Technova on Andy Weatherall & Pioneering Electro: My Time Is Always Now

"People tell me how hard it is to sell records these days. Well, that's because it's easier to make them than before. That's the difference. Electronic music with really leftfield vocals which were previously considered the weirdest songs in the world, are now the hippest tracks. It's great, it means people's ears are open."

London based English producer David Harrow first made his name in the late 80s, producing the electronic soundbeds that helped Ann Clark sell hundreds of thousands of albums, almost totally in Germany. Hooking up with London's Andy Weatherall in the mid 90s (after returning from being based in Berlin), he released two albums under the name Technova, which attracted critical acclaim though few commercial sales.

Six years on, Andy Weatherall is (again) at the height of fashion, and Technova's new album Dirty Secrets, is a strikingly contemporary set of minimalist, musical electronica that fits superbly alongside the electronica his long term friend currently plays. Instead of coming out on Weatherall's Bloodsugar though, this time it's released on Hydrogen Dukebox, the alternative, eclectic label that currently houses Black Dog Productions and Metamatics. Skrufff's Benedetta Ferraro tracked David down to his North London studio to pop the questions.


Skrufff (Benedetta Ferraro): Dirty Secrets is just out on Hydrogen Dukebox and it's defined on your biog as 'a release for open-minded punters', did you intend it to be so-

Technova (David Harrow): "Yes I did; I always hope my music reaches as many people as possible."

Skrufff: What determines how open-minded people are-

Technova (David Harrow): "I think the bigger, the more cosmopolitan the city, the more closed-minded the people are. The more you travel and the more metropolis you come across, the more you find this attitude of, 'OK, impress me'. I'm more of a music enthusiast; I don't see the point in that attitude. Take record reviews, for example: My mother used to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." These jobs should be given to writers who have a passion for music and reviewing, although I always prefer a bad passionate review to a positive bland one, written by someone who was probably watching TV whilst he was doing it."

Skrufff: What's sparked these thoughts-

Technova (David Harrow): "I was reading Ministry Magazine, and according to them my new album is called 'Blood Sugar'. That really made me think 'hey, you really have a copy of my new album and you've really listened to it' (being sarcastic). Maybe it's my age, but these days I much prefer to read reviews in The Guardian or the American magazine Spin; they seem to write for a more mature audience."

Skrufff: How has the electronic scene evolved from your perspective-

Technova (David Harrow): "I remember sitting in a big record company office in the early '80's, maybe '82, being a very young, inexperienced person, hearing the executives tell me 'That music you've been making, really isn't proper music', even though at the time I was selling hundred of thousands of records. Well, 'that music' as they called it, is now considered proper music. It seems the best revenge is to live longer."

Skrufff: The tracks you produced for Anne Clarke in the early '80's do sound very current, except perhaps for Anne's vocals…

Technova (David Harrow): "That's exactly what I mean. Those were the tracks they considered as not being proper music at the time. Now that type of music is the trendiest thing around."

Skrufff: You sold 500, 000 copies of those records in Germany alone, why do you think the Germans understood your music better than anywhere else in the world-

Technova (David Harrow): "It was the beginning of what they called the 'New German Wave', and to me at the time, the most interesting new music was coming from Germany. Bands like Kraftwerk or DAF influenced me enormously."

Skrufff: Electronic music with vocals is now h Tags

• Technova