Here is a great video interview with minimal techno supremo, Richie Hawtin.

Bringing together the world’s leading and most relevant innovators in music, art, film, design and architecture, VICE and Intel Corporation last month launched The Creators Project, an unprecedented creative initiative designed to connect global youth through a common passion for creativity and technology.

The multi-year program is dedicated to identifying leading artists and enabling them to showcase their works and artistic visions through interactive media including creative conferences, new multi-disciplinary collaborative projects and a new video website.

The carefully selected collection of more than 80 artists hailing from seven countries includes such established creative pioneers as Phoenix, UNKLE, Stefan Sagmeister, Mira Calix and Nick Zinner from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as the next generation of innovators working in indie film, futuristic architecture, avant-garde electronica and fashion. These include Brazil’s Muti Randolph, China’s Peng Lei, the U.K.’s United Visual Artists, and the U.S.’ Radical Friend.

This diverse cast of creators is united by their shared belief that technology and its tools are catalysts to push artistic boundaries and bring ideas to life.

The project is highlighted by The Creators Conference series. These five huge international events will bring thousands of people together for live concerts, art exhibits, film screenings and panel discussions. New York City hosts the first Creators Conference with an all-day extravaganza at Milk Studios. The eight-floor art gallery and performance space will host exhibits by Takeshi Murata, Karl Sadler, Mark Essen and Radical Friend, and performances by Mark Ronson, Interpol, Gang Gang Dance, N.A.S.A, Sleigh Bells and Salem.

The series will then move to London, Sao Paulo, Seoul, and concludes in Beijing with a three-day finale where participating artists and exhibits will be flown in from the across the globe.

The Creators Project kicked off last month with the launch of the website, an interactive portal and anthology which will house a selection of eighty-four original videos and featuring work and interviews from the most creative artists across the globe. The site is the nerve center for the entire initiative and will live-stream interviews, performances, exhibits and panel discussions from the Creators Conferences, allowing millions of viewers from across the globe to virtually participate.

Magda - Minimal Techno DJ & Artist

Magda Chojnacka was born in Zywiec in Poland and moved in 1986, age of eleven, with her parents to Detroit in the United States. There she soon found a taste for Detroit Techno music.

Today, Magda is one of the most well respected techno DJ’s known mainly for her DJ sets and remixes as well as her brilliant 72 track 2006 mix CD She’s a Dancing Machine released on Richie Hawtin’s Berlin-based M_nus label.

Among her own releases are 48 Crack In Your Bass, Staring Contest and The Black Room, all on M_nus.  She has released remixes for the likes of Louderbach, Hearthrob, Troy Pierce and Butane.

This week Buzzin Electronic Music was fortunate enough to interview Magda ahead of Saturday’s Contakt Gig at the Brixton Academy in London.

Did living in the United States have an influence on your music tastes / interest?

Yes of course. I grew up in Detroit and that’s where most of my influences come from. It’s a dark, industrial, and difficult place to grow up but that’s what makes it special. The energy is raw and it comes through the music. i think there is a very unique sensitivity that comes from that kind of environment.

Was it always your intention to be an artist and a DJ?

Definitely not. I studied art and graphic design my whole life and that was my sole intention until I discovered this strange and wonderful Detroit subculture.

Seems like you devote more time to remixing & playing live rather than releasing your own work.  Is this something that may change?

Yes I hope so. That’s what I would like. I have some tracks coming out in the fall on Minus which I used on my mix for Fabric and I hope to get going in the studio more often.

Before techno and other genres of, what is now known as ‘dance music’, which bands or artists do you feel were most influential?

I love bands like ESG, Tones On Tail, and lots of post-punk because it has a very funky edge to it. In later years many dance compilations and remixes came out and highlighted this sound such as “disco not disco”. Also, some of the tracks by Yello, because they cross various genres. Prince has a huge influence on dance music, as well. He is really a true pioneer.

Over the past 15-20 years techno music has changed. As far as you are concerned, is there a ‘golden time’ for techno music?

Music is always changing and evolving. To me, the golden years’as a whole were in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s in Detroit and Chicago. Now I think all the different genres of dance music experience their own golden years’ at different times. They each get their time to shine because people like change. You need that to stay interested.

Do you have a favourite genre or sub-genre of music you like to play in your DJ sets and also play at home?

I have a soft spot in my heart for obscure electro/disco and at home, I listen to many different things from indie to ambient to electronica. Last night I was listening to Brian Eno’s Mistaken Memories Of Medieval Manhattan and Thom Yorke.

What is the most surprising remix request you’ve ever had?

Depeche Mode. I felt so honoured and quite surprised.

How is the forthcoming Contakt gig going to be different for you than if it were one of your own DJ nights?

Contakt is a whole different concept. You are taken out of the spotlight and become part of a collective, so you really need to think about what you can contribute for it to make sense as a whole. It’s quite exciting to improvise like that and play off each other but also difficult to contain everything enough so it doesn’t become a big chaotic mess.

What projects do you have planned for the rest of 2009 and 2010?

I’m focusing more on items and things. We have some strong releases coming up and I want to build a good momentum. The rest of my time I will be in the studio working on music. I am also working with an artist on an installation/ sound project for 2009.

Magda will join Richie Hawtin and other artists from the m_nus label on Saturday 26th September at The Brixton Academy for the Contakt Special, where a massive custom LED lighting installation will be rigged across the main stage, state-of-the-art surround sound will be especially customised to fit the Brixton Academy, and the main hall will have a full dance-floor fitted.

This ground-breaking show is back for one night only worldwide at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. It’s the only chance to catch M_nus this year in the UK and will be Richie Hawtin’s only London club show until 2010.

Visit Magda’s official MySpace page.

Mo and Benoelie hail from Gent in Belguim and are best known by their pseudonym The Glimmers, which they changed from The Glimmer Twins once it was pointed out that Mick Jagger & Keith Richards used this same pseudonym as a production credit on some of The Rolling Stones records.

The Glimmers have received critical acclaim for their remixes, mix cd’s and their own albums.

They have remixed the likes of The Chemical Brothers (The Salmon Dance), Junkie XL (Cities in Dust), Snow Patrol (Shut Your Eyes), Shirley Bassey (Slave To The Rhythm), Calvin Harris (Acceptable In The Eighties), The Killers (Somebody Told Me) and Bloc Party (Banquet) among many others.

The Glimmers’ mix cd’s include Fabric Live 31, DJ Kicks, two Club Culture Club compilations and no less than five Eskimo and five Feel The Funk compilations.

The Belgian DJ duo will be playing and hosting the second Hidden Depths event at  Joshua Brookes in Manchester on Thursday 10th July.  Among their special guests for this one-off show will be the legendary hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash.

Buzzin Music managed to ask The Glimmers some questions ahead of the much anticipated Manchester event.

Before changing your name, were you unaware that Mick Jagger & Keith Richards had Produced by The Glimmer Twins on their records?

At first we didn’t knew this, because it was somebody else who gave us this nickname. That was back in 1996. We used ‘THE GLIMMER TWINS’ as an extra name, to do more experimental stuff. After some research we were aware of the name and its origin, and we liked that a lot ! But when we started to produce our own material, we thought it was bit to tricky (remember The Verve) and just shortened it to ‘The Glimmers’.

What music influenced you from an early age?

Mainly the electro hip hop and rap sounds coming from NYC, early 80s.. That was the first bug that has bitten us. Seeing Grandmaster Flash cutting and scratching disco and pop records and making his own Mash Up kinda thing, end of the 70s, early 80s.. amazing.

To begin with, did you want to be musicians or dj’s?

We wanted to be DJ’s. By being creative and mixing different styles of recordings, the DJ was becoming a musician anyway, and later even getting pop star status.

What do you get more enjoyment from your own productions or remixing another artist’s song?

Both really. Its great fun to work with already existing material, and its great fun to record musicians and to edit everything and to make it ‘our own’.

What I like about your dj mix CD’s & dj sets is the diverse mix of music.  Is this simply because your own music tastes are eclectic or is it more of a conscious effort to create something that cannot so easily be categorised?

It is simply because we have a broad taste in music. For us there’s only good music and not so good music. And we play both.

As your popularity increases, are you getting ‘better’ remix offers or just more?

It still can be a lot better!

Is there a particular track that you would love to remix but believe, as a classic song, it should be left alone?

Everything that is a song or track that we think we should keep our hands of, it is something we don’t want to remix. But there’s a lot of material that’s great to remix. For example, we did Roxy Music’s ‘Same Old Scene’ and we updated the sound and made the rhythm section a bit tighter, but kept the song and the vibe as much as possible in there. Our remix sounds like the extended version, the 12″ version that never came out.

When starting a remix project, do you have a set way of working, or is each project approached differently?

Each project is approached very differently. It all depends if it is a pop or a rock song or a tune from way back, or if it is something already very electronic.

What is your favourite clubs to play?

Razzmatazz in Barcelona, Solyanka in Moscow, Fifty Five in Ghent, Fabric in London, Arches & Optimo in Glasgow.

I’m sure you are very excited to have Grandmaster Flash as a guest for the Manchester Hidden Depths event.  If you could have 5 artists, alive or dead, to make the perfect night, who would it be and why?

We would go for Sly & The Family Stone, Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Prince (in that running order) and all of them in their peak time of their career. That would be a fantastic night. They all made dance music, and all were innovating in their own field, responsible for a lot of things to come later in music history.

You can hear The Glimmers by visiting www.myspace.com/theglimmers

We also have some copies of the Glimmers latest album, The Glimmers Are Gee Gee Fazzi to giveaway on a first come basis.  Send your full contact details to freecompetition@buzzinmedia.co.uk with Buzzin Electronic Glimmers Competition in the subject line.