Rejigged: The Unfolding Tale of Uffe Christensen

Uffe (pronounced oofa) is a fun word to say. More than that it’s the eponymous moniker of Uffe Christensen, a quirky Danish producer from Odense who conducts experiments in a range of tones and tempos. In truth, Odense has had little to shout about since the early 19th century, when beloved fairytale writer – and the real brains behind Frozen – Hans Christian Andersen came kicking and screaming into the world. Two hundred years later, it’s about time the good people of Denmark’s third largest city had another creative talent to hang their hat on.

With only a handful of select releases so far, there aren't many young producers who can boast the same range of moods that Uffe has delved into in his formative years. These days, he deals primarily in house-tempo grooves that contain flecks of funk, soft electro stabs and the occasional melancholy pad. Think club-ready productions with a live band feel. It's a freaky collage of styles, yes, but underneath it all there's an easy pop sensibility that affords his music just the right dose of catchiness.

Now studying conceptual art in Amsterdam, Uffe has recently prepped a track for Tartelet #030 titled Lemon Nights, which sees a recurring riff set against a pulsing synth line and mumbling bass to hypnotic effect. Arguably his best effort to date, the track will also appear on the young Dane’s imminent debut LP, due on Tartelet at the start of next year and recorded with help from good friend and one-man music-making machine Jeppe Lauritsen, aka Rewolmer. Here, we rummage further into the mind of Mr Christensen to hash out some factual detail regarding the tale of his past, present and future.

The Skinny: When did you first start making music?
Uffe Christensen: I’ve been producing since I was ten years old, pretty much whenever I could hijack my dad’s PC. Back then I was messing around on shitty toy-like programs like eJay, which you could load your own samples into, before I moved on to Reason and eventually Logic. I’ve always sampled from records and CDs, even in the early days.

What were your major musical influences growing up?
My parents didn’t really listen to music, to be honest. To give you an idea, my mum owns three CDs: Bob Marley's Greatest Hits, Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits and Elton John's Greatest Hits. Good times in the kitchen. There was a really good music library in Odense though, so I’d spend a lot of time there going through the CD bins and discovering new music that way.

When did it become fairly serious?
I’d say I’ve been making music full-time since I was about 17, on and off. I initially applied for funding from the local arts council, before moving to Copenhagen to study graphic design. There’s traditionally been a kind of nerdy electronica scene going on in Copenhagen, more IDM-inspired stuff. I integrated with the tail end of that kind of scene when I moved there and even released a record of bassier tracks with an experimental hip-hop feel under the name Nabo. That was around the time when the whole post-dubstep phase was in full swing but, as a record, it felt really impersonal to me. I was trying to fit in with what was already out there rather than pouring my personality into it. There was a period when I got fed up with music shortly after that release.

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“EVENTUALLY MY MUM STOPPED PAYING FOR PIANO LESSONS BECAUSE I NEVER SHOWED UP AND I DIDN’T PRACTISE” – UFFE CHRISTENSEN

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Tell us about the transition from Nabo to Uffe.
I didn’t make anything for a while after the Nabo record, but then I remember listening to Four Tet when he was bringing out more four-to-the-floor stuff and that really turned me on to the idea. I didn’t really listen to house or techno before that. Once I finished the graphic design course I spontaneously moved to Berlin with a friend and that truly turned me on to the scene. After a year there, I got accepted on a conceptual art course in Amsterdam, which is where I’m studying now.

Do you play any instruments?
Not really. I have a limited knowledge of the piano because my mum forced me to take lessons when I was younger, which I hated. I didn’t want to practise because I could already make a complete track on the computer using samples so it was a bit off-putting to go from that to practising fucking scales and chords, y’know? I was a pretty horrible kid, to be honest. Eventually my mum stopped paying for lessons because I never showed up and I didn’t practise – she got the message.

What’s your studio looking like at the moment?
It’s changing all the time. Right now, I literally have a laptop and speakers so I’m making more use of records. When I made the first couple of tracks under Uffe, I had the idea to make club music that sounded like a band jamming. It’s weird because when I was young I was listening to these leftfield electronic albums early on, like Kraftwerk’s The Man-Machine, but I wanted to take a different route by involving more acoustic sounds. At a certain point the whole conceptual idea went away and I don’t really think of it anymore. Some things sound more electronic, some things sound more dusty and sample-based. It’s better not to think about it too much.

You manage to achieve a very organic sound, is that through choice sampling or live instrumentation?
It’s a combination of things, I think. This summer in Copenhagen I recorded a lot of stuff with my multi-instrumentalist friend Jeppe (Rewolmer). I’ll often send him stuff, or an idea, he’ll record something and send it back to me. The bassline on Something Wrong is a good example of that. He sent over the file and I basically chopped it up and rearranged it into something else.

What can you tell us about the forthcoming album?
It’ll be out soon on Tartelet! A lot of samples were recorded with live instruments to lift it away from the formulaic electronic sounds and dusty sample aesthetic. It’s coming out at the beginning of next year, my deadline is actually in a few days but it’s basically finished. I think it’s going to be called Radiodays but that’s still a working title. When the record comes out we’ll be planning a few dates around that so keep your eyes peeled – it’s just the beginning.