As a first follow up to his acclaimed 2012 J. R. Plankton release, Plankton teamed up with Robert Defcon and produced an astounding collage of european and afroamerican sounds, vocals and rhythms, both psychedelic and bass heavy. Licensed to groove, the 5 tracks on “Oh Babe” merge the sonically improbable – highlighted by the artificial landscape of Armin Linke’s cover photo and Max Dax’ artwork.

When Krauts “Rausch” (German for intoxication or noise) you know they’re onto a winner: The fresh new release opens with a sizzling drone ascending the throne of psychedelic sequencer rock. The title tune “Oh Babe” injects screwed, subtly lewd funk vocals into a slo-mo, yet ecstatic disco anthem, underscored by a pulsating filter funk bass, while “Bass ‘n’ Hippies” and “Get Up” fuse deep progrock killer grooves with raunchy vocoder rap and funky turntable scratching, which will have you on your feet for sure. After a night out dancing, the final track, “Jealousy”, evokes a scenery of solitary paranoia, both chilled out and chilling.

Defcon and Plankton are connected by years of friendship and a dedication to minimalistic grooves and collage techniques in the tradition of Stockhausen and Can and the turntable and sampling culture of early hip hop.

Plankton vs. Defcon
Interview “Oh Babe” EP

Max Dax: Plankton and Defcon are expanding club music’s vocabulary by looking back. You’ve been poaching in prog rock as well as krautrock.

Robert Defcon: The samples interact with one another. This works in all directions: While hip hop grooves differently in a European music context and is, in a way, being reinvented in the process, prog rock allows for downright raunchy moments.

Plankton: For me, as a passionate music listener as well as a DJ, collaging always comes with countless style references. It bothers me when sampling only focuses on hits and tries to make them fit stylistically. We were much more interested in sounds and grooves overlooked by music history, particular minimal, funky bars and snippets to be recombined and featured center stage in their individuality.

Defcon: This is where the real work starts. A lot of times every single sixteenth has been sliced up, sent through several effects, and put back together. Microgranular work.

Dax: On the back of the record cover, in the place where one would usually find a jazz album’s liner notes, you chose to print an interview with photographer Armin Linke in which he sets the creation of his photographs in a larger artistic context.

Defcon: Armin Linke’s major topic is nature being shaped, manipulated and ultimately destroyed my mankind: nature as a stage. In the same sense we don’t make “authentic” music—we put on a show. We make collages, and we explicitly look for friction because that’s where energy is generated.