Luigi: “Hi Jürgen, let’s start this interview with me thanking you for the extraordinary work you’ve done for this compilation and for many other productions released on Almost Halloween Time Records. I find that AHTung! sounds wonderfully good. I won’t hide from you that I would like to have your ability to handle music, even a simple crumb or a smattering.
If I have understood correctly, you work as a teacher and your subject is exactly this: mastering?”
Jürgen: “You’re very welcome. I had great fun working on the compilation. I apologize that it took so long. Thank you for the very nice and flattering words. I do indeed work as a teacher, however, I do not teach ‘mastering’. I do teach audio though, but mainly very basic skills in recording and editing sound, working with a DAW and stuff like that. I teach at LUCA – School of Arts and I am actually a colleague of Wio. As a matter of fact, we are currently even working together on a research project.”
Luigi: “I’ve seen you play several times and in several projects. A few years ago at a Luigifest you played as Köhn, Mote and de portables. I know you are involved in many other projects, you perform as Ed Nolbed, Super Reverb, Guest Appearance and Jürgen De Blonde. Every song, every track that sees you involved has well-defined characteristics that make the project immediately identifiable and your hand recognizable. I could hardly confuse a piece by Köhn with one by Ed Nolbed.
What happens when you start writing a song? Do you go into the studio already knowing you’re Köhn rather than Ed Nolbed or is it only at the end that you understand who you are? Are there days when you’re more Köhn and others when you feel more Ed Nolbed? Is there a choice linked to the seasons or maybe to the mood?”
Jürgen: “That’s a very interesting question. In my head, Ed Nolbed is more song oriented and has a big element of rock god attitude. Ed Nolbed loves a good song, a witty lyric, sometimes earnest too and doesn’t shy away from the occasional pomp. Ed adores the occasional double lead guitar and plays a Fuchsia Pink BC Rich Warlock (and sampled drums, synths, sampler and bass). Ed has more roots in early to mid nineties guitar oriented indie and lofi. Köhn originated from the weirder, more experimental side of me and has more roots in the electronic music and post-rock that happened from the mid-nineties onward. More German influences too. After ‘Koen’, the 2CD that was released on KRAAK, Köhn experienced death (cfr.: the last track “Köhn’s Death”) and returned as a Kosmische Musik infused undead. It’s definitely a mood thing. It’s also a manifestation of the mess in my head and the multitude of ideas firing around and the inability to make clear-cut decisions. I’m sure Köhn tried to ignore Ed Nolbed for a number of years, but there’s too much fun in making songs sometimes.”
Luigi: “Almost Halloween Time Records has released several albums featuring you.
“Breaking up is never easy I know” by Ed Nolbed is a record about the end of a story, the beginning of a new one. I know the title is inspired by “Knowing Me, Knowing You” by Abba. If you had to compile a 45 minute mixtape about the same subject, what songs would you put in it?”
Jürgen: “Oh, list time… tough question. I’ll try to think of some of my favourite songs about break-ups and related stuff. “Knowing Me, Knowing You” is definitely in there. Good chance another Abba song might be in there too. They have a couple of heart ripping songs about separation and emptiness, especially towards the end of their career. “The Winner Takes It All” for example… Those lyrics are so painful at times. Or “The day before you came”. Another song that’s haunted me, ever since I was a small kid, is “House for sale” by Lucifer. I remember hearing that on the radio and the pain of divorce was so tangible. I think “Ik wil niet dat je weggaat” by Clouseau is also a contender. “Soul & Fire” and “Think (Let tomorrow bee)” by Sebadoh. “The Final Cut” by Pink Floyd, I mean the whole album is about loss, pain, depression, but the title song is clearly about Roger Waters’ divorce and is a display of ugly pain and doubt, and the desire to end it all but not having the nerve to do it. “Mother” by John Lennon. “She’s leaving home” by the Beatles. I really need to think some more about this question, there are a bunch of songs that elude me at the moment…
(a couple of weeks later)
I’ve been thinking a bit more about breakup songs, it’s really hard. The other day, I heard that great album by Plover again. It was ages ago, but there’s this song ‘Scent’ that has this chorus ‘days without you on my mind, can your scent be so close that it keeps me awake?’. It’s more about being in love, I think… but it works as a breakup song in my head too. Songs about heartache and breakups are so ubiquitous. There’s some really cheesy ones that I really like as well, like Phil Collins ‘Against all odds’.
Oh, another good one might be ‘Love hurts’ by Kim Deal and Robert Pollard. “Everybody’s gotta learn sometimes” by The Korgis (though I really dig Beck’s version too), speaking of Beck, ‘Nobody’s fault but my own’ would fit in here too or ‘Rowboat’. ‘For no one’ by The Beatles. Oh, and definitely some Talk Talk, preferably ‘Inheritance’ or ‘I believe in you’.”
Luigi: “Bee Ano” by Ed Nolbed is a killer album. You sat down at the piano and in the afternoon you made an homage to “Bee Thousand” by Guided By Voices. What other albums do you know by heart and you could play from start to finish?”
Jürgen: “Oh, there are quite a bit of albums that I could improvise around, which is sort of what I did with the “Bee Thousand” album. As a teenager I actually often played entire albums in my head, from memory, when I had to wait for a half hour or forty-five minutes. But, back to your question. I think I might be able to do “The Wall” by Pink Floyd and also large portions of “Peggy Suicide” and “Jehovahkill” by Julian Cope. “Abbey Road” by The Beatles and also “Sgt. Peppers” and “Revolver”.”
Luigi: “de portables have split up and I miss them already but the fact that many of you continue to collaborate makes me feel better. Guest Appearance for example are you and Wio, Enjoy The Weekend are Wio and Bertrand.” Paraphrasing the title of an album very dear to me by de portables, can I ask you why the band decided to “leave this world behind”?”
Jürgen: “Well, it may be a bit complicated to explain, but for me it had to do with being tired of all the struggles. Ever since “The Killing Horizon” a slowly growing feeling of unease. Also trying to steer the band in certain directions to get out of the occasional rut but getting the feeling not everybody was on board and that caused more frustration with me and alienation with some of the other band members. Besides that, there were also other complications. And we also had troubles with the promotional side of the last album, and trying to get concerts and… *sigh* Just thinking about it makes me tired again.
We still have contact with each other and all, but we just had to end ‘de portables’ as a brand to clear up our heads…”
Luigi: “”Reflexionen” by Köhn is one of my favorite cassingles, when I listen to it I listen to it over and over again. Is there a new Köhn album in the works?”
Jürgen: “The thing is, I have tons of unfinished stuff lying around, both Nolbed and Köhn stuff, and maybe even other manifestations. But it’s a) hard finding focus, time and headroom to finish things, b) hard to find a label that responds or shows interest, c) it might be that Köhn is in a coma. Maybe a new name, a new direction is required.”
Luigi: “I’ve often found myself fantasizing about a possible collaboration between Köhn and Jim O’Rourke. I even tried to reach out to Jim O’Rourke but the first approach failed. Would you like to work with Jim? A 7″ with two tracks: that would be incredible.”
Jürgen: “Early 2000s I came this close to actually collaborating with Jim O’Rourke. I remember one morning getting a phone call from Eva De Groote who worked for Vooruit at the time with the question if I would be interested in working with Jim. Would I? Jesus… I almost fell out of bed. It was almost as stunning as that one time Dave Driesmans from KRAAK came into the radio studio, where I was making a Studiomuscle Radio Show with Wio, to tell me Sonic Youth had asked if I wanted to open for them a AB in Brussels or that time Xavier Garcia Bardon asked me if I wanted to join Tony Conrad in one of his performances. So, yes, to answer your question, of course I would love to work with Jim O’Rourke.”
Luigi: “Let’s return to where we started: “AHTung!” You made the mastering, you contributed various songs.
“AHTung!” was born for fun. I might have misread Achtung in an instruction manual and I had an enlightenment from that: remove the “c” and try to put together a collection of songs that could help me better understand what kraut rock is. Did we succeed? Can you help me define what kraut rock is?”
Jürgen: “My definition of Krautrock has become very dry and factual over the years: it refers to the alternative, progressive and experimental music that was made in a certain period of time, from the late sixties until maybe early eighties, when Neue Deutsche Welle started happening and a derogatory reference to a certain nationality (mainly German, but also Swiss, Austrian). It stems from the urge of a traumatized generation to overcome their heavy postwar heritage and therein trying to create entirely new and unique musique that steers away as much as possible from anything American and Rhythm ‘n’ Blues oriented. It has originated and inspired many genres of music like new wave, ambient, techno, noise, punk,… One the more ironic things that intrigues me about Krautrock is the fact the name “Krautrock” is in fact a British mockery for referring to the music that was made in German (Kraut is a British mock name for German) but that the first album by Tangerine Dream was heavily inspired by the über-British Pink Floyd, mainly “Saucerful of Secrets” but then how the whole Krautrock movement has inspired like 75% of all British music since the mid-seventies. New wave is insanely indebted to Krautrock, but also people like Brian Eno and Bowie. So, yeah, first the British mocked it and then ripped it and appropriated it. Then again, that’s how culture works, that’s how memes work, that’s how evolution works.”
Luigi: “Some questions that have little to do with music. I’m not a professional interviewer and ours is more like a chat between two friends at the pub. In Italian, the term “crauti” identifies sautéed cabbages, a typical side dish of German and Central European cuisine made from cabbage. My first encounter with “crauti” was at the Fiera del Levante in Bari. In the Bavarian pavilion you could order a sandwich with sausages and put “crauti” inside. I must say that the experience did not thrill me. I am often in Belgium, do I have to watch my back? Could someone try to serve me “crauti”? Is it part of the local cuisine? Is there a truly Belgian cuisine?”
Jürgen: “I love Sauerkraut! I eat it too little, but it’s great! There are some dishes with sauerkraut in Belgium indeed. I would suggest you give it another chance, unless you really don’t like sour and fermented food.
Yes, there is truly Belgian cuisine. Anything Fries-related to begin with. But also witloof of chicongs prepared in different ways, mainly in an oven dish where the witlof is rolled in a slice of cooked ham and then covered with cheese sauce, served with mashed potatoes and you’re guaranteed to sleep a large part of the afternoon. Waterzooi is a typical Ghent dish, it’s a very tasty, watery, creamy soup with chicken and vegetables. Mussels are also very popular in the season. Stoverij, which is like a meat stew in brown sauce, preferably prepared with brown beer, can be very yummy, with fries, of course. Hutsepot which is also a sort of stew, but mainly potatoes and vegetables like carrots, rapes, coles, sprouts, and then some meat, stewed for a long time and the served with mustard! Vol-au-Vent is an interesting one: that’s chicken and meatballs in a white sauce that also contains mushrooms and is often served in vidé which is like a cup made from puff pastry, usually served with potato mash or kroketten. Belgian cuisine is quite good, as opposed to, for example, Dutch cuisine which is a total disaster.”
Luigi: “Inevitably when I think of Belgium I get a craving for beer. Is there an underground beer scene? What I mean is, is it possible that you have never tried brewing beer? You and Wio getting together to brew? Some of your friends? Your students?”
Jürgen: “For the last portables album we had plans of working together with a local brewer that makes really good beers (PIUS X), sadly enough, it never came about. I myself have not tried brewing my own beer, however, I have been making my own Kombucha since August and I am really liking it. I don’t know if there is an underground beer scene. I mean, there are plenty of people that have a go at making their own beer and sometimes make small batches to hand around. There are a ton of microbreweries and small breweries in Belgium. If you want a true beer experience and taste some of the world’s finest beers, you have to come to Belgium. I can’t think of another country that has so many varieties of beer (not just varieties of pils or lager or stout or weizen) of such quality, to be honest. It’s just hard not to be really patriotic about that. It’s probably one of the few things that holds this country more or less together.”
Luigi: “Thanks Jürgen, I think I need a beer now!”
For more Ed Nolbed visit his bandcamp page. You can listen to “Bee Ano” and “Breaking Up Is Never Easy I Know” on AHT bandcamp.
For Köhn follow this link. “Reflexionen” can be found here.
Guest Appearance has a bandcamp page too and of course the web is full of pages and links about de portables.
And “AHTung!” is here, don’t forget!
