Twisted, tribal, deep and narcotic are all words that have been used to describe the music of production partners John Creamer & Stephane K – and for good reason. Since their 2001 breakthrough, the duo’s sound has pushed global clubland and its mixers into the darkside.
The Manhattan-based duo catapulted onto DJ setlists a pair of 2001’s greatest remixes (Satoshi Tomiie’s “Love in Traffic” and Kosheen’s “Hide U”) and the good work has continued on cuts like Iio’s “Rapture,” Sinead O’Connor’s “Troy,” and New Order’s “Crystal.” Their mixes remain staples in sets by global jocks like Danny Tenaglia, John Digweed and Danny Howells, and their signature progressive sound has created a loose template that other remixers (for good or ill) now follow.
Original productions like the ultra-saucy “Fuck Sonnet” spice up the duo’s recent Bedrock mix compilation, which also includes club nuggets from the likes of Tenaglia and Peace Division. We caught up with DJ John Creamer and studio-hound Stephane K to hear their story.
DJ Times: In general, how do you approach your remixes?
Creamer: It really depends on what we get from the parts, if you know what I mean, the original song. Then we start by listening to the vocals.
Stephane K: Yeah, the vocals are so important. At this point we look at original samples, too, and getting together a good loop.
Creamer: Then we kind of just take it from there, figure out the key and start looking for those sounds. I don’t think it’s at all incredibly premeditated, though, but we go in with a formula. We may or may not stick to this formula – it depends. It’s not like I hear a vocal and say, “I know exactly how to treat this one to an end point” every time. Sometimes you do; sometimes you don’t. It’s totally a random thing for me. Sometimes you can vibe with it, work with it emotionally and understand the record essentially. Understanding is what remixing is really about, plus arranging and choosing sounds to fill the space. Finally, when the track is just how we want it, Stephane mixes it down.
DJ Times: You’re well known for your vocal treatments. Do you think this is a fundamental aspect to your success in touching dancefloors?
Creamer: I think at the time that we were doing so many vocals no one else really was, and I think we definitely didn’t follow that verse-chorus-blah-blah-blah. We wanted to build the song into the vocal, so the song and vocals build together. I don’t think Steph or me ever think about a dancefloor when we make a record. I personally don’t! The thing with vocals is you’ve got to get the emotion right. If you have the emotion and the vocal working within the music together, then the rest is easier. If you can’t vibe with the vocal and figure out what the vocalist is trying to do, then the song you make is not gonna work with the vocals, because if you slap a track to a vocal it may not make sense. It may be a dancefloor hit, but emotionally it may not be what the song is about.
DJ Times: Is it true that you hired a prostitute to sample on “Fuck Sonnet”?
Creamer: Actually we were going to, but no, we did something else. I would rather not say what we did, but I didn’t hire anybody, I’ll tell you that! [Laughs.] With Stephane, something devious did happen, but we didn’t hire anyone in.
DJ Times: What’s your favorite piece of studio kit?
Creamer: The new Nord Lead 2 is good. The Virus is good. E-Mu stuff is good and, of course, Novation and a Macintosh. It’s allgood – it’s just how you use it really.
DJ Times: What do you think of the current house-music market?
Creamer: I think it’s slightly over-saturated. There are a lot of bad records out there right now. Many things are too long without any right to be so, but it’s good for those who are successful. There are people who pioneer and there are people who just jump on the bandwagon, and you can tell who is who from their sound. I think that with the technology, a lot of people are making records, but they haven’t developed a personality in the studio.
DJ Times: Any future music plans?
Creamer: Just to make dope records!