Vidal Benjamin is a DJ that we’ve been following for a while now, through his amazing mixes for Test Pressing and Non-Collective to the first guest mix on this very site, he’s a man that pushes the boundaries of what a DJ can put onto a mixtape and he’s always entertaining.
We decided to find out a little bit more about the man himself
EP: For those people who are unfamiliar with Vidal Benjamin, who are you & what do you do?
VB: Defining who I am is quite a complex issue. To make things short, I’m in my late thirties, I DJ for passion and besides that I am dealing professionally with legal matters and ending the editing of a PhD dissertation. If you can figure what could happen if Woody Allen, Larry Levan and Learned Hand were stuck in an elevator, you might probably get an idea of the creature that I am.
EP: Have you always dj’d & collected records?
VB: Well not really. I’ve always loved music. When I was a kid, I would listen to the radio all the times and it was airing many gems of the 80′s french pop that left some of their influence to my ears. Then, at the age of 15, I had the chance to go to Ibiza with a friend and his family for summer holidays. Being quite young and having my first clubbing experience at the Ku in 1988 was a cornerstone in my musical education. Leaving high school with people listening to some bad rock and suddenly, being into a gigantic outdoor club, with the guys from Loco Mia warming up the floor, the most extravagant people dancing equally to the hits of that time (Whitney Houston’s Love Will Save The Day was quite intense) and early house music has been a shock. But as far as I could have nice tapes in my walkman, I wouldn’t care for vinyl.
I started gradually to buy house and hip hop records. Nothing much by then. I was clubbing a bit as well. Quite naturally, I was asked to do some student gigs. But in the early nineties, house did not fill my stomach’s needs. There was no internet at that time and that culture was a matter of word of mouth. Plus, here in Paris, apart from nice record salesmen (Patrick Vidal, Romain, DJ Black) it was not a pleasure to buy records, as their counterparts overlooked you all the time. And all of a sudden, in a shop, I found a fanzine with an article from Didier Lestrade, talking about Larry Levan, the Garage, Disco and its influences on the contemporary scene. And I thought I needed the records he was mentioning in that article. So I’ve started to buy second hand. And discovered that Lestrade was right: the main samples were coming from these classics. Moreover, these classics didn’t need to be sampled. They could be played in their pure form.
Logically, I felt I could be different: DJs were all playing the records of the week and I thought I could create some surprise with my old wax. Plus at that time, I was working for the government and I had to attend meetings in Brussels every month. There, the shops were full of Salsouls. Then one day in NYC, I talk to my uncle about that passion and he answers me he’s worked for Salsoul in the mid seventies. And gave me all his records, a test pressing of Carol Williams, Silvetti and so on.
So my little collection grew up and I had my first disco gigs. One of the main places was Le Trésor, a restaurant and bar who was really fashionable at the time. The boss really liked my music. Now he’s one of the top movie mogulls in France. I was happy then, I could buy nice records, play for 3 hours and meet nice people.
During those days, I met Patrice with whom we were running a weekly Sunday party (Sunny Day), George (the guy who now runs Skylax), who introduced me to Charles the brilliant co-founder of Tigersushi, and Charles introduced me to Joakim and to my soon to become partner in crime Alexis Le-Tan. Tigersushi Bass System was launched.
EP: So, how did you get from disco to weird and wonderful soundtrack stuff?
I don’t really think there are wide gaps between what I’m playing today and disco. It could be labelled balearic in some way, but even balearic is disco. As far as disco is understood as music to make people dance. For sure, nowadays, you’ll still find fundamentalists who’ll tell you what disco is. In that form, disco will be regarded in the next centuries as classical music. Otherwise, disco is a common network of tunes that totally shaped our perception of music. If you really get into the analysis of the strange 80′s music I’m quite focusing on, you’ll see that it was produced by the same people who were into disco or even bubble gum pop in the former decade. So in a few words there is a total continuity between disco and the other tracks I’m playing, they are cousins.
And I still play pure disco. Last Saturday night I was playing in my usual residency (the Lizard Lounge) and decided to play only 7 inches. So I took some piles in my collection and it was 50% disco, 25% rock and 25% europop and I thought that they got along nicely. Even people who were not belonging to the tasteful musical clique who usually give me the honor of a visit seemed to be really happy.
That said, I should add that my quest for music is totally empirical. I get what I dig. If it’s a record that people consider as a cosmic/balearic/disco/nerd/hipster classic, I’ll be happy to take it. But I’ll also look for the “dollar bin jams” that I instinctively feel attracted to. Sometimes it’s rubbish and I don’t have my portable record player all the time. But sometimes it’s gold. Quite often, I’ll give a chance to records that are here for long. For example, the record I’m really into today (Oliver Mandic, Da On Je Mali a Yugopop wonder) was firstly priced for like 5€. No one would buy it. Then when it came to 0,20€ I would give it a chance. It was just waiting for me. One day in Italy, a record shop tender opened me his attic and basically 60% of balearic nightmare came from that. So, compared to people who are obsessed with must-haves, I’m satisfied with what I get. It’s a game. And I never buy online.
At the end of that process, There will be tracks that, I think, would be nice in a mix. So I’d do piles and wait until finding things that fit into my aesthetics (strange voices and/or lyrics, quite danceable, different origins). This is why I rarely do more than 3 mixes a year.
EP: I find that too. So, where do you see your tastes evolving? Is there a sound at present that you’re drawn to?
VB: Well, I might say that my taste is always getting more precise and at the same time looking around to a wider spectrum of sounds. The good thing with getting older is that the classics are quite known so there is more place for the uncommon. Plus, the Baldellaric philosophy of playing things without consideration of genres is a real benefit to the scene, as it pushed the limits quite far away. That said, I feel happy, these days, when I discover new things in Arabic Synthpop, Yugopop, New Wave Mixtures, Italo, Smurf Dance, Punk-funk, Club-Med Pop or Rocky Disco. Here, in France, the seventies and eighties scenes were very intense for pop novelties, so there’s always old things waiting to get their proper meaning. I also love to listen to mixes from my distinguished colleagues, it’s extremely enjoyable, as far as an Ipod transforms your journeys in the city into deviant club experiences.
EP: Ok, go on.
You’ll need to explain those genres to me …!
VB: Those genres are quite complicated to explain but will sound clearer if you think of tracks related to them:
-Arabic Synth Pop: Ahmed Fakrun, Soleil Soleil.
-Yugopop: Bebidol, Mustafa.
-New Wave Mixtures: M+M, Black Stations White Stations.
-Italo…
-Smurf Dance: Graffiti, Rap Attack.
-Punk-Funk: ESG, Moody.
-Club Med Pop: Kongas, Anikana O.
-Rocky Disco: Chilly, For Your Love.As far as mixes are concerned, there are so many people I enjoy listening to. If ever I forget someone, I hope I’ll be forgiven…So, in no specific order, Alexis Le-Tan, Chris Kontos, Steele Bonus, Lovefingers, David M, Tako, Saveljev, Soft Rocks, Jamie Tiller, Ola, Joakim, I Cube, Moonboots, Balearic Mike, Jaz, Giuliodj, Zaltan, Phil South, Paul Brown, Phoreski, Vladimir, Slobodan, Abel and Basso. They really find their way to my ears.
EP: As the site is called emotional pop what do you consider to be ‘emotional pop’?
VB: Pop is not necessary centered on emotions and emotional music is not always labelled as pop. So my definition will probably lie between these 2 statements. One should add also that where people find emotions is a purely individual issue.
Listen to Vidal Benjamin – La Mystique De La Nuit
