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Mungolian Jetset - Interview

loudfarm.com featured content for Monday 8.10.09

Paul "Strangefruit" Nyhus gets tongue-tied when discussing his influences -- and with good reason -- you'll hear a little bit of everything in his project , Mungolian Jetset. The Norway outfit's latest release, We Gave It All Away... Now We're Taking It Back, takes the best and strangest parts of dub, disco, and the avant-garde, straps them to a rocket bound for the outer reaches of space, and blows the thing to hell at the edge of the galaxy. Mungolian Jetset follows a strange groove indeed, and that's just the way Nyhus likes it. Loudfarm spoke with him about the immortality of disco, the death of radio, and wearing alien costumes in order to persuade Americans to listen to his music.

Loud Farm: How would you describe your sound?

JPaul "Strangefruit" Nyhus: We try to take elements from a lot of different genres. Anything we can, really. It depends really on what kind of track we're working on. I'd say we're definitely influenced by the sheer hedonism of great disco music.

LF:So you try to keep it new?

PN: We try not to fit into any genres. I think we do that to entertain ourselves while we make the music. Obviously, if you're bored, the whole thing is pointless. .

LF: Speaking of the "hedonism of great disco", most of your material is quite long. Do you prefer long format to short format songwriting?

PN:When it comes to dance music, it's all about extensions. Disco invented the 12" extended version. It has always had that mentality, as opposed to the traditional pop structure. Sometimes you need another groove. It's not that we're in there to make it as long as possible, but we have a lot of extended intros, which is probably influenced also by classic music, which should have a buildup, a peak, and transitions into other territories. We are in process of including more radio-friendly songs in our next release. Expect something that isn't 10 minutes.

LF:More radio friendly?

PN:Well, when you do long songs, you kill your chance for radio play.

LF:When do you feel the most liberated as a musician?

PN:Well, as a band and collaborative unit, Jonas Reinheardt is hitting a stride. The backbone, whether it is a drum machine or synchronizer sequence, has always been there but now I am really having a conversation with three other people who are all extremely talented. I’m a very collaborative person by nature. I might shape the vision or connection, but I think it is nice that I am working with other people.

LF: Don't you think radio format is less important?

PN:The radio format is very conservative these days. I hear more and more crap music on the radio, which is wrong, maybe. Even if you listen to old Michael Jackson songs, they're five minutes or longer. It's a desperation to create something corporate, which is very bad. Hopefully there might be a reaction against it, since there's so much interesting music being made outside of the mainstream.

LF:What are your plans for a US tour?

PN:We're releasing the album in August, then we will see. I'm going to NYC soon to visit, but the bad thing about playing in the States is that the money is not good, especially when you're a fresh band. Having said that, there seem to be a lot of people in America turning on to our music, which is a nice surprise.

LF:What should we expect from your live show?

PN:At the core of it, the music is just a duo, but for the past month we've had a permanent band. We can do club DJ sets from a laptop, but if you do a full live show, you should have a drummer and a bass player to create the whole thing live.

LF:How would you pitch Mungolian Jetset to an American audience? What's your pitch?

PN:I would dress up like an alien or something and make it a show. We should have people dressed up in ridiculous clothes. I'm not sure if we'd sell our music this way, but we'd definitely make an impact. Maybe we'd scare them, and maybe that's better.

LF:If you could nail down one year in music that most influenced you, which would it be?

PN:It's hard to say one specific year, but for me it was between '78 and '83. This is due to the songs, the trends, and also the production side of it. It's when dance met punk rock and ethnic culture.

LF:Lastly, if 'disco is dead', how do we bring it back to life?

PN:Disco never died and will never die -- it's obvious. It can't die. If you ask me, disco was way more punk than punk was. Punk was about rebellion against... nothing really, and when it happened, it wasn't new. The original punk aesthetic was in the 60s... the garage rock. Disco was way more rebellious, more open, and a much freer thing. Disco is about love, and love can never die.

Interview by Charlie Rohrer