STARFUCKER RELEASES B-SIDES

Ever since releasing its 2007 debut, a record appropriately named Starfucker, so to make sure everyone knew there was no fear in using expletives, the Portland group, lead by Joshua Hodges, has kept a steady track record for making danceable yet listenable ultra-pop music.

After the debut, which housed the-now-very-recognizable "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second" (video below) as heard across the country on Target's "Pink Pepto" commercial, 2009 saw the release of Jupiter, a fairly less-impressive set of tracks but still a commendable foray into quality pop/indie electro.

Today, Starfucker announced the upcoming release of B-Sides, which was originally recorded as a limited edition pink 7" single and two short-run vinyl LP's several years ago. Each piece of vinyl included tracks that were not released digitally, but now are being released as the digital-only EP. B-Sides will be released on August 17th on Badman.

B-SIDES Track Listing 

Burnin’ Up
Pistol Pete
Ahhz
Medicine (Copy Remix)
Boy Toy (Fake Drugs Remix)

Starfucker Site
Badman

THE NEW RESISTANCE: MAKING BOOKS, READING POETRY

We've come a long way from the Old World, manually operated printing press - toiling away by the light of candles and amidst the smell of ink, wax, sweat and oil. It's been quite some time since the Gutenberg Bible was fashioned in a dank German printing shoppe, as were, it sometimes seems, even the glossy pop-up books from our own childhood (oh, the paper! the touch! the excess!). But while iPads become our parchments and computers become lending libraries, there are still some out there who persist on doing things the old fashioned way, that is, making books from paper and peddling them one by one and door by door (OK, perhaps they do use online purchasing platforms, but you know what I'm saying).

One such survivalist is Ugly Duckling Presse in Brooklyn, New York. For the past eight years, this small, not-for-profit art and publishing collective has specialized in producing unique, handmade works of poetry, translations, lost works and artists books. Aside from giving voice and physicality to otherwise neglected writers, Ugly Duckling creates special artifacts (read: art) to which the digital spheres and online book clubs have yet to find a suitable replacement. There's nothing about a nice webpage or e-book that makes you want to get a frame and hang it on the wall or prop it on the mantle.

Currently, Ugly Duckling Presse is preparing a work-of-art-of-a-work-of-art, so to speak, in the form of the first English translation of The History of Violets, written by Uruguayan poet Marosa di Giorgio (1932-2004). The translation and subsequent publishing of the book is a labor of love for Garth Graeper, a longtime volunteer at Ugly Duckling and a man of letters in his own right, and translator Jeannine Pitas, who has spent significant time in Uruguay and has met with Marosa di Giorgio’s family and friends while working on this translation. By all accounts, di Giorgio was something like the "Emily Dickinson of Uruguay," and her poetry is at once magical and true-to-life, erotic and austere. The English-language version of The History of Violets is set to be released later this year, and currently, Graeper and the rest of Ugly Duckling are attempting to raise funds for its publishing (you can check out their Kickstarter pitch at the bottom of this post.)

I recently talked to Graeper and Pitas about The History of Violets, Ugly Duckling Presse, and why on earth anyone would still want to make books.


What about The History of Violets captured your imagination and inspired you to undertake its translation for English-speaking audiences?

Jeannine Pitas: I was utterly spellbound by the world that Marosa di Giorgio creates in her poetry, a world that despite all its supernatural characters and outrageous events seems very real. Her visions seem simultaneously personal—only di Giorgio could have written these poems—and oddly universal, as the world in which she immerses her readers is like an amplified version of our own. To me, di Giorgio is much more than a writer. She is a visionary in the tradition of Teresa of Avila and William Blake, and I wanted to make these visions accessible to an English-speaking audience.

Garth Graeper: The translation came to us unsolicited—I found it in a big stack, and it had been sitting there for a while. Once I started reading this manuscript, I couldn’t stop; when I finished, I couldn’t believe that it was sitting in my hands, that it wasn’t already out in the world. These poems—and the natural and supernatural figures that inhabit them—are both strange and instantly familiar, casually bizarre and convincing. I contacted Jeannine to see if the poems were still available and was very excited to learn that they were. For about two years now, we’ve been working to make the book happen, and it will be released in November.

Can you tell us a little bit about Uruguayan poetry? Its foundations; its history?

Pitas: Like the nation of Uruguay itself, Uruguayan poetry has a brief but rich history. I would say that it really came into its own during the modernista movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Women played an extremely prominent role in the literary scene from the beginning—two of the modernistas, Delmira Agustini and Juana de Ibarbourou, are considered to be founding figures. Ibarbourou was known for her love lyrics and poems for children, Agustini for her unabashed eroticism. During the twentieth century, other prominent poets emerged, including Mario Benedetti, Idea Vilariño, Cristina Peri Rossi, and many more.

However, I don’t think it is possible to speak of “Uruguayan poetry” as if it were a unified entity, as each poet has a very distinct voice and writes in dialogue with different aspects of the Latin American, European, and indeed world tradition. Some writers, such as Benedetti and Vilariño, wrote in direct response to the military dictatorship and human rights abuses of the ’70s and ’80s; others did not. And, while many of Uruguay’s women writers deal with themes of female sexuality and eroticism, each one does so in a unique way. Di Giorgio was an active member of the Uruguayan literary community and an avid reader of world literature, but she firmly denied membership in any literary school. Her voice is distinctly her own.

Do you know anything about Marosa di Giorgio’s personal history? If so, can you relate some of the more interesting points?

Pitas: I find it interesting that many of the scholars and poets I talked to in Uruguay liked to compare di Giorgio to Emily Dickinson. It’s hard to say if Dickinson was an influence on di Giorgio’s work, but I can’t help but note a resemblance in the way they lived. Both poets created a unique, nearly mythical image for themselves. Di Giorgio was not reclusive, but she was known for being extremely reserved with anyone outside her intimate circle of family and friends. She dressed extravagantly with heavy makeup, nails painted green or blue, hair dyed bright red. She did not speak in public other than to read her poetry. Still, those who were close to her say that she was extremely compassionate and kind, and her deep love and dedication to her family is reflected in her writing.

Another resemblance to Dickinson is the dichotomy between the erotic tension of her work and the apparent austerity of her life. Austerity is probably the wrong word in di Giorgio’s case, but like Dickinson, di Giorgio never married and is said to never have had any romantic relationships. However, she did experience one “impossible love,” a figure who appears in much of her poetry.

What is Ugly Duckling Presse? Who, what, where, and most importantly... WHY?

Graeper: Ugly Duckling Presse (UDP) is a small independent publisher of poetry, translations, and artists books—we release about 25 books each year. UDP is a non-profit run by an editorial collective of writers, artists, and designers. We all work on a volunteer basis. We maintain a small workshop and letterpress studio in a restored warehouse building in Gowanus, Brooklyn, which is home to a community of artists, artisans, and creative enterprises.

In addition to contemporary poetry, we publish books in a number of different series, including the Eastern European Poets Series, which focuses on translations from the region; the Dossier Series, which includes essays and investigative works; and the Lost Literature series, which brings back neglected works of 20th century poetry. We also publish 6x6, a poetry magazine featuring six poets per issue. The best place to learn more about who we are and what we publish is our website.

The “why” is simple: it is a labor of love. We want to get this poetry into the hands of readers who will care as much about it as we do, and we have figured out a pretty successful way to make this happen. I’ve worked with UDP since 2004, and I’ve loved every minute of it. (Well, mostly.)

>

In a world of iPhones, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Kindles, making handcrafted books of Uruguayan poetry seems an idealistic, if not foolish endeavor. What makes it worthwhile?

Graeper: Ah, but foolish things can be the most fun! We are constantly encouraged by the reactions to our work: each year 200 people buy annual subscriptions (and receive everything we publish that year); lots of critics review our books; people attend our events. Our average print run is around 1,000 copies, and our books often sell out. I think there will always be enough of an interest out there for exciting poetry and beautiful books to support an organization of our size. Fingers crossed.

Through the years UDP has gotten better about creating a sustainable enterprise. In large part, this is because of the people. We’ve been fortunate to have a steady stream of interns and volunteers—people who do great work with us and then go on to do amazing things of their own. But even with the benefit of people’s generous donations of time, it still takes some magic to get all of our production costs and bills paid. For The History of Violets, we are running a Kickstarter campaign to help support the cost of producing the book. In the end, things usually seem to work out.

It’s funny you mention the Kindle! We’ve recently started a grant-funded initiative to create e-book versions of all of our out-of-print handmade chapbooks. At first, I think people were surprised, but we’ve gotten a wonderful reaction so far. [For more, you can read about it here.

And lastly, do you have a favorite line or verse from the book? Would you like to share?

Graeper: So hard to choose! I think this poem—one of my favorites—gives a good sense of the simple, strange, scary, and funny nature of this book. I can’t wait to get it into people’s hands.

XXI


At the hour when the oak trees close up sweetly, I am at the hearth beside the mothers, the grandmothers, the other women, and they speak of years long past, of things that now seem like mere dust. And this scares me, and it seems that this is the very night when he is going to come—the cursed field hand, the murderer, the thief who will strip us of everything. And so I flee to the garden, and the little underground creatures are already there. So beautiful, I say, with their smooth alabaster faces, their sharp, delicate, almost human hands, sometimes with rings even. How deftly they advance along the paths.
They attack the best violet, the one with a grain of salt, the celandine that fumes like a bit of dough with honey, the basket of butterflies’ eggs—oh, how they quiver.
  They act with such confidence.
    One time, my mother decided to trap one; she killed her, skinned her, and put her in the middle of the night, of the meal. And that creature retained a bit of life, an almost unreal death, she seemed to have fled from a funeral banquet, or jumped out from the casket of some marvelous corpse. We gulped her down, and she was almost alive.
The ring I now wear was once hers.

DES JEUNES GENS MODERNES: FRENCH POST PUNK, COLD WAVE

Although this double-disc LP was released in 2008, it just recently found its way to my desk and I just couldn't help to mention it here. With  41 deep cuts from the French post punk/novo disko/new and cold wave scenes from 1978-1983, Des Jeunes Gens Modernes is a great sampling of the period when "in the wake of the punk wave and in parallel to other types of music like disco, funk, ska and reggae, a prolific and chaotic music scene began to develop in France, combining the energy of rock and the nihilism of punk with electronic experimentation."

These tunes are a wonderful combination of the vibe of more familiar bands, like Gang of Four and Talking Heads, with elements of electronic, funk and a bit of saxxy jazz. If you don't believe me - or don't get me - listen for yourself.






You can snatch one these up on Amazon HERE or, of course, at your local record and sundry shoppe.

For more on the music of the French Wave, check out FRANCOMIX, which has a short concise intro to the music and list of the more prominent bands from the period.

1-BIT SYMPHONY WITH TRISTAN PERICH. PART II.

For part 2 of my interview with artist Tristan Perich, he talks about the complexities of 1-bit music composition, his preferred mode of music consumption, and the artists who have and continue to inspire him.

If you haven't read the first half of this interview, you should do so by clicking HERE. I've also included a little excerpt from the introduction of that portion to serve as a recap and segue to the Q/A that follows.

Inspired by the aesthetics of math and physics, Tristan Perich melds acoustic and electronic music with physical and digital mediums in his art. Most recently, he created 1-Bit Symphony, the second installment in his exploration of the “relationship between physical and electronic sound…juxtaposing the grand form of classical symphony with the minimal nature of 1-bit circuitry.” His first foray into such experimentation was his similarly-named 1-Bit Music, completed in 2006.

Condensing the complexities of a symphony into a 1-bit audio file creates a special kind of unlikely marriage; it’s nearly unsettling in this confined space. Without letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak, what do you feel this says about our notions or predispositions for orchestral compositions, digital music, and where and how each is made suitable for our tastes?

Tristan Perich: Until relatively recently, the history of composition has been writing music for instruments, growing bolder and larger towards the symphony orchestra and the opera. Composers, myself included, still write for these ensembles because we feel they offer us something meaningful, like how painting is still an artistic medium. There will always be more to say for these media. Their identities change with us. Many electronic musicians consider electronics their instrument, and this is how I see my work too. My own goal is to try to understand the mechanism in the electronics, and to look at how the abstract world of logic and code interfaces with our own physical world, via speakers in my music, or pen-on-paper drawings or cathode-ray televisions in my visual work. Writing for orchestra today need not be antiquated, and I imagine audiences will continue to seek out live music in the face of a more thoroughly digitally mediated lifestyle. Classical music has a fragility that is especially appealing as a rare, live experience. 

When listening to music, what is your preferred mode of consumption? Headphones with an iPod? A CD stereo system in your apartment? A record player in a room with hard wood floors? Do you know why?

Perhaps a little hypocritical of me, I consume most of my music digitally, through an iPod with closed ear headphones or a way overpowered sound system in my studio. Strangely, the sound system makes me hyper aware of the playback because the speakers never break a sweat. I think music sounds best when played at a volume that just supersedes the output capacity of the speakers themselves, which is maybe why '80s boom boxes were so visceral an experience. I don't own a record player. I'm not an acoustic audiophile, though I insist on lossless audio compression when I can. I think this pile of contradictions is a result of the schizophrenia of growing up in the '90s, witnessing the transition from physical media (CDs) to ephemeral media (mp3s), coupled perhaps with the transition from dialup to broadband. I used to love the crappy mono compression of MySpace tracks and I cherish my corrupted mp3s from the early days of Napster. I love it all. 

Who are your favorite composers? Classical, pop, contemporary or otherwise...

Early Philip Glass and Steve Reich are canonical and were part of my childhood listening on account of my parents' adventurous listening. Later on, composers like David Lang, Henryk Gorecki, Morton Feldman, John Cage, of course. On the non-scored side: minimal electronic artists like Ryoji Ikeda, Carsten Nicolai, SND. And of course, artists like DJ Shadow, Underworld, Stereolab and Portishead were extremely influential early on. 

What are you working on presently? 

I have a number of audio sculptures I'm working on that break down sound in various ways. The first that I finished, Interval Studies, are aluminum panels with around 50 to 100 speakers on each that each emit a single 1-bit tone. Cumulatively their pitches microtonally span musical intervals, like a half step, dividing it into dozens of slivers and presenting them at individual points in space, like a window on the spectrum of frequency. There are a few other versions, like one with around 1,500 speakers that was commissioned by Rhizome, which I'm working to finish this Fall. 

Tristan Perich: Interval Studies (Part 2: Interview) from Tristan Perich on Vimeo.

What excites you most about 1-Bit Symphony?

What excited me most was getting a fresh opportunity to write 1-bit music. Aside from all the conceptual reasons for it, I'm ultimately really inspired by the primitive, gritty, electronic sound. I just wanted to take some time to thoroughly explore that.

Tristan's Official Site

1-Bit Symphony

1-BIT SYMPHONY: AN INTERVIEW WITH TRISTAN PERICH

Four weeks ago I had never heard of artist Tristan Perich, but once I came across his 1-Bit Symphony—“an electronic composition in five movements on a single microchip”—and discovered the complex yet elegant nature of his art, I now find it hard to stop hearing his compelling compositions running constantly in my head. His is the sort of work that sticks to your bones long after consuming it, all the while making you feel moved, perplexed and oddly uncomfortable while it still works it way through your psyche.

Inspired by the aesthetics of math and physics, Perich melds acoustic and electronic music with physical and digital mediums in his art. Most recently, he created 1-Bit Symphony, the second installment in his exploration of the “relationship between physical and electronic sound…juxtaposing the grand form of classical symphony with the minimal nature of 1-bit circuitry.” His first foray into such experimentation was his similarly-named 1-Bit Music, completed in 2006.

1-Bit Symphony really must be seen—and heard—to be fully experienced and understood. Self-contained in a CD jewel case, the music is housed on a single computer chip, wired to a volume control knob, battery, on/off switch, fast-forward button and finally, to a headphone jack on the side of the case. Plug in your headphones, turn it on, and suddenly and inexplicably you're listening to something nearly indescribable—with no computer, CD, mp3, cassette or LCD screen required.

First, check out the video below to hear and see 1-Bit Symphony in action. Then, read on. Tristan was a wonderful responder, and his answers are both insightful and revealing.

And of course, get your hands on one of these as soon as you can… it’s worth the rush.

 
Tristan Perich: 1-Bit Symphony (Part 1: Overview) from Tristan Perich on Vimeo.

1-Bit Symphony is your second project exploring the “performance” of music in a self-contained object, or jewel case. What prompted you to create the first electronic composition, 1-Bit Music?

Tristan Perich: 1-Bit Music was my excited response to finally being able to create electronic music. I say "being able" because, while I had always dabbled personally in electronica, it never had the same formality and rigor that my classical compositions had. I grew up on minimalist music and minimalist art and their conceptual completeness kept me away from using electronics in my own formal work. The computer could always do too much; it didn't really have an identity like a violin did, for example. That all changed when I began working with microchip-based art and music, learning it from Douglas Repetto, the founder of dorkbot. I started working with them with the goal of creating kinetic art, inspired by Danny Rozin's Wooden Mirror [video below], but became consumed with sound after I found out I could create simple digital tones with the chips themselves. I was inspired by the fact that the system was conceptually interesting, to create sound with the most primitive digital information, binary data. And it gave a physical meaning to electronics that laptops didn't offer, the direct controlling of on and off pulses of electricity, routed from microchip to headphone speaker, to create sound. The CD case packaging brought it all together, allowing the audience to witness the process first-hand, instead of mediated through a recording.

 

How does 1-Bit Symphony compare to 1-Bit Music? How has the piece evolved?

Four years separated the two albums, during which I wrote a lot of music for traditional classical ensembles accompanied by 1-bit music. These compositions allowed me to explore the primitive electronic square waves against what I considered primitive acoustic instruments. Violins, creating tone by a vibrating string, exercise one of the most basic ways of creating sound. Speakers are similar, turning electronic impulse into the movement of air with an electromagnet. Sending 1-bit waveforms to them allowed me to focus on the sound of the speakers themselves, turning on and off. I wanted the audience to be aware of the speakers, instead of having the speakers transparently tracing a recorded waveform in perfect emulative fidelity. All of this provoked returning to the original CD case format to essentially create a response to the first album. I rewrote the software in Assembly, to get even closer to the hardware and have more processing power for greater polyphony. And I treated the new album as a long composition instead of a collection of songs, an examination of what a symphony could mean when written for such minimal hardware.

How do you write the music for these compositions? Do you start on an instrument, write the music on paper, or start in the 1-bit medium from the very beginning?

They're 1-bit from the beginning, in a way. I wrote a special version of the software that takes input from the computer so I can work in other audio software to sketch out ideas. Ultimately, I rewrite everything as sequences of numbers that represent pitches, melodies, different voices, and the structure of the music. It's interesting how the music and the software are stored the same way in the chip's memory. When Alan Turing first described his abstract model of the "universal computer," its universality came from the fact that the computer hardware and the software were separate. The computer was a set mechanism, and the software a series of symbols on an infinite tape. In this way, the computer interpreted the software step-by-step, and both the software and the data that the software manipulated were stored in the same space. My music is influenced a lot by this way of thinking, which is not so far off from how musicians read sheet music, itself a kind of early programming language. From start to finish, how long does it take you to create these pieces? I've wanted to create a follow-up to my first album for years, but the specific idea of the Symphony came in early 2009, along with its more minimal layout of components and wires. I then spent a month rewriting the code and then the next four or so writing the music. The next year was spent tracking down the right parts and planning the production of the units themselves. I have around four assistants in New York who laboriously realize the idea with drills, adhesives, soldering irons and compressed air.

What is it about these contraptions, with movable parts, headphone jacks and working wires, that moves us? Why are people drawn to this artifact in a way in which they are not to, say, a regular CD, digital file, or cassette tape? 

We aren't privy to the inner workings of electronics much these days. A while has passed since televisions could be fixed by the guy on the corner, due to obscene yet entirely rationalized miniaturization. We have no ideas how our laptops work, and while we take for granted that there is science in there, most of us are as close to understanding it as magic. Circuit benders—who create music and art by opening up consumer electronics, manipulating and repurposing them to do things they weren't designed to do—are working to empower us to understand these things we use every day. My own response is an attempt at transparency, visually tracing the path electricity takes from the battery, through the power switch to the microchip, then through the volume knob to the headphone jack. Ultimately, these are simple things. I print the source code in the liner notes to communicate the side of the circuit you don't see: what happens inside that little black computer chip.

Stay Tuned for Part II of My Interview with Tristan Perich

JOHN GRANT RELEASES NEW VIDEO, "I WANNA GO TO MARZ"

Ever since my interview with John Grant a couple of weeks ago, I've become more and more enamored with not only his music but the whole tongue-in-cheek, sci-fi, self-hating, bizarro aesthetic he has going on. This new video by Casey Raymond and Ewan Jones Morris and starring one Francesca Moody only elucidates the point - it's two parts creepy and about a million parts strange. Yet, somehow, someway, still good.

Check it out:

DARK RAIN: MAT JOHNSON TALKS NEW NOLA GRAPHIC NOVEL

In lieu of an upcoming story I'm writing for GOOD magazine - in collaboration with long-time friend and publisher of New Orleans' Antigravity magazine, Leo McGovern - I recently interviewed novelist and comic book writer Mat Johnson about his upcoming graphic novel, Dark Rain.

The article Leo and I will be writing for GOOD is part of its special NOLA issue, which is coinciding not coincidentally upon Katrina's 5th anniversary, and the story will be focused on the graphic representation of Katrina-era New Orleans in soon-to-be-published graphic novels. Dark Rain is one of a couple of crime-genre graphic novels we'll be discussing that take New Orleans as their primary setting.

Dark Rain (written by Johnson and drawn by Simon Gane) will be published by Vertigo in August and revolves around the story of two men who are navigating the flood waters of Katrina in order to survive, make a score, and ultimately, make a clean get away all in the midst of post-Katrina mayhem. While there is sure to be criticisms about what some may see as an exploitative - and sometimes phony - usage of Katrina and the events therein, the book is worthy of a read just for the simple fact that it is reminder to the collective memory of such an horrific tragedy. At the least, it reiterates that many of the problems, whether it be economic, racial or environmental, are still yet to be resolved. And of course, there's a cool little bank heist thrown in the mix as well.

Below is an excerpt from my recent interview with Mat. He was a pleasure to talk to and also had some revealing insights about the nature of being a writer and when to be true to reality and when to just get on with the damn story.

What was your attraction to New Orleans as a possible setting for a crime story? 
It’s tricky because I don’t want this book to be exploitive, but so many people died and so many people who lived lost so much. And that was one of the struggles about even doing the project, but then ultimately, the idea that became bigger in my head was the fact that when I was writing it, I realized that when things get horrible, everybody freaks out, they throw a bunch of money at it and then everybody says, "OK, we threw money at it. Let’s try to forget what happened." The opportunity is to bring it to our attention. The first draft of my script was like this congressional indictment of the Bush administration and that didn’t really work out too well - mostly because it wasn't an argument that needed to be proven anymore. It was just kind of understood. So, a lot of that went out and just focused on the drama.

Keep a look out for the new issue of GOOD magazine, set to hit the streets and your computer screens in July

COTTON JONES ANNOUNCES NEW RECORD

Cotton Jones, the musical duo (plus some) consisting of Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw (both of Page France), has announced the release of a new record, Tall Hours in the Glowstream. The first release since early 2009's Paranoid Cocoon - one of my favorites of last year - the new record comes highly anticipated. Although no songs have been released yet, I can say that the new record picks up where the last left off except with more of a throw-back country sound and subdued ballads. After only a couple of listens, my first guess is that this one is a good one.

The duo hailing from Cumberland, Maryland are looking at an August release for Tall Hours in The Glowstream, as well as a supporting U.S. tour, which  kicks off at the end of July.  

Tall Hours In The Glowstream hits stores August 24th via Suicide Squeeze.

TRANSLATING TRENTEMOLLER

BY LAURA JESPERSEN

I met Anders Trentemøller in the bright offices of A:larm music in one of Copenhagen’s trendiest neighborhoods. Surprisingly, he looks nothing like your average club DJ—he’s practically a Green Day look-a-like with black pants and shirt and signature over-the-eyes haircut. But it’s just as well; Trentemøller began his career playing rock and has only since graduated to a role more in-step with a composer than a “player.” And such high aspirations are evident on his newest album, Into the Great Wide Yonder, a sprawling, multi-varied and conceptual foray into electronic sounds and beats.  However, most of the instruments heard on the new record are played by the man himself, proving that Trentemøller wants more than just to be the man-in-charge...he wants to be a true Renaissance Man. Here, he talks about the meaning of being a real musician, a lover of fire and a very sensitive boy.

You started out as; I hesitate to use the term, a “real musician.”

Anders Trentemøller: No, but that was actually the way it started. I’ve been playing in different rock bands since I was 15 and just 10 years ago, I bought a sampler after a trip to London where I heard drum and bass and thought, ”I want to do that.” It gives you more control over the music compared to being in a rehearsal and rehearsing four or five times a week.  I mean, that’s a drag… So I guess I started 10 years ago.

And for me, on the new album, it has been about going back to playing instruments. I felt like doing that since it had been such a long time and I have that background and it is cool being able to use that instead of just programming everything. I thought it would be fun to mix things… But the past 10 years I have mostly been making electronic music.

Your new album will be released on your own label.  Did that influence your process at all?

Not the process itself, but it was important to me that I had my own platform where I could release my music, because the first album came out on a more techno-oriented label - I just wanted complete freedom to do whatever I wanted... I wanted to send a signal that you can’t expect a DJ record or a techno record – it’s just music and there are electronic references, rock references and film music references. I wanted a platform free of old history, I guess.

You mentioned that you play a lot of the instruments on the new record.  How has it been working that way and what was the reasoning behind that choice?

One thing I knew, though, was that I didn’t want to make the same record twice, which was inevitable since it had been three years since the last album. It just sort of happened that I started playing more of the instruments, so it wasn’t really something I had planned. I just thought it might be fun, especially drums - to play the drums instead of programming them like I had been doing for ten years.

Did this pose a risk for you?

It was more of a need to not be "navel-gazing.” This new album is more dark and brooding than the first and I wanted to put vocals on it. Sometimes that makes you able to identify more with the music and it gives it another tone. The great thing about instrumental music is that you are often able to put your own pictures to it – there are no lyrics to dictate you

Did you write the lyrics?

No. They were written in collaboration with the vocalists on the record. I gave them free reign since I’m not super strong at writing lyrics. I mostly did the melody and chords and then they worked on the lyrics.  But, of course, we talked about what would work for this song and then the mood and tone of the song led the way. A lot of the lyrics are quite open and I like that they are very abstract.

You said that the new sound is more organic and warm... what is your process working with "sound” and what inspires you?

What I actually did here was to avoid the whole computer thing because I did it on the first record. So, I actually recorded directly onto old cassette tapes and a lot of it is recorded on old reels, too, in order to get that dusty, dirty sound… but still warm, which I love on old records from the sixties and seventies. That was the technique used back then and I thought it would be fun to take something from the computer and then put it into the analog domain and then back into the computer. It gave me something I wasn’t in control of and sometimes it’s cool to lose control, because everything is so controlled when you’re working with a computer. It might sound like a cliché, but it can sound a little cold when it’s all electronic. I like the clash of something being completely cold and electronic, something being recorded on tape, and instruments being played. I wanted that contrast of something beautiful and something spookier that might be hiding under the surface. It’s not right there in your face, but requires something from the listener. This record definitely is more challenging to the listener and might require a couple of listen-throughs.

You have used various other samples from different places. Is there something like that on this record?

Yes, I gathered some fun things – my parents’ fireplace, for example. It sounds amazing.

Fireplace?

I visited my parents – they live in the country and I have this little tape recorder I always bring with me when I’m traveling. I realized that if I put the recorder close to the flames, it had this great sound – like a deep bass and a sparking sound. I used that on one of the tracks and I recorded some things out in the forest. It’s more a mood thing placed far away in the music. You can’t really tell it’s there unless you know it, but I found that if I removed that piece of sound from the music it loses that extra dimension. These sounds are in the music to tease the subconscious.

Besides music, what else inspires you? Images? Certain moods?

Yes, of course, very much moods. Hmm… and what happens in your life. I mean, it’s often when I’m melancholy that those creative things come out. I have a very hard time writing a happy-go-lucky song. I don’t do that at all – it doesn’t inspire me. It gets too one dimensional and the artists I listen to are often more dark. I mean, it’s not because I’m not happy – there are just more layers in those dark, sinister moods, I guess.

So you’re a sensitive boy?

Definitely. If I didn’t have the music I think I would go crazy. It’s my outlet and it sounds like a cliché but the music is probably a little therapeutic for me and gives me an outlet for things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to get out.

Is there is anyone else you’re still really interested in working with?
Yes. I am a huge fan of Massive Star and Hope Sandoval. She put out her second solo album last year. She has an amazing voice. Working with her would be the ultimate to me.

Will we see you in Los Angeles?
Yes, we have a tour in the US next year. So in March next year…

Trentemøller’s new album Into the Great Wide Yonder is released May 31st. 

WILLOUGHBY RELEASES NEW SINGLE

After releasing one of my favorite albums of 2008, I've been keeping an eye on Willoughby (aka Gus Seyffert) and waiting for his next offering of smooth, spy hunter, lounge pop that he somehow manages to pull off without a hitch. The aforementioned record, I Know What You're Up To, contained silky smooth tracks, such as "Frankenstein," "Dust Bunnies," and "Intentions," that begged for a quick follow-up.

Although it's no full-length or even a EP, Gus Seyffert and his Sargent Records (which he founded) have released a new single by Willoughby entitled "Midnight Morning." The single sees the light of day as a result of Seyffert's new free monthly song series, Sargent Singles. Volume One featured Inara George and Charlie Wadhams, and Volume Two features Willoughby and Benji Hughes. You can get a free download by all four artists by trading your email HERE.