Words by Art Jefferson
Photography by Nicolo Lanfranchi and courtesy of Paskal & Absolutes
Sometimes the best music does indeed come from collaborations. In the case of Paskal and Urban Absolutes, their particular production chemistry is a perfect blend. Whether releasing tracks such as “Gotta Make It Right” featuring legendary Chicago vocalist Byron Stingily or the deep, sultry “Still in Love”, Paskal and Urban Absolutes have been responsible for creating some of the most amazing house records in the past few years.
Consisting of Alexander Kastner (Paskal) and Adrian Hoffmann (Urban Absolutes), the duo began working together in 2009, each having previously recorded as a solo artist. Although living in different cities (Kastner in Berlin and Hoffmann in Düsseldorf), the two travelled back and forth to organically record together as opposed to simply sending music files to one another via email. Those in person sessions proved to be worthwhile. It didn’t take long for Alex Barck, A&R Manager at Sonar Kollectiv, to be taken by their intricate and beautifully produced sounds. By 2012, the two were signed to the Berlin based record company.
Paskal and Urban Absolutes’ debut album “LUX” is a ravishing collage of audible brilliance, branded with their elegant tech meets deep, future soul style of house music. Guests include Pete Joseph, Desney Bailey, Neve, Paul Randolph and Kasar. With each track delicately woven to near perfection, “LUX” stands as solid body of work constructed by consummate production skills.
When you put two masterminds together, working in conjunction, something great is bound to come out of it. Paskal and Urban Absolutes’ music represents that of a cooperative alchemy. This is the sound of forward thinking house music.
Art Jefferson-You were both releasing records as individual artists in the past. Explain how the collaboration came about?
Paskal-We got into contact in 2009 after we both had released (records) on the same label. Our initial goal was to work on one conjoint release, and we started off by exchanging files via the internet. Later that year, Adrian was working in Berlin for a couple of months, so we met up for a beer and got along really well. We quickly realized that the “Paskal & Urban Absolutes” project had potential, as we were pretty like-minded, both musically and personally. That first idea of working together turned into a bunch of EPs and remixes over the years. When we finally got signed to Sonar Kollektiv in early 2012, we both decided to put our main focus on our collective project.
Art Jefferson-You both live in different cities…Berlin and Düsseldorf. However, you don’t rely on email or file sharing as the backbone of the collaboration. You still physically go to one another’s studio to work together, which was a common thing in the past with artists and musicians. How important was that one on one contact for you when you were working on the new album, as opposed to using this new technological way of sending files back and forth?
Urban Absolutes-For us, this is just the way it has to be right now. As we mentioned before, some of our first collaborations were done over the internet, and that worked out somehow – but it’s just not the same. The creative process is totally different when you’re in the same room. When we started working on the album, we had a pretty clear vision of how we wanted it to sound like. To achieve that, we had to start from scratch – and especially when coming up with new ideas, that possibility of sitting next to each other, exchanging thoughts, discussing arrangements and simply tweaking knobs together was very important.
Art Jefferson-You’re signed to Sonar Kollektiv, which not only have released some of the most incredible electronic records in the past decade but was instrumental during the broken beat and nu-jazz days. That was a real co-op scene. Were you guys involved in that community as well?
Paskal-Not really, although we have both been fans of the Sonar Kollektiv output for a very long time. As we have only been working with SK for the last approx. 1.5 years, we consider ourselves part of a younger generation of Sonar Kollectiv artists, and try to work on our own musical vision. Nevertheless we have the utmost respect for and are in good contact with some of the originators, for example the Jazzanova guys.
Art Jefferson-Your new album “LUX” is filled with soulful house, tech, a bit of the future jazz element and downtempo. There has definitely been a resurgence of the deeper side of house music. Some would say that the “EDM” bubble has burst and the scene is moving back to a point of soul. What are your thoughts?
Paskal-We generally try not to concern ourselves too much with what’s “trendy” or what will be the “next big thing”, but simply focus on creating music that we truly believe in. From our point of view, music serves the purpose of triggering emotions in the listener – simply put: it has to make him/her feel good. For us personally, this has always been music with a good deal of soul, regardless of the musical era it was created in. However, during the current promo phase of our album, some feedback pointed out that our take on dance music is kind of matching the current mood. If this is actually the case, we’re of course really happy about it. But we’ll leave that for you to decide.
Art Jefferson-How long did it take you to actually complete the new album?
Urban Absolutes-The plan of producing an album for Sonar Kollektiv came up in late 2012. Taking into account that we are still working on things that could be considered part of the album work, such as promotion, touring, doing interviews, etc., the “LUX” project has been going on for almost a year now. Concentrating on the pure musical side of it, it took us about six months to finish all tracks in a rough version. Of course, we had to make some adjustments when Manuel Tur and Oliver Haertel took on the mixdown side of it.
Art Jefferson-Producers and artists like yourselves, and those such as Jazzanova, 4hero, and even drum and bass producers like LTJ Bukem, have been known for the sophistication in your work. Music writers and fans in the past have even gone as far as to label the music “intelligent”. How do you feel about that term? It almost seems like a gift and a curse.
Paskal-That “IDM” term is really not our cup of tea. Generally, “intelligence” can hardly be used to categorize music itself, but rather its creators. However, the last thing we’d like to do here is to rate ourselves as being more or less intelligent. The main focus should remain on the music.
If we move to the aspect of sophistication in our music, again, we wouldn’t like to be the ones to judge. We can just say that we put as much time and effort in our music as possible, and if listeners value that, we are deeply grateful. We will leave that discussion about a fitting genre to others.
Art Jefferson-You feature some great vocalists on the LP as well. I get the sense that you guys really thrive off of working with singers. How do you decide which tracks will have a vocalist and which one’s won’t? Your production actually works perfectly with features or just instrumental based.
Urban Absolutes-Thank you. Yes, right now we feel like working with vocals is probably our strong suit. Our intention for the album was to include as many full vocal tracks as possible, so the ones that you can hear on “LUX” now were mostly arranged for that. One track, though, was initially produced as an instrumental. After listening to it, a good friend of ours said: “You have to get a vocal on that one!” He was right. So we contacted Pete Josef again – and the result is now called “Bits Of Me”.
Art Jefferson-When in the studio, are you using both analog and digital gear?
Paskal-Yes, we are. We’re absolutely un-dogmatic about that. We like analog gear for its hands-on workflow and overall rather warm sound qualities – and also love software for its unbound flexibility. It really shouldn’t be an “either/or” decision. If something works for us, we simply use it.
Art Jefferson-Finally, will we continue to see more albums in the future from you two as a team?
Paskal-We really hope so – our current plan is to start working on a second album as soon as possible.
Paskal & Urban Absolutes ‘Lux’ is out November 28th on Sonar Kollektiv.
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