Premiere: Glass Figure - Solid State

Music

On Solid State, Parisian's Glass Figure manage to take a host of familiar motifs – the squiggles of acid techno, the snarl and clank of Electronic Body Music's industrial edges, the driving hats of Chicago house – and forge them into a pulsing beast of a new shape. Lurking between techno and electronic expermientation, the result is hot blooded club music to peak to in a pitch black basement. It's no surprise then, that it's found a perfect home on the Zone label run by techno pioneers Gesaffelstein and The Hacker. To accompany our premiere, we got the duo to reveal their musical memories (*Spoiler* both Whigfield and the Backstreet Boys crop up..) and explain just what a Glass Figure actually is;

WHO ARE YOU?

Julien & Christophe, from Paris, met on MySpace 5 or 6 years ago.

WHERE ARE YOU?

Christophe: In the studio, in Montreuil, France, answering questions, filling out .rtf files.

Julien: In a bar, drinking coffee.

WHAT ARE YOU?

Christophe : I guess we are some kind of human beings.

Julien: What…?

WHAT WOULD BE THE IDEAL SETTING TO LISTEN TO THIS RECORD?

Christophe : 50% in the bed, alone, lights off, 50% in club at a big volume.

Julien: Definitely between 3 & 6 in the morning. Any place.

WHAT SHOULD WE BE WEARING?

Come as you are, it's really up to you.

WHAT’S YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY OF MUSIC?

Julien: Michel Polnareff (a french singer) in the car with my mum, and then Eurodance.

Christophe : Listening to Phil Collins, Yazoo and The Police on cassette tapes with my father in the bedroom.

WHAT WAS THE FIRST ELECTRONIC MUSIC YOU EVER HEARD AND HOW DID IT MAKE YOU FEEL?

Julien: First one was certainly some Eurodance crap like Corona, Whigfield, Dr.Alban, Dj Flex, etc… Around 94. I was used to buying dance compilations in those days but I was 9/10 y.o. so that was ok. And when I was listening to it, I couldn’t stop dancing, that was really beautiful to me at the time, those chords, this shitty dance beat…

Christophe: I'm pretty sure it was Jean-Michel Jarre with my teacher Nadine in primary school, I was 8 or something. Later my mother bought me a Vangelis covers CD.

WHO WOULD YOU SAY WERE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?

Christophe: Drexciya and all the Nebula around, Larry Heard.

Julien: Detroit/Chicago scene definitely. Gerald Donald, Derrick May, Jeff Mills.

WHAT ELSE INFORMS AND INFLUENCES YOUR SOUND?

Julien: Italo disco from the 80s, some Belgium sounds and all the Den Haag scene with guys from Intergalactic FM.

Christophe: I'd say life in general. Feelings too, and of course the machines we use that are a proper source of inspiration, because of the way they work/interact together.

WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

Julien: Uuh… From absolutely nothing.

Christophe : The name Glass Figure actually came up during a random brainstorm in our iTunes player. We both had to pick 6 words we liked at a certain moment and then we made several associations. Then we were made aware that a Paul Johnson release was entitled "Hour Glass Figure". Then we heard about the fact that "Hour Glass Figure" is used to describe a certain type of feminine morphology. Which is a pretty interesting "petrifying coincidence".

WHICH SYNTH DO YOU WISH YOU OWNED IF MONEY WERE NO OBJECT?

Christophe: I would definitely pick a Arp 2600 and it's step sequencer. And a Roland System 100 as well.

Julien: An ARP 2600 I guess, a Solina strings, a Korg Monopoly, and an out of price Lexicon reverb.

WHAT WERE THE FIRST AND LAST RECORDS YOU BOUGHT?

Julien: I think the first was "Best of dance 94" or "Thunderdome IX" on tape and the last one was 'Der Zyklus – Krypton 84' EP.

Christophe : The first record I ever bought is a single CD by the Backstreet Boys, the last one is "Signals on the double" by Retape on the 030303 label.

PREFERRED FORM OF ‘CONSUMING’ MUSIC?

Christophe: At home with a beer and some good cheese.

Julien: Streaming (YouTube, Spotify).

IF THIS RECORD WAS AN EDIBLE THING, WHAT WOULD IT TASTE LIKE?

Christophe: I have no idea at all. A metal biscuit with acid sugar?!

Julien: Something like lamb with a citrus sugar sauce.

IF IT WAS AN ANIMAL WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Christophe: A Crow?

Julien: Lamb with a citrus sugar sauce.

WHAT ARE YOU OBSESSED WITH AT THE MOMENT?

Christophe : I'm starting to get into electronics.. trying to fix my TR808 clone Open Hat Decay, and planning to build a simple monophonic synth from "Music from Outer Space".

Julien: My house: Fix things, paint, build, and all this kind of shit.