As ‘Around’ had already been a big hit in the clubs, giving it to a bigger label to push it is always going to make people accuse you of selling out. Always when things get bigger there are some people that tend to feel that. But from my point of view, a big label can really push stuff and make a lot more people aware of the music. And let’s face it, there’s a lot of crappy music, a lot of crappy pop music out there, so if you could get an underground track out there, a track that people have already loved, that just means you are pushing quality music into the mainstream. With Noir Music I can’t do that.
Noir Music is not one of those big players that can really push to the mainstream; Defected can do that and they are really good at it. So when they ask me to sign the track and I licensed it to Defected, I was pretty happy about it. I think it’s a good thing and I don’t think about selling out or being credible or anything like that. You just have to stick to your guns and produce quality music.
So from the initial association with ‘Around’, you mixing a disc of this year’s Miami compilation and with everything that’s happened since, your In The House mix is now complete and being released next month… can you tell us about it?
Yeah with the Miami compilation, I wanted it to be a little more up front and wanted to showcase new stuff. With this one, both CDs are deep but the second one is more pumping. And I wasn’t thinking too much about making it really upfront and including loads of new music. I was just compiling my favourite tracks and not necessarily the obvious ones, not the big chart sellers. I was collecting stuff that I thought had been overlooked that I’ve been playing a lot over the last year. When I started putting it together I managed to create a really good flow and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
And you’ve made a few special edits and remixes of some of the tracks…
Yeah I did some exclusive stuff with this compilation. There are a few edit where I added drums and obviously changed some arrangements and kind of made the tracks my own. I do that a lot with a lot of tracks to make them suitable for my own sets. And I did an exclusive remix of Intruder’s ‘Amame’ on this compilation which I’m really happy about, as well as a re-edit of Jason Jinx ‘Your First Time’.
What else have you got planned for the start of 2013?
I’ll was recently in the studio with a singer/songwriter from the UK called Justin Robson. We’ve done a track together, I think the title will be ‘Breathe’. It’s not 100% finished yet but we are going to the studio together to record vocals. It’s been great working with him and I’m really happy with the record.
Noir plays Electric Brixton for Defected In The House this New Year’s Eve alongside Dennis Ferrer, Deetron, Copyright, Simon Dunmore and Sam Divine. Click here for tickets
