Harlem Electronics interview: ‘Music-making is instinctual and exists on a semi-conscious level’
Harlem Electronics
Johan Skugge and Martin Thomasson founded Harlem Electronics in the early years of the new millennium. After a few years apart, they reunited — and you could say, they became stronger than ever. In 2021, they released the album “Bait”, followed this year by “Cage”. Both LPs were released on Veyl, a label with a keen ear for original Electro projects. Harlem Electronics delivers a form of Minimal-EBM with a distinct, personal twist, resulting in a truly brilliant record. Their sound feels like future-oriented EBM — and it completely won me over. I discussed it with Martin Thomasson. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)
Q: The origins of Harlem Electronics date back quite a long time, and at some point, the project was on hiatus for several years while you both actively worked on other projects. Can you summarize the key moments of this journey and what ultimately brought you back to Harlem Electronics?
Martin: The first iteration of Harlem ran from 2004 to 2011. After that, we did a lot on our own—Johan started his Hidden Operator project (a digital dub style somewhat like Richard H. Kirk’s Sandoz), and I worked on a Leftfield Disco project called Jackpot, which released a couple of 12” records on Permanent Vacation and RVNG INTL. We also released a 12” under the name Arab League in 2012, which sounds a bit like the current Harlem.
We were asked to play live in 2019. A new generation of listeners had discovered our first album from the early 2000s. Instead of performing the old tracks, we started writing new music that reflected where our tastes and minds were at the time. Those tracks ended up on ”Bait”, released by Veyl in 2021.
Q: A lot has undoubtedly changed between the time you first started Harlem Electronics and today. As musicians and individuals, you’ve also grown older and gained more experience. How do you reflect on those evolutions and changes? What aspects of your early days in music do you still recognize in your work today?
Martin: Good question. I think allowing mistakes and a bit of wildness to exist in the mix is something we’ve carried with us since we started. Even though we’re more skilled at producing today, we’ve gained enough experience to know when to wrap up our work so it doesn’t become too polished. We like to keep it a little rough, visceral, and a bit stupid.
Q: This year, you released your new album “Cage”. What is the concept behind this work, and how did “Cage” come to life? Can you walk us through the different stages of its creation?
Martin: Well, it’s a bit hard to assess and truly understand one’s own work. Music-making is instinctual and exists on a semi-conscious level, at least for me. Our process tends to start with one or two tracks that we discover share commonalities, and then we build from there. We try not to be too conceptual about it and just work until we have about 12 or 13 tracks. That’s when we begin to analyze what we’ve done and recognize patterns that help us group the tracks together.
In retrospect, I can see that “Cage” was an attempt to bridge our love for slower rhythms—whether it’s New-Beat, Hip-Hop, early Swans, African Electronic music, or my personal favorite, Latin freestyle. The only concept I had on a more philosophical level was the sense of being caged in a cultural climate powered by tech capitalism and defined by temporal flatness, where anything perceived as unpredictable—or ’too alive’, for that matter —must be tracked, removed and kept in check.
Q: I indeed noticed a range of influences on this album that could perhaps be described as Minimal-EBM. What inspired you during the songwriting and production process, both musically and lyrically?
Martin: Always Liaisons Dangereuses because their album is like a capsule of a time when the future of music was positively uncertain. We were also inspired by Memphis Hip-Hop, especially Three 6 Mafia. The sparse, poetical concreteness of Michael Gira’s lyrics was an inspiration as well. Off-season casinos exerted some kind of fascination on the vibe of the record. Jean Genet’s books and Kathy Acker’s writing on bodybuilding also factored into the world of the album.
Q: “Cage” feels like an incredibly mature and professional production. Could you share some technical details about the making of the album? I’m particularly interested in aspects such as the studio setup, equipment, recording process, mixing, and mastering.
Martin: We take a kind of Hip-Hop approach, using our MPC and SP404 samplers as instruments. This, combined with software tools, a lot of effects, and hardware synths like the SH-101 and drum machines, forms our process. The album was mastered by Veyl’s Thomas Fererio, who knows exactly what we are and can heighten and intensify our sound so that it hits hard and right.
Q: What are your plans for the rest of the year? Are there any live performances, new projects, remixes, or video clips in the works?
Martin: Yes, we keep ourselves busy all the time (lol). There are some exciting international live dates yet to be confirmed, and we are working on a new 5-6 track EP, hopefully out by the end of the year. Johan and I now live about 500 meters from each other in Stockholm, so it’s easy to meet up at each other’s home studios.
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