Premiere: Dollkraut – Mastermaster / Bruce Wayne

Dollkraut's grainy, fuzzy sound turned heads last year with the release of his first LP, 'Schimanski's Black Lullabies'. Last year also saw him inaugurate the Dutch label Charlois with his 'Blackbox' EP, which he's following up with the release of 'Hornet Green' on 1st October. POW! To celebrate the upcoming release, we're bringing you the first TWO tracks from the EP right here and we thought it would only be fair to have a chat with Dollkraut as well to give us an insight into his world;

Your LP last year ‘Schimanski’s Black Lullabies’ sounded like it had been unearthed from a hardened collector’s dusty basement. There’s an amazing warmth in the tone you’ve rendered and you’re obviously an advocate of analogue recording gear. Can you tell us a bit about your studio and your favourite pieces of equipment?

I moved my studio to an old former office building, where I have plenty of space to expand the gear collection. It's like a camper van addiction, you never have enough… The piece of gear I've owned for a while, and that has a important impact on my sound, is my main mixing desk. A Soundcraft Series 1600. This desk, also known as the 'Tom Petty' desk as there were some of his records mixed on one of these… It's pretty rock & roll, a little noisy but that's just charming.

Your good friend Patrick Marsman launched Charlois nearly a year ago – launching the label with your Blackbox EP. How much influence have you had over the direction of the label? What can we expect from Charlois over the coming year?

Patrick wanted Charlois to be weird, obscure, out of the box thinking and a bit more musically sounding. Other than that there wasn't much more to tell about the direction but I liked the sound of that and went down to the studio. The result fitted quite well I think.

Expect more stuff from great minds like Roberto Auser and Timothy J. Fairplay.

Patrick Marsman mentioned in an interview that you initially planned to run Pinkman together – is there any reason you chose not to?

After a few drinks we just told each other, let's do what we're good at. I think we have a clear division of tasks right now. All worked out well, he's now running the label on his own, doing a very nice job.

The new release on Charlois is Hornet Green (due out October 5th). There’s an obvious nod to comic books in the titles of a couple of the tracks (Bruce Wayne, Hornet Green/Green Hornet) – how interested in comic book culture are you? Have you got a collection?

Actually, it hit me when I watched the Batman series from the 60s. That episode where both dynamic duos end up in a stamp factory… I just love the cheesyness and offcourse that good old 'Next week bumper' voice William Dozier.

Your music has quite a present Ennio Morricone feel to it and he must be quite an influence. Do you remember which film you first came across his music? Could you give us your five favourite pieces by him?

Actually, it wasn't really Morricone himself but his assistants like Bruno Nicolai or someone like Stelvio Cipriani, and not to forget the De Angelis brothers with their low budget movie scores. They maybe composed even better pieces than Ennio… Try these;

G&M De Angelis – 'Goodbye & Amen' Ost
G&M De Angelis – 'Milano Trema' Ost
Stelvio Cipriani – 'Mark II Poliziotto' Ost
Francois Roubaix – 'La Scoumoune' Ost
Karl Heinz Schaefer – 'Les Gants Blanc Du Diable' Ost

Morricone said 'a good score can’t save a bad film'. What do you think?

It can. I watched 'Goodbye & Amen' around 60 times now, never gets boring…

You’ve mentioned that John Barry was a big influence on your work too – who else do you hold up as having educated you musically?

Could have been my father. He listened to a lot of records when I was young and I remembered he played a harmonica very well. Talking about some Ennio Morricone 'spaghetti western' influences, there you have it…

What about favourite directors? I can imagine your music soundtracking a lot of Giallo Horror or 70s psychological thrillers – what are the best you’ve seen?

There are a few, like Guy Hamilton and Terence young who did a view classic bond movies. As said before I'd go for 'Goodbye & Amen' (1977), or 'The Ipcress File' (1965) with Michael Caine which contains some psychological, cold war, spymovie action!

Amsterdam seems to have had a firm grip on the music world for a while now, Rush Hour and Redlight Radio, Dekmantel and ADE. How do you feel the city has changed? 

I think all parties mentioned can be stated as very important, but at the same time some of these organisations grow very fast. Personally I do like the Redlight Radio/Records approach. They don't take themselves too serious and selling good records at the same time. Better than spending money on hookers, but you could try both when you're there…

What can we expect to see/hear from you in the remainder of 2015?

Expect some band action. Next to DJ-ing I've put up a live band with a bass player and a drummer. We did Lowlands last August and next up is Nachtiville and some more venues this year. 
A new 7inch coming up under a new AKA called 'De Ambassade', synth/wave kinda project. Maybe collaborate with Steffi for her label Klakson and I'm planning a new album for 2016. 

Hornet Green is out on 1st October via Charlois.