name: Ronny Pries

homepage: www.ronnypries.de


Hi, Ronny... Introduction, please.






 



Tell us a little bit more about Rohformat. It's real label as well as netlabel?


So, software beats hardware? :) Tell us something about your music influences.



And how about today's rolemodels?


Do you have any real releases? Or just netlabels?







Do you also perform as a DJ alongside producing?


One must have a personal life... Maybe you could teach your son to spin? ;) Can you name some of your favourite netlabels at the moment?


if there's anything good somewhere i'll find it for sure :D


uhm. eh. hm. i have no idea to be honest :D

Well, at least you're honest. And what's your favourite release so far?

of my own ones?

Yes.


Under how many monikers can we find you?


14, but i'm sure i forgot something.

Ronny and RP, hahahha :D

ronny priest, ronny, RP and r.pries. and whatnot combinations of the same thing

OK. Far from producing... You are also into Farbrausch demo group, innit?

yes. i formed it even alongside with yoda and kb

As I recall, you were in some german demo party commitee or something?




What do you do, when not producing? Your day job is taking much of your spare time?


What is your day job?


You're very busy, I see... And new release planned?


Any remixing during your career? Are you ever been remixed or remixed someone?


Why?






sure.

Clubs or pubs?

pubs.

Beer or wine?

wine.

Wow... That's strange for a German... :)

nah. it ain't

Analog or digital?

best of both worlds :D

303 or 808 :)

303.

Favourite bpm tempo?

128.753

Your favourite genre of electronic music?

No idea, depends on my mood. I like everything if it's good.


Eh, which sport?

Soccer. ;) Favourite country for vacation? (hint: Croatia) :)

sorry :D maldives.

Bugger... :)

(just been there)

www.ronnypries.de/rbr2

Now, this is all up to you... some words for the end. Hit it!

BANG THE BOX!
and
SHAKE WHAT'CHA MAMA GA'YA!

name: Izmar

homepage: N/A

name: Troupe

homepage: troupe.actionsketch.com

occupation: student

Intro: He's a man from Texas... Austin, Texas. Goes by the name of Troupe. Netlabel scene's very own yellow rose of Texas, better to say. It very odd thing. Such nice sounds he produces, but he's very young. I wonder what shall become of him later. Maybe his style will evolve even more to some ethereal soundscape... Or maybe he will release something on some major label. The future will show the difference. For now, I wanted you to meet this talented youngster whose name you better remember. T as tracker, R as Renoise, O as original, U as unique, P as percussions and E as euphoric. This interview was delayed so many times. First, there was the busy schedule on both parties involved in this. Then , it was the time difference that bothered us (9 hours is a lot, mind you). Then it was a New year, after that some busy days here and there... But now, we're finally done. Are you ready to rumble? He's not a Fred Flinstone, but he can sure make your bed rock!

Hi, Troupe! If you'd be kind enough to introduce yourself.

I'm Troupe Gammage IV, 17 years old, from Austin, TX, USA. :)

Your music surprised me a lot when I heard it for the first time... For such young person you have a unique style. Tell us more about your influences, techniques (so compose sober or pissed like Janis Joplin) and equipment you use (if there is any).

I've never really thought my style was very unique... I'm really influenced by certain artists (at the time I made Crepuscular I was listening to a lot of Xerxes, Nifflas, Andrew Sega) and I think my music reflects whoever I'm really into at the time. Musically I come from the demoscene, even though the scene itself was mostly dead by the time I arrived. But I learned about production and melodies and such from the greats... WAVE, Norfair, Xerxes, Necros, Radix... the list goes on. Listening to modules with the source right there in front of me was the best learning experience possible, and I've been doing it for about 6 years so I'd say I'm pretty comfortable in a tracker.

I use Renoise currently, and I can't say I have many special techniques. I really enjoy ripping samples from modules and manipulating them until they sound professional. There's a lot of power in a tracker, even when you're using unsophisticated sound sources.

I don't have any equipment except a Roland Jupiter 4 which I don't use much, and a MIDI keyboard.

I was a member of a demoscene for many years... Some of your tracks but me back in those good old days. Has anyone told you that about your songs?

Yeah, I got that a lot... Crepuscular was really a through back to the good ol' days with a bit of modern flair. I liked the results more than I thought I would, but I don't think that's the direction I'm going to continue going musically. There's a lot to explore, so while I enjoy honoring the past, I'm heading towards the future.

What's your current status?

Poisoned, paralyzed, silenced [No, I meant sitting, standing, squatting....]? Musically I'm working on a new EP for the Ronin Collective, which I'll be joining when it gets redesigned. Getting a few tracks out for compilations, and working with my girlfriend, Melissa Welch, on a collaborative EP for monotonik. Still living with my parents, but I'll be going to college this fall. :)

And future plans?

Hopefully I'll end up on the west coast, majoring in Music Composition. This year I'd like to start working on a commercial album, but I don't think I'm ready quite yet. Look for more soon! :D

How did you get involved in netlabel scene, and what's your opinion about it. Do you think (as many of us do) that free doesn't necessary mean bad? Or netlabel scene is a better way to get signed by some major label.

I suppose I really got involved in the netlabel scene through my friend, valzi, who had heard some of my one hour compo music on IRC and liked it. He asked me to be on backtrack, a netlabel he was just starting, and since the labels I was already a part of (outpost, fromage) were somewhat dead, I decided to join. That's when I discovered all the netlabels I really enjoy now, and got into the scene more.

I really think it's a great way to release music... there is some really, really incredible music on netlabels, and while there is less quality control since no money is involved, the best netlabels bring great music almost 100% of the time. I don't think anyone from the netlabel scene has been signed to a MAJOR label, but that's not to say it couldn't happen. However, I know many artists who were signed to labels based on their netlabel releases, and I intend to do the same, so I think it's a definate possibility. And maybe someday soon we'll have a monotonik artist on Capitol Records... who knows! :)

If you get releases on some real label... Would you continue doing freebies for netlabel community?

Absolutely.

What's your stand on remixing? Do you find that it's some kind of> stealing or just another way of saying praise to the original tune?

No... it's not stealing at all, although I'm disappointed by a lot of remixes I've heard. Minor cosmetic remixes kind of annoy me, as well as most dance remixes. But really unique remixes of really great tunes are very fun to listen to.

Have you ever remixed anyone?

I'm currently working on a remix of a Hunz track from his upcoming album on Apegenine Records. I've done a few remixes and attempted remixes in my time as well.

Would you like if someone would remix some of your tracks?

Well, I've been remixed before actually. My friend Nifflas did an amazing chip remix compilation of some of his favorite songs that I've done, which was really an honor. Planet Boelex and xerxes have both expressed interest in remixing an upcoming release (with my girlfriend, Melissa Welch) on Monotonik, which would make my day if it came true. Hearing interpretations of my own music is really special, since I think it brings a lot to it. I welcome any remixes with open arms! :)

Now, let's go to some tricky questions... My opinion is that music industry is changing all the time. And that, eventually, commercial releases will be much different than today And that live performances will be the stuff that sells the artists. Not some "best of..." compilations recycled so many times... Maybe I'm wrong. We shall see... What do you think of current state of music scene. And compare it to netlabel scene.

Well, first I have to disagree that live performances are where it's at... Song writing is where the money is, and being used in films/television/ads/etc. Personally I think electronic music is really hard to play live (and I don't care much for dance music), so I don't place that much importance on it. That being said, I'm probably going to be playing some of my electronic music with my four-piece live band (using my mighty Roland Jupiter-4). It's going to be a lot of fun reinterpreting electronics with real instruments... and that might be an interesting twist that we see on live playing.

In terms of the general music scene compared to netlabels... I think, like most people, that commercial music for the most part totally sucks... which is why I'm all about the netlabels :) But for probably 5 years or so I didn't really listen to any commercial music at all, save some old 60's albums. So almost all the music I listened to was either modules or netlabel releases (through hellven, etc.), and I kind of thought that netlabels were all I needed. But when my girlfriend started showing me all these commercial artists... like Bjork, and Radiohead, and even Authechre and Aphex Twin... I guess it kind of opened my eyes. I always knew they were out there, but I thought that wasn't really the kind of music I would like.

SO, what I learned is that the highest goal is to maintain artistic integrity but appeal to a wide audience. OK Computer did that best I think... since it's so widely loved by everyone, but has so much depth on a lot of levels. So that's my real goal, is to merge experimental music, like the netlabel scene, with more traditional and mainstream music, and hopefully come up with something that appeals to everyone.

Hope that makes sense, maybe I should just write a book on this ;D

Do you perform as artists somewhere... Like dj gigs or live acts?

Well, no way I could DJ... no one could dance to my music! I do play live with a lot of bands though... through the years I've been in several bands, from rock and roll to jazz. I mostly play drums, although I have played guitar and bass. I'm starting a band now that will be a lot closer to the type of music I listen to, which I'm going to play synth/piano in. Perhaps some recordings of that will show up somewhere :)

You've mentioned you've been working on some stuff with your girl Melissa. Let's hear more... Don't be shy. ;)

Hahaha... well... We've been working on an EP together since summer of 2005 or so... 7 tracks at the moment, scheduled for release on Monotonik sometime soon. It's got vocals from both of us... music by both of us... it's going to be a really special release, I really can't wait for it to be finished. In fact, I should be working on it right now!

Name for us some of your favourite netlabels and artists.

Have to start with the groups I'm in (even if some are defunct). Outpost, Fromage, Backtrack. Also a huge fan of the Ronin Collective (which I'm joining next version) and Camomille. I love Monotonik, Observatory, and of course Hellven. Also a lot of stuff from One, Kahvi, Ogredung, and Miasmah, and Earstroke.

Current favorite artists - Blisaed, Xerxes, Hunz, Transient, Khonnor, ST, Planet Boelex, Muhr, Le Zero, Bliss, Andrew Sega (Necros, Alpha Conspiracy, etc.), vitax, Kyle Dawkins, Melissa Welch (my girlfriend :)), Kiri Nami, and many, many others.

Cheers to Vince, Valzi, and Simon for releasing my music and making really great netlabels! :)

For the end, say something wise...

True maturity comes from the realization that we are never truly mature. ;)


DraCo

name: ST

homepage : N/A

occupation: Swedish indie composing dude with affiliations towards perfection

Intro: From the Northern state of Europe called Sweden comes ST... Sweden is well known country for their handball team, but they were heavily beaten by the Croatian team [we rule!] on some championships. :) But, don't be fooled... Although Aqua and Dr. Alban come from his country, his music is very original, inovative and sounds nothing link those previously mentioned. In short, it's some very original audio journey. Emotions In A Box was the real thing... ST's release on Monotonik/Mono211 netlabel. But Stefan claims he's not happy with it. Why? Beats me... It's very good release. You'll be able to see that Stefan doesn't talk as much as Psilodump, for instance [hi, Dumpy! :)], but his answers were very informative. And that's all that counts. Hit it, maestro!

ST, please introduce yourself to us...

I'm Stefan Ternemar? ;)

You Swedes are so well spoken people... ST is just like Psilodump a very well spoken man... :D

Ok... That's a very good beginning... now... How old are you?

I'm 22.. i think.

What do you do in your 22-years-old-life?

Right now I'm writing songs for my debut album.

Tell us more about it? What style and on what label?

It's indiepop and the label is musicrelated. I've been working on it for a while now and I think it's gonna turn out great. Amazing, that answer took like 3 minutes to write.

For some time now, you've been releasing on netlabels. Give us your discography.

I've only released 2 ep's. Emotions In A Box and I'll Meet You There. Both where released on monotonik. And I released a tune at Sutemos.

Are you satisfied with your releases? Would you like to release more or you're alright with this tempo of releasing?

I don't like Emotions In A Box. That EP isn't me at all. But I'm really happy with how I'll meet you there EP turned out. At first I wanted to get as much music out as fast as possible. And I didn't really care if the music where good or not. Now I'm taking my time. And I don't feel a need to release music all the time. I don't wanna spit out crap.

So, you work a lot easier without pressure?

Not really. I need pressure. But there are different kinds of pressure.

For example? What kind of pressure ST needs to finish his audio journeys?

It's hard to explain. I need to feel that what I'm doing is for real.

I see... In the future you will focus on releasing on real labels or netlabels?

Both.

Any future relases planned?

Not really. But I wanna do something with Bliss. We have talked about it for some time now and I hope that we will work togheter someday.

Some time ago, you've mentioned that Bliss influenced you a lot... How exactly?

Yeah, when I started making music I just did it for fun. And by fun I mean like crap music with lyrics that include words like poo. But when I heard Bliss everything changed. I started to take my own music seriously...

Except Bliss, name for us some of your musical influences.

I don't have many musical influences. But Benjamin Gibbard is one of the best songwriters of all time. I truly love his music.

What are you playing right now during this interview? :)

What A suprise. Benjamin Gibbard - You Remind Me Of Home :)

Wicked! :) During our off the record conversation you've mentioned experimenting with exotic instruments... When will you move in that direction and can I play my didgeridoo for you? :)

Not exotic instruments. Just odd instrument. But the music will still be the same. I'd love to sample your didgeridoo.

That's a deal then... A couple of years ago, I played it at several dnb/goa/gabber parties... But, enough about me. Let's go back to you.

Good for you... I guess.

Shut up! :D

;)

Name some netlabel superstars of your choice... We're getting to the end of this interview so the questions are getting a little bit tricky.

Monotonik, Sutemos. I don't know about the rest of 'em. Oh, you mean artist?

And them, too... :)

Fusedmarc, Bliss, Troupe, Planet Boelex.

Do you play at some parties, maybe? Your music sounds perfect for some lounge events.

I would love to do it. But I can't figure out how.

Try stalking some promotors, maybe?

I don't know how to play livemusic. I can't just bring a computer on the set and just sit there with a cup of tea. I have to do something. But what?

Use the Ableton, Stefan... :) I wish you luck with experimenting with playing live... Now, some last quick questions...

Thanks for the tip.

Being rich and doing crappy music for some major label or stay underground and be happy, but not very wealthy?

What do you think?

You don't look like a sellout to me, so we'll keep that topic open and let the general public decide... In you favour! :D

Beer or hard stuff?

I don't drink.

Coffee or tea?

I love coffee. But I don't drink it anymore. It's just going to mess up your mind. So I have to say tea.

Clubs or pubs?

Pubs.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

Being rich making crap music ;) ..I don't know. Maybe I'll work as a sound engineer and producing my third album.

Where's Croatia?

Before of after google?

Before :)

Before - Greenland, After - Serbia?

Well, that's the answer to my question which I'll accept, but I'm not happy with it! :) We can see clearly that Google is truly your friend... :) Thank you for the chat, ST.

No prob.

DraCo

name: Psilodump

homepage : www.x-dump.com

occupation: Sweden's underground celebrity (Swedish stallion) and also man behind the microdisko project

Intro: Weird beeps over bouncing rhythms... That's the first thing that pops into my mind when I read or hear his name. My first contact with him was after his release on Kahvi collective. As you'll read, he's cool person who claims to be well spoken... Which he is, when he gets going he can't stop (chit-chat about live gigs, musical influences, releases and eating/drinking habits). The underlying message from this interview could be interpreted like this: accept no dogmas, always walk around with question mark and never compose anything drunk. It doesn't sound nice the following day. :) From far away... From the North of Europe... Near the place where Vikings were... I present you, ladies and gents, the amazing Psilodump!

Hi, Psilodump... A short introduction, if you don't mind? ;)

Right... umm... I'm Psilodump :) I make music! mostly of electronic nature, but not exclusively :P

You're well spoken, man... Really. :)

I am, but I just need to get started ;)

Can you tell us something about your musical background? Equipment you use, influenced and stuff like that.

Well... This is tricky for me to tell, since I've been through so many stages of developement in my music, and still going, and been both consciously and subconsciously influenced by music and sound whereever I go... I did watch very much tv when I was a kid, and I was very keen on the music played in cartoons and other shows, that I recorded on tapes and stuff, I used to do some mixes of tiny bits of different tunes, both from tv and radio and other tapes. Also recording my own voice and warping it by different methods on my tapedeck. then in 1991, I inherited an Amiga 500 from my oldest brother, which enabled me to start tracking - not that I had any plans or anything, just driven by curiosity. Then it became so fun to sequence and track tunes, that I did it quite much, and then I realized that the Amiga could be complemented with a sampler, which basically could be used as a tapedeck, and my dream was to record different sounds and mix them together on the Amiga. So finally I bough a sampler. Before 1994 I had totally against electronic music (since I was into hardrock and metal basically ;P) but then in december 1994 I bought a single by Members of Mayday, called "We Are Different", and I was very thrilled by the kind of odd sounds and the way the tune was build, and studied it alot - and realized, that the techniques of the sequences were not that different from the stuff that I had tracked - so I bought a couple of more singles, and tried making the same kind of tricks, and I succeeded in making bashing tunes eventually :))) With this as my base, I started experimenting away then parallell to this I had taken some piano lessons, but failed miserably, and my oldest brother taught me the basics of playing the drums...

Well, anyways, the idea was that I could mix everything with everything, but the system resources were limited and the program didn't allow more channels than 4 and more than 31 samples, which lengths also were limited, the sound quality was only 8bit, and I always dreamed about having the ability to create something in high quality sound (which is kinda sad today, cause the demand is the opposite) - later I bought an Amiga1200 with turbo-expansion and lots of memory, which enabled me to use more advanced programs and use midi with an external soundmodule, and several audio-channels, also, I started using a harddrive instead of floppies - this developement was very exciting and opened a totally new ways of doing things - meanwhile, the new music output of the artists that I used to listen to and enjoy, were getting very crappy, really, so I started looking for other kinds of music - this was around the time a friend of mine showed me something called mp3's - that one could download tunes in CD-quality without buying the actual records - and he had found a website that included the whole (I think) discography of an artist called Aphex Twin. The stuff of Aphex Twin that I stuck for was the "I care because you do"-album, with total depth of pads and kinda dreamish, nostalgic, "sad" tunes... It totally hit me. I started doing more "non-happy" melodies, and went totally down in a period of depressing, and dark, scary music. I discovered this was a way of calibrating emotions, to discover and get familiar with different aspects of oneself, how one can respond to different types of music and sounds

But, today you prefer happier sound?

No ;D

More childish flavour in your tunes?

Todays happy psilodump-music is in fact not happy at all :D The happiness is a kind of expression of extreme confusion, mania and madness, if you will ;)

The latest EP I've hear from you is called You Sick Little Monkey. Tt's released under your online community/label. Tell us more about it.

Well, in 2003 I assembled this musical "collective" of five people (incl myself) - not because of the fact that they were my friends and happened to make music, because I have plenty of friends, even closer ones, who make different kind of music, but by the fact that these four made a certain kind of music that I could not categorize, yet they had something in common, a certain mood kinda, and most of all kept my attention to it ;) But unfortunetly I had some experience with "crews", like for example The Art of Realistix (1995-97), when evertbody decides and wants to do everything, then there becomes many fights and people tend to displace their responsibility etc etc etc, so I hade it very clear from the beginning to everybody, that The X-Dump was (unfortunetly) NOT a democratic project, and that I always would have to last say-so and other horrible dictatorish structures ;P hahaha Oh well, but at the same time, I don't have to get too involved in the process of the artist to creating his/her own art, because I know that if you premeditate and plan too much, you might ruin the atmosphere and spirit of the creation. Well anyways, we did a few gigs together, and my plan has always been to be able to create a label based on this collective. and this netlabel thing we started this year is kind of promotion, if you will, for the future forthcoming "real" label. :) We need support, and people to discover what we have here.

My favourite track from that EP is "Follow the Leaders".... Any future plans? Some new releases you can announce?

Well, I just need to point out here that "Follow the Leaders" is a sarcastic remark, and is also based on a sample in the beginning of the tune ;) haha....

New releases? Well, there is a label in finland that have been waiting to release my "Sell Your Brains EP" vinyl for over a year, and which I haven't delivered the material to, which is kinda shameful, and I don't know if they are interested anymore. Then there are going to be some MP3-releases naturally, by me and the other X-Dumpians, a The Korvstoppers (Sbindon vs Psilodump) release on Monotonik, and a solo-one aswell (?), and a The X-Dump compilation on 8bitpeoples, aaand, a Psilodump release on candymind.com, and a new Pushiro release on The Art of Realistix (realistix.x-dump.com) with 3 tracks made by me in 1997. Then the (hopefully) most interesting release will be my debut CD-album "Psilodumputer - Psilodumputer" on the Ninjani Diskus label (ninjanidiskus.net), in a couple of months! The rest I have forgotten :/

Also, I do point out that I'm NOT satisfied, I DO want to release things on other offline formats, not just MP3 :) I just can't get bothered to send demos to labels who don't have time and interest to listen to it anyhow ;)

You've been a busy lad over the year! :) Some time ago, you mentioned me that you had you fingers in microdisko project in your hometown. What's that?

Yeaah microdisko yes - it's basically a montly club in stockholm, were we book chiptune-artists, aswell as other electronic artists, from sweden and other countries. The project originally started when I contacted Johan (Role Model) to present the idea of making a Microfestival in Stockholm some day, like micromusic were doing in several other countries in Europe at that time. I believed that Johan would be more organierd and could get things started better than me, on this matter, and we were thinking of many way to fund the project and stuff. But eventually we got nowhere with this. Then Johan suggested that we could not do this just him and me, so he posted on some list (maybe the LSDJ-list?) and advertised people to join to help create a microfestival in Stockholm, and a handful of people joined the project, and finally after some meetings, we decided to do a club!

Today, we are one of stockholms most popular monthly clubs, and have received fine feedback from both audience and press =)

Give us 5 of yours favourite netlabels.

Ouch, now that is not a fair question, since I don't know that many netlabels, and unfortunetly haven't had the time and patience (nor attention span) to sit down and discover new netlabel music. But besides The X-Dump (which would be number 1;P haha) I'd vote for Candymind.com, and I know that Kahvi collective has released some good stuff. But then again, my approach to music has almost always been that one cannot expect *everything* from a certain label, a certain artist or a certain style to be good or interesting whatsoever, just because it's that exact certain label/artist/style. For me it's useless to categorize music. Some stuff are good and some not - then one can certainly run some statics of whatever, but I cannot be bothered ;)

And what about favourite artists?

This is also very very tricky, since I enjoy very much music, in different styles, different contexts and different whatever :) but the majority of music I like is about 10-30 years old, and I very rarely find new music that interesting. and believe it or not, the music I enjoy listening to is not always that complex of difficult, quite the opposite. Then there is the fact that I enjoy listening to music that is not always that good either, just as long it's inspirational, and complex music does not inspire me, not at all really. But one of my favourite bands, for the last couple of years, is Pink Floyd (1970-79 period) - other bands i enjoy are NIN, Orbital, Hardfloor, Awex, Yello, Kraftwerk, System of a Down, Laibach and favourite artists include David Bowie, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Westbam (early-mid 90s), Björk, Sbindon, Paza (not the chip stuff as much), Hallucinogen, Moby, Din Stalker, Lithis, Skruvmejsel, Dorothy's Magic Bag, Frank Zappa, James Brown....... aaaaaaaaaand I'm sure the list can be made much longer :DDD

Then there are some single tunes by some artists, just like one hit, that I really really like, more than the most of my favourite artists, but then the rest of that same artist is not as good at all :) hehe

Whoaa, right The Beatles!!! Cannot f*cking forget the beatles!!!

How many releases you have so far? Can you even count them? It seems to me that your one hyperactive bugger, aren't you? :)

Well, official releases offline is only 3 solo vinyls, a few remixes and compilations, but I have have missed maaaany chances of both CD and vinyl since 1997, mostly because of me, but also because of empty promises and requests of changes in the material which I haven't been bothered to make. Online, on the Internet, I have been able to release much more things, obviously. Problem is not that I ack inspiration to send demos or that my material totally sucks, the problem is that not many labels know I excist, and I don't know they do either, so I don't have a clue were to send my stuff. The thing more hard to count is my tunes that I have produced over the past years, allthough I have kept a register of every one, and have aimed to retain every single on of them - if I loose an original to a tune I've made, tears are not far away - I would go crazy.... ehm.. crazier ;)) But approximetly I have produced over 800 solo tracks, numerous tracks for collaborations and other projects, unofficial remixes and have thousands of unfinished tunes. I have "learned" to produce tunes extreamly quickly and at the same time maintaining the quality. I need to do everything quick in order to keep me interested, and I rather finish a complete tune in just a few hours, but sometimes I leave tunes be, and not finish then until years later, this happends often to tunes that are extreamly emotionally delicate, which I don't want to ruin the feeling of. The making of music has been "built-in" into my brain, that mostly when I do music I sink into another world, and don't think about anything, and the tune kinda paints itself - and afterwars I tend to go "whoaaa, how did I DO that???", and sadly I cannot help when people ask me that question. I simply just can't remember each small think in one single tune out of a thousand ;)))

I haven't released that much, and actually since the end of the 90's people have always told me "I can't believe you haven't released anything yet"... but I guess that those people who do release stuff do it by co-incident and because they happend to know the right people, and be at the right place at the right time. also, I don't believe the music itself is enough. Music is always put secondary or third. Both by the industry and the audience. Sad or not, I don't know. Call me naive, but for me music always goes first hand.

But as long as nobody knows who Psilodump is, or misunderstands what Psilodump is about, I guess I won't be releasing stuff :)

Good or bad, I guess my music is not "marketing"-friendly ;) Not only to the fact that I blend styles, but I also do different stuff and unexpected turns. People won't know what to expect from me next = bad sales, I'm sure.

Apart from producing, you also play at parties... Any favourite gigs?

Ah yes, since 1996, so far, I've now done 71 gigs (2 of them cancelled due to certain circumstances, but I was present). It's been festivals, underground rave-parties, huge commercial rave-parties, demo-parties, concerts, clubs, cafés, you name it. In several countries aswell: ) Favourtie gigs, as everything else, is hard for me to tell, since i haven't found any algoritms / external parameters that makes me feel the gig being great. Mostly I totally HATE doing gigs - it's fun to get gigs, and it's fun when one gets people going, but generally it's totally embarrassing to stand and play ones music, because, it's ME on display for people, when people should be focusing on the music. There is something strange, which I haven't quite figured out that some (most?) people often require a SHOW at gigs. Seems like, here again, the music is highly secondary in most cases. Well, Psilodump is no Show. There is no Psilodump show. I'm very greatful that there are people who understand music, and is not stuck to the dependance of mearly shallow appearence of muscians. But this is something I've been dreaming of doing - a sensational big quasi-theathrical concert for big audiences! But all based on the concept of the music, not focusing of me creating music at that time, real-time. Fact is: Psilodump sux real-time! There is no real-time Psilodump ;) Buuut to answer the question..... I actually don't remember.... but I'm sure it was good and both me and the audience were having a great time! ;)

You use turntables or have live act?

I use a laptop =) I don't know how to DJ :O I wish to learn but I hear it needs lots of practice, and I totally suck in practicing ;)

Do you think that the usage of some specific software like Ableton is killing the turntables? And that playing like that isn't the proper thing to do?

I am not in such position, or have any bussiness in judging or moralizing over how other people perform their acts or sets. I feel everybody may and SHOULD use any solution or means possible in the pursuit of their ideal output, which they are satisfied and confortable with. External factors, like trends, subcultures or other DJ's/acts should not "sabotage" this. Then again, I'm not the right person to ask about DJ-culture, since I never understood it. All I know is that there is no improper way of displaying a piece of music... Well at last as long as one doesn't claim somebody elses work is ones own ;P Accept no dogmas. As long as it sounds good, anything goes.

For the end, I have some quick questions... Ready?

Sure, shoot :)

Software or hardware for producing?

No specific, all I can get hold of and use :)

Stay underground producer or to be a sellout and produce MTV kind of music? :)

I don't recognize either underground nor mainstream - both are equal illusions.

Mainstreamers tend to get some nice upcoming girls under their hands... for producing purporses, of course... What is gabberhouse?

Gabberhouse? I don't know? Depends on who one asks :)

Junk food or real food?

Whatever keeps me on my feet, but real food tastes often much better and is, I believe, much healthier :) Real food for me.

If one gets hammered like Keith Richards and then gets inspiration and starts to produce track(s)... Is the result always satisfying? :)

I'm sure producing music under the influence of something might be catastrophic. I tried making a tune together with a friend once while being drunk - it sounded good at the time, but next day, when sobered up, we realized it totally sucked ;) hahaha

Speaking of booze... Hard stuff or beer?

Bailey's or white russian plez ;) haha

And what about the usage of exotic instruments in your tracks, i.e. flutes, didgeridoo, sitar etc.?

I use any instruments available and that I come up something with :D I do use flute in some tunes, and I own a digeridoo myself, but unfortunetly I fail in playing both myself, so when I need some "real" instrument in my tunes, I involve somebody else to play it for me, with me giving instructions and notes ;)

I don't think music should be limited to anything, anything that sounds great, goes basically ;)

What music is playing at your place during this interview?

Well before nothing but the television on low volume, until about two minutes when I put "Pushiro - Collecting Shit 1997" in winamp ;) haha

Some words of wisdom for the end? Spread the Psilodump vibe and stuff like that...

Accept no dogma, expect and believe nothing - constantly question everything, most of all yourself. Support and spread the word about The X-Dump collective! :P I bet I would have more and better words of wisdom, but ah, I forget ;P hahaha

DraCo

name: Planet Boelex

homepage : www.boelex.org

occupation: Finnish musician-hobbyist

Intro: For some time, Planet Boelex is releasing his unique sweet flavoured music. I think that he doesn't get enough exposure online so I decided to conduct a little interview. As you can read below, Ossi (Planet Boelex) is giving us his opinions about todays .net labels, his influences and other cardinal points in life (like knowing his geography). :) I personally heard some PB's stuff a way back during the 90's, when he was a part of early .net labels/modgroups. Releasing .xm and .mod tracks (quite popular in those days, because there was no alternative). I promised him that his old nickname and releases from that time wouldn't be mentioned. I semi-kept my promise, becaquse I needed a good intro story. :) I hope that Ossi won't be mad... After all, he lives in Finland and I live across the Europe in Croatia. His hands couldn't possibly be that long! :)

I've started this interview by listening to his latest EP called Second Thoughts [mtk147] released on Monotonik (their latest release). You can download it here. If you like this masterpiece, and there is no sane reason why you shouldn't like it, give it a nice review over at archive.org.

Hi, Ossi... For starters, can you introduce yourself to Croatian (and net) public?

Hello, it's nice being interviewed. :) I am 25 year old Finnish hobbyist musician, nowadays known mostly from the Planet Boelex "alter ego".

When did your music career start?

Well, I'm not sure if we could call it career, but my first release appeared on the net around 1997, I've been doing stuff since like 1995 or so.

Were you part of demo scene in those days or just freelancer/musician?

I've been following demoscene things happening since early 90's from the Amiga days, though I've never participated into it myself that much. Things started for me with the netlabels (or modgroups as they were called by the time).

Phase^D, as I recall... You prefer .net label than real life labels. Do you think you'll release something on some real life label?

Netlabels have been fine for me so far, but it seems that new labels are being established every week or so. This is getting a bit frustrating, just too many releases coming from everywhere. Real label releases doesn't sound bad, though it's not my ultimate goal. I feel more that I don't want to limit the listeners to those who can get hold of the records, if the editions are small.

Your last EP released on Monotonik is something really special. What inspired you to produce such great tracks?

I'm glad you liked it. Some people get inspired by the summer, some by the beer. I get my inspiration mostly from good music. I've been mostly doing the kind of music I'd like to hear myself. The records I've been listening (too) much probably reflects directly in my works, but I've still my own touch which identifies the sound. (so I've heard :) I hear a lot of Squarepusher's influence in your tracks. Melodical, but yet rhythmical... Without drilling. :) Am I right?

Yes, it's kind of true. Lots of older Warp catalogue is influencing me, including Squarepusher. Early Autechre, Plaid, Boards of Canada are probably the ones that make the deepest impact on me. Nowadays "drill'n bass" doesn't impress me that much, ofcourse it's good that things are evolving and new kind of experimental sounds sounding fresh. But I find myself comfortable being stuck in the older pieces. My own productions are often referred as kind of "semi-retro" too, which is not a bad thing afterall.

Once I refered to your tracks on some forum as Muffler demo-styled tracks with Warp atmoshpere. For general public, Muffler is Finish producer who was in hotspot back in the '98 and '99 as the most popular demo musician. Nowdays he produces and releases drum 'n' bass tracks. For the time being, you just produce? You don't perform?

So far no performing, but this might change in the future. Nowadays new solutions for electronic performances have some very interesting products, which I've been experimenting lately a bit. Some day, there might be performances, but they need some careful preparation, so please don't take it as a promise.

Software or hardware, concerning producing? Don't give us any names, just an opinion.

Software definately going strong. Hardware, for me is more likely a nice addition that could make more possibilities in a live performance, for example.

From your point of view... Do you think that .net labels are here to stay? I mean, for 10 years now some of them exist (like Monotonik/Mono211 or Tokyodawn). Do you think that things will drastically change in the future?

This might be tricky question for the current label owners as well! :) Since you mentioned Tokyodawn, they have already taken the steps further from the traditional netlabels, they release real records, mixes, their artist perform live abroad and so on. I'd be very pleased to see the long running labels being there in 2015 too, maybe evolved few steps to direction or another. But I'd also like to see more netlabel related review sites, for picking up the real gems from the masses. Just look at the number of releases on archive.org, for example, I couldn't think myself as the only one missing a bit of guidance.

One guy from Croatia is maintaining a blog with .net label release. He's a previous Theralite .net label owner/organizer. It's some quality stuff... You can find it at http://phonq.blogspot.com - I think that that's the right thing for focusing on new artists, releases and labels.

It's a free commercial for Argus... On with the show... :)

Yes, I'm familiar with that one, and few others. It's totally what we need more.

I couldn't agree more... Tell us something about your future plans? Any new EP's or stuff like that?

Well.. some new releases will be up, the summer is finally here, but if you know Finnish weather you probably know I'll have plenty of rainy days to work on new stuff. No timelines for releases, it doesn't work out that way for me. Maybe preparing the performance, that would be new and exciting.

Well, your music gives a certain summer note... I can picture myself in some lounge bar listening to "I Met a Girl With Butterfly Wings (Planet Boelex Remix)" or Shower Curtain. What is your personal favourite track or EP ever released? You can go a waaaay back... :)

I'd have to say that I'm very pleased with "Windbreak" myself. It's very simple tune with the most basic structure, and it was done in a very timely manner, however it just works. :)

Some people claim that remixing isn't composing, because one is using other people's ideas, forms and samples... I don't approve that theory because I think that remixing is a way of expression. One hears a good song and gives a personal touch to it. Can we hear your opinion?

In my opinion remixes are very nice addition, often giving new aspects to the original work. Sometimes I have found some specific remix of a song interesting, even if the original track did not do much for me. Also, the remix could not be better than the original, since there wouldn't be anything without the original. It's kind of co-operation work, definately good, adding flavours from two (or more) artists that might represent totally different genre. I'd love to make more remix works myself, especially with vocals.

Have you done a lot of remixes during the years?

Actually none released, prior to the one with ST. (he's refering to his latest EP released on Monotonik)

Are you ready for some quick questions?

I suppose so

To be a sellout and release something on some major label or to be cool and underground?

More likely the underground.

I heard that winter raves were a big hit in Finland... Would you perform on subzero temperatures? :)

If the equipment could do, definately yes!

What is hardcore techno?

Reminds me of repetive 4/4 beats, not interesting.

Where is Croatia?

Near Yugoslavia?

Uh-huh... ;) Words of wisdom for the ending of this little interview?

Remember, if something is free, it doesn't mean it's not any good.

DraCo