Pitchfork

Photo by Geoff McLean

Now that MSTRKRFT have had a few years to hone their krft, the rock-bred club converts are itching to hit us with what they hope will be their most accomplished artistic statement yet. By artistic we of course refer to the art of making your ass shake in spite of itself, and by accomplished, well, we'll let them explain.

Pitchfork caught up with MSTRKRFT's Jesse F. Keeler (ex-Death From Above 1979) and Al-P as the pair was preparing the follow-up to 2006's The Looks and bracing for a sizable tour.

"We base everything we do on really big ideas," says Al-P. "Initially, when we first got our record deal, we had no time to make an album or even really figure out what we wanted to do. We kind of planned on making a full record years in the future, but then suddenly the opportunity came and we had to do it quick.

"Whereas with this one we've been working on it pretty much since the day we submitted the last one. So we've had a ton of time to decide what kind of record it will be...and so far it's a lot like what I was hoping it might be."

The as-yet-untitled sophomore platter should see the light of day in September or so via an as-yet-undetermined label. Among the big ideas on it: a bevy of guest vocalists.

While the guys aren't at liberty to say just who yet, according to Keeler, "I can guarantee that people will be surprised by every single one."

What shouldn't surprise folks nearly as much is the inclusion of popular MSTRKRFT cut and live set favorite "VUVUVU" on the new disc. Not only fun to say, "VUVUVU" also has an amusing backstory.

Says Keeler, "The song was inadvertently named by Xavier [de Rosnay] from Justice. While we were traveling around together, he was describing the kind of music that they make and the kind of music we make. He says the music they make is [imitates] 'PRPRPRPR TISH, PRPRPRPRPR TISH' and the music we make is 'VUVUVU' in this funny Parisian accent.

So when we were making that song we were like, 'Fuck, there isn't a more 'VUVUVU' sounding track in existence!'"

Adds Al-P with a laugh, "As Xav said, [mimics French accent] 'I do not need this VUVUVU, all I need is kicks and snares to drive them wild'-- and then took a drag of his cigarette."

Al continues: "The concept of 'VUVUVU' is big but the execution is quite simple, which makes it effective in the club."

That concept "just really nerdy" according to Al-P, and involves a bunch of dots and loops and MIDI mumbo jumbo that, as Keeler adds with a chuckle, "we had to use calculators to figure out. Literally it involves like a lot of math."

Beyond these few tidbits, Keeler and Al-P were careful about how much they let on about the new recordings. "This is going to sound like a cop-out, but there's been a lot of ideas that we've had that have gotten jacked by other artists [after we talked about them]," says Al-P. "And then the next thing we know we see one somewhere else faster than we can get it out, and I don't want to go crazy like Brian Wilson hearing Sgt. Pepper's. So we've kind of been tight-lipped. Sorry!"

"A lot of it might be subject to change based on what we get back from the guests," says Keeler. "Because they might pull the song in a certain direction or give us a hook where we don't think it is a hook, and then we might have to re-work the song around that. Kind of like a self-remix."

That said, we can look forward to "a much more complete album than our first effort," with "enough other stuff on the record to make it listenable to someone who doesn't just live in a nightclub like we do."

Speaking of living in a nightclub: For their late winter/spring tour, Keeler and Al-P have a few pretty big ideas as well. For starters, they sought to cater to a younger audience by booking as many all-ages shows as possible.

Explains Al-P: "The idea behind the whole tour is that most of the fans on MySpace and on the Internet are all these kids, and then when we go out and play the usual dance places they can't come; it's all 21 and up. And it doesn't seem right to alienate them.

"I'm sure if any big pop artists or even punk bands played exclusively 21 and up clubs it would really fuck up their fanbase, you know?"

MSTRKFRT will also take a cue from punk when it comes to presentation. "What we try to do is inspired by what we used to [do] playing in punk bands: playing on the floor in front of the stage," says Al. "We're trying to apply that same thinking to this DJ tour.

"So whenever possible we're going to try to play on the floor in front of the stage, try to get closer to the people rather than further away, and that way everyone can see exactly what we're doing.

"I think for a live performance to be awesome the crowd has to feel like they're a part of it, and with DJing obviously it's difficult because we're not up there wailing on guitars or anything. So we're trying to bring [this] right into everybody's face."

As for extracurriculars, the in-demand remixers recently re-did "Wow", a track off Kylie Minogue's latest (check that at the MSTRKRFT MYSPC now, and pick it up when the "Wow" single hits the UK February 18). They've also been licensing some of their own material. But for the most part, they're trying not to spread themselves too thin: "We turned down Dr. Doolittle 3, for example," admits Al-P.

Thus for now, the focus will of course be the tour and the record. Keeler offers the following in closing: "I guarantee you when this record is done and people have heard it, everyone will want to talk to us again. I think we're actually going to do something different in a climate where everything sounds the same. That's our goal. And we won't rest! [laughs] Until our enemies are vanquished! [laughs] Oh, and everyone should go see Rambo."

TR DTS:

02-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos *#^
02-27 Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater *#
02-28 San Diego, CA - Legends *
02-29 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater *%~
03-01 San Francisco, CA - Mighty (Noise Pop) *#
03-03 Las Vegas, NV - Jet *#
03-05 Aspen, CO - Belly Up
03-07 New York, NY - Studio B *#$
03-08 Chicago, IL - Vision *#$
03-09 Buffalo, NY - The Traif
03-11 Philadelphia, PA - Woody's
03-12 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
03-13 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade #
03-14 Houston, TX - Rich's $
03-15 Austin, TX - SXSW *#$%
03-16 Dallas, TX - The Palladium
03-20 Toronto, Ontario - The Guvernment
03-23 Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
03-25 Miami, FL - Mansion #
03-27 Miami, FL - Luis @ The Gansevoort *+
03-28 Miami, FL - Ultra Music Festival *
04-01 Tirol, Austria - Snowbombing @ Europahaus
04-03 Vienna, Austria - Fluc
04-04 Frankfurt, Germany - Hafen 2
04-05 Cologne, Germany - Gebäude 9
04-09 Zurich, Switzerland - Mascotte
04-10 Berlin, Germany - Lido
04-11 Munich, Germany - Registratur
04-12 Hamburg, Germany - Mandarin Kasino

* with LA Riots
# with Lazaro Casanova
^ with Felix Cartal
% with Z-Trip
~ with Diabetic
$ with the Bloody Beetroots
+ with Steve Aoki, DJ AM