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MSTRKRFT: Fuzz Gun :: Their name is impossible to remember, but MSTRKRFT's dirty dance tracks linger like a hook-up who won't go home

By Andrew Parks   Photography by Chris Woods

02/13/08 :: URB 136

The noise is more than deafening: it’s god-awful, the sonic equivalent of Edward Scissorhands scratching a chalkboard or alley cats hate-fucking in the middle of mating season.

“Sorry about that,” says MSTRKRFT producer Jesse F. Keeler, as he yanks down the volume bar on his mixer like a pilot changing altitudes. “My day literally consists of waking up, lifting weights and DJing. I’ll mix until I start getting silly, like I just put DJ Godfather and Sonic Youth together and played our remix of Juliette Lewis backwards. Well, it worked for Daft Punk’s ‘Da Funk,’ right?”

Indeed it did. And the reference point suits him, since Keeler and production partner AL-P stitch the sort of tracks that get dropped by disco-punk DJs between Homework era Daft Punk, Bloc Party remixes and anything James Murphy affiliated. The cowbell, handclap and disco throb similarities between MSTKRFT and Murphy’s DFA label are grossly ironic. The latter threatened to sue Keeler’s noise ‘n’ roll band (also DFA or Death From Above) if they didn’t change their name. Keeler’s DFA responded by tacking 1979 on the end and posting the following on their former Web site: “James Murphy is a selfish piece of fuck that will burn in the flames of a specially dedicated rock and roll jihad. If I had the resources I would fly a plane into his skull.”)

But naked agression aside, erase the “here comes two more ironic, handlebar mustache motherfuckers who know nothing about dance music” scowles from your face. Keeler and AL-P were actually weaned on the fruitful, culturally diverse music scene of Toronto. Both started DJing hip-hop in their early teens and transitioned into house and jungle as the rave scene exploded. Keeler says his cousin was a major influence back then, handing him tapes of live mixes from parties every weekend.

“Before I knew it, I was DJing Larry Levan remixes and François K remixes of Larry Levan,” says Keeler. “I was suddenly like, ‘Oh shit, I love house music!’ Rap music is now like a girl I dated for years until it got stale and now we’re just friends.”

AL-P, on the other hand, made a major name for himself in the ‘90s as one of Toronto’s top hip-hop engineers. At one point, he relocated to a rough area of Brooklyn to work on tracks for Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, Wyclef Jean and Styles P. (Remember “Good Times [I Get High]?”). When he too got bored with hip-hop at the end of 2001, AL-P moved back to Toronto and hooked up with Keeler to produce DFA 1979’s debut You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine and bond over a love of house and “smooth-but-not-cool stuff like Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers.”

Other commitments prevented the master plan of MSTRKRFT from starting for a few years, though. When things finally fell together in 2005 (a banging disco-punk remix of Panthers’ “Thank Me With Your Hands”), the offers started flooding in from across the sound spectrum (Metric, Bloc Party, Buck 65, Wolfmother, The Kills). Vice, for one, went from initially refusing the Panthers remix to commissioning a rave-up treatment of Annie, as well as an entire DFA 1979 remix record with two MSTRKRFT cuts and one by AL-P, under the pseudonym Marczech Makuziak.

“We used the shit out of that Panthers remix,” says Vice’s label manager, Adam Shore. “Until dance music comes around again, techno and house are an anathema to most music fans, but dance-oriented rock music is still huge and they nail it.”

If there’s any formula to a MSTRKRFT remix, it’s giving every track a complete shot in the arm. The duo rarely uses samples, preferring to build from the a cappella up and playing mostly live instruments on top. Their Metric remix of “Monster Hospital,” for example, pushes the hidden hook of the original (“I fought the war/I fought the war/But the war won’t . . . stop!”) right up front amid handclaps and stomping synths. As a result, a so-so song becomes a barreling fire-on-the-dancefloor jam.

“The rock labels really see the economic merit of doing remixes,” says Keeler. “It’s a cheap, ‘cool’ promotional tool for them.”

Lucky for MSTRKRFT, labels also showed interest in their original material. After fielding several offers, the duo opted for Toronto’s Last Gang Records, the stable of Metric and Tiga. Meanwhile, they also built their own studio in Toronto last summer so they could streamline production and remix work at home. Their first client? The Bloody Mannequins, a local group that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age with a female singer. Interestingly enough, Keeler left soon after to tour with DFA 1979 alongside Nine Inch Nails and . . . Queens of the Stone Age.

So work on the MSTRKRFT album didn’t begin until November nor end until March. Tracks came together quickly, though — a glitter ball of clanging cowbells, a disco beat and on lead single “Easy Love,” the recognizable vocoder hook “Whenever you want me/Need me/Want Me/Need me” sticking like gum under a study-hall desk. Eight extended dance songs made the final mix, including a nod to Rick James (“Body Work”), a synths-as-guitars stadium anthem (“Paris”), and Keeler’s personal favorite, “Neon Nights.”

I can’t wait to play that out,” says Keeler. “Sometimes I want to push a DJ out of the booth just so I can hear it mixed in.”

That’s the thing about MSTRKRFT: They’re not making music for the hipsters who (heart) DFA 1979 as much as for other DJs. That’s one of the reasons they plan on pressing The Looks LP on double vinyl at 45 RPM- — so that even beginners can appreciate the art of mixing pristine tracks together. In a roundabout way, Keeler hopes to keep that original two-turntables vibe alive rather than kill it like “DJs” who prefer loading up a playlist of Skee-Lo and Young MC on their iPod.

"I'm not really into the trend of just playing the hits or pure nostalgia," says Keeler.Ê "It's cool that everyone's into retro nights but that seems lazy.Ê I like going to see a DJ and learning, wanting to know 'What the hell is this?'Ê There is a bit of pressure to keep some aspect of what we're doing accessible to the novice dance crows.Ê So this is not a diverse record, but it's not a myopic one either.Ê I could see someone working these songs into a bar lounge or a place that only plays the hard shit.Ê It's not boring.Ê That's for sure."