We're Not Electro

It's been nearly three years since Jens 'Jence' Moelle and Ismail 'Isi' Tüfekçi seemingly ruled the world with their brand of techno-infused electronica showcased on debut LP 'Idealism'.

The duo had already been in high demand since first emerging from Germany in 2004 on the back of well-received releases like 'Idealistic' and 'Zdarlight' on French imprint Kitsune. It was 2007's 'Pogo', however, with its punk-like vocal and driving synths, that really struck a chord with fans around the world and saw their profile rise meteorically almost overnight. Big room remixes for the likes of Daft Punk, Cut Copy, The Presets, Klaxons and The Cure further endeared them to mainstream audiences and their album subsequently enjoyed widespread critical and commercial success. 

Alongside fellow poster boys Justice and the Ed Banger crew, Digitalism were touted as 'next big things' during the electro boom that took Australia - and many other parts of the world - by storm during this period. As Moelle explains from his studio in Hamburg, however, being placed in the electro box never sat well with he and Tüfekçi.

“I would say we're a two-person electronic band; we don't really like the term electro,” he says.

“Electro house … for us sounds a bit cheesy sometimes. It sounds … a bit like Moet champagne, parties and VIP areas. We're into much more than creating only (sic) music for the dancefloor. We're really into singing/ songwriting stuff as well but we still try to combine it with synthesizers, compression. We're basically like a pumped-up electronic garage band; that's how I would see it.”
Many would agree, but as the whining dross of electro thankfully subsided in recent years and impressionable young DJ/ producers instead turned their attention to more quality sounds like dubstep and traditional deep house, Digitalism were seen by many as casualties of a scene they never professed to championing. Moelle explains electro's fading fortunes like this: “Everything gets too much at a certain time and then it drops into something new and people don't want to be part of it anymore,” he says. “When there's too many people following a certain thing people try and do the opposite. Everything goes in waves.”
Right he is, for since 2008 Digitalism have retreated from the international spotlight, juggling reduced touring commitments with heavy studio time. Their 'Blitz’ EP - released a few months ago on Kitsuné - is the first single to emerge. Already receiving good play on Triple J, it is main-room madness at its finest, with a killer loop that announces in no uncertain fashion that Digitalism are back.
While some would assume the single aims to build a bridge between the prolific output evident on 'Idealism' and new material to be showcased on Digitalism's anticipated follow-up LP to be released early next year, Moelle maintains it's nothing of the sort.
“It was kind of a very quick decision to release it; that's why it's called ‘Blitz’,” he explains.
“It's a very quick release. It's not meant to be anything more than just a small in-between release. It's not meant to be [a] comeback 12-inch; it's not meant to be linked to anything else coming up later on. It's just the ‘Blitz’ EP.
“Having that in mind, the reactions were very very good. We didn't really expect much from it ... we did some synthesizer tests … in the studio [and] at one point we had this amazing loop we wanted to work on a bit more. We just tried it out over the summer.”
Moelle admits Digitalism's absence from Australia for nearly two years - coupled with a limited production output during that time - may make it a little more difficult for he and Tüfekçi to reconnect with fans. Nevertheless, he promises the wait will be worth it as they have plenty of new material to roadtest while in Australia over the Christmas and New Year period, including at a much-hyped headline appearance at Blah Blah Blah at Riverlife.
“That's why we've not been to Australia for two years … basically [we've] been back home in Hamburg in the studio because we thought it's time to write some new music,” he says.
“That's what we're working on at the minute. We've been testing lots of things over the (European) summer (and) we've stepped into the next phase of production here so there's lots of interesting new stuff to be dropped in our DJ sets when we're over there.”
Products of Germany's infamous music scene, Moelle says current sounds throughout Deutschland reinforce dance music's continuing penetration into the commercial realm, a penetration Digitalism are keen to be a part of, but not at the expense of losing their underground credibility.
“It was always been very big but more underground big if you know what I mean,” he explains of the German scene of yesteryear. “It had a very good reputation … but nothing emerged from the underground or no club hits have turned into chart success. But that's changed now because this pretty in-your-face sound that emerged over the last few years. Even old school people like Armand van Helden and Steve Aoki, they're really big in Germany right now.
“There's the original minimal, deep, techno scenes in Germany and then there's all these young kids, new producers appearing on the surface which is very interesting. There's a big buzz about it.”
As the digital era sees many of their contemporaries experiment with laptop sets and visual elements, Digitalism remain proud purists at heart.
“Sometimes it might make sense to do a set on Ableton or Tractor but we just don't like it,” Moelle say.  
“It might be more convenient but it's not as much fun as actually having to mix. I think there's lots of people DJing now who didn't even have to learn that because you don't have to. You can also DJ without learning how to mix. [Ours is] a very basic DJ set up. We don't bring any laptops or any of that kind of stuff. We want to keep it quite physical and let the music speak. That's where we're coming from.”

Digitalism headline Blah Blah Blah AT RIVERLIFE on Tuesday December 28.