'Commercialism has killed DJ creativity' - Dave Clarke is loving electro more than techno in 2024
Archive One innovator also said it's many years since he has enjoyed an Irish festival
by Mark Kavanagh · Irish MirrorChristened the ‘baron of techno’ by the legendary John Peel, Dave Clarke — whose weekly radio show White Noise is produced by Ireland’s Mr Spring — has just released a unique box set edition of his seminal Archive One album, more than 30 years after it first changed what an electronic music album could be.
It has been unavailable at retail for more than twenty years on vinyl, with copies exchanging hands on Discogs for up to €300 - while an original CD was going for €340 on eBay recently.
The new box set is a strictly limited six-vinyl edition of 1,500 containing the remastered original album and the Red series 12in singles, and two bonus 12in of remixes with a signed photo and 16-page booklet written by Dave.
Unlike many contemporary box sets, Archive One has not been released digitally - only the 10-track album has made it to streaming services - so the only way to get your hands on the complete haul of vintage techno is buying the box before it sells out forever.
There are no Hi-Res audio 24-bit / 192k remasters either - the digital remaster is only available at CD quality in 16-bit / 44.1k. But the set sounds more potent than ever - “Matt Colton did a wonderful job of remastering,” Dave enthused to The Scene.
The Red series of singles and the Archive One long player followed a string of innovative releases on his own Magnetic North imprint, which had been championed by the late great BBC radio DJ John Peel and led to the Baron of Techno tag.
Dave recalled: “Peel was a big fan of my output on Magnetic North (and the other artists I had signed to the label). He was sent white labels and just was on it, he was the main (and almost only support) on BBC Radio One. The other plays by other DJs were more than likely only because of him, so his support meant I started to have a recording career.
“His plays actually also earned me money. [Publishing royalties collection agency] PRS originally denied any of my music was played, but a dot matrix print out from the playlist (there was no internet then) from the producer meant they had to cough up and I got no apology for them basically lying to me, but I did get royalties which helped me re-invest into my studio and also my fridge as I was on the breadline back then. I cannot underplay his support and also the education I got by listening to his radio shows.”
Archive One launched Clarke’s stellar career in earnest - three decades on he’s still one of the most in-demand cutting-edge purveyors of electronic music on the planet.
“[The album] put me on the map. In those days being on a major record label that supported you made things happen, I had a little bit of chart success but my aim was never that but reaching a larger audience for sure, then I could also bring people on board I respected for remixes, I got Surgeon his first ever remix for example.”
There was a dearth of Clarke tuneage in the years that followed due to a legal battle with Bush Records (who had released the Red series), but his 2001 mix album World Service for React Records towards the end of the golden era of DJ mix compilations sold an incredible 120,000 copies.
Not a bad result for a set comprising underground cuts from the likes of Surgeon, Jeff Mills, Umek, The Hacker, Adult, Anthony Rother, Joey Beltram, Fischerspooner and, somehow, Radiohead (who made an appearance with the dreamy Idioteque).
Dave returned to the fray as a producer in 2003 with Devil's Advocate.
“I had to sue to get off [Bush Records]. That enabled me to sign to Skint, but the other label held onto the rights, I had to legally go through a process to get the rights of Archive One back. Of course it was inevitable that it would take time, but my team believed and worked through it and then we arrived at this point, now all four of my albums are on Skint, a label whom I have worked with on and off for over 20 years. This is a good result.”
So what’s next? “I have completed a new classical album that is dark but finding a record label that doesn’t say “This is not very Spotifyable” is not the easiest endeavour, some A&R take no risks despite loving the music because they fear the algorithms, I have faith it will come out, there are some incredible artists that I have collaborated with on that project and I am immensely proud of it.”
In the meantime, Dave is hurtling towards his 1,000th episode of the weekly White Noise radio show, which is produced by Ireland’s Mr Spring. And while he’s hugely positive about the amount of great electro being released, he’s less excited about the state of techno in 2024. He wades through 300 to 400 promos a fortnight in order to keep White Noise at the vanguard.
“The majority of it is very low par, the commercialism has killed the creativity and many play safe. BPMs do not create energy, intention does.”
And the Baron is keen to get back to Ireland.
“I recently played for Mick O’Keeffe in Waterford,” Dave reminded us. “Waterford has changed but it was good to be back and working with the good guys. I’ll be in Dublin before the end of the year too. Now here is a shocker for you. It has been a while since I enjoyed an Irish festival. Weather jokes aside, the organisation just didn’t make it pleasurable for quite some years. The last festival felt like a mobile disco with the sides off a van. It was a shame as it had a good line-up there as well.”
Dave Clarke’s Archive One Box Set is out now on Skint Records/BMG.
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