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Style / Profile Ersatz – literally defined as ‘an artificial substitute’ From the offset, the aim of this Detroit based label had been to engineer music that is Ultra Synthetic; to explore the boundaries of the human / machine interface, and perhaps one day create compositions which draw more influence from the machine than from the man. (By their own admission they felt this to be an impossible task, but still one worthy of pursuit). The first string of Ersatz releases were composed in a somewhat experimental, ‘glitchy’ style – designed more for static appreciation than any dancefloor intention. This phase culminated with their fourth release, a compilation of tracks drawn from the first three EPs. Following on from this, the label began to take a more upbeat turn. A sub-label, Monoplaza, emerged, and two releases from the inimitable Le Car thrust the imprint onto the worldwide scene - their stripped down, metallic brand of Electro soon becoming highly sought after. Whilst this offshoot was perhaps intended to provide the dancefloor releases (with Ersatz remaining strictly experimental), the lines between the two soon blurred, and Monoplaza was subsequently dropped as Ersatz became ever more feet friendly. Now the label operates mainly as a vehicle for Adult. and friends, and although the music can still be hesitantly described as Electro, it ranges in influence from Synth-pop, Punk, New Wave, Techno et al.. Whilst none of these pigeonholes are particularly accurate, the defining characteristics of Ersatz can be stated as: Simple, stark and highly synthetic. History Ersatz was begun in 1995 by Adam Lee Miller and R. Saltz. Adam provided the first release under the guise of Artificial Material – his only solo release before hooking up with Ian Cinch-Jones and Jack Vulpine to form Le Car. Two more releases followed that year, from Ian Clark and Kymm Serrano, before Monoplaza was set up and the style began to shift. R. Saltz left Ersatz in 1997 to pursue a more mainstream career – following this, Adam was joined by Nicola Kuperus in the running of the label (Nicola having been responsible for much of the labels artwork prior to Saltz’s departure). Afterwards, the pair started to produce music together, first briefly as Plasma Co. (with one release for Germany’s Electrecord), then as Adult. Since this time the label has settled down into a more stable style, with Adult.’s regular outputting only being broken recently by a pair of Le Car retrospectives, and a Perspects EP. For the time-being at least, it seems that Adult. is the main project for Ersatz’s future. Players / Related Projects Though perhaps famous now only through the success of Adult., many Electro producers of exceptional talent have graced the cuts of Ersatz. Before Adult., Le Car was one of the most eagerly observed outfits in the Electro community, notching up some six releases before they sadly disbanded in 1997; their style paving the way for much of the labels subsequent releases, as well as spawning countless imitations the world over. Ersatz also provided one of the first outputs for Germany’s Bolz Bolz, an outstanding Electro artist who has gone on to release numerous EPs on many European labels, including his own highly successful imprint, World Electric. Holland’s Fastgraph also made an early appearance on the Monoplaza offshoot – aka Frank de Groodt, he is known also for releases as The Operator on Djax, Sonar Bass on U-Trax, and more recent EPs as Urban Electro. Most recently, Ersatz have teamed up with like minded Canadian imprint Suction, to provide a release from the labels co-founder, Lowfish. As well as being responsible for a string of EPs, and two albums on his own label (many with partner Solvent), Lowfish has also been featured on Genetic, Ghostly and Chair recordings… Adult. have also been exported to countless labels for remix and compilation work, as well as releasing a full EP for Holland’s Clone stable (New-Phonies). During their time Le Car also released on other labels, most notably the Automatic EP for Craft Records.
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