A Ghostly Presence Underground

Since the very beginning, the talents of Harri and Domenic have encouraged a loyal following to return time and again to the Sub’s Saturday night, not to mention numerous curious others, all eager to discover what the fuss is about.

However, Domenic’s move to Barcelona two years ago has restricted his appearances to once a month, prompting promoters Mike Grieve and Paul Crawford to use the skills of younger DJs Telford and Junior.

“We’ve brought them on board as kind of trainee residents for Subculture,” explains Paul. “It's very much the way we see things moving. We want to use more local talent, take a kind of organic approach to the evolution of the night. Its how we started out and for consistency and atmosphere nothing compares to having weekly residents that know their crowd.”

In the last twelve months, experienced promoter Barry Price has also been brought on board to help with the running of Subculture alongside Mike and Paul.

“I think they felt I’d bring a fresh perspective and also work hard on pushing the night,” says Barry. “My role is quite broad. I'll arrange the bookings, take on the PR role and do the day-to-day business stuff too”.

A combination of Domenic’s reduced role as resident and Barry’s recent involvement has also led to an increase in the number of newer, less-established guests playing Subculture for the first time, including Prosumer, Gerd Janson, Guillamé and the Coutu Dumonts, with New York’s Holy Ghost! set to make their debut this month.

Holy Ghost! are signed to the much-respected DFA label, home of LCD Soundsystem and The Juan MacLean. The Brooklyn duo of Nicholas Millhiser and Alex Frankel were originally part of live rap group Automato whose self-titled album was produced by DFA`s James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy. When the group split, Nick and Alex decided to become a partnership.

“It was a six-person band and keeping six people on the same page is difficult,” Nick concedes. “We went our separate ways amicably but Alex and I kept working together. Without an MC, rap wasn't really an option for us, so we took the opportunity to explore influences and references which were difficult to incorporate into Automato.”

Naming themselves Holy Ghost!, the pair were keen to get feedback from James and Tim, who they’d become friends with while working on the Automato album.

“We kept sending them whatever we were working on and even from the earliest, roughest demos they were both extremely supportive,” enthuses Nick. “James was ready to put out our first record when it was only a minute and half long and was nothing more than the drums, bassline, synth melody and some handclaps”.

Soon they were signed to the DFA label and in 2007 released the synth-disco-meets-pop single Hold On to a great reaction, which took them by surprise, as Nick confesses:

“I was just stoked that DFA were going to release it, but didn't really think people would care all that much about it. It was sort of a weird record for the label to put out… sonically, it had a lot in common with their other releases but it is pretty overtly ‘pop' and Alex and I didn't think that DFA fans and DJs would be so keen on something so vocal-heavy. Once Tim Sweeney played it on his Beats in Space show it seemed to just take-off… we started getting remix requests and two years on, people are still playing it, which is awesome”.

Following the success of Hold On and remixes for the likes of Cut Copy, MGMT and Moby, the duo’s first album is set to come out later this year and develop the musical blueprint they set out on their first single.

“We're suckers for catchy hooks, good, thumpy drums, spooky synth melodies and dumb chord progressions and those reoccurring elements you hear on Hold On will make frequent appearances on our LP,” Nick admits.

“The album we’re making is a pop record that leans towards the discothèque but isn’t entirely for the dancefloor,” adds Alex. “Some songs do sound like they were made for dancing and they were, but others would probably fit late-1970s AM Gold radio better.”

When quizzed about what’s helped inspire them while making the record, Alex has this to offer:

“Aside from hearing great DJs and talking about music with our friends, buying new gear has definitely played a part. We recently installed our first modular synth and it’s been great to have. We also just bought a French Connection, a controller for the modular that lets you play it by sliding a string around a piano’s keyboard. The effect is similar to a Theramin or a human voice, but even more haunting.”

Working with other DFA acts has also probably rubbed off on them – Alex played piano on LCD Soundsystem’s 45:33, while Nick has been part of The Juan MacLean’s live band. He’s keen to express how much being involved with the imprint means to both of them.

“It’s the best thing in the world – we make music for a living on a label run by our buddies and then we all get to travel together to play records for people. As far as jobs go, it's a pretty good one. We’re a pretty close-knit bunch… we hang out when we're home and help out with each other's music when need be”.

Their forthcoming appearance at Subculture sees them involved in a second European trip after playing gigs over here last year and Nick is a positive about their DJ experiences on this side of the Atlantic.

“European crowds are great. Almost all the shows have been good… I think clubbers over here tend to be more open-minded and also have a greater knowledge and appreciation for the history of dance music, probably because it’s been part of the mainstream culture for longer.”

At the moment they’re both focusing on DJing rather than playing live but Nick says that they intend to move in this direction once the album’s finished.

“We’ll keep DJing until the record is done and then we’ll start performing with a full band. Hopefully that’ll be soon but we’re not rushing anything.”

In the meantime, what can we expect from their Subculture set?

“At the moment we’re playing a lot of old disco and early house and then a handful of new edits by guys like Todd Terjé and Jacques Renault. We also play our own remixes and some of our label-mates’, like The Juan Maclean, Gavin Russom, Still Going, Runaway and Shit Robot”.