KILL THE NOISE's Jacob "Ewun" Stanczak answers three questions in three words to open the batting of our conversation; not exactly the bubbling torrent of information us journalists thrive on. Opening pleasantries ('Keeping well?' 'How was Adelaide last night?' 'Got milk?') are met with the monosyllabic answers of a man more intent on being in bed than talking to some slightly English-sounding stranger from Canberra.
But hell, who can blame him? Stanczak has just touched down in Australia for the charmingly titled Fire and Hell Tour, is outing his Kill Kill Kill EP and Turn Off/Tune In mix series, working hard on a new yet-to-be-named album due to drop in the next few months, and all whilst making the big move from New York to LA just before touching down on our dusty soil.
"I think you enjoy a better quality of life [in LA]," the man reveals from a Sydney hotel room. "For the kind of music I do, America's got a really vibrant scene at the moment."
The kind of music Stanszak does spans the spectrum of house, whether it be the Metroid-sampling The Mother Brain, the tight loops and interstellar synths of the All Too Vivid remix, or the smooth disco of Estelle featuring Kanye West's American Boy emix. It's a breadth the man promises to bring to Canberra this week. "I like to run the gamut of styles within house music," he says. "Whether it's the glitchy, distorted side of things, straight up house, or deep driving basslines, I make sure I switch the tempo up."
Similarly, Stanczak has switched the tempo on his own career. The end of 2007 delivered a vicious re-working of the Kitsune signed Thieves Like Us which put Kill the Noise on the radar, swiftly capitalising on this newfound attention with remixes of Chromeo's Call Me Up, Vega's All Too Vivid and CSS's digital moistener Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex. Now comes the big test of any dance-o; the crucial first artist album. What to do? A set of dancefloor smashers, or a rounded 'artiste' piece filled with that light and shade stuff those bearded impresarios on TV keep going on about?
"I'm not writing it for the dancefloor in mind, no," Stanczak confirms. "That's what remixes are for; you can turn it into a dancefloor monster from there. It's been really hard trying to keep it locked down, and not leak any of it before it's done. I won't be playing much of that out - there may be a track or two - but I'm saving most of it to be released all at once." But fear not you trembling KTN kids, there will be plenty more shiny newness to enjoy. "I have a lot of new tunes I've done that not many people have heard yet, as well as plenty of records from artists I'm good friends with." Hopefully the man will be treated to some well-deserved sleep before then.
Kill the Noise play a free show at Transit Bar on Thursday September 3 with supports Sean Kelly, Staky, Cheese and Bricksta. Tickets through noone, I told you already, it’s free.
