MUNK | Aperitivo - versatile and unpredictable

Regardless whether it is on the renowned French House-Imprint F Communications or the avant-garde British electronica label Warp; for the last couple years several bands have emerged that sport the New York influenced the influenced new wave disco beat. One of the vanguards were Mathias Modica and Jonas Imbery from Munich who as early as 2000 started this new phenomenon. In 2001 they released the sampler "Anti N.Y." under the label "Goma" which they own. They also released one album and three singles, under the pseudonym Leroy Hanghofer and Munk, which combined Hip-Hop, Funk, Punk, new wave, House and Disco.

Disregarding the new found fame they produced a new Munk album called "Apperitivo". You will find most of the above mentioned styles on "Apperitivo", but rather than just leaning too heavily on one of them it's an even mix. Besides producing music and Dj-ing though, this duo from Munich also makes T-Shirts and run the graphic-poster magazine "Amore".

With help from New York's Princess Superstar and James Murphy, Munk created something ID magazine called "cosmopolitan chic, bohemian aesthetic, off-killer creativity, superlative out-there urban funk". As a matter of fact, praise from the fashion world isn't something entirely new to the boys, since a lot of their work has been used catwalk-shows before. Streetwear today wanted to find out what these guys are all about, so we sat down with Matthias Modica to talk about music, fashion and their own roots in the streetwear culture.

Your music has been used for fashion shows by Givenchy, Murkudis and Collette, as well as the most happening parties in NYC. Why did you wait so long for your first album?

Mathias Modica: We've been too busy basically. We've playing every weekend for so long that we've never had time to sit down and make the album. We've been recording for over 5 years, and we've just had time now to do it.

How much material did you have for "Apperitivo"?

Matthias Modica: We had about 5 hours worth. It was so easy this time. We wanted to get that classic mix-tape feeling going on. In the past we always agreed on that classic Disco beat, before it became so popular. Now you can hear it everywhere, be it The Rapture, !!!, or LCD soundsystem. Not that that is bad, we just wanted to do something different. We wanted to make it like a Prince album. Two songs for the dance floor, two for the ladies, two for the radio and two for the junkies. Nothing one dimensional.

How did you get together with Bobby Conn or James Murphy?

Matthias Modica: You get to know these people when you are travelling around the world dj-ing. That's why most of the gigs we play at the guests are usually our friends anyway. We hooked up with Bobby Conn through a friend of mine in London. He liked what we did when he heard us and last time he was in Munich we hooked up. We then send him 2 pieces to Chicago to work on, we then worked on his input send it back to him, he worked on it a bit more, then we tweaked it a bit and now it's on the album. We have known James Murphy, on the other hand, for quite a while now actually. He has invited us over to NYC in the past as our first international sampler "Anti N.Y." became popular over there. Our Leroy Hanghofer album then became the hit at his parties and that's how we became friends. He loved the beat on "Kick out The Chairs" and wanted to sing on it.

This, thanks to the German New Wave Song "Deutschlandlied" by the band "nichts" turned out to quite dancy. Is that sample a reference to the new cool 80s sound?

Matthias Modica: No, we only chose that sample because it was a good sample to use. Anyway, we have a hip-hop background and really have nothing to do with that whole 80s gig. Since the age of 14 both of us have been into breakdance. It's not just the music though, it's the whole life-style, which we've tried to maintain ever since. We're still sneaker-heads. We actually have our own T-Shirt label as well where we make limited edition T's. Unfortunately, we've had to put that on hold for the moment but in October we'll put out some new T-Shirts.

So you make clothes as well. Is that because you're so popular in the industry?

Matthias Modica: We do have a lot of friends in that industry but that's not the reason we make clothes. We only do that because we have fun designing and printing T-Shirts. And one of our friends, Kostas Murkudis, who used to be Helmut Lang's assistant kind of moved us that way. That's how we started making music for the shows. The Paris connection only came about because of the music. Michel Gaubert, who is the music director for Colette, really digs our tunes, and that's how we got known in Paris. Karl Lagerfeld then picked us to be part of his favourite top ten which ID Magazine then published. It's all good but it's not really our world. There's nothing wrong with pretty girls but we'd like to stay individual. We are much happier hanging out with skaters than with haute-couture designers.

So Gomma is more than just a label?

Matthias Modica: We working on more than one level, that's right. We come from the Graffiti world and the British label MoWax used to have the same approach. We, too, publish a lifestyle and music is the red line throughout the whole project. That's why we're versatile and unpredictable.

Munk: Aperitivo (Gomma/PP Sales) Release: 11.10.2004 www.gomma.de
Text & Interview: Michael Leuffen