Many people recognize Ambivalent (aka Kevin McHugh) as the upcoming artist featured on Richie Hawtin’s Minus imprint, and while that is true, there is the side I also remember from his days in New York when he hosted his “Micromini” nights at Filter 14, and was co-host with Camea on The Nerd Tank radio show on East Village Radio. I know Kevin as a genuine purveyor and lover of techno, and before the craze of minimal, he was there from the early days.
I had a chance to speak with Kevin as he prepares to play in NY and LA Halloween weekend. Now a Berlin transplant and in-demand artist globally, he still finds time to engage in a small chat.
Here are five questions I asked him. Enjoy.
Ambivalent: I met Rich when I was doing a music festival for an arts organization called Creative Time. We did electronic music and art events under the Brooklyn Bridge. I kept asking Rich to do a show with us, and it never worked out. But we ended up talking about common interests and hung out whenever he was in NY. Eventually we started doing projects together. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that he asked me to join the label as an artist. That was the beginning of a different phase of my life, but our friendship definitely influenced me tremendously.
Ambivalent: It definitely wasn’t an easy decision. I moved to NY in 1996, so it feels like home. I loved my life there, and would have loved to stay. But ultimately there was no way to make a living on my music and still pay a New York rent. Being in Berlin has made it possible to focus on my music rather than a day job. I also love European audiences and their dedication to this music culture. People recognize your work more clearly and appreciate it differently. There are great audiences in North America, also, but it seems that things take hold more slowly in the US.
Ambivalent: There are a few that stand out. I just played with a bunch of other Minus artists in a Contakt show at Brixton Academy in London. Piknik Electronik in Montreal was awesome. A great show at Cocoon club in Frankfurt and also the Monsters of House festival in Munich.
One of my favorite gigs was on a Sunday afternoon in an abandoned warehouse in Hamburg. The guys who do this party are so cool. They made this massive space feel so intimate just by propping these shipping containers around the space, and then they had people in furry animal costumes running around…it just felt like the kind of thing where there’s so much love put into a really underground event. That’s the stuff I keep hoping to see more of…
Ambivalent: My girlfriend still lives in Brooklyn, so I go back pretty often to see her and she comes to Europe pretty often as well. That tends to keep me from getting homesick. Of course there are friends who I miss, and certain things that I rush to when I get back. Namely good mexican food. One thing that you don’t get so often in other cities is the busy streetlife and people watching. I was in Paris this summer and a bus blew smog in my face, and it actually made me miss New York. That sounds so twisted, doesn’t it?
Ambivalent: Well, the music scene in Berlin is different than it was a few years ago. I think it’s changed because so many people have heard the legends about certain clubs, etc. So now there seems to be a pressure for things to live up to. There are definitely nice things about being in a city with so many clubs and DJs that you can go out any night of the week and hear someone really good. The flip-side is that you don’t have the same excitement as you’d have in a so-called “smaller” scene. The NY parties I’ve been to since I left have really impressed me with their energy. I think it’s getting better all the time.
Join me in welcoming Ambivalent back to NY as he DJs our final Hidden Recordings Residency Night of 2009 and Halloween Eve Special on Friday October 30th!
