Trancient Dreams Interview

Trancient Dreams a collective who fuse dub with world grooves, electronica, dub-step, drum & bass etc. In my opinion although if you like a track it doesn't matter how it's made. It's always good to watch a band rather than a laptop set.

So bearing this in mind and the interesting grooves coming out before the album release. Martin Hall-Davis took some time out of his busy schedule to introduce us to the band and their ideology with this interview.

1) Could you tell us a little about how you guys met and the ideas behind Trancient Dreams?

Well Spira and I met through Myspace in 2005. We were into each other’s music and had communicated by email from England to Norway (71 degrees above the Arctic Circle!).

It was in March of 2006, when we actually met. At Tim Brans Launch Party for his new project Subsonar (after he had departed company from Dreadzone). It’s a small world as we had both befriended Tim separately through Myspace and at the same time (unknown to him) we had both been invited separately to his launch party. With this in mind we made a week of it and built up a great friendship in that short time.

We had already decided to try to incorporate Spira’s vocals into Trancient Dreams at that point. It was something I had wanted for the project since I had started it in 2000. Prior to this I was using lots of vocal samples to achieve the desired sound (mainly female Eastern material). After our first meeting in March I decided to go to her Suspira Studios in the Arctic Circle to record our first song together “Time to Unwind”. It was amazingly easy to work with each other, both of us bringing unique and crucial parts to the Trancient Dreams sound. It was like a dream. We spent a week locked away in her Arctic Studios where we created and polished 3 new songs out of the ether. This was the start of many coincidences to come.

Bob Field our bass player has been with us for 2 years, enforcing the bass lines that are a prominent feature of our sound. Bob is a long term friend of Spira from her time living and playing in bands in England in the 90s. David Unlimbo plays guitar and brings his psychedelic style to our sound. David has spent many years developing with bands (the most current is Akahum). I'd also met David through Myspace and we played a lot of gigs separately at the same festivals and events over the last 4 years. It was only natural that he should join us for our live shows. Mark 'Mindflux' Fletcher plays Synths and Percussion with us for live gigs, again we met through Myspace. Mark is also a busy man with music projects such as ZubZub, Dream Machine and Champignon.

We all have a love of the same music. Music that has inspired us all over the years. There are just a few differences between us to make our sound an interesting and exciting addition to that whole underground psychedelic scene that came out of the 90s in England.

2) Your new album is due out next year could you tell us a little about what we can expect?

Well it’s been a huge learning curve but a very natural transformation from the mainly programmed 1st Cd “Into The Ether”. With all the new influences in my life (genres and band members) it is going to be stunning.

The Dub genre always plays a big part in our sound. While the addition of Spira Saxe's silky smooth vocals has enabled us to create songs which I think have a commercial value (in a good way of course and it still has a very cool and underground vibe to it all). The feedback we've got has been great and across a whole spectrum of people and ages. So, all in all I'm pleased that we haven't pigeon holed ourselves too much in terms of genre. We like to blend a lot of genres new and old together in whatever way feels good.

Of course you could say Dub is in there. The interesting thing with that is I have discovered that so many genres fit around Dub and its 3rd beat emphasis. This is the only genre from what I can tell has that much affinity with other genres and yet is so unique. So a great starting place for us and I was always drawn to dub music when I was growing up. So with the new material you get Drum and Bass, Dubstep, Breaks, Jazz and Trance influences all with a smattering of Psychedelica.

The idea behind the album is based on sound therapy and sacred geometry. Information that exists in sound when it’s created. Spira and myself have found an obsession forming from these amazing facts and have been inspired by it. I feel it is the most interesting thing; the universe and all that its mass holds. That and the fact we as humans can play with that and understand it (even if we don’t understand it). A Universal Language we can all understand, it says so much.

3) The album is produced by Merv Pepler (Eat Static, Ozrics etc.) have you managed to learn anything from all his years of experience or is it more a case of sending the tracks over the net and waiting for the final result?

Well I got to say it is an absolute honour to have Merv On-board this project. For me he has been my inspiration for creating music in the electronic world and everyone in the band has been influenced by him in some shape or form. So it seemed natural to ask him to produce tracks from the new album (I never thought he would agree to it, but what you don’t ask for you don’t get).

I think with me and Spira's love of Eat Static there is a definite influence there in our tracks. That and of course Ozric Tentacles (who were another huge influence on us all). So when we sent the tracks in a raw state to Merv we were sure he would hit the nail on the head. However, what has been coming back to our ears has surpassed what we expected.

It seems Merv has got an edge to what we should sound like as a band. We don’t like it, we love it! “Wild Fire Revisited” was the first track we collaborated on and the finished product just goes to show his natural affinity with producing us as a band. He has been amazingly supportive and we can say to him "we are not sure about that bit". He is so interested in what we like about it and makes sure we really do like what he is doing. So yes, we send the tracks and wait for the result. But so far the results have been exciting and excellent. So we are really happy to have someone that cares and respects our sound producing us. It’s the best decision we have made as a band to get him involved.

4) Could you tell us about your set up and if you have any favourite hardware or software?

Yes, well I come from the old school so there is a lot of hardware floating around the studio. We have Korg X3 and Z1 Synths and I borrowed a JD800 for a year or two (I love that Synth). Guitars (Electric, Bass and Acoustic), loads of percussion, the new Korg Wave drum and most recently an Alesis ADAT for recording all our ideas down (and anything weird and unusual that makes a great sound). Analogue Mixers and outboard signal processing.

However, I do love my software. The development in computers and software over the years has been amazing. So I have incorporated the two, hardware and software into the studio set up. I use an Ableton Launchpad which is an amazing interface and have the novation SL Remote and various other usb midi controllers, Evolution UC33 and other keyboard controllers. We mainly use Ableton and Reason 5 for ideas these days. But Cubase 5 to record Spira’s vocals and overdubs from the other band members. We can rewire the other apps if needed to Cubase. My favourite soft synths (well there are at least ten which I think are unique and different). The Korg Legacy collection and most of Native Instruments Vsti’s are amazing. Absynth and Massive are right up my street and I love Tone 2’s Gladiator and Firebird and Uhe’s Zebra 2 and Ace. Novation’s V-Staition and Imp Oscar…And of course I built two Quad core computers for Spira and myself to run all this amazing stuff

5) Are there any plans for a Trancient Dreams live show?

Yes there are! We are intent on doing a whole bunch of gigs in 2011 to promote the new album. We have been away a long time buried in the studio trying to get the best of the new material we recorded since being a band recorded down and committed.

So Festivals and events are being worked on at present. I now have a little more time to be arranging bookings which I have been trying to concentrate on since we returned to Norway in September after playing Waveform Festival 2010.

So any promoter’s out there looking for interesting bands please contact me

martindavis@hotmail.com

6) If you could play a live set anywhere you wanted where would it be?

Ha! Now that is an interesting question. Hmmmm…I think Sunrise at Angkor Watt Temple in Cambodia (one of the most amazing places I have been too) or Stone Henge at Solstice. Let the stones amplify us to an audience of like-minded people. Yeah!

http.www.myspace.com/trancientdreams
http://www.trancientdreams.co.uk

M&M's Interview

Martim Joao a.k.a. M&M's is a Portuguese d.j. whose down-tempo sets cover a wide range of genres such as neo-classical, idm, ambient, psychedelic and jazz.

I felt this suited our eclectic tastes and asked Martim to submit a mix. As he finds profiles boring we opted for this interview to accompany the mix instead.



1) Could you tell us a little about yourself and what inspires you to dj in the ambient genre?

Well I've always been a music maniac; I was raised listening to Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Chopin, by my mid teens I discovered the love generation Classics such as Patti Smith, The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix and the Psychedelic Masters Pink Floyd. Different projects followed like Dead Kennedys, Crass, Sonic Youth, Swans, Young Gods, Diamanda Galas, Test Dept, Pixies, Fura del Baus etc. This was in the late 80's and music was rapidly changing. I started compiling my favorite tracks into K7s and playing them everywhere, from private parties with friends to everybody's Walkman. I had to get the right order to make some kind of sense or story.

In 1990 I went to live in South America and started to listen to more ethnic tunes and traditional folk music from around the world, it was only when I got back home in the late 90's that I was introduced to electronic soundscapes, drum'n'bass and psy-trance. The ambient genre was always present but I didn't really looked at it as a genre, but more like a state of mind, a frequency where the tunes are in balance with my true nature, this is probably due to my childhood living in the country side listening to classical music. So for me Ambient is music, all the rest are arms that emerge from ambient, but don't get me wrong I love all those arms. :)

Inspiration is a tricky subject; it happens most of the time in short and subtle moments that are really out of my control, the hard part is the everyday research for tracks between hundreds of artists. The moment that a particular inspiration comes is blissful and I live for that hit, from that moment on I float away until the work is finished. I can't live without it, it’s like that feeling when you find an amazing track and you play it over and over again like there's no tomorrow. That you've found the music and heavens doors are finally opened. Sometimes the true engine is a book or a movie, or just an interesting subject that crossed my mind talking to a friend, or a documentary of science or history, or just a simple and quiet morning observing nature’s simplicity.

2) You played a four hour chillout set at the Boom festival in Portugal, how did you find the experience?

DJ sets at Boom in the ambient area are always 4 hours long and I really dig it. It’s just the right amount of time in order to go into a full journey through different ambient spaces. I've always enjoyed long sessions - once I played a gig in South Africa for 12 hours! :)

The experience was amazing, Boom Festival is the right place and time to move forward in every aspect, it’s a Tribal gathering from all over the planet, lots of friends from many places join to express life and enjoy that awareness. So, yes it was amazing. It was great to have the 5pm/9pm schedule to make the transition from Sun to Moon, people enjoyed it and I was really happy with the outcome.

3) Your currently compiling a compilation cd "Noosphere" could you tell us a little more about the project?

Well I'm still compiling the VA to www.ajnavision.com, hopefully it will come out in early 2011, it is a digital release from a young Portuguese label, check the site for updates and releases.

4) When creating your sets do you prefer hardware, software or a combination of the two?

I’ve always worked with my CDJs-100 and DJM-300 from Pioneer, just recently because one of the CDJ got broken I tried some software and I found it really useful, so nowadays I use both, the software to edit tracks, samples and add effects, and the CDJ to mix all together.

5) Now for the Old Desert Island Disc question. Name three ambient albums you couldn’t live without?

Well that's a hard one really, especially because I really extract my favorite tracks and forget about the other ones...
I can say that presently I'm amazed by the work of Jon Hopkins, Doyeq, Field Rotation and Murcof.

But I have more than a few great albums that I can't live without and some of them are not really ambient:

Bob Holroyd - The Hallow Man
Sandoo - Twilight
Brian Eno & Robert Fripp - Evening Star
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Jon Hopkins - Insides
Doyeq - Eyelashes of lanterns
Murcof & Erik Trufazz - Mexico
Field Rotation - Licht und Schatten
Amon Tobin - Permutation
Asura - life2
Bruno Sanfillippo - Piano Textures 1 and 2

Tripswitch interview

1) Firstly thank you for taking the time out from your busy schedule to complete this interview. Could you tell us a little about yourself and how you started your musical career?

Having trained on the piano and trumpet as a kid, I settled on the guitar
as my instrument of choice at 12. I went up the classical grades through my
teens and taught myself the electric in parallel with that by painstakingly
learning licks from my record / tape collection. Play ... pause ... rewind
... play ... pause ... you get the idea. I played in a lot of bands in my
teens, blues, jazz, goth-rock, metal - we used to play pubs and clubs around
Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. I've always been broad-minded in my
musical tastes, I think it's healthy.

At the beginning of the 90s I started DJing progressive house and
Frankfurt trance, and I had a mate with a serious collection of analog gear
- a couple of 303s, a Juno 60, JX-8P, 808, 909, Korg Mono-Poly - so I used
to spend days and nights there mucking about and learning about midi and cv.
Then I moved onto Protracker on the Amiga, and started to build my own
collection of synths, starting with a Juno 106.

By '96 I was living in London and had immersed myself in the psy-trance
scene. I lived with Chris and Kostas from Magus for a year or two and we
kind of developed in tandem - I moved through Cubase, Cakewalk and finally
onto Logic in '98. By '99 I was co-owner of a studio and rehearsal room in
Kennington, which became a bit of a hub for all sorts of musical activity.
We put on some small trance parties under the name "Club Tiny" and hosted
some of the cream of London's trance DJs - the Transient guys in particular.

A CD of some trance I'd been writing ended up in the hands of Humphrey
Bacchus, who was managing Dragonfly at the time, and it had a couple of
chillout tracks tacked on the end - "Shamanic Tea" and "Deer Park" - and I
got a call saying he wanted to use Deer Park on a new LSD compilation. Then
he changed his mind and plumped for Shamanic Tea, and the comp came out as
"Mana Medicine". The rest, as they say, is history.

2) Your latest album "Geometry" was released in October. Could you tell us a little about we can expect?

Geometry's definitely moved away from "Circuit Breaker" and while it still
holds psychedelic influences, it's perhaps less identifiable as a psy-chill
album ... you can't keep writing the same stuff forever, it's important to
evolve musically or you just stagnate. It's been a bit scary anticipating
how it would be received among fans in the psytrance scene, especially after
so long and given the reputation "Circuit Breaker" has built up over the
years ... it's a relief to see that it's going down pretty well!

I'm now thoroughly in love with the guitar again and it features a lot
more on "Geometry". The ethnic influences have been replaced with more
6-string inspirations like shoegaze, blues and jazz while still maintaining
an primarily electronic thread. If anything it's generally a bit more dancey
than Circuit Breaker, with much of the second half sitting in the 115-120bpm
midtempo range.

Was this diluting of the psychedelia intentional? To some extent, yes.
Don't get me wrong, I love the scene, am still actively involved in terms of
festivals and parties and working with other labels, and I'm eternally
grateful for the support I've received from the psy community. At the same
time, I've been releasing for 10 years and there comes a point where you
have to start to think in commercial terms if you want to justify carrying
on. This scene, lovely and intimate though it is, is limited by its very
nature, and who wants to box themselves into a corner? Hopefully Geometry's
appeal is sufficiently wide to bring new listeners in without alienating the
old ones.

With CD sales in the psy scene all but dead in the water, and even digital
sales seemingly on the decline as fewer and fewer people are prepared to pay
for music, many artists now rely on gigging to make up their income.
Manageable if you're a main stage act gigging a lot, but as a chill producer
in the psy scene, there are very few promoters who consider what we do
merits more than a fraction of a main act's fees. It's understandable on one
level as people go to a dance festival to ... well, dance, so the budgets
are bound to be weighted that way. But on a practical level it makes it
very, very hard to build a sustainable career as a downtempo producer,
especially if you have kids to feed and mortgages to pay. Hence why
Geometry's taken so long to bring out ... you do what's needed to keep food
on the table, and sometimes the music has to take second place.

3) The album is being released on your own label "Section Records" could you give us an insight into the other acts you have on board?

I set Section Records up for 2 reasons - first, to take ownership of my
own music, and secondly to really focus my own musical tastes and provide an
outlet for anything fitting into those parameters. While quality downtempo
music will certainly be a cornerstone of Section, I'm also keen to explore
other, more uptempo styles and get back to my roots, as it were. I grew into
the psy scene after years DJing progressive house, and I'm going back to
that sound in a big way, both in my own productions and in the music I sign
and the remixers I'm bringing on board. I'm a big fan of dubstep and listen
to a lot of glitch too. I'm not ruling anything out at this stage, so be
prepared for some pretty diverse output over the coming years.

I've got a couple of really solid acts coming under the roster at the
moment. The first is Aurtas, a Japanese producer who's relatively unknown
but seriously, seriously talented. His music has an old-school progressive
house sound, Way Out West kinda vibe with delicate but solid production and
bags of skill with his composition. He's done some amazing remixes of my
first 3 singles which you'll hear soon. There needs to be more music like
his out there, so I'm gonna do something about it!

The other act I'm working with are Koan, who you may well know ... they're
a Russian act with a smooth and deep production technique and an ear for
melody that you don't come across very often. They also feature on the
Strange Parallels release and I have some excellent new material from them
to release in the New Year.

I'm also giving my own Codemonkey project some love after parking it up
for a while. Conceived as an outlet for anything more uptempo, it's
developed into two strands, one dark and dubsteppy and the other more
progressive and dancey. I'm having a lot of fun with it at the moment and
the New Year will finally see some Codemonkey releases hitting the shelves.

4) Which artists currently impress you?

Within the chill scene, I'd say Ultimae really have the crown right now. I
love everything Magnus (Solar Fields) produces, the new Asura album is
absolutely stunning, and I heard a sneak preview of some of the new Aes Dana
album the other week which really blew me away. Petit Ange is another great
producer under their wing. They're an amazing family down there and have
been super helpful with the set up of Section, and are also handling most of
my distribution.

In other genres - I've been listening to a lot of shoegaze and nu-gaze in
recent years, bands that stand out are Port Royal, Mint, Oceansize and of
course Sigur Ros and Ulrich Schnauss.

Dubstep / Glitch-hop/ IDM: Liquid Stranger, Opiuo, Bass Science / Matt B /
Nalepa, Deru, Tipper and my good friend Gaudi. On a UK dubstep tip, Kode9,
Burial, Benga, Breakage. For me, Burial's probably the most striking
producer overall of the past few years. His sound is so emotive for me, the
broken two-step beats take me right back to the years living in South
London, but he puts those memories in a deep, dark and otherworldly space
which I'd not really visited since Joy Division. Sublime.

Progressive / house / minimal etc: Shiloh, Luke Chable, Tom Glass, Ticon,
Perfect Stranger, Antix / Fiord and Iboga, Hope Recordings, Baroque and of
course Deadmau5.

5) Could you tell us about your set-up and provide a tip for inspiring musicians?

I've just stripped down my studio and rebuilt it ... I've actually gone
very zen this time. From being surrounded by synths, samplers and other gear
a few years ago, I'm now down to a bare minimum and far more efficient as a
result. I have one rack with my beloved Virus C and some mixing / mastering
outboard, a pair of Mackie monitors, Kurzweil K2000 and am still running a
Yamaha 01v mixer which connects to my interface via ADAT. The room is
acoustically treated with a number of products from the excellent Vicoustic
range.

I'm a Logic man through and through and have been using it for 12 years
now. Version 9 is outstanding, you can't beat it for flexibility and the new
Flex-time and Bounce in Place features are a godsend.

I have a couple of guitars at the moment, a Takamine steel-strung acoustic
and a Gibson Les Paul. I also have a bizarre aluminium foldaway Aria travel
guitar that's pretty dodgy really, but it's got a really bright sound that
works well for some things.

Here are my top tips for anyone starting out:

1) In terms of software, less is usually more. Don't be tempted to
overload your computer with every plugin and soft synth you can find,
regardless of how easy they may be to get hold of! Install less and devote
your time to mastering them, you'll be surprised what you can achieve
creatively and the theory you learn along the way. I have maybe 3 or 4
favourite soft synths which I use almost exclusively. Similarly with
plugins ... focus on quality rather than quantity.

2) When it comes to your album. work for the best publishing deal you can.
Find a publisher who will actively work with your music and get a lawyer to
look over the contract. That document could be pivotal to how your career
progresses from that point on.

3) Good quality monitors and a room whose sound you can trust will
probably be your most important investment if you're serious about your
production.

4) Be patient, believe in your music, refine your technique, and enjoy it!
Throw in a bit of luck and hopefully you'll be on your way. Writing music
can be a truly cathartic and enriching process if you do it for the right
reasons and with the right mindset.


Links:

http://sectionrecords.com/

.

http://www.tripswitch.mu/
.

http://www.facebook.com/nicktripswitch

.
http://www.facebook.com/sectionrecords

.

http://www.myspace.com/nicktripswitch

.

http://www.myspace.com/sectionrecords

*Originally compiled for Chillbase.org (but never featured)

Lemonchill Interview

This is an interview I did for Chillbase around the beginning of the year which for some reason was never published.

Idan Or hails from Haifa and is one among the few artists emerging in the ambient side genre rather than the Goa trance scene more commonly associated with Israel’s electronic musicians. His releases over the last couple of years have combined sounds from trance, synth-pop, jazz and world music into his own unique ambient tapestry.

1) What or who inspired you to create your music within the ambient genre?

Wow good question, well when I first started creating music my "mentor" Yariv Atzion (Stereo Underground) heard my first few demos and he gave me the advice that I should go with the more down tempo style. So I did and I must admit that I really enjoy working with this kind of music genre.

2) You have released material on a few labels over the last two years. Did you embark on a different theme for each release which appealed to each label individually?

No, actually my first album "Sentnat" was almost released on "Cyberset records", but I got the reply from them a few days after I signed with my first label. After a while I noticed that they had made a real bad of job promoting my album so I released it with "Ricochet Dream records". "Cyberset records" are very pleased with my music style and I am also very happy with the promotion and treatment I get from them. Also Ricochet Dream records are cool to work with. Now I have received offers from bigger record labels to sign with them and release my albums. But for now I am very pleased with those two labels.

3) Do you combine hardware and software in your studio and do you have a preference for any particular synth?

Yes I do, I am in love with the "Korg" sound although it may sound a bit "80s" I still think it create unique sound that appeals to many people ears across many music genres. Regarding the soft synths I like the sound that "Absynth" makes and also "Moog" and "Mini Monster" while the music program I use is "Nuendo". For hardware I also use Adam a6 monitors as I think they are very accurate and have a distinctive sound, and I favour "Sennheiser" earphones.

4) You have a new re-mix album "Sleeping Giants" due for release on Ricochet Dream Records. Could you tell us more about the album?

"Sleeping with giants" will be released soon and I really love this remix project it has some unique re-mixes by Terra Nine, Side Liner, Zero Cult, Limbo, Hol Baumann, Mindwave, Chronos and one from myself too. There will also be another re-mix album released this year this entitled "Room 305" and it will contain progressive house and trance re-mixes by artists such as: Hi Profile, Ramin & Dash, Kay D and many more. In fact this will be a double album since I received so many good re-mixes. It will also include a first time collaboration between me and Kritikos (Feel) from Greece.

5) When you first heard the re-mixes did anyone really surprise you with the direction of their input?

Yes Dennis from "limbo" made a really unique re-mix something like "Shpongle" gone techno I was really amazed by this re-mix also I think "Side Liner" made a really good re-mix one of the best on this new re-mix album.

6) Are there any plans for Lemonchill live sets on the festival circuit this year?

At the moment no, I am really working hard on releasing the album "Sleeping with giants" and finishing the album “Room 305" since there are tracks there that I am involved with I find my self spending so much of my time at the studio. But I hope after the release of these two albums that I can start working on some live shows.

Links

http://www.myspace.com/lemonchill1

http://www.ricochetdream.com/

http://www.cybersetmusic.com/

Simon Lewis of Amanaska Interview

Austrailia's Amanaska (a Sanskrit term for restfullness) combine electronica with music they have encountered on their travels around the globe. If down-tempo, jazzy Balearic sounds fused with Indian, African and Aboriginal vibes appeal to you then you can't go far wrong with Amanaska.

1) Which artists inspired you most in forming your sound?

With regard to the artists that inspired me. They all have a very strong and prominent acoustic and live element to their music. This is something I am passionate about and don't really dig pure electronica so much. Nitin Sawnhey writes great songs and is the master of understatement and space in his music. Karsh Kale is a bit more edgy and heavier, plus a killer tabla player. Pat Methany is and incredible virtuoso and composer and writes gorgeous melodies. As for Peter Gabriel, what can I say............

2) You utilise a variety of instruments the Fender Rhodes piano, Hammond organ, synths, melodica, didgeridoo, accordian and percussive instruments. What appeals to you about electro-acoustic sounds rather than solely synthetic?

The electro acoustic instruments have a unique personality of their own that inspires ways of playing and writing that may not be possible in the synthetic world. I feel a certain kind of 'soul' when I use them that makes me take up half my house and studio with storing them all.

3) A lot of your tracks have been composed on the road collaborating with artists around the globe. Was this something you had planned from day one? Or an idea formed from a collection of spur of the moment jams?

The 'on the road' collaborations were planned but there were many spontaneous events that lead to other collaborations as well.

4) You were involved with the Buddah Bar Ocean DVD which features several tracks composed by yourself. Could you tell us more about this project?

Dj Ravin used my track 'Sleep' from Circles on Volume IX which lead to the label contacting me about being involved with the DVD project. The brief was very simple. The only gave me single phrases as inspiration to write to. Their view was that they wanted me to write tracks inspired by my imagination rather than images or rough cuts they gave me. They then cut the visuals to my music. I ended up spending a week in Paris fine tuning the final edits and working with Alain. One of the tracks they had wasn't working so they asked me to write one for this scene. I did this in my hotel room on the laptop on a two octave keyboard. Great fun!

4) You’re currently working on a new album when do you anticipate this to be released and will there be an accompanying world tour?

The new one is more than half finished but I haven't had the time to put into it to fine tune everything and finish it. I hope to have it ready by March next year and would love to do a world tour with it. I have some serious planning to do!

5) Which artists are currently exciting you?

As I write this I am listening to Shrift - Lost in a Moment which is superb. I saw Seal live in Melbourne last week which was amazing. I would love to get him to sing on one of my tracks. what a voice! Would also love to get Emiliana Torrini. loving John Scofield and Marcin Wasilewski too

6) For people unfamiliar with your music where can they hear your work?

The best place to start is our web-site (click the title to go there). There is plenty of stuff on youtube too. the "Drift' video will give some background into the Indian recording sessions for Circles

Gods Robots Interview

Gods Robots is a collaboration between San Francisco's Janaka Selekta and Taamara from Mumbai. Together they are fusing reggae, dub-step & electronica with classical Indian and soulful western vocals.

1) Being based in two different continents how did the Gods Robot project come about?

Surprisingly fast. The time difference makes it possible to work 24 hours (Shri does not sleep so it makes it even easier :)). Instrumentals that I send to Shri (Taamara) at night San Francisco time makes it to Shri in the morning in Mumbai. She will send back vocals by the time I check my mail in the morning. However, we are both looking forward to working on a song while we are both physically in the same space.

2) Taamara you’ve tended to work within the Asian electronica scene in India. What inspired you to work in this field as opposed to the classical industry?

I’ve been learning classical music for quite some time; attending seminars, lectures, concerts etc. It’s a beautiful form but for me these cross cultural collaborations and this coming together of various styles is equally interesting. To see the purity of classical music taking shape in the ideas of musicians from different backgrounds is a process that gives me as much bliss as the process of learning the art form. It’s more learning for me as well since I grew up listening to all kinds of music. So the distinction between forms doesn’t exist for me now.

3) Janaka your currently living in San Francisco where there seems to be an abundance of world fusion artists. How would you compare the scene there to the UK?

I believe the scenes in both parts of the world have gone through a similar arc as people have become familiar with sound. When I stopped putting on 'Dhamaal' and ' WORLDY' shows in San Francisco in 2007, after a 9 year run of monthly events, we were averaging 1400 attendees. For a big city San Francisco is tiny. On that basis alone it is amazing that such a large scene existed. Much like the UK music scene now 'world music' (for lack of a better word) elements have made their way into all genres of music. The newness has gone in both scenes but it has left a deep imprint.

4) Taamara when freestyling with dj’s are your performances completely impromptu or do you have a selection of prepared lyrics which you drop according to the tempo of the music at the time?

It depends upon the artist actually, who I’m playing with. In some cases the jam-sessions are overwhelming and we decide to just keep it open-ended and impromptu. At other times, the structured, perfect and rehearsed act feels and sounds great. It also depends on the venue; you can’t have an impromptu session at all places. My lyrics move according to the plan. During impromptu I drop things once in a while according to the tempo but most of the time it’s something that I have already prepared.

5) Is the collaboration solely a recording project or are there any plans for live performances?

We will be performing together in a number of India's cities in January! The songs have been parted out in Ableton so that I can trigger scenes or individual patterns using the APC40 midi controller. These elements and Taamara's vocals are then dub-able using the APC40. The level of control of each elements makes it very flexible in terms of creating a dynamic live performance. As Mighty Dub Killaz I have been honing these techniques with Papa Roads on the mic for most of 2009.

6) Janaka although there’s a range of genres fused with Indian percussions and melodies, there’s a strong dub reggae element to your music. Are all the fx created on software nowadays or do you still employ the mixing desk when producing dub?

The dubbing mostly comes at the mix stage of the production cycle so most of it is done using software. However, I like the sound of hardware and have a Virus C, KorgX50, MicroKorg, Soundcraft 24 channel desk and various effects units like the Korg Koaspad, they help to define a richer and heavier sound.

7) Are you planning to release any material for this project in the near future?

The way that people consume music has changed so dramatically over the last 5 years. We have an albums worth of material that has been developed with the intention of performing it live. There will be a point at which selling the album will also be a focus but we are intent on getting the word out via our stage show. We do however have a facebook page (press the title to go there) where you can listen to our songs as they get created, literally. Reminds me of the Metalheadz documentary, they talk about songs being completed in the afternoon, pressed onto acetate and played at night. In the digital world it is rendered to audio and upload.

Terra Nine interview

Terra Nine is Mike Westcot from Auckland, New Zealand. Mike has combined the sound of the electric voila with electronica. The result ranges from orchestral ambience to more beat driven techno and has taken the Terra Nine show worldwide.

1. My first knowledge of an electric violin was in the early 90’s with Ed Alleyene-Johnson’s “Purple Electric Violin Concerto”. Although, if I had read my album covers more closely I would have realised that John Cale used an electric viola on the Velvet Undergrounds “Venus in Furs” and they have been around for longer than that. When did you first come across the instrument and what attracts you to the viola rather than the violin?

My first exposure to the idea of an electric violin was as a 12 y.o., seeing Jimmy Page use a violin bow to play his electric guitar....making these awesome sounds as a result - after that, my violin classical practice time was not quite the same - degenerating as it did from then on (once I’d finished my scales) into a cacaphony of harmonic notes...

Later on I bought my first electric fiddle - a Barcus Berry Vioelectra - a lovely shiny jet black 5-string model, but I found that the strings were too close together and I didn't like the sound of the violin E-string - preferring the more mellow tones of the bottom C-string up to the A-string. So I did some mods to the fingerboard using a file and came up with a 4-string ‘viola’...it’s worked well ever since…

String-based musical influences for me as an impressionable teenager included Robert Fripp and David Cross in King Crimson, L Shankar and Jean Luc Ponty in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, John Cale in The Velvet Underground and Adrian Belew in early Talking Heads ….all of whom did amazing violin work, or played guitar using violin-like styles....

2. Stream of Consciousness is the sixth release by Terra Nina along with many tracks featured on compilation albums. How would you say the music has evolved since the last release in 2007?

The latest album features the inspired vocals of Aviatrix, aka Kerensa Stephens on a number of the tracks and is stylistically more uptempo and song oriented - with influences including breaks, drum n bass dub and a little bit of dubstep. Cath and Al Dragojevic also feature on this new release, perf,orming live bass, didge and percussion, while Damian Verna (Red Eye Express) and Ben Heppel (Stickleback) contribute the rhythm section in the drum n bass track So Human.
This release also features remixes by OTT and Pete Ardron of Orchid Star (and Glow) fame, both of which make this album less chilled and more ‘danceable’

3. Terra Nine as a project also includes a band comprising vocals, didgeridoo, harp and bass guitar. When selecting the band members did you have people in mind or where you more interested in the instruments required?

Both really - all the member of Terra Nine were chosen for their musical excellence and instrumentation, as well as the fact that we are on the same page musically and are all good friends.

4. For those who have not heard your music and are interested where would you recommend they start?

Start with the latest album and work back…;-) you can find links to everything at: www.myspace.com/terra9music
and at: www.terranine.com

5. You’ve taken the live show worldwide before. Which of the countries you’ve played in have you enjoyed the most? Are there any live dates currently?

I have loved playing everywhere really - Germany, Spain, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Australia, NZ and the UK - my festival faves so far would be Hadra and Ambiosonic in France, Al Andalus in Spain, Full Moon in Germany, Bakony in Hungary, Rainbow Serpent in Australia, Canaan Downs in NZ and Waveform in the UK.

The NZ and Australian festivals are always special to me because they are close to home and all my friends are there…

So far, confirmed Terra Nine gigs include Rainbow Serpent 2010 next January in Australia and Waveform 2010 plus Festival of Life next September in the UK… plus there will be a slew of other shows in Europe and the UK…Locally, here in NZ, I may be playing at Splore in February…but it is not as yet confirmed.

6. New Zealand seems to have an abundance of reggae artists. Many of which are exploring electro-acoustic fusions. Are there any less well known artists you would recommend?

Yup …Ecophonic for one, plus Ddub are another good band, although my faves are Pitch Black and Salmonella Dub and thety are pretty well known…