After years of churning out darkly danceable singles and remixes, Danish DJ and musician Anders Trentemøller released his first LP The Last Resort in 2006. Two years later he began touring with a live band and, after 2010′s stellar Into the Great Wide Yonder, his band will again sweep across North America throughout the month of October. In addition to the two albums, he boasts six full-length compilation and remix releases including the dance floor assault The Trentemøller Chronicles (2007), with another on the way shortly.
We caught up with Trentemøller by e-mail to discuss his current tour, creative approach to the “Trentemøller vibe,” the joys and challenges of performing with a full band, and his upcoming remix compilation. Don’t blame us if after this interview you feel compelled to buy a train ticket, or a theremin.
Looking ahead to your upcoming November release of Reworked/Remixed, I’m thrilled to see it includes your remix of “White Flash” by Modeselektor (featuring Thom Yorke). How does this upcoming two-disc compilation compare to and differ from other compilations you’ve released?
This time around, it’s a compilation of my remixes that have been reworked either by myself or another artist. I took this as an opportunity for me to put some of the best remixes I’ve done over the last two or three years on this double album, because some of these have only been released on vinyl or elsewhere and it was a way to put them all together in one place. There were some really cool remixes that people did of my last album as well, and it was a natural step for me to put those remixes on this same album. In the beginning it was only supposed to be one CD but I’ve realized my remixes are so long (seven or eight minutes usually) that it turned into two CDs.
Following 2010′s Into the Great Wide Yonder, an album rich in instrumentation, you’re currently touring with a full band. Can you speak to the differences in your approach to shows with a full band as opposed to your DJ sets?
It’s two very different things, because there are no other external dynamics when you’re DJing. Playing with a band there’s a whole social dynamic with the different musicians adding their own feedback or flavor to the music, but that also makes it a bit more fragile and open for chaos. I like that aspect of not being in control of things as opposed to when I DJ. DJing is a bit safer, but it’s also a challenge to try to get the crowd going as one person. I think playing with a band has so many more aspects to it that are fun to do so I really prefer playing with a live band most.
What similarities and differences do you find between your European and American audiences?
I actually don’t think that there are such big differences. Maybe it’s because my music is instrumental and music itself is a sort of global language, but I think people react fairly similar in both audiences. That being said though, one of our best festival gigs was definitely Coachella this year. People seemed very much into the music even if the crowd hadn’t heard us before. Maybe people are a little more open-minded in the ‘States. It seemed that way especially on this last tour. In Europe, many people still have a tendency to see me as a DJ and expect that from me, but people in the ‘States understand the live setup more and seem to be more prepared for and accepting of it.
During the month of October you’re crisscrossing the United States and Canada. Is there any particular part of North America you especially enjoy playing?
New York is always fantastic. I enjoyed San Francisco last tour as well, but everywhere I went was great so it’s really hard to point out one specific place.
I’ve noticed that I most enjoy listening to both Into the Great Wide Yonder and 2006′s The Last Resort in the car, specifically during longer drives on open highway where I can listen to the albums in their entirety while taking in large expanses of terrain and sky. Aside from seeing your shows live, what specific places would you recommend your fans listen to your music?
Long drives through the desert or maybe taking a train trip. There’s something special about taking a train and not having to drive yourself. I’ve always really loved traveling by train because I did that a lot when I lived outside of Copenhagen when I was younger. There’s nothing else to do but sit with your iPod and watch the landscape pass by out your window. That feels the best.
In your installment of the LateNightTales series, you conclude the mix with a spoken-word track “Lost for Words Part 1″ in which Paul Morley reads about a writer who, in the search for the creative zone, determines that “the best time of day was at night, just after 12, in a quiet place, away from others, when he sensed how words were like ghosts, and every word was a haunting…” In what particular time and place (or other conditions) are you most effectively able to create?
It sounds like a cliché, but it’s definitely midnight for me. There’s a quietness and the whole city sleeps so I really love that moment. For several years though I’ve been fighting the fact that my whole daily rhythm has changed. Especially when you’re playing every weekend and you wake up late the next day. Those hours fit well with making music, but the rest of the world doesn’t work like that, so too often I’m up late and other people are going on living their lives normally so it feels a bit odd after a while. I’ve been trying to get up earlier to make more music during the day, especially during the longer summer hours. I think it’s healthier for me.
When it comes to artists you remix, do you have any white whales? Anybody on your wish list you wish would approach you to do a remix, but you figure would be more of a holy grail?
Yes, remixing a band like Radiohead would be fantastic because their music is so special and has meant a lot to me over the years. It could also be fun to remix something classical -perhaps a cover of a classical track. It would be more difficult to do, but I’m always interested in remixing artists that are doing different things than I am. It’s not as fun to do a remix for someone that also makes electronic music because it’s already limited to being an electronic sound. It’s always a challenge to remix something that you’re not familiar with.
The video for your 2009 performance at the Roskilde Festival of “Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go!!!” is a visual marvel. How would you define the role of visuals within live electronic music performances, whether on a grand scale such as that performance or within the limitations of smaller venues?
The Roskilde show was a big one for us because we were playing the main stage and we played for two and a half hours, which is pretty long for a festival set. It was a mix of a DJ set and a live set, and we had Henrik Vibskov do all the stage design plus 30 performers and dancers. Obviously, we can’t tour with a massive lineup like that, but I find it’s even greater to play smaller venues because it’s more intimate and somewhat easier to build this cinematic vibe on a smaller level because it really depends on the room itself, especially when we are playing old theaters that have a beautiful and special vibe to them. It’s much easier to get that sort of “Trentemøller vibe” there. Sometimes it can be quite a challenge to do that on a big festival stage.
Speaking of that particular video, is there a cooler instrument out there than the theremin?
No! The theremin is such a visual instrument and it’s fascinating to see people play something so dramatically without ever touching it.
Even pop music is becoming increasingly electronic these days. To what extent do you feel that the gadgets of electronic music will one day overtake more traditional instruments in the layperson’s approach to music?
I don’t know if it will be about electronic music overtaking acoustic instruments as much as it is more about using the two together. Even if you’re listening to a Metallica album it’s recorded into a computer. All the editing isn’t cutting tapes anymore so you’re using a computer even on music that doesn’t seem like it’s made electronically. In this way it still incorporates people that actually play an instrument and I don’t think that will ever go away. I think it’s about using the computer as an instrument. There are still some really cool aspects of recording on tape, but overall I don’t think electronic music itself will overtake using organic instruments.
by Josh Goller
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