Forgotten Idols lie smashed and scattered across the floor. Dissonant undercurrents coerce a riptide of shattered beats as Duran Duran Duran speeds into sight and docks directly into your neurological pathways.
Tracks swarm into your mind, effortlessly dismantling the techno mainframe. Refracted acid takes ‘Sexus’ to a place where famished ghosts leer at each other across a mist-infused steam room.
Repeated listenings reveal new fissures, fresh layers emerge as we scrape away at the glacial enormity of this techno scree-face. Redemption is in sight as we take a final pasting on ‘Marathon Man’, a track so banging as to provoke a wry smile on the face of any seasoned raver. At its climax it literally screeches under the weight of its intensity, flinging its subjects into a feral transcendence.
FACTS:
1: The earth is 150 million km from the sun
2: Over 80% of Berliners don’t get enough sleep
3: To this day, scientists do not understand yawning.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Honestly it’s nothing external, except for maybe music or sounds that I encounter which I like. Making music for me is more like some kind of strange necessity, or a mental illness. I think a lot about this quote from the Terry Zwigoff film “Art School Confidential”:
“What do you think an artist cares about? Does he think all day about fine wines and black tie affairs and what he’s gonna say at the next after-dinner speech? No, he lives only for that narcotic moment of creative bliss.”
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I used to mess around with wav editing programs when I was a kid at my dad’s office, but it felt like a bit of a novelty and I got bored with it until I got into playing guitar and messing around with pedals when I was a teenager. Then I would have friends come over and beatbox into the computer for a while, after that I would add effects to the individual beatbox hits or replace them with noises and other weird sounds. Eventually as computers got more powerful I could overdub and develop stuff like this into full tracks. I kind of wonder what I would have done if access to music-making was as easy back then as it is now.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Royal Trux – Twin Infinitives
Shizuo vs. Shizor
Kool Keith – Sex Style
The Shaggs – The Shaggs
Coke Boys 3
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
10 years ago – dog shit everywhere and 1 euro pizzas.
Today – people not being able to find a flat.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
If you mean the town where I come from, Philadelphia, I’d probably say Kelly Drive.
If you mean Berlin, where I live now, I guess in summertime I’d probably have to pick one of the lakes or parks. Rummelsbucht/Treptower park is a special place for me. In the wintertime it’d be a long list of bars, clubs, and saunas.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
The editing process is what fascinates me about making music, so it would probably be something involving editing. Probably make films. Or cooking.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Miss Gyroscope’s new album, Kaleidoscope
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I’ve never had very successful collaborations. I think because I’m so obsessed with editing I find it hard to sit in a room with someone and make music together at the same time, so usually the way I prefer to collaborate is by passing project files back and forth, Splice is quite good for this actually. But even people I work well with it usually seems to fizzle out after a few tracks. Maybe I’m difficult to work with haha. So, I’d really be up collaborating with anyone I could actually feel comfortable with and move in the same direction. If I had to name someone I’d probably say Mark Archer. Would have loved to have made a tune with Elvis.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
Wow there was a lot of them. I think as a spectator probably still seeing Aphex Twin play live in 96 in Philadelphia with the dancing bears and all.
As a performer obviously playing Berghain with DJ Producer and Joey Beltram was a big one. I also played in an aband oned train station called Recyclarts in Brussels once with the Cockrockdisco crew which was a pretty insane gig – I remember the crowd going so nuts they started picking up the barriers and running back and forth with them. They were also taking photos of people being electrocuted in the back and projecting them on the wall.
The first time I played Bangface was a big one for me as well, although I had to follow Shy FX which was definitely not easy. Fusion festival also sticks out in my memory as one of the best crowds, I’d love to play there again. Japan too.
Funny it’s often easier to remember the really bad gigs rather than the really good ones.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Well I guess it depends on what you consider technology. I’m not much of a gearhead if that’s what you mean, although I work in the music tech industry now so I kinda stay up on all that stuff. I have a few small cheap analog machines in the studio but I mainly just jam on them for fun. Most of my actual composing is done “in the box” as they say. I try to keep my workflow fast and simple. If it wasn’t for computers I’d probably be doing overdubbing and tape splicing. If it wasn’t for tape I guess I’d be making weird instruments at home. Or playing in a gamelan orchestra.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I have two younger sisters. They are very supportive. I think in general my family are just quite happy that I’m not in jail or addicted to heroin. My youngest sister is deaf so she thankfully never had to hear my music while we were growing up.
New tracks: soundcloud.com/hyponik-com/first-listen-duran-duran-duran-pryor-acid-power-vacuum
