James Lavelle, the DJ, producer, Mo’ Wax record label boss and founder of musical outfit UNKLE, is back with the fourth official UNKLE album Where Did the Night Fall. With Pablo Clements (Psychonauts) as his new sideman, they go one a new route, using primarily live instrumentation and rock/psych pop as their sonic palette. I had a talk with him about this leap into new territory, on a sunny day in Hollywood.
URB: Why do you choose to use the UNKLE tag, since there’s always been a changing cast of group members.
JAMES LAVELLE: It’s not different from why would you keep on calling it Fleetwood Mac? Many bands come and go, but when it’s not started as a traditional band, then group members come and go. The main reason is because we created an identity, and to create an identity, you start a brand name which in these days are so important in order to sell a record. The name is bigger than the group members.
The UNKLE sound has always been centered around moody and psychedelic rock, ambient vibes and electronic influences, but what’s your vision behind the eclectic mix?
You get influenced by time and good temporary music, and you try to evolve, but there’s always a certain melancholy mixed with richness to the sound. And we like to work with those kinds of arrangements and structure so that it has continuity, but you’re also always going to try to move around things. You want to push yourself, but you also don’t want to put the past behind. Me and Pablo have a pretty wide pallet of musical influences, and digging for old records together inspirers us. When we first started we tended to sample from black American music, but as time moved on looking for alternative things to sample we look for unusual psychedelic records, punk-funk and kraut.
Since your music span over so many styles, do you consciously try to add some signature touches?
Yes, but it’s kinda hard to explain what it is. We put a quiet melancholic and orchestral element to our production, and it’s definitively an instinct.
Your new album sounds haunting. Is the story behind this album?
We definitely didn’t have a conceptualized idea behind the record; we just wanted an organic sound, with a heavy female influence. It was a band esthetic, and we worked with new up and coming and mostly unestablished artists. But we actually tried to make it more optimistic and uplifting
How has your music evolved on the new album compared to previous releases?
The technology is an influence; the ability to create that much easier and faster. I think we’re also technically better at what we do, and we have more of an understanding about what we’re trying to achieve. When you start you’re quite naïve. We also have a very productive relationship at the moment, and the fact that we’re independent and do it all ourselves, that has changed a great deal. It was always very competitive to work with Richard File and Dj Shadow, in many ways quite difficult, while the relationship I have with Pablo is much more balanced. I think that is because he has gone through a lot of his own life experience, so he’s not putting that into the band. But as far as for Rich and Shadow, for them it was more the opportunity to work on something and then move on to do their own thing. But that is not something Pablo is willing to do, we are pretty much committed to the long term. So hopefully this will not be only record we make together!
So how would you describe your new album?
It’s a more organic, uplifting, and optimistic and grove based record, and it’s a more psychedelic record. We still make records in the idea that you will listen to it as an album, but we also tried to make a record where the individual tracks stood up in their own way, and weren’t so conceptual. Because I think when you listen to the first 3 albums, there are tracks that definitely work within the context of the whole album, but there are songs that on their own that don’t hold up that well. While on the new album the tracks hold up on their own as well as a whole. Because at the end of the day people are now listening to music on their phones and ipods and just downloading tracks and shuffle.
You always seem to get mixed reviews; how are your expectations on this release?
I suppose it gets people talking..
Ever thought of returning to sound of early Mo’ Wax?
No, that was 20 years ago, and important and relevant at that time. But I would love to make a hip hop record, and I would apply 20 years of knowledge to it, and not make it sound from a certain period. You’ve had all of these years to grow, and tons of music influence, so you’ve gotta move forward and not back.
What inspire you now; art – music – literature?
All of the above, but I tend to be very visual led, so film is something that is really influential to me. The last film that I saw that really blew my mind was a French film called A Prophet; and amazing independent film that came out last year. As far as literature, I really like random factual stuff, and research for music videos and inspiration for live shows.
Ton of typos. Wassup my favorite Urb-ness?
Great new record. You’re gonna want to check out the new UNKLE site too, done by us, The Uprising Creative. Just sayin.