maria last night @ josef – the small room with the cubes on the wall. wasted night, osaka invasion. shige, ove, bogulta, maurosa.
very new feeling in the air. everyone was there, everyone. this feels like an actual community. wasted1 was the initial euphoria, cool. this is the long haul and it’s continuing. here is the ad noiseam table, there is actually a body of work there. some shirts. some defined stuff. pablo’s book just came out. “pencilbreak” actual good quality book highlighting the design. when you’re in the thick of it, you don’t see anything but the chaos. it takes someone like pablo to filter through and put things together – and we on the inside realize what we have. themes, ideas, and an identity of our own. general graphic/emotional content themes that build off each other. the editorial is honest and i love that. it’s not promoting any kind of agenda – more like cultural anthropology from a design perspective. there still is a synergy of ideas going on and ever morphing. the oroborous, devouring itself and growing anew. a circular snake shedding and re-growing leopard/plaid/skulls/pixel skin.
it’s also beyond embarassing, seeing each other. everyone is older. there are a host of new people around too. british and irish and belgians, dutch, spaniards, japanese, bedding down in berlin. suddenly it seems i’m the old guard, or at least getting there. we have all known each other for a while now, berlin is the locus, the world is the web. we all look a little more ragged but we know how to get what we want out of life, a little more. more worn, more refined. i remember going to maria when i first moved to berlin, transmediale 2003, and not a friend in the whole city. wow, i want to play here. some day. in awe. it happened. now i walk into maria like it’s my living room. my friends have already made themselves at home, cranked the stereo, and they have beer. the british friedrichshain colony was out in full force. i know they will get mad at me for calling them that, because they don’t fit in in britain. as british as i am american, which is only partially. gentle people, eager for a better life. we are all cultural exiles – berlin is our new home. we’re building, bunkering down. we are all radically different from each other but hold a few common values. the desire for a simple, artistic, honest life, on our own terms. love. things that our home countries beat out of people like us. so we come here.
it makes me want to cry a bit. it’s lovely and sad and awesome. new. some people fell away and disappeared. so it goes. it will never be the same. gather your love. new lights being born. new music. experiments. barbeques in the park, strollers and blankets. everyone pitching in. cleaning up our trash at the end of the night, and leaving a bag for the bottle hobos. learning german and feeling weirder. more out of place, and more calm. not frantically running around like chickens w/ their heads cut off, over-worried about the rat race. superstructure is looming outside, the new ver.di building, mediaspree set to annihilate all. but for now, we dance. experiments. what happens from here on in?
07.04.08
hey. back and have been absorbed in new tunes. about last weekend…. big thanks to the netherlands promoters, for getting almost everything on the tech rider *correct*, and thus enabling the best possible show! wow, not rocket science. i could see, hear, and the gear worked. the set was great. it does add so much to the show when it all works like it should. of course when nothing works, it adds that extra FUCK YOU layer, which can be turned around into a good thing, but can go horribly wrong. i try to stay away from the escalating antagonistic feedback loop. nijmegen people got it right, mostly. my newly redesigned tech rider probably helped. i took a cue from the japanese, with their brilliant picture menus. when there’s a language gap, text is the enemy. PICTURE RIDER! well, it seems to have worked so far. i felt like a fool designing the thing, like i’m insulting their intelligence… but just make it easier on people so they can make it easier on you. next step is to build a 1/10 scale mesa boogie triple rec from toothpicks, a tiny guitar stand out of paper clips, spray them w/ shiny lacquer and put them in a little glass case. thoughts – i NEED to start doing van tours where i travel with 100% my own gear. being light and compact is fine for weekend one-offs, but if i could have all my own amps, guitars, stands, pedalboard, etc… instead of needing to break it all down into easily transportable rolling bags, and have the rest rented, the set could be that much better. yes, more gear. london saturday, was odd. not my favorite time in london. playing miles away from the crowd, in the corner of an echo chamber, through a redlining overblown techno soundsystem (extreme highs and lows, no clarity), and unable to hear anything but a big wash of echoey piercing highs and corner bassboom, tests the soul. nice organizers though, treated me great and handled everything else fine. oh it was my last jungle set in the uk for a bit. for those who came out, sorry about the muddy sound, i did my best, & thx for enjoying it anyway. bangface weekender was supposed to be the last jungle gig, but this one snuck in there. i have a few remaining jungle sets in berlin, czech, netherlands this summer and then will be doing only drumcorps….. more on that in a bit. be well.
06.20.08
mastering day is always a fun one. somehow i always end up forgetting some crucial detail back at the house, like the audio. but today i had learned for once and i had everything, on time. met some friends on the street, at 9:30, heading out for a leisurely cafe breakfast before work at hardwax. where else does that happen? berlin is so strange sometimes, you have to check yourself and remember that this isn’t normal. we’re musicians and sound enthusiasts making a cozy simple living, but it’s via the weirdest music on the planet.
walked all the way to kreuzberg, lovely morning, sun blazing, trees full green, pretty girls on bikes… and into d&m, where they have a pile of excellent esoteric audio gear sitting atop scavenged furniture. so berlin. no wasting money on a custom built swooping walnut desk that will look good in the fisheye promo shots, fuck it. get the best gear where it counts, build the rest yourself, and get on with it.
then it’s on to make decisions, but not too many. as i do this more, i offer less and less input at the mastering stage, put more and more trust in the engineer. just sit there and pay attention. my work is mostly done, just make sure there aren’t any glaring mistakes and we’re cool. things gradually shift…. okay, sounds a little bit better i guess. some squawky noises. what is he doing there? then with a certain microscopic flourish, he switches back into the unmastered version. the heavens open up and angels sing ten thousand harmonies. HOLY FUCK, my version sounds like charlie brown’s teacher, underwater. theirs sounds like a rainstick, or beans in a jar. ten million little details and full of life.
a few hours later, a new lacquer is done, and a new track mastered for an upcoming comp. the animosity record is going to be good. it was not easy to cram all that on a single sided 10″ at 45 rpm. we managed, and the test cuts sounded good. now it’s in the pressing plant’s hands. so many steps with making vinyl, something can go horribly wrong at every stage… this one is sorted so far. so we will see.
back home with the files on usb stick, to obsessively a/b/c/d the mastered version against my self-mastered one, the original, a few other different versions and tweaks. ears are shot at this point but i gotta just check it out so i can sleep right. next morning with fresh ears usually reveals the truth.
06.10.08
big thanks to everyone at bangface weekender!!! the night was one of my last jungle sets ever, and you guys made it special. will be focusing on drumcorps and ambient from now on. was great to see so many friends i’ve met over the years all in one place. will always look on these days fondly. special thanks to everyone involved with the organization side of it, you know who you are. and big up to the pool party d&b massive! i’ve never seen anything like that. oh my….
it was an inspiration and a moving experience, to play at such a place, with artists of such caliber…. was especially jazzed to see phil hartnoll play, as orbital were one of my very first inspirations that got me into this whole electronic music thing…. a brilliant time. onward now. see you at the drumcorps gigs.
04.28.08
Interview with ore.lt, first published February 2008. These guys asked some good questions so I’m re-posting the interview in its original English version here.
Why have you left USA for Germany?
In the USA, cash is king. It’s hard to build anything sustainable from the ground up if you’re doing weird music. You have to put too much effort into hype and spin – which is not my bag – I’m horrible at that stuff. I chose the pure but insane method, and reoriented everything in my life towards making music. I moved to Berlin with absolutely zero connections and have been able to build things gradually the natural way, by just making my music the best it can be and letting the rest happen on its own. There are amazingly talented and creative people in the USA, and I miss that. But move to Europe, where I can play on amazing sound systems, get treated with hospitality and acceptance, live a simple stress-free life, invest in gear and personal growth instead of gasoline… no worries about crime, or owning and maintaining a car, eat healthy non-plastic food, take walks in the park … hey it’s great, but I’m still torn. I miss my family, and my home terrain where I understand the deal a bit more. The country I grew up in is not the country it is now though, and I have more problems with it every time I go back. Europe will never be a total home.. I feel like a cultural refugee of the lowest order. Having met real refugees here who fled actual death and destruction in their home countries, my situation is obviously frivolous in comparison. I don’t know where I will end up in the future. We will see. Right now I am feeling like I miss a bit of the chaos. Maybe just another tour there will be enough.
Is this city inspirational for you?
Berlin gives you space – which is both its strength and its trap. Life is so quiet here that you don’t feel pressure of anything you should or shouldn’t do. Your mind is clear and you can listen to your heart more easily. It’s given me that vital space to develop. Berlin’s downside is that if you’re not self-motivated you can get lazy quick, so you have to be careful.
What do you like the most about Berlin?
Quietness and space – parks that are pleasant, open green space, apartments that aren’t a total ripoff, trains that work, friends take time for each other – treat each other like actual humans – not a disconnected hustle grind rush. these things are pretty unusual for a city…
There are lots of styles of music used to characterize your stuff. How would you self describe it?
emotive, cathartic, introspective, melodic, distorted, heavy, quiet, percussive
Your first official releases are about punk mixing with jungle. Is it hard to put these styles together?
Punk and jungle actually go really well together – the moods, sounds, and tempo all fit. Boston’s Toneburst collective did a show called “Junk” which had punk bands playing alongside jungle DJs, in something like 1998.
What made to move your musical content from instrumental music like hardcore to electronic like jungle and ambient?
In the early days I found hardcore’s guitar/bass/vox/drums sound palette to be too limiting, I wanted to hear some more sounds…. so electronic music was a great way to expand.
Was the fact that that you were playing drums inspirational for your present musical expression?
Definitely. What you learn at an early age stays with you, and everything I do is filtered through a drummer’s perspective. I’ve been working on guitar a lot more lately, but I’m a drummer at heart.
Are you still practicing drums?
I still play on my practice pad at home, but not a full kit.
is guitar only for the noisy part of your music?
I use guitar in my melodic tunes as well, it’s really expressive. Coming from electronic music in the USA, which is an extremely small scene… I got into a mode where I hated guitar music and all it represented. It’s a totally understandable reaction that a lot of people there develop, an “us versus them” mentality. Totally counterproductive and limiting. It kept me away from guitar for many years…. I’ve let go of that nonsense as I’ve gotten older and fallen in love w/ the guitar for what it is – an amazingly expressive sound source and intuitive controller far better than the little midi keyboards I’d been using for years.
Are you able to play any other instruments?
I play hammered dulcimer, bass guitar… a bit of whatever is around.
Speaking of your release “Lost Tracks” I have to admit, that it was quite unexpected to attain from you some of that ambient music when I knew you only as a punk/break core producer. How come you are so widely creative?
Work in every style informs another. You always learn something new.
Would you be able to play ambient set at “Big Chill” or any other lo-fi kind festival or event?
I would love to play at such an event, definitely. My ambient sets are going more in that direction.
I’ve got your “Say More Fire/Music Is The Weapon” LP. I love first track so much. It blows your mind with this unexpected power in it. But it is not-typical your kind of music if we speak of your first releases. Are you trying not stick with the same style or is it just progressive “go forward” of your creativity?
I’m not consciously trying to follow any kind of rule… but you know, some days you feel aggressive, other times quiet. I just write what I feel and sort it out later. the way the styles change is more a mirror of my life changes than anything else. What’s been most encouraging in the past year is that I find people actually like many of the different styles simultaneously, they’re more open than ever.
Mary Anne Hobbs played “Say More Fire” on BBC Radio1 at her show and she’s rated you very highly. What does it mean for you to be valued by this person?
It feels very good and validating to have that happen. I’ve loved her show for a while, and I listened to the Peel show all the time, so being played on the BBC was a long standing dream. Writing music, that’s the best feeling though – that spark when you’re immersed in making a tune, and suddenly it’s 7 am and the birds are chirping. What happens afterwards is great, but it’s not healthy to focus on that too much.
What do you think of mass media if we speak about “spreading the word”? Don’t you think it makes music too pop-ish?
I think it’s a waste of time to worry about if a kind of music is sounding too pop / underground / or too this or too that. Just find what you love and support it. That is all. Mass media distorts everything – ignore it. Just find the music that truly truly moves you, gives you chills, or makes you want to riot in the streets. If it’s YOUR reason, and not some reason some marketing company put into your head in order to get you to buy stuff, it’s right. The KLF have some wonderful things to say about music subcultures and how they fit into the pop music scheme of things http://www.piratecinema.org/the_klf/the_manual.txt
One of the most impressive music trends for the last few years is dub step. Are you up for it? Does it make an impression for you?
Absolutely, dubstep has been a big influence lately. Vinyl from about 2 years ago has a vitality and fun to it to it which I love.
And the last one. You are traveling as a musician around world so often. How do you feel about meeting so many people from different cultures with different point of views?
The past few years of travel have been amazing, Hearing all kinds of viewpoints is one thing, you can get that from reading – but it’s another thing to live how they live, eat their food, ride the bus with them, sleep on their floors, read their newspapers, and get bombarded with their advertising. You love and hate everyone all at once. You see the same patterns of intolerance / power grab divisive politics all over the globe. Different specifics, same old tactics. Then you start to realize how adaptable you are, and how you’d probably be the same way if you grew up there…. You get really lonely and you start to feel like you don’t belong anywhere. You also blend in everywhere and you can feel completely at home in the most ridiculous surroundings. It’s a weird life. I feel extremely grateful to my fans, and friends, that I’ve been able to do it at all – and for this long. This kind of life might not be possible for much longer, once we adjust the costs to the true impact of all these planes flying around the world.
04.08.08
