Deeper Pool

Ian Pooley has been making dance music since his early teens, releasing his first twelve inch shortly after his sixteenth birthday. Half German, half Welsh, Pooley originally put out music with long time friend DJ Tonka, fusing the funk of house to techno s electronic aesthetic on classics like Chord Memory , predating the current fascination for house influenced techno by the best part of a decade.

When they weren t busy forging the links between both genres, Pooley and Tonka focused on house music. Centred around floor friendly disco loops, the duo churned out anthems like Funky , years ahead of the explosion of French filter funk and its more crass chart friendly incarnation.
In recent years, Pooley has maintained a lower profile: signed to V2, his second album, the mid tempo mellow disco tinged Meridian was met with universal acclaim, but failed to grant him the mainstream success his French protigis Daft Punk always namecheck the portly Pooley as a key influence have been exposed to.
Since Meridian, Pooley has returned to the underground , the beloved nether regions of dance music where a great amount of DJing and producing anonymous 12 s takes place, an area where credible producers who ve gone overground can re-kindle their connections with the street and the dancefloor.
So, while Pooley admits he s been spinning all over the globe, he s loath to mention any of the pseudonyms he continues to release techno and house under. Despite remaining reticent about his releases, he s more than willing to talk about his international DJ escapades.
I ve done a few big tours, in America and Australia, he intones in heavily accented, pronounced English. Time flies when you re DJing, especially when you re flying all around the world. It s funny playing in places like Chicago and Detroit, where this music began, but the people there have known me for a long time: I did my first gigs there about four years ago. In the beginning playing in America was a bit complicated because generally they re really far behind with the scene. They re getting better now there s some really cool clubs over there.
However, the main topic of conversation today is Pooley s new album, Since Then. Scheduled for release later this month, it s the man from Mainz s strongest long player to date. Fusing Latin, soul, jazz and salsa elements to a firm backbone of underground house suss, it s an unashamedly feelgood collection, an infectious celebration of everything that s positive and great about modern dance music. In a perfect world, Since Then would be the soundtrack to Ibiza 2000, its grooves replacing the trance-lite and disco filter fodder The White Island is inundated with. However, unlike most producers, Pooley completely rejects the trappings of fame, fortune and the many illicit charms of Ibiza.
I make music and this is the result, he replies. I work very spontaneously, I don t sit down and try and work out what I can do. I m interested in melodies which is reflected in the kind of music I release. A lot of people have said that the album could be a success, he continues, but I m not really interested. It s a result if people like it, especially my friends. Whatever comes after that is second place. Anyway, I feel that Ibiza isn t representative of the Mediterranean area because it s full of tourists. I m not a real big fan of Ibiza: I tend to refuse gigs over there because I had so many cancellations there. Anyway, I prefer to play in the real Spain, in cities like Barcelona.
It s not hard to see why Ian Pooley is a misunderstood producer: on one hand he makes joyful, catchy house music, but he fully rejects the commercial end of dance music, including Ibiza and chart success.
Similarly, there s a prevailing misunderstanding of Pooley himself in the music media: the gruff, moody producer, a DJ who never smiles: how does he make such soulful, fun, uplifting house music? He has the last word.
People just don t get me, just because I m quiet, they assume that I m arrogant, he reasons. I meet so many people and I just act very normally because I m a quiet person. People want me to talk for the whole day, but that s not me and they usually get the wrong impression. You don t know what s going on in my life, yet they re willing to criticize me if I m not friendly and smile a lot. I don t give a fuck about people who think I m moody: my friends know I m a funny person.

Since Then is released on V2 on August 28th.