Zurich Culture
Tages Anzeiger Friday, 15 March 2002
Elves and Spirits Beneath Lochergut
By Adrian Schräder
Two Zurich musicians are giving current pop music impulses from New York.
On Saturday they will present the output of their label A Touch of Class at the Toni-Molkerei.
“What we do actually has nothing to do with the eighties,” Toni “Riccione” Class emphasizes several times. “We don’t make revival music, but simply embody a certain attitude that differs greatly from that of other current musical styles,” he explains. Together with his partner Domie Le Touch, Riccione forms the control center of the label A Touch of Class (ATOC), which the two Zurich expats founded in New York just under three years ago.
After the two had spent several years working their mixing consoles in the house sector, at some point the moment came when this club culture had exhausted itself. “The whole development of music has come to a standstill. It’s only about style labels and small rhythmic changes. That’s why musical styles like house, trip hop or drum ‘n’ bass have also become so anonymous and boring. Club culture has almost nothing to do with everyday life anymore,” says Riccione, who moved his residence to Manhattan more than ten years ago and is often mistaken for the house DJ Oli Stumm in Zurich.
Not Always Perfect
Instead of a serious demeanor, flawless appearance and dogmatic musical forms, the musicians of A Touch of Class reveal an attitude characterized by humor, irony and band behavior, guaranteeing multifaceted entertainment. The music of the eighties, with its naivety and freedom to be foolish, forms an important element in this. However, it is less about reviving musical styles such as New Wave, electro or synthiepop than about the affinity of spirit that connects the works of that time with the attitude of today’s musicians. “In the eighties, absolutely disrespectful music was made. You have to open up the possibilities again and also be able to make clumsy, not perfectly polished music,” explains Riccione. “Besides, it’s about breeding characters again. Other modern musical styles, with the exception of hip hop, actually don’t know that.”
Three Guys in a Garage
Drag Queens from The Ones, who with technically cleaned-up vocals and plenty of grace conquered Ibiza first last summer, then the British charts and soon half the world.
Once the hit potential of “Flawless” had been recognized, major record companies could no longer avoid knocking on ATOC’s door to license the song.
“The majors think they can control the music world. But all new products, no matter what field, are always created by three guys in a garage” , explains Riccione
In the case of the Zurich duo Waldorf, the garage is a spacious basement room beneath Lochergut, which may only be entered without shoes. There, David Renggli alias Kid Italy and Arvild Baud alias Clark Steiner have been working on their band’s overall concept for almost five years.
As with all ATOC musicians, this also includes a precise idea of how the band should come across to the outside world. The world of Waldorf, as it presents itself to visitors at concerts and on the website, consists of a fiery mixture of pop music, anthroposophical teachings and theatricality. “Actually, we are the most modern anthroposophists there are. We consciously work with the aesthetics that were given to us at the Steiner school,” says Arvild, thereby explaining why elves and spirits populate their stage and why they practice eurythmy, an onomatopoeic form of dance intended to bring body and soul into harmony.
Adria on Klosbachstrasse
In their music, Waldorf skillfully and idiosyncratically mix the energy of rock with the feeling of disco, occasionally sources of inspiration such as Daft Punk shimmer through, and they try to implement extraordinary ideas.
The lyrics of “Fashionist”, their latest song, for example, consist exclusively of the cleverly strung-together names of expensive fashion brands.
So far, however, the most interesting release on A Touch of Class has been provided by the two producers Manuel Mind and Valentino Tomasi, whom one would associate more with the Adriatic coast than Zurich’s Klosbach-strasse.
Their maxi “Strange Sounds” offers wonderfully kitschy Italo disco sound, made in Zurich.
“The whole Gigolo stuff just always sounds the same. If the music doesn’t develop further, it quickly gets labeled and defined as standard.
That makes it boring quickly and it dies,” says Waldorf man Kid Italy about the releases of the Munich Gigolo label, whose musician Miss Kittin also performed at the Toni-Molkerei last week. Kid Italy thus clearly distances himself from the umbrella term electropop.
How far the bands of A Touch of Class are actually removed from it can be checked out on Saturday at the Toni-Molkerei.
The A Touch of Class label night takes place tomorrow Saturday, 16 March, from 11 p.m. at the Toni-Molkerei, Förrlibuckstr. 109.
Also appearing are Domie Le Touch & Toni “Riccione” Class, Waldorf, Pop Deluxe, Vascock as well as Valentino Tomasi feat.Dirk Spacek.
Kid Italy and several ATOC DJs will already be appearing today, Friday, 15 March, from 8.30 p.m. at the Blue Hall, Limmatstr. 264, as part of the night “Spezifische Besonderheiten Teil 2”.
The ATOC compilation will be released soon, before the albums by The Ones and Waldorf, bringing together all previous singles on one CD.