"Techno is music for the future of the human race." –Underground Resistance
LE BAIN: You've been interviewing a lot of dance music artists from France, Chicago, Detroit, and New York. What did you learn about the future?
JULIAN STARKE: As Underground Resistance's manifesto proclaims: "Techno is a music based in experimentation; it is music for the future of the human race. Without this music there will be no peace, no love, no vision. By simply communicating through sound, techno has brought people of all different nationalities together under one roof to enjoy themselves." I love the message of hope in that. Techno is linked to the past and the future, linked to the aborigines and to the robots. Working on French Waves also taught me that technology makes us more dependent and independent at the same time.
What do you mean?
What happens in music now? Thanks to technology and social media, we think that we are more independent, but in fact we are more dependent (addicted) than artists of the 1990s were to their major record company doing the entire promotional job for them. At the same time, the music production is cheaper now than it was before (in music, but also in film or video), so we're freer to do whatever we like regarding the artistic aspect as long as we also take care of the promotional one. All in all, I think that we will be freer in creativity, but also more dependent to technology and maybe more independent...and solitary.
French Waves official trailer and behind the scenes
French Waves defines itself as the “first transmedia experience of electronic music.” Do you believe the future is trans?
I don't really like the word "transmedia," but I like the word "trans." I think that transmedia is trendy at the moment, but I prefer to use horizontal, transversal. Today, we must be able to be independent and do many things on our own. A musician should be able to do a video, a filmmaker must be able to broadcast, a painter to expose, etc....I believe this constraint is inspiring. A major part of my culture comes from what I discovered on the Internet. While working on the documentary, which took me more than three years, I asked myself the question of the format and it immediately appeared that I should try to produce a documentary for TV and cinema, but also a web series, a website, and parties to tell the story of the project in all these ways.
It seems like a common thing to do now, especially with music projects.
French Waves' North American Premiere (free screening)Saturday, March 4th, 5pm
Lincoln Center
Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Amphitheater, 144 West 65th Street
feat. Busy P, Jacques (live), & Max PaskThe Standard, High Line | 10pm
Sunday, March 5th, 12pm
Anthology Film Archives
French Waves Masterclass (free)
