Dan Judd (artist's rendering)
My dudes! I have been gone a long time, working with the government on a top-secret project (teaching Chinese to certain kinds of birds and woodland elk) and building myself a new family out of wax, but I am back, and I am so psyched to be here!! I hope all six of you missed me!
Anyway, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: we’re broadening our horizons at Disco Horror! You may have noticed our monthly top ten lists, which is just another way for us to share our unbelievable narcissism and terrible taste with you every thirty days or so; today, we’re publishing our very first interview as a way to generate content without actually doing any work! Also, we’re opening a restaurant!! Ha, just kidding! But wouldn’t it be great if we did! And it served tacos!
But enough humor! Today’s interview subject is Sorcerer, who is a musician from the future. Sorcerer’s real name is Dan Judd, and if you ask Jimmy, he will tell you that Dan is Ashley and Wynonna’s brother. This is not true; Jimmy is a liar, and if you repeat this incorrect fact in mixed company you will likely be laughed at. Dan also works with Sam Grawe, AKA Hatchback, as “Windsurf,” which means he’s sort of cornering the San Francisco nu-Balearic market, not that I’m complaining: even if Dan isn’t a royal Judd, he is a very talented dude, and getting talented-er with every release. His newest joint, Neon Leon, (out today on Tirk; available on iTunes and elsewhere) has some of the best salt-soaked jams he’s written yet—if getting sunstroke on the beach were an album, it would be this album; it’s warm and hazy and soft, and sticks to you like a plastic beach chair. The end-credits jam “Day Glow” and “Ride the Serpent,” dripping with sax licks and softly-strummed electric guitar, are the early favorites for me, but the truth is Neon Leon works even better listened to as a whole—I would kill to drive up CA1 with this as my soundtrack. Dan was kind enough to answer a couple questions by email—read on for the interview.
How long have you been making music? When did you first get started? Has the music you’ve made always sounded like it does now? What was the, uh, “evolution” of your sound?
I started playing guitar when I was 12, but got more serious about it in high school. I always had a group on the go since then. I played funk, soul, reggae, punk, pop, jazz, and combinations of all that stuff. Lots of different styles and sounds but I think there has always been a pop song and a strong rhythm at the core of what I wanted to be doing. I started recording my own material when I got a hold of this program Deck years ago. I never had a 4-track when I was a kid, so the ideas needed to be let loose. Instantly I started crafting the prototype of the Sorcerer sound based around beats, guitars, and synths. I picked up an MPC sampler for cheap and really started getting into sampling and buying $1 records and making beats to create jams over. I recorded all the time and experimented and got better at arranging and making sounds. I was sharing my tunes with friends, got good feedback, and eventually the time was right to release it.
How would you describe Neon Leon? Is it “balearic”? What kinds of ideas and influences are going into the album? It sounds almost like a film score–what do you recommend people do while they listen to it?
Neon Leon was a concept I came up with after I finished White Magic, my first record as Sorcerer. I was becoming too concerned with making perfect dance music, finding the right tempo, the right kick drum sound, how long the song had to be…all the elements that deejays look for when picking the jams they play. But as I became too aware my music got boring. I was reading a series of old Elmore Leonard books while on vacation in Belize and there is a sleazy dive bar in one of the books called Neon Leons. I just started writing music under the name “Neon Leon” for new inspiration and decided it would be a “no-rules” type sound, just keeping first takes and letting the songs live however they needed to…which made it more exciting for me to listen to. I made more and more headway, so when it came time to put the record together I used a lot of those jams and decided to call the record Neon Leon as a way to remember that vibe. At some point I remember thinking “I’m a child of the 80s”, so I just started reaching for those days for inspiration. Grace Jones, the Gap Band, Toto, Musical Youth, the Police…lots of stuff I heard in 4th grade.
I do generally like the music people are calling “balearic” but I think sometimes it’s too specific of a reference to a moment in time that I personally have no connection to…crazy british dudes wildin’ out in the islands. That’s not me. I didn’t understand it at first when I heard people calling my music that. Sometimes I call it “modern beach music” but not sure people know what I’m saying.
I recommend folks draw in notebooks to Sorcerer and send me the pictures. Or use it as a soundtrack to tropical detective movie.
What’s different about recording alone versus recording with Sam? Do you prefer one over the other? How did you and Sam first hook up? What do you see as the difference between Sorcerer and Windsurf?
Me and Sam have been jamming together for a long time now, we met through mutual friends who knew we were both into recording. One day after hitting the swap meet he invited me to jam. I cruised to his apartment, the guy had a sweet collection of synthesizers so I said “let’s do this”. We made jams all the time, and we had a short run group called Brown Rainbow with our friend Adrian on bass (there’s some very rare footage on youtube of us live). Later it was just me and Sam and we started calling it Windsurf. We both share a laid back approach to making jams, so it’s easy to let ideas flow. I think when I’m just making stuff on my own I get more into making the beats detailed and running stuff through more guitar pedals and tweaking. It’s my own time to geek out on the sound and I hate boring someone else with all that. I think it’s a great balance to have my own Sorcerer music and also Windsurf. It’s still important for me to play with other people and share ideas.
You guys have started playing live together recently–what’s that like? Have you considered taking Sorcerer on the road?
Playing live has been really awesome. It took us a while to figure out how to present the music, because it’s pretty epic and there are lots of layers. Windsurf were asked to do a tour of Japan this past June, opening for a great group called 9dw. We said we could do it but still didn’t have a live show. It was good motivation to finally figure it out. At the show, Sam controls the mix and I play guitar and keyboards over the top. The shows got better each time. It’s fun to play in a group with just two people because it’s easy to coordinate and more focused. Also every show is a little different, and I get to improvise. I’d like to get a Sorcerer set together, I actually have one that I can do on my computer. But to have a band jamming it live would be way more fun. I gotta wrangle up some low rent Sly and Robbie and Wally Badarou types to back me up.
The videos you put together for Sorcerer tracks are always sweet. What’s the creative process there? Do you see the videos as an important component of what you do?
I’ve always wanted know how my music would work with visuals so I started grabbing nice clips and mashing them to the music. It was so easy and brought the songs to life. The songs are collages in their own way already, so making these kind of videos seemed to work nicely. It’s exciting because you can mix humor, colors, bizarre scenarios, and general music nerd stuff together with music…pretty much everything I’m into. I try to create these fake dreams, early morning visions. I’d like to get into different video styles soon though, shooting on VHS might be fun.
What have you been listening to recently? What’s your choice for “Summer Jam 2009″?
I received a huge stash of Japanese music from a friend in Tokyo. There’s a style there called “City Pop”, a jazzy commercial pop sound from the late 70s and 80s. Also all the projects related to Yellow Magic Orchestra and especially one of the founders of YMO, Haruomi Hosono, who made great records. There’s a chapter in this David Toop book “Exotica” where he interviews Hosono and picks his brain. I read that on the plane and got excited. I’ve also been enjoying Dam-Funk’s home-spun wiggle stick funk. I got super into Zenyatta Mondatta by the Police recently. I also really like this song “Cable Dazed” by Invisible Conga People and “Congolal” by Tensnake, those could be from last year. This soul track by Mayer Hawthorne called “Maybe So, maybe No”. Lots of summer jams!
