Challenging The Purists - Trentemoller

The sweat is still fresh on the walls when Anders Trentemøller sits down for a chat after an astonishing show at the London Forum.  Looking down at the now empty stage from our place on the balcony, a scene where earlier his live band had literally ripped up the dance music rule book and partied with 1,000 indie and electro kids, the Danish musician is modest about the furore he has just caused. "There was a good energy tonight. This is our last day on a big tour around the world, so I think we really gave it that bit extra."

The truth is that tonight's set confirmed Trentemøller as one of the most exciting and compelling live artists in electronic music. Anders already has the dance world sewn up. 'The Last Resort', his acclaimed debut album from 2006, is a masterpiece of minimal techno, lush ambient and filthy electronica.  Last year he not only issued 'the Trentemøller Chronicles', a collection of rare tracks and prized remixes of The Knife, Robyn, Moby and Royksopp, but in 'Moan', a slice of oozing minimalism and Massive Attack-style melancholy, gave us one of the finest ever dance tracks. Preferring the raw, organic experience of a gig and avoiding relying on a simple laptop, Anders had always played his material live. But then last year he finally fulfilled his vision of recreating the depth and texture of 'the Last Resort' on stage.

"At the beginning I was quite afraid of bringing it on the road," he explains. "It was an album I did all on my own and I thought how should I do it live? Just do a lot of laptop and sampler and stuff? But that would be too boring. There was always this kind of rock attitude in the music, so I thought why not play it more live?" Drawing on his musical background of playing in rock bands, Anders recruited two good friends onto bass and drums (that they were famed Danish singer-songwriter Mikael Simpson and renowned fashion designer Henrik Vibskov speaks volumes about the respect Trentemøller carries in his native country).

"I wanted to have this energy that is in the music and to somehow for it be there also live. I wanted it to be organic, in a way, and warm, and still have this space for making errors and maybe the drums and guitar do something different each night.  It is cool for me not having it too strict because then I would get bored of playing the same set again and again."

The result is startling. Trentemøller live takes all that is suggested in his records - the dark brooding analogue and gothic ambience - and heightens it. So the dirty analogue bass of 'Vamp' and 'Evil Dub' is even more bone-crunching filthy, while the minimal soundscapes becomes even richer, bringing in influences of the Cure and Portishead. For a cutting edge designer Vibskov plays some mean drums, perfectly rolling over the minimal beats that Anders releases from the banks of electronics. Simpson meanwhile, is all Peter Hook-cool, doing what all good bassists should do: keeping the bass low, and the sound lower.

Not surprisingly, his decision to give a rock-injection to the live set-up has raised a few eyebrows in the dance world. Anders speaks of the band's second ever gig, at last year's Glastonbury Festival. A well-received headline slot in the dance field, complete with baying fans anticipating the gig with shouts of "Trente! Trente!", he was criticised by some because "we had drums and guitar and we didn't play much techno."