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Caught in the act
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by JACK OATMON “I came from the kind of post-punk, new wave thing,” says Sasa Crnobrnja of In Flagranti. “When I was like 16, 17, it was this no wave stuff—Material, Bill Laswell, Liquid Liquid, A Certain Ratio. All this kind of stuff that had a rebirth a few years ago. Disco was already over.” Born in Switzerland in the mid-’60s to Serbian parents, Crnobrnja started DJing no wave and post-punk in the early ’80s, following which he moved to New York to design fashion, being an aspiring tailor at that time. The tailoring quickly lost out to the tunes, and Crnobrnja established Codek Records and the Organic Grooves club night as well as producing bhangra- and dub-influenced tracks under the moniker Cosmic Rocker. He has since released tracks on Lo, Kitsuné, International Deejay Gigolos, Tigersushi, !K7 and numerous other dope underground electronic labels, and is currently working with Switzerland-based collaborator Alex Gloor on In Flagranti, a sample-based experimental electro project with a sleazy, seedy vibe and a slick attitude that harkens back authentically to Crnobrnja’s early days of DJing. The recent revival of the post-punk sound has not been something that Crnobrnja considers cheap and derivative, a criticism frequently levelled by some of the more jaded and elitist of music publications. “I think it’s a good thing because that was a very short time period in the early ’80s,” he says. “It didn’t live for a very long time. Maybe two or three years, then hip hop came along, and in the mid-’80s, house music came with it, so it actually changed really fast. It was forgotten really quickly, so in a way it’s good that a new generation recycled it and opened new doors.” The production process for In Flagranti has Crnobrnja and Gloor bouncing tracks back and forth between Switzerland and New York until they hammer out something satisfactory. “I still do all the music and Alex is the visual and conceptual person behind In Flagranti. He also does a lot of record shopping for old records and he randomly records stuff and sends me files. I connect it all in a track and record stuff or a vocal for it. I’ll send it back and he’ll do an edit of it, maybe add a couple things. When we both agree that it’s good, we put it out.” The quirks of the collaboration are something the two try to reap for unique styles. “I’m actually trying to get away from traditional structures as much as possible. Like trying to build up in a different way, or not build up at all and have nothing, have a pause. Especially since Alex, a graphic designer, doesn’t come from a music background. For him, it’s more like a collage. He arranges things in a way that would be wrong for a musician. But I try to incorporate that into the songs.” WITH DUVALL AND WZRDZ AT IL |
