How an untitled B-side came to define a prolific artist's career.
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In 1997, a young Jesper Dahlbäck released an EP of house and techno hybrids on the seminal Swedish label Svek. Entitled The Persuader, it was only Dahlbäck's second solo release, but 23 years later, it keeps on giving.
Dahlbäck had started making music four years earlier with Adam Beyer, inspired by a trip to Berlin's Love Parade. By '97, he was in search of a sound of his own, a step away from the hard, utilitarian techno he made with Beyer. He was working in the Planet Rhythm record shop in Stockholm, where Stephan Greider was a regular. Greider, too, wanted to explore a more melodic sound, and so Svek was born, with Greider as its head and Dahlbäck as its key artist.
Svek gave Dahlbäck a platform to experiment with more traditionally musical ideas. Influenced by labels like Kompakt, he began to write more mellow techno at a house tempo. Svek's 11th release was The Persuader EP, a name Dahlbäck took from a detective series starring Roger Moore on Swedish television. The record's artwork was a photo of Dahlbäck during a modelling shoot for a watch company. He's in a leather jacket with his ear to a watch, channeling the slick Roger Moore look he had seen on TV. On the artwork was written, somewhat randomly, "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?," a reference to Simon Templar, a character Moore played in a different show at the time.
In the two years following the EP's release, Dahlbäck and Greider realized they'd underestimated the track, which they'd relegated to the B2 slot on the vinyl. It was soon being spun by all the DJs in this groovy techno sphere—think Ellen Allien and Josh Wink. They received so many requests to include it on compilations and mix CDs that they had to give it a name. Dahlbäck simply chose the sentence written on the artwork, and the official journey of "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?" began.
This track sounds as fresh as any of the classic ’90s club tunes. It's not futuristic in the way a lot of music from that era was. It's just elegant, clinical and supremely well-produced, with a timeless, dubby sound that works wonders on a dance floor. "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?" became a hugely popular, go-to bridging track between house and techno. As the years went on, the tables turned and DJs started to use other tracks to tee up this one.
The main theme, its irresistible bassline, is a sample from the opening riff of the 1976 funk track "Rain Forest" by Biddu Orchestra. This was a genius piece of sampling that Dahlbäck could use without copyright worries, as the morphed snippet is short, the release was vinyl-only, and information about the original source wasn't easily available. Dahlbäck had an Ensoniq EPS-16+, a powerful sampler at the time, which included a DSP algorithm to stretch and blend the end of a sample. He credits the synthetic, pad-like sound that soars from the last note of the bassline to this algorithm. He also told me there's a percussion sample from a well-known band hidden in the track, but not close enough to the surface to be recognized.
After Svek closed and the recording contract was up, Dahlbäck licensed the track to a French label called P&D, run by Phil Weeks and Didier Allyne. There were plans for a remix package, which was partially completed, but Dahlbäck eventually decided against it. Instead, the track came out in its original form, backed with a 1998 cut, "The Real Jazz." At that time—2009—Dahlbäck still didn't think "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?" was any more special than his other music. Now, he finally accepts it might be.
Whenever a DJ plays "What Is The Time, Mr. Templar?," which happens a lot, there are usually those who spot it coming long before the bassline hits. The skippy hi-hats and layer of crackle give it away. When the kicks fall out and the bassline drops, the rest of the room knows what's up. It's an understated but sure-fire crowd-pleaser.
"I'm really fortunate to have people tell me they had a life-changing experience because of this track and the memory which it frames for them," Dahlbäck said. "But there's another side of the coin. The truth is that it's really hard to meet the expectations of a track like this one. You are sort of doomed to never be able to repeat that kind of success. To me, it's good but it's not crazy good. It can be a little frustrating when you always have this in the back of your head."
With classics like this one comes a pressure to play them out, not only from within, but from the ravers coming up to the booth and shouting "Templar!" in Dahlbäck's ear, or pointing to their watches. When people request the track, sometimes it just doesn't fit the night. But more often, Dahlbäck says, he is "pleasantly reminded that, of course, this should be the last track of my set. I should pay tribute to it. It brought me to where I am today, so why not?"