Theirs for the taking: dOP hangs out. Photo by Myqua.

Parisian trio dOP doesn’t DJ, rarely spends time in clubs, prefers physical instruments to VSTs, and writes “songs,” not “tracks.” Perhaps their outsiders’ instincts are exactly why Damien Vandesande, Jonathan “Jo” Illel and Clement Zemstov are poised on the cutting edge of house/techno, though their songs barely fit those genres. With releases spread across Milnor Modern, Circus Company and Orac Records so far, the group has exhibited the inventiveness to meld disparate sounds (rap, blues, free jazz, Malian kora, house, experimental pop are a few) into oddly stirring, funky packages with only a modicum of concern for a stylistic classification or hapless DJs. Damien was kind enough to answer a few questions about the group’s origins, their techno education and offer some inspiring words to burgeoning producers. dOP also recorded an exclusive mix for the Little White Earbuds podcast series  which perfectly captures the trio’s expansive taste — the first they’ve ever done. Tracklisting after the interview.

LWE Podcast 02: dOP (62:10)

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Please tell me how dOP started and a little about each member.

Damien Vandesande: We have known each other for 20 years now. We started our first band together in 1994 for the “Music Day” in France. We were doing Rock ‘n roll covers with a very strange formation. Clement was on the drums (only a snare and bass drum), Jo [Jonathan Illel] was singing, and I was on the alto saxophone. The fourth member, Roman, was playing the guitar but he died suddenly, so we stopped this band (it’s why we never use guitar in our music). So now we’re three. But we didn’t start dOP a long time ago; electronic music is very fresh for us.

Have you been in bands before dOP? Have your past experiences influenced the music you make as dOP?

For sure, we have been in many bands before in the last 10 years, but I think you don’t know any of them. Some local jazz, hip hop and reggae bands. It influenced us a lot. But it also made us decide to stop making some of those styles.

Some of your promo pictures have you surrounded by music gear. Are you guys gear nerds? What are your favorite pieces of musical equipment?

No, we hate equipment and we don’t know anything about it. We’re still searching how to plug the midi. So we made those pictures to make people believe that we have a lot equipment, but nothing is ours. Our favorites are a basic microphone, a computer (Apple for sure) and a cable to go between the microphone and the computer.

What is dOP trying to convey through its music? When you’re composing and recording, what are you feeling? What are you trying to make the listener feel?

MAKE LOVE. But when we’re working, you can find all the different human emotions. We work a lot, we’re in the studio every day, so sometimes we’re happy, speed, sad, hungry, etc. We try to make something different every time, no recipes.

Please tell me about your songwriting process. Does the group always write together or apart or some variation of the two?

We’re working all together, sometimes, one of us stays alone at night to continue the work, but we’re most of the time together. For the voice tracks we have to start something before Jo starts to write. We’re working in a very collective way.

I’ve read that free jazz is one of the group’s primary influences, but it seems free jazz is by definition the opposite of dance music: its structure is fluid, its rhythms change frequently… In what ways does free jazz impact your work?

FREEDOM. It’s probably the reason why we feel happy in dance music, even if bpm and grooves are often the same.

I also understand world music, especially Malian music, also has a large influence on your music. What do you take from that sort of music and why?

Malian music is a big influence for us. The root of the blues, if you start to search where it came from, you will stop in Mali. It’s a very traditional country, with a lot of traditional musicians. If you listen to Ali Farka Touré, you will understand what we mean. Plus we grew up in Paris, in a place where you have a lot of people from the Malian diaspora.

I was told you guys took a trip to Bamako. Tell me a little about what you did there and what your experience was like.

The three of us have been in Mali several times. One of our best friends, Toumani Sangare (incredible movie director), went back to live in Bamako, so he invited us to join him and he introduced us to a lot of musicians. We brought our material and started to compose and record with a lot of modern and traditional musicians like Cheick Tidiane Seck, Ali Farka Touré, Sibiri Samake. We’ve made some records for the only company in Mali (Mali K7). We started to learn how to use computers there. It was a great experience for us.

There are not too many groups who integrate “organic” instrumentation and songwriting into house/techno. What led you to try this style? Lots of electronic musicians gets too stuck in technology to move the genre forward. Do you think integrating non-dance influences and instruments into dance music is a way around that?

There are so many ways to compose a track, but for sure we do it more in a “song” way. We’re not good at making pure DJ tools. When we try to make one, we feel it is too boring. It goes to trash. We don’t know plug-ins and midi synths, but we know how to play instruments. We never sample, we play most of the things live, so to keep a lot of organic parts. We have collected instruments for years. And we love to use them — it’s our sound. You can hear many instruments coming back in our tracks. Flutes, horns, percussion, glockenspiel, etc. Plus we share our studio with Nôze, so we can steal their instruments. They have some very good ones. We share with them this idea that dance music can be organic, with real instruments, voices and a classic way of composing. We also feel close to the Thüringen school, too (Freud Am Tanzen, Music Krause and Milnor Modern).

How important is it for your tunes to be playable for DJs? Does dOP DJ?

The first thing is that none of us are a DJ. We never did it and we don’t have anything in common with this culture. So at the beginning, it was very hard for us to understand what was acceptable to DJs. We had a lot of clichés in our mind. The first person to help us understand this was Nicolas Sfintescu of Nôze. So we started going out in clubs, listening to DJs and understanding some rules. He gave us his secret book “The 7 Arts of Techno.” And now, playing more gigs, we start to have more freedom in the way of doing it. But you understand that most of the DJs don’t want to take any risk. We admire DJs who have their own style and don’t play the same 10 tracks.

What specifically can we expect from dOP in the next year or so? Anyone you are looking to collaborate with?

We preparing new EPs for Circus Company, Milnor Modern and Eklo. But you will have to wait for our album. We have some big troubles with the music business. And for sure, we love to collaborate with other artists. We have a new band call THE Armaberokay with our friends from Kassel (Germany); the EP will be out in May on 1X1. And we made a huge collaboration with Cat’z and Dog’z which will be released in September on Mothership. And we will pursue our collaboration with Nôze and Dave Aju.

In the future, we’d like to work with guys like DJ Koze, Claude Von Stroke, Tobias (NSI), Goran Bregovic, Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson. It could be great! Also we’ve met Brian Cares from Berlin who works with the most incredible singer we have heard in a long time, Mister Howard “Fireheart” Katz.

You guys have had an incredible year and have received some big accolades. Do you have any advice for up and coming producers who want to get noticed?

Find a rich girl who loves you very much!

LWE Podcast 02: dOP (62:10)

Tracklist:

01. dOP, “Nature Boys” [soon on Milnor Modern].
02. Ali Farka Touré & Ry Cooder, “Diaraby ” [World Circuit]
03. Hank Jones & Cheick Tidiane Seck, “Fantagué” [Gitanes Jazz]
04. Art Ensemble of Chicago, “Theme de Yo Yo” [Pathé Sessions]
05. Balkan Beat Box, “Bulgarian Chicks” [Essay Recordings]
06. Krause Duo, “Caneopolis” [Music Krause]
07. NSI, “Max Binsky” [Cadenza Records]
08. Nôze, “Childhood Blues” [Get Physical]
09. Brian Care feat. Howard “Fireheart” Katz, “Conclusion” [soon on BAR25]