Page 3

Q: I'm still having a difficult time picturing SiNfest (Safety in Numbers Fest, right?) and the Winter Music Conference. I even forget where they took place. Are they like smaller SXSW showcases that focus on IDM or electronic music more broadly? Tons of fans, label reps, and artists show up and have an audio orgy for a few days and then take off with new experiences and contacts? Did Hydrant send you to SiNfest specifically for you to find a larger label? And you paid for all of this yourself, right? I guess I'm just looking for a bigger picture of what those conferences were like and what they are all about. Good experiences for you?

A: Wow. That's a lot of questions rolled into one! Winter music conference is a week long thing that takes place every march About a week or two after sxsw in Miami, Florida. Up until a few years ago it was complete shit (from what I've heard) then all of a sudden all this electronic stuff started happening there... most of it mainstream techno and jungle. Think: badges, music industry elitism, overpaid major label reps, and will smith and you've got the whole vibe. The anti conference however,... that is exactly what it boasts: the EXACT opposite. The IDM thing takes place there more like an anti-conference. The crowd is a weird mix of thugged out Idm kids, indie kids and art school drop out types. SIN fest is a yet another week long electronic thing (in new York), its focus seems to be very "new Wave"-electro with a huge amount of experimental electronic. Safety in numbers (who arranges the event) is, after all, a distribution company with a lot of contacts. They have only done two and I certainly hope they continue to do them, both of them have been a blast. The first year it happened (2000) I played twice. Once for the merck showcase and once for the beta bodega/hydrant showcase. Both of which took place during the day. Second time was really cool as well, New York is one hell of a town. I think you could go there every year for the rest of your life and discover an infinitely different experience every time and 10 new falafel stands. Too bad about their coffee though.

Q: So, how'd you first get into this whole electronic music thing? Did you listen to a few IDM artists in particular that got you interested or did you get here through the rave scene or what? I hear a lot of noisiness at the Oscillate Nights at Mojo's -- did it start there (not at Mojo's but in that genre)? Who are you listening to right now that's influencing you? Do you think there are a handful of artists driving the whole genre, kind of like (I think) the Aphex Twin and Autechre did for a few years? Or is the whole thing too "decentralized" for that?

A: I came to the whole electronica thing through industrial. Einsturzende Nuebauten, skinny puppy, merzbow, to AFX, U-ziq, autechre, and spiraled from there. I don't really feel like there are a few artists driving the whole genre. I think warp is probably the most centralized camp on the planet. In truth every label and every producer just follows in their steps; which is not to say that there aren't some brilliant non-Warp labels and composers out there. There are. I would provide a list but it would be exhaustive.

Q: How about a selection of a few brilliant non-Warp labels and composers, folks not following the Warp Artificial Intelligence path.

A: The artificial intelligence comps were the seed. I wouldn't say that they aren't following the artificial intelligence path but off shoots of it maybe... but if you insist: brothomstates (who's now on warp), machine drum, MD, solvent, Tim Koch, Mr. projectile, d'archangelo, monolake, Stewart walker to name but a few of my current favorites.

Q: I'm listening to "Negativ" right now. The big names that it reminds me of are Autechre and Boards of Canada. Like I said, it's a warm album, with an epic feel to it, lots of reverb, pleasant riffs, and the rhythms are tight-and-gritty, highly syncopated in that sort of definitional IDM way. There's a good amount of noise, but it's controlled. And -- this isn't criticism -- the whole album has a sort of similar, organic, evolving feel to it. I listen and hear good background music but haven't really been drawn directly into any one track the way one would on a pop album full of charming little lyrics and riffs. I've listened to it several times and haven't yet really associated the parts I like with track titles -- I just turn it on and it goes and is good. How do you feel about this? I assume this is intentional, since one goal of electronic music is the creation of ambient environments, whether explicit (like "Music for Airports") or not. Is "Negativ" music for anything in particular? Music for sending e-mail? Music for coffee shops? Did these sort of thoughts play into your creating it?

A: I used to think it was music for coffee shops,... but then you get into some weird territory, so maybe not. Negativ is basically a collection of hand picked songs, agreed upon by myself and merck that seemed to have a solid theme. It would have been even more so if we had decided to release the full 74 minutes we had initially decided upon. I think the fact that you cant identify tracks with the titles is a common thing, genre wide. Mp3s seem to embed the titles better in peoples heads (mine included). if they stare at their play list enough it's right there. I take song titles pretty seriously I guess. If the artist does not sing, what does he/she have left? The artwork? Song titles I think are the only way to connect the listener to the artist.

Q: The tracks titles off of "Negativ" run the gamut from making sense -- "Pretty Song for Alyssa" -- to not making any sense "Bolt Action Aardvark." Or maybe I just don't understand. I like most of the titles, though, like those two, "Protobella," and "Take Your Pants Off." How do you connect, in your mind, track titles to the tracks themselves?

A: Track titles, for me usually are readers digests of stories or moments, and often have absolutely nuthing to do with the substance of the song itself. I'm a closet poet.

Next >>