Home / Music / Insomnia Music with...

Insomnia Music with Franz Kirmann

 
Music

Since London-based label Days Of Being Wild launched in 2009, much has changed both internally and externally. Francois Gamaury AKA Franz Kirmann set up the imprint alongside friend and fellow French expat Jérome “Catalepsia” Bazzanella as a space for them to share their club focused productions, however a decade down the line and Jérome has left the imprint for new pastures and Club Bizarre's Samuel Berdah has stepped in. On top of that the label has also established itself in the electronic music world hosting music and remixes from the likes of Justin Robertson, Middle Sky Boom, Chloé and Ewan Pearson. 

To celebrate a whole decade in the game they've called upon close friends and family, including daWad, Jimi After, Middle Sky Boom and Nhar to contribute a host of exclusive tracks for their 10 year compilation. Ahead of the release, Franz reflects on the label's ethos and looks back at some of their releases that fit under the umbrella of Insomnia Music…

As we celebrate the 10 years of Days Of Being Wild I’m forced to reflect on all the music we released and I thought it would be good to tie it up to the idea of Insomnia music. Although I run a “club music” label I’m not really a “club person” myself. I don’t go out to clubs much, you can’t really dance to the music I make and I don’t DJ. But with Days we have tried to explore aspects of dance music that are perhaps more esoteric, more psychedelic, borrowing from all sort of different musical styles, from post punk, synth wave to industrial or disco. It’s in these musical areas at the fringe of mainstream functional club music that you will perhaps find an analogy with insomnia. Like insomnia dance music belongs to the night, it lives in between the zones of being awake and asleep, conscious or not, present or lost, of the real and the hallucinated, your relationship to time passing change, was it 10 minutes or 3 hours?

So for this selection I have picked five tracks from Days back catalogue that not only mean a lot to me (there are many more, the choice was hard!) but also that I think have that insomniac quality I’m talking about.

Follow Days Of Being Wild. Buy their 10 Year compilation HERE.

Topics
Franz Kirmann Insomnia Music
LISTEN
Catalepsia - Les Seigneurs (Original Mix)

This is a very early one, our fifth release.
The Naum Gabo remix on the flip side is very good too but the original is so raw. Total dystopian dream state.

  • Catalepsia - Les Seigneurs (Original Mix)

    This is a very early one, our fifth release.
    The Naum Gabo remix on the flip side is very good too but the original is so raw. Total dystopian dream state.

  • Sir Ouakam - Tenebres

    That’s one of mine, I used to hide behind various names.
    When I was a kid I watched a lot of horror films and as a result couldn’t sleep. I wanted to do something very horrific and scary with that track, there’s an early Blackstrobe vibe going on there.

  • Victory (Marcus Marr Remix)

    I absolutely love that remix, I suppose it speaks to the musician in me! Marcus is so talented, and very musical, but he has that edge, he really gets the visceral, dirty aspect side of dance music. It’s all there in that remix, Copacabana and amphetamines… is it already 7am?

  • Catharsis (Feat. Catherin)

    There is something very sexual and sensual about that track. The slowness perhaps. The voice. The bass. It’s very new wave as well. It feels very nocturnal to me and when the chords change half way through, it’s almost pop, almost emo.

  • Tell Her To Stay

    This is one of my favourite releases on the label. I love everything about it and I could have picked any track from it. “Tell Her To Stay” is a very mysterious track, there’s something toxic / poisonous about it. It opens something up like all great music should. I just love when he starts howling and the bass drops. Magic.