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Do you wanna funk? Lee Curtiss sure as heck does. Over the past two years, the Detroit house/techno producer has been responsible for injecting some primal funk and sensuous soul back into 4/4 beats at a time when we needed them most – washing away the robotic stiffness of mnml and soulless machine techno.
Releasing on tastemaking underground labels like Spectral Sound, Wolf & Lamb and Dumb-Unit, Curtiss’ languorous, low-down and lights-out sound has attracted plaudits from the underground house and techno elite with the coital breathes and lithe synths of last year’s ‘Smoking Mirrors’ going down as one of the tracks of 2009; a trick Curtiss looks to have repeated this summer with his epic, emotional tribute to the legendary Arthur Russell – ‘I Can Hear You Arthur’.
As we roll out Curtiss’ slick set from this year’s Bloc, we chat to the Detroit producer about conquering Ibiza, naked girls in swimming pools and the expansive Visionquest project with Seth Troxler and Ryan Crosson.
Describe the summer that was in five words…
Wow… we sure showed them.
Your current track ‘I Hear You Arthur’ feels like something a bit different to what we’ve had from you recently. What was your inspiration with the track? Did you have any particularly direction in mind when you started the track?
All of my music sounds different than the last record. I’ve never been one to feel comfortable sticking to the same sound. For me house and techno already sound similar enough from track to track that I am always trying to push boundaries and take it a bit further.
I started with the vocal shots and the beat then worked for quite a long time on the synth to get it right. Once I had that locked down, I was able to write the bassline on my bass guitar. I’m over the moon with how it came out but didn’t intend for it to be so emotional when I started it.
So many different labels seem to get thrown about to describe your sets and productions. How would you sum up your sound in your own words?
The best way for me to describe my production and sets is to imagine yourself in a swanky Vegas hotel, waiting for the elevator and when the doors finally open, you find Paul Simon taking Grace Jones from behind.
The Visionquest project… how did that all come about? And what’s the name all about?
It came about when Seth [Troxler] was living with me in Detroit and Ryan [Crosson] was living up the street. We would be holed up in my basement doing ‘research’ for three days in a row at times, which basically consisted of doing loads of acid and listening to all the records we were really inspired by back then. This is where we all learned the most from each other both production and DJ-wise and where the first ideas of starting the label/group came from.
The name is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a reference to the mental journeys we took which were necessary to get where we are and the further journeys that we intend to take to get to where we want to go.
Do you guys see it developing into an album project or are you just seeing how it goes for now?
I hope we can get enough time with the four of us in the studio in the next six months to get to work on an album but it will be tricky with our hectic performance schedules. I have already started work on some music that we can later work on as a group that could go toward an album.
What is the maddest thing that has happened to you this year?
I think it may be when Ryan and I were lost in Ibiza trying to walk to a restaurant from our villa. I had cut my finger badly on a huge aloe vera plant and it wasn’t looking good.
Then a car slams on it’s brakes and a guy gets out and says, “hey, you’re Ryan and Lee, what the fuck are you doing walking around way out here?” It ended up being one of the drivers from Space where we had both played just a few weeks prior. He took us to the villa where he was staying, cleaned my hand, gave us both ice cream and there were these two naked girls swimming in his pool. We ate our ice cream, waved goodbye to the girls and he drove us to the restaurant. All I could think at the time was, “God damn I love Ibiza!”
Finally, what have you got coming up for the rest of the year?
Well, I’ve been on tour in between the UK, Berlin and Ibiza since June. I am currently on tour in Australia and will return for one weekend of dates in Europe and then onto the DC10 closing party.
I am really looking forward to returning to my studio and my home in Detroit. I have a lot of US dates but will have some space in between some of them to relax, see family, make music and get my BBQ going before the snow flies.
- Lee Curtiss was playing squash with Allan McGrath
