Category: Interview

Interview - Pollux

10/17/2016

Artist based in France
Interview by Justin Thomas Squires and taken from the website YIKIS. Written in 2014

Arnaud my old friend! How are you today?

I’m excellent, day has been good and I feel like maybe I have never been so happy in my whole life! Everything’s fine!

I noticed you have been pretty active with Pollux lately, putting up all your releases on the bandcamp,
and coming out with a few new ones. What should we expect to see from Pollux this year?

I have been very active in the beginning of the year but a little less since because of the lack of time and not really being in a creative mood. Putting all my stuff on bandcamp was a challenge… it took me ages but I’m very happy to have done this because it’s a little bit more easy for people who discovered my stuff recently to find my whole stuff (or close too, cause i’ve some inedit releases in physical edition).

I’m restarting making sound very slowy and I just started to work on a lobit ep (not sure of the format right now). I’m also working on a 8kbps lobit track for a compilation which comes sometimes in September or October called “Extreme Lobit“ (finally, "The 8kbps Compilation").

I’m also since more than one maybe two year, a big lover of the ASMR scene (just write ASMR on youtube and you will see). This is something which relax me a lot and I wanna try to make an ASMR album or EP full of relaxing field recordings and a lot of whispering (in french), and maybe some ambient drone background, but i’m not sure yet about that!

BTW. I really enjoyed your Medusa ambient/drone ep!

Oh thank you, these 2 tracks been recorded live. At first I recorded something like 5 or 6 tracks on the same vein but I felt like the other (tracks) sucks and the audio quality wasnt good, so I choose to only release a very short format with a coherence and a correct sound. I like to record thing in a punk way and I also love short format, so that one follow this logic!

If anyone were to check out your discography, they would see that you create a large variety of electronic sounds. What is your favorite genre to work with?

Yeah I’ve work on different genres with my project Pollux, Ambient, Drone, Electronica, Noise, Experimental, Field Recordings… etc but I must admit that my favorite genre to work with is Ambient Drone mostly because I feel like the minimalism of drone music makes it even more emotional! It goes to the essential, the most important point to me and touch the essence of what I’m searching for, for my sound. It’s kinda hard for me to explain but yeah definitly drone!

Walk us through your creative process, how do you go about making new music?

I generally think about nothing and don’t prepare myself in any way. I have no ritual and I just start recording and everything flows! I’m sometimes really surpised about what I’m hearing and I’m like “did I just record that?” It’s quite rare that I have a plan about what I record, all I want is to make sound in adequacy with my emotions at a specific time, nothing more have importance!

Sirona is as busy as ever! How many releases do you have out on your net label now?

We are at 732 releases… so yeah that’s a lot of stuff, and a lot are still in waiting since months (I’m sorry for that)! I have no idea when it will stop and I hope it will never but what is sure is that I love every of this 732 releases and I will enjoy all the coming albums and eps here!

Do you ever plan on expanding Sirona to physical releases?

Really, NO, the netlabel part is actually a really big work for me (maybe too big) and I wouldn’t be able to make a physical section. Also I feel unable to delegate the work and all must be exactly how I want, so it really is a nightmare for me to not do everything. I feel like it’s like my baby and I can't pass it to anyone… yeah it sounds really selfish said like that but, yeah whatever, it’s a fact! And also I don’t wanna deal with any form of money and prefer to put everything for free because this is something I love. Even if I respect DIY labels a lot for what they do and I buy physical releases, this is just not the vision I wanna work on.

What do you plan for Sirona’s future?

I havent a real plan for it, the only thing I want is in the continuity… more releases, more compilations, more artists involved, …etc. But if I had more time I think I would also work on a radio section for the website! This is something I would like to do but this is actually too much work and I have no idea how to make it work without being connected 24/7. I also love the new interviews section on the website/blog, this is something I find really great to know a little more about some artists involved, so I think you can expect more and more progressively!

How do you find time to do all the great things that you do Arnaud, with the label and your music? Do you ever get burnt out from it all?

I have no idea! I imagine it’s because Sirona & my music became obsessions! At the beginning of Sirona, I worked 20 hours by day on the website. I’m not an hyperactive guy in life, i’m more someone lazy but not for my passions and the biggest one is the underground so… I think that’s why! But yeah I’ve actually less time for all of this because I’m not single now and sharing life with the person I love take a lot of time and same for my work and everything related. Also I lost a little bit motivation recently because of different war on social network between some artists and the pressure put on by people who don’t want to wait and ask me every 3 days when their release will come! Some people don’t understand all I do with Sirona is on my free time and I win zero money with it and it takes a massive part of my life. I love that but it’s a lot of effort!

What is your favorite thing about running Sirona?

I would also say organizing massive compilations, which is something hard to do (and I’m always affraid to forget tracks) but the result is always beyond my hope! And for finnishing, just watching all what we’ve done with Sirona these years… and rethinking and when I started it and expected nothing more than a few releases, a hundred downloads and not so much interest.

Through Sirona, you have created a community of artists (with your facebook groups ect.) I personally think it is awesome to see the relationships that have been formed by such collaborations! What are some of your favorite things that have happened because of these friendships?

Lot of great things happened, some fantastic collaborative effort or split, but I think the best one was Siro200, Your Name’s album! For people who have no clue, Your Name is an anonymous project we created in 2011 where people put music on a soundcloud without saying who made it and we compiled everything under the alias “Your Name”. The result is really fantastic and I recommend to anyone this diversified album full of pearls! And what is even more awesome about that project is that we even created a megalomaniac character, cause yeah Your Name is now a real person with a gigantic ego! Now my hope is about a second Your Name’s album, I will speak with him about that!

Well, that about raps it up my French friend. Is there anything you would like to say before we close this interview?

Yeah I would thank the whole underground scene, the netlabel scene, the DIY scene, everyone involved on it! I wanna say a BIGGER THANKS to 5 person I consider like brothers even if we never met (but I’m sure we will): Adam Crammond aka Graffiti Mechanism, Patrick Doyle aka Redsk, Kai Nobuko aka Toxic Chicken, Shaun Phelps aka Flat Affect & Christopher Arnett aka Consistency Nature.
These 5 guys changed my vision of music and life some years ago and I wouldn’t do 5% of what I do now without them. I would also like to thanks some other great artists who inspired me a lot with there music and humanity: Master Toad, Swin Deorin, Rainbow Valley, Doomettes, Joel nobody, The Merricks, Alex Spalding, Razxca, The Captain Kirk On LSD Experience, Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt, Hlo, The Musk-rat Cult, Hectic Head, 2nnt, … etc etc etc etc I can add hundreds of name here but it will take an eternity, if you read this, you’re probably on this list… I’m sorry to not name everyone but just THANK YOU!

Website:
http://pollux0.bandcamp.com

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Interview - Robotic Joe

10/16/2016

1 Comment

Artist based in USA

How and when did you start making music?

To answer your first question I was always very highly influenced by the arts. My mom went to Columbus Collage of art and design. My sister is an awesome artist and the music I heard from growing up around her highly influenced me to make the music I make today. So when I first started my best friend and brother like figure in my life Richard a.k.a. Splfk and some other old friends i had started a punk band called anti-socialz in 1998 - 1999 we never got anywhere but we rocked and were crusty as fuck. from there afterwards around 2000 - 2002 I was shown a program from Splfk called Fruity Loops 3.0 this was back when FL Studio lacked the features it has now but I was fascinated by it and how limitless it was. So i started making some unique music on it and from then on it was music history.

Why the name Robotic Joe?

I was first called Robotic Joe by my best friend Splfk he was making music and asked if he could sample me talking i said ok he came up with robotic because i collected and still do robots from the 1980's and then just added My Name Joe.

How do you influence your project? music? other sources?

My music is influenced by art both audio and visual and whatever going on in my mind. I developed bi-polar / manic depression at a young age like 9 or 10 years old so that's prolly. why my music is so chaotic in parts, random in parts and then mellow in parts and i don't change it for anyone. I am myself, what you hear is what you get. my music is not really classified as any genre it is it's own genre. I'm all genres blenderized.

What is your relationship with Netlabels?

Netlabels are very important to me and I'm on a family of about 7 so far besides v.a. compilations i'm on. Obviously Sirona Records lol, SP Recordings (also did writings called Dream Status for sprag) Proc-Records, cOmaRecOrdz, Scolex Recordings, Ende Records, and my very first releases were on the defunk net-label Splatterfunk that's no longer around.

Do you have some other passions than music, artistic or not ?

Yes i like to paint and also use my pc to develop various digital art with vibrant and high saturation on colors

How would you define your sound for someone who has strictly no idea what you do?

Since I already answered the question of how to define my sound, I just wanted to thank everyone who has been a robotic joe fan since the beginning and has stuck by me through thick n' thin other the years THANX!

How is the futur of Robotic Joe in your mind? Some projects?

Robotic Joe is going good right now I have an etire album called B.O.15.T. Which is full of 2015 tracks on the back burner until Scolex Recordings is ready to release it and then I also have some various side projects I'm working on slowly but surely with different artists one called Necromancy Manifestation which includes me and Betty Koster a.k.a. PHANTASM NOCTURNES. I'm in another side project with my best friend and bro like figure in my life Tony and were not sure on a group name yet but our album will be called Double Trouble.

Last words are yours!

Basically the only last words I can say is: The more technical your style gets the more fun & <3 you have for it! p.s. stay off the drugs too kids it's way more fun to create with your mind & soul then your soul being rotted away by drugs and being a clique. Fuck Drugs! Sincerely, Joseph Paul Moore a.k.a. Robotic Joe

Websites:

http://joeyszone.wixsite.com/roboticjoe
https://soundcloud.com/robotic-joe
https://roboticjoe.bandcamp.com

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Interview - Consistency Nature

10/12/2016

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Artist based in USA

How and when did you start making music?

Thank you for asking, and thanks too for inviting me to share. Consistency Nature had it’s beginnings, oh, 2009. Up until then I had been exposed to nothing but the Black Eyed Peas and at best Beethoven. I even remember telling people how indifferent I was to music entirely. I’m only 23 now so do the math. I was just a kid. My friend Thomas Baragona, who has his album “Stress Soudtrack” here in Sirona, shared a song by Eluvium for me entitled “Zerthis Was a Shivering Human Image.” He also turned me on to an incredible French duo “Natural Snow Buildings.” Their song “Ghost Pathways Towards Midgard” was also played for me. My heart cracked open in an instant and my love for sound filled my blood with sweet wine. I’ve been drunk ever since. The world became music. The air conditioner was a choir of imprisoned seraphim. Silence is filled with the music of the spheres. I began recording every single sound I heard like I was shopping for exotic spices. I would take them home and mix them together and get the stove fire going strong. My music feeds me.

Why the name Consistency Nature?

I can take no credit for the name. My father was a sound engineer all his life, and so like me these days often enjoys recording things. When he was around my age he and a friend lived in what could only have been an attic above an old theater. Some nights they would hear the screamed madness of a homeless man in the alley beside them, and one night they had the rather intrusive idea of lowering a microphone out of the window to pick up his shouts. The best part of the recording is the last five minutes, when the man began singing at the top of his voice the phrase “Consistency Nature, Option Word In!”. My music often explored concepts surrounding certain types of madness, the kinds I feel trace amounts of within myself. Hunger for beauty and numinosity run amok. It’s a melancholy meditation.

What are your principal influences from the most famous to the underground?

Beside the abovementioned Eluvium and Natural Snow Buildings, I would have to include my friend Daniel Wymark, known in the netlabel scene as “Ploof”. He was my first close and loyal collaborator, and he was the one who gave me the name Dishdawash, if anybody was curious. He helped me stick tenaciously to the craft by making me feel less alone in my passion. Mandie Jones, who encouraged us both a great deal and released some sounds under the name “Calypso Bizaar”.

Some more well-known musicians that touch me deeply include Tim Hecker, Current 93, Birchville Cat Motel, Gorecki and Lionel Marchetti. But really, it was my fellow netlabel musicians, Kai Nobuko is a man who needs no introduction here, and I hope the same goes for Rainbow Valley, Adam Crammond and Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt. Ars Sonor is a stunning project too, and I wonder who among you knows Pollux?!

Since your beginning you released a very big part of your stuff in the netlabel scene. Why? How was your entry in this community?

My music is not tailored to large numbers of people. My early explorations were just immediate reflex responses to epiphanies. Some were brought on by certain books, mushrooms certainly had something to do with it, not to mention sex. That said, it was about the process of making the music. Some of my early creations were deleted, because they had done their magic on me and that was the point. Through an artist named Saito Koji I stumbled on netlabels, and quickly found proc, I listened through their discography and heard other music that sounded intensely personal, like little prayers or abandoned sigils.

It was only until later that I found that I had a passion for the concept of free music. At first, I was turned off by netlabels, the sheer number of albums, huge archives of all styles. I called it cultural over-production, think I swiped it from a Tim Hecker song title. After a while, after travelling and seeing horrible living situations, and through avid reading about the contemporary world, where to this day there are people held as abject slaves, bundled in the millions, I have come to own my little individual freedoms. If it isn’t forced labor or other such blatant human trafficking, it is artistic slavery too, thought slavery, slavery of the spirit. It’s so ubiquitous on earth now and has been for millennia that I feel any little shred of space to think freely and explore creativity freely must be seized immediately. All of us who aren’t shackled are downright lazy not to band together and celebrate the near-infinite potential of human creativity. What other option do we have but self-destruction? Take any opportunity to sing on a mountaintop. Never stop creating. Create even when you die. Create a corpse. As Henry Miller said “A billion men seeking peace cannot be enslaved”. Create freely while you can.

You're also an actor of the lobit aka low bitrate scene, what is your point of view about it?

Yes, it’s true. I drank the lo-bit kool-aid. There were just so many labels releasing incredibly sublime music. Some of my favorite albums are compressed this way. Being one to foray into ambient music with a long-form or minimal edge, lo-bit was that extra filter on the already ephemeral sound, to make it that much closer to disappearing into nothingness. It made the crunchy dark ambient dread that much more dreadful, and the glacial synth chords and wind recordings made that much more quiet, reserved. Rainbow Valley and Covolux is the gold standard of lo-bit ambience. Seek out their works.

You're not only talented with music and sound manipulation but also very open minded, working on writing, dancing, ...etc different form of art. How do you feel about all this mix of art you're doing? Is it something complementary for you?

Life and art are one and the same. The different approaches I take are like rivers meeting at the confluence of my body. Writing has been with me the longest, for as long as I could write. Music came in teenage years and dancing is new. I wanted to push the boundaries of my own music further, so decided to take about a year and a half break from ambience. I decided to listen. I travelled to Central America to listen to new sounds, to feel new textures, to see new colors, and to have new dreams. Hungry for more, I then took myself to India, Nepal and Bangladesh. I couldn’t only listen, so I started studying some of their approaches to vocal music practice, especially in the Baul tradition of Bengal. It did wonders for my voice and understanding of music, but I didn’t find it beautiful enough ultimately.

When I came home to the United States, disillusioned and exhausted, I discovered Butoh dance, which has become the center of my art. Butoh is often called the dance of darkness, because it often explores themes of nightmares, grief, unconsciousness or violence. It had it’s beginnings in Japan in the 1950s, and my teacher is a student of the co-founder Kazuo Ohno. Beneath the surface of our day-to-day consciousness is a restless ocean of different primordial instincts and energies. These are often nothing more than feelings in the body, but can also emerge as inexplicable happiness or despair. In order to act normal, we often ignore or repress these feelings. I conjecture that this is not healthy, and that full embodiment, acceptance and recognition of these tides in us ENRICHES life. When I dance, I ride the crests and troughs of these waves of ineffable experience, and with music I try to make a portrait of them, an artifact. Dance and music have stolen me away like a rough tide.

You're the operator of Effluvia Recordings, famous netlabel in the underground scene now. Could you speak a little about it? Your vision of Effluvia?

Famous! Haha. Effluvia is a beautiful sounding word, and it means a harsh and dangerous odor, a malevolent cloud of stench. On second thought, the name feels a bit rude to the many beautiful gems of personal expression that have found their way in the catalog. It was never supposed to get more than a dozen albums out to a small audience before sinking under it’s own flimsiness. But the submissions kept coming, and suddenly from countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Ukraine, Thailand, Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, France. I had often never heard music remotely like it. You all turned the effluvia into wonderful perfume. Thank you. Effluvia has ended, but my eyes are on the horizon for a begotten son, an heir to the Effluvial throne. Patience.

When you look at your back and all what you did this last years, how do you feel about it? And what about the future?

I’m deeply and utterly unsatisfied and will be until the original revelations that fueled Consistency Nature have reached their ripe fulfillment. CN is over. The adventures had in my time off to listen and sing and dance were too radically life-altering. A new piece is in the works, has been in all year. It may not see the light of day for some time, but it will still retain a certain essence of CN's madness. I'm drawing more inspiration from more classical approaches and instrumentation. Perhaps I've said too much.

Your last release is a sort of "restropective" of your diversified work, but not only a retrospective, it's way cooler than that. Could you explain to us that project? And what about the name, Silent Thalia?

After a long period of neglect towards my old work, I returned to them as though with new ears. Each song I revisited felt somehow related to all the others, so much so that none felt complete by themselves. Placing them all together in a common string worked to my ears like magnetism, and the collection got longer and longer, until it made sense to divide it into four chapters. Four of the tracks are collages of dozens of songs I’ve put out over the years, drawing from some pieces so obscure that for the longest time I had even forgotten them. The opening track “Erosion Without Friction” is especially dear to my heart, being a compendium of my favorite sounds. There are also places throughout the whole album where I recorded original vocals, very roughly and spontaneously, without warming up. These melodies were inspired closely by the time I spent with Lakshman Das Baul in Kerala.

With the help of dear friends Cesar Naves, Saren Meserkhani, Dylan Roth, Judy Jun, and David Choi, three videos have been made to accompany the album. I live far away from where I grew up, but through inspiration pulled from Butoh, I felt called to return to sites of past importance throughout my life, many of which happening in my own town of La Crescenta, around which the footage was gathered. The dances you see are my regression back into broken childhood, with it’s confusion and clumsiness. It was even a regression back into the shadows where departed ancestors long-since flew, imparting a sense of joy and sometimes terror.

I pulled the name “Silent Thalia” out of an interesting story which Joseph Campbell shares in his book “Creative Mythology”. Look for it.

Last words are yours!

Feel welcome to connect! We’re all woven into this earth together. Our arms are meant to stretch out and meet. Reach out your ganglionic feelers in search for kindred spirits. Newsungsails@gmail.com . Thank you for having me Arnaud, and thanks for the immeasurable love you have given to everybody in the free music community.

Website:

https://consistencynature.wordpress.com

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Interview - TOTAL E.T. / TRIvM / mutanT.R.I. / (& Others)

6/12/2016

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Artist based in Slovakia

How and when did you started music ? what is your musical background ?

It was in early nineties with few friends in anarcho-dada-industrial whatever project TOTALITNY REZIM. I was alsm member of local indie-hardcore-new wave projects on drums and vocals. Drugs, booze and madness. Lot of my friends from that era is dead or crazy. But no pain no game they say.

From where come all the influences of your project ?

I try to be not influenced by music, because I like to create my own obscure style. I love to mess with sounds and inspiration is everywhere.

What are your favorite releases of yourself and for which reasons ?

Well, I have no favorites, but I think "Katacumoridako" by mutanT.R.I. is pretty me (organized & improvised chaos), "impleMENTAL ALIENoise" by Total E.T (recorded live and based on one of "23 seconds ov Time" by AIN23, that is unique IMO), "S.T.Drone (MVAST)" by T.R.I.v.M. (creepy space drone), "Nine Triads" by experiMENTALien(cool concept where each track is made out of three tracks from my three different projects) and of course "Closed Ward Memories" by Totalitny Rezim, released on Sirona Rec. (all tracks are made out of samples from recording of our walk in the industrial part of my birthtown)

What is your relation with experimental music ?

I just like weird stuff, unusual techniques, field recording, processing...I am in love with experimental/ambient/electronic/industrial/whatever...

Could you speak to us a little about all your projects or the most important of them?

"T.R.I.v.M." is dark one (drones and dark ambient), "Total E.T." is space one (alien sounds and atmospheres), "mutanT.R.I." is mutagenic one (sounds from different artists, processed, mutated and fucked up), "experiMENTALien" is complex one (when I use sounds by my other projects, modified and in strange constellations), "exMAn" is beat based one (mostly tracks with my old drum machine) and "Totalitny Rezim" is collective one (with my old buddies, when we have chance to meet together).

Do you have some rituals to record your stuff? how do you proceed?

No rituals, just coffee and space cake sometimes (lol). I just start my sampler, drum machine, laptop...and play with my imagination. Nothing special, all is in me, I just have fun with sounds/noises/rhythms.

What is your regard about diy label and netlabel community? mainstream music?

DIY and netlabel community is fantastic IMO, I have great friends in it, I collaborated with fantastic people (Jack Hertz, Dave Fuglewicz, Hal McGee, Cesar Naves, Arnaud Barbe, Michal James Szewczynski, Kai Nobuko, Cousin Silas, Claire Furchick Pannell, Walter Lapchynski, Ivan Vaclavik...there is much more of them). DIY and netlabel community is unique, because lot of awesome music comes from it, people support each other, in fact I have more friends there than in real life (lol).Mainstream music...I think...meh. Autechre, Diamanda Galas, Arvo Part, The Cinematic Orchestra, Mouse on Mars, Kronos Quartet, Coil...this is mainstream I love.

Your project for the future?

Two collabs in progress (with Jack Hertz finished, with Dave Fuglewicz almost finished), two albums in mastering phase (one by experiMENTALien, one by T.R.I.v.M.), I also wait for release approval in case of my Chaos Trilogy (lot of material by other artists)...and I plan to record deep minimalistic loopy spacey ambient album.

Last word are yours!

Support DIY artists and netlabels, create and never give up. Life is great after all. Also sorry for my poor english (lol).

Websites:

https://trivm.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/experiMENTALien/videos?sort=dd&shelf_id=0&view=0
https://www.facebook.com/Experimentalien/
https://dogparkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/katacumoridako
https://archive.org/details/Petroglyph360TOTAL_E.T.-impleMENTAL_ALIENoise_Unearthly_23SOTV9
https://auralfilms.bandcamp.com/album/s-t-drone-mvast
https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/nine-triads
https://archive.org/details/siro682TotalityRezim-ClosedWardMemories
https://auralfilms.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-zone
https://archive.org/details/SPNet151

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Interview - Iamdeadsmiles58

6/9/2016

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Artist based in USA

How and when did you started music?

I started doing vocals in different bands in my neighborhood with friends. That's how i got started

Why the name Iamdeadsmiles58?

The name iamdeadsmiles58 came from my old screen name "deadsmiles58" then used the iamdeadsmiles58 because at the time to use a Iam to you're project name was very popular.

What is your relation with grindcore music and other form of extreme music?

I always loved grindcore and, various metal genres. I felt the more experimental the metal is the better 'be interested in it.

How do you feel about other form of music?

Well when it comes to music taste i'm very picky. I always enjoyed a unique pallet of generals from breakcore, indie acoustic to noise. It depends on the artist or band honestly.

How could you resume the sound of iamdeadsmiles58? could you speak to us about your other projects?

Well Iamdeadsmiles58 sound started out as a straight noise electronic grind core project that morphed into what it is now. I did a electronic album titled how to get to wxyz in 2011 then did how to get to 1234 in 2012. Just trying to explore different avenues of music that I would be interested making.

Could you speak to us a little about your last album: White 1958?

White 1958 was a last minute album I decided to do after a year before I decided to call it quits for iamdeadsmiles58. Found songs that where never completed so I continued. With every album I write i try to re invent my self musically.

How do you see the future of your project?

Honestly it's still dead. I'm not making music like i did a few years in a consistent pattern.

Last words are yours?

Keep listening to my music

Websites:
https://www.facebook.com/Iamdeadsmiles58
http://iamdeadsmiles58.bandcamp.com

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Interview - Graffiti Mechanism / c4

5/31/2016

1 Comment

Artist based in USA

How and when did you started to create music ? electronic music ?

I started making music back in about 2004, but it was pretty rudimentary. I used a tape recorder to record samples from cd's and just looped them. It was truly awful, haha.

Which artists changed your vision of music when you was young?

Growing up I listened to a lot of jazz as well, but in my early days of electronic music I listened to a lot of chemical brothers ,‎ prodigy and plastikman. Obviously as I got older my tastes changed.

How and when did you had the idea to create proc-Records ?

I got the idea to start proc after I visited a rave in Montreal. There was a particular artist who I was particularly fond of. I spoke with him after the show and he explained to me that a lot of his music was available for free download online. He said he had his own label. I already had a ton of music sitting around that people weren't hearing and I wanted the exposure. So many net labels at the time wanted a particular genre or a particular bit rate, but I didn't want to change the music I had just to fit their requirements, so proc was born. No creative limits.

How do you feel about the fact that Proc-Records influenced a lot underground label s and netlabels (and Sirona is one of them) from all over the world ? ‎

I find it very humbling. It was a jumping point for many people and projects, and I think it happened at just the right time. I'm glad I had the opportunity to let it become available to so many people.

I know 2 project of yours? Graffiti Mechanism & c4 ! Could you speak a a little about these 2 ? The different way you produce music with them ? Do you have or had another projects ?

c4 was the very first alias I used back in 2004 and continue to use to this day‎. The name c4 is actually, in a sense, is a play on my actual name Adam Crammond. "C" for "Crammond" and 4 is the number of letters in "Adam ". The problem became that there were so many artists already with that alias and so I began the graffiti mechanism project as a branch off for a more original name. However, I still actively use both interchangeably and neither has any specific or distinguishing aspects.

You just submitted a new low bitrate release to Sirona, from c4 called « in conclusion » ! Could you speak a little about that baby ?

That release was essentially tracks that never made it on other albums because they didn't quite blend well with other pieces, so I decided to just make a mix of the tracks and release it as that. I'm glad you accepted it!

You always been involved in the lobit community ? Could you explain to us the particular link you have with low bitrate music ?

My heart and soul are forever embraced in lobit. While I do have a lot of music that is not, most people will find that a good portion of my music is encoded in lobit. I've used the 32kbps, mono mp3 format for much of my music and find it to be the best sound all around for my particular style and genre.

What is your musical (or not) projects for the future ?

At this point in my l‎ife, I consider myself fortunate if I complete a track that I enjoy from start to finish in one sitting, so, I don't really have anything specific lined up at the moment. Having said that, I would very much like to compose a massive, multi-piece ambient album with a runtime of over 2 hours or something like that. I really want a deeply involved album that people can sink their teeth into , and that can unequivocally define myself as an artist, but that may or may not happen.

Last words are yours, and thank you for everything Adam !‎

The netlabel scene is still an important facet of my daily life. Some of my favorite releases ever from truly amazing artists have originated from the depths of the underground. I've had the absolute pleasure of working with amazing artists and making long-standing friendships.

Websites:
https://www.discogs.com/fr/artist/1216579-Graffiti-Mechanism
https://www.discogs.com/fr/artist/819579-c4-10
http://proc-records.net

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Interview - Marc Broude

8/14/2014

2 Comments

Artist based in USA.

When and how did you start with music?

I started playing with sound when I was a child. I didn't know what I was doing. I had really bad OCD when I was a kid. When I look back now I sort of laugh because it was sort of fucked up. I had no idea how unusual I was when I was a kid. I would never hear the end of it though. I was forced into therapy and constantly hospitalized. I had traits of Asperger syndrome, but not enough to diagnose me. Everything I did was natural to me and what I wanted to do. Just like anyone else. It was unfortunate at the time that everything I did was unusual. I was living in my own world. My Mom wanted me to be a kid. I stole her cassette tapes and put scotch tape over the tabs and recorded what I thought to be funny clips of AM radio commercials. It was sort of like a collage. I had a really dry and dark sense of humor and later I would record darker parts of the news on AM radio over my Mom's cassette tapes. Reports of murder, health updates, rape and so on. Around 9 years old I used a microphone with a boombox to record static in between channels on AM radio. I would then dub the tape adding angry tangents I recorded through a microphone. I intercepted local phone calls on my walkie talkies and recorded phone conversations as well. I would then dub the recorded conversations onto another tape in intervals while I spoke between them. When I think about all of this now I understand how unusual all of this was, but I was so into this at the time. I didn't care about anything else. I would stay up all night doing this and then sleep all day in school. When I was about 14 I discovered Negativland and realized that this was an actual thing. I was excited. Around 15 I took guitar lessons and "music therapy". I was given a dead relatives broken acoustic guitar and that was my best friend for about a year and then I became obsessed with my journal and poetry. When I was 20 or 21 I was dating someone who was in multiple bands and a solo musician as well. I was in a bad place in my life and wound up living with him. I didn't go outside much at the time. I was in a horrible place. He had a gigantic home studio and I spent 10-24 hours a day experimenting with his hardware and software. I accumulated hundreds of individual tracks and he talked me into recording an actual song. I spent about a year in that house and almost never left. We broke up and I moved into a warehouse in the ghetto of Chicago. There were about 20 others living there. Most were musicians. I started a sort of crossover punk band. We recorded 4 tracks and played 3 or 4 shows. The CD-R we handed out was the 4 tracks we recorded, but we didn't play those songs live. We played 5 other tracks which were blackened death metal. It was so weird. 2 entirely different sounds. The tracks we recorded were about a minute each and more punk than metal. The tracks we played live were 4-9 minutes each and were black metal. We started using the name Zog. We all had serious, serious problems and everything ended as quick as it began. It was so bad it felt unreal. I lost my mind and started doing my own shit. At that point music was all I had. It was my therapist, my everything.

Are you familiar with other forms of art?

I really admire Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, Kurt Schwitters, Marcel Duchamp, Tony Oursler, Mike Kelly, Bill Viola, Joe Coleman, Aldo Tamberllini, Jordan Belson, Günter Brus, David Lynch, Delia Derbyshire and Steven Stapleton.

Which artists inspired you growing up?

I grew up when Nirvana and Hootie and the Blowfish were all over the place. When I did tape collages I had no idea that actually existed. The type of music I wanted to create was completely unrelated to the music I heard at that point. I think I was influenced by the need to purge. I did that naturally and felt like I had no choice but to continue doing it. When I started experimenting again I was really into Godflesh. "Psychological Warfare" was a test for me. I wanted to achieve a sound like Godflesh completely on my own. I did that to determine my own capabilities and decide where I could go with music. I really don't have any musical influences. I think that is why every release is a completely different genre if they even fall into a genre. I do know I have never done a 100% electronic track. I always use real drums or a guitar somewhere. I guess I guess some vocalists have inspired me, but I haven't yet produced anything with that in mind. Chino Moreno is definitely one. I only like a couple Deftones tracks, but I love his voice and style. I would love to produce something with a similar vocal style if I record again in the future. I did cover "Mascara", but did that all myself and had to sequence the drums and that sort of ruined the track. I've wanted to cover "Hello" by Babes in Toyland as well. I've done many tracks naturally and unaware. "The Sixth Era" is a great example. I was recording tape loops and playing with samples and didn't even realize what I actually produced something until I saved the file in Logic.

Who are your influences? Who do you listen to?

I don't have many "favorite" bands or music. I mostly listen to individual tracks by different artists. I enjoy Nurse with Wound, Flying Saucer Attack, Barry Adamson, Catherine Wheel's "Ferment" album, Deutsch Nepal, Massive Attack, Boduf Songs, Negativland, Steve Roach Sparklehorse, Unkle, Yo La Tengo, Zoviet France, Illusion of Safety, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Oscillation, To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie, Thorofon, Tribes of Neurot, Anti-Cimex, Discharge and Blut Aus Nord.

What do you think about the music industry and underground scene?

I don't really have anything positive to say about the music industry. Mainstream music is more ridiculous than it ever was and it's getting worse every day. I stopped listening to the radio in 1999. The "Underground" scene is just as bad now. You have really small labels charging $15-40 for LP's. Some don't bother with distributors so if you live in America and you're into a band on a Finland label and want to buy their album you pay more for shipping than you do for the album. It's retarded. You have some musicians recording albums in hours with zero quality and releasing limited edition albums every other day. Everyone is trying to sound like Throbbing Gristle or Animal Collective or The Cure. Noisers are attempting the same shock value Whitehouse used in the early 80's, album artwork with religious symbols and runes inappropriately plastered all over the place. Every industrial band uses words like "blue", "machine", "sector", "plastic", "insanity", "infection" and "virus" in their song titles. Ambient noise "musicians" piling compression over a field recording of traffic and releasing that with a lock of dog hair in a cassette tape or floppy disc. This new "straight edge" pro-vegan liberal egalitarian power electronics scene hypocritically screaming diatribes of hate in their music. A lot of the underground now seems to be about a scene and there are many. I haven't seen or heard much visceral, meaningful stuff in awhile. Maybe the internet is ruining it all. I don't know. I think the net-label scene is punk as fuck. I think most small labels are full of the same shit as major labels now but with a smaller market. I don't buy records for this reason. I could go on for hours so i'll just shit the fuck up now.

Why do you give your music away for free?

I give my music away because i'm not a musician. This isn't my job. I'm not an entertainer. I want anyone's money. I felt very uncomfortable with every dollar I made. I produced these songs for catharsis, but made them audible and available for anyone who would listen. If someone gets something out of the tracks, great. They all came from my heart (whatever is left of it).

Do you release hard copies?

Yes, There were a few physical releases. "Psychological Warfare" was initially released on 7" vinyl because a friend of mine insisted and paid for it, "Rites of Zen" and the split with Sequences were released on CD. I have no idea what I was thinking when I released "Rites of Zen". The Sequences split was released on CD because it was a collaborative effort and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Name 3 successful artists you would like to work with.

I can't even imagine that, but David Lynch I guess. I am not a big fan of Lydia Lunch's music, but I really, really admire her outlook and think we could destroy the world together.

Are you working on new material?

I am working on an experimental film and composing the score as well. Aside from that I am not releasing music at this time. I still record tracks on occasion, but don't plan on releasing anything.

Are you touring?

I haven't played a show in years. I've considered starting a live-only punk band, but I've had a lot of horrible experiences depending on and working with others and so I haven't.

Websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Broude
http://marcbroudemusic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/ineedanewhead/videos

2 Comments

Interview - Fabiorosho

7/26/2013

0 Comments

Artist based in Latina, Italy

How and when did you started music?

I started at 14, playing badly guitar almost by myself, electronic approach came five years later.

What are your principal source of inspirations?

I'm inspired by the place i live and the circumstances that have been there since i'm living... my town, Latina, is a boring and unfair place so with my sounds i try to tell stories or simply translate my feelings of being there. I'm into a wild bunch of stuff: bands i listen for years are the Beastie Boys, Helmet, Limp Bizkit and all that nu-metal and crossover scene, Aphex Twin and Cylob, Atari Teenage Riot, Nine Inch Nails, my favorite industrial artist is Monte Cazazza... surely i am not able to mention them all, i listen to music for about 8 hours a day, also i like Dada avantgarde that influences my everyday life, 8-bit culture and glitch art as a way of deconstruction of reality.. and various kinds of sick sexual fetishisms that, for various personal reasons, i feel on shame telling around trying to find some nice playmate. All these stuffs interact constantly with my surroundings, i live all my whole life as an experiment, then i make noises and videos to telling to others.

You seems to be addicted to wierd live performance, could you speak to us about what fabiorosho concert are?

Frankly, i completely do not know how will be the next fabiorosho's concert: usually are a table and all my gear on it and me playing an hour or more long non-stop session with all my audio material.. but in my last one i bought a certain amount of old televisions and took with a pickup their electromagnetic fields, or just turned 'em on for visual purpose, nothing special but is a thing i would like to do for a long time, you know, i love old and obsolete technology and filling it around me.

Why the choice of putting your music in free download on the internet? What is your opinion about the netlabel scene? The musical scene in general?

Complex question! It's a necessity first of all, since i do that kind of experimental audio i want to reach more ears possible, and it's unusual because the experimental and alternative music scenes are closed circles, not for narrow way of thinking but for practicity, on the other hand i like so much to explore and find more and more influences and ideas: internet is excellent from this point of view. The worst thing about the net is that not everybody can understand the free philosophy behind netlabels: many people find free stuff not worthy and, sadly, also everyone with some spare time can put up its own netlabel with absolute no taste or solid ideas behind, it's really dispersive many times and you have to stop and think about what is good or what's just a waste of time.

You seems to have some crazy creepy funny visual things on the internet too. Like Caramodium Ugly Comics. Could you tell us more about?

Caramodium Ugly Comics is my drawing urgence, since i was at the elementary school i used to draw a lot of silly comics and characters, and when i was a teenager (and sometimes now) used to wannabe hiphop writing and doing some puppet on wall... essentially C.U.C. is my drawing playground, just like desks at school or walls dowtown!

How would you describe the music you make to an elderly person?

It depends how this elder person is, how's his musical and art background and what we have in common, anyway i am not good (or i do not want) to explain what i do to other people so i just show my works, everyone have their very own point of view and i am always curious to test their reaction, i've already said all of this it's just a big experiment.. often the non-message of what i do is largely misunderstood and i always do not argue for real but just for troll's sake, all of this is disturbing and fascinating.

What are your projects and hopes for the future?

Well, i'll keep on making noise for sure, as long as i live, i have been away from the internet scenes for a while, trying something in the real world and finding out that what's going on here is always more interesting than what's outside unfortunately the most that is born here can hardly survive outside, were money rules almost everything, ad it's a pity. Just trying harder, better, faster, stronger.

Websites:

https://soundcloud.com/fabiorosho
http://fabiorosho.bandcamp.com
http://www.vimeo/fabiorosho
http://caramodium.blogspot.com

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Interview - Hu Creix

6/27/2013

0 Comments

Artist based in Borso del grappa, Italy

How and when did you start music?

First thing is that in my childhood I discovered Miles Davis secretly with the OST of "l'ascenseur pour l'échafaud". I saw "West side story" and loved songs like the sharks and almost all the soundtrack. It was the gold time of vynil and standing in front of the turn table froze the time for many afternoon listening "Pierre et le loup " and some others like "The beautifull sleeping" (La belle au bois dormant". Then some years after during the summer holidays came in France the mondial hit "Isn't she lovely" by Magic Stevie".

The first electronic popular "Popcorn" song was turning on the radio 24/7 . The movie "Saturday night fever" came out few times after and the OST turned in loop in my bedroom. Time after time music became my favorite escape from real world. My father noticed I wasn't doing my homework and so he decided to make music forbidden for me. This was a big mistake. What can be more attractive than forbidden things?

It's time after time and also because of some pretty sad events that my need of a way to escape from reality grows and that music took a main place in all my teenager life. I made the army and it was already years I was more or less in adult life when one day a friend of mine came to my place with a strange wooden box that looked like a coffin cuted in two. Inside was an old saxophone with a double octave key. At this time I was a big fan of the movie "Around midnight" from Bertrand Tavernier.

It's how music came to my life, late but deeply, suddenly, passionately. I never got a lesson, never learned nothing more than playing on my own and my best point was leaving my soul singing freely.

You're a multi-instrumentalist ! Do you have actually one you love to play more than the others ?

I use to play in a "street", hours and hours .Saxophone is a very physical instrument. Breath ,mouth muscles are hardly working. Few years after I started this monophonic instrument I felt some "frustration" not to have a way to build up harmony. At this time I got a keyboard from KORG. This changes my life definitively.

I started to explore my inside music, my vision of the beats and how songs could sound for me to play freely on my own. So it's not properly an instrument that I like to play more than another. I'd say that my greatest pleasure is to use tools as the piano to build up songs. I use also flutes and little accessories .. but the most enjoyable is adding time after time sounds after sounds and then feeling the sympathy of the blended frequencies. Giving a thin identity to a tinny detail at a very precise moment in a song is what I enjoy mostly.

How do you record your music? Do you have some particular rituals? Do you love some ambiences for that?

Several things push me to create a new athmosphere before it's properly a song. It happens many times that I'm outside and a sensation grows in me with words and abstract colors and images. I try to keep this deep feeling and I stick my reflection to a tempo as an introspective monologue soliloquely. I leave free my mind till I come home and turn on the machines to record ... I set the tempo and I listen what's remains of the previews feelings I got as a kind of inside meditative mantra.

I sing a little some simple melody and with a basic piano sound I leave my instinct flow around the tempo clic. Here are the roots of a song. The most disturbing ritual I have is my need of switching places furnitures and my Home studio set. It refreshes my motivation and gives me a sensation of being brend new. I can then really feel my imagination totally restaured and ideas come without a will Most of the time it's only after a bunch of works failed or succeeded that I chose or not to put saxophone or any other accessories. I am not searching to make a proper structure to welcome a chorus or anything. I search silences that give the spaces for the sounds. each void is for me more important in a song than all other sounds. A silence is a sound itself ... it's the most important note that fit in all harmony. When harmony doesn't show up on instrument I sing gently something and it's how I find out the missing things. That's it I guess.

I know you have worked very hard on your new release, "The Last Door", could you speak to us about it?

Sure I will...! lol It happens like that... After I produced Just words LP of 20 tracks and the minimal beat version of the song "No soul man "initially released in the LP Gorgeous sins more and more people asked me to sing songs. I was already planning something in my mind... another project. Deep in my love stories background I felt to say something about it. I seated down in a table and wrote few words. I picked up a free royalties drum beat on the web and started to play a piano on it. Actually the beat has never been used but it doen't matter I draw a bass line over it and started to sing the few words about the girl next door in a building that is the main line of the album... doors . Then came out details and gentle sounds to make it a little more fashion. The song was talking about those women you cross and you imagine only all that can be imaginable. I released it like a kind of joke .. three chords .. few words .. just a little glamour fantasy. People liked it very much... even too much. They asked what is it about .. album .. EP what is it?

Next day I took my pen and wrote something else .. I made a song on it and people asked the same.. What is it about .. is it an album...? And so I made an other and an other .. till I got 13 songs made the same way. Songs are done very very very simply... 1 minute to write the lyrics and a full day for the composition that must keep the same chords transposed are whatever. It's an easy way but... using a structure of 3 chords for all songs even transposed .. it's not that easy. So,I realized the songs one after the other till I got a proper album.

Something was wrong in it? very wrong.. a shame in fact. First I didn't know what But in a car I've seen it... The sound was low and weak. So so so weak. I decided to ask around .. Why my sound is that weak compared to some other stuff...? here start something very very bad ...I'll share all I can about this to help other not to be in this kind of situation . So "kez le zek" sent me something about mastering. Here are the tutorials. It's on Fl studio but it doen't mater it's all good for sounds understanding.

Here is a link of a Youtube chanel http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL92F1F8DE5346D05F

I used part of the theory about mixing and mastering. Tools and skills teached in this are absolutely essential and even if I'm not working with FL studio I got no trouble to apply it on my own system. This knowledge needs a lot of practice and after it you can really get a better sound even with home made songs. The Physical CD is now ready and it's gone to be a very important step for me after months of work on it. As usual since 6 albums the art work is home made in collaboration with Annamundi.

If you could work with 3 famous artists (dead people accepted) who would it be?

Actually I wouldn't work with any famous musician but I'd prefere to observe them during a recording session. About this I'd chose Peter Gabriel, David Bowie and The dead can dance, Robert Frip and Bobby Mc ferrin for the instinctive universality of what they shares in them way to do things.

They have a long experience, they work with incredible skilled virtuoses and they are able to blend many things with an unlimited imagination for what I know of their work.

If you should describe your own sound, what would you say?

This is maybe the question I feel uneasy with. Maybe not the easiest music to listen even it's mostly simple structures. It's quiet oldschool but have no proper style that could put it in a guetto. It's often very soft and surely not the funiest music ever. It's also intimate and introspective I guess. I don't search to be fashion at all. I try to do some elegant sound with space inside that leave to the audience the time to feel and reach it .

It's not a music that rises and blows out as a bigband can do. There is not much virtuosity in it but it's mostly because the jazzy color I put inside are not there to make the show but to draw a rainbow of emotions. I used to make long long songs and it's a mistake in 2013. People switch very fast to the next page ... An intro of more that 5/7 seconds is a guaranty to loose 65 % of the listeners. If there is a tag for the sound I do it might be delicate or details. It's a blend of sincerity and research.

What are your projects for the rest of the future?

Being involved in visual project as it always been. Making visual on my own . Organizing better my release. And trying to stick to the concept of my next album. It's not that easy when isolated you must break the need to share what you are doing. I would like to come back with a full album that nobody heared about before. visuals nobody seen before .. I'd like to see if it's changing something. Make another side project to spread a different side of my creativity Staying motivated to save some money and buy more material as a tenor sax .

Last words are yours!

If you make one choice think about it everyday. make it your life. whatever is your passion live it fully. Don't waste your time on a wrong decision. And do your best. Don't smile to people if it's a lie. Be true!

Websites:

http://hucreix.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Hu.Creix
http://hucreix.x10.mx/

0 Comments

Interview - Hlo

5/15/2013

0 Comments

Artist based in Los Angeles, USA

How and when did you started music?

Im not sure at what age i really started music but i got my first guitar at the age of 13 i was not that great but i loved to jam on it primal style then a year later i got a multi effect pedal and started looping and adding alot of effects to guitar and really fell in love with making weird sounds started plugin in mics and keyboards in to my digitech multi effect pedal and at like 16 i began to record and learn how to use fl studio started recording music with friends started some bands that did not last long then just kept making music on my own found out about alot of underground internet music stuff goin on in the old myspace days and really influcened me to just make and put out sounds.

What are your favorite releases of yourself? For which reasons?

My fav releases would be all and any splits i have been apart of for the main reason that i had to build some kind of friendship/mutal respect with the artist i was working with and being surprised with the finished work is allways great.

How do you actually record your stuff and what materials do you use for?

These days i have mostly only been recording on my laptop i use fl studio since i dont really have the patience to learn another daw sometimes when im walking around the city i record some sounds on my smart phone lol but i was recording on tape stereo systems a few years ago for mixtapes and splits with friends.

What are your plan for 2013? New music? Something different?

2013 started off good for music i have been workin alot with local friends who are making great music as well im allways doing differnt stuff if im not making noise im making some beats or experimenting with new software or trying to make my own instruments im just gonna keep doing whatevers fun for me and challenging and keeps me learning or what ever sounds good to me.

How look a typical Hlo's live show?

A show haha awkward and random i sometimes do some really harsh noise sets or bring along a few friends to make sounds at a venue and get sour looks from people prob since im about to blow out there PA and im over intoxicated, burn a bridge or two alot of times people dont understand whats goin on or wonder why was i was even booked for a show but i work hard on my sets if i dont got some new circuit bent equipment to show off im doing some laptop beatwork or something i allways try to switch it up and just have fun pleaseing myself is the main goal really.

Last words are yours, feel free to say anything you want!

Umm share your music keep creating you never know who you might inspire or help out stay humble stay weird dont let nobody put you down and have fun! haha idk im high and sleepy thanks sirona for the interview and good music.

Websites:

http://www.discogs.com/artist/Hlo

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Interview - Pollux

Interview - Robotic Joe

Interview - Consistency Nature

Interview - TOTAL E.T. / TRIvM / mutanT.R.I. / (& Others)

Interview - Iamdeadsmiles58

Interview - Graffiti Mechanism / c4

Interview - Marc Broude

Interview - Fabiorosho

Interview - Hu Creix

Interview - Hlo

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