Interview with Daniel D. Smith

I recently had the pleasure to interview (via e-mail) Daniel D. Smith, who is more known for his trippertronic projects Red Electric Rainbow, 70s Era Pink Floyd and Dead Pilots. Check out the previous post about Red Electric Rainbow free downloads and enjoy the read!

You have an impressive discography. How long does it take you to create an album? Does most of the stuff you create go online/to the tape or are the public releases just a tiny fraction of all the music you create?

It all depends. I recorded the LP for Aguirre in something like 2 nights. A lot of times I already have the music recorded, then I send it out to see if someone would be interested in putting it out. Or if I get a request from someone I usually have something lying around or something I started. I do put out a ton of music, but I really jam a lot and do not always feel the need to hit record. Sometimes I play around for fun and come up with a bit I really like and want to see how I can expand upon it, that’s when I like to hit record.

 Which one of your own albums you like the most? 
I really enjoyed the way the LP turned out. And I am into “Come And Melt Your Face Off” on Sacred Phrases. I have a release called “Shanghai Complex” that I really like because it was a huge departure for me. Voices, acoustic guitars, computer processing. I just released Night Visions and the title track is my favorite recording of mine.

 When you create music, do you have a detailed plan of what a track will sound like, or does it come “by itself” in the process of creating?

It all depends. There are some patches I can recreate at any time, on my Nord or on my modular synth. Those are starting points some times. Recently I have been using an electric piano and my analog sequencer to create dynamic sequences. I wanna make sure I get the notes perfect and have everything synced up. From there I connect the sequencer to my Nord and let things evolve sonically. Creating a patch for that is where it really starts. And even more recently I have started to make super minimal techno and more danceable music.
One of your latest projects is named “70s Era Pink Floyd”. Is this name just a nostalgia thing or are you making musical references to such synth Pink Floyd tracks as “On the Run” or “Welcome to the Machine”?
I actually have “On The Run” stored on my sequencer. I am a huge fan of Pink Floyd, but that is about as far as any connection goes musically. 70’s Era Pink Floyd is basically a more abstract project for me. Lets me run a bit more wild. The releases tend to be a bit more in the strange department. Noisy and hectic. It is exclusively for my growing obsession into the modular synthesizer world. 
The line-up of your Neon Marshmallow Fest was very impressive. First edition of the festival and already some big names, like Government Alpha or Burning Star Core. Was it hard to get all those people in one place for this event?
It was obscenely hard to organize this event. If I didn’t have Matt helping me, it wouldn’t have turned into what it did. He helped me bring it to the next level. The amount of money spent on this was more than I anticipated, so I took a huge risk. A HUGE RISK. But in the end, it was worth it to me. I wanted to do it, I did it. It happened and it was a great event. Matt and I are currently putting the finishing touches to the 2011 edition.

What equipment do you use? Is it just analog/digital synths or also a computer?

I use my Nord Lead 2 religiously with Red Electric Rainbow, as well as the Doepfer MAQ 16/3 sequencer. I have a Moog Little Phatty, a Korg Poly Six (poor guy), and I have had a Paia Proteus 1, a Siel Mono that never quite worked right. Not too mention the amount of modern digital keys I tried out. Right now I am on a huge modular synthesizer spurt. I went with the Eurorack format and I have a 9U case with about 12U worth of modules. I sold a ton of gear to help finance this habit. Guitars, amps, effects, some synthesizers. I sometimes use MAX/MSP, Reason, Abelton and some other programs, but I have not been using any of those for some time. I like MSP for making granular stuff.

Do you have a “dream label”, on which you would just LOVE to have your album released?

Nah, I am pretty chill. I do like Raster-Noton though, but it is only because I am going through this huge techno kick right now.

Apart from Neon Blossom label, you just started another label, Hyperdelic. Does it mean you moved from Neon Blossom to Hyperdelic, or is Hyperdelic just another label for other kind of music/artists?

Neon Blossom started at as a fundraiser label. Very DIY, very messy, etc. I wasn’t happy with the way some of the releases turned out. So I wanted to start fresh. Which I did. I am very happy with the way Hyperdelic turned out.  I put it a lot of work into the creative process of how I want it to look, sound and feel. So the overall result is something I want to continue doing. Neon Blossom is still going to be around and doing releases, but they will stay in the realm of the original purpose and aim of the label.

What’s your current musical obsession?

New Wave, Minimal Wave, Minimal Techno, EBM, Synth Pop, Acid House, rare 80’s gems etc. A lot of dance music. Sequencing, clockwork, monophonic analog jams. 808s etc.

A short interview with Brian Pyle + new single!

Here is a short interview I conducted with Brian Pyle, the guy behind Starving Weirdos, RV Paintings and Ensemble Economique. The interview originally appeared on a Polish music website Niezal Codzienny. Here is the link to the interview translated to Polish. Below is the interview in English.

I just love the band name „Starving Weirdos”. Where did the idea for the name come from?

It just came to merrick and myself one day while driving around Arcata where we live.  There's loads of really 'off-the-grid' type 'fringe' characters and we're thinking how the most freaked-out we're 'starving weirdos' like the ones who just don't give a fuck and really freak out more conventional/normal type people.  Full-on indifference!  and it hit us what a killer name that would be for a band. And really LOVING the idea of not giving a fuck and just going for it.

How many people are there in Starving Weirdos? Is the band’s lineup fixed or is it an open collective?

The main folks are Merrick and myself and our main collaborator Steve Lazar whom Merrick and myself have been playing with for years. Beyond steve there's 2-3 more people we like recording with. And after the initial recording it's just Merrick and myself.  Cutting up the recordings, reconceptualizing/composing the pieces, overdubs, mastering. This post-recording 'process' takes up most of our time with SW. It's not an open collective and esp. when we perform live we have a fixed line-up.

The music projects you partake in are often described as ambient, drone, or simply psychedelic music. Many musicians have their own name for the music they create – do you have any?

Avant-wow! Psychedelic is also pretty apt.

Do you happen to record music in unusual places, like forests, caves or beaches?

Not so much anymore. But we have done loads of recordings in these giant concrete chambers over at the local university.  It was like a giant reverb chamber...fucking NUTS. I do LOVE recording in different locales.  We had a tremendous jam out on some bluffs over-looking the ocean a couple months back but the recording wasn't great.  Most of the material we release nowadays is recording in like a 'living-room' type enviros.  Just enough space to stretch our gear and recording equipment.

You expressed your interest in performing on OFF Festival. How did you find out about it? Under which moniker are you planning to perform?

Just searching over at LastFM for festivals happening in europe around late July/early August and looking for fests that had interesting line-ups.  It would be solo under my Ensemble Economique moniker. i really wanna visit poland.  Ii LOVED the VBS doc 'From Poland With Love' and SW has collaborated with Polish artists in the past.

With which ones?

With Wilhelm Sasnal & Roman Dziadkiewicz on the EN/OF series. Edition 038.   SW did the LP and they did the art.

Your albums often make use of field recordings. Do you record all the recording yourselves or do you also use found sound?

Both. But it really doesn't matter to us.  With both SW and EE.  the primary concern is the sound itself and how it relates to the music in regards to both field recordings and found sounds. I've used fire sounds in the past with EE and to really get that sound from a field recording i don't think I'd be typing now!

The album “Psychical” by Ensemble Economique uses many spoken word passages. Are they samples or were they recorded from scratch specifically for the album?

Both! The samples I labored over.  Really hard to connect some random sample and have it be really effective.   So yeah really happing with how the voice samples turned out.

Some reviews compared the sound of “Psychical” to artists like Shackleton or Demdike Stare. Are you a fan of their music or are the similarities a mere coincidence?

Mere coincidence.  I hadn't heard either Shackleton or Demdike Stare until after 'Psychical' had been released.  I've of course heard them now and i think they are both GREAT!  Really exciting for me to hear other artists exploring similar terrain.

What are your plans for the future? Any exciting collaborations/new projects?

Yeah!  I'm collaborated with High Wolf on a live set soon here in Humboldt on his west coast tour soon.  I'm releasing an Ensemble Economique single this friday!  Feb. 4th!  Super-excited for everyone to hear this new EE single...I'm really stoked on it.  I also have a special collaboration with the Outer Church for the 'Weird Tales for Winter' airing every night over at Resonance FM.  Our episode airs Feb. 5th...it's great!  SW has an LP coming out soon on Bo'Weavil Recordings and we've just finished a record for Amish.  Bunch more neat things in the works!  can't think of them all right now.

The “Weird Tales for Winter” will airing on Saturday, Feb 5^th on the London radio Resonance FM from 10:30 to 11:00 PM GMT. You can listen to the radio on this website: http://resonancefm.com/listen

EDIT: Just like he said, Brian released a new single on Feb 4th, as Ensemble Economique. It is called "To Feel the Night as It Really Is" and you can listen to it below via Soundcloud. You can also buy the mp3 (it's only in digital form) on Midheaven.

To Feel The Night As It Really Is by Ensemble Economique

Tapes 'N' Tapes

A.V. Club decided to create a documentary series. This one is of special interest to the readers of this blog (including Our Humble Author), because it treats about Chicago based tape labels. Included so far are: Neon Blossom Records (led by aforementioned Daniel Smith, aka Red Electric Rainbow), Priority Male Tapes, Catholic Tapes, Fliff City and Plustapes.