FUNKINEVIL
With a roar of distortion and a stripped-back approach, the Transatlantic twosome of Kyle Hall and Funkineven revel in techno’s harsher climes
“Everyone’s got a good and a bad side”, Kyle Hall explains.
He’s sitting in a hotel lobby with Steven ‘Funkineven’ Julien, talking about the schizophrenic nature of their collaborative releases as Funkinevil. For a moment, Hall talks animatedly about the synergy found in the precise interchange of certain variables. “It’s that saturation and, essentially, that’s harmony. Intervals that are equivalent, things that are exponential are beautiful” he elaborates, describing the rough, slightly meaner sound palette which emerges from their work together. This particular interplay of musical minds, one that at points combines Hall’s Detroit toughness with the smoother side of Funkineven, and at others violently clashes their eclectic styles into a bipolar 12”, is an amalgamation that births a particularly snarling brand of harmony.
The moniker for the collaboration between Detroit wonderboy Hall and London producer Funkineven is actually pronounced “Fuckin’Evil”. Hall spells it out for us. “The name came about because I’m Kyle Muthafuckin’ Hall, and he’s Funkineven. We fused that shit together, and that shit was real evil sounding.” The altered spelling is used so as “not to be so vulgar”, equally reflected in the sound. “It works because the funk is there in the music too, along with the darkness.”
In our time together, our conversation spans hotel smells, liberal Dutch festivals and Tony Hawk Pro Skater soundtracks. Around three hours later, the two walk off stage minutes into their headline gig at a Bristol venue due to an accusation that the equipment was inadequate.
Late last year, Funkinevil released their inaugural Night/Dusk EP, following it up with their latest Ignorant/In The Grid release. Throughout each EP runs a thrashing, impulsive momentum, so it comes as no surprise that their first collaboration was a spontaneous one. As Julien says, “We were at my friend’s house – Alex Nut – and he was like “guys, I’ve got this MPC and I’ve got this other thing, I want to sync the sounds via MIDI … and we were like ‘OK, you do this…’ Then we were like, ‘oh shit!” he laughs. “We ran into something, we pressed record, and then we made Night.” The song in question is an analogue techno track that shatters with its mutating percussive stabs and cluttered acid basslines. The B-side to the EP, Dusk, is a warming, more soulful take on their raw sound. Keeping to this no frills method, Hall stresses that was the equipment which formed the bare bones of their production. “[Night] was made of all the shittiest things possible. The MPC 2000 was probably the most expensive thing that was on it.” Julien concurs, “the most essential piece in the whole works.”
With both artists putting out work of a similar watermark for years now – Hall on his Wild Oats imprint, and Julien’s frequent releases on Eglo and his own Apron Records, through which he’s also put out two EPs from Greg Beato as well as his own collaboration with Delroy Edwards – the synchrony of their collaboration makes sense. And although the sonic markers of ‘Detroit’ and ‘London’ might surface when comparing their influences, Julien is keen to stress that their working relationship doesn’t mark a geographical cross pollination of sound, but that it’s a cultural affiliation rooted in the history of “black music.” “That’s what you’re looking at. It’s not ‘Detroit’ and ‘London’. It’s a black thing.” Kyle elaborates, “and just how we perceive music. Our approach and how we relay music to other people is what people hear. It’s that flavour, its not really a geographical location. It’s like a general understanding of where the music originates. White people; as long as they have the same general basis of where their music originates, you’re able to communicate.”
No stranger to utilising various monikers, Hall’s output as KMFH is yet another avenue through which to present his range of musical personalities. As Hall digs deeper into Funkinevil’s sonically psychotic inclinations, we’re brought back to that harmonising conflict, that satisfying clash of elements; of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. “I don’t even think it’s exactly ‘good’ per se, it’s just more like another perspective. Kind of like a person. A person can be good at heart, but they may not be perfect. Because this shit is still raw, it’s still conflicting and challenging. But at the core of it, it’s positive.” This leads us nicely back to that idea of harmony. “Just seeing interesting symmetry, that’s essentially what you’re hearing in the sound. It’s just weird in the way it’s so nasty but it’s actually harmonic. It’s like bringing it to life, in a sense. Ejecting some energy into it. It’s textured. It’s soul.”
When we move towards the marked nod toward all things lo-fi in electronic music at the moment, Hall speaks positively of the trend; “I think it kind of allows people to give it a chance, in a sense. Because other things are going on, it might democratise it for other people whose ears aren’t prepped for those kinds of sounds.” Julien enthusiastically recalls a time when crowds weren’t as familiar with the approach. “It’s like when [Kyle] used to play one of my tracks, the first EP on my label, Beat Crash – it’s deliberately distorted.” Hall jumps in, “Their ears weren’t prepped!” “Sound engineers used to run up to [Kyle] like ‘what the fuck you doing, you’re going to kill the system!’ It’s like ‘no, look, it’s in the green, this is how the track sounds! Get used to this.” “Exactly”, Hall chirps: “‘cause this is the shit!”
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Ignorant is out now via Wild Oats. Funkineven plays Dance Tunnel NYE on December 31st
Words: Anna Tehabsim
Photos: Tom Parker
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