Electronic
music is very much connected to new technologies, computers etc. and
that is mostly the domain of men. How and why did you start making
electronic music?
i wanted to get rid off man/ rock/
cliches
;)
started using sampler and machines
like
it
gives freedom
in 1993 i bougt a commodore 64 and
kurzweil keyboard and started doing it... in london dalston
went
through atarie/ notator to laptop business
now i can call
myself producer
Even though you perform on festivals
all around the world, you are not very known in the Czech Republic.
How would you describe your music work to someone, who hasn‘t
got the slightest idea about what to expect?
it is a
personal view. a personal selection of sounds to create a
composition to life. i am expressing myself and i use language
and voice a lot and. the music can be anything it is playing
with song writing and pop but its not consistent or perfect. it
breaks down and changes. like life. it is influenced by all
contemporary and classicla music but it is an individual creation
of music. while i am observing the world and mirror it through me
and my thoughts and feelings i play with noise. hip hop.
fieldrecordings and bass
i wish that my music reaches
people in silent circumstances and protects them from
carelessness and sonic pollution. makes them stronger
Words
play an important role in your music compositions. Your last regular
album Westernization Completed contained lyrics based on
e-mails etc. – what‘s your attitude towards
poetry?
poetry is my way to output feelings and
frustration. happiness and beauty i like poetry cause its
aloud to create new words and combination of words which
create different angels and maybe really make things look
different and even change them... at least for me
i am
a fan. i love else-lasker schueler. celan. octavio paz.
What
does your live show look like? What should we expect from your Prague
show?
depends on the space a bit dont know the
place
i try to be there for you
You are one of the
three artists who won the latest Prix Ars Electronica contest in the
category of digital music. What did you get the prize for? What made
the jury vote for you?
thats their
statement:
http://www.aec.at/en/prix/awards2004.asp
Digital
Musics AGF (Deutschland): "Westernization
Completed"
AGF's second solo album explores new patterns
in the relation between sound and language. Fractured tonal and
linguistic sequences, audible jumps, intentional pauses-poetry
arises out of the reorganization of these vocabulary building
blocks. The components have a tonality all their own and thus
become an additional musical stratum and a superimposed level of
meaning. AGF shifts its vocals into the center of attention and,
in doing so, entices the listener to measure his/her associative
potential against their streams of thought. Painting fragile,
transparent pictures with sound and mixing in starkly contrasting
elements like rolling bass waves or clicking punctuation marks
engenders an organic ensemble of acoustic imagery.
You
seem to be very fond of technology. Why is that?
technology
is my friend helps me doing things more independently
i
am dependend on internet and income and producing but not so
much on attitude of people
i can reach directly what i am
looking for
in music/ art and business
Are
you a ‚software maniac‘, always hunting for new versions
of programs etc.?
no not at alll infect i like to
update my system once a year or every second i like to rather do
music then update software...
but it is important to have a
reliable studio so i do this part of the job with disciplin and
professionalsm but not passion
i am rather a loyal...
person i rather fall in love with a patch instead of looking
for the newest
You‘ve
designed the Kitty-Yo label website. Do you also work as a web
designer? What other websites/projects bear your signature?
i
am not a designer. i produced the kitty-yo website... i was
responsible for the content management and the content i left
kitty-yo in january 2003
internet is my passion... i just help
people to get their stuff on the web
i support some other
artists and i helped out bpitch control but its a minor activity
What
other cultural fields and social phenomena are you interested in? Any
inspirations from other arts?
film. communities.
painting. fashion. books... politics. social factors
everything
i come across with i dont judge things much
On
Westernization Completed you‘ve used excerpts from
e-mails as ‚lyrics‘. What‘s your attitude towards
e-mailing, chatting, mobile phone messages and other modern ways of
communication? What would you say to the people who think that this
kind of ‚remote communication‘ is unhealthy, that it
makes people abandon the ‚healthy‘ face-to-face
discussions and real social contacts?
this doesnt go for
me
if you do one thing you dont stop doing another one
i
have closest friends all over the world and i email with them ..
soemtimes call them when i think of them i write sms or i chat
i
love them and care when i have a chance to see them i hang out
with them.. drink eat ... speak.. sleep over and much more... its
more communication
if you do like
but you can just
reduce it and shut all off
even with my parents i enjoy
emailing cause we have so much more possibilty to share things...
and i still go a few times a year to see and hang out with them
in
general i think this ways of communication help poeple to learn
communicating and practice
i think it makes people stronger
and free in communication and more honest and caring
The
word content within your music composition seems to be very important
for you. Most other laptop musicians omit this part. What fascinates
you about words and the combination of music and words?
i
specialiced in that.. i try to explore the quallity.. mmy main
instrument is voice so i have to deal with content or deny it
like on HEAD SLASH BAUCH its a singers/ vocalists curse
Should
we understand it (and do you yourself understand it) as a kind of
poetry?
however you want i dont dictate anybody what to
think of me
i had to find words to describe from my point of
view to explain... promote.. markete my work
i chose poem
producer
Have
you ever written any poems?
i write poems every day
Your
debut Head Slash Bauch was full of German words but then you
switched to English. Why this shift?
my life changed i
started writing speaking reading and dreaming feeling in
english i speak 90 % english ... thats why
i keep doing
german things at least with laub and so on
i needed also to
say something... my listeners will understand most of my listeners
dont understand german
Your
music compositions are quite hard to demask. Why don‘t you use
more accessible structures?
i dont feel like i follow
my instincts they are not quantisized and repetitive i dont
like repeating myself
others do that good enough and
plenty
Your work combines very abstract music with
similarly abstract poetry, so it is a kind of double abstraction.
What do you think the listeners can get from this abstractness? Or,
in other words, what are you ‚trying to say‘ by your
work?
what is abstract ? something which is not like
the other stuff ??? to me britneys spears is abstract or brit pop
or metal... its always where you are and who is there to
promote and pay to market your shit
club music makes people
get trunk and dance for hours i like it... but is it less abstract
??? to life ????
i receive a lot of fanmails people are
touched and inspired by my music and they feel comforted and
encouraged in what they do by hearing what i do
thats my
wish
At
the moment laptop musicians are so numerous. In fact, they are
sometimes viewed as charlatans pretending to be artists. Why is it
so? Where can you see the threshold between good laptop musician and
a fake?
you can FEEL it
Is
electronic music still exciting from your point of view? Any names we
should concentrate on?
lets keep our ears open....
AGF
seems to be your main project at the moment but what about Laub,
AGF/Dlay etc.? Have you been recently working on any other
projects?
all going here an update thanks best
agf
RECENT
ARS ELECTRONICA
WINNER http://www.poemproducer.com/any.php?id=4 http://www.aec.at/en/prix/awards2004.asp
WESTERNIZATION
COMPLETED http://www.musork.com/o_18.html now
on AGF PRODUCKTION http://www.agfproducktion.com/
LANGUAGE
IS THE
MOST http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/review.php?review=530&q=
AGF
PRODUCKTION http://www.agfproducktion.com/
QUIO http://www.quio.poemproducer.com/
LAPPETITES http://www.lappetites.poemproducer.com/
EXHIBITIONS
BOX?21 http://www.poemproducer.com/box21/box21.html
SOUND
+
CALLIGRAPHIE http://www.wdw.nl/persfoto/tracer/ http://www.poemproducer.com/any.php?id=47
FUTURE
AG.F3
+ SUE.C DVD on asphodel/ SF http://www.orthlorng.com/sue/
AGF/DLAY
ALBUM on AGF PRODUCKTION 003 collaboration with vladislav
delay http://www.agfdelay.com/
ANTYE
GREIE / VLADISLAV DELAY/ CRAIG ARMSTRONG piano album on
HUUME collabo with craig
armstrong http://www.craigarmstrong.com/
maybe
also soon new
LAUB http://www.laub-filesharing.de/
E-mail
interview by Hynek Dedecius (HIS Voice, www.hisvoice.cz)
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