20 QUESTIONS 008 / TOM NOBLE / LOTUS LAND / SUPERIOR ELEVATION

Where are you based?
Los Angeles. The home of American apparel & tortilla chips with salsa.

Is this your home town?
No. Im from Milwaukee, WI. A 90 minute drive north of Chicago.

What is your first musical memory?
Flying High Again. Ozzy with Randy Rhodes. Back On The Chain Gang. The Pretenders. Id bet that I probably heard Box Of Rain by The Grateful Dead or Heart Of Gold by Neil young first, but the first two mentioned stand out the most.

Who was the Grateful Dead / Neil Young fan in your family?
My parents were hippies. It was mandated all hippy folk had to play those songs.

What was the first record you bought?
A Rolling Stones 7, She`s So Cold b/w Emotional Rescue.

What was the last record you bought?
Charlotte Gainsbourg`s Charlotte Forever LP.

What inspired you to start DJing / making music / the label?
Making music came first. Writing Rocksteady & Ska songs was my original first passion/game. DJing came when my brother and I amassed enough records to fill in for a friends NYE gig. After that we became the Super Noble Bros and started playing mainly American Black Music (Doo-Wop to Electro) and Jamaican cuts. Soon after we started playing a Mod night and got into Mod rock, foreign Psych Pop, Latin & Brasilian.

The labels came after a few years of running a record store. It was kind of an outlet for us to license the tunes we were selling, as well as hipping people to rare modern Soul & Boogie. We were deep into the Funk and Soul game. So deep that eventually I started liking rare Disco more, which is now what I enjoy playing the most. Not really rare stuff as much these days, as just good stuff. DJing started on the 1st day of 1998. So 15 years in the game this Jan. Making music for about 20 years, though much of that was spent learning how to play, write & record. I started the Lotus Land label in 2004, then flying solo with Superior Elevation since late 2010.

That`s a pretty broad and eclectic musical palette. How did you get into Reggae & Ska in Milwaukee? How did you go about hearing and finding music from Jamacia, Brasil and Europe?
My older brother was in a ska band, The Pacers. When he first joined that band we got a loner CD of The Specials singles collection. Wewent from 2nd wave to 60s Ska and Rocksteady after I bought an Ethiopians tape. After that we went straight Skatalites for about two years. Dub and Dancehall came next, after Chris Dowd of Fishbone introduced it to me. My brother and I would buy Dub CDs from Best Buy, until learning of the then microscopic distro Ernie Bs from a small ad in Grand Royal mag. After that we forced our local dealer to buy shit we wanted, like The Paragons Wear You To The Ball. Still to this day one of my all time favs.

We never went to Jamaica, but did end up recording with Coxsone Dodd shortly before he passed. And we had Ernie Bs for reissues and Charlie Morgan for originals. Done deal. We went to Sao Paulo in 2002 to load up on wax. Sent back about 300 pieces. Learned a lot about the music on that trip. Especially about Samba, Samba Rock & MPB. Euro Psych Pop just came from comps, and trips to Montreal for French pop. Back in those days we had to fly to find music, not just hit Itunes.

How long did you run the record shop for? Was this in Milwaukee?
Yes in Milwaukee. 2001-2006, then I left for LA and my brother and partner took over the shop.

How would you describe your sound / the label`s sound?
The loudest color is still Boogie, Disco and Soul, however at this point, Im a bit sick of re-issuing and edits, so Im hoping to do more remixes from vintage sessions, drastically rewriting the history of the tunes, yet keeping them timeless and ignoring all global modern trends. Also putting out my own music and other new artists. Well see what happens.

Is there a clear difference to what you do with each of the three labels? Lotus Land is rare Soul, but what about Superior Elevation vs Peoples Potential Unlimited?
LL is modern soul & later started into boogie. PPU is Andrew Morgans label. I dont run the label, but I did name the label, design the logo, and gave Capt. Morgan help when he first started. Andrew`s sound is basically dilapidated boogie & beyond. Hes mainly distributing new artists more than signing new bands. Superior is my continuation of Lotus Land. And the focus will be on both old and new. Too much new good stuff to stay only looking backwards these days.

Which production / release / remix are you most proud of?
I personally Love the Goldee edit on Whatchawannadoo & the Lisa Warrington edit for PPU. The Ava Cherry edit fucking slays as well. More people need to flip that Goldee edit over and bump that shit. I Love the Charlie Clemons and Ice Band remixes, and Im about to drop a disco song that isnt mixed yet but is clearly the finest music Ive ever made. Wow.

I first heard the Charlie Clemons when Lexx played it on my radio show. Blew me away. Since then everyone I know who heard it has had to track down a copy. I also really love Exit`s Detroit Leaning. What are the stories behind discovering Charlie Clemons and Exit?
In both cases I found the records first. Exit was a one-man band from Detroit who moved to the valley in the 80s. George Gullet is the name. Super cool dude, we sometimes jam in his poolside studio. He is available for booking. Charlie Clemons was gracious enough to allow me into his home. Where I spotted the fat 2 tapes sitting on a shelf. Even though I thought his records were cool, they were not mixed like disco records should be. So I saw this as a challenge to make his songs up to the latest trends of 1978.

Which production / release / remix would you most like to have done?
Fuck hard one. Maybe Ragnampiza by Dillinger for production, tied with Police And Thieves by Junior Murvin. Anything from Black Ark studios. Ahem, The Congos, and ditto for Tubbys` place. I would have killed to be a fly on the wall at any of those studios, also Bullwackies in NYC. I would love to be able to have remixed Midnight Magic`s Beam Me Up but Jacques destroyed it so its all good. I would love to remix Kindness, Teen Inc, Horrors & Ariel Pink, Santigold, Mayer Hawthorne, Toro Y Moi, Rapture & Poolside.

Reggae and Dub seem pretty high on your influence list. Do you still play any in your sets? Do you have these aesthetics in mind when you are in the studio?
When I play, I bring a couple killas that wont alienate a crowd. When producing, I only think of how Lee Perry or Tubby would approach disco. And leave the engineering to the pros.

Teen Inc. are just Inc. now on 4AD, is that right? Did you get that Fountains 7? Do you have a spare? That`s a long list of desired remixes. Do you get offered a lot of remix work?
No offers, these are just people Id

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