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All images courtesy of Stones Throw and Now-Again Records
| Well, who wants to fight amongst friends? I started Now-Again with Wolf’s blessing – Jeff did some of the first art for the label,and I got if off the ground (with a newly recorded song, funny enough) in 2002. A bit later, Wolf and I started Soul-Cal to distribute disco and soul rarities that I was tracking down, a passion we mutually shared.
Do you consider Now-Again as more of a reissue label or are you equally pushing new acts like The Heliocentrics, Breakstra or The Whitefield Brothers? E: Like I said, the first record I put out was newly recorded. Go figure right…. I suppose my energies draw me in each direction – and the reissues influence the new music, and the music that the artists I’m working with help push me in new directions for the reissues as well.
The artworks used on Now Again albums are striking to say the least. Does Jeff Jank work on those or do Now Again use different designers? E: Jeff does some, but he’s pretty damn busy with Stones Throw. I use a rotating ensemble of graphic designers, and I try to give all of them a freedom to be themselves – Matt Boyd at Way Shape Form, Lewis Heriz in the UK, Trevor Karma Gendron in Boston, etc. They all have their own styles and flairs, and it’s a pleasure to see what they come up with for each album.
The label has released many fantastic reissues from South Korean psych, Nigerian afro beat to regional US funk and hip-hop. What made you interested in doing an Indonesian psych compilation? How did the album come about? E: I was talking with the guy who I probably the foremost authority of 70s Indonesian rock – Jason “Moss” Connoy (producer of ‘Kilo’ for Ghostface Killah’s Fishscale LP)– about Sharkmove, right around the time that Madlib sampled “Evil War” for an as of yet unreleased track. And his knowledge was just so vast. I asked him if he’d mind sharing it, if I could find a way to officially license the music. He said he’d always wanted to, but that he’d never found a way to convince everyone to participate in his ideas. Thus, we brought Benny Soebardja – and then you – into the fold and everything cascaded from there. |
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Barring a few hardcore individuals, the youth here aren’t paying much/any attention to and even deride older Indonesian records. What is it about the music by the likes of Koes Ploes or AKA that drew you to these records?
E: The youth in Indonesia probably take that music for granted, much like young black Americans take for granted funk music as the music of their parents’ or grandparents’. And you know the way it is with your parents – if, in the 60s, they were listening to Jimi Hendrix, when they’re IN their 60s, they’re listening to James Taylor. So, the Indo kids of “today” have probably heard too much BAD 70s Indo music to realize that there is a large amount of great 70s Indo music… So I hope that by packaging some of, in our opinion, the best – in one place – “the kids” will get an idea of what’s in their own back yard if they just look close enough
With a prospective release party in Jakarta for the compilation on the horizon, will you be looking to nab any specific Indonesian records that you’re itching to get while you’re in the country? If so, which one(s)? You never know, one of our readers might own a copy. E: Oh, how I can hope to grab an original copy of the Shark Move album, the first two Panbers albums, the Ariesta Birawa…. I could list the records forever, but any of those would be greatly appreciated! – Interview by: Chandra Drews / Ffonz
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