On the grand spectrum of things a person can do with his money, “starting a record label” ranks somewhere near “setting it on fire,” so we’re always very happy when an indie imprint finds success — for instance, Detroit’s Suburban Sprawl Music, home of Javelins, the Word Play, and Desktop, a new collaboration between label honcho Zach Curd (who also records for Suburban Sprawl as a member of the Pop Project) and Keith Thompson of the Electric Six.

Desktop came together earlier this year, releasing an EP of synthified pop jams that meet, in the words of the duo, “somewhere between Stevie
Wonder, New Order and ’80s Detroit techno.” And then they went and gave it away for free at their website. Naturally, we were intrigued — both by the EP and Desktop’s marketing plan — and jumped at the opportunity to interview Zach Curd, especially when Desktop agreed to provide Popdose with an exclusive Desktop track, a cover of Ghost Town DJs’ “My Boo” (download). We had a wide-ranging chat that covered the band, the music, and the state of online music marketing in general — and it’s all right here. Read on!

Okay, let’s start with the obvious: How did Desktop come together? Having heard some of your earlier stuff, the new project’s sound is an unexpected twist.

The Detroit indie music scene is super tiny (and the non-”DETROIT ROCK” scene is even smaller), so I knew of Keith’s projects (Johnny Headband, Electric Six), but hadn’t met him. We met at a show in January 08, and agreed to make some music together. We initially had the intention of working on stuff together in real life, but I’m pretty busy doing Suburban Sprawl stuff, and Keith is also kind of perpetually on tour with E6, so it ended up being an Internet thing. (more…)