We’ve lost count of the amount of times we’ve heard people whinging about Irish closing times, or the lack of good night clubs, or any one of several other gripes about how shit this city is to go out in. One man who opposes this moaning is Danilo Plessow aka Motor City Drum Ensemble. “Any time I’ve played in Dublin I’ve really, really enjoyed it. One Sunday in the Bernard Shaw was one of my favourite gigs ever.” From a man who spends his weekends dropping in to nightclubs in every corner of the world, that’s no faint praise. Despite his upbringing in Germany’s motor city, Stuttgart, Plessow became infatuated with the soulful sounds of Detroit from an early age. An obsession that’s clearly manifest in his house tracks. Coming to prominence with 2008’s Rawcuts, MCDE’s deep, analogue style has led many to see him as the absentee torchbearer for Detroit house. We got him on the blower before his upcoming gig in the Twisted Pepper and chatted Mo-town, Jayson Brothers, and the surprise package that is Mallorca.
You’re from Stuttgart, how much, if at all, did you’re hometown influence you musically?
Well as you said, musically it’s not the center of the world, but I find it inspiring because I’m travelling every weekend and when I come back here, it’s a very green and relaxing city. Even walking in the park can be inspiring. We do have a really good scene, we do have really good record stores, really good DJs, Soulphiction is from here, the whole Philpot posse. I have a crew and we do parties, so its not like there’s nothing happening at all, but its definitely no Berlin.
Detroit has obviously had a big influence on your music, how or why did that fascination arise? Why did the music from that city, stand out as something you’d want to reinterpret in your own productions?
I think it started really early, even before I knew about house or techno. I was all about Marvin Gaye, Stevie wonder, Motown because of a record store in my hometown. The guy running it didn’t have any clue about black music, so he was selling all these Motown and Jazz records for really low prices, and that music really fascinated me. The first electronic record from Detroit I hear was Moodymann – silent introduction and I could see the link in the harmonies and just the style of it, and from then on I was hooked and started collecting. Not just electronic stuff, but also stuff like strata records and Tribe records which are both Detroit labels.
For you production came before Djing, but you were obviously already collecting records long before that.
The records were more for samples and inspiration, and then it turned in to Djing six or seven years later.
Did you start Djing almost out of necessity, because you were being booked for gigs on the back of your productions?
Not really a necessity, it was more because in the town I grew up in there was no nightclubs or DJ culture at all so I didn’t really know about it, but I did read magazines and stuff but didn’t see why DJing should be as fascinating as making music when I was young you know? But then when I had my first record out on a Stuttgart label when I was 16, I actually went out and saw what an influence a DJ can have and how you can make new music by mixing two tracks. And from that moment on I also wanted to play records for audiences you know? And I was lucky that, because I had a record out I could travel a little bit.
When you’re travelling, do get any time to experience the city you’re playing in, or is just Airplane – nightclub – hotel -airplane – and so on?
Of course if your just staying in a city for a party on one night then there’s not much you can see. However, when you’ve been booked by someone, to come and play at their party, you can assume that they are like minded to you, and that they care about the same things you do. Whether it’s graphic design or street art, if they want to bring you somewhere you go. It’s so much better than just being a tourist and only seeing the big landmarks or whatever. I also love, if I have time, to just walk the streets on my own.
Do you find some city’s crowds easier to connect with than others?
Yes, but I mean a lot of it comes down to size of the city. If you have a specific interest in any kind of art, not just music, you can find the more specific or nerdy stuff in the more urban cities. A lot comes down to size: you might have 300 people in London who bought my record but only 5 in Leeds. You know what I mean? At the same time, know matter what size I’m always meeting great people in every place I go, people I can connect with. It’s really rare that you go somewhere and they see you almost as an alien.
Are there any cities that surprised you? Somewhere you weren’t maybe too sure about, that exceeded your expectations.
Let me think…There’s obviously places like Tokyo where you, well I could talk for about two hours about Tokyo. Everything there is a surprise. But unexpected…the first time I played in Mallorca, because you think “oh this is a boring, tacky German tourist place but then I played at Café Garrido with a friend of mine, It was such an amazing party, and not something I expected in such a touristy area.
Have you attempted a live set? Is that something that could be in the pipeline for the future?
I’d like to work on it, and its something I really want to do, but I don’t want it to be just an Ableton live performance, I want to do something more special than that. At the moment as well I feel perfectly content just playing records. Maybe if I make an album, it would be nice to be able to perform it live. It’s a question of time as well.
What’s the story behind the Jayson Brothers project? I’ve heard that it’s just another moniker you have but I’ve also heard you are just lending your arrangement skills to the project. Can you clarify?
It was just a rumour I spread because I like to trick people some times. I liked the attitude in the nineties where a lot of acts would have a different artist name for every single. It’s all just for fun. There might be some more stuff like this, lets see….
I think releasing under a new, made up moniker like that can be a good thing because it removes the song from any context or preconception. A lot of people will have an idea in their head what an MCDE track sounds like and judge based on that. Do you agree with that at all?
I don’t feel the need to meet expectations, I do what I do and try not to let expectations interfere with it. If you do something like the Jayson Brothers, you know that its only the real ‘ heads’ who know, or appreciate it.
You’ve done remixes for some excellent artists Tom Trago, DJ Sprinkles, Toby Tobias and others. How important is it for you to maintain a balance between the original track and you’re reinterpretation? Some artists seem to just lazily throw a kick drum in to the original, while others come up with a completely unrecognisable version.
Of course you want to sound distinctive. I do a lot of remixes, so if you just have a formula it would get very boring very quickly.
Do you think it’s important to keep some reference to the original?
Yes of course, for me the best is if you have to struggle a bit recognising the original but when you listen closely it’s there. For me the best example is when you don’t use any of the original elements of the track but you just use the harmonies. When you do a remix you get wav files and midi files, what I like is to just take the midi files and play with the original them but not any of the original samples. That’s what I did with the Tom Trago thing, and a little bit with Sprinkles.
I’ve read that you’re an avid Vinyl collector, really focusing on older stuff. What modern artist’s records do you keep any eye out for?
There are some consistent artists and labels, and then sometimes I’m really surprised by an artist I’ve never heard of and sometimes it turns out to be the only record. Rush hour is doing a lot of reissues and a lot of new stuff I really, really like. The whole connection around Levon Vincent, DJ Qu, and Fred P they’re all doing amazing stuff.
Those guys are great, but before them and maybe outside them New York’s been going through a bit of a barren period house-wise?
Yeah, I agree, but funnily enough I had one of my best nights playing house there a few weeks ago. It was a big crowd and they were really feeling it, but in general you’re right. It’s there but you have to look for it. I think some of the American crowds you can get away with dropping a slow record, or something that isn’t like the style you’re playing and it’s accepted. In Europe there is more pressure to stick to house or techno or whatever you’re playing. It’s harder to just drop a Jame browns record or something.
In Ireland, with our terrible closing hours I think there is that tendency for people to just lash it out. You only have a 2 or 3 hour window so I think it really hinders the type of music DJs can play. If someone plays a slower record, it’s straight to the smoking area.
That’s true, but anytime I’ve played in Ireland I’ve had a really, really fun time and really enjoyed playing. One of my best gigs was at the Bernard Shaw in Dublin, on Sunday from 8 to 12. It’s a strange time slot but I really liked it.
I know that you experimented with broken beat production in the past, Do you still occasionally stray from house when you’re producing music now? Even if it’s just for yourself and never meant to see the light of day? What other genre’s excite you?
At the moment it’s very hard for me to find time because I’m moving cities and I have a long distance relationship so the time is really, really limited for me to work on any music at all. I’m moving my studio and getting some of my equipment fixed. When all of this has settled down I want to start working on, not necessarily broken beat stuff or MCDE stuff, but other projects. I’ve just done a track for Ben Westbeechs’s new album.
He plays the Twisted Pepper September 25th
Words: Paddy O’Mahoney
