What would you say makes Cautella stand apart from your previous albums? For example, does it show any of the ways you feel you have grown as a sound designer, beat programmer or composer?

I would say this is more of a transitioning album for me. I am in the middle of developing new techniques in terms of sound design and composition. I spent a great deal of time working with new sound design applications for this release, and acquired a great deal of new kit as well, so I was still experimenting with new things and processes while creating this release. I think Cautella is more of an immediate release for me. It has more aggressive rhythmic tracks and textures. I really tried to make this release an interesting listening experience from beginning to end.

How did this album come to be released on Sublight Records?I have been a long time friend with Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares), and Aaron asked me if I was interested in doing something with his friend’s label back in Winnipeg. I thought it would be great to release an album on this label that was relatively new, and to release something this year that wouldn’t interfere with my Ghostly and Schematic Records releases I have planned for next year. So it was a perfect place and time to do this project, and Sublight fit the bill. I really like what Aaron puts out. It’s proven to be a consistent label. 

Cautella’s cover art is wonderful; it looks like a crossbreed of the work of Alex Rutterford and Michael England. How much control do you exert over the art direction? Do you prefer not to make your own album art? Also, how do you feel the look of the art relates to the images and mood you wanted to evoke with the music on this album?

I would have to thank my close friends Noah and Brian at KeepAdding, in Santa Fe, New Mexico for that one. They are incredible digital media artists who I became friends with a few years ago. I basically gave them the album and told them a basic feel and mood that I was aiming for in terms of the artistic presentation for this release. They sent me some sketches and we went back and forth exchanging ideas, and came up with the Cautella album cover. I was really impressed with the way it turned out. It is by far one of my favorite releases in terms of music and artistic presentation. In terms of how the art relates to the music: I basically just sent them my tracks and Noah and Brian listened and came up with some images that were directly evoked by the tracks. They sketched out some intricate alien insect models, and some very strange demonic alien skulls morphed in Photoshop. This is what they saw in their heads while listening to the music. I thought it was perfect, as these are the types of images I want the listener to see and experience.

You have mentioned you’d like to do sound work on science-fiction films. Did you have this approach in mind when making the more ambient soundscapes on Cautella, particularly the opening track, “Helix Stair Helve”? On a more conceptual level, how does the idea of film (and music, too) with its linear progression in time hang together with the description sometimes applied to your music as being ‘sound sculpture,’ which could suggest a static object that is capable of being experienced from many different points of view?

Yes, I have been getting more into sound design for film and gaming companies, lately. It’s really interesting to see how my sounds go up against picture and moving images, which totally changes the context and effectiveness of the sounds I create. I have always strived to create soundscapes that can basically create pictures for you in the mind, without the aid of any sort of visuals. I would invite the listener to open their brain up and experience things and places they have never seen before. It is essentially what I try to do with every piece I do. Create these surreal alien environments where you are traveling into some horrifying high-tech world. The music can be experienced in a static environment and sometimes this might be even better than in an environment where you might encounter distractions. In this case the listener can completely concentrate and process all the information.

“Orr Unfolding” is quite a haunting ambient piece. Are the unusual chords in this track a result of any special harmonic device such as microtonal scales?

This track is funny because I created it using only one piece of equipment. No computer processing or plug-ins. It was created entirely on a Nord G2 Modular synthesizer using Comb delay modules, in a sequence of detuned layers with feedback, in conjunction with String Modelers with open and ever changing envelope times. It was just a patch I made for Clavia, which I then later turned into a full-blown composition. I completely designed the patch to work as an a-tonal piece, meaning there is no tonality to the sounds. Just freeform scaling and pitching. Quite haunting, actually. 

You put a lot of work into designing and manipulating your own sounds, and some of the more fascinating details of this effort might not come across immediately to those unfamiliar with your music and the more technical and academic means you sometimes employ. With that in mind, would you care to pick a few sounds or moments from the album and say a little about what processes contributed to the final result?

Yeah, it’s interesting, as I used so many sound bytes from numerous places, mostly processed sounds from external sources in my surrounding environment. Whether it is from the Kyma System or acoustic process material, I always try to make sounds that have a particular quality to them, in which they all have character and could easily stand on their own. I used a variety of different synthesizers like the Hartmann Neuron and the Roland V-synth, too, for strange ghostly smeared textures and granulated madness. Of course there was a great deal of computer processing done on this record, which accounts for at least 80 percent of the sound and processed material. It was what I considered to be a very synthetic sounding release, focusing more on detailed synthesis and found sound manipulation. There were even some parts where I used intense breathing of animals as sound transitions into the next parts. I really tried to push and change my traditional methods of composition on this release. 

Any news about future projects, collaborations, DVD audio or doing sound for films?

Well, I have a limited picture disc coming out on Hymen and Sublight records which is almost already sold out. The release date is in September. I have also completed remixes for Glen Velez, Otto Von Schirach, Sector-9, Kill Memory Crash and Funkstrung. I am also working with Telefon Tel Aviv on my next record for Ghostly International. I plan to work again with Otto for a completely mad science musical record slated for next year. And I am also finishing the last edits for Mike Patton’s album Peeping Tom, which has turned out quite interesting. We have collaborated for this project on his label Ipecac. I also plan to release the DVD late next year on Schematic. Look out for this; it will be the next horrifying glimpse into 5.1* hell!

As for the Film and TV industry, I have been quite busy working constantly on new TV spots for Nike, Scion, Dodge, Xbox, Sony and many others. It’s an endless cycle of sound creation.

The limited-edition Sigstop picture disc will be released September 10th, 2005 on Sublight Records.

* Refers to 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. See http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041217/ for further explanation. – Ed.

www.richard-devine.com

www.sublightrecords.com

www.keepadding.com

Copyright © 2005 Modsquare.

You mentioned you studied classical piano at Northwestern. When
where you first introduced to the instrument and why did it appeal to
you?
There are a number of pianists from my father’s side of the family. His
mother is a pianist and her father was an organist in Czechoslovakia,
etc. So, it was a priority for my family that my brother and I learned
how to play the piano at a young age; I began lessons at age five.
Although practicing the piano was pretty much required of me growing
up, the instrument did appeal to me on a personal level. Learning to
play, along with the theory and technique behind it, came very
naturally to me. Playing the piano has always appealed to me as a
release and an outlet.

How did it lead to your involvement with electronic music production?
Basically, the transition happened while I was studying at the
university. I began college at the University of Miami, where I was
studying classical piano on a much more intense level than what I was
used to previously. I practiced an average of four hours a day – never
missing a day. That first year of college I learned a Beethoven Sonata
and a more obscure Brazilian piece by Heitor Villa-Lobos, among other
pieces. I really grew as a pianist and musician. At the same time, I
began hanging out at the radio station there, WVUM, and started hanging
out with the Schematic guys. My main passion for music at that time
(since about ’94) was electronic music.

Seeing the lifestyle of my new friends – making things happen with new
electronic music (they were just signed to Warp Records) – while
viewing myself as secluded playing classical piano, led to me deciding
to give up the idea of playing classical piano professionally. Instead
of interpreting the music of the classical masters, I decided to move
towards making my own music and finding my own musical voice.

So, I left Miami and moved back to Chicago where I began learning jazz
piano and studying at Northwestern. Eventually, I transferred into the
Music Technology program at NU. This program was super small and super
cool. There were about six people in the entire undergrad program when
I entered it. My first class involved learning how to make patches on
the Arp 2600 and splice sounds from tape. From that point on, I’ve made
a gradual transition from classical piano into solely producing
electronic music, incorporating a lot of piano work into the tracks.

How did you find yourself in Chile? How did you meet Andres Bucci?
I found myself in Chile studying abroad during my fifth year at
Northwestern. By this time, I felt that I would grow more in a new
environment. I had to give up a lot to go, but it was worth it. So, I
left the WNUR / Chicago scene to go study music composition at the
Universidad de Chile in Santiago. Also, my goal was to
have a lot more down time to work on music on my laptop and create new
music of my own.

After realizing that music gear is insanely expensive in Chile, I
started looking to buy a used keyboard from someone. To make a long
story short, I called Atom Heart, who referred me to call Pier Bucci
(Andres’ brother), who a while later played a piano cd of mine for
Andres. That’s how we met.

How did you get involved with Traum?
When I returned to the states from Chile, I sent out our material to
the different people I knew with appropriate labels in the U.S.
Everyone seemed swamped, or a bit conservative after September 11, so I
ended up sending a second wave of demos to Europe. We heard back from
Traum that they wanted to put out the record, and things progressed
from there. Andres and I felt that the music we recorded was worthy of
being released, but Chile is very disconnected from the rest of the
world in many ways (geographically, to start). That’s why almost all of
the Chileans that put out music live in Germany or the states.

What are you listening to for inspiration these days?
As far as electronic music, I’ve been listening mainly to the Tied and
Tickled Trio (Morr Music) and various releases by Jan Jelinek (~scape).
I’ve also been listening to a soon-to-be-released vocal album by Juana
Molina, and I always listen to John Coltrane.

At the Danny’s performance you were using Abelton Live but you
perform with Andreas as Detalles with live keyboards. What mode of
performance do you prefer?
I prefer the Detalles performance with Andres performing also. It’s a
more accurate representation of our musical roles and process in
collaborating. Also, no matter how live I’m playing in Ableton, the
performance has a more unique and live feel when Andres is working in
Abelton or on the MPC and I’m playing the keyboard. Plus, I haven’t
figured out a way to manipulate the beats and textures in our tracks
while I play the keyboard parts. I’m working on that….

Kate Simko has a radio show on WNUR 89.3 FM (Northwestern) in
Chicago and has a release on Traum as Detalles: “Shapes of Summer.”

Copyright © 2003 Modsquare.

Street-smart and wise-beyond-his-years, inspired by junky-infested sewers and industrious landscapes, Jimmy Edgar–Warp’s latest signing—evolves a style described as “scratches galore and moody electronic pulses via some glorious Detroit Neon.”

When Jimmy Edgar was 17 he sent out a few demos to random labels and got signed instantly to Isophlux in NYC, following the release of a techno track called “We Like You” for Poker Flat in Germany. Not long after that he got signed to Merck records and they released his first full length album, My Mines I [merck009] by the “dual alter ego” Kristuit Salu vs. Morris Nightingale.

With his release on Merck Edgar gained some attention and played NYC, Vancouver, the infamous experimental Miami Infiltrate, a few cities in Japan, and random other shows all over the US.

More recently Edgar has played in Detroit with Nickraftis from Planet Mu, the Jan Jelinek/Thomas Fehlmann tour, and at the Detroit Electronic Festival, Movement 2003 — which, by the way, was his first performance under the name Jimmy Edgar from Warp Records.

He’s 20 now and soon he’s expected to be playing the annual Warp Autumn/Winter big party on Halloween at The Coronet theatre in London — and his much anticipated Warp release is expected to boom sometime in January of 2004.

What lead you to composing music?

I lead myself into music, it was pretty much a natural fixation.

What kind of music did you start making?

It was mostly experiments in sound.. acoustic space, pretty minimal stuff, and things like tape loops and tape manipulation.

How did you start messing around with electronica, experimental/idm/glitch? It wasn’t until I was about 10 years old that I got into electronically producing sounds, picked up some old analog pieces. From there I started performing at Detroit raves when I was 15… with like, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and Derrick May. I was the only person in Detroit playing live crazy drum ‘n’ bass. I was known for doing ”booty bass” in Detroit with really dirty lyrics.

What inspires you and what are some of your influences?

In my early years I was jazz influenced on percussion and the drum set and played in experimental bands and made tape recordings. Most of my recordings were pitch-bended tape loops, cut edits, and noise tracks just from messing with the technical parts. I pretty much played whatever instrument I could get my hands on. Even picked up the saxophone for a few years.

During this time I was exposed to Detroit techno, 80s hip-hop/street beat, and things like New Wave. (By my mother, who I haven’t seen in 12 years. She disappeared randomly when I was little) I was pretty lucky to get exposed to these. I was influenced heavily by the early electronic movement–first/second generation… Kraftwerk of course. Also, synthetic funk music is a huge influence.

Yet music is not as much an influence as art is… I am really influenced by urban landscapes, city fashion, and pretty much anything minimal.

But also, I listen to a lot of everything. I don’t limit myself to anything. I have lots of passion for Bossa Nova, most anything Latin, pre-85 punk, 80s goth rock, and the earliest forms of experimental music like Stockhausen, Reich, Botrishe, and Mauriz.

Detroit is also a big influence. Imagine cityscapes and urban city life with my music. That’s very important to my art. I am mostly inspired by feeling drawn from cityscapes. Minimal art is very inspiring to me. Visual aesthetics as well.

Tell me about the technicalities involved in your music: your mathematical approach to music, about Max/Msp–which you are known for using–and what you think makes you unique or inventive.

I program my own sound environments using all kinds of different computers. I don’t stick to anything. I love the different results from every piece of software and hardware I have used. I am always trying to be creative and inventive when I code, or patch programs. If its not completely original I can’t usually work with it. Then it holds to barring to what I am all about.

Do you have any friends that you feel have helped your career or that are contemporaries, especially in the scene you move in the most in Detroit? Ritchie Hawtin, all the old Detroit pioneers, Juan Atkins, all the artful promoters, the growing small amount of scenesters.

Tell me a bit about the party scene you are involved with in Detroit and how you think you contribute to it. Parties get pretty outta hand in Detroit… IE: spankings, drunk live shows with shirts off, dirty loft after parties… it’s the Detroit style… pretty influencing and unique.

Tell me more about your visual art work.

I’ve gotten a bit of recognition for my latest installations and artwork …both digital and by hand. Most of my influence is surrounded by minimalism and strict color scheme… yet without limitation.

Some installations I have done with visual elements, like 8 LCD screens playing synchronized static, user friendly interaction with pitch bend to offset the synchronization, but yet eventually all syncing.

I read this incredible review about your latest release Michaux on Boomkat, could you tell me more about it? This was an extremely limited CD I did for AudioNL in the Netherlands, done all in Max/Msp with intentional software glitches. A last release before my Warp stuff.

Are you working on any mystery projects you can tell me about? With all my projects I have more, I have been talking to Ritchie Hawtin a lot about releasing my full-length of techno with him (Plus8/m_nus)… I will always have an intense passion for techno, and applying it to what I love about it is why I do it. I’m all about techno because I hate everyone else’s techno so much, I feel like I have a lot to offer to it. Most people’s techno lacks the urban feel, which I try to replicate.

What’s your musical ‘motto’?

I make music for myself, to listen to. I love music so much, but when I make it myself, its perfect to me.

Its pretty important to me to stick to what I love to hear. For instance, my music has much Detroit techno influence. But I think it goes beyond that as to feel like Detroit, literally. Urban feeling through music is amazing to me. I would really like to capture Detroit with my songs. It’s basically the feel that came out with my LP to come. My LP was heavily influenced by the city, and atmospheric feeling.

What can you say about your much anticipated Warp release? It’s a little different because some change in hardware/software.

I feel great because I can now make the music I always wanted to hear. It’s a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, but a whole lot of me. This music describes me, and my environment, like nothing ever will. A lot of this stuff from the LP sounds very funky, rhythmic, Detroit-sounding yet with the same aesthetics of my minimal music… Detroit was my biggest influence in this LP, I honestly couldn’t be any happier with it and I am excited to see where it takes me and what comes out next. A lot of the tools I used creating this LP were custom made by me, including instruments and software.

You seem to have been causing a bit of anticipation and intrigue. I’ve heard of people calling you a genius and a young prodigy, what do you think about that? I don’t care, I just do what I love. I don’t get shifted by anything but myself in most cases. Though I do have to quote Mitchell Akiyama by saying, “Your music sounds like what Aaliyah should have sounded like.” Haha.

www.warprecords.com
www.jimmyedgar.com
www.kristuitsalu.com

Copyright © 2003 Modsquare.