Eivind Henjum is the man who singularly operates the drums, synths, samplers and vocoder at live electronic music events around the world under the moniker Sprutbass. With releases via Finnish imprint Harmönia and Ninja Tunes in the UK, his aggressively minimalist ultra-electro-funk grabbed our attention like a needle dragging off a pristine collectible vinyl record. In an attempt to describe the sound – imagine a stoic Basement Jaxx sans vocals fucking with spare elements on a grid like they are expensive and like D’Angelo fucks with Al Green‘s rhythm section.
We had the opportunity to interrogate the Norwegian blip-coordinator and here is what we got:
MusicZeitgeist.com: Who is SprutBass?
Sprutbass: I am trying to figure out the magic in funk – why stuff like some beats, bass lines and soothing synths make you wanna go apeshit. My act is a constant expedition towards this goal, to get under the skin of the music. I do this all by myself, no compromising shit.
I travel all around the world with my old analogue synths, samplers and vocoder, playing liveshows to both dancing and listening crowds. Sprutbass works well on both indie-rock venues and more traditional clubs for dance music, it’s the best of both worlds – the bastard space-child of Helmuth Kohl and Grace Jones. That’s Sprutbass.
MZ: Talk about the creative process:
SB: I produce, play and mix myself, but on my last EP I worked with the Norwegian space-disco producer and DJ Prins Thomas from Full Pupp. As soon as I’m inspired I go to the studio, but it depends; if I’m touring a lot, I usually don’t work much in the studio, but instead work and listen to other kinds of music and read books to get inspired.
Everyone involved in making music and arts should read Pete Townsends (The Who) new biography! I’m going into studio in Berlin after Christmas, working on new material and a score for a film and hopefully some more touring in between.
MZ: Where is Sprutbass now?
SB: I’m playing a lot in Europe these days, and Norway of course. Both festivals and club gigs. This year’s highlight was playing the Roskilde festival in Denmark in front of thousands of crazy kids dancing in the sun. Already during the first song, the crowd started a mosh pit! And it was only 4pm. Hope to come back to the States soon, and working on some dates on the West Coast. Did some great shows in New York and Boston in March. Next up is wonderful Vienna. Great crowd there…
Sprutbass’ Vital Links:
- Sprutbass on Facebook
- Sprutbass on Soundcloud
- Sprutbass on Twitter
Listen now to “Norsk Dans” by Sprutbass and other artists we have featured at the MusicZeitgeist.com’s free Indie Music Jukebox
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