Joel Martin is a Peep Show junkie. He said so when I called him at his London home on a Friday night. “It’s a great show. If you come to the UK or can find it, check it out; it’s funny stuff,” he promises, referring to the TV comedy. Martin, one-half of downtempo duo Quiet Village, has had a long, sensuous affair with moving images. “I used to be a film editor. The thing that got me interested in the cutting room was walking in and smelling the gear and the film and everything in there. But a year or so into it, everything went online. And having missed the computer generation, I was very upset for many years. I thought that my career had been stolen from me.”
Circus of Horror
Fortunately, he paired up with Matt Edwards (aka Radio Slave) and channeled that energy into five rare, jazzy, electronic singles—and ultimately an album-length homage to exotica kingpin Martin Denny. Edwards, who famously mashed New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head,” has a rap sheet steeped in techno works and re-works, but clearly there is a kinder, gentler side to him. Because of their connection to DJ Harvey, the duo has also been lumped in with the “nu-disco” crowd, although there’s very little outright boogie in their work. There is, however, an eclectic range of crate-savvy styles, from tropicalia to psych-rock, surf pop and dub.
Martin’s music-buying evolution charts a convenient arc. “I was a big fan of Mick Ronson, and the first record I bought for myself was the Motors’ Airport. And then I obviously discovered hip-hop and caught the back end of late ’80s electro; that kind of changed it all for me. Around the same time I also heard go-go and it blew my mind, made me sit up and go ‘Wow, what is this shit?’ I was also buying breaks and beats albums, and that turned me onto soundtracks and jazz fusion—it was endless. Those albums were highly inspirational, like an education to me. When the first house records came around, the Chicago stuff…it was all music to us, we weren’t thinking division. It’s quite sad because there are all these subgenres, [but] good music is good music.”
Asked if he’s worried that the record will slip through the cracks because of the lounge or easy-listening tag, Martin responds forcefully, “Look, we don’t want to take over the world. We want it to be a slow-burner, something that we would put on when we felt like relaxing. We wanted to make mood music. On the surface it sounds light, but deeper down it’s darker. We want it exposed to the people that like it; we don’t want to be the next big thing.”
All of which is fine and dandy…for a one-hit wonder. “But,” Martin interjects, “it’s not a one-off, either. There’s going to another album, even weirder, more of a concept. We’d like to incorporate some musicians and use samples. This time around Matt and I are getting this laptop show together, incorporating these great visuals that will blow people’s heads off. It’s kind of annoying that we’re playing (Barcelona festival) Sonar in the afternoon, because you won’t be able to see any of the visuals!”
Which means that audiences the world over can hold onto their heads just a bit longer. All the better to ultimately pull a Kylie, and go out of them when Quiet Village’s unassuming Silent Movie show comes rolling into town…
