Miss Kittin & The Hacker: The First Couple Of Electro (Clash)
Author: Jonty Adderley
Saturday, June 8, 2002
When French duo Miss Kittin & The Hacker met up with Skrufff's Jonty Adderley in a London hotel last Autumn (Fall) their Tottenham Court Road hotel was indeed dingy, though 6 months on the pair rank as top level stars of dance. Acclaimed for their co-productions, they're also individually, at the top of their game, Kittin recording with Sony's Illustrious and the Hacker (aka Michel Amato) running his acclaimed electro/techno label Good Looking. With Miss Kittin's new single Rippin Kittin, set for probable UK crossover success, they're both likely to be enjoying the VIP lifestyle depicted on Frank Sinatra for some years to come.
Skrufff: You're both very active on solo careers, what's the method behind this collaboration between you both (ie Miss Kittin & The Hacker)-
Miss Kittin: "Michel lives in Grenoble (France) while I live in Switzerland, though am originally from Grenoble, so from time to time I go to visit my family, then we get together in the studio. Michel has some loops prepared that he's kept for me. I listen to the music, then write the lyrics and we exchange our ideas. It's a very quick process, in one afternoon we can do one or two tracks. It's always very easy going and fun-that's the only way we can work anyway."
Skrufff: Michel, are you spending months on the backing tracks-
The Hacker: "No, I produce a lot of techno already and I'm lucky because I generally work quickly. I know immediately if a track will work, if I spend too much time on something then it means the track is no good. If everything is coming naturally, then it's good. We try three times maximum before doing something else."
Skrufff: Your mobile phone plays Tainted Love, what was it about Soft Cell that inspired you-
The Hacker: "They used electronic music to make songs whereas nowadays techno is not about songs. I like it, but I wanted to do a song structured set up rather than using loops which go on for five minutes."
Miss Kittin: "Michel is really inspired by the 80s but I'm not. If my voice sounds 80s then it's by accident."
Skrufff: What was the club scene like in Grenoble when you both first met-
The Hacker: "We were the first people to get into the rave scene in Grenoble, there weren't more than twenty people in the whole area who liked the rave thing in the early 90s. Everybody else thought we were crazy with our stupid clothes but that's how we met. I'm still friends with all those people from the original rave scene, even after ten years. We have a record shop and we've created our own label from it."
Miss Kittin: "The place was a New Wave club before that turned into a dance and techno place. They'd be playing 2 Unlimited, U96 and all that kind of stuff, mixed with tracks like Moby's Go and Felix's Don't You Want Me."
Skrufff: How easy was it coming from such a small place, to connect up with people from places like Detroit-
Miss Kittin: "It took a while, first we had our ravers' life, going out every weekend, to hear this or that DJ, then I started DJing, Michel started making music, and I met DJ Hell. He created Gigolo Records and asked me for some stuff. I called Michel and said 'let's do something'. I next moved to Switzerland and started DJing all around Europe while Michel released more and more EPs. This project was always secondary to us because of that. We just decided to have fun and to push the limits of our own shyness."
Skrufff: Had you always aspired to be a singer-
Miss Kittin: "Not at all, we just wanted to make something funny, we didn't want to make techno since everybody else was and we thought we'd never be as good as Jeff Mills or whoever, so let's try something funny with lyrics. Michel found out that he enjoyed making sounds like the 80s and I found out I li Tags