THROW SOME SHAPES : The Art of Girls of the Internet
Girls of the Internet could have been a dancing contradiction, but the UK project turned collective is admirably centered. Drawing inspirations from party music of all eras, they nod to the past without ever attempting to reproduce it. The video that accompanies their new single Infinite Harmony is just as fluid and colorful as their music. Created with the BAFTA-winning animation director Anushka Naanayakkara, it draws inspiration from such eclectic sources as the artist Len Lye and 1930’s General Post Office adverts. We connected with Girls of the Internet to talk about inspirations, obsessions and the ethics of sampling.
While most people would associate your project with minimal, often synthetic grooves, Infinite Harmony puts warm flourishing strings at the forefront. What inspired this track?
It is probably a little taste of where we’re going. There has always been a lot of live instrumentation in all Girls of the Internet music, but I suppose I’m just getting better at incorporating it. I’ve not been making music long, and I’m only just starting to get better at translating what’s in my head into the DAW. I like to treat instruments like samples - I tend to cut and loop live instrumentation up to get that house style loopy-disco feeling. There are often much more live-sounding early versions of the tracks, which I hack up.
We’ll always keep a strong element of that electronic influence in our music - you’ll never see a drummer playing over a backing track if you see us live. The music starts with a drum machine, and it always will.
What were your desires and influences when you made the Infinite Harmony video? What was it like to work with Anushka Naanayakkara?
Well, my initial idea was something very different - which was completely ridiculous and probably totally unrealistic. Nush actually approached me after hearing the track with this Len Lye-influenced concept, which really fit the music, so we went with it. It’s all been done from quarantine too, so process wise, it was something she needed to be able to do at home, alone. That drove the idea to a point, and I love that. Limitations push creative ideas. Nush was a pleasure to work with - such a sweetheart!
You proudly produce your music from scratch, without the help of samples. Yet, your Samplers & Drum Machines Mixtape series prove that you can also be a sample whisperer. What are the advantages of working with samples and without them?
Well, I never planned to release any music with samples. SYRUP, musically, was made at the same time I made When U Go, but getting vocals together can take forever. I put a couple of singles out using some vocals I had lying around while I was still getting everything together for SYRUP, but it was still a way off. I just started messing with some samples out of boredom, just as some fun DJ tools for me to play. I just put them out on a whim, and people seemed to love them. I’m really glad I did release them, because I think it won us more fans on the run up to the album.
I love sample-based music, but I think it’s not something we should be relying on anymore. It defined the 90’s, and gave us so much incredible music, but we need move forward. Also, I think it’s potentially very problematic; a white person who is constantly sampling, and profiting from, black music.
As an artist, Music is a gift - which you need to give as well as take. Sampling to me just feels like taking, it’s very 1 sided. I want to write and perform my own music, because I want to contribute to music as a whole. I just think if you’re exclusively sampling other people’s music, you’re just taking and not giving. There is a time and place for sampling and edits - we’ll always be bashing these tracks out in the clubs, and there will occasionally be a track which gets big from that. That’s great, but I’m keep pushing things forward, not keeping sampling 70’s loops or rave stabs. We should be celebrating these classic records, and we can keep them alive with what we DJ with, even if we’re re-sampling and whacking new beats under them, but to take chunks of other people’s music and claim it as your own artistry is something we really need to start moving beyond.
When I work with singers and musicians, I have a choice to whose voices I want to amplify, and anything we do is uniquely ours, and an expression of our thoughts and feelings. I take great pride in working with people of varying genders, ethnicities and sexual identities. If Girls of the Internet was straight, cis white men, it would have a totally different energy, and probably wouldn’t be something I would be too interested in. Girls of the Internet the band is a collective of people, which I want to be as diverse as possible. We’re living in pivotal and important times at the moment, not only with Black Lives Matter but also for queer people, and I want our music to be an expression of that.
Is there a piece of gear that really inspires you at the moment?
Most Girls of the Internet music is essentially a drum machine, a bass guitar, and a Rhodes piano, and that’s probably not changing anytime soon. There are some great cheap synths about at the moment - Korg Monologue & Minilogue are so amazing and are shockingly cheap for what you’re getting. I’m not rich enough to get any Dave Smith stuff, but so many companies are putting out so many great hardware instruments anybody can afford.
The production setup is basically recording vocals, bass, drum machines, synths, piano, and feed it into Ableton. It’s nothing too crazy!
What are your current musical obsessions?
I have been digging into Luther Vandross’ career as a producer - he’s obviously massively known as a singer, but he’s such an incredibly talented producer and arranger. The stuff he did with Aretha is insane. Listening to so much Metro Area right now - that album is just so perfect. I didn’t get it at the time, but I’m obsessed now. I’m a little obsessed with 60’s bands making disco records in the ’70s and ’80s; The Stylistics, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, there are so many great ones. Even the Rolling Stones made their best music after filling up on cocaine and doing some questionable shit at Studio 54.
I’m listening to a lot of Roy Ayers for the first time in a few years - which has influenced what we did with the first Mumpers project (which you should go and check out - it’s out very soon). I love Roy as a producer too, with Sylvia Striplin & Eighties Ladies - which is where I punched our name from. It may shock you to hear I listen to Paul McCartney & Wings almost daily. He had the most interesting career out of all of them after The Beatles. John Lennon is so overrated - go listen to Arrow Through Me. Be careful though - he has so many wicked tunes, but way more terrible ones. Fatback Band are always getting played. Joshua’s Circulation stuff. Getting into some 80’s brit-funk bits. Sylvester & Patrick Cowley always. Connan Mockasin. Mr. Fingers/Fingers Inc. Also, I can’t stop listening to Johnny Come Home by Fine Young Cannibals.
I made a handy playlist so you don’t need to go and search for stuff.
In your interview with Dancing Astronaut, you called out bad DJs. What are the greatest qualities in a good DJ?
You don’t need to be technically the best DJ in the world to be a great DJ. Listen to Ian Pooley & Daft Punk’s essential mixes - they are not technically great, but they are some of my favourite mixes of all time. It’s about creating and building a vibe, and never letting anything get too stale. I think it’s so important to push yourself, especially with all the technology we have. Don’t be scared of doing things outside of your skillset. Things are so easy now - you can learn to DJ on CDJs in an afternoon. You’d have to practice for months on vinyl turntables to do a decent mix. This is no bad thing, it just means you need to push yourself even harder because things that were once difficult are now really easy.
You’re not special because you can mix 2 records together anymore. I hate when I see DJs endlessly dancing or spending more time fist-pumping and whooping. Fucking mix! It’s your job! If you have time to dance about, you have time to get a 3rd deck on. I love when you see Honey Dijon or somebody take a moment to throw some shapes - but she’s been working the shit out of those decks for the past hour or whatever. I don’t know why people don’t aspire to be nuts DJ’s anymore - when I first started going out, I’d see Derrick May, or DJ Sneak, or Derrick Carter, or DJ Bone or somebody do some insane stuff, which would make me want to go home and practice. I don’t see myself as a great DJ, I just don’t see many DJs who impress me anymore. I feel like people care more about how they look, or how Instagrammable they are, than being a great DJ. I don’t want to hear a track on its own for too long, I get bored. Get the fucking next record on!
What can we look forward to from Girls Of The Internet?
We were in the midst of planning our first full live shows here in the UK, some festival dates, and some little DJ tours of the USA & Asia just as COVID-19 hit, so unfortunately, they probably won’t start happening until 2021 now.
I’m working out an interesting way of doing some kind of performance in a live stream, so watch the socials for that. It’s really difficult to do it with a whole band in different places, but I’ll figure something out.
Our second album Girls FM should be out in November, with various singles coming out before then. The follow-up to Infinite Harmony; ’By My Side’ / ‘Another Side’ will be out very soon!