Obliq Records Interview
O: The Obliq label is run by three of us: Dave, Jeff and myself and essentially all the various music projects on the label stem from any combination of the three of us. Historically Multicast tends to be the "super group" of sorts where a lot of our musical energy is focused showcasing melodic and rhythmic counterpoints and loose jazzy structures. We tend to look back at early live recordings from Tangerine Dream, King Crimson and Kraftwerk and really enjoy the live element that they bring. So it's all about improvisation with electronics and acoustic elements for us. But other projects such as Ted Sturgeon, Crix Madine and FreqModif represent our other musical interests and tastes.
FreqModif is a pure electronic-based project with heavy emphasis placed on
improvisation and stream of consciousness. The FreqModif project has
traditionally taken on modular synthesizers and rhythm machines and that has
confined this project to the studio but we are starting to take this project
into live settings more and more.
The Crix Madine project puts a lot of emphasis into electro/IDM beats with a
tinge of acid elements and loads of emotion and melodies. This stems from
nostalgia for early 90's uk electronica ala Black Dog, Rephlex, Kirk
Degiorgio/A.R.T., Stasis, B12, etc, but with a more modern angle.
Ted Sturgeon is the digital surgeon and Obliq archivist. He records almost
everything in the field, solo, or in band configurations. There is a
psychedelic aspect to many of these tracks, and a strong melodic structure
reminiscent of spaghetti western themes.
BP: Nate, the vinyl pieces you have released are all virtual works of art. This begs the question - Are they hard to get hold of?
O:Well, given that we usually do limited pressings, part of our back-catalog
is sold out (namely the first three vinyl releases), but we do try and keep
a good portion of it available. Perhaps the easiest way to get our stuff is
direct from us through our website obliq.net. And yes, we do put a lot of
emphasis in hand-made packaging on certain releases. The latest release has
hand silk-screened clear sleeves and marbled green vinyl.
We are all record collectors and have always enjoyed something a little
different; thus our emphasis on creating not only a musical soundtrack, but
also an art piece. Jeff and Dave are always showing off some exotic
limited-edition colored vinyl release like an old Bob Dylan TMOQ 'splatter
vinyl' or a classic Air Liquide imprint. The silkscreening and stenciling
are jointly done by the band, and hopefully it acts as an attractant to the
music inside. The artifacts have a timeless and lasting quality which we
hope will translate in the future when some collector finds an Obliq
Recordings record in 2050. So, you can download the MP3s, but you are
really missing out on a very important part of the release!
BP: It's very rare I get sent vinyl (especially green vinyl) these days even though you can probably hear the hum from my trusty old Technics 1200 on the download here, the quality of this 12" of is phenomenal. Was it mastered somewhere exotic?
O: Lupo at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin cut the new Multicast record to our
extreme delight. He also cut a previous Multicast release on
K2o/Kanzleramt, and when they sent us the test pressings we couldn't believe
our ears and we were just blown away. We knew right away the next Multicast
release would be cut to vinyl at D+M again, but this time we wanted to see
the process first hand and see what the black magick was all about.
We've always been huge fans of the Basic Channel crew in Berlin since their
inception in the early 90's and I have always sited them (and all their
subsequent manifestations) as a major influence, not only in terms of their
music, but more their attitude towards music and the obvious attention they
pay to the post production process. It's as if they almost put the
mastering/cutting process to vinyl on equal terms to the music making
process. D+M treat the mastering/cutting process as an art form in itself
(as they should) and we thought these are the people we want to cut our new
record. After hearing the test press, we decided NOT to release a CD
version for now because the sound is not nearly as impressive and we wanted
this release to be available in the highest quality!
BP: Your tracks are pretty Dj oriented. Does this mean you guys DJ too? And how about Multicast live shows. (OK I've seen one ) but what can we expect ..?
O: If they sound DJ oriented, it certainly isn't a conscious thing on our part
during the recording process. We do pay close attention to dynamic range
and space during the mix but it's only after we get the records from the
pressing plant do we realize that, hey this dub infused track will sound
rather nice on large PA system, lets play it out somewhere! So yeah
actually all three of us do DJ from time to time, perhaps a lot more before
we even starting making music together. And when we do, we like to merge
the old and new since we have been at this for so long. Jeff even has a
regular local radio show here in Boulder called 'Route 78 West'
(route78west.com) where he plays old 78's, surf, spaghetti westerns and
trucker songs.
So lately we have been experimenting with using vinyl in a live context.
For example, we use run-out grooves from old 78's that each have their own
locked rhythm and mix these together. By changing how these loops are
synched, effected and EQed you can get varied and syncopated rhythms. Then
the rest of the band can improvise to that.
BP where do you think this mp3 digital download thing is all heading? Will album artwork finally pixelate itself into oblivion?
This is a big topic, but I will sadly say it is all going the way of bits
and bytes. But that isn't to say that is all bad. I see it as we are
simply in the midst of a major transition in how this art medium is
distributed to and consumed by the masses which could lead to new and
innovative concepts in music that haven't even occurred to us yet. So
hopefully this will all turn into a positive thing. It's really quite
amazing to watch the traditional music industry crumble before our very eyes
as a direct result of technology. With that said, I'm not impressed with
the current state of the digital download industry. It is still in its
infancy and for some reason existing loss-less formats are really slow in
catching on with these services. But compression technology is getting
better and better and hopefully some loss-less format gets accepted widely
and become industry standard. I think once we get to that state, piracy
will be less encouraged. Because honestly, who wants to pay money for
inferior sound quality? It will also require a social change in how
consumers define what intellectual property is, because as it stands now
most people assign value to physical objects more than virtual ones made up
of bytes and bits.
The key is to remember that most folks are listening to the music in their
tiny headphones or in their car where there is a lot of atmospheric noise
bleeding into their experience, so the inferior, compressed audio quality
probably doesn't make a difference and most folks are used to listening to
the radio anyway so the quality isn't an issue. Plus, record shopping is so
much more fun than MP3 shopping!
As for Obliq, we are not ignoring this shift, and do have lots of people
interested in purchasing our music in digital form (apart from CD), so in
the coming months you will start seeing our stuff available through various
download services. But we still want to press vinyl for the true collectors
out there. With the advent of cassette and CD, many people wrote off vinyl
a long time ago, and in 2005 it is still hanging on (albeit in small
numbers) but record pressing plants are still operating all over the world,
so there is still a demand. Is it un-reasonable to think that there will
still be a market for new vinyl 20 years (50?) from now?
BP: OK, some people are gearheads and probably want to know your favourite bits of gear are. except for a computer of course.. O: Buchla Marimba Lumina, anything from Elektron, Future-Retro Revolution, Theremin, Fenix modular, Devilfish, modified TR-606 beat boxes, MS-20 and SQ-10 combo, Aural Research Facilities prototype modular, Ernie. Jeff relys on an old high-strung telecaster and never leaves home without his tube Echoplex, a custom slide steel, Roland GT-5 and Oberheim Digital Echoplex for looping. A custom built 5-string electric mandolin and a beautiful Mexican requinto acoustic are used on many tracks.
BP what music are you listening to these days? Are you an electronic purist or is your listening taste more expansive?
O: We are bit all over the map: Anything coming from Echocord, Brokenhearted
Dragonflies (insect recordings from Thailand), recent Dead Can Dance live
show recordings, Luke Vibert's "Lover's Acid", the Analord series, Octex
live recordings, Rhythm & Sound's "Si Mi Yah" 7" boxset, Fingathing,
Kraftwerk & TD bootlegs, Meat Beat Manifesto, Creatures, Satamile electro,
Nobot Media compilation, lots of avant-psych, Sir Richard Bishop, Harmonic
33, and Gravenhurst's 'Black Holes in the Sand' disc was great, Kinski and
almost anything on Kranky. Jeff has been absorbing old Hawaiian releases
and the complete Ravi Shankar catalog. One genre is like eating the same
meal every day!
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