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DJ Interview: Superpumas

Just who are the Superpumas? They make groovy electronic house, but after this interview DJmag.com is still a bit confused...

"'Puma', in Swedish, means hottie, babe or chick," says Carl Henrick Hallen, one half of electronic house crew Superpumas.

"So you can imagine the niceness of the Superpuma, a rare species!"

The up and coming duo have been snapped up by London-based label Exceptional for their forthcoming Gilder EP, and now reckon they're quite sexy.

'Gilder' features three kicking, electronic house tracks, certainly quite groovy, so we were intrigued.

Apparently Carl and his studio partner Daniel Nordh have worked with chill out King Of Convenience Erlend Øye, so DJmag.com caught up with Superpuma's Carl to try and find out more about the mysterious duo.

Who are the Superpumas?

We'd like to know too! We're just two tossers, really. Preparing for hunting season!

There aren't many people in Scandinavia - are you mates with Norway's Annie?

True, there are only about 10 people in Scandinavia: Annie, The Knife, Royksopp, Kings Of Convenience, Björn Torske, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas and the Swedish King and Queen, oh and Rob da Bank.

Not many people know Rob's from here but he is really.

They are all neighbours of ours of course, but everyone's so busy these days you don't see much of them, especially the Queen.

Superpumas

How would you describe your music?

We've been growing up with pop in all shapes and forms for all of our lives, still trying to break free from it but it's always there.

Our music is electronic mostly, and although we play whatever we need, the guitar usually ends up smashed rather than played.

We make tracks that are songs but try to make songs that are tracks, if you see what I mean?!

How did you first get into production?

We met as punks on the golf course but stank at golf so instead we went and played some music (not sure it was, but
we tried!).

After punk we got hooked by going dancing to music that girls liked instead, and this was the era of Dr. Alban and 2 Unlimited, so you can imagine what we had to endure!

Finally the machines got to us and we scrapped the punk and got a MIDI jungle going.

Our first track was a huge hit but unfortunately it got deleted from the hard drive before anyone heard it.

Our second track called 'Snowballs From Outer Space' featured a mad-ass monk! It was a long time ago now.

Describe your dream studio set up.

We don't need much really, we used to have loads of gear, like a big desk, but then one day we realized that only three cables were plugged in - a microphone and a stereo out from the computer!

We still have all the stuff and love outboard gear but we've been moving around a lot lately and are quite happy with less gear.

More important is what's outside the studio!

In our dream studio one door would lead to the beach, one to the top of the Alps and one to a club!

Do you DJ?

Indeed, we've played Fabric twice, Cargo, Bestival as well as regular Scandinavian gigs.

What do you think of laptop DJing?

I don't mind if other people do it but it's not for us.

When we go to the club the last thing we'd like to bring would be the computer, we get to see it enough already!

A mouse is not vinyl and it's nicer to watch the crowd than the screen isn't it?

Which producers do you rate? Why?

Oh, there are so many good ones out there. Normally we tend to like the ones that have their mind set on something slightly different than the current direction in the scene.

It's when you don't care about the rules that you find interesting things, normality is boring.

We're all over the board when it comes to producers: from Timbaland to Moroder, Russia to Brazil.

What's the best thing about being Swedish?

Korv med mos, Swedish sausage and mash that is! Best place to get it: Sibylla.

Other good things are blondes, brunettes and redheads, swimming in August and the 24 hour sunlight in the summer, come join us!

How do you think you'll do against England in the World Cup this year?

We'll smash you up big time!

Sven has now infiltrated the English system and is ready to reveal himself as a double agent by letting Crouch play, as goalie!

Zlatan and Henrik Larsson, our dream team or what!

And we've also been receiving special training on how to stamp those metatarsals real good!

Good luck England!