RS: Nice reference to your single "back in the day," by they
way. In a similar way, back in the day, an Information Society record
would show up on an R&B radio station or get urban radio play, but
that would probably never happen today. Do you think that's also
related to the racial way that Latinos embrace freestyle, so in order
to be freestyle you have to be Latin, in order to be urban you have to
be African-American – do you think there's the same kind of thing at
play there?
Paul Robb (of Information Society): That could be, but I don't think it's the fault of the
listeners. I think that's more a fault of marketers and the radio
stations and strategists. But you're right. I can remember 'back in
the day,' we'd go to clubs and they'd play freestyle music, they'd
play house music, they'd play electronic music from the UK, and
hip-hop, all in the same club, all in the same night, within an hour
of each other. And those crowds mixed and mingled and that was what
was so golden about clubs, especially in New York and Miami in those
days, and you just don't see that anymore. And it's too bad, because I
think that the different genres have a lot to learn from each other,
they would be a lot less sterile. Up until about two years ago, man, I
loved hip-hop. I always thought it was the most radical
forward-thinking form of pop music, but it has become so cliché now
that I've completely lost interest. I think the same thing happened to
freestyle. But you're right, you don't hear music mixed up like that
anymore and it's a shame.
RS: That same point you just made about hearing different kinds
of music in one night, even in an electronic world you go in your
house night or a trance night or a breaks night. You really don't get
everything mixed together, DJs are so focused in one genre.
Paul Robb: No, and that's one of the problems that comes from the
DJs becoming the stars, is that there's such a one-upmanship kind of
vibe in the DJ world. If you go to Beatport or other kind of
DJ-orientated places – the genres are so micro-miniaturized, it's
almost like a joke to me. And you click on a song that says 'minimal
techno' and, and then you click on a song that says 'electro house,'
and it's exactly the same damn track, you know what I mean? How many
variations can you have when there's only a kick drum and one
synthesizer and a high-hat? But it's important to these DJs to say, 'I
only play breaks' or 'I only play jungle' or 'I only play minimal
techno,' but 'that electro stuff, that's crap.' It's very silly.
That's what happens to people in their twenties, when they're not
properly regulated.
RS: Nice, nice. OK, let's talk some more about this album.
Paul Robb: Well, you know, I played a couple of DJ sets recently and
I mixed it way up and people really liked it. I'm not playing at three
in the morning so it's absolutely critical for me to keep people on
the floor. People like mixtures of music, and they're surprised in a
good way when you pull something that they haven't heard in five years
and they go, 'Oh yes, that was a great song.'
RS: So is "I Love It When" the lead-off single from the project,
or do you have a lead-off single?
Paul Robb: Well I'm not sure if they're really marketing a single
per se. We're not putting out a single on a CD or anything like that.
I know that the dance, they have a club promoter working on it, but I
think that she's sending out a couple of tracks to all the club jocks.
RS: Let's talk about those. There's Baby Just Wants, there's two
mixes of Back In The Day, I Like The Way You Work It, and then, I Love
It When.
Paul Robb: Back In The Day I think was the obvious because it sounds
like Information Society, it sounds a lot like an Information Society
song. But that also can be a bad thing, too, because there are some
people who (say), 'we don't want to hear music that sounds like it was
made twenty years ago.' So that's why we've put some of the
newer-sounding tracks in there as well. But it's funny, the feedback
is running about fifty/fifty between people saying 'you've changed
your sound too much,' and then people saying, 'it sounds too much like
your old sound.' So I know that we're probably right about where we
should be in terms of styles.
RS: Very cool. So what's in your iPod or mp3 player right now?
Paul Robb: Well believe it or not, I have a fondness for CDs.
Because I have so many damn computers I cannot keep iTunes and mp3s
organized. I have so many, and then the files get lost and the
computers crash, and I have so many computers authorized on iTunes. I
can't even play mp3s on my main studio computer because I've
authorized too many computers and it says I'm not allowed to play them
anymore. So I play a lot of CDs. I've got, in my hand now, I've got
Blaq Audio, which I think is cool, although I would point out that if
Information Society put out a record that sounded like this, we
couldn't get arrested with it, but because it's these guys, it's a big
deal. Because they're eighteen or whatever. I've got Simian Mobile
Disco, which is cool. I've got Digitalism, I've got Justice, I've got
a group called Lumvip that's really cool, and that's the ones that are
sitting right in front of me. I like Spank Rock too. LCD
Soundsystem is probably my favorite record of the moment – just
because he's also old enough to remember when genres actually were
allowed to get mixed, and you can hear it in that record that he's
playing dance music, but it's not just club music. There are rock
elements in there, and he actually sings and it's a great record.
RS: What do you want to say to all your fans out there?
Paul Robb: We want to tell them to buy the new record and check it
out. And if we ever come to their town they should come see us in
concert. Because we're back doing shows and we're back recording and
we're having a great time. It's something that we're not taking as
seriously as we once did, so we're able to have a lot more fun with it
now, and hopefully that comes through in the record. And, you know,
it's a fun thing to listen to as well.
