It's fitting that I should be meeting Terre Thaemlitz on May 1, International Workers' Day — she wryly refers to herself as a "feminist Marxist" before we begin our interview in proper.
Thaemlitz, who produces music under her real name, the moniker DJ Sprinkles and several other aliases, has been active for the better part of two decades, cultivating a reputation for making challenging electronic music: both in the way it addresses complex issues, often regarding gender and sexuality (Thaemlitz identifies as pansexual and transgender), as well as the way it pushes the boundaries of musical formats — 2012's "Soulnessless," released on a 16GB microSDHD memory card and labeled "the world's first full-length mp3 album" featured a piano solo more than 29 hours long as its centerpiece, as well as video files and a 150-page booklet of text in 10 languages.
Born in the United States, Thaemlitz has been based in Kawasaki since 2001, and her latest project as DJ Sprinkles — a mix CD titled "Where Dancefloors Stand Still" — takes on the so-called antidancing law that has blighted the nation's nightclubs over the past couple of years. The selection on the CD, full of euphoric and sensual deep-house cuts, seems designed to get listeners moving, thus underlining the absurdity of the state of affairs its title refers to.