EIC's 10Q's w/ Rudi Arapahoe

"..could leave lingering goosebumps all over your body and through your headphones.."

Rudi Arapahoe

Exploring Somber Milieus

Rudi Arapahoe Bio:

Sound Artist, Composer and Mastering Engineer working from Helix Branch.

Hello, how are you?

I'm feeling very calm, thank you!

What are you currently listening to?

Last night I was listening to Eno's 'Lux' whilst treating myself to a re-read of Vladimir Nabokov's 'Pale Fire'.

It seems like you've "been away" for a while, what have you been up to?

Oh quite a bit, I work at modest pace. The 'Double Bind' EP was composed in 2008. After completing the EP I undertook extensive renovations of my Victorian home. This project occupied me for about 8 months and I'm pleased with the results. It was nice to take a break from music. Recently my thoughts have been returning to the interior design. After the structural renovations, I began work on a full length album that explored Balkan region Folk and religious song, this work was completed in 2011 and is yet to see the light of day. During this period, I worked as part of Bob Dickinson's Komposit chamber orchestra to realise his composition 'Rendition'. In 2011 I also worked with the Danish multimedia Martin Thaulow on an uplifting dance based installation, themed around memory and ageing called 'Contraction'. Then in 2012 we collaborated on another artwork, this was focused on memory, decay, time and the parallel digital worlds we inhabit, it was titled In 'Older Kingdoms'. A little later in 2012 I became involved in another dance work, 'Instinctive Matter', this piece was premièred at Wilton's Music hall and toured the UK summer festivals. Additionally, throughout the past few years I've been undertaking mastering work for a variety of labels such as Hibernate Recordings, Symbolic Interaction, Second Language Music, Time Released Sound, Signal Dada, and Hands in The Dark. I also undertake a considerable amount of sound design and commercial composition roles for media companies.

Care to shed some light on the 'Double Bind' EP; theme, favorite track(s), etc?

I have a BSc (UK Degree) Psychology and a long standing interest in abnormality. During the creation of the EP I conducted a 360 degree analysis of my worldly relations through the eyes of Gregory Batson's Double Bind theory. It's an introspective work that deploys much of the same musicians as to 'Echoes From One To Another', however the music language is more abstracted, the harmony is more complex and perhaps more beautiful as a result.

Will you be touring extensively for said release?

No, I’m quite the recluse. Occasionally I get interesting offers to perform; however I  would need a considerable budget to put together a performance that represents what I  do.

Will we have to wait this long for the next LP?

‘Shuffle The Pages Feed Me A Line’ my second album, was completed in July 2011. It  was shopped around a considerable number of world music labels by my friend Oliver Barnett; however the album was deemed too eclectic, melancholic and strange; to be commercially viable. Inversely, experimental record labels felt the album is ‘too pop’ – ‘too rhythmical’ – ‘too vocal’ – ‘too polished’ - I was flirting with an early 90's Ambient   ascetic whilst creating the project. A lot of the sound design is created by instruments   of the era such as the Yamaha TX802 and Korg Wavestation synthesizers. In post production, I worked extensively with my close friend and audio engineer Shuta Shinoda  to process the sound with an array of 80s and 90s hardware reverbs and effects. ‘Shuffle The Pages Feed Me A Line’ is my producer album and love story for the early nineties   and Dead Can Dance.

Speaking of.. Got any other projects we should know about?

No.

What movie would work best on mute while listening to you music?

The Quay Brothers' 'The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes'... I have a strong empathy with their work.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?

Tricky’s ‘Maxinquaye’ – I still remember hearing "Ponderosa" for the first time.

Are you living your dream?

I used to have a beautiful recurring dream of a girl kneading bread with her tears as moisture. Lately, I have been flying over my family’s home, swooping near to the corn fields and then blasting through the clouds; where the air becomes so thin, that I have to  swallow it down with glee. Creating music closes the gaps between waking and dreaming.

Thanx Rudi!

Rudi Arapahoe recently released a new EP, you can get that HERE. I also STRONGLY recommend you get this now...

REVIEW: Mayerling - Cut Up

8.75 out of 10

Find it here.

'Cut Up' is Mayerling's debut release, it.. hold on, wait.. this is only their debut?? Whoa. I feel a new obsession developing between my headphones. They assemble (almost) incomparable Dark music I crave? Check. On one of the hottest labels (should be anyways) right now? Check. From France (yeah, I've got a soft spot for all things Parisian/of French origins OK?)? Check. Possibly the best debut release of the year? Che..

Starting with a modulated sounding bell, followed shortly by a French accent speaking in native tongue. Small/quite synths begin to build. The gorgeous drones are becoming more condensed and engulfing, + more synths (of the Spacey variety).. Beautiful drone please don't end, please? Vocals come in, gawd these vocals remind me of someone (I'm not sure who yet, but someone), these vocals are so fu**ing killer (could be an acquired taste, but I think they're nigh perfect). Slowly but surely this relaxing Ambient loop intro that you never want to end evolves into a mopy Pop masterpiece that surprises you with each new layer. This is the general tone for most tracks on 'Cut Up'. If you can dig Dark Pop meets some form of weird Alt-Post-Psych Rock music you will most likely become obsessed with this release just like me. At least listen to THIS, if that's not for you I  give up (on you).

..ck. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED (One of 2013's best./for fans of the Dark arts; it's a must;)

Standout Tracks: ALL. but ESPECIALLY: Salomon's Ring and La Mort N'en Saura Rien (∞∞∞∞)

EIC's 10Q's w/ Death And Vanilla

"..modern-day Krautrock/Neo-Psychedelia meets lucid dreams on mushrooms.."

Death And Vanilla

Antiquarian Kaleidoscopic Fidelity

Death And Vanilla Bio:

Crackling recordings of old seances, inexplicably exploding tea cups… The supernatural is an important factor for Death And Vanilla as aesthetic source material and methodological starting-point. The Malmö-based duo loves library music, electronic pioneers and the golden age of analog synths, and they play their music on instruments and amps from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, not only in order to recreate the sound and the atmosphere they love, but also to channel the ghostlike qualities in old spring reverbs and loose contacts. A kind of analog glitch, you might label their prac­tice. “From Elsewhere” is typical of the contradictory impulses in the name of the band. The sweetest melody is delivered by a female voice which seems conjured up from the other side, or at least the Seventies…

Hello, how are you?
Very well thank you!

What are you currently listening to?
 Testbild! 'Barrikad', The New Wave 'Little Dreams David Cain', The Seasons 'Hareton Salvanini', S.P./73, Air 'Le Voyage Dans La Lune', Egisto Macchi 'Futurissimo Earth', Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light 'Pt 2', Pye Corner Audio 'Black Mill Tapes Vol. 3', Martial Solal 'Son 66'

Whats the story with the band name?
One of us once had two pet rabbits, one black and one white, and they we're called "Death" and "Vanilla". 

Would you consider Broadcast your biggest influence or is the spectrum of influences much larger than that?
We do like Broadcast but our influences goes way beyond them. We listen to lots of 60's psych stuff like The Electric Prunes, The Zombies, David Axelrod etc, 60's - 70's soundtracks (Ennio Morricone, Francois De Roubaix etc) and early electronic music pioneers like Tom Dissevelt, Delia Derbyshire and Ruth White. And lots of Library Music, Jazz, Krautrock, 60's French Pop etc. We are also very influenced by films, books and art as well. 

LOVE your debut LP, what if any was the underlined message/theme from it?
Thanks! There is no thought out theme to it. When we are writing songs we often imagine them as soundtracks. You try out new ideas and melodies and if you think of them as a soundtrack you will easily get an image of the song and that takes you further on in the process. So we do more often think of moods then themes or messages when writing a song. When recording this album we had certain films in mind as well and they have very much been an influence. The moods of the films were definitely influential to the songs.

Will you be touring to support said album soon?
We have a few shows booked but no tour plans yet, but we're working on it!

Got any other projects we should know about?
You might want to check out Dunwich Radio if you want a peak into our world. 

What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
The ultimate will be if you're watching both "Don't Look Now" and "Picnic At Hanging Rock" at the same time!

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
That's too difficult to decide, there's too many! We'd probably die of old age before we could make our minds up, but The Zombies' 'Odessy And Oracle' is one of them, Alice Coltrane's 'World Galaxy' another, and Ennio Morricone's 'Vergogna Schifosi' a third. But yet, tomorrow we would argue for a new set of candidates...

Are you living your dream?
Well, some of them, yeah!

Thanx Anders & Marleen!

D & V recently re-released their debut LP on vinyl because the first edition sold out so quickly, you should probably snatch this one up before it goes away too...