METRO AREA - remake:remodel launch @ The Button Factory, Fri 15/2

DownTownSounds

DownTownSounds proudly presents:

Remake:Remodel Launch Night with

METRO AREA (3 HOUR SET)

Button Factory (formerly Temple Bar Music Centre), Curved St, Dublin 2.
Friday February 15th
Doors @ 11 - Admission €15

Between 1998 and 2001, Metro Area (aka Morgan Geist and Darshan Jesrani) won underground acclaim for their series of four self-titled EP’S which wove together their myriad influences –Detroit techno, Chicago house, italo-disco, early 80’s electro-boogie, Eno ambience and New Jersey warmth – into a compelling new musical whole. An eponymous album was culled from the EP’s in 2002, and they haven’t looked back since, smashing it around the globe with their unique remixes and DJ sets, as well as three more 12” chapters in the MA story.

They have also rocked the Bodytonic Tent at Electric Picnic, as well as smashing up the POD last March as part of the Bacardi B-Live series. Their rare sets together are a perfect blend of sexy deep house and techno as well as supercharged disco, electroboogie and italo. Their Environ label continues to showcase the very best in electronic disco, with Morgan Geist’s new project Baby Oliver supplying their ‘PrimeTime (Uptown Express)’ track for LCD Soundsystem’s recent ‘FabricLive’ mix CD. Geist has also released his fabled ‘Unclassics’ mix, a collection of European electro-funk and disco, which showcased a selection of his awesome collection of rare and obscure dancefloor bombs.

We couldn’t think of a better way to make our mark in our new venue than with these boys doing an extended set. They’ll heat you up and melt you down!!

Check out the DownTownSounds interview with Morgan Geist

http://www.downtownsounds.org
http://www.environrecords.com

Remake:Remodel - 3rd Friday of every month

DownTownSounds

right, we're offering reduced admission/gueslist for the first 10 people to email info@downtownsounds. (please put "metro area" in the subject line)

also, check out our exclusive downtownsounds interview with morgan geist:

[Il Pablito]Ok, so if you could tell me first off about your formative musical influences and early musical memories before you heard house and techno - you can hear from the MA sound that you're a child of the 80's!

[Morgan Geist]My brother and sister – 10 and 9 years older than I – schooled me initially. My brother was into classic and progressive rock (genres I’ve always loved and simple cannot BELIEVE are now considered acceptable or even hip by younger DJs..it’ll pass, I’m sure) and my sister was into “party music” - Rick James, B-52s, Devo, etc. I quickly became a new wave kid in my teens, listening to a lot of awful techno pop (with a few gems, like New Order, Ultravox, Yaz). My mid- to late-teens and early college also included lots of bad industrial dance music (Wax Trax, Nettwerk) which again had some absolutely brilliant bits (early Meat Beat on Sweatbox, and Severed Heads, one of the most influential groups for me and the guy who initially convinced me to send out demos). The whole time I was down with hip-hop, especially the old stuff you’d hear on the radio, like UTFO, DMC, Whodini, Roxanne, and poppier stuff like Beasties, LL, Eric B and Rakim, then later Public Enemy was pretty huge for me, plus Hindi soundtracks and jazz. I’d love to say I was into Detroit techno in high school but it was just a coincidence: Inner City was huge in New Jersey, “Big Fun,” “Good Life.” I got into 808 State too.


[Il Pablito]And now tell me a little about how you discovered house and techno music - the first records and producers that really caught your attention

[Morgan Geist]Dan Curtin schooled me. I loved almost everything from Detroit, especially Transmat, UR, Carl Craig, Juan Atkins, Kenney Larkin, all that stuff. I also loved trax from Chicago – stuff on Relief and Dance Mania. I used to play stuff like Dj Deeon with Kraftwerk “Numbers” underneath at my college disco and everyone would run off the floor. fu©k ‘em.


[Il Pablito]From there you got into producing and releasing stuff on dan curtin's label - can you tell me a little about working with him? for Metro Area fans out there who haven't heard any of that stuff, can you describe it a little bit?

[Morgan Geist]Dan was a massive influence. I studied his records and people said my early stuff sounded a lot like him, but I used no samples and he used loads of samples, sort of like Carl Craig. My stuff was super-clean, all 808, 909, pads, bass, all Roland stuff. Dan’s early stuff was more reckless and out-there. Brilliant. I feel really fortunate to have had him as my techno mentor.


[Il Pablito]I've seen darshan talking about the move he made from listening to the classic early 90's stuff on strictly rhythm and labels like that to beginning to collect old disco 12 inches - when did you start to make this transition yourself?

[Morgan Geist]Dar and I met around the same time in our musical evolutions...we were both getting into classics and disco and boogie. Actually, boogie first. Our record collections complemented each other’s ... he had all the Chicago house stuff, I had all the Detroit techno stuff, so a lot of the same producers but on different labels. We started hanging and digging together. I think I really got into it near maybe ‘97 or ‘98...when I decided I wanted to sample less and try to understand how records were actually made.


[Il Pablito]Record collecting is obviously a big part of your musical make up - from sample sourcing to the whole 'Unclassics' thing - when did you start to collect the italo/euro stuff? did you ever foresee how sought after and just so damn hip all this stuff would eventually become?

[Morgan Geist]I was a late bloomer. DJ I-F introduced most people in my world to italo-disco. I did know some from radio and club...like “Transdance” (which is UK) and Bo Boss were records I heard on NYC’s KISS FM. I had tapes of the stuff and had no idea what it was. I remember Pal Joey playing Transdance and I almost attacked him in the booth, I was so hungry to know the name of this record I’d been searching for for so long! I now own 4 copies and would buy more if I found them! And no, I had no idea it would get trendy or collectible, otherwise I would have bought every damn record I came across. But I had to be picky, so now I have no investments.

Incidentally: the first disco record I ever really fell in love with was a Euro one, bought in 1995 or 1996: “Disco Special” by Discotheque. 99 cents, white label, purchased in Boston at a shop I later found out had a warehouse full of stuff...oh, to go back in time...


[Il Pablito]When how did you hook up with Darshan? i believe he was doing some production stuff himself before MA?

[Morgan Geist]End of college, just emailing about music. We both went to school in rural areas so outside of road trips, it was early music lists and zines.


[Il Pablito]When you started making music as Metro Area did you have a very set idea of what you wanted to do or did it happen more organically? how long did it take between the first session with darshan and the first MA release?

[Morgan Geist]Metro Area was going to be the name of an Environ sublabel. And yes, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do...hard-disk recording had finally come within my reach and I had bought a Rhodes, and I remember calling Darshan and saying “Let’s record live instruments! Let’s just put whatever we want on and not sequence it!” I was most excited about handclaps. Darshan had been experimenting with boogie synth sounds, so he was ahead of his time. Of course we both got into Danny Wang records and then there was no looking back...or rather, it was all looking back!


[Il Pablito]'Atmospherique' was a big cult hit on dancefloors and didn't fit neatly into one genre - it would be as easy for a house dj to drop it as as a techno or electro fella. was this something you set out for or did it, as they say, just happen?

[Morgan Geist]It just happened. I did the skeleton for that track – the drums, bassline and synth – in about an hour. Hooked up with Darshan, added claps and chords and atmospheric stuff, tambourine. It was quick.


[Il Pablito]It's nice to listen to the four ep's and see how the sound develops and refines itself over the course of three or so years. then of course there was an LP made up of the best of the EP's and some new stuff, and your profile really jumped onto another level. It seems to me there's about 2 and a half years between metro area 4 and 5. Why the long wait?

[Morgan Geist]I have about 50 snarky answers to this question, so I’ll behave and just say we take a long time.


[Il Pablito]I remember speaking to you around the release of Metro Area 6 and you seemed to be intimating that perhaps you'd taken Metro Area as far as you could take it and there would be no more releases under the name. So i was a little surprised ( but delighted! ) to see Metro Area 7 emerge in November! 'Read My Mind' shows you leaning towards writing narcotic electropop songs a la Kelley Polar Quartet - is this something we can expect more of in future?

[Morgan Geist]I have no idea what to expect. I’m into songwriting right now, but I also just finished my solo album which has lots of “songs” (with lyrics) on it, so maybe we’ll do some tracky stuff too. No idea.


[Il Pablito]The vocals on 'Read My Mind' are great - can you tell me a little about the vocalist on it, Philip Owusu?

[Morgan Geist]He is a friend of some years at this point and is best known for his collaborative album “Owusu & Hannibal” on Uqiquity. Great guy, great pipes.


[Il Pablito]Last year saw a little bit of controversy ( on the dj history forum anyway!!) when an illicit edit of Muira came out without your permission. Darshan got very annoyed about it. How did you feel about it?

[Morgan Geist]Yeah, I don’t feel like giving this any more attention than its already got. One thing I will say is I wasn’t surprised at all when it got bootlegged. Creativity and ethics are at an all-time low and that’s why the music industry will soon cease to exist. It’s all quite boring and I’d love to do something else, to be honest with you. Maybe doing something else for a while will make me love music again.


[Il Pablito]There was also a mindless boogie track based around the original sample source for 'Muira' that came out last year, and next year marks ten years since metro area's first release? do you feel like veterans yet?!

[Morgan Geist]If by “veterans” you mean “old” - yes.


[Il Pablito]Can you tell me about Baby Oliver - is that a pseudonym for you? 'Feelings' is a great track!

[Morgan Geist]I can’t tell you about Baby Oliver, except that he is extremely difficult to work with and makes music that I like. Kelley Polar wants to kill him over some girl, I think.


[Il Pablito]Can you tell me about what releases we can expect from environ in 2008? and can we expect to finally see some MA live shows again?

[Morgan Geist]New Kelley Polar album, “I Need You to Hold On While the Sky Is Falling” plus single including remixes. Morgan Geist album (first in 10 years!) featuring Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys. Maybe some Metro Area.


[Il Pablito]Finally, for fans in Dublin who haven't had the chance to see you play, can you tell them a little bit about what happens when you guys DJ together?

[Morgan Geist]Magic.

And we love Dublin.
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