“Qui je suis? Who am I? I’m Glitz. I’m Golden Girl. I’m Hacking … Everywhere and nowhere … I’m only words, words, words …” (Electroclash – ‘Vocal Intro’).
Most famous for songs both whimsical and filthy, Miss Kittin (aka Caroline Herve) is also one to delve into a bit of lyrical self-examination. Her DJ mix releases are peppered with commentary from Kittin’s life journey, all delivered in that in the chanteuse’s feted deadpan Gallic voice. She counts herself as thankful for her success, but we hear a real frustration at being simply a disembodied “Miss Kittin speaking through a wireless microphone”. That’s Kittin not “kitten.” “Kitten” is too cheesy right? I find Kittin more Kickin’!”
She is a Kittin of some contrasts – purring on Radio Caroline, playfully scratching on Golden Boy’s ‘Rippin Kittin’, roaring in Raumschmiere’s ‘The Game Is Not Over’. But at the end of the day she is just a human girl emailing another human girl from her Berlin flat – her laptop amongst photos of friends, a sticker from the Hacker’s solo album Reve Mecaniques, firmly distracted by the last cigarette in her box she’s about to light.
“A stage name simply separates your job [from] your private life. He he, when I took this name, I didn’t even know it would be my living! ... I was such a happy child, I didn’t think about the future. Once I thought I could be an oceanographer, but when I realized you must be good in math and science, I knew it was fucked up … The only pressure I have is to have fun, in anything I do. First because that’s the real thing why I do what I do, and second, because without that, I do a shit job.”
This sense of fun and whimsy must have once imbued Kittin the vocalist, that sweet Eurotrash girl whose flat spoken vocals launched ‘electroclash’ and catapulted Caroline from back-room DJ to top-billed performer. There are many imitators but there are few who can claim the influential status of ‘Frank Sinatra is Dead’ (with The Hacker from The First Album) and the evergreen ‘Silver Screen Shower Scene’ (with that other cat Felix on Kittenz and Thee Glitz). After all, Herve reputedly met the Hacker at a rave, the whole Felix thing started very spontaneously and Kittin’s self scribed lyrics from The First Album are refreshingly hilarious – the work of a playful pen.
However, the fame and royalty game visibly took its toll on Herve. Being famous is not always so nice. For one, people steal your microphones. “It was one of the saddest thing. Why would people do that, and hurt you, if they really love what you do? People are sick …”.
Herve claims not to court fame, simply uniqueness. “It flatters your ego. Everybody likes it, but that’s why it’s dangerous. It doesn’t make you happier or richer. Now listen, this is very important: People saying they would love to be famous are SICK because it means they think recognition will cure their insecurity. And of course, it’s normally the opposite. But I understand if people say “I want to be different” or “I want to be unique”. This is Human. We all want to be unique and special. I always wanted to, and my parents felt it very early.”
‘Professional Distortion’ presents an aggressive looking glass view of fame. ‘Happy Violentine’ is a gentler exploration of the theme. ‘Allergic’ and ‘Clone Me’ also have a sense of therapy. These tracks are found on Kittin’s 2004 solo release I.com. A brave shedding of her previous production incarnations as ‘special guest star’ or ‘secondary collaborator’, I.com marks Kittin’s debut as a musician in her own right on her own label. The fun has returned with the Japanois madness of ‘Meet Sue Be She’ and tongue in cheek silliness of ‘Requiem for a Hit’.
Herve is remarkably sanguine about the album which has received mixed reviews. “The creative time making in the studio was what really mattered … I wasn’t nervous, everything I do is new, I never repeat myself so I am used to it.” Listenable eclecticism was the challenge Herve set for herself in producing the album which she treated as joining “links like a puzzle”. ‘Happy Violentine’ is her favourite single – “I always wanted to see if I could write something like that.” Although the independence of the release was liberating, we can expect more collaborative work from the Kittin. “I love collaborating, it’s so much fun, so much fun, so much more emotions, and that’s the real freedom, right?” Not that she’ll reveal her future collaborators. “This is not something to tell, you have to let destiny do its job”.
Happily, there are clearly elements of fame, or quasi-fame (“Okay, come one, I am not THAT famous!”), which do not displease Ms Herve, especially in her international deejay incarnation, which is how she primarily sees herself. “I won’t say I am a singer, because I have a very weak voice. And I won’t say I am a musician because I am not a studio rat. DJing is where I have the best skills and the most experience.” International travel is a major perk. “I like it a lot, it’s the best school in life. If everybody would travel, there would be less assholes on earth.” The touring circuit only partly scratches the Kittin’s itch – she longs to get to Siberia, Mongolia, the Bahamas, China, Tibet, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong. 2004 saw her play throughout Europe, Turkey, Japan and the US. Now she is set to return to our shores for the various New Year extravaganzas.
Billed to play her preferred DJ sets, what can we expect this time around? “It’s different every week. I change my box every week, because I don’t like to travel with too many records, so I am getting bored of them quickly.” If it’s any indication, her latest wax acquisition was The Aphex Twin. There’s no doubt the Kittin’s tastes run to the dark and crunchy. Last year’s set list included a hefty EBM/IDM section and banging techno with BPMs at the top end of the scale. “Honestly, [my] inspiration with the Hacker comes from a far more darker side than the “glitz and glamour” that defines electroclash. Don’t forget I was a techno DJ before being a stupid nurse on stage.”
Anyone who caught her DJ sets in 2003 could not doubt the shedding of the electroclash persona, along with her hair (!), as she demonstrated that she is entirely at the top of that particular game, matching the Hacker in their versus set, and adopting an entirely different power and presence from her go-go-dancer vocal performances. The crowd becomes invisible as she locks on to her mix. “Freedom. No sense of time, no sense of space. I don’t have to talk to people. I am alone with my records, and something timeless and emotionally strong is going on. It’s a kind of meditation.”
Watch Miss Kittin spin like the best of them this New Years:
Fri Dec 31st – Sydney, Gas & Bohem (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Jan 1st – Melbourne, Sunshine People (BUY TICKETS)
Sat Jan 1st – Perth, Sunshine People (BUY TICKETS)
