Recloose: Tonight at YGYS

Legendary techno producer Carl Craig enjoys a good rye sandwich. At least, he did until a Detroit deli assistant and aspiring DJ named Matthew Chicoine, aka Recloose, slipped a demo CD into his lunchtime snack one day in 1997. Luckily, Craig liked the demo, and the plucky Recloose got his break in music as a result. Blending house, techno, hip-hop and other styles as he once mixed sandwich fillings, Recloose now lives in Auckland and has just released his third studio album. He stops off in Beijing this month. Ahead of his arrival, we chatted with him about Detroit, strange shellfish and why a DJ doesn’t need vinyl anymore.

You can see Recloose tonight (Apr 4) at Yugong Yishan, price on the door is RMB 100. Advance tickets priced RMB 80 are available from NLGX (6404 8088, www.nlgx.com).

tbj: Do you think your music sounds more like it's American or Kiwi?

Recloose: Well, I don’t play a lot of Kiwi music, I still mostly play Detroit-derived music. The biggest influence I take from the Kiwi scene is Serato (Scratch Live), which I use now for scratching and mixing. I was using vinyl until about two months ago, then I discovered Serato. It’s phenomenal. You can do a lot of crazy tricks with it, and I’m all about doing crazy tricks.

tbj:Name three musical influences on your DJing style

R: Claude Young, who really influenced my style. He’s kinda hip-hop, kinda house, and that’s what I do. Then Jeff Mills – but that’s old Jeff Mills, not new Jeff Mills. Now he’s become more famous for doing thumping techno tracks, but I’m thinking back in the ‘80s when he used to smash up everything. Finally, I’d say DJ Dez, the DJ from Slum Village. He’s real old-skool. He sums up for me the pinnacle of what I call “touch” – knowing the right time to drop bombs, just effortless. Amazing.

tbj:And three non-musical influences?

R: That’s a hard question. My five-year-old son. Love – I know it sounds corny, but … And vodka!

tbj:You once worked in a deli and gave a demo to legendary producer Carl Craig on a rye sandwich – what made you think of doing that?

R: I wanted to give him my music, but I was too scared to give it to him in person. So I just put it in his sandwich. He called back about three days later to tell me he liked the demo – I had already forgotten what I had done. He thought it was pretty funny.

tbj:Has anyone ever offered you a demo in a similarly unorthodox fashion?

R: Not really actually. Not yet. Maybe in Beijing – a USB stick in a fortune cookie or something!

tbj:If I was going to give you a demo on a sandwich, what type of sandwich would get you in the best mood for listening?

R: Man, I used to be a proper meat-eater, so I would have said a Reuben sandwich. But I stopped eating meat, so I guess it’d have to be a vegetarian sandwich.

tbj:What's the oddest thing that you've ever eaten?

R: Kima. It’s from the ocean, black and spiky. You crack the shell, and it’s kinda chewy. Weird. I’ve only seen it in New Zealand.

tbj:Finally, would you ever do reality TV?

R: No. Hell no! I just don’t need people in my personal business. It’s bad enough with my girlfriend – I don’t need the rest of the world knowing about all the embarrassing things I do!