And yet these records put a very different spin on that revival, don't they?
I think the problem is people have a tendency to relapse into clichés as soon as you mention the 80s. I guess that's only natural given that eras are often reduced to a certain sound or look. We just thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone of the rock, 'world' and electronic fusion that was going on at the same time. It's interesting in a way because this kind of mix is a lot more understandable now than it was back in '83. I also wanted to promote Crammed Discs a bit as well because people don't always realise that it was the same label that discovered Zap Mama and the Romanian group Taraf de Haïdouk and continue to bring out the Freezone electro compilations.

What did people make of Hector Zazou and Bony Bikaye's album Noir et Blanc at the time? How did this very first fusion of African music and electro beats go down?
Really well, especially in England where the album got rave reviews in the press. But the album came out in total isolation really. There just weren't any other examples of Afro-electro fusion going on at the same time. The stuff that came out later was more a sort of collage really. It wasn't the result of close collaboration between two musicians from radically different backgrounds. Since then, of course, there's been the vogue for lounge compilations – what I like to call the "lift music of the year 2000" – which dabble in Indian and African sounds. But that's not real fusion, those kinds of compilation only use a surface sprinkling of 'world' influences.

Doesn't it get a bit frustrating, picking up on the right thing years ahead of your time?
No, it's a pretty comfortable position to be in, actually. The thing is, you have to work with fresh stuff. I think the problem we do have at Crammed Discs, though, is moving on to new things too quickly. Take electronic music, for instance, we set up an electro division at Crammed Discs back in '88, going against the general feeling of the label's fans most of whom come from a rock background. People advised us not to say it was Crammed who was releasing the electro albums, it was seen as something almost shameful at the time. But we went on to put out 60 electro albums between '88 and '98. But, of course, we stopped at just the moment when everyone started getting excited about electro, especially in France with the explosion of the French Touch and everything. Of course we'd already moved on to new musical pastures by then!

Listening to albums by Hector Zazou or Adrian Sherwood you're instantly struck by this freedom of tone, this openness to other influences. Those guys would mix anything, even Gregorian chants and reggae. Do you think the artists on the current scene have lost that kind of pioneering, rebellious spirit?
No, I don't think so. There are still artists out there mixing all kinds of things together - although it has to be said not all the fusions I've heard have been particularly successful! But you have to take the technical side of things into account, too. Advances in technology mean you can do absolutely anything in a studio these days, but that sets its own kind of limits. Recording techniques in the old days gave you a lot less freedom in some ways, but a lot more in others. Take dub, for instance. When you had three people working at a mixing desk with one guy looking after special effects while someone else dealt with echoes - and at the same time you were working in analogue - there was a much greater risk of accident bit that meant there was also much more room for spontaneity in the recording process. These days people working with computers can control everything but sometimes the result can be a bit sterile. One thing's for sure and that is that in the electro world people have got into the habit of shutting themselves off into little cliques.

You recently set up Ziriguiboom, a new division at Crammed Discs focused on what's happening on the Brazilian scene. Sometimes it feels as if, just like in the early 80s, the most interesting sounds are coming to us from outside Europe…
Well, after the period of major fusion we've been talking about there was a total split between electronic sounds and traditional music. But with what's happening in Brazil right now there's a return to genuine electro-acoustic fusion of European and non-European sounds. You have to realise it's exactly the same people within the label, though, who work with Taraf de Haïdouk and the Brazilian group Zuco 103.
What's surprising is to see the huge amount of enthusiasm there is out there amongst the public for Gypsy music right now. The audiences at Taraf de Haïdouk's concerts has been getting noticeably younger. And it's interesting to see the fresh, free and dynamic side of this music appealing to music fans who are also into techno. The fusion spirit's not dead!

How do you feel about the re-release of all these albums from the early 80s, including your own on Crammed Discs?
I have mixed feelings really. I think it's pretty funny, but at the same time I've always hated the 80s – the decade was a complete and utter disaster both in terms of ideology and music. The 80s was a decade of money, greed and selfishness. And I have to say that I have a deep and visceral hate of everything that's known as the "80's sound." I think that's what paved the way for the Fame Academies of this world, that's the point when music lost its innocence and became a business. I actually think the 90s were a much more interesting period. That's when world music established itself and opened the way for all sorts of fascinating encounters between musicians. But I don't think there's a 90s sound in the way that there's a – frankly awful – 80s sound. And that's the sound of badly-handled synthesisers!

So are you including your own albums in that definition???
Well, let's just say Noir et Blanc may have escaped the slump, but the following albums weren't that good really. We were amazed at how well Noir et Blanc went down. Bony Bikaye and I came up with the whole Afro-electro fusion sound pretty much by chance and I wondering at the time if there was anyone out there who could possibly be interested in that kind of mix. But there was such a great reaction to the album that people started asking us to play in concert together. That's the point when we went professional, of course - and that's what killed us in the end! On the records after that we just kept getting worse and worse because basically we were trying to please the public not ourselves.

Is there any album from the 80s that's worth saving in your eyes?
No hesitation on that score – definitely The Cure's first album, Three Imaginary Boys. The other albums of the time are bad enough to make you weep!

Interview: Willy Richert
Translation: Julie Street