From Jackal & Hyde to Dynamik Bass System, passing through Imatran Voima, Hydraulix or Ghosts In The Machine to name a few, Monotone USA has added in six years some of the best current electro producers to its list of hot successes. The up and coming “Lust. Love. Electro.” compilation reaches a superior step on Exzakt’s label history, touching both digital audience and vinyl junkies with a staggering tracklisting of exclusive material. Having taken a large part in the rebirth of the Miami Bass scene, unstoppable producer Larry McCormick goes back over this ambitious project and takes stock of his own musical career. Nexus 6: In september, your label Monotone
USA is officially releasing a milestone of a compilation titled
“Lust.Love.Electro”. Some copies are already available at Electrowax. This
project is no doubt your biggest to date and is already expected as a
true hurricane. How would you describe it? What is your intension with
the project and what is “Lust.Love.Electro”?
Exzakt:
Lust. Love. Electro is a various artist mixed CD as well as 3 part
vinyl release. The CD is mixed by yours truly and contains 17 tracks,
14 of which are unreleased to date. 12 of these tracks are also
appearing on 3, 12” vinyl releases that will be released one at a time
starting in September. A majority of the tracks were made exclusively
just for this project. Lust. Love. Electro is meant to be a title that
describes how I feel about the music.
N6:
When and how did this project come to your mind? How long did it take
to gather the material from all those artists? How did you convince
them to appear on “Lust.Love.Electro”?
Exzakt: I have planned for many years to put together a project like this that
would feature some of the top electro producers from around the globe.
It took me about 3 months of non-stop work from the time I started the
project. I did not want to use any material collected prior to this as
I wanted this to be a fresh reference of electro music today. There was
not much convincing that had to be done. Each artist jumped on board
from the inception.
N6: To reduce
this project only to a Monotone celebration would be ridiculous. I’d
rather consider it as an aesthetic tribute to the current Electro sound
ranging from old to new school. With real dancefloor ambitions. Am I
right?
Exzakt: Yes you are right. Monotone
is just a vessel for these tracks and artists. Monotone has taken on
the identity of a label that embodies the sound of old and new while
being sure to keep the attention of the dance floor as well as the
minds of the listeners.
“PURISTIC ELECTRO”
N6:
The tracklisting is insane. Most of the tracks have never been released
before. 70% of the artists featured on the compilation are close to
your label, having done at least one E.P.. But we can find newcomers to
Monotone like EggFooYoung, Max Durante, Bassing Guild, Xerodefx and
many more. How did you select them? Which were your musical criteria?
Does it mean each of them will appear later on Monotone with a complete
E.P.?
Exzakt:: Our fingers are crossed that
we can get complete E.P.’s from all the artists on the compilation for
the future. I personally enjoy the material from all these great
artists and look forward to their future output. We release artists on
Monotone which we feel have a vision of tomorrow and are dedicated.
N6:
The compilation will be available first in CD format. Should we
consider that the number of digital users has overtaken the number of
vinyl fans?
Exzakt:: This and other Monotone
releases are in the process of being formated into the digital realm.
Do I think vinyl has been overtaken by the digital fans out there? I am
not sure as of right now when it comes to electro. This is something
myself and many other electro labels think about everyday. Personally I
hope vinyl is always profitable enough to continue the tradition of
this format.
N6: We never mentioned the artistical line of Monotone. How would you descibe it?
Six
years after its launch, how is the label today? What were your best
sellers? Do you intend to publish albums from your artists pool in a
near future?
Exzakt:: I would like to think
that Monotone is looked upon as a label with a sound that keeps alive
the tradition of “Puristic” electro while moving that sound into a new
era. Almost every release has held up well in the respective market at
the time of release and continues to do so to date. We have plans to
release more full length albums on Monotone in the future but for now
we have are focused on building the sound and catalog with E.P.’s.
“SELFLESSNESS”
N6:
Since our first interview in 2000 on atome.com, many things have
changed for you on a personnal level. You launched Monotone, built up
EA forum, opened electrowax.com e-shop and started a live-act career.
Looking back, which project are you the most proud of? What are your
electro and/or personnal motivations? Do you think you have all you
could wish for? Is there a project you’d like to experiment later on?
Exzakt::
I guess you could say I am proud of all the projects I have worked on
in the last few years. I have put so much time and energy into each one
that it would be hard to select one that I can consider more important
then the other. They are all different aspects that contributed equally
to make me what I am today when it comes to music. Besides my live show
the other projects have been just as much about Electro advancement as
much as my own music. In order for Electro to grow us as Electro
Artists need to work on the entire movement and not just our personal
advancement. Recently I have worked on more projects that are in other
genres so I plan on continuing this to grow as an overall artist.
N6:
As an artist, label owner, shop owner and forum administrator, your
point of view about the music industry is crucial. Which advices to
avoid traps and disappointments would you give to people who want to
start making their own music, label or starting their own shop?
Exzakt::
Selflessness. We see far too often people getting involved with music
for their entire own personal gain. Results. A lot of people talk about
what they are going to do but never really do anything. Dedication.
It’s easy to buy a few records or throw out a couple records here and
there but to really make a difference you need to go beyond what is
normal. Finally, professionalism. If you want to be taken seriously you
need know how to run your business the right way.
N6: Let’s talk about your sound. How did your music evolve from your
beginnings till today? How would you define your own style?
Exzakt::
I feel my sound has grown over the years and finally got to the point
where I can create my ideas at will. I was always searching for a sound
I was comfortable with and I feel like I have it now. There is a lot
more learning and experimenting to do but I comfortable with my style
today.
“TRANSLATE TO A NICE LIVE SHOW”
N6: Who are the artists not featured on “Lust.Electro.Love” that you'd like to work with in the future?
Exzakt::
I was quite lucky to get most of the artists I wanted to get on the
label with this project but the first name that comes to mind is Claro
Intelecto. I spoke to him a couple times with thoughts for him to
produce something for Monotone but we lost contact. I really enjoy his
releases and would love to feature him on a future Monotone project. It
would be interesting to get a track, remix or an EP from Dave Clarke,
The Advent or Hacker.
N6: In
october, you’ll appear along with Debonaire and Jock D on stage with an
exclusive live performing. What could we expect from this amazing
event? How did you hook up with Debonaire?
Exzakt:: Debonaire
contacted me on MySpace a couple times and we linked up at his studio
where we almost immediately started working projects. We have a lot in
common with music and business so I think its a really nice fit for the
two of us. In the studio we work really well together so we feel like
this will translate to a nice live show. Along with Jock D who we both
are working with on projects this should be a very interesting event. I
look forward to it.
N6: In 2000,
you were telling me that “The Electro scene in Florida is good but it
could be better. With such pioneers as Scott Weiser and Todd Walker
being from this area you would figure that you would have more of a
true electro following but there is only a handfull.” Did the South
Florida scene change since the last time we talked?
Exzakt:: Oh
yes to say the least. In 2000 you could not find an all electro event
at all. You would have some electro played by certain DJ’s from time to
time but having an all electro event was not heard of. Now it seems
like every event is run by electro with other music coming second.
Electro Alliance I can honestly say helped in this transformation.
Events like ‘Bang The Box’ which was the first Winter Music Conference
event to feature electro, ‘Sex With The Machines’ which was the first
event bringing Anthony Rother to the United States, & ‘Stay With
The Force’ which was an Electro Alliance mega event.
N6: What are your forthcoming projects if they’re not top secret? When will you release “City Of Bass” on vinyl?
Exzakt::
“City of Bass”, “Speaker Breaka” and “No Disco” which is a unreleased
track that appears on the CD of Lust. Love. Electro will be coming out
on MON011. “No Disco” will also have a remix on the E.P. from
Debonaire. The white label of this should be coming in the next couple
months to Electrowax with final release sometime in the start of 2008.
Finally!
N6: Few words to the electro community
Exzakt:: Keep the real electro alive!
www.exzakt.comwww.monotoneusa.comwww.electrowax.com 
EXZAKT >LUST. LOVE. ELECTRO.
Compact Disc tracklisting:
01.EGGFOOYOUNG – HOCONUT GROVE
02.DYNAMIK BASS SYSTEM – FEARLESS COMPUTER
03.HYDE - DOMINATOR
04.DEBONAIRE & EXZAKT – FINAL IGNITION
05.MAX DURANTE – ELECTRON X - OCEAN DRIVE MIX
06.CHA-OS – EMERGENCY – BASSING GUILD REWORK
07.IMATRAN VOIMA – TECHNO SLUT – EXZAKT VS. DBS MIX
08.HYDRAULIX - STRESSBOXXX
09.BORIS DIVIDER – EXTINCION HUMANA – LARRY MCCORMICK MIX
10.LARRY MCCORMICK – NO DISCO
11.EXZAKT - FUTURESHOCK
12.DEXORCIST– CLANDESTINE WARFARE
13.GET IT BOYZ – ELECTRIC FUCK
14.KRONOS DEVICE – PRIME DIRECTIVE
15.XERODEFX - SYNAPTIC PRESSURE
16.UPROKK – N.E.O. HUNTER
17.AS1 – CLOUDS OF THUNDER
3 part vinyl series tracklisting:
MONOTONE COMPILATION ONE / PART 1 / MON013
LUST.
SIDE A
A1> HYDE – DOMINATOR
A2> DEXORCIST– CLANDESTINE WARFARE
SIDE B
B1> DYNAMIK BASS SYSTEM – FEARLESS COMPUTER
B2> MAX DURANTE – ELECTRON X - OCEAN DRIVE MIX
MONOTONE COMPILATION ONE / PART 2 / MON014
LOVE.
SIDE C
C1> KRONOS DEVICE – PRIME DIRECTIVE
C2> XERODEFX - SYNAPTIC PRESSURE
SIDE D
D1> GET IT BOYZ – ELECTRIC FUCK
D2> UPROKK – N.E.O. HUNTER
MONOTONE COMPILATION ONE / PART 3 / MON015
ELECTRO.
SIDE E
E1> EGGFOOYOUNG – HOCONUT GROVE
E2> HYDRAULIX - STRESSBOXXX
SIDE F
F1> CHA-OS – EMERGENCY – BASSING GUILD REWORK
F2> AS1 – CLOUDS OF THUNDER
