OLIVER STUMM

By Paul Flynn

The first rule of electro: suck, don’t blow 

In 1999 Domie “LeTouch” Clausen and Oliver “Class” Stumm decided to do absolutely four-to-the floor- less. The preposterously named duo had it with nightclubs, period: ‘Beat syncopated house had become elevator muzak. No personality. Guest lists. VIP rooms. Velvet ropes. Meathead bouncers. Genre music. Phoning ahead for invites. Dull, dull, dull, yawns Domie from his Manhattan studio. So they threw a party in a downtown Korean brothel (“the fixtures were still there, it was kinda neat”), watched a clientele of their own outre chumps having booth sex and flipping out to random electronic tunes, and kick-started the flouro freakshow nuovo disco imprint A Touch of Class. Given their company ethos, it might just as well have been A Touch of Crass. “As long as it’s retarded, we love it,” shares Oliver, kindly. ATOC is a different kind of retarded dance label. There is no PR , no flannel, very little in the way of mass distribution and just one genius website (www.atouchofclassusa.com) from which the world can download the infectious, feet friendly cartoonery of Messieurs Touch and Class (possibly not their birth names). They’re in thrall to the aesthetic of electroclash – “all our artists are freaks”, they boast – but that’s where the Larry Tee connections close. ATOC marry their audacious outfits’ visual sense to thrillingly realised and camply theatrical musical directive, descended directly from their heroes Partick Cowley, Bobby O., Giorgio Moroder (“obviously”) and Boney M colossus Frank Farian. All lovingly produced and mixed by them. “We ‘re control freaks”, says Dominique. Somewhat incongruously, they are also both straight. “A lot of the electroclash acts forgot that people wanted to dance. We love Casey Spooner’s performances, the whole art gallery thing” says Oliver, partially explaining why their soon-come, thrill-a-minute ‘best’ of compilation was going to be titled “Electro Sucks!” But musically, well, I think at least over in Britian you were waiting for someone a little…more. The visual attitude of these bands is wow, but I’m getting kinda bored of bands sending us photos and press releases with no demos. They just want magazine covers.” The ATOC roster, though burgeoning, is already mighty real. There’s glacial electro from Pop Deluxe, Rimini beach boogie from Waldorf, outlandish rollerboot disco from The Ones, kinky couture synthetics from Sideview (guest vocalist: Jeremy Scott) and possibly the world’s first ever bootcamp psychedelic house ensemble, Scissor Sisters. If none of the beats match then, hey they weren’t meant to. Domie and Oliver made Flawless for their three friends to have something to dance to at Wigstock. “It pays the rent”, says Domie now, of its one-time ubiugity. Comfortably Numb was originally thrown away as a b-side to Scissor Sister’s gawdy hymn to body dysmorphia Electrobix. And next? It’s all about punk disco. ARE Weapons thrashy, flashy dance offshoot Secret Weapons is an ATOC collaboration, while ATOC artists’ contribution to the compilation – now called A Touch of Class Sucks – it’s a witty rock pastiche, Punk Demo. And for Domie and Oliver? We’re looking for the perfect gym for our next party, so if anyone could help us Answers on the back of something day-glo, scented with a little Liquid Gold. ATOC is that kind of a operation.