ARTIST FEATURE: ML
"No country, no flag – outernational without a cause." The tagline runs across the releases and radio shows of Berlin-based musician ML (real name Michael Leuffen), distilling how he listens to and makes music: with boundless curiosity, unanchored to any one scene or genre. He moves through that open territory as a musician, producer, journalist, broadcaster, and DJ.
As a broadcaster, he co-founded Carhartt WIP Radio in 2008, steering the station from behind the mic and the programming desk. He also runs 150 Session, first on Radio Cómeme and now on NTS since 2009, drawing on experimental, electronic, minimal, dub, and beyond.
As a musician, he has released on labels including Accidental Meetings, Termina, and oneirec, exploring collage and concrète; sonic constructivism and kosmische.
For this episode of Carhartt WIP Radio, ML recorded an hour live from the Audio Archives launch in Berlin – which celebrated the expansive cultural impact of community radio – playing his releases and collaborations, alongside some previously unheard material.
You have had a wide-ranging career. What has been your journey up to now?
ML: Keeping up!
How have you found working on your own music while also working within music full time?
ML: It’s all one circle. One thing inspires the other.
Has it affected your relationship with your own music?
ML: A big part of what I do is listening to music. All the time. If you listen to my music, you can hear all the sounds I’m into and being inspired by.
What is a key learning from this that you would like to highlight?
ML: Never stop listening!
What have been some highlights for ML as a project?
ML: Each release is a highlight. Gratitude to those who made them happen and believed in the music!
How do you view the current state of experimental electronic music?
ML: It's big, it's moving, it's inspiring, and innovative. It covers an active global scene that creates the ranks for all that pop to come.
Who are some past collaborators of yours?
ML: Vittoria Totale, Inkasso, Notte Brigante, Max Graef, and Jay Glass Dubs.
You’ve worked with Bristol crew Accidental Meetings, releasing on the label and playing their mini-festival Saccade. How did that relationship form?
ML: Our mutual friend Bruce, who lived with the Accidental Meetings crew in Bristol, played them my music. They were thrilled and reached out. We had never met before, the music brought us together, and today we’re friends. We did the Berlin concrète tape together, oneirec 03.
Is there anyone you’d particularly like to work with in the coming years?
ML: Vittoria Totale and Ricardo Villalobos.
Which current labels do you admire?
ML: I can’t name a specific one, inspiring new music comes from everywhere, all the time.
Which past labels do you draw influence from?
ML: Factory, Impulse, Upsetters, Lovely Music, Ltd., Obscure, Mute, Chatham Square Productions, El Saturn Records, Tombstone Records, Sleeping Bag Records, and Pôle Records.