Grant Paterson caught up with Cri Du Coeur (Arkham Audio) ahead of playing an exclusive set for Cryolab.
Grant Paterson: Hi Jerome, thanks for catching up with me and doing a set for Fnoob (Cryolab, 23.05.21 @ 22:00hrs). How are you doing, and what’s been happening over lockdown?
Cri Du Coeur: Hey hey hey, thank you for spending time for me. All good here. A lot of things are moving for me. personally and professionally. So, 2021 is finally not looking that bad for me.
Grant Paterson: You’ve been released some quality techno on your Arkham Audio imprint, what inspired you to launch the label?
Cri Du Coeur: It’s been a while that i’m in the electronic music scene. I think my first party as promoter was in 1996. so as dj and promoter, i’m used to work with labels and artists. that was a goal, having myself my own techno label. but I didn’t had enough time and energy to launch this before. I already approached the label job 10 years ago with 2 different projects, but it took me too much energy to do it as I wanted to be. In 2019, I had a a blast with the sudden death of my mother and thought it was time for me to do what I really want. I took back this very known leitmotiv that life is too short to live a boring job life. so i went back to my techno music roots and made created my own Akrham audio imprint.
Grant Paterson: Arkham Audio has very distinctive sound, how would you classify it (should we?)?
really simple answer:
Cri Du Coeur: A really simple answer, Raw techno but with a lot of influences. the main one is the Detroit techno of course, but its also going from industrial music to ambient and even New Wave or EDM.
Grant Paterson: I got really excited when you re-released one of my favourite rave classics, T99 – Anasthasia. What prompted you to release it?
Cri Du Coeur: As a Belgian artist, one of my biggest influence is “new beat” music. thats how I listened to tracks from tragic error / fatal error for example. and following, tracks from T99.
when I launched Arkham audio, I thought it could be a great idea to do a various album of remixes from artists i like from a massive Belgian rave track. Oliver Abbeloos (t99) was easy to contact, then the magic happened.
Grant Paterson: Who would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Cri Du Coeur: I really want to continue collaborating with all the artists that trusted us in the very beginning of Arkham. Thats not easy to work with such great artists when you begin such an adventure but of course I hope we can work in the future with all the great artists the techno scene offers. I cant name them all , lol.
Grant Paterson: And, you have a new release coming out can you tell us more about it?
Cri Du Coeur: This “Jeffrey” release is pretty particular, as its driven by the idea of doing another sound than the usual big room techno kicks I’m used with. I wanted some voices and a dark track. then, i spoke to my friend Pascal Hetzel, from Cyrk, and he told me he watched that video from that weird serial killer name Jeffrey Dahmer. I watched it, and the ideas came directly.
Grant Paterson: What have you got planned for the label in 2021?
Cri Du Coeur: I have a big various artists release planned this summer. With original tracks from a lot of artists who have worked with us already. Newcomers are also planed in this fat release. after that an original ep from a french artist, and another ep one from myself later and maybe to finish the year, another various with remixes from a great Belgian rave track ? lets see 😉
Grant Paterson: I always like to ask – what’s your favourite tune?
Cri Du Coeur: Oooh, there are so much tunes I looooove. It depends on what style as I really enjoy a lot of styles. But if i need to take only one, that would be my all time / all styles favourite, it should be a Depeche mode tune. But hard to choose. let’s say “Wrong”. hmmmm, no, “behind the wheel”. Nooo, “i feel you”. no, “people are people”. Noooo, “world in my eyes”. but beside that, i really think Queen’s Bohemian Rapsody is a THE true masterpiece of all time.
Grant Paterson: Who inspired you to DJ and produce?
Cri Du Coeur: All the DJs I watched when I went to rave in the 1994. I was and i’m still a huge Laurent Garnier fan . He was and a real inspiration as dj and also as producer – other DJs like Dave Clarke and Jeff mills, just to name the biggest ones, are true techno genius. thats why they still guide me in my musical search.
Grant Paterson: If time and space weren’t a problem and you could DJ anywhere in the World/Universe, where would it be?
Cri Du Coeur: Under water, in the cold and dark abyss, inside a broken destroyer
Grant Paterson: Thanks for a quick chat, and being a guest one FNOOB Techno Radio.
Cri Du Coeur: My pleasure.
Catch Cri Du Coeur’s exclusive set for Fnoob on Cryolab, tonight 23.05.21 @ 22:00. Cri Du Coeur’s darkly edgy new release “Jeffrey” is available June 4th, 2021 and features remixes from Drumcell, Insolate and Luis Flores.
