T IN THE PARK
To open our T in the Park coverage, Mark Edmundson traces the rise and rise of Scotland’s newest dancefloor demi- god Calvin Harris
n a matter of months Dumfries shelf-stacker
Calvin Harris has taken the MySpace-
sensation route to universally lauded electro producer. touring with Faithless and being linked professionally and romantically with pop icon Kylie Minogue along the way. Now he is setting out on his own headline tour to coincide with the release of his debut album I Created ])i.\‘('().
Unsutprisingly. from the outset Harris has been compared time and again to that other provincial Scottish dance music sensation Mylo. But it is an association he had fully anticipated and does not begrudge in the least.
‘It's good. I don‘t mind it because really he’s been very successful and it‘s an obvious comparison to make: we‘re both Scottish and were from places people haven‘t heard of — and we make electro.‘ explains the modest 24-year-old.
‘And it‘s good if people aren‘t really sure whether they‘ll like me or not. if someone says “Oh he sounds like Mylo" and they like Mylo they’ll listen to me and think “Well he doesn‘t sound like Mylo but I quite like it". So it's fine. I don’t mind it at all.’
Memorably. his potato-headed predecessor made much of the fact that 2004's all-conquering release Destroy Ruek & Roll had been crafted entirely on a G4 Mac. a claim trumped by Harris‘ assertion that the weapon of choice for his squelchy electro—funk debut was the altogether more archaic Amiga computer.
‘lt‘s true. I did that album on an Amiga and a sampler. and a keyboard. and a mixing desk.‘ he states plainly before admitting. 'l‘ve since had to buy a Mac because my Amiga died when I
completed the album. I guess it was a kind of
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epiphany. God telling me to go and buy some quality equipment.‘
The outcome of his lo-tech bedroom tinkering is a kind of cheeky. skeletal proto-disco that sits snugly alongside the tongue-in-cheek offerings of (‘SS and Hot Chip. While Harris appears largely unmoved by the abrupt industry buzz he is still sensitive to his detractors.
‘I do a lot of nerdy stuff that people don‘t need to know about. People have been suggesting that a monkey could do what I did. especially with ‘Acceptable in the 8()s‘. It’s a bit trying because it‘s advanced technological stuff that some people just don‘t get. and that‘s okay but don't slate me for it until you work out how to get a really good drum sound out of a ping pong ball. you know. I try and take all the elements that make music good and push them really high in the mix. and take out all the shit. So you won‘t hear any reverb effects or whooshing noises that don‘t need to be there. that just kind of muddies up a track and makes it sound stupid. ljust strip it down. Often when you strip a track down. especially a dance track. you realise that you’ve actually got no musical elements at all. That‘s why people aren‘t really into it anymore.’
One can readily see why there has been such a clamour for the young Scot‘s titnely productions. The album reflects the fact that to today’s youth pop music is less a movement and more a fleeting. superficial amusement.
‘lt's as if occasionally something good comes along and everyone gets terribly excited. I don’t think music is as significant as it used to be. generally. It‘s just so accessible. it‘s absolutely everywhere. the magic of everything has gone so nothing will seem as important as it used to.’
And what of his own contribution'.’ ‘lt‘s a laugh but it‘s a good laugh. I‘d love people to get really into the tunes and really into the production of it. I think that’s fair enough. It‘s as important as anything else that‘s coming out at the moment. but it‘s not as important as say Prince or David Bowie. It‘s just not.’
Similarly indicative of our times is the fact that he was discovered through MySpace. Harris makes no bones about the debt he owes the