Kitsuné Launches 'Kitsuné Club Night,' Stops in Mexico City Tomorrow

In celebration of the release Kitsuné AMERICA 2, the French record and fashion label has put together their Kitsuné Club Night spring tour across Mexico and North America that shall satisfy any lover of sophisticated electronica sounds. The lineup consists of some of the featured compilation guests, such as Foals, Fred Falke, Chrome Sparks, Moon Boots, Plastic Plates and many more. The next stop is at C.S. Rhodesia in Mexico City tomorrow night (May 8) at 9 p.m. HYPETRAK has teamed up with Kitsuné for this tour. Accordingly, we spoke to Chrome Sparks, who will heat up the audience along with Fred Falke and Seconds, about his contribution to Kitsuné AMERICA 2, his view on contemporary electronic music as well as artistic influences. For more information on the tour, see the flyer below and visit Kitsuné official website.

Your track “Marijuana” is featured on Kitsuné AMERICA 2, do you think the compilation reflects the new electronic music vibe that’s happening in the U.S.? And what is your favorite track on it?
Yeah, there are definitely some forward-thinking tracks on the comp. “Come Between” by Jim-E Stack is the first to come to mind because of its originality, but my number 1 favorite track has gotta be “Say That” by Toro y Moi.

Your tracks are really sophisticated, a lot of textures and quite complex actually. Where do you find your inspiration in? And do you have one artist in particular that influenced your work?
Thank you! I often find myself asking myself, “WWTYD (what would Thom Yorke do?).” His first solo album, The Eraser, came out when I was in high school. It really grabbed me and allowed me to connect with electronic music in more intimate of a way than the dance music I was listening to, or the more heady and meticulous stuff like Aphex Twin and Squarepusher that I was also listening to and loving, but not on an especially deep level. Also Stereolab. I got into their 1997 album Dots and Loops about a year ago and it has really opened my mind to new ways of thinking about instrumentation and melody.

Where does the name “Chrome Sparks” come from/what does it mean?
I used to make music under the name Professor Purple, so anything was an upgrade. I think I originally wanted “Chrome Heart,” because of some lame reasoning that had to do with the electronic element “chrome: living in tandem with the human element ‘heart.’” Thankfully, that was already taken by a metal band (isn’t that always the case? What’s with metal bands and snagging up names?). “Chrome Sparks” was close enough and I thought it was passable. I think I was making the Chrome Sparks MySpace when I first thought that it actually worked pretty well.

If you could choose one person to remix your work, who would you like him/her to be?
Todd Terje. So into his stuff right now, everything he makes has the golden touch. I’d love to hear what he could do with some of my tracks.

Which date on the Kitsuné Spring Tour in America are you the most excited about?
I really can’t pick one, because two of them are very exciting for me. The Brooklyn show, because it’s my local show and because the club that’s hosting it (output) literally has one of the best sound systems on the planet (function one). Also, the Mexico City show because I’ve never been to Mexico and I took Spanish for six years. Time to practice.

Now, is there a place, a club, a festival, anywhere in America you’re dreaming to play to? Why?
Carnegie Hall in NYC. I guess that’s the stereotypical holy grail for classical musicians, and that kinda got embedded in me while I was in music school. The music school saying is, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice practice,” but I’m hoping I can sneak my way in by way of collaboration or something.