You've just signed to Warp, which is mainly an electronica-based label. Why this move - do you feel a kinship with acts like Autechre, Aphex Twin, etc?

Beans: Well, Warp is a pretty progressive label. All the artists on Warp in their respective genres, you know, are experimenting within their respective genres. So I think moving fits, because we try to progress our genre. And they were forward-thinking as well. So I think it makes sense to be the first hip hop act on Warp.

Are you signed to Warp worldwide?

Beans: Worldwide, yeah.

Cool. Are you particularly keen on the music made by your labelmates?

Beans: Ah, man. You know, the thing about us is that we all have our individual things. Sayid not so much, but you know, I was a real respective fan before we signed to Warp. My biggest influences on Warp were like, Autechre. Autechre was my favourite. I just thought of Autechre as an extension of Mantronix, really.

Mantronix? With the cut-up beats?

Beans: Yeah.

Everything I seem to read from Autechre, they always seem to be giving props to hip hop, Just Ice, Mantronix. They grew up with all that shit.
There's a lot of cross-fertilisation between electronica and hip hop right now (on the Sound-Ink label, Chocolate Industries, Warp labelmates Prefuse 73, etc).

Beans: Well the thing for me is that electronic music has always been prevalent since the beginning of hip hop, you know? It's always had its presence from early hip hop, classics like -

"Planet Rock".

Beans: "Planet Rock", and you know, "White Lines", all that shit was played, you know what I'm saying? Everything that I think that we've done, in terms of the incorporation of live instrumentation and the electronic element, is just following in the tradition of what hip hop was.

So how do you see the current status of hip hop, do you think there are a lot of areas that need to be looked at and reassessed or do you just think hip hop is in a necessary state of flux right now?

Beans: Well, it's where it is where it needs to be now. I guess we all go through our periods of growth and stagnation. But I don't really want to dwell too much on it because, I mean, we're just doing our thing within it, trying to make the best out of it. Hip hop was a lot worse a couple of years ago. It's getting a little better now but, uhm, it is what it is and it was where it was at the time. But just right now, I'm in the midst of just trying to focus on trying to move forward respectively with what we're doing. It's not really much of a concern.

On another subject, you just supported Radiohead in Europe. How was it?

Beans: I liked it.

That must've been a big arena tour, right?

Beans: Yeah, about 12,000, 15,000.

Were they the biggest shows you've played so far?

Beans: As Anti Pop? Yeah, it was, man. It was a bit of a worrying experience you know. I appreciate them asking us and they were really nice and cordial, you know. It was good, man. Good experience.

I guess they're another group who are trying to break out and try something different, trying to stretch the boundaries of their genre.

Beans: Yeah, so those type of moves, like supporting Radiohead, makes sense, you know?

The new album "Arrhythmia"; how do you think you've progressed as a group since "Tragic Epilogue", your previous album on 75Ark?

Sayid: I think that we just wanted to try and move, just get better. I think we got better. Actually I know we got better, whether other people agree or not, you know what I mean? And that was the primary objective, just to get better.

This is your second full album, right?

Beans: Ah, no. It's like the third, because there's been a couple of EPs and stuff between that. It's the fourth if you want to count "The Isolationist" [collaborative album with DJ Vadim]. The thing about the album really is that it's a balance between our older stuff, where we were, to where we're going, you know? A lot of people think it's kind of different. There's a lot of people that have said to us that they feel that it's different because they feel there's more of the electronic element. But that's always been an element within our music, you know. So it's not like it's coming out of nowhere, or it's something that we've just discovered because we've signed to Warp. It's just a logical progression of the progress of Anti Pop as a group.

There are sections of the new album with a kind of retro electro vibe to them, not just reaching back to early eighties shit but to stuff like Suicide, a really raw electronic sound. Do you take influence from that kind of 'electronica' as well as more recent music?

Beans: Suicide is dope. Suicide is definitely a big influence. Suicide, Sun Ra, Section 25, you know, that's my shit. As I said, as far as us being individuals, we bring our individual experiences to the team, and what we're doing to the music. So yeah, Suicide is a big influence.

It is a pretty diverse album. I don't know how you feel about this but for me there were also times when the words 'Prince-gone-abstract-hip-hop' sprang to mind.

Sayid: Wow, that's a BIG big-up. Thank you!

You like Prince?

Sayid: I love Prince.

I was thinking of some of his early stuff like "Controversy" and "Dirty Mind".

Sayid: Incredible albums man, incredible albums. You know, "Sign 'O' The Times", that's a great, great, great, great album. That is MY album.

He's also been underrated as an electronic pioneer, I think.

Sayid: Yeah, you know: "Purple Rain", "If I Was Your Girlfriend"(hums tune).

Each member of Anti Pop has their own thing outside the group, do you think that is something that ultimately strengthens the group?

Sayid: Part of the business is diversifying, you know. And the thing about it is: we're at home with each other. But you go out in the street, you go walk around, then you come back home, you know? It's that type of vibe.
Beans: We're individuals who work well together, so we each have our own individual things that we need to say, individually, and we do that.
Sayid: Yeah, exactly.
Beans: That's how most people break up in groups: by not realising that they are individuals. They just get so consumed in the group that they forget their own individuality.
Sayid: Look at Pavement (now-defunct highly influential US indie rockers).

Sayid, you've done some stuff with the Sound Ink label - I've just heard the "Colapsus" compilation with your track "Good Friday".

Sayid: Oh cool, cool. I was really impressed. You should never, never underestimate, because I didn't know how well it would do. But man, they did a great A&R job on that.

For a new label's flagship release I was really impressed.

Sayid: I was too, man. There's some cool stuff on there. Definitely.

That kind of ties in with what I mentioned earlier to Beans, the idea of a crossover between electronica and hip hop. Anti Pop seems to favour synthetic, electronic sounds.

Beans: When you say synthetic sounds, I wouldn't say it's synthetic as much as, I mean, the sounds are synthesised. But it's not like there's nothing organic to them, because we are playing the sounds and we are manipulating them. I think we are fitting into an organic context.
Sayid: I think that essentially at the end of the day, comparing to other people who are doing stuff in the game of hip hop, it's definitely organic. Even the cats on the underground, the method's a sample but they are still playing a lot of stuff.
(to Beans) Even that stuff we heard in the car I played you, that wasn't all samples. A lot of people are programming their own little sounds into their own music and making songs in that way.

Beans, you've worked with Techno Animal, New Flesh and DJ Vadim - are you a particular fan of UK hip hop or have these guys sought you out for collaborations?

Beans: Well, people have sought us out, you know.

I see New Flesh as kind of the nearest UK equivalent to yourselves, in fact. Definitely with their new album.

Sayid: Oh cool! I wanna hear the New Flesh stuff. I'll have to get it before I leave.

UK hip hop seems to be moving into a new age with people like New Flesh, The Planets, Roots Manuva, Blak Twang, Braintax, Kid Acne, Task Force (the list goes on and on).

Sayid: We were just talking about that: hip hop is back. The game is back, man. The game is really back. And I mean, it's a good feeling, you know, cats are really doing their thing.

Do you like the stuff that's coming out on labels like Definitive Jux right now? Have you heard the new El-P album?

Beans: Yes I did. Yeah, it's dope.

There's also kind of a parallel trend between, forgive the terms, 'mainstream' and 'underground' hip hop, to take influence from other areas of electronic music. An obvious example is Missy's "Get UR Freak On", which is essentially Drum & Bass meets Bhangra. Are you feeling Timbaland's shit?