It’s that time of year when wearing combat boots, ski-goggles and pointing a laser at someone doesn’t mean you’re surrounded by testosterone bros at an urban paintball game (although that’s hot!), it means your surrounded by dusty, crusty ravers and cosmic queens from all corners of the globe at Burning Man.

Now that I’ve been promoted to Editors’ Assistant and I’m not not simply ‘the Dick’ I’ve earned the right to join the annual EVB migration across the desert to celebrate spending no money and ditching the skinny jeans for proto-industrial Mad Max outfits. Yikes!

Come join our crew of dusty, scantily clad boys and celebrate 25 years of desert shenanigans at the East Village Boys soundsystem and laser show (not quite Jean Michel Jarre, but hey!) It’s going to be seven days and nights of chroming laser love! Find us around 9.30 and Genome.

Here’s a taste of what we’ll be listening to as the short bus makes its way to Black Rock City. No doubt I’ll have to climb atop and do a Priscilla turn - an interns work is never done. - Love Dick

Driving To Black Rock City Mix - Dick William [download]

Third Stone From The Sun - Jimi Hendrix / It Was A Good Day - Ice Cube / Better Dub Better - Hard-Fi / Anti-American Graffiti - J Dilla / Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (Vampire Weekend cover) - Hot Chip and Peter Gabriel / Odessa (Junior Boys Remix) - Caribou / Why - Carly Simon / Late Night Tales - Lindstrøm / A Town Called Malice - The Jam / In Between Days - The Cure / It’s Better Than Good Time (Walter Gibbons 12″ Mix) - Gladys Knight / Diamonds (Todd Terje Dub Remix) - Paul Simon / Sound of da Police - KRS-One / Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys /  Wild Boys - Duran Duran / Invert (Parce Que Edit) - Discodeine / Plastic Dreams - Jaydee / Stella - Jam & Spoon

Russell Dean Stone makes great music, he’s unsigned, unforgiving and quite possibly a gay witch. We caught up with him one afternoon on the banks of ‘Old Father Thames’.

Russell photographed for EVB by Jeff Hahn

Richard Welch: You have described your music as “a portal, or a glass elevator, or a megabus to another dimension”. What do you mean? And why a megabus rather than a shortbus?

Russell Dean Stone: I think the only way to answer this is by listening to Willy Wonka/Gene Wilder’s rendition of ‘Pure Imagination’ .

Richard: You live in East London, how has its vibrant club and music scene influenced you and your music?

Russell: That’s a difficult question to answer. East London is going through an invasion as it gets rapidly redeveloped as the trendy part of London. Undoubtedly, growing up in London generally has been an incredible influence on me, working for magazines like Sleazenation fulfilled my teenage dreams growing up reading The Face and wanting to be part of that world. Then being part of the Kash Point club scene, meeting people like Richard LaRue, Nobra, Matthew Stone, etc. I don’t want to be pigeonholed as an East London musician though, that wouldn’t feel right. I’m not part of any scene. I’m in love with London, but in terms of my music I don’t feel like that comes from geography, it comes from inside me and the people I work with. I want to build my own world with my work.

Richard: Like many musicians collaboration is central to your ethos, can you explain why it is so important to you?

Russell: I don’t want to do everything myself, or I should say by myself. Collaborating is a way to combat being alone. Besides, I’ve been lucky enough in my life to be acquainted with some very talented individuals. My dream is to work with them all and build my own Haus of Stone.

Russell Dean Stone (feat. Rat Scabies) – ‘Leather’
A reimagining of ‘Mack the Knife’, inspired by Al Pacino in Cruising

Russell Dean Stone – ‘Summer Song’

Richard: Does your fashion background inform what you do or have you exorcised those demons?

Russell: I have never been interested in fashion, I am interested in style. Style doesn’t require money it requires taste. This New Year I threw out all the color from my wardrobe and gave it away in an act of teenage rebellion. That I think was definitely exorcising past demons. Now there is only black.

Richard: You recently recorded a track, ‘Leather’, with Rat Scabies of The Damned on drums - do you think we need more musicians who use a stage name?

Russell: No! That’s partly why I decided to use my real name to perform under. I was tired of the endless ludicrous band names. My work is me and it’s my life and it’s all the time. It’s not a stage persona. I don’t relate to other musicians or artists who need to pretend to be someone else. I don’t want an alter ego. Rat, however, is a living legend and in my opinion a true contender for the title of Greatest Living Drummer. If anyone has the pleasure of meeting him I suggest they swiftly buy him a Guinness.

Richard: What are some of the more obscure tools you’re using to make music?

Russell: I don’t think that in terms of what my band and I have been playing, that we’ve been doing anything particularly exotic. I think the obscure tools maybe come in the form of the inspiration for the music, which I would say, for me at least, are film and poetry. I’m a complete cinema junky and it’s a real source of inspiration for me. Dario Argento and British ‘Kitchen Sink’ films are flavor of the month: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Taste of Honey, Made in Britain. As for poetry, I go to bed with Billy Childish and Sylvia Plath regularly.

Richard: Jeff, who shot you for this interview, said you were lovely and down-to-earth, yet your photos look like you’re not one to mess with. Which is more true?

Russell: Merci beaucoup! It is a little known fact that I’m actually a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Richard: It would seem you’re very interested in the occult. Where did your interest start, and do you practice witchcraft?

Russell: It’s more of a spiritual and aesthetic affiliation. In London right now there is definitely a scene that is, stylistically speaking, into the occult, mysticism, science fiction, goth. I’m turned on by Kenneth Anger’s work, Egyptian legends and I read New Scientist magazine religiously. Spiritually speaking, the occult and the writing of Aleister Crowley definitely interests me. A lot of what he said makes sense. On a really basic level it’s about empowerment, change, free will. But it’s a fascination for me - I’m not a witch.

Richard: You like to use the word magick over magic. What’s the difference for you?

Russell: Magick is essentially defined as an act of intentional change, no matter how small or mundane that might be, and I am all for change!

Richard: S or M?

Russell: Sha Man

Richard: What are you currently working on?

Russell: Today I finished my first video, directed by Rory DCS and shot by Balthazar Klarwein, to accompany my song ‘Lucifer Rising’. The song itself is an obvious reference to Kenneth Anger’s film of the same name, and the video is a sort of dream/love letter to Anger, as well as 70s horror movies, and the inspiration his work has been to me.

2010 is the year that the legendary Glastonbury festival came out. As a way of celebrating their 40th year they created Block 9 a whole field of gay party nonsense. It housed club installations The NYC Downlow and London Underground, both by radical set designers Gideon Berger and Stephen Gallagher of Block 9. The weather and moods of the revelers were stunning. A perfect English summer, no rain, no mud. The festival had a great sense of warmth, energy and love about itself. At night Horse Meat Disco rocked it in the NYC Downlow tent. GutterSlut and Hot Boy Dancing Spot heated up the Vogue Fabrics tent. Horny trannies, performance artists, club kids, bears, geeks and freaks of all sexual perversions mixed and matched and partied! Some dropped like flies in the morning heat, a field of ‘trannies unplugged’ was a unique sight I never witnessed but wish I had.
Lovebox Festival in London was equally special. It has become a must do event on the bristling summer calendar. Set in Victoria Park, London’s oldest public park (and one of its most beautiful, too), it felt like back at Block 9 in Glastonbury, this time ‘London edition’. The Festival was extended by an extra day, the first time since its interception seven years ago. Sunday was ‘gay day’, and just like in Glastonbury’s Block 9, the crowd was a mix of all of the above.

When I first heard the music of Air France I felt high. High in that way you feel before a big night out. It’s that heady mixture of anticipation, trepidation and the knowledge you will soon be laughing, dancing, being cheeky (on all levels), and generally not caring about a thing. Feeling like that I knew I had to do a little more digging, the more I heard the more I liked. We first connected  back in mid-2009, sporadically exchanging nonsense and trying to work out when we could get together and chat. It took over nine months but finally they pried themselves away from their studio in Gothenberg, Sweden, and over a bottle of rosé I threw Henrik and Joel some questions.

Air France photographed for EVB by Ida Lindström 

Richard Welch: Hi. So, how did you arrive at Air France as the name for your band?

Henrik Markstedt: Umm, I’m not really sure, it was Joel’s idea.

Joel Karlsson: We hadn’t decided on a name for the band, and the first EP was going to be pressed and, you know, actually, I can’t remember, but it ended up on the record!

Richard: Have you ever traveled on Air France?

Joel: Yes, it was really good, they serve fine wine.

Richard: You boys met at school in Gothenburg, is that correct?

Henrik: Yes, in the equivalent of high school I guess. We were classmates and just became close friends. We started a band with some other kids, but it was a guitar band. It was quite different from the music we make today.

Richard: How did you move from guitars to electronics?

Henrik: We realized we couldn’t play the guitar!

Richard: What electronic music first inspired you?

Henrik: Saint Etienne, New Order - that was like 15 years ago.

Air France - Collapsing at your Doorstep

Richard: Are you guys together - are you a couple?

Henrik: No we’re straight. It’s funny because when we were last in America many people thought we were together. Maybe it’s because we look like we should be a couple?

Richard: Yeah you do look like a little couple-y, maybe that’s why?

Henrik: When we went to Moscow, people thought we were twins! Gay twins!

Richard: You have to be careful in Russia, it’s not the safest country to be gay!

Joel: We heard we are quite big with the ‘gays’ in America. It’s not the same in Sweden - our biggest fans are people that are very…

Richard: …very straight?

Henrik: Yes. Very, very macho straight people!

Richard: In other words, gay! I think, like politics sexuality is a spectrum, a circle, where opposite ends of the spectrum are actually not so far away from their polar opposite.

Henrik: Yes , I think that’s true.

Richard: Maybe the reason you are popular with gay audiences, despite your Swedish charm and looks, is that your music has a positive and carefree nature. I’d call it Balearic pop?

[Editor’s note: Yes, we know that not all gays are into being positive or carefree, and they don’t have to be charming and attractive… but… you know where we’re coming from, WE HOPE!]

Henrik: Well, we’re happy if it’s because of those qualities.

Richard: Your music has been described as post-rave bliss, nu-Balearic and perfect pop. How do you guys describe it?

Henrik: We take it with a pinch of salt. We never set out to do a Balearic record, or whatever.

Joel: When people started calling it Balearic, we Googled it and still don’t quite know why it is!

Henrik: We just wanted to make the record for a long time and that is how it ended up sounding.

Richard: Sweden has produced quite a few bands that have a similar style of music. Bands like The Tough Alliance, El Pero Del Mar, Studio, jj and CEO. Do you think there’s a reason for that, or is it just a coincidence?

Henrik: I guess there’s a million reasons you can come up with about why… um… we’ve never felt like we are part of a scene here. I wouldn’t say there’s a movement. I guess some people influence other people, as always.

Richard: So you don’t all hang out in the same places?

Henrik: Oh god no! We’re at work all day.

Richard: What do you do?

Joel: Right now we’re recording our new album, and we do that about five hours a day, and then we go to our part-time jobs. I’m a market researcher.

Henrik: He talks to people who have rented a car and asks then if they are happy!

Richard: Despite the fact that Sweden obviously has great customer service it’s hardly famous for its warm weather or its beaches. Yet your music is reminiscent of blistering  sun-kissed days… which I guess is where the Balearic tag comes from. Where does that feeling come from?

Air France - No Excuses

Henrik: I think its a misconception that Sweden is quite cold, right now it’s 70 degrees out, we’re sitting on the lawn having a glass of wine…

Richard: …yeah, right!

Henrik: We don’t have many beaches but we have cliffs that are very smooth and we like to lie on them. Of course it’s not as warm as the Mediterranean. I don’t know where our longing for warmer places comes from. I’ve talked about this with my therapist - she can’t give me any medicine, but she listens. And she just goes on about my childhood, Freudian I think. Its odd because I do yearn to escape but at the same time I love it here in Sweden.

Richard: Have you thought of getting on a plane and checking the world out?

Henrik: Actually neither of us really like flying, which is weird when you consider we’re called Air France.

Richard: Your debut album ‘No Way Down’, came out in 2008, and was very well received. How has it sold, and where’s the weirdest place you’ve found you have fans?

Henrik: Well it’s not such a weird place, but when the album came out this guy from America from a magazine called The New Yorker contacted us and said they wanted to review it, they liked it… well… I didn’t know what The New Yorker was and so I didn’t send them a copy! We of course now know it’s a great magazine, and we read it now… oh well.

We also have a lot of fans in Mexico, and we can’t understand why! Poland and Mexico are, like, our biggest territories. We went to Warsaw last year to do press, etc, and were picked up at the airport by this guy in a rusty Trabant, also known as an old Soviet-era rust bucket. On the way to the hotel he thought it would be fun to drive into a park and show off his hand-break turns in the snow… it really set the tone for the week. A very crazy weird week.

Richard: Was he drunk?

Joel: We hope so!

Richard: So the new album, how’s it going, and what are the release plans?

Henrik: We don’t really do plans, it’s a very slow labor. Progress is being made, but its very slow.

Richard: Is that indicative of the way you work and record?

Joel: Well, It’s all done but we haven’t recorded it yet. It’s done in the head but not on the table, if you know what I mean. To match the sound in ones head with the sounds on a laptop can be hard, but I think we work better under pressure. Maybe we need some more pressure. I’m waiting for it to kick in.

Richard: Who’s head is it in?

Joel: Well, both of our heads, and that’s a problem too because we don’t always have the same thoughts, even though we look like twins and act like a couple.

Richard: Um… yeah, so how do you share the head?

Henrik: It’s hard, very very hard. Of course it’s all about compromise, but more often than not we’re both on the same page.

Richard: When it comes to recording do you have specific roles?

Joel: We usually just sit in front of YouTube and search for hours for something we can steal and get away with. We change stuff so much that it’s not recognizable. It’s more like recycling. If something is good it should be re-used and re-interpreted. To me it’s more fun to do it this way, rather than to learn to play the guitar and play something.

Richard: Can you let us know what the new album is sounding like? How would you describe it?

Henrik: Like something stolen, something blue, something old and something new. Like walking down the aisle, nervous and yet confident that the one you love is waiting at the other end.

Joel: Once we’ve recovered from what we’ve done, I always want to do something that’s a rejection of what we’ve done in the past, partly because I’m so fucking sick of all the obviousness, and too restless to do the same thing all the time. But also because it’s been deeply instilled in me that pop music and everything around it is about daring to push the boundaries, daring to play a bit, and having the courage to challenge. But there’s been times when we’ve been close to finishing a song, and suddenly panicked and thought “fuck, this sounds like Air France, I can’t believe it’s true!” When that happens I just want to give up and go on a long fucking holiday that’s not in Gothenburg. But I guess you have to accept that our souls do not quite understand how our brains are thinking. It’s obviously a slow process.

Air France - Never Content (Friend’s Tropic Thunder Edit)

Richard: Do you have any featured guests?

Henrik: Yes, we do. A few ladies and a few gentlemen. But it’s all very hush-hush. I really want to tell you, because I am very excited about it, but if I did our management would call the cops and have me deported.

Joel: The police will come along and take us for a ride, and when we get home we’re gonna get fried.

Richard: So… what’s the release date?

Joel: The plan is to complete it this summer - we’re getting pressure from our publishers and manager?

Richard: Is it true that you don’t like to do remixes as a rule? Here at the EVB office we love your Saint Etienne remix.

Saint Etienne - Spring (Air France Remix)

Henrik: Ur, we like to do them but we get so many offers and we really don’t have so much time. We need to concentrate on the album, otherwise it will go on forever and we’ll hate the songs, and hate each other! So we concentrate on that, we can’t have too many distractions on the side.

Richard: Do you plan on going live, as a band?

Henrik: Ah. We always say “yes, eventually” on this question. But what I want to know is, exactly when does this “eventually” turn to “now”? I wish I had an answer. I really do. Joel?

Joel: Well, it’s become a thing that we do not do concerts, so we should keep it that way. Actually, we would probably just want to go up there on stage and be like “Hello, we are Air France and we are going to fuck you up”, but we don’t know how! None of our favorite artists have been very good live bands, or maybe just too reluctant to set out to make their audience happy. But I’m starting to feel ready, and when I am I’ll just stretch out my arms and love every second of it.

Richard: I remember a while ago you said you don’t DJ, but I recently saw pictures of you DJing in Russia, and you’re about to DJ at PS1.

Henrik: We do actually DJ sometimes. We went to Iceland a few weeks ago, and we’ve played in Chicago and Toronto - we wanted to come to New York but couldn’t afford to fly down, so we are very excited to be playing at PS1. We had a great time in Chicago, we played in this small, scruffy ‘hole in the wall’ club where were supporting our friend Jens Leckman.

Richard: Which artists and bands are you currently most into?

Joel: Oh, this is a difficult one, I have music in my ears from nine in the morning (mostly birds chirping at that time) until I go to bed. I have listened to The Radio Dept’s latest record a lot recently, and when I heard ‘Never Follow Suit’ for the first time I couldn’t tear myself away from it, so I took it to a Gothenburg club that night and stood in a corner and listened to it on my CD Walkman and drank beer all night. I wasn’t invited to the after-party that night.

Right now I’m listening to Wild Nothing’s ‘Chinatown’, Cults’ ‘Go Outisde’, a hip hop song that seems to be called something like ‘Country Shit’, a Scottish group called The Blue Bells, some Caetano Veloso, Korallreven, and thirteen UK garage classics I downloaded the other week. What about you Henrik?

Henrik: Unfortunately, Air France. Jesus Christ, it’s gnawing at me like a hungry cat that wants attention. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. But when I have to shut it all out I listen to stuff like Francis Lai’s Emmanuelle 2 soundtrack. Beautiful and calming music.

Richard: If you could fly anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

Henrik: I would like to see the Maldives before they sink into the ocean.

Joel: Oh, everywhere, but just now, Kentucky, USA, because it’s the birthplace of a funny guy called Paul Wathen. He’s like a brother to me.

Richard:  The next time you come over, we’ll have an EVB party, and you must play live…..?

Joel: Great, we’d love that very much.

Air France  spins a rare  DJ set at PS1 Warm Up Saturday, July 17 (they think they go on around 6:30). Afterwards they’ll be DJing a midnight set at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. We’ll be there enjoying the 20 beers, and the other cheekiness they promised us!

Some of our more avid readers (and that tanned boy who keeps emailing me images of his aroused piercing… yawn, so 1990), will know from one of my mixes of last year that I have a deep love of disco. You certainly wouldn’t ever catch me burning disco records, like all those soulless white dudes did back in ‘79. Surely that whole debacle smacks of racism and homophobia, no?

Anyhow, as you know, I’m in love, so no more negativity from me!

I’m here to let you know about the release of four new double albums in the ‘Disco Discharge‘ series. Don’t let the series name send you running for the clap clinic, these four new collections, titled Diggin’ Deeper, European Connection, Disco Boogie, and Pink Pounders, are sticky only because you want to plat them on rotation. Spanning the ’70s to the mid ’80s, the comps combine well-known classics alongside lost gems.

To give you a bit of a tease, we have an exclusive mix, crafted by the elusive Miss Cheescake just for us, mixing together some of the best cuts from the European Connection discs.

Disco Discharge: European Connection Mix - Miss Cheescake [download]

Burn your ass but never your vinyl!

All images courtesy of Disco Discharge

I’ve been known for being a little footloose and fancy-free over the last few years - it’s kinda been my raison d’etre, and I’ve loved every night and morning of it. I mean why not hop on the seaplane, play disco at the Pines and give a little up for the pleasure. Hell, I was only 22, but now that I’m a gentleman of 24, (and nearing the inevitable midlife crisis) I’m beginning to appreciate the finer things in life - Queen olives, Comme des Garçons candles (so gay), scotch, conversation, and… to put it blunty… love. There I’ve said it. Yes I’ve fallen in love. Well, I recently found myself making a mixtape of music for, lets call him D, since we’ve been together over three weeks now. I’m so glowing that I thought I’d spread the love a little further to you, my EVB friends.

It’s summer, so bring out some love! - Love, Dick

PS: I’m still up for a little seaplane action, of course.

EVB Summer Love Mix - Dick William [download]

Summer Madness - Kool & The Gang / Just A Little Lovin - Dusty Springfield / Day Dreaming - Aretha Franklin / To Love Somebody - Dara Puspita / Tornado - Jónsi / See Through Love - Arthur Russell / Lover Of Mine - Beach House / Journey (Memory Tapes Version) - Matt Van Schie / Time For Us All To Love - Bullion / When Love Breaks Down - Prefab Sprout / I Hate Hate - Razzy / Sowing The Seeds Of Love - Tears For Fears / Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Andrew Weatherall Remix) - Saint Etienne / You Got The Love - Candi Staton