009: IN FLAGRANTI
Switzerland—> NYC —> Switzerland—> Switzerland
Perhaps there is no one better suited for this EXCURSIONS mix falling on “Black Friday” than the Swiss Dj duo and record label owners known as In Flagranti. In Flagranti’s transgressive ethos stands in stark contrast to the neatly packaged products marketed and sold at lower prices on this late-stage capitalist consumer holiday. For years, Alex Gloor and Sasa Crnobrnja have challenged social mores through their art and music productions.
Alex and Sasa both grew up in Switzerland. Both had spent significant time in New York city in the 80s and 90s and met by chance in a record store in Basel in 1991. Alex was seeking out cosmic records he couldn’t get a hold of in the states, and Sasa happened to be at the store with a deep collection of the records Alex was looking for. Both Sasa and Alex had spent the better part of the past two decades dj’ing and rubbing shoulders with many of the great artists in New York City’s downtown scene. Surprisingly they’d never run into each other in New York, but once they began to work together after this first meeting, shared experiences and influences morphed into a singular In Flagranti aesthetic.
After meeting in 2001, Alex would move back to Europe and Sasa stayed in New York. Utilizing the internet to communicate, Sasa would feed Alex material to work on. From VHS tape snippets to sampled disco edits, the two would develop a reputation as subversive artists in the underground scene. By the mid 2000s, In Flagranti was touring the world dj’ing whilst distributing their productions through France’s Discograph.
Dig through In Flagranti’s record covers and party flyers from the past 20 years and you’ll find an assortment of lurid artwork designed by the duo, representing their long term influences from the transgressive art and cinema world. One can feel the visceral DIY punk influences in whatever they touch. Sleaze is a thematic throughline in their work. Their mix for our EXCURSIONS series is no exception. A collage of sultry, dark sounds blended together with a cinematic spin. As the pair declared in a Juno interview in 2010. “We use everything we like… (from) when we were growing up in the 70s...images, sounds, movies. In Flagranti is like lived memories mixed in a giant blender and re-assembled into a fantastic conundrum.” In Flagranti certainly threw the kitchen sink at us for this one. And its beautiful.
The owners of the Codek record label will never compromise their artwork and music; they are and always have been impervious to trends. They’ve released a number of productions on their label through bandcamp as of late and they continue to inspire. Having been fans of In Flagranti for a while, we were so excited to work with them that we decided to put a T-shirt out today in honor of their mix.
BLACK FRIDAY MESSAGE FOR CONSUMERS: GET YOURS WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!
