Joakim Bouaziz isn’t your typical label head. On his own label, Tigersushi, the Paris native has recorded and produced a wide-ranging array of house projects, as well as founding a corresponding clothing line, Tigersushi Furs, under the moniker “Joakim.” More recently, the artist founded the vinyl-only Crowdspacer, which is inspired by Merce Cunningham’s 2013 avant-garde performance piece, CRWDSPCR.
The label is now set to release the Bouaziz-curated compilation Crowdspacer Vol. 1, a project announced by this hairspray-laden, ’80s-newscast-inspired video. Everyone, a collaboration between Kindness (a.k.a Adam Bainbridge) and Joakim, provide the lead single off of the record.
Originally released in 2013 as part of a mixtape, “No Time To Waste” combines trademarks of each collaborator: Joakim’s lighthearted take on disco paired with Kindness’ vocal depth. In spite of the track’s title, it unfolds slowly. Beginning with Spartan synths, Bainbridge’s dissonant vocals later come in, unpacking the subject of time: “How could you know the future, when you don’t know reality?” Listen below, and then read what each artist had to say about the song.
Of the track, Kindness says:
For me, “No Time To Waste” is the sound of three people going into the studio for the first time together and letting the first idea be the one that makes it out into the world. It’s not particularly representative of any of us, but comes at the common meeting point we instinctively reached. One of Arthur Russell’s friends once told an audience an anecdote about how AR would get musicians in the studio, allow them to jam for hours and then finally admit he’d only recorded the very first attempt at the song, with all the flubs and mistakes on full display. Once in a while, I think about that story and how rarely we get to fuck up in electronic music. This song is one of those affectionate f**k ups…
Joakim adds:
It’s funny that you mention that idea of fuck ups, of the “graceful” mistake if I may say, perhaps it’s because “No Time To Waste” was also the first release on Crowdspacer, but this idea has become the main concept of the label. Music made fast, spontaneously, un-polished, with all the errors involved in that process. Fuck ups can be really beautiful. I guess that’s why I hate doing a second take when I’m recording music for myself, I will almost always keep the first take and embrace its imperfections. That’s also why I love making music with machines (instead of plug ins), not that i’m into that analog vs digital sterile debate, but because machines give more space for fuck ups. That track was literally made in a few hours, i’d say it was a quite liberating experience. I also feel like we live in such a self conscious era obsessed with perfection that fuck ups are really salutary.
