“We still feel a
chapter in the history of not only one of Scotland’s his Detroit buddies; and ‘Hurt People Hurt People’ and
most exciting and challenging dance acts, but of ‘Midnite Man’ are vibrant dancefloor voyages.
real compulsion
Britain and beyond. There’s the manipulated found sounds of ‘Call Of The
“Despite yesterday certainly feeling like ten years,” Dub’, where Warp-like textures meet the dark oeuvre
to get a groove
jokes Graeme, referring to their DJ set in Venice the of Sabres of Paradise; the moody, angular throb of
day before that, “we actually feel as though we’ve ‘The Pulse’ is appropriately titled; while ‘Seasons Of
on and create
been given a new lease of life.” Weird’ goes into deliberately assured, slo-mo, sexy
“There’s so much music out there at the moment that territory.
some vibes.”
we love,” continues Craig. “We’ve got new ways of As a whole, the album is fluid, hypnotic and character-
working, not least because of my move out here, and ised by an inquisitive restlessness that envelops most
everything feels as though it’s coming together. A electronic/house/techno albums worthy of your time.
graeme reedie variety of factors have blossomed for us.”
“Absolutely,” agrees Graeme. “We still feel a real com-
pulsion to get a groove on and create some vibes.” Sonic Wanderlust
According to Graeme, this admirable sonic wanderlust
does not just appear by accident, it’s something the
Evolution pair have worked on in an effort to give their music
Getting a groove on and creating vibes: as descrip- a distinctive edge. As he testifies, creating music
tions go, it’s a pretty handy summation of Silicone with identity, especially in dance music where the
Soul’s career to date. Having formed from the ashes proliferation of technology hasn’t actually expanded
of their first band Dead City Radio (Craig and Graeme the sonic palette in many cases but compressed it, is
both openly admit to having had something of a pretty difficult.
heavy teenage crush on Primal Scream), Silicone “You have to work harder to sound different these
Soul have evolved into one of the most innovative days because of the technology available,” he rallies.
electronic acts of recent times. “It’s always been the case that technology pushes the
They might have first caught the ears of dancefloors music — there’s no rock & roll without the electric
the world over with their majestic Curtis Mayfield- guitar, no Jean Michel Jarre without the synthesiser.
sampling ‘Right On 4 Tha Darkness’ — thus proving And I think dance music is one of the places where this
their house credentials in one fell swoop and which, is most evident.
spookily enough, was released 10 years ago to the “For a few years, when the disco sound was strong,
week of DJmag’s trip to Les Ilhes — but across their that was probably the most successful way to get into
three albums to date (‘A Soul Thing’ from 2000, 2005’s dance music. You know, buy a sampler and sample
‘Staring Into Space’ and ‘Save Our Souls’ the following some disco stuff, sample some beats and start putting
year), they have demonstrated an unerring versatil- it together. At the moment the most accessible way to
ity across techno, disco, electronica and everything get into it is to buy one of these sequencing pro-
between. grammes with a bunch of synths, so the music is really
synthy at the moment.”
Their new set, ‘Silicone Soul’ — out 22nd June on
Soma — is no different. Effortlessly repudiating the So how do Silicone Soul inject personality and dif-
still-unbelievably-held belief in some quarters that ference into their music? For starters, both point to
house music doesn’t lend it yourself to the album for- their lack of formal music training as something that
mat, it makes for astonishing listening; its manifold propels their sound — they couldn’t, they candidly
charms constantly revealing themselves on every new admit, knock off a minimal track, for instance. Un-
listen. Incredibly, 10 years on, it could be their most surprisingly, Graeme has a theory about how and why
club-orientated album to date. Silicone Soul sound like they do.
“These things are cyclical,” explains Graeme, the more “I believe that the music you make is triangulated by
loquacious of the two. “You go as far as you can in your imagination and your taste, so, what you think
one direction and then you swing back to the other about putting in a track; what you want to hear and
extreme. In the past we moved away from the club and then your abilities and skills to make that happen. And
into more improvisational areas, but this time round there, in the middle, is what you sound like.”
we’ve gone the other way.
“We’ve always listened to club music for pleasure Unlike a lot of dance music, which exists purely as
anyway,” says Graeme. “We were listening to it before a functional tool, Silicone Soul’s dazzling array of
we were old enough to get into clubs. We used to lis- sounds are also typified by some sort of external
ten to the mixes Slam did on a pirate radio station in meaning. ‘Koko’s Song’, for instance, is a heartfelt
running at an idyllic pace and at regular intervals this Glasgow and love them. This was the time when Sasha dedication to a Bulgarian fan that died suddenly on
beatific calm is punctuated by the reassuring sound and Slam and all those guys were actually quite close a building site last year. The seeds of the track were
of bells from the village church. All in all, good times, in what they were playing; things hadn’t fragmented. already in place but when they discovered that this
as hirsute tubby ‘funnyman’ Justin Lee Collins would You could play Leftfield, Underworld and Hardfloor all young man, who they had met and partied with on a
have it. in the same set. Plus Strictly Rhythm stuff, Wild Pitch number of occasions, had passed away it compelled
and vocal house.” them to finish the track.
However, the real reason for the pair’s sanguine Meanwhile, last track ‘Dogs Of Les Ilhes’ is a playful
attitude — as if the aforementioned factors weren’t While vocal house is conspicuous by its absence, the nod and a wink to Craig’s new home, with its samples
enough — is the imminent release of their mesmeric album is certainly layered and jam-packed full of of the local dogs and the church bells. Indeed later
self-titled fourth album. Marking the tenth anniver- surprising twists and turns. Opener ‘Koko’s Song’ is el- that night Lucy will explain how she woke up one
sary of Silicone Soul, a name that aptly encapsulates egiac electronic blues; ‘Dust Ballad II’ and ‘Language morning to find Craig in his dressing gown at the bot-
the marriage of the synthetic and the sincere at the Of The Soul’ are dynamic explorations of the lush, tom of their garden trying to record these sounds that
heart of their music, the album heralds a brave new deep techno pioneered by the likes of Carl Craig and colour their new surroundings.
www.djmag.com
079
DJ474.silicone_soul.indd 79 14/5/09 11:32:04
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