Twenty-eight minutes with Loco Dice.

You would be surprised how much you can learn about someone in 28 minutes. In 28 minutes you can learn about their passions, about their influences, about their job, and most importantly you can learn about how they choose to live their life. Depending on with whom you spend those 28 minutes, you will receive an infinite number of different answers; but sitting with a Tunisian German electronic techno DJ who has worked with infamous hip-hop artists including Snoop Dogg and Usher, you realize 28 minutes with Loco Dice will merely be a moment into a life that one could only fantasize.

There are a countless number of electronic DJ’s in the world, but only Dice and a handful of others have the pleasure to be able to say, “Some people opened their arms like Sven Vath, Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox. They said, ‘Come here. We believe in what you are doing and your music.’” Dice released his first electronic album in 2008 after a year or so stint in New York City following a four year life changing experience in Ibiza. When asked how Ibiza has influenced him as an artist, Dice says, “…Ibiza opened everything in my life. It changed me. It gave me the name Loco. It let me dive deep into electronic music. It let me understand myself; find out who I am. Experience a lot of good things, a lot of bad things. I learned everything in those years. I was close to a lot of nationalities; I learned about a lot of cultures. That was for me the experience of my life, and I’m happy that I experienced it. It was an intensive four years. [Ibiza]’s a hippie island; you have to be open-minded. You have to let yourself go, but you need to come out as well. You see a lot of people who left everything and are just living a normal life there. It is difficult to tell the people it is like this or like that. It’s not what you see on TV or what you read. You have to discover it for yourself, maybe even alone.”

"I love San Francisco. SF is a crazy city. It’s an artist’s city. For me, everyone here seems as if they are on LSD."

On Thursday, December 17th 2009, Dice performed for San Francisco at one of the most infamous San Francisco underground electronic music nights at Vessel. He says, “…I love San Francisco. SF is a crazy city. It’s an artist’s city. For me, everyone here seems as if they are on LSD… The first time in May when I came, it was more observation. People were listening, watching, they partied they danced; but the room this time was much more on fire than the first time… the crowd really allowed me to play… I was not really a slave to the music that I can’t play certain songs. When I feel free that’s the best way for me and for the people.” As an artist it is important to be able to speak to your audience with your music, and the conversations an artist can have range from a 140 word tweet to a novel depending on every performance. Dice has performed for 300-400 people in intimate settings as well as for 10,000 people during festivals in Europe.

You would think that it is during the intimate performances that an artist would have the greatest connection with the people, but Dice would differ. “…in Europe, you have the big venues like Time Warp with 6,000 people; you feel the people. When our set is over we stay there the whole day to support the other DJ’s, to get inspired.” This musical movement that Dice speaks so highly about is a pillar in European culture, but in regards to the US, Dice says, “I think this cultural movement was in the US for a while and I think it’s coming back. I know a lot of DJ’s, a lot of colleagues of mine; they don’t tour the US because they don’t feel it. They think they work and then next year it’s gone. I’ve been touring the US since 2001, and I’ve had my ups and downs with the US, but I feel it more than ever in the last 3 years that something is happening in every city. I played in Seattle and 150 people go nuts, go crazy, and in SF the same. Normally, 5 years ago I would tell you, “ok I had a good show”, I come back next year and there are just 50 people.”

Music is not only a form of entertainment or an art that artists practice; music is a cultural language that transcends into different communities throughout the world. Music that originates in the South, East, West, or North can travel across the globe to speak a language that is so different yet everyone can understand. Dice’s music is a language of his own, but it speaks to his listeners and to his family. When asked about how his Tunisian background and hip-hop base has influenced his musical voice, he says, “It is all of that. Even my electronic music, MY music, has hip-hop. It has soul; it has jazz; it has Latin sounds. It has everything that is around me, everything that I grew up with; and I think I represent all of it. You can’t categorize me and say I am techno… we are influenced by a lot of things.”

"Sometimes I don’t get along with some of my colleagues because they don’t get me. They think ‘Who’s this?’… You have a lot of haters in this world."

Dice is one of the few artists that can truly speak about such contrasting musical worlds from firsthand experience. When asked about the differences between the hip-hop and electronic music scenes, he says, “It’s not too far away. Most of the guys used to listen to hip-hop, and they know what’s going on. I’m maybe a little bit too radical because I’m a real hip-hop guy. Sometimes I don’t get along with some of my colleagues because they don’t get me. They think ‘Who’s this?’ I’m a little too much for people. You have a lot of haters in this world. I’m not small. I’m tall. I’m loud, and I have the tattoos, and all that stuff. When I started in electronic music that’s what it was like.”

"It’s not me… It’s us. Let’s have a good time. Let’s party, and let’s be free for 2, 3, 4, 5 hours and forget our sorrows."

It will not be long before Dice will be gaining much respect from all of the electronic music community. He has already been embraced into the world by Sven Vath, Richie Hawtin, and Carl Cox; and it will not be long before his name also becomes just as infamous. He takes music into a whole other realm. He makes music a part of his family. He says, “When you see what we are doing all over the world with Cocoon or my label, Desolat. This is family, and this is why we will never die, and this is why we will always continue doing our thing, and we will always grow our music and not become boring because this is family thinking… When I see the progressive scene and think why the progressive scene died, it is because most of those big artists they didn’t support a lot of DJ’s. They supported themselves, and maybe one DJ. And when you see us in Ibiza, you see Ricardo [Villalobos] playing at an afterhours in Ibiza for 50 people. ‘We are one nation under a groove’, like George Clinton used to say. This idea is hip-hop for me, and I’m still hip-hop. I’m still carrying this feeling of being in a group of something and this is what I’m preaching when I play. It’s not me, the messiah, or the guys preaching something. It’s us. Let’s have a good time. Let’s party, and let’s be free for 2, 3, 4, 5 hours and forget our sorrows.”

There is depth to the way Dice approaches his art and the way he sees himself as an artist. Music for him is not just about being a musician, but it is also about family and communication and overcoming stereotypes. He believes in knowledge and pushing oneself to be better. He says, “Follow the artist that you like and discover more about them, and discover more about other artists. You should never stick to one thing; you should find out there is more than you think. Even if you like me, there are more talented DJ’s. They are not only headliners; they can be around the corner. They can be a local and doing amazing music. I have people coming to my show who know every song, and they are not DJ’s they are music lovers. Most important thing is don’t get stuck to the same routine. Try to go to Ibiza try to find out more. Don’t judge something directly. A lot of artists get boring and lazy and if you still follow them then you become the same. You don’t understand that there’s much more going on. Always open your eyes and your ears.”

Twenty-eight minutes with the right person can give you a lifetime’s worth of knowledge, and for the artist in everyone, Dice’s final words… “Find your own style, and it’s all about the local possibility. Try to create a scene in your city, in your neighborhood. Try to go to promoters and try to work every week and create something, and don’t create it by banging the sh*t out of the sound system and killing every guest who comes. Try to educate the people with a cool deep sound. It’s always in the deepness, that’s how everything starts. The possibilities are there… Follow but don’t imitate.”

Find out more about Loco Dice here and on his MySpace.

Loco Dice - Menina Brasileira

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