SmartShanghai | Interview: LON

Interview: LON

By Morgan Short, May 27th, 2011 | In Nightlife

One of the most unmistakable voices in Shanghai’s small community of electronica musicians in the last few years has been French electronic composer/musician, LON, whose live sets never fail to find the agro in the ambient. Drawing on a wide range of electronica influences and his own background in trip hop and rawk, LON’s live performances are predicated in the drive to distort and demolish tempo, layer ear-wax rattling bass with cutting synths and pads, and swath the whole thing in noise, noise, noise -- both of the shattered glass variety as well as more eerily personal subtle sounds.

Seems like an ebb and flow sort of thing.

And he’s leaving Shanghai. Tonight is the last time to see him play. He’s with the ROM crew down at The Pan!c Room. You should go. Details are right here.

Despite the frequency of his shows in his three-year stint in Shanghai, there’s still a bit of anonymity to LON, and there’s not much out there on the internet in terms of links and sound samples. So do it the old fashion way. If you haven’t seen it, just go and see for yourself without expectations.

SmartShanghai talked to LON after his last DJ set in Shanghai at The Shelter last night. We talked about doing music in this city, a bunch about his live sets, and what next for him as he enters life after Shanghai.

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SmSh: So you just finished your last DJ set in Shanghai. Did you approach it any differently because it was the last one? Did you try to put together something specific for the occasion?

LON: Basically, today… well, it’s been like two or three weeks, I’ve not being playing at all. I’ve been playing a lot, this year and last year, and I got to that point where I needed a break. My last gigs were like for the festivals. And those were live sets, which are different. So yeah, I haven’t been DJing for a while.

So today I just went through everything -- the new music I just got -- “yeah this is fuckin nice” – and I dropped it in the software and I’m really happy with it. It’s very much what I want to do. And it’s because I took a break, everything is more efficient and clear.

SmSh: When you're putting a set together are you thinking about a start-to-finish cohesive show or is it more random and dependent on what people seem to be liking on the dance floor?

LON: Most of the time it’s a feeling or an idea. And then I choose the songs depending on the different parameters. So it follows a vibe in the head. But there is no real rules. It’s just what matches with what. Tonight, from the beginning to the end, it was a noise aspect.

SmSh: Yeah, at the end it was digital hardcore sounding…

LON: Yeah, at the end it was hardcore, breakcore. I just wanted to play the song with the Beijing opera samples [laughs], you know that one? Really cool. But yeah, at the end it was dancing for fun, and at the beginning it was really personal. Like electronic ambient but noise, getting to dubstep noise and hard, and then down a bit to dubstep ambient and that drum n bass part.

SmSh: Noise and broken tempos -- shifting time signatures -- seem a pretty big aspect of your DJ and live sets -- music that’s pretty difficult to dance too and breaks the flow. Are you thinking about crowd reactions and playing music for people to dance to or do you not care?

LON: Honestly, I used to think that way -- trying to adapt to what the people wanted to dance to, but now I don’t care. Actually, the more I try to play to what people want, the less confident I feel in myself, and actually the crowd feels it. Although the music is easier for the crowd, it’s harder for everyone because if they see I don’t feel it, they don’t get into it either. But if I play something really weird and really crazy, and I feel it, people are gonna catch that thing.

So even if the music is not accessible, a few people can get into it and at the end, that’s the experience you want.

Like the experience I had in Lounge18 -- I played there for one year and a half -- playing cool stuff actually, some Ninja Tune… sort of lounge. Actually, people were complaining because it’s not house or sexy lounge or whatever. Actually, the crowd kind of annoyed me -- “play this, play that”. So I decided to just play for myself.

SmSh: Maybe you could give a little background on what you’ve been up to then in your years living and playing in Shanghai.

LON: I got here in 2008, and I met the guy from Lounge18 and they asked me to be a resident DJ for three days a week. Got my visa, and the pay was quite nice. It was an experience actually, because before that I was playing in bands and stuff. Not really DJing. Just making music…

SmSh: What sorts of bands were you in? You were playing bass right?

LON: Yeah, I was in this band called Deviation in France. Music was like rock, trip hop, electronic, but original stuff. We had a DJ, keyboard, two guitars, drums -- we were like six in the band. It was very good stuff.

But I’ve been super lucky in Shanghai, I’ve met lots of people right away. And I just check on the internet what clubs I would like and I see The Shelter. And I came here for the first time on a Sunday night, and Reggie [R3] was here rehearsing and he was playing Radiohead and Aphex Twin, so I was like… “this is alright”. So I talked to him and I was playing right after that.

SmSh: How have you tastes changed over the years of living in Shanghai? Has living here influences your stuff?

LON: Actually it’s the people you meet. I’ve been influenced by Gaz [Drunk Monk] -- not the reggae stuff, I hate reggae, [laughs] but the other stuff. We connect on certain things. Same thing with Reggie. We can connect on some stuff and he understands what I play. And I’ve been influenced by the “dancing” scene, you know. Before I didn’t really give a shit, you know. All my old stuff was really ambient -- music for film, you know -- but I’ve changed a bit. Still don’t care about dancing too much, more music for listening…

SmSh: Maybe you could talk about your live sets. When did you start?

LON: Yeah, this has changed a lot. I started in France with a friend, just using hardware -- no computers. We were playing with samplers, just as an extension of the rock band actually. But my friend had more of an experience in raves and hardcore techno background. And me I had more of a band background, so I was bringing some melodies and he was bringing harder drums sounds.

SmSh: How would you describe the overall sound of the live set. If you had to describe it to someone who had never heard it before?

LON: Well, it kind of depends. It’s pretty contextual. But lots of reverb. Ambient but rhythmic. And lots of noise aspects. From genres – hip hop, drum n bass, break, dubstep. For the general genres… but I try to not think of different genres. Even tempo, I try not to stick to a tempo…

SmSh: What set up to you use to perform?

LON: Well, it’s changing. I used to play with a KORG Electribe and a computer, and that was pretty much it. But then I got pissed off about the KORG effects, sold it, and then concentrated a lot more on software -- Reaktor 5 is my thing. I learned a lot about it to handle my instruments, through that. But yeah, in two weeks I’m buying a new sampler -- very efficient, and I have a micro modular, and I’m going to start using it a lot. But yeah, right now, I’m going to have a synthesizer, live sampler/ groove box, micro modular, and two computers.

SmSh: Two computers?

LON: Yeah, I’m getting greedy, but I’ve realized that if you want to have quality electronic music in a live performance you need to have the shit, you know. You have to have quality; you can’t just have Ableton, that’s bullshit. And I’m thinking that I want to buy even more hardware.

SmSh: What’s running on the two computers?

LON: Well, both are running Reaktor, but one of them is dedicated to the samples and channels and one of them is the mastering -- very important to give some balls to your shit. But running a computer with both instrument and processing, it’s too much. So that’s why I want two computers.

SmSh: How much improvisation is there in your live sets? Is it planned out or are you shifting elements on the fly?

LON: It’s probably about 70% improvisation. Basically I just prepare some patterns – not songs at all, just patterns – but I press a key to launch and then other keys to launch, then record this, and modulate it live. And then bring more on top of that.

There is stuff already composed, but nothing that I can’t act on and re-arrange. Nothing like a .WAV loop or anything like that. So I can play the same set-up but it will never be the same. But yeah, it’s the same as playing live in a band – sometimes you play that note or sometimes you play something else, depending on how you feel.

SmSh: So seeing as you’re leaving, looking back what were your favorite places to play in Shanghai?

LON: Shelter definitely. LOgO, but then I got pissed off about the sound. The sound was making my computer go crazy… can hurt your equipment and shit. But honestly, the best place to play is Shelter, Yuyintang… that’s it. I guess Mao Livehouse is fun because it’s fun to play on a big stage.

SmSh: What were your favorite shows to play?

LON: Yeah, there are a few shows in Shelter that was the right amount of good crowd and pleasing myself playing some really crazy music. I don’t know. I did a tour with Laurent [LLND] and that was really fun. He got me to play in aspects that I haven’t before. That guy influenced me a lot because he really knows his shit. He has the idea – the concept of electronic music, not just putting some beats together but getting into it and distorting it… Also, one act I really liked was playing with Downstate together, opening for The Field. I like to play with someone else when playing live… I really appreciated that one.

SmSh: What’s next for LON?

LON: Taking a break. Going to Vietnam. Actually, going to focus on a stage act -- more than a club act. I come from a band and miss the stage and the lighting -- the preciseness of it. The sound. Basically just to focus on something very tight. So far I’ve been in a hurry to prepare stuff, but I want to work on something more composed. Something that I can play all the time, that sounds really good. Send demos and stick to it.

But yeah… stand on the beach with my guitar [laughs]. With my sampler. Take some time for myself. Get some rest, you know. From the Shanghai every night out. Take some sun. Swim. Get my body together, get my brain together…

…yeah, take my time, you know.

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Don’t miss LON with ROM tonight at The Panic Room.

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