Caught Up With Koudlam

As the steady influx of European beatmakers picks up pace, it’s becoming harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. There is no set formula, and for as many that catch our attention, a million slip by. However, there was no way Koudlam wasn’t going to get some face time on Dazed Digital. His track, ‘See You All’, demands to be heard and we were more than willing to let him aurally pleasure us. Despite singing in English, his sound is most definitely French – no Englishman can pull off joie de vivre so nonchalantly. We met Koudlam to find out more.

Dazed Digital: Describe your sound
Koudlam: It’s like a light whistle dancing on the street. An icy ridge that leads to… I'm not sure. 

DD: Where do you take your influences from?
Koudlam: From the landscapes, the Rocky Mountains, the modern Aztecs, the jumpstyle and from the bottom of the big cities. And from so much music and so many artists of course, but these days mostly classical, black metal, techno-reggae, and relaxation music.

DD: What does ‘Koudlam’ mean? How did you get the name?
Koudlam: In French slang it means something like ‘a stab of a knife’. It comes from when I was a teenager, some friends used to call me that, I don’t remember why, for me now it’s almost an abstraction.

DD: Do you think you get more out of yourself by being solo or would you consider playing with a band in the future?
Koudlam: Not really with a band, but it will be different, bigger, with a lot more people involved into the show (not specifically on the stage). For now my shows are very minimalist, for aesthetic combined with material reasons... I think the show in London on the 2nd December will be one of the last with this naked shape.

DD: Can you explain the idea behind your video concepts? Specifically the one on your home page.
Koudlam: Just ideas and feelings. In that video I just wanted to make a film about space and civilization. I think it is our destiny to leave the earth and colonise the universe, but the human race don’t seem to care a lot about destiny anymore... everything is "no future"...so we have to reinvent the future; it’s gods and creatures, or we are gonna collapse.

DD: How important is it to have control over video aspects?
Koudlam: I don’t trust a lot of people about art, especially about art. So if I can do the work I prefer doing it by myself. I also work with a friend, Cyprien Gaillard, he is a real master, and that’s almost all. But I have a few projects with a bunch of genius’s on some music videos, and films, we’ll see.

DD: Who are you listening to at the minute?
Koudlam: Burzum mixed with Eak A Mouse, it’s pretty disgusting.

DD: What does the future hold for you?
Koudlam: Tropical diseases and colossal business in the worst case.

Koudlam plays THE CAMP BASMENT, East London, with Sir Alice on 2 December, 2010.