Jonas Stone: Gigolo's Man In London on Electroclash

Mild mannered, bespectacled and serious to a fault there's more than just a sniff of the Clarke Kent about Jonas Stone, the music writer and PR who by night transforms into London's representative for Gigolo Records. Alongside analogue techno sidekick Oliver Way, this superman of dance has just compiled one of the most interesting new electro compilations yet put together (This Is Not The 80s) which is why he chatted to Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro this week.

Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): What inspired the "This is not the '80's" theme-

Jonas Stone: "Initially, Oliver and I were approached about doing a compilation and we already had an idea in mind to do one mixing everything from italo-disco, synth-pop, b-boy electro to electro from Detroit. The title came instead from reading an interview with DJ Hell in I-D Magazine. It has a bit of attitude and, though the '80's do have a heavy influence, they're not the only influence."

Skrufff: Were you surprised to be approached to do a compilation for Sony--

Jonas Stone: "We weren't looking for a chance, but since it came along we took it. We always knew we could have put together a good selection of tracks if an opening had ever appeared, though at the time we hadn't thought about it practically. They showed a lot of trust in us and perhaps, we were more adventurous than they expected. I think they were envisaging 40 "Sunglasses At Night", but we deliberately tried to slightly steer away from that, still keeping the classic names. We tried to avoid the obvious route and thankfully they were really receptive. They like it."

Skrufff: Does it bother you that the media often calls it an '80's revival-

Jonas Stone: "It doesn't bother me, because I know there's more to it than just that. The longevity of the better artists will prove it as well. It's easy to point the finger, after all, the early '80's gave us synth-pop, songs, vocals and lyrics, but it's also surprising because in Europe it has been going for a few years and for many people it never really went away, artists included. It's a revival in terms of media attention as there are more artists making it now and making it better. It's also a revival in terms of ideas, but it's become more sophisticated from the plain loops and tribal drums from before."

Skrufff: The CD is labelled 'new wave electro', but what do you make of this new 'electroclash' tag-

Jonas Stone: "It's bizarre, personally I prefer to call it electro, but I understand where the media are coming from. The electroclash thing does seem to fit with the more punky, New York image, especially if we take Fisherspooner as an example. It doesn't bother me what they call it, since I'm a journalist myself I realise that sometimes it's a bit easy and maybe lazy to just throw these terms around."

Skrufff: What role did DJ Hell play, if at all, for the realization of this compilation, did he give you any suggestions-

Jonas Stone: "The only thing that happened with Hell was that he agreed in us using his quote for the title. I also e-mailed him the proposed track listing and he gave us the thumbs up. We were wary not to ask for too many tracks from the Gigolo's catalogue, in the end we opted for three which they were pleased to license to us."

Skrufff: How much of a plan did Hell have in introducing electro to the world-

Jonas Stone: "He's been doing it for five or six years and all the recognition they're getting now is the result of all the planning and hard work that started a long time ago. In Europe it did have a very big impact from the start, in the UK instead, where he didn't have such a big profile, it has all happened in the last year. I hope we've also have a little share in helping them grow. I also think they've been delivering the goods at the label in the last 18 months with a large amount of 'classics', not just with electro tracks, but also with straight up techno like Vitalic for example, and Bobby Konders' "Deep House Re Tags

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