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Münster, is that Funk City, Germany?
"Haha, not really. There used to be some kind of scene but everybody has left for Berlin or Cologne. I'm hardly ever there myself, to be honest. Münster is boring. I get my funk elsewhere, you know, travelling around. I try to go shopping for records everywhere I go, but there isn't always time. When I'm deejaying somewhere I arrive in the evening, usually, get dinner and then it's off to the club. Usually it gets late so I'll sleep in and then it's either Saturday so the shops close early, or I have to be on my way to another gig."
But how did you get in touch with the funk in the first place?
"Well, I used to be in a band and one of the guys I was playing with was always listening to Funkadelic, Parliament. That's how I got into it. And I took it from there, basically, just going into record stores listening to the funk records they had and buying everything I could."
The new album sounds very funky and organic, is it all sample-based or do you work with live musicians as well?
"The music is all sample-based. Not just plainly looped samples, I process them and everything, but no, no live instruments. The singers are live though. I met Richard Kim by coincidence. I was looking for a singer for 'Funk the Rich' and 'Mind Your Head', I wanted someone who sounded like Rob Parissi from Wild Cherry, you know, a white boy funk singer. I was telling a friend this and he said 'well, I know a guy...' and it was great.
This is actually much more of a straight-up party record than my first album. I wanted to cut down on the garage-y sound and make some real funk stompers. Basically, I wanted to make songs that I can play out. The album is a reflection from my sound as a DJ."
There's a hidden track on No Risk no Funk that sounds rougher than the rest of the album, and it also sounds like a bit of a piss-take. Care to explain?
[laughs] "It's a piss-take, yes, I didn't really want to list it on the sleeve. Actually, the track is called 'Nu-jazz Go Home'. There's so many nu-jazz guys, especially in Germany, and I find the music a bit tedious at times. I don't know, it sounds like they have forgotten what it's all about on a dancefloor, know what I mean? It all sounds so ... forced. Complicated, if you wish. Which is fine by me, and I like some of it, too, but I couldn't really dance to it. There is no party spirit in it. It's like the chorus says on that track: 'I wanna rock'. I have a rock attitude, and I wanted to express that in that track."
But your music is pretty different from theirs, I mean, why bother?
"Well it's not really important, it's just a bit of fun. Our audiences are different, too. If you can speak of a real defined audience, that is. I don't think you can, not in Germany anyway. I just play wherever, and the people who come to my gigs, well they just want to have a good time. It's not a scene or anything, it's just party people."
To close off, can you name a couple of records you never leave home without?
"Err, [laughs] I don't want to give away my secrets. No, seriously, there is one record that's been in my record bag for about six years now: 'Mental Ska' by Longsy D. If you hear it you'll probably know it. Wyclef Jean used the melody a couple of years ago for one of his songs. And that's really all I can think of right now."
And then Malente's off to the DJ booth to get ready for his set. Unfortunately the club isn't even half full that night, so the party spirit Malente feeds on is as good as not there. He plays some good tunes nevertheless, and according to yours truly and his buddies, he deserved much better than a half-empty dancefloor.
No Risk No Funk is released by Unique Records and is distributed in the Benelux by Lowlands.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/malente/malente-i-wanna-rock/2006/
Meer Malente op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/malente
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