Part two of two... > I- Have you had any feedback from Kraftwerk themselves about the album, > Senor Coconut? > > A- I got feedback from Florian yes. He got hold of the album through a > mysterious I don't know who.. He got a pre-pre-pre version with 4 songs > off the album more than a year before it was released in fact, and I sent > only 4 copies to 4 record companies and somehow he got a copy, which was > quite frightening in fact. Fortunately he didn't know it was me or who it > was at all, it was like a blank CD.. just said 'Kraftwerk Latino' or > something like that. So he just heard the music and he liked it, and he > didn't know who it was or if it was programmed or if it was played, if it > was from Latin America or from Germany or from somewhere else. And > perhaps because of that reason he didn't have any context to put it in. > It's different then if you know that it's a German guy making covers of > your music.. it's a guy from your country and so on. It could have been a > bit more touchy, a bit tricky. But they didn't know where it came from so > they liked it and it was like a chain reaction of very strange contacts. > And suddenly he found me and knew it was me and he knew other stuff of > mine, and he liked it and so everything went smoothly. And he convinced > Ralf, I think, to not make any troubles with it. > > I- Have you got plans to do another album in this vein, or would you like > to do something completely different, maybe put together two completely > different kinds, juxtapose again, different types of music? Do you have > anything up your sleeve that you'd like tell us? > > A- I have something up my sleeve, but I won't tell you. (Laughs) > > I- That's not fair, you're gonna have to give us at least a hint of the > types of music that you're influenced by at the moment. > > A- The thing is I'm sort of like throwing the puzzle together right now, > so there are a lot of elements and things I would like to do, and I am a > bit superstitious so I think in the moment you speak it out and sort of > like, define it, and it's like there in the world. You can like um, sort > of block the possibility that it's happening. You define it in a way, and > I want to keep it open until things are falling into place I think. > > I- You think it might jinx it if you tell me. Oh, that's just too much... > [laughs] Well, so what kind of stuff is influencing you at the moment > then, musically. What do you feel inspired by? > > A- Umm, anything really. I'm listening to all kinds of music all the > time. Not having.. and very very few new things. I'm very much > interested in history in general, history and music history and so I'm > very much into just covering things from the past, and not necessarily > known things. Like an ancient underground or something like that, like > things which have been existing parallel to famous, known things. And I'm > very much into that so I'm always trying to discover.. And it's a big big > big market and a big history of music in South America that's just > completely unknown outside of South America. And you can just cover the > most incredible things when you travel to Brazil or Argentina and listen > to some stuff there, and usually I'm a very bad name-dropper. So I'm > listening to something and I sort of absorb the essence of that, it's like > listening.. if you're listening to two or three Prince songs you sort of > have understood what it's all about and then you don't have to listen to > the rest to get the idea, and you can sort of emulate a Prince song from > your memory having defined the parameters of a Prince song, or something > like that. So I'm constantly doing that, listening to all kinds of > things, and I believe very much that listening to music.. that music which > is a part, an external element of a person who created that something, you > internalize it and it becomes a part of you and depends on how intense you > listen to it, or how much you like or dislike it, it becomes a part of > you. Before I am doing a cha-cha-cha track, for example, I'm listening a > lot to cha-cha-cha just days and days of cha-cha-cha classics and after a > while it's like your memory is a sampler and you can regenerate a > cha-cha-cha just from your memory, just by feeling it and it's just there. > And I'm doing that with a lot of things, not only with music but also with > design and all kinds of things which I find interesting. Words, poetry, > whatever... > > I- So you write poems yourself then? You're a bit of a poet, secret poet? > > A- No, no, no. I'm not writing poems, but in poetry or in essays or > whatever, history books you'll find very weird things sometimes, you know, > phrases or conclusions or things which have been forgotten by society, by > culture. And um, I like a lot of history of language for example, like > where words come from, what they meant in the past, what they mean now, > stuff like that. All the sudden you read a sentence somewhere, like maybe > here on the metro or something, and it connects with something you have > heard before and it makes, sort of, sense and I just have to write it down > and wait until it's falling into place with something else, with a title > or with a sample or whatever. > > I- Most of the music I've heard that you've made, you're using other > people's lyrics more than your own or your taking electronic instrumental > music so, do you have a field of work where you've become a songwriter > yourself or is that obvious because you've told me you've done over 200 > projects? [laughs] > > A- Yeah I think songwriting to me is like, I have a great respect for > a good songwriter and um, the projects of the last five years I think is > a bit of absorbing songwriting, and by absorbing and absorbing > songwriting you become able to be a songwriter. It's something I'm > really doing, a plan I have. > > I- So thinking about your music and where you're going with it, do you > feel that, do you play instruments yourself as well as programming? Do > you actually play any instruments yourself? > > A- I used to play drums in the past, but I'm not doing that for a long > time, but my whole musical approach is percussive I would say. And I've.. > I don't know how to play any instrument really, knowing in terms of.. I > never went to music school or something, and I really don't care about it > too much. And I feel like the moment you know things you close off doors. > So I'm, I like to play keyboard for example, or piano, without having a > clue about, I don't know, classic chord progressions stuff like that. It > may be interesting, but all the people I know who know about that, they're > not able to do anything else but that, and they're like stuck in the > knowledge, and so yeah, I'm trying to avoid that. Becoming trained or > something... > > I- Have you thought about improvising more because of the way that you do > it, it sounds like you're a bit of control freak in a way, because you're > very good at programming and at the same time you know you said you > conduct what's going on. Do you allow yourself to just completely break > down structures and be very experimental in some of your work? > > A- Um, it depends really. There are a lot of projects of mine where um, > how can I say, when coming up with a project or with an idea for a > project, you're always confronted with the same amount of musical > parameters existing. It's always the same set of parameters, the pure > musical parameters or whatever, the pitch, velocity, etc etc. If you are > conceiving the artwork etc, and the character behind the artwork, you have > to think about humor, if it's improvised, if it's controlled, and the > degree of improvisation, etc etc. So all these parameters are sort of > there, and for each project you have to see, to decide whatever, will this > be a funny project? Does the guy who is doing that music, have some sort > of humor or not? What kind of humor does it have? Is it arrogant humor, > or etc etc, so just forget about controlling, and I do that very often, I > improvise and you can define to which degree do you want to have it > improvised. For example you can improvise a lot and then control it > again, and cut it down and edit it. Or you can really just improve and > leave it like that, which is quite difficult.. I can't really, that's the > only thing I can't.. I don't want to do too much. But improvisation is > always an element, and for a project like Senor Coconut for example, which > is a totally controlled thing because you have to cover a version of a > pre-existing structure in your head, and you are just looking for samples > to fit in with your idea. So there's not much improvisation going on > because otherwise you would get lost in combining useless samples, you > know, and create something else which maybe is good but not what you want > to do. But then you have to allow yourself to let certain moments happen, > you know, there's always improvisation there's always like a moment where > it's very difficult to describe, you're loading a sample looking for a > trumpet and suddenly there's a sample and you hit the note and it's > something completely different but it makes sense. And then you have to > decide, okay that's an improvisation a very very reduced one, but can I > place that improvisation somewhere in the idea I had? And it's sort of > like interacting with the idea I had, and if you're a total control freak > you just kick it out, and if you think it could make sense you just leave > it in. But improvisation is always existing and it's very important. > > I- This is interesting to hear because I myself have made music, well I > have been fighting with the machine, which isn't working, but it's making > some brilliant sounds, so I started using them. So it's interesting to > hear that you do that yourself because I had the feeling that you were > someone who was a perfectionist and would go for a particular.. you knew > in your head exactly what you wanted and you would find that sound... > > A- In fact I know exactly what I want, the thing is it happens for > example, I'm working on a project and I am having sort of idea of what I > want to complete an album for example, there's one track missing for an > album, and I want a certain track there which makes sense in the envelop > of the flow of the album, and the machine wouldn't work or something > really strange is coming out which I don't have use for I would just > delete at the end of the day, I wouldn't use it. And I would re-try to > until I really reach or manage to make that track I had in mind. But on > another project I said if there's no guideline whatsoever, it's just about > throwing things together and see what's going on then that's perfectly > fine, it's just about how you define the set of parameters beforehand. > And that's very important to me to be efficient, that's efficiency I > think, to have a clear concept of what you want or what you don't want. > And if you want chaos that's fine, and if you don't want chaos you have to > know that, you have to not get.. a lot of people just are getting lost in > these kind of things, trying to.. just making things and making and never > really analyzing what they are doing and why it's not working for example, > or why something else is happening they didn't plan. So I'm very much > interested in defining musical parameters and working methods and > techniques, composing techniques and things like that, and I think by > knowing that you can allow yourself being chaotic or control freak or > whatever you want. > > I- As you were saying, you're quite into humor and the characters behind > the music, so if you could define Senor Coconut, what type of person is > he? Would you say he's a bit of a racial stereotype? > > A- Senor Coconut is somebody, in fact a Latin person, with a traditional > Latin background, who does have a connection to European electronic music, > which is in fact a combination I'm very much sure you won't find in Latin > America. Like people with a traditional Latin background, they just don't > know about Kraftwerk. So like the Coconut character is a bit like, > obviously a Latin person with a certain amount of Latin stereotypes, and > sort of like being an uplifting, humorous person but then he has all that > European history, musical background. So he's able in fact to make that > fusion which a pure Latin wouldn't do because he doesn't have, he's at one > end of the spectrum. So that's the basic definition of Senor Coconut. > > I- Okay, what about Atom Heart? What kind of person is he? > > A- Right now I don't know. > > I- You made quite a few albums under the Atom Heart name haven't you? > > A- A long time ago, I mean, the Atom Heart albums, they are like about 5 > or 6 years old, something like that, and I just use Atom as like the > producer when I do remixes and production and stuff, I use Atom which is a > bit undefined right now, but I hope to define it soon again. > > I- So what are your plans for the next 6 months? > > A- Let me think. I have to get the next Coconut record going, so I'm > thinking of recording it within the next two months or something. I just > finished a Coconut single which is called 'Electro Latino' which is sort > of like an electro Latino track, and which will be released in a couple of > months to bridge the gap between the two albums, the last album and the > new one which is maybe coming in maybe January, February, March something > like that, next year. And after finishing that Coconut thing there a > couple of remixes I have to do, a new Rather Interesting perhaps, we'll > see if I find time, and I would like to.. with my family traveling to > Europe throughout September, like all September we'll be in Italy and > France, play some shows in France, one in Switzerland in September, and > then I will come back I will be in Santiago for two weeks and go on a > South America tour with Flanger. That's through Paraguay, Bolivia, Chile, > Argentina, and Brazil, together with Burnt Friedman and Jaki Liebezeit on > drums. > > I- That should be quite an incredible tour then, really, because those are > quite incredible places.. > > A- Exactly, exactly.. and well, I've never played with Jaki Liebezeit and > so it will be a fun thing to do. And yeah, then the year will be > over I think. After the last show in Santiago, Chile, middle of November > I think I will start doing pre-production for the next Flanger with Burnt > and we will use a couple of weeks to just collect ideas so we have a > starting point for the next album. Flanger that's myself and Burnt > Friedman from Cologne, and we're doing sort of um, I would call it > improvised music in fact, like it's using traditional jazz language > without having knowledge about tradition jazz language. And we experiment > a lot with composing techniques, so we're like sort of trying to avoid > looping for example, and have a very particular way of how to compose > music together. We did 3 records together all out on Ninjatune here in > London. > > I- And you have your own label don't you? What's that label called? > > A- Rather Interesting. I founded it in 94, and I did the first 2 years a > couple of collaborations and 2 records are friends of mine. But then I > stopped working as a label, I didn't very much like much being a label and > being responsible to friends who all of the sudden become like artists of > your label and it was getting a bit weird, I didn't like that so much. So > I decided to just release my stuff since then, since 96-97. And I did 25 > albums I think since 94, the first two years I release an album each > month, so I did more than 25 in fact. And then I went to Chile and I > slowed down a bit, like an album every 2-3 months, and now I'm like about > 3 albums a year I think 3-4 a year. > > I- That's quite impressive actually, I'm not usually impressed but that's > quite a lot of output there. One final question I have to ask you, have > you ever seen the album Electric Kokonut but with a k'? > > A- No, no... > > I- Alright well, it's a very cheap sort of 1970's low budget record which > is electronic sort of covers that myself and Jim have copies of, it cost > 87p in Woolworths, and we just wondered if you were influenced by it or > had you ever seen the album Electric Kokonut with a "k". > > A- No, totally unknown... > > I- I think you'd really like it. Well thank you very much for talking to > me and I look forward to seeing you perform in London soon, maybe within > the next year that would be great. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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