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ELECTRIC INDIGO

Interviewed by Analog Tara via email, September 2002.

Electric Indigo, a DJ and producer from Vienna, Austria, is a tireless apostle of funky techno, having rocked dancefloors in over 30 countries since she began DJing in 1989. When not touring internationally, she can be found working the decks at her monthly residency at the Flex in Vienna. Electric Indigo has also earned the respect and gratitude of countless women DJs across the globe who rely on the female:pressure online community which she founded in 1998. female:pressure is an online database and e-mail discussion group that serves as a resource for female talent in electronic music, and a discussion space where women working in the field can provide mutual support. The female:pressure database currently includes about 400 artists - a truly global representation with DJs and producers from North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Below, Electric Indigo talks about how she became a DJ, why she started female:pressure, and what projects are in the works.

Q: Where are you from, and where are you currently working?

A: I was born in Vienna, raised in Upper Austria and returned to Vienna at the age of 17. Since 1983 I've lived in Vienna - apart from 3 years in Berlin (1993 to 1996).

Q: Why did you want to become a DJ?

A: It was in a little bar in Vienna and I saw other people I knew obviously playing their favorite records. Since I already had a lot of records I loved - mostly hip hop, rare grooves, funk and jazz - I felt like trying this as well. One day I got the chance and I liked it :-)

Q: How did you learn DJing skills?

A: By listening to good DJs, watching them, and most of all learning by doing. I guess sometimes it was horrible for the audience. But at least I played good and rare tunes!

Q: How would you describe the style of music that you play?

A: Techno. With some electro and house. I've been very much influenced by the Detroit and Chicago sound; it's kind of minimalistic and funky.

Q: Where were you exposed to the Detroit and Chicago sounds initially? Did you go to raves or other DJ parties a lot, or were you seeking out records in record shops?

A: In Vienna I did not hear that music at parties, but geb.el - a Viennese DJ who worked at the Black Market record store here - introduced me to DJ Rush's "Child's Play" on Saber Records, a Trax sub-label. I also found Underground Resistance in the record store. Later on I heard this kind of music at parties in Germany, not in Austria.

Q: What makes "your sound" unique as a DJ? Is there any musical element that you respond to the most when selecting your records or putting together a set?

A: Absolutely the rhythm section - drums and basslines! I love "deconstructed" rhythms that seem to go wrong but always return to the basic rhythm.

Q: You've toured extensively; where and when were the most memorable gigs and why?

A: The most memorable gigs are the ones with the most social interaction. I love to play with my friends, I love to hear inspiring DJs and live acts, people who do not play safe, who take risks but still groove :-) Such parties happened a lot in Berlin and Munich, also in Paris.

Q: What are the things you like most and least about being a DJ?

A: I love traveling, otherwise I'd really have the wrong job ;-) I like to go to new places and to explore cities step/gig by step/gig. It's a great thing to make one's living with music and pleasure! Sometimes, it can be annoying and exhausting not to sleep enough, to wait. I'm a professional "waiter." Ha! At airports, at parties, in hotels, etc., etc.

Q: Why did you choose the name "Electric Indigo"?

A: The name was given to me. The first time I was printed on a proper flyer, in 1990, I was desperately looking for a good DJ name. I didn't like to be called DJ Susanne. One evening I had the inspiration to ask a guy in Vienna, whom I did not even know, I just heard he was an author and from Chicago. He asked me what was my favorite color and I said blue. Two days later he came up with Electric Indigo and I thought it was a very strange name, but I liked it!

Q: When did you start the female:pressure community, and what inspired you to start it?

A: I started female:pressure in 1998. It is a technologically systematized answer to the oh-so-often asked question: "Are there any other female DJs?" or, "Why are there so very few female DJs?" etc. Each time I answered with some kind of list: "Well, there might not be as many female DJs as male ones, but what about Acid Maria, Jana Clemen, Miss DJax, Miss Kittin, Monika Kruse etc., etc." so I wanted to create a referential tool for information and communication.

Q: What plans do you have for the future, as a DJ and for the female:pressure community?

A: I'm very much looking forward to my tour in China in October - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhu! Also, I'm working on recording and editing new tracks I did and I'm developing new material for several live acts that are coming up in September, October and November. Some live acts are with an experimental e-violinist from Vienna, Mia Zabelka. At least one I will do alone.

There will be two new mix CDs in October: one on the French label Leitmotiv, the other one will be a double mix CD by Acid Maria and myself, called "female:pressure presents..." on the German label True People. I hope that the double mix CD will give female:pressure another boost. The programmer Andrea Mayr from Vienna is currently working on some administrative improvements, and I'm sure there will be new stickers and maybe t-shirts this year.

More on Electric Indigo at www.indigo-inc.at; check out female:pressure at www.femalepressure.net.