JACKSON AND HIS COMPUTERBAND

ON A SWELTERING AFTERNOON IN DALSTON, CRACK FINDS A SHADY SPOT OUTSIDE A COFFEE SHOP AND AWAITS THE REAPPEARANCE OF ONE OF ELECTRONICA’S MOST CONFOUNDING VANISHING ACTS

It’s been almost eight years since we saw or heard from Jackson and his Computerband, but we never forgot about him. His wild and wonderful debut album on Warp propelled him into the spotlight more or less out of nowhere. Although Jackson had been releasing music for nearly a decade by that point, it was Smash, the aptly named full-length, which first caught wider attention.

Shirking the limitations of the French house scene at the time, Jackson headed to one of the world’s most iconic electronica labels, proving himself to be a distinctive and fascinating presence in a complex, shifting landscape. It felt as though he was at the beginning of something great. Then, just as quickly as he had materialised, he evaporated.

Barely a mention of this vivid, striking, prodigious talent followed. It seemed bizarre. But just recently, when hope of a return had almost dissipated, we began to hear small murmurings about Jackson and his fictional band filtering from Warp. And suddenly, in dropped the new album: Glow, due for release this month. It was poles apart from the one eight years previous, a far more rounded, live-sounding experience – but still smacked of Jackson. We were glad to have him back, but where had he been? He had mentioned in an interview once that if he wasn’t making music he’d be doing “sports therapy and maybe something sexual combined together”. Could this be his doctor’s note?

All of which brings us back to our little table and chairs spot, sweating outside a coffee shop, partly from the heat but also a little bit from excitement.

When Jackson arrives, we nearly don’t recognise the guy. The long-haired indie kid look from ’05 replaced by a short, ruffled peroxide cut, like an extra from Blade Runner – a look befitting his expansive new sound and a further reminder that a lot has changed. Jackson sits down and orders some herbal tea while we test our dictaphone against the London street noise. We engage in some brief small talk about it being unusually hot for this part of the world but there is one, rather obvious question we’re bursting to ask …

So what on earth have you been doing?

Nothing special. Exploring different directions and music techniques, lots of research on the live show, and taking the time to find the right people to work with.

The new album goes through a range of different styles and moods – there are almost psych-rock sounding tracks, there’s definitely a certain punk aesthetic, and one track that’s almost gabber. Are these random moments from the past eight years, or were you always approaching it as an album?

Personally, I pick stuff from what comes out, so at some point I’ll say ‘OK, these are my favourite bits, how am I going to make them grow? How am I going to assemble them?’ It’s about finding some sort of balance and connection between them, whether it’s a signature sound, a theme, an atmosphere, anything.

So you must be sitting on a lot of off-cuts and old tracks?

I think so. I would have to dig around in the dirt to know, I’d have to be like an archaeologist. I’d really have to get some shit in my nails and search through sub-sub-sub-folders of hard drives and stuff like that.

It seems like the obvious thing, coming off the back of the success of Smash, would be to keep churning out records and build on the hype. It seems you don’t really give a shit about that?

It’s not like I don’t give a shit, but when I finished Smash I was absolutely knackered. So it wasn’t like; ‘So, now my career is starting out what next?’ it was more like, ‘Fuck! Now I’ve managed to do this record, I don’t know where it’s going to take me, and now I just need to think of a place to live.’ I just wanted to concentrate on reorganising everything in my life, basically.

Being a French musician making French electronic music, there’s an almost cliquey nature to it. It’s a very contained scene with a lot of cross pollination.

Yeah, you think so? Like a lobby! The techno lobby. It’s absolutely horrific, isn’t it?

Are you keen to set yourself apart from that?

I can’t say this because it is cool to hang out, it’s not like I’m apart from it. I would say I enjoy playing and touring with my comrades, but for me it’s as cool to be with Clark as it is to be with Brodinsky, or to hang out with Mara Carlyle and shake hands with Boys Noize. There’s always something to learn, but at the same time I want keep my music free. I don’t think my music should rely on the sound of any one moment.

The new album has a lot more of an actual ‘band’ feel to it than Smash, of songs as opposed to instrumental beats. Was that a big part of becoming more of a live artist?

I just found it funny to emulate the presence of fake invisible musicians in a totally artificial way. Faking rock ‘n’ roll felt like a funny process, rather than being like ‘Hey! I’m in control of my synthesiser!’ in an electronic producer position. Which is great, but it’s more like a man dressing as a woman. I wanted to get a bit nearer to some kind of 70s psychedelic, punk rock influence.

Back when you were touring with Smash it was just you onstage, the Computerband was very much hypothetical. Will it become a real entity now in the live show?

Now I have this big machine that’s made of four modules, two at the front and two at the side, and a mechanical mirror. One of the front ones behaves more like a jukebox, the other one is like a sampler and triggering area.

You were quoted in several interviews back in 2005 saying your music is all about collage. It must be a completely different discipline to be creating the arrangements from scratch.

It’s a different process, you have to be a bit more methodical, which I’m not naturally but I’m learning to be. There were a lot of collages in Smash, of piano recordings, or two seconds of T-Rex guitar. But on this record I spent more time writing keyboard lines and stuff. I was also thinking that if I want to do some cut-up, I want to be able to do it in real time, on stage.

Do you have any musical training behind you or did you just have to forge your own way?

Um, training? I did take some piano lessons at some point. I even got fired from the … in France it’s called ‘conservatoire’, like, where you learn the grades.

Why?

Because I wasn’t passing them. If you do three years and you stay in the same class you get fired. And I had a piano teacher but I very quickly forgot it all because for me it made no sense to learn something without having the immediate application for it.

Both your albums have been released on Warp. Before that you had a relatively small back catalogue and reputation internationally. Was it a shock when Warp got in touch?

Yeah, totally. I received an e-mail from Piers Martin, who Warp had asked at that time to suggest people to sign. It was completely unreal. Especially because 2005 was the whole Windowlicker revolution with Autechre, Squarepusher, Plaid – all the old Warp heroes were still huge at that time. So it was a big, big thing to all of a sudden get imported in with all those guys, they were a big influence.

And have Warp been OK about you disappearing for the last eight years?

Yeah, they’ve been supportive, just keeping an eye on what’s going on, being helpful when I need them to.

You were always in touch with them letting them know what you were up to? It’s not like you just picked up the phone one day and went ‘Hey, I’ve got a new album, fancy it?’

No, in fact I would tell them ‘I’m nearly finished’ every year, usually twice a year. Once before the summer and once before Christmas – those are the two periods of the year where I would be like ‘Yeah, I think I’ve got something now’.

Would you say you’re a perfectionist? Is that why the process been delayed every time?

I don’t say I’m a perfectionist because I think my music is actually full of imperfections, detailed imperfections. I like to leave a lot of imprecise stuff. I’m not looking for perfection at all in my music, I just like exploration, and also the way I make things is all about creating a set up that avoids any conscious decisions. It’s like a game, a game that involves everything: the label, your friends, money, your health, everything.

When you sit down to start a tune, as it were, do you have a method you follow or is it different each time?

I always find one track leads to another, so I just save a copy, save a copy, save a copy and archive tons of little ideas. Then again, sometimes I’m just like ‘OK, let’s try and do a proper techno groove track’ or whatever. Of course I never do a techno groove track, but I end up doing something

You’ve had some very diverse and obscure collaborators across Glow and Smash. Who’s next?

The thing is, all the people on the record are either close friends or people I met a certain way. I met one of the guys who helped because he was renting a studio space where I was making the record. I knocked on the door and said “Hey, do you want to try something?’ and he said “Yeah!” So I was like “it’s actually for tomorrow morning!” Because, at that time, Warp was kind of freaking out. For me it’s more about the human factor rather than ‘I really want work with Missy Elliot, it’s my dream!’ Of course it would be cool, but maybe not – I don’t know, maybe I just can’t stand her perfume, know what I mean? Maybe her speaking voice is going to annoy me, or maybe she’s way too religious. Or maybe it’s the one person I’m going to make music with for the next 10 years. I have no idea, but I like to meet people and let it grow.

You’ve said before that you didn’t like the idea of people remixing your stuff because it would either be disappointingly bad or disappointingly better than the original. Do you still feel like that?

No, I don’t really care now. That was when Smash just came out, I guess at that time, with what was going on in the club scene – this was pre- 2manydjs. 2manydjs just exploded all the standards. At that time I was with Warp, but I was also signed to Universal in France. I didn’t want them to turn some of my tracks into some sort of boring deep house dilution. With French house at that point, everything was a bit boring. Now I don’t care so much, I feel like it could be approached in a very different way.

But there’s nothing lined up?

Hudson Mohawke just did an amazing remix, right now that’s it.

Would you say you have any modern contemporaries?

I don’t really know because I don’t even really understand my record. Even in terms of generations of producers or pop acts, it’s just too messy, I wouldn’t be able to position myself. I’m eclectic, and that suits me because I want to be always curious, and I’m happy to exchange with anyone who’s in love with what he or she does.

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Glow is available now via Warp Records. The album is officially launched at Village Underground on October 18th. 

Words: Jack Lucas Dolan