Minimalism and order. These are the main words that come to my mind when I see this picture of the posters, and the empty spaces between things you seem to like. Both visually and musically you seem to go in this direction. What drove you there? Yan Jun said here on our blog a funny…
Tag: ambient
Mára / Faith Coloccia – “I am very interested in “the body”. The human body, or the bodies of plants, lichens, slime molds, how bodies interact”
I see in the picture you on a mountain, among boulders and weeds. If I guess, you’re breastfeeding a child. That’s a lovely picture for an artist, in my opinion, and thousands miles away from many aggressive-sexy female press photos, often not so rare even in the experimental music field (not to mention pop and…
Alessandro Ciccarelli – “The physical experience is a fundamental component for me, in an organicistic, fluid conception”
I see trumpets and pieces of trumpets (oil, mouthpieces, mutes…) more or less everywhere. I’ve recently interviewed Greg Kelley of Nmperign, I don’t know if you know him, by the way I told him about the choice of playing that instrument, that is actually also the only one I more or less play. It demands…
Norman Westberg – “I don’t think that my tastes have changed that much in my life, only expanded somewhat”
1 – The first picture you took shows an awesome set of cassettes. There’s really none I could barely know or recognize, especially those with Arabic (?) names. In my (maybe pathetic) attempts of guessing from where they come from, I saw dates (I guess): “95 Plus”, “Latest 96” (twice). It’s funny as, if I…
Loscil / Scott Morgan – “Is the new album a distraction from the perils of the world? No, I don’t think so but if it serves this purpose for anyone, then I’m content with that”
At a first overall shallow look, I notice a pair of books about birds, another one on water, and then “Vegetarian” (maybe a cook book?). I also see stuff about Canada and British Columbia, I know you live in Vancouver… If I think of your art, including the covers of albums like “Monument Builders”, “Suns”,…
Yann Novak – “I am encouraging the audience to misinterpret me in exchange for their own deeper, more personal relationship to the work”
The first shot shows a beautiful golden (painted, I suppose) amplifier with a statue (Buddha?) on it. Where does it come from? You did it? It’s gold leaf! That is actually a piece my partner Robert Crouch made years ago that I just love. The Buddha was a gift from my mother. I have casually…
Darren McClure – “I don’t think noise and ambient are mutually exclusive genres at all. In fact, it’s that distortion and texture that accentuates the emotional aspects of the music for me.”
Crass, Napalm Death, Carcass, Godflesh… a lot of Earache and Southern Lord! Delicate, dreamy, minimal tunes like the ones you usually play in your albums. Or not? Well, are these listenings from your past or do you still have that side in you, maybe not expressed directly in your music? The Earache stuff is a…
Mark Nelson – “When I was in college I studied literature and got more than enough theory. Now I try to be direct and emotional”
It’s not easy to see the albums, but I guess you have many Deutsche Grammophon CDs in the drawers. Do you have a classical background as a listener and/or as musician? It’s not evident in your music… Which composers you like? I listen to a lot of classical music, and most of those Deutsche Grammophon…
Stefan Knappe – “I believe that a wide field is opened for personal growth and development, when you leave the borders of standardized music behind”
The first word that came into my mind watching at the pictures was “precarious”, or “insecure”… there’s a lot of stuff, not only records, and seems to be very close to collapse one day. But at the same time, it looks solid. Do you think it fits your attitude to music somehow? Troum are (for…
Andrea Marutti – “As soon as a new record enters the house my very first concern is to add it to the list, even before opening it or listening to it”
Dear lord! At a first sight I thought that you do also have records in the toilet… you knew that our common friend Bruno Dorella keeps cassettes in the kitchen? I’m often asking to the Concrete Shelves contributors where and how they like to listen to music, especially when they listen to harsh or extreme…
Graham Crowley – “I can’t listen to music when I’m in the studio painting. Any response to the music would modify my judgement and behaviour”
Well, is pretty clear that among the vast collection you have, Captain Beefheart is the boss. You told me that you’ve recently also been invited to speak about the paintings of him as Don Van Vliet at The Captain Beefheart Symposium at The Bluecoat Gallery… what was your speech about, and why do…
Concrete Shelves 