Darshan, Metro Area, 9/11 & That LP

Darshan Jesrani and Morgan Geist are Metro Area, one of the most acclaimed production teams that electronic music has seen this decade. Their self-titled debut LP on the Environ label made every top LP list in 2002 including Rolling Stones' Top 50 LPs of that year. It got raves from places as far apart as the New York Times to Wire magazine and walked away with the BBC's 'Dance Album Of The Year'.

People use the word 'Classic' too frequently but to say this LP is a classic is classically understating just what a classic this classic really is! 

Metro Area's use of disco-infused soulful grooves on the LP revolved around older production styles with the pair injecting a much needed dose of funk and sensuality, mood and space,  back into the loop-based and seldom-subtle world of underground dance.

Darshan is a frequent visitor to our shores and will head back to play GoodGod on Friday, December 11. I thought it would be interesting to sit down, LP in hand, question in mouth, and get Darshan to give us some insight into how this classic LP came about, track-by-track.

First up, can you give me a little blurb on how you two came together to start the LP. Just a little story on where and when it was done and how long it took ect.

Sure..our first album came together from the work of our first four years of releasing Metro Area EPs (1-4) on Morgan’s Environ label. We took the strongest of those and put them on the album plus a few new ones written around that time specifically to round out the release. A lot of it was done at my studio - at the time I had a small room in a loft in downtown Manhattan, very near what was the World Trade Center. A couple of the earlier tracks were done at Morgan’s place - he was living in New Jersey, about 30-40 minutes away, so sometimes I would take the bus out from the Port Authority, occasionally with gear, like a big mic preamp and cables in a backpack.

Okay, let's go through each track:

'Intro' 

This is like a mutated version of those really loud, extreme 'radio intros' with big ascending sounds that you might here on a commercial FM station. That was the idea. Next time we’ll probably do the voice-overs and everything. This was definitely in keeping with the theme of minimal human presence (really edited playing, extremely spare or no vocals) on the record.

'Dance Reaction'

This song came from some a jam session we had in my studio. I was doing the silly rhythm guitar part and Morgan was playing the bass sound on a Prophet 600. We recorded a bunch of that and then built the rest of the song around it.

'Miura'

Morgan put together a drum arrangement from a break he’d found, including what was a cover version of 'Funkytown' (disco classic). I went over to his place in Brooklyn and he had the idea for the bass part ready to go, so we recorded it. A single note, through a delay, with a turnaround. We decided on a vocal concept, called on Kelley Polar for the string parts and did mixing and effecting back at my studio.

'Pina'

The break we used for this is from a record that I still play all the time. Morgan recorded his Mom’s piano for this and I added the acoustic guitar stuff. Morgan did the bass part which I still think is amazing.

'Square Pattern Aura'

This was one of the tracks written specifically to be included on the album. For some months after the World Trade Center attack, I was working freelance at an internet start-up downtown. You could still smell the smoldering site from all the way up where I was working! In the midst of all that, there was a guy who used to walk up and down Broadway, right outside our office, shouting something about what had just happened at the WTC, and that the FBI would immediately shoot anyone with a 'square pattern aura'.

'Machine Vibes'

I remember this being one of our earlier ones. It features Morgan’s girlfriend at the time, Ana, on the flute. I did the bassline on one of Morgan’s synths.

'Atmospherique'

Our very first single. We did this before we were able to use our Macs for digital multi-track recording. This was done on a portable hard-drive recorder called a Roland VS-880. Morgan sequenced and arranged the sketch/outline at his place and brought it over, then we overdubbed more synths and did some editing and that was it. The record cut by Detroit legend Ron Murphy at NSC.

'Soft Hoop'

Another one done for the album itself. Morgan did the chords and feel and his neighbor Jamie played electric bass. I did the synth parts.

'Let's Get...'

This came from a drum break I was playing with for a while before this song grew out of it.

'Orange Alert (DFA Remix)'

I can’t remember how exactly this came about but I remember us going over to DFA’s studio to listen to the mix-down. James thought we may hate it, and didn’t want to be in the room while we were listening, which was funny.

'Strut'

It’s the record Larry Heard never made for Prelude in 1983.

'Caught Up'

Morgan arranged the drums and played the chord changes on his Rhodes. We recorded his Mom’s piano again in New Jersey for this one (see my story above about bringing gear to his place)! I did the bassline, Kelley Polar did the strings and we put together this song which alternates between sweet/melancholy and a weird percussion break.

Okay and lastly, will there be another LP?

Yes, we’re working steadily on it right now. It’ll include a couple of things from earlier EPs and is an extension of the sort of soulful, melancholy, spacey and sometimes funny vibe we were playing with on the first record, with even more of a focus on songwriting and vocals.  Please stay tuned!

If you haven't heard Darshan play, Picnic is a must.

Murphy.