The dark, impossibly intense dirges, industrial noise onslaughts and banshee-like free jazz wailing heard throughout Anguish could be an imposing soundtrack for a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future. This powerhouse, inter-generational offering and RareNoise Records debut brings together an unlikely gathering of members of the New Jersey-based experimental hip-hop group Dälek (rapper Will Brooks, guitarist-keyboardist Mike Mare), the Swedish free jazz group Fire! Orchestra (tenor saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, drummer Andreas Werliin) and the classic ‘70s German krautrock band Faust (keyboardist and 68-year-old founding member Hans Joachim Irmler). Recorded in just three days during the summer of 2018 at Faust’s Scheer, located in a former factory perched on the banks of the Danube in Swabia, Germany near the Swiss border, Anguish stands as a hard-hitting manifesto for the next evolution in the hip-hop legacy.
FACTS:
1: Dogs are the best, but more specifically my dog T-Ranckles is THE best.
2: Prince > Michael Jackson.
3: None of us are all that important.
QUESTIONS:
1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Life. Just everything around me… existing. I just try to be observant of what’s going on around me, things that effect the people that I love, strangers, and to myself. These experiences are what I draw inspiration from.
2. How and when did you get into making music?
I started DJing when i was 13, MCing at 14, and producing beats at 16. I grew up with older cousins that were DJs, they are the ones I looked up to and are the ones who got me into hip hop. I think it was when I heard Boogie Down Productions ‘Criminal Minded’ that I knew this was what I wanted to really do.
3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Tough question. Let’s go with:
Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Tom Petty – Wildflowers
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
4. What do you associate with Berlin?
Atari Teenage Riot, Cobra Killers, EC8OR and more recently HEDD Audio, Jan Wagner, and BRLO Brewery.
5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
It’s a toss up between El Artisano, a Cuban restaurant where I drink my cafe con leche or my recording studio.
6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
That’s a trick question. If there was no music, there would be no world.
7. What was the last record/music you bought?
I just pre-ordered Black Marble’s new album ‘Bigger Than Life’ on vinyl. Before that I bought Sufjan Stevens – ‘Carrie & Lowell’ and KA- ‘Orpheus & the Sirens” both on vinyl as well.
8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine), Rakim, Björk, King Woman, KA, Sade.
9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
My Bloody Valentine at Hammerstein Ballroom NYC 2019 or Boogie Down Productions during their Edutainment album tour when they had De La Soul supporting them around 1992 or 1993.
10. How important is technology to your creative process?
Technology is an extremely important part of my creative process. It all started with the EMU SP-12 and Akai S950 then the Akai MPC3000 and now Ableton Live and iPads using apps such as SAMPLR and Beatmaker3.
11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I have two younger twin sisters. I think they are proud of me. They probably think I’m a little crazy too for doing this too.
Anguish perform at A L’Arme! Festival‘s opening night at Säälchen on Wednesday, 31st July 2019!
Photo © Anguish
