Its sound preceded drum-n-bass, its videos preceded MTV’s “Amp,” and its trickery preceded KLF, Negativland and FSOL. With tracks like “Beat Box,” “Close,” and “Moments In Love,” the Art Of Nose was continually ahead of the game.
They’ve done it again, intending to provide another puzzle piece to electronica... Claude Debussy.

DJ Times spoke with Trevor Horn, member of Art Of Noise and founder of Europe’s ZTT Records, about how Claude Debussy pre-dated electronics. As a producer, Horn has sampled Debussy on tracks like the Pet Shop Boys’ “Left To My Own Devices” and Marc Almond’s cover of “The Days Of Pearly Spencer.”
Now Horn can watch as Debussy is reprazented by Rakim and remixed by Roni Size on AON’s new album, The Seduction Of Claude Debussy (Universal). The Seduction... is an extraordinary, delightful sonic history lesson, weaving the work of the 19th-century genius with modern electronics. It proves the long-dead Debussy might be the next big thing.

DJ Times: How does Debussy apply to DJs and electronic music, exactly? It seems to me that Debussy will catch DJs a little off guard.
Horn: To me, there’s a direct connection between Debussy and what kids do with programming these days. In a lot of modern dance records, things that are going on harmonically are quite fascinating – great discords, major triads moved up a tone at a time, music being sort of…torn apart. Debussy was considered to be the person that did that exactly 100 years ago. Also, the way you’ll find a DJ mixing part of a song on top of the wrong record, some of the notes clash with the chords, and the chords don’t work in the way you’re accustomed to hearing them work. It’s like hearing music torn apart. He started that, he really did.

DJ Times: At Universal, did anyone ever say, “What in the hell is this?” Because I’d imagine it would take a little bit of explaining.
Horn: It doesn’t really work like that. We made the record that we wanted to make. We’ve tried to be very aware of the marketplace, but at the same time, we felt we couldn’t do another random sampling record, because none of us would be very interested in that. And I love drum-n-bass music, but I’ve gotten irritated with how it never goes anywhere. It starts, and it stops, and it doesn’t have any point, or any drama in it.

DJ Times: I think people were expecting you to do something quite different. And you’ve certainly done that...
Horn: Have you decided whether you like it yet?

DJ Times: I do like it, but I haven’t decided how to play it for people.
Horn: You can always turn it down and have it as a backdrop, really. I like it like that. It’s also great to drive to.

DJ Times: Is there somehow a newfound interest in classical in the U.K.?
Horn: It’s a cool thing. I see more and more over here of electronic people using string sections, using classical stuff, just as well as anything else – the field is wide open. We wanted to do something that had some kind of content. If I’m going to have to listen to an album over and over again, it’s going to have to be something I want to listen to over and over again. I still love listening to this album; I still love certain aspects. So, what did people expect? More banging and crashing? More smart-aleck tricks? Well, we’ll get to those on the tour...

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