In Flagranti – The ‘Altered Currents’ Ransom Note Mix

Listen below and read the full interview with Alex Gloor below.

Please introduce yourself…

Who are you?

My name is Alex Gloor, I’m one half of In Flagranti & Codek Records, and the other half is Sasa Crnobenja. I was born in 1963 in Basel, Switzerland, and studied at the School of Design in Basel for two years before moving to New York City in 1984. In 1990 i started work as a graphic designer for underground dance music labels, designing logos for Eightball Records among others. In 1996 i founded Codek Records with Sasa Crnobrnja and the duo known as In Flagranti in 1999.

Where are you?

I’m in Basel/Switzerland

And what are you?

I’m a DJ / Graphic Designer / Collagist

What does your music sound like? Can you draw what you think it sounds like for us (an image from the old internet is acceptable)?

I would like to ad a collage i made in art school back in 1982, it’s a perfect example of how i worked already back then with found samples, in this case cut out images from magazines playing with letter (M)en or (W)oman from a Mars Chocolate Bar and a wonderful image of androgynes Grace Jones.

How does your brain work when making music? how does it work when you aren’t?

It’s always been the same, i think like a DJ, not like a musician, what goes before & after a particular song, what dose the track mix with best out of almost 60 years of music i heard so fare.

What was the first electronic record you heard and how did it make you feel?

I always was under the impression that it was Popcorn by “Hot Butter” in 1972, but i just learned that the Beatles used a Moog-Synthesizer on “Because” a song on the Abby Road album that i loved and heard many times back in 1969. I like both songs, my love for one hit wunders must have started with Popcorn.

Where was the mix recorded?

In my atelier Basel/Switzerland on my computer with a cheesy Hercules DJ Control Mix and Djay Pro Ai, a program that I love. [Main image at the top]

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Probably laying pool side on a warm summer day getting a tan.

What should we be wearing?

Preferably as less as possible, if you like to get a tan!

What would be your dream setting to record a mix: Location/system/format?

Well my DJ set in NYC at Le Bain/Standart Hotel in November 2018, mixing 7″ singles of Disco & Philly Garage Classics. I recording my set live on my iPhone, with the audience screaming and halloring, thats my favourite gig ever, i was on top of my game, somehow everything was possible in 2018, it was a magic year, Sasa and i did 2 tours through the US and Mexico djing with 7″ singles, we both where armed & dangerous with boxes of 200 singles each, that was great fun, i could play plenty of one hit wonders track all night!!

Which track in the mix is your current favourite?

They’re all special but if I had to pick 2 it would be

Quakerman – “Schlamm Me” (2001)

Bolis Pupul – “Rendez-Voodoo” (2022)

What’s your favourite recorded mix of all time?

DJ Daniele Baldelli – Cosmic C 57 from 1982 was the mix that change my live, it blew my mind, he mixed so many different genres together… i always liked genre bending DJs like that! Check Youtube (Cosmic C 57 Lato AB 1982)!

If you could go back to back with any DJ from throughout history, who would it be and why?

Bobby Busnach, his edit of Eddie Kendricks – “Girl You Need A Change Of Mind” he had a big impact on me before Walter Gibbons, Danny Krivit, Mark Kamins or later Daniele Baldelli from Italy, his mix tapes where the bases for everything Sasa & me do today. (check discopatrick.com for the Bobby Busnach interview!)

What was your first DJ set up at home and what is it now?

That was on the 16 floor at 200 east 16th st and 3rd ave (i have a picture of the set up in 1985) in the apt i shared with my girlfriend. It was a Gemini MX 8200 with Echo and 2 Technics SL-QX 200 Turntables. I used them for 20 years just the mixers kept changing to newer models, i remember the price was $300 for the set up!

What’s more important, the track you start on or the track you end on?

The first track set you apart from the rest… but sometime you have to blend with the DJ before you to not break the flow then build up from there.

What were the first and last records you bought?

I remember getting the Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967 as a gift from my parents who just got back from a trip London, that was my first record i was 4 years old, i listen to that till the grooves where gone. The last one was last weekend at a record fair in Mulhouse/France near the Swiss border, i got a original 12″ copy of “Congo Man Chant” by The Congos for $5, i was very happy!

If this mix was an edible thing, what would it taste like?

That’s obvious… like a giant tasty New York Club Sandwich.

One record in your collection that is impossible to mix into anything?

Lots of it, but during the lockdown i had plenty of time to think of a new way to tune anything into a mixable track now with the help of AI, as you can here in the mix.

Am I going to my dream job?

I don’t know about your’s but my dream job is to cut up anything i can get my hands on, music, pictures, film, anything…. and re-assemble them into something that’s mine. That’s my favourite thing to do, select, dissect & re-assemble things that don’t belong together, if been doing this for over 50 years now, and it never gets old, its fun every time, you never know what you end up with.

Am I being compensated fairly for the value I bring to my job?

Never, most people don’t get what i do, that’s the price you pay for creative freedom, that’s why sasa and me been working together for over 33 years, he does his part (music production) and i make sure its looks good by doing the Graphics.

Do I feel energised, rested, and confident?

I always sleep till i wake up, so all of the above.

You just had a fight with the person you are closest to. Do you not speak to them until they apologise…or do you apologise first?

There is no need for that; I live alone, exactly for that reason.

If you could travel in time…where in time would you go? why?

I would go back to May 16, 1984, and back to Paradise Garage like i did and stand next to Diana Ross and Jeff Beck again and watch the end of a greatest decade in music history end there and then live on stage with Madonna sing “Like a virgin”!

Anything else we need to discuss?

Our 25 years anniversary album called In Flagranti – Jubilee

Tracklisting

01. The Dynamics – For The Love Of Money (2012) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
02. Silk HI RES – Das Komplex (2020)
03. Schlam Me – Quakerman (1995)
04. Rendez-Voodoo – Bolis Pupul (2022)
05. Cumbia 1 – JD Twitch (Optimo) (2011)
06. All U Need – DJ Monchan (2017)
07. Free Life – Somthing Better (1979) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
08. Stroke My Disco (Fouk Remix) – Opolopo (2024)
09. Rules Roman – Flügel (2022) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
10. Brasilik – Kapote (2019)
11. Into The Chamber – Tal Fussman (2024)
12. Tony Valor – Never Gonna Leave You (1976) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
13. Afriqua – Jumpteenth (2019)
14. Woman – Cody Currie (2017)
15. Keep Movin’ – Clive From Accounts (2020)
16. Chuckanova – Taxi Cab (2015)
17. New York Story – Lee Douglas (2007)
18. Destination Unknown – Missing Persons (1982) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
19. What Are We Gonna Do？- Luxxury (2020)
20. Heads Funk Band – Hard World (1975)
21. Ike Strong – Boogie Land (1981) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)
22. Mark Capanni – I Believe In Miracles (1974) (IN FLAGRANTI RMX)