Aether (aka DJ Celtric) - Be the glitch in the matrix you want to see!
Aether , the dark matter of the new beginning. Active as DJ, collector & promotor since 1996. Former member of Belgian underground cre...
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Third Eye Mutilation - The Locust Factory
What were your beginnings like?
A coworker was talking up Logic one day. I hadn't really messed around with making music since high school, and that was just cutting up existing songs to make new ones. Downloaded a copy and started playing around with making my own MIDI loops. I was getting into stuff like Skullflower, Ramleh, and Control at the time, so a lot of my early experiments were in the melodic noise vein. This was circa 2014, I believe.
What inspires you?
I take a lot of cues from early industrial music, the biggest being to listen widely and find novel ways to use what you find. Constantly exploring new things and letting ideas cross-pollinate in my subconscious largely drives my creative process. Books are integral too. Ligotti, Poe, and Lovecraft are all seminal influences atmospherically. The unrelenting brutality of McCarthy's novels, the tragicomic surrealism of Beckett, the hallucinatory kaleidoscope of Burroughs, are all things I strive to capture in my songs. How successful I am in that is another matter, but the urge keeps me creating. And then there's drugs.
Why do you make music?
It's one of the few things in life I find fulfilling, to be honest.
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
The Locust Factory. I really like the vibe and since my music is largely instrumental, doing vocals and lyrics gave me a chance to outline some of the mythology behind The Locust Factory, which is the name of an overblown mosaic consisting of my early recordings.
What are your nearest plans?
I'd like to do another Muteant release soon. Also been doing a bit of writing lately in hopes of submitting to some horror publications. May or may not come to anything, but it's always nice watching ideas take form.
What would you like to say to the world?
I honestly don't have the words, and they'd fall on deaf ears.
What is your favorite drink?
Whiskey. But just the Irish ones, for some reason.
***
Grab the music at
http://thirdeyemutilation.bandcamp.com
Scraping Bone Barrels
The Striped Bananas - Dreams Upon The Mast
Formed in 2010, The Striped Bananas have recorded and released 6 full length LPs.
What were your beginnings like?
Duncan: I started out in the school orchestra playing stand up bass. I then played in various rock bands throughout high school. I started seriously writing songs with a band called the Prix (pronounced pricks) that my good friend Devon was in. Devon actually plays drums on some of the tracks on our first Striped Bananas album. He played on the songs Broken Wings, Feels Like Love Inside and Into Your Eyes.
Tel and I met in 2009 and put the Striped Bananas together in fall 2010. Another high school friend, Andrew became our regular drummer up until this last album. We've had a lot of fun playing together over the years.
Chantelle: I started playing piano when I was five. This developed into a love for different kinds of music. I also sang in choir throughout high school. I gained a sense of harmony that we use in arranging The Striped Bananas vocals.
What inspires you?
Duncan: When I started songwriting my focus was on feelings and relationships. Recently I have been telling stories through my songs. The odd characters I find in history inspire me along with contemplating the cosmos. "Silver Heels" off our latest LP tells the story about a legendary dancer turned nurse in the Wild West. Another track "Daredevil of Niagara Falls" is the story of Tel's great-uncle Jean Lussier, who, in 1928, went over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball.
Chantelle: The beauty in nature and timeless stories of mythology inspire me. I'm also heavily influenced by psych folk artists like Gary Higgins and Linda Perhacs.
Why do you make music?
Duncan: It is an extension of my soul and I play to express myself. Music is also a way of connecting with both listeners and those that I make music with.
Chantelle: Music is a part of me that I want to express.It is enjoyable to be creative and share it with other people. I love working with Duncan!
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
Duncan: I'm going to cheat and answer this in 2 parts - early Striped Bananas and current Striped Bananas. The earliest record I am proud of is Lady Sunshine. It's the record when everything started to click. It blows my mind that we are coming up on 10 years since that came out.
Current Striped Bananas - I am quite proud of our most recent record "Dreams Upon the Mast". I believe the title track has my best set of lyrics to date.
Chantelle: "Octopus Eyes" off of our Pictures I Hear album. I really like the way the lyrics and groove came out on that song.
What are your nearest plans?
Duncan: We've got a gig at the CT Rocks festival in Danbury, CT on October 8th at the Sugar Hollow Taproom. We are collaborating with our Ukrainian friends Nameless again, this time with a song in English. That will hopefully be coming out in the fall. We are also working on our next LP.
What would you like to say to the world?
Duncan: It is always incredibly humbling when someone purchases one of our albums, listens to a song or I hear us on the radio. It is really touching that we have support. An enormous thank you to everyone that has supported us!
Chantelle: Don't be afraid to be yourself!
What is your favorite drink?
Duncan: I am always partial to a nice cup of tea.
Chantelle: I love a good apple cider.
***
http://thestripedbananas.bandcamp.com/
The Striped Bananas - Pictures I Hear - 2020 - Psychedelic Rock
Friday, July 29, 2022
Loopatronica - "self reflection, perspective and chill is the way and the light."
Loopatronica creates DAWless livestreams and chilled electronica for late nights & early mornings.
Moolakii Club Audio Interface label
Curator of The Soft Serve Sessions - downtempo eclectic mix tapes on https://www.mixcloud.com/loopatronica/playlists/soft-serve-sessions/
What were your beginnings like?
Originally I am from just outside Doncaster – a village built to house Power Station workers – and loved music from an early age. My Dad played in a skiffle band when he was a teenager and I soon got the bug. Early memories are of Casio keyboards and then sampling and mashing up excerpts from the radio on my old cassette recorder whilst at primary school
Eventually got into guitars via the kinks and an amazing compilation called Precious and my own “indie band”. Then my family got a PC and I got into sampling and creating chill beats and grooves inspired by Hip Hop, DJ Shadow, Bomb the Bass, MARRS, Nightmares on Wax, Tricky and all that 90s stuff
After a year at Uni in Sheffield where I really got into Drum and Bass, I ended up in an office in Doncaster so being bored, I tried being a promoter for a Hip Hop, electronic, drum and bass night – which was short lived intense fun then dabbled about making music that was listened to by none but me and my friends.
Then came the middle ages and family etc and it just flittered away
25 years later via Sheffield, Manchester and Wirral, wife and kids, I chanced upon a mate from back in the day at Doncaster art college who had a garage band. I agreed to play keys and started buying synth shit, did some gigs then lockdown fucked it up so I was stuck at home with the music back in me. This led to Loopatronica – beginning as a live stream DAWless set to entertain myself and my friends. Then I got really into making music again.
What inspires you?
Everything
Musically - all the 90s trip-hop, indie stuff, Warp, 4AD, cool DnB, House etc and much more to mention but I love all sorts of music – if its good – its good
Ideology is important and I am really into the idea of headspace and contemplation. The whole mindfulness, well being vibe really resonates with me for a number of reasons and this has really helped push me into new directions and opening up new reasons for being creative.
Politics at the moment is really taking over life. The idea of what is politics, what is power, what is our role, your role, their role in society and life. The whole idea of community in a global world and the way information is accessed and manipulated is really interesting and quite frightening. Back in Uni in the 90s I still have vivid memories of hearing (and seeing) Hexstatic’s Communication Breakdown on MTV and being blown away by the message behind it (as well as the music and visuals). That resonates now- the rise of disinformation and propaganda in our everyday lives
I could go on about this all day…
Also- mythology and ancient understanding of the world and life and society – really interesting how we have forgotten how to be a part of the world and how to make sense of ourselves
I could go on about that all day too…
Why do you make music?
It's ace.
I love the feeling of creating things – not just music but the audibles gives me goosebumps regularly – I have a real connection with sounds, rhythms, harmonics and that.
I love the feeling of enjoying the things I make (without wanting to come across as too self indulgent)
It’s definitely an obsession – healthy? Arguable..
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
Everything seems great then is surpassed by the next thing. I still mourn the old tapes I made that I have lost to time. As Loopatronica I still enjoy listening to Rainbows, Coastal Walks and Dreams of Science. They are a real shift in sound and workflow for me – and they started life because I stumbled across the work of Neil Stringfellow “Audio Obscura” via twitter. I skitted around the whole ambient, soundscape thing for most of my life but his work really engaged me to the point I had to get more into it.
Dreams of Science is the melding of my love of the 90s trip hop thing with that new ambient sound thing.
What are your nearest plans?
Got an EP due out 2nd Sept – Darkling Sessions Project – 4 tracks of live DAWless stuff I did whilst working on some tracks for a future LP – Psychodynamics Project.
Also – following some real life and virtual chatting – I am setting up a CD, Cassette DIY nano-micro label called Moolakii Club Audio Interface (named after the night I promoted in Doncaster back in the late 90s) for my own releases and hopefully other artists too. Darkling Sessions will be the first release on that – MCAI001
What would you like to say to the world?
Be self aware in particular of your ego and understand why you are who you are and how can you consciously work to be a better person – I struggle to get that right but self reflection, perspective and chill is the way and the light.
And go to http://loopatronica.bandcamp.com / http://moolakiiclubaudiointerface.bandcamp.com and check out this shit I do
What is your favorite drink?
I can’t pick one so I’ll give you 5 (in fact 7 because I love drinks)
1. Stout / IPA
2. Durty Mojito
3. Ginger Beer
4. Assam Tea
5. Coffee / Estrella on a hot beach
***
Grab the music at
http://loopatronica.bandcamp.com
1st trial run of the live recordings of the Darkling Sessions.
Lyn Rajah - The Alternative Blend
What were your beginnings like?
Exciting! I used to study at a place called
The Centre for Young Musicians (C.Y.M) which was a great incentive for pursuing an interest in Music. The centre is still going strong today, at Morley College, London.
My friend Darren Mason who is a fantastic Artist also studied there, pls check him out. :-)
What inspires you?
My Mum, my Husband, day-to-day life, my dreams at night, my close friends, my past, my Musical influences and great people on Twitter such as
Nunny Boy who has supported so many Indie musicians and not forgetting fantastic
Indie radio stations like Blue Torch Radio too!
Why do you make music?
For joy and with the hope that an audience will enjoy it but also because hopefully one day, to make a living and leave the hustle and bustle behind.
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
I really enjoyed making ‘I Thank You.’
It’s a short and sweet track but I like how my voice sounds in that track and love that my friend, Leo Paine of Painedemonium Studios, also did the mixing and mastering on this number.
What are your nearest plans?
I hope to start doing Open Mic nights soon in my local area, to warm up and rehearse my set list, with a view to eventually doing gigs in small venues in London.
What would you like to say to the world?
Be kind to each other.
Keep persevering with your Music, there will be times when it’s challenging but take a moment or however long you need and try again.
Always thank anyone who has supported you and always show appreciation and support to your fellow Artists. Just an RT, or a positive comment can make all the difference.
What is your favorite drink?
There’s a few! Lilt, Irn Bru, Tea,
Virgin Pina Coladas!
***
Visit Lyn and grab her music at
http://lynrajah.bandcamp.com/
Lyn Rajah - Americana (c) Lyn Rajah 2013
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Mild Horses - Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again
New album out now!
What were your beginnings like?
I started making music in my teens experimenting with my friend's 4-track recorder and then graduated from that to playing in bands. I formed a band called Crest in Norwich who got quite a lot of press in the NME and Melody Maker in the late 90's and played by John Peel (which ticked off one of my life goals quite early on!), I then moved to Brighton and joined the band Coin-op in the early 00's who toured a bit, played with some great bands and recorded sessions for John Peel and Steve Lamacq on the BBC.
I moved back to Norwich again after I left Coin-op and released some records with the bands Cortez and 2 Hot 2 Sweat and started making music on my own, firstly under the name The Matthew Project and then Mild Horses. I made a Mild Horses EP in 2012, then had a massive break from doing any music until 2020 when I started making the album Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again which was released in 2021.
That brings us up to date!
What inspires you?
I have always loved creating and find inspiration everywhere, other music, books, films, the world around. I'm a massive music fan and have voraciously consumed it since first coming into contact with it when I was young. A lot of my early memories have a soundtrack and it helped that my parents both loved music.
Why do you make music?
Ever since I remember I've wanted to make music. I'm fascinated by the craft and the technology involved in creating it (although I'm not a massive gear nerd). I guess like anyone creative it's trying to find something that's otherwise missing, wanting to try and explain the world as I see it and just wanting to make a racket.
What's the album or track of yours you're most proud of, and why?
I was very pleased to release the album last year and at the time I was exceptionally proud of it. The closing track Gotta Light? is possibly the best encapsulation of what I've been trying to achieve.
What are your nearest plans?
I'm in the process of recording the second Mild Horses album (provisionally title Return To Dust) which should be released later in the year (in theory). I'm thinking of getting a song from it out sooner than that as a teaser, but I'm not quite there yet.
What would you like to say to the world?
It's a cliche and a bit twee, but I genuinely think everyone should do something creative. There is no greater feeling in the world than creating your own tiny universe and lighting it up!
What is your favorite drink?
Coffee for the AM
Margarita for the PM
***
Grab the album at
http://mildhorses.bandcamp.com/
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