M.A.N.D.Y.: Simple understated brilliance

Created On by hbomb203

Dance music doesn’t always have to be about cheap thrills, and starting the audience with bright lights, big basslines and cheesy vocals. Recently we’ve seen a growing hunger in our nightclubs for music that’s a little more subtle and understated: look at Germany’s M.A.N.D.Y. for instance. The duo have been steadily building a massive profile for themselves over the past few years, pushing a style of club music that fits that description exactly. One of the most prominent names in minimal house, they’re one of the leaders behind the highly influential Get Physical label, which has far and away been the biggest success in underground house in recent memory. And along label co-founders Booka Shade and DJ T, they’ve produced some of the most interesting sounds that we’ve heard coming out of anywhere in the world. Based out of Berlin, the Get Physical crew managed in 2005 to tone down a scene overfed with exaggerated, overblown electro, even if only for a moment, when they released their their gorgeous (and rapturously received) Body Language single towards the end of that year.

And Australian audiences have been lapping it up: M.A.N.D.Y. were here in October for a national tour and one half of the duo, Patrick Bodem, returned in time for a series of New Years gigs in late December that received consistently excellent reviews. And there’s been now slowdown in the beginning of 2008: they’ve just released Fabric.38, the latest in the series for the renowned London superclub of the same name. ITM got to speak to M.A.N.D.Y.’s other half Philipp Jung, and have a chat about their music, their label, and what they’re planning on doing next.

The first thing you notice about Jung is his incredible optimism. On the day we spoke to him, literally only moments before he had accidentally run over his laptop with his car, and with it he’d lost most of what he’d been working on over the past few months. “It’s OK, I do it quite often!” he laughs. “I’ll probably get most of it back!”

You would hope so. The sounds coming out of M.A.N.D.Y. and Get Physical have been consistently pushing the envelope, and providing a breath of fresh air to a sometimes stagnant scene, responsible for tracks like their Put Put Put, Booka Shade’s Night Falls and 2007’s lovable Heater from Samim. Philipp offers a heads up on what we should be looking out for next.

“Razohara: they have this guitar kind of sound, it’s serious music but they don’t take themselves too seriously. They’re great. Also DJ Heidi, Lupazz and Samim. And Noze from Paris – those guys are crazy. They have an album coming out in April.” Guitars? Sounds like a bit of a change of direction for Get Physical? “We want to open up for all kinds of music, not just dance. We’re really keeping our eyes open for different directions, different sounds.”

And what of M.A.N.D.Y. themselves? “We’re starting work on an album. Patrick and I are going to Iceland in February to start it. We’ve rented this beautiful house in the countryside, I can’t wait!” Production wise, their venture to Iceland will be one of the first they’ve done outside of Germany. Having moved around the country, including Frankfurt, Cologne and Berlin, they’ve always lived and worked in their home country. Is this loyalty something that’s been deliberate? “Definitely, Berlin is such a melting pot musically. There’s such an open exchange of ideas, no cliques or anything like that, I love it. For us, it’s the place to be, musically.”

The minimal sound certainly made some massive inroads worldwide last year, and the understated sound has been tipped by many set to take electro’s crown as the next big thing. I ask Philipp if he’s worried about it becoming overexposed and commercialised in the same way that that other musical styles have. “Not really, as a producer you can’t really worry about that. We’ll just keep doing what we love, and hopefully people will continue to love it!”

And finally, as someone who looks set to continue to play such a vital role in the direction of electronic music over the next few years, I asked Phillip what sort of things he wants to see in dance music. What sort of changes does he want to see occur? “I hope that people would really listen, really try to make a difference with music, you know? To just listen, and listen carefully.”

And if M.A.N.D.Y. continue to keep making music like they have so far, I’d say there’s a good chance of that.

Farbic.38 mixed by M.A.N.D.Y. is in stores now through Fabric/Inertia.