thanks again for the interview – sounds like an interesting guy.

I think it is a real shame that Shed seems to find that he does not always get the opportunities to play out his music as he would like, either for technical reasons or because of crowds that might come to the floor with too many preconceptions. It sounds like maybe this is particularly the case in Germany at the moment? I think that there was a time when it was like that in the UK, but at the moment it seems to me that people are dancing with very open ears here at the moment.

Thanks a lot for this article. It was a very interesting read. If Testindustries is right and this is Shed's first English-language interview, hopefully the increased publicity he is getting in the UK will bring him opportunities to come over here and play to audiences who might be a little bit more receptive to his breakbeat and bass-tinged style of techno. I know that if he makes it to Manchester any time soon I will be first in line to buy a ticket.

Thanks for your comments – I would have to agree, my intro to this piece does contradict itself somewhat. To attack techno's nostalgia and then talk about “looking to the past in order to find new paths to the future” is wholly illogical. It proves nothing so much as my own confusion as to what “originality” means in the context of something now so obviously “traditional” as techno.

As for whether Shed is successful in what he does, well, that's a matter of opinion, but I can understand your reservations. Like you, I've snaffled up every EQD 12″ with great relish, but I must admit I've been more cautious with the WAX records. I didn't spot the Chez Damier lift, so that's interesting to learn.

For me, Shed is at his most arresting when working with breakbeats (hence why we spend so long talking about them in the interview) – I think in particular of the B-side of EQD002, several tracks on Shedding The Past, and STP's 'The Fall'.

Several years after release I'm still enjoying Shedding The Past myself. You talk about a plethora of “decent Detroit techno inspired LPs”, but what's appealing about Past is that it nods to Detroit without aping its moves (unlike, in my humble opinion, AW's LP) and establishes its own distinctive sound across its duration. Shed's music is almost always recognisably Shed, which counts for a lot in my worldview.

I've not spent all that long with The Traveller as yet, so I'm still undecided on its merits.

As for Convextion's LP – I couldn't pretend for a second that this isn't, to my ears at least, superior to Shedding The Past (which is why it ranked no.21 in FACT's Albums of The 2000s, compared to Shed's no.98). Indeed, it's one of the best electronic albums ever made, period – I couldn't think of many that wouldn't sound inferior by comparison.

cheers
k

3 things struck me when I read this:

first, you say in the intro, quite rightly, that techno nowadays is based on nostalgia. however, then you go on to say that “Like so many visionaries across the arts, Pawlowitz looks to the past in order to find new paths into the future”.

I'm not trying to be overly critical, but this is the standard phrase used or trotted out in interviews about 'pioneering' techno artists. Maybe I am being a wee bit cynical, but I think you could argue that so much of the techno around at the moment is looking to the past to find new paths.

Secondly, I'm not even sure Shed is that successful in doing this. I love all the Wax and Eqd releases (and own them all), but the B side ( I think) of the second Wax is a carbon copy of an old Chez Damier track. We are not talking inspired by or 'looking to the past etc', but very, very similar. I'm actually surprised Shed has not been contacted about this.

Finally, 'Past' is a decent album, but there have been loads of decent Detroit techno inspired LPs in the past 5 years – arne weinberg, derk carr etc. only a matter of opinion, but convextion's convextion LP is hugely superior to the shed album. on that note, shed's second album is, I feel, very very poor. I have only listened to it 3 times, so maybe it's a grower, but so far, doesn't work at all.

anyway, thanks again for the interview

Richard