In today's indie dance world, most of the big names are new ones. Only the most persistent manage to survive longer than three years, when they even bother to try, and for the most part, every year after is spent chasing those early heights. Laurent Ash (a.k.a. Lifelike), whose second single ("Black Chess") became the opening song on the Together tour in 1996, is one heck of an exception. Ash enjoyed steady work in the years that followed that tour, but 2008 was arguably his most successful yet. His soft, deeply emotional synth work was one of the biggest sounds of the year, and it sounds like 2009 is going to be even better. I traded e-mails with him a few weeks ago, after his set at Webster Hall, and here's what happened...

Okay, basics first: Where does your name come from?
Well it comes from actually nothing special. Me and a friend were trying to find a name for my musical project and we came on Lifelike thru a little computer program that generates names randomly. It generates names by taking each letter of your own name, Laurent, and it found Lifelike with the letter "L." I liked the name and kept it like that, it sounded good for me.

I read that you originally got into production via sampling with computers. Do you think that's had an effect on how you produce now? Has your production style changed much at all?
Totally, it had an enormous effect on the way I was seeing music. I have some classical background, I learned piano for a few years and when I started to use the first computer that could sample sound, an Amiga 500, it was really fantastic! I could put any sound into the computer, play with it with a keyboard and even stock it for further use on a simple floppy, totally revolutionary! I still think that this sampling technology is a kind of magic, it's like taking a picture of sound and transforming it later, it is really amazing to me.

I'm not sure my way of producing music has changed, especially when it's about creating the sounds from scratch or with samplers. Just the mixing techniques and the sound quality have evolved a lot. I still have the feeling that I'm doing the same small funny experiment that I was doing with my Amiga computer.

One of your first big breaks came when Bangalter and Falcon and Braxe decided they'd open up all the gigs on their Together tour with "Black Chess." Did they inform you of that prior to it happening? Or did some friend call you in the middle of the night and go, "Holy shit dude they're playing your song on the Together tour!!!"
I learned through their manager, Pedro Winter, that they were playing the track "a lot," he said. Of course it was so nice to hear that the producers you admire are playing your track. I downloaded the mix from the Internet, the one they played at the Amsterdam Dance Event. DJ Falcon was really kind, I met him later on, and he told me that he liked the record a lot.

Obviously all of those guys have grown more famous since then, but what did it feel like to have that happen?
Well kind of being proud of course. But otherwise I just felt happy, nothing more than the feeling that you're doing the right thing with your music.

Is it funny to look back on that time and think, "And now it's gotten so much bigger"?
Good question. To be honest, as a producer you're not that sure that things have gotten so much bigger today than before. I just want to do the best music I can, and have a nice time, meet people when I'm touring. If things were to get too serious and too big, i'd get a bit scared of that. Of course, I would like to share my music with a lot of people and it's pleasant to see that people appreciate it, but I'm really not into that superstar system, like, "I want a limousine and girls!" and all that bullshit. I'm not living any kind of "rockstar" life. Despite the fact that I have lots of fun when I see some superstar getting out of a limousine surrounded by crazy fans, I wouldn't feel comfortable at all if this happened to me.

You've also had a really busy remix schedule this year. Which were you most proud of?
I think the remix I did for the band Chromeo is my favourite, as well as the one I did for the Presets.

Has that gotten in the way of your own productions?
No, not at all. I often compose tracks in my studio, but it's not that often that I think I'm working on the "right" track. I like to wait some time until I release a new single, not because I'm too busy or too lazy, but just because it takes me a lot of time to compose the track that I feel is good enough to get released.

What's your next big goal as a producer right now? To collaborate with a big-name vocalist? Do a solo album? Collaborate with another producer? Start your own label?
I would really like to produce pop music. I mean pop bands, like trying to combine my way of producing with the sound of a real band. I think this would lead to something much more interesting than club music. Not that I don't like to do what I'm doing today, but I could bring it to another level producing a band.

A lot of the up and coming producers, at least in the States, try their best to present themselves as multi-dimensional. They produce, they DJ, they design their own cover art, they have their own label, they make their own flyers, whatever. As someone who came up when that was the exception rather than the rule, what do you think of that?
Things have changed a lot since the 90's. Of course you're still doing your own music the way you want it, but now there are many more possibilities to do your record all the way, from the music to the cover, and for a really good price. I admire those who can do everything themselves, I know some of them even have blogs and can write about music, but I don't think I have all those talents. For example, I cant program in HTML and do my own website, I'm quite a poor graphic designer...I mean I do think that my tastes in that area are not that bad, but I couldn't design my own cover. I'm mono-dimensional in some ways. [laughs]

I was talking to Alan Braxe recently and I was surprised to find out that he only began DJing two years ago. Have you been DJing for a long time, or is it a more recent thing?
I did perform live when I started, but I started to DJ on laptop only three years ago, after Discopolis's release, so I'm a bit like Alan.

You've released stuff on lots of different labels. Can you tell us a little bit about how that process works? It seems like dance music producers lead these nomadic existences when it comes to trying to get their music out.
That's a nice way of seeing it. I do like to think that I'm free to release anywhere I want, of course it's far from that in reality. But I've got some connections in the business, and I work only with a few of them, like Vulture with Alan, Wall Of Sound, and soon Modular. Those people are more friends than business partners, and I feel blessed that I have the liberty to do those kind of releases on those labels. Albums are cool, but when you release singles like that, it's like each record can be different, and you can try to do something new each time.

Okay. Personal/arty stuff. There's something melancholy about a lot of your work. What's the inspiration behind that?
A lot of good old school records, like Giorgio Moroder from the late 70's, the Human League from the early 80's, Cabaret Voltaire, all that Manchester underground UK scene from the 80's. It's a neverending source of inspiration. Also a lot of movies from that period, those with James Spader or movies like Bright lights, Big City, with Michael J.Fox. I really love that American movie culture.

Name three artists that inspired you to start doing this.
Thomas Bangalter, Alan Braxe & L.F.O.

Name three artists that you're in awe of.
Sorry i dont really understand the meaning of "in awe of" ..

Lifelike's next release, Sunset / Sequencer, will be released on Alan Braxe's Vulture Records in February of 2009. He is currently on tour in Europe. Tour dates are available on his Myspace page.