Episodes
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
KMRU interview
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
Joseph Kamaru is a sound artist from Nairobi, Kenya who has been building up an intriguing library of tracks on his Bandcamp Page over the last three years. With an approach that combines field recordings and in-studio improvisation his tracks vary between minimalist beat driven electronics to richly detailed and layered ambient soundscapes in the vein of William Basinski or Chris Watson.
His grandfather, also Joseph Kamaru, is one of his early sources of musical interest. The elder Kamaru was a Benga and gospel musician in Kenya starting in the late 1960s and his body of work is the subject of a reissue series on Bandcamp as well.
This year KMRU has (so far) three full lengths being released, including his debut for the prestigious Editions Mego label.
Peel was released on July 23th and is available on a 2LP set shipping at the end of August.
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I was doing a bit of reading about electronic music from East Africa and it seems like dance, hip hop, and other beat-oriented forms dominate... what got you interested in exploring ambient music?
Yes, there’s a lot of Afro house, HipHop, Gengetone, Singeli, techno, debe and all the other styles of music within East Africa. I’m happy that there’s so much happening and always exciting to discover new sounds here.
My experimental / ambient works developed more from my love for natural sounds and being in the field. I have been collecting a lot of field recordings from my phone and handy recorder and this developed more into an artistic practice and using this sounds as compositional tools. This has been a learning process for the past 3 years and still learning more about it.
Listening to your earliest recordings on Bandcamp, the field recordings and structures are much more on the surface of the sound... how has this changed over time?
I get inspired in the field. Other times its different as id find myself improvising/ jamming in my space and recording different sound palettes which I then use for compositions. It’s always spontaneous and free. I love improvisation, both in the field and in the box.
From an outside perspective, and especially from North America, casual listeners sometimes expect to hear direct representation of cultural identity from artists in other parts of the world. Do you feel any pressure, either positive or negative, to include cultural markers in your art?
Artists should be free to express themselves however they want and feel, stay honest with their art, and stay authentic, which is so hard and always a learning process. [As for markers] not at first, but this has really evolved and changed a lot in the past few years. Also, the fact that my grandfather did a totally different kind of music from what I’m doing, he taught me a lot and grateful for that!
How does listening... both environmental and to other similar artists... play into your creation of music? Are there any artists that have been especially influential?
My grandfather, we and my other cousins used to go to walks and hikes down the hills and waterfalls for conversations and talks with him, He had a strong connection with the nature, and later came to realize this also in his music.
Other artists who have been an inspiration and influential are Slikback, Nicolas Jaar Katie Gately , Chris Watson & Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, and currently listening a lot to Aho Ssan and Sarah Badr.
How did the deal with Editions Mego come about?
Peel was the perfect project to send to Editions Mego, and glad the project found such a beautiful home.
Have the limitations due to Covid-19 affected any of your work or plans?
Yes, my 2020 was looking very promising, had a couple of shows lined up in Europe from April-June. Most of the shows were affected but whilst I’m not performing, I’m always busy writing and this pandemic has led to lots of new project developments.
With two full lengths already coming out in 2020 what are your goals moving forward?
There’ll be another one coming up later in the year. Well, I’m planning to do my Masters later this year. I'll still be releasing more works, but also finish my installation projects, and if we can play live again, I'll be happy to share my music live!
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
Ida Toninato interview
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
Tuesday Feb 11, 2020
photo from Instagram
Ida Toninato was born in France, but has been based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for a few years now. A baritone sax player, composer and improviser, her first solo album, Strangeness is Gratitude, was released in 2016 on Montreal's Kohlenstoff Records. This was followed up in 2018 by The Space Between Us, a duo album produced with viola player Jennifer Thiessen, and released on the Actuelle label. That album went on to be nominated for a 2019 Juno in the Instrumental Album of the Year category.
Her new album, We Become Giants, is due for release later this month on California's Dragon's Eye Recordings. It was recorded at The Tank Center for Sonic Arts in Colorado, and features some truly deep sounds and inspired composition, delivering an ambient experience that vibrates both the physical and ephemeral core.
How did this project come about? Did you approach the Tank Center or were you approached?
I've been scavenging reverberant spaces or uncommon acoustics for a while now and a friend of mine read an article in The New Yorker about the Tank Center, and sent it to me. I contacted them and rented the space for a few days to record.
At the time were you thinking of it as an album project, or just a chance to record in the space?
I had the idea of an album, for sure, but I didn't have any idea of how it would sound. There are recordings made there online, but nothing that's close to my music. And I really wanted to work with Blaise BorboÎn-Leonard for the recording and the mixing. I had the idea of a synthetic sonic space, created in the studio, that would be wrapped around or inside the natural reverb. The concept was kind of clear to me, but the actual pieces, melodies and stuff, weren’t very elaborated before going there. I had sketches of melodies, and played them, arranged, tried things until we had enough sound in our ears.
How was the experience of playing in the space?
Purely mesmerizing. It's giant. It is very out-of-this-world being how the Tank is located in the high desert of Colorado, so when you are inside, you play with 40 seconds of reverb, and when you step outside, it is silent, mountains, dust. The sun is really high and the ground burnt.
The 40 seconds of reverb is like an instrument that becomes activated as soon as you start to play, and since the Tank is circular and metal, it is a type of reverb I had never experienced before. The beating patterns didn't feel like something I could plan or imagine in advance, so it was a real dive in the present moment, just dive and play, and listen, listen.
How much material did you have to work with, and how long did the editing take once you had recorded?
I had around 3 hours of music recorded there, and the editing in studio took a few months. We took our time really to get to the final result.
Were you surprised by anything you heard, listening back?
It's kind of strange to record in a place where you are inside the sound, and then to listen to the music on speakers. It's another experience, totally. Oh, and then I heard a real shift between the first day of recording and the following ones. The first was very much around extended techniques and like "classical contemporary stuff", but it didn't feel like it was the best thing to do there. It's not a surprise but still, it is a surprise, to hear how a certain space can trigger different type of music. It's like the space tells you "what about getting out of your zone and truly come to meet with me?"
Knowing the properties of the space now, is it tempting to try recording there again, or is it more interesting to find new spaces and the possibilities they offer?
Ohhhhhh... BOTH!! Haha, I would go back any time. I'd be curious to try feedback there.
Do you have any other space already in your sights?
In terms of other spaces, I'd really love to explore natural spaces, like a cave with a lake... or a cave with gems, or a forest, very deep, with super tight bamboos clicking against one another... I would also love to try a cistern, just like this one, and to have the possibility of playing close to the ceiling, to see how it is from above. Is the sound different up there?
So, in your mind, does a recording like this exist purely on album, or have you considered ways to bringing it to a live audience?
I'm currently working on a way to bring it to a live audience. I suppose that there are three types of experiences: the actual Tank and how it feels there, the album that has its specific sound, and the live experience which will be slightly different too. There will be live video as well, with footage from the Tank, so I'm going for something that will be between the Tank, the stage, and all the in-between possibilities
Despite its deep resonance, the baritone sax is not an instrument usually associated with ambient music, but your work is definitely interested in it... has this always been the case, or is it something that developed over time?
It's really a part of me in development. I come from written contemporary music, and didn't pay much attention to ambient music when I was younger. But now I'm really interested in going inside the sound. I have as much pleasure listening to filtered white noise as a symphony or anything else. And I want to play and create music that's about connecting with spaces. I think that the ambient tone is a result of playing with reverb and spaces, because that type of set up requires time, to take the time, to go deep inside. And I'm really interested in deepening my connection with electronic music and electronic instruments.
What do you have planned for 2020, for touring, recording, etc?
For 2020 I'm writing a piece for 4 electric guitars, one for an improvised music ensemble. I'm putting together the live version of We Become Giants. I'm becoming an Ableton Master (ok this is partly in my dreams still but it is slowly emerging in reality). I'm touring with my wonderful duet partner Jennifer Thiessen and I'm going to Yukon for the first time to play there. I have a collaboration with a French ensemble called Ars Nova, for a new piece by Pierre Michaud and hopefully a few other things.
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Mark Nelson Interview
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Monday Dec 30, 2019
Originally this was meant to accompany Surgery 211, an episode spotlighting Mark Nelson, featuring music from across his career with Labradford, Anjou, and notably Pan•American upon the release of A Son on November 8th. So better late than never, here are a few questions about that album and ideas surrounding it. As an added bonus I asked if he might have brief thoughts on a couple of the tracks I was using for the podcast and he actually provide one for each and every one, presented below with links to the albums for purchase digitally on Bandcamp and physically at Kranky Records. Enjoy.
Are you a nostalgic person?
Yes, I’m plenty nostalgic. But I think nostalgia can be different things. On a personal level I see it as memory without blame. Yes, rough edges removed but also hard feelings, anger and destructive instincts for revenge. It’s an acceptance that we had blind spots in the past that seem naive now.
Culturally, it’s a bit more problematic. There has to be justice, or at least the gesture towards justice. I don’t think we can take the same view of our political and cultural past as we can of our personal past. I recently read The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro and it wrestles with this question among others. In the book a land that has known horrible war and atrocities is enchanted to lose its memories by a dragon’s breath. The question is whether to kill the dragon, knowing the violence and vengeance that the return of memories will provoke, or let the dragon live on and let the people continue to live in a peace divorced from the past. A good question, but, ultimately, I think most would agree we need to pursue justice even if it comes inextricably with the potential for violence and destructive vengeful thoughts.
What is your relationship with Virginia? I ask in particular because I've long found your music to be especially good to drive to, so I was wondering if landscape plays a part in your aesthetics, either urban or natural?
Virginia is my home, despite the fact I only lived there for 10 years. It’s tied up with friends and memories of friends and aging and dying parents and grandparents. In particular, the winter landscapes in central Virginia are something I dream about regularly. Bare trees but everything is largely still green. But any landscape in motion: walking, cycling, on the bus, train or in a car are triggers that consistently send me into an active memory space. Peaceful and active. Virginia is the place where my parents died.
Was there a specific motivation to make a more folk-based album this time around
An effort to simplify the process and abandon patterns that were no longer satisfying -- I guess is the best answer. A desire to see if I could present something with some of the layers removed. Sometimes the layers can feel like a misdirection. I think my best musical ideas are quite simple and quite direct emotionally. They have never been intellectual, so that elemental presence of voice and guitar felt like it needed to be forwarded and refined.
Did your approach to work change, because what is interesting is how much the album still sounds like a "Mark Nelson album" despite the obvious differences?
I’ve often been inspired by other artists and tried to figure out how they did what they did. Maybe a good example in my music is 360 business/360 Bypass, a Virginia reference, by the way, where I was deep under the spell of Berlin ambient techno-primarily the Chain Reaction label artists. So, I left the zone of my own tools and tried to work with theirs. I think that’s a
worthy effort: to gesture with aspiration. If you’re lucky it’ll expand what you’re capable of and, hopefully, light up the darkness of your own habits. But in the end, I’m not a successful enough mimic to avoid sounding like myself!
Here is a list of the songs I'll be using for the podcast. If you had a brief anecdote about one or two of these could you share?
I have a horrible memory for titles, so I’ll have to listen on Spotify to remember and see if anything comes up.
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“Before” // Pan•American - Quiet City (2004)
Yes, that’s one I still like for sure. “Let those memories come, break, then begin again.” More or less my mantra. Plus, backwards guitar. Thank you! I’m proud of that one.
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“WR” // Labradford - Mi media naranja (1997)
Ok, probably the most realized song we ever did. 95% percent Robert Donne here. Makes me think of him. That same metal cylinder rolling across the floor. Hammond organ. Fine, our best song. I even like my B part on guitar.
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“How Much Progress One Makes” // Pan•American - White Bird Release (2009)
I guess my favorite Pan.American record. Steven Hess on the rim shots, babies in the house, dub in the air. The next song is pretty relaxed. This record is ok.
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“Greater Grand Crossing” // Anjou - Epithymía (2017)
Wrestling with the density as always. I hear Bobby Donne here.
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“Banco” // Labradford - A Stable Reference (1995)
Title from reading too much Ian Fleming. I guess the vocals should be louder, but we were so loud at this point. I loved playing with Bobby. He was the drummer and bass player on this record. Oh! the vocoder part! Carter sold shit before it was finished.
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“Are You Ready” // Pan•American - For Waiting, For Chasing (2006)
The heartbeat record. Guitar melody not far from where I am now. There’s that sound of a cooking pot lid in there, bought at a thrift shop in Chicago, used countless times, now gone but missed. I think this record got some bad reviews and I’ve felt vaguely ashamed of it, but this sounds like what I would want it to sound like.
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“Phantom Channel Crossing” // Labradford - S/T (1996)
Bobby found a big gas cylinder and that’s what’s rolling around at the start. I would love to still have that. Our attempt to bring Einsturzende Neubauten into our music. Plus, violin by Chris Johnson. Carter doing some nice synth ghosts there too.
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“Muriel Spark” // Pan•American - A Son (2019)
First song I did for this record. A Neil Young aspiration is certainly present in the guitar. Lyrics about The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
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“C. of People” // Labradford - Prazision LP (1993)
Too long ago! Minor keys, terrible vocal effect, but comforted to hear pitch isn't terrible… or more terrible than it is now. I do remember writing this melody. “Cars light up the city, but stars light the skyline from behind” is a decent lyric. Carter sounds fantastic. with those high notes. His specialty I’d say.
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“Project for an Apartment Building” // Pan•American - Cloud Room, Glass Room (2013)
Mixed feelings here. I remember the mastering engineer saying “sounds like bacon cooking!” which didn’t do great things for my confidence, but that old sine bass sound and the beginnings of my pursuit of steel guitar is nice.
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“Readings” // Anjou - S/T (2014)
Nice to hear Steven Hess again. I like the struggle of his sounds.
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“David” // Labradford - Fixed::Context (2000)
Named for Mr. Bowie, because I think we thought the synth sound sounded like side two of Low. Nice to hear that chiming, tremolo sound of Bobby’s bass. That’s a sound I remember. Synth sound is fantastic. Guitar needs some work.