New York's Holy Ghost! on DFA, the new album, and hip-hop roots.

Holy Ghost! (DFA) are childhood friends Alex Frankel and Nick Millhiser; both born and bred New Yorkers, disco enthusiasts and all round top guys.

The last few years have seen the duo release a string remixes for the likes of MGMT, Cut Copy, Phoenix and Moby, as well as a handful of original tracks – all of which have enjoyed huge club support from a diverse range of DJs and received critical acclaim the music world over.

Now with their long-awaited debut album released last month and a full band in tow, the duo are returning to UK shores for a string of live shows.

We pinned down the DFA exports for a quick chat about the new album, hip-hop roots and Erik the keyboardist’s hair.

You’ve only just released first your first album, despite recording at Holy Ghost! for a number of years now. It seems to be the DFA way to take time over releases. Has it been beneficial to you as artists to take things slowly instead of rushing an album out?

Yeah, for sure. We learned a lot by taking time to do remixes for other artists, DJ, build a live band, and work patiently on our own album. Hopefully next album we'll move quicker.

A few of the tracks have already been released as singles over the past few years. Was the intention to turn them into an album always there, or did the album just evolve naturally as you created more and more tracks?

No, we were always thinking about an album, but we were releasing songs here and there as well.

 
Have you started thinking about your next album?

Sure, I think we were thinking about the next album as soon as this one was done.
 
You have some pretty high profile remixes under your belt. Do you think that these smoothed the way for your own releases, because you’d already made your mark in the dance world?

Maybe, they certainly helped us figure out our sound.
 
What do you enjoy more – remixing others’ work or creating your own tracks?

They're different things, like DJing versus playing live, I like them both for different reasons.
 
You started out as a hip hop group. How did you progress from that to disco? Was that quite a big leap to make?

No, it was natural.  We just got more into old disco records. We always liked dance music, we just kinda shifted away from hip hop at a certain point. James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy from DFA also encouraged that to some degree.
 
Are there strong ties in NYC between the different musical communities? I.e. are the hip-hop and dance communities closely connected?

A lot of old hip hop heads now do more dance music stuff - like Atrak, Stretch Armstrong - I think the relationship between hip hop and dance music is very natural. Rap came from disco.
 
Is NYC still leading the way in electro/synth music? What up and coming NYC talent should we keep our eye out for?

Midnight Magic, Still Going, Jacques Renault, Crystal Ark.
 
You’ve talked in the past about using ‘ancient production techniques’ in Holy Ghost! Such as?

We just use a lot of vintage synths and fx. We don’t use a computer really for anything. It makes our recordings sound older, like the records we really love.

What gives you a bigger buzz; creating music or performing it live?

Totally different things.
 
How would you describe your live performance style? Do you interact much with the audience?

Yeah, depends on the audience. We're a real band, not a "live" show, which is basically a DJ set. We are five members, and we play instruments.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

Yes

What do you have coming up over the next few months?

Tour, tour tour… then back to studio.
 
And finally, why should people come and see you live?

Erik, our keyboardist, has great hair.

Catch Holy Ghost!, May 68 and Suzuki Method at The Ruby Lounge tomorrow night, May 24th. Advance tickets are still available through Skiddle below.

Interview: Jayne Robinson

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