Sign Of The Times

Jens “Jence” Moelle and İsmail “Isi” Tüfekçi are a testament to the notion that inspiration comes from disappointment. The duo met in a record shop in 2000, and uninspired by the hundreds of new dance music releases they received each week, they decided to do something about it. “Jence used to work there every afternoon after school, and I came round frequently to check out the new records”, Tüfekçi begins. “The shop was specialised on House and Techno vinyl, so it was kind of for DJs only. You'd go there to buy new club 12”s and - maybe, if you're allowed to - use the counter's turntables to play the stuff on the PA or practice mixing. We spent all our free time there, but we were oversaturated with records we didn't like. We decided to start DJing together and eventually began making our own edits and tracks so we'd have something unique in our sets. After a while we got picked up by Kitsuné, who released our first 12”s. The rest is history, really.”

The duo are considered by many to be pioneers of the electro-punk and indie dance movements, and since their inception in 2004, they have been making appearances at festivals such as Coachella and in various clubs worldwide. Digitalism have recently released their fifth record: an EP by the name of Lift. For the first time in their careers, the guys decided to bring in the assistance of other producers in order to add a new dimension to their sound. As such, the process in putting the album together was a little different and at some times more difficult. However, according to Moelle and Tüfekçi, there comes a time when you have to be willing to venture out of your comfort zone because the music always comes first. “We usually jam around and see what loops we come up with”, Tüfekçi explains. “We work a lot with loops and re-sampling. When there's something that really excites us, we focus on that idea and make a longer version of it. From there, we listen to it and see what it inspires us to write about. With the Lift EP, we've met up with other electronic producers to make it, for the first time. It was an interesting process. Just think, when several electronic producers meet up in a studio to make a track, how do you really do it? It's not like we all sit down with a guitar and write the thing. It's more like a challenge, you ping-pong, you dig into your vaults, you enhance something, and you bounce it back. It was a great experience and we got to work with really nice people.”

Digitalism have beared witness to electronic music's astounding growth over the years, and both members believe that the challenge that electronic music had faced for equal attention has entirely disappeared. Now, they testify, the tables have turned. “It [electronic music] has definitely become music for the masses!”, Tüfekçi exclaims. “20 years ago you would have to spend $50,000 to get decent production equipment, and nowadays everyone with a laptop or even an iPhone can make music. In fact, it's much easier today to make electronic music than acoustic music, because acoustic gear is more expensive (and harder to play)! So it's totally swapped. It used to be the other way round. It's become very democratic now, and this spawns a million new genres and producers every year, which makes it harder to fully grasp, but also much more interesting.”

Having been familiar and consequently involved in the scene for over a decade now, both Moelle and Tüfekçi are entirely aware that electronic music is a surging force that, with the development of technology, is only going to keep growing in terms of both fanbase and musical styles. Despite many electronic artists feeling the need to evolve alongside emerging musical trends, the duo doesn't feel the need to follow suit. “The core Digitalism sound is something very timeless. It's just a question of instrumentation and gear that you use to produce it. We could play Pogo on a guitar and people would know what song it is. Of course, if we made it now, it would sound different - but not dependent on any genre: more on updated gear and new ideas that we would implement. New trends don't affect us so much.”

The guys are currently gearing up for the last half of their Australian tour. Although they have only just released an EP, they're showing no signs of slowing down. “There's a lot of stuff in the pipeline, but we won't tell too much about it. We've got some pretty exciting times ahead. We can't wait to see where it takes us”, Tüfekçi concludes.