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Hello Everyone.

Today I bring you the next part of the interview series, with the co-curator of Brainstormlab and glitchbomb producer extraordinaire Julian Frank! He and i gathered round the warm, glowing, warming glow of our computer screens to type for a few hours about Brainstormlab, our releases, as well as some stuffy turtleneck things like the nature of noise versus music.

At the bottom of the interview I’ll also be sharing new sample bits from my track ‘Drowning Coins’ along with his remix of the track… so scroll down if you want music! otherwise, read on.

Chris Todd [Phylum Sinter]: Hey Julian, thanks for being a part of the promotional thing for my next ep — i’d like to start by giving the audience a mini biography of you, can you describe your public/art/music self in 5 sentences or less?

Julian Frank [Jfrank]: I Started tinkering with audio programs in 1996. In 1998 met ‘TopforTom’ and started a collaborational project simply called brainstorm. We opened the website in 2003 and continued to produce untill the first Brainstorm night in January 2005 (also my first live set). Since then, although Brainstorm nights are rare, I continue to play live around Europe and independantly produce music.

PS: Right on, and that leads me to the point where i discovered your music… I found brainstormlab through its’ myspace page, I think FM control’s page had piqued my interest and i think he had Brainstormlab as one of his top friends. Brainstormlab.org seemed really happening at the time - how often does it curate events?

JF: Well, in reality Brainstorm is a network of people… and hence a vehichle for their work as well. Brainstorm doesn’t officially curate nights as it were, but aids in building connections between the people involved. It connects it’s members to other organisations and social groups — so if a member is organising a project of his own or knows of someone organising a project which involves the kind of material we make, then chances are they will involve the other members as well.

PS: Sounds like a nice agreement. So it doesn’t aspire to be a public promotional organization, just more a group of friends that approach the public as a group?

JF: …But not quite! Even though it has been around for a while, the group of people in Brainstorm is by no means fixed. To my eye it is still in an evolutionary phase. Of course alot of my contacts i only see 4 or 5 times a year, and others i still have to meet!

PS: What do you and TopforTom imagine Brainstormlab to become over the next five years?

JF: Well - nobody knows what TopforTom has in mind!

PS: oh, why’s that?

JF: he is the man behind the curtain… but no there is no real manifesto, and at first that was the manifesto in itself. At the moment brainstorm has taken more of a definitive direction by having accumulated a certain type of electronica, but that is not to say that that is all there will be. It does, however, function as an able ‘window’ as it were.

PS: Focusing in a little here, your myspace page has your first genre defined as ‘Live Electronics’ — just how live is live?

JF: Ah, the great question…

PS: Does that mean you’re writing completely improvisationally?

JF: To be entirely honest i’ve only done 2 livesets principally using/modulating midi instruments, partially pre-written and partially written in the moment. Nowadays my computer can’t handle the strain though, so most of my live performances are done by mixing wave files with effects and outside inputs such as harmonicas, casio keyboards, old radios, flux pickups attached to cel phones etc. When playing an already existing track obviously there is a lot less live to it - it just becomes a reinterpretation of the track. When you start to mix elements from different tracks improvisationally (with no knowledge of how mixing they will sound together) it becomes a bit more live. If then i break into a solo on an effected casio, or create a drumloop on a drummachine, it becomes a little more live and so on. It goes by degrees. ‘Vowel Movement’ from ‘Laptop Tans & Digital Cowboys’, for example, was created live by recording and looping each take and adding effects as i went along.

PS: How about the birth of a song then - do you write with specific intent before you put harmonica to mouth, or is it more an exploratory exercise that leads to the songs?

JF: The processes of each individual production vary. There are tracks that are whistled for weeks before putting them down. Others spawn unexpectadly from doing live takes. The most interesting process is often searching for sounds ‘within’ sounds. I use plenty of originally recorded foley - from kitchen pots to cats purring — When you listen to foley after it’s been recorded, the process almost becomes a game of hide and seek. When working with midi and plug ins the process is more academic - like sculpture - you have to chip away and model to get what you are looking for.

PS: …even though the ideas, the parts inside of you, do the opposite — they blossom or unfold, while when it comes to translating to external mediums it becomes more about making that unfolding seem palatable, right?

JF: hahaha …Though at times I put things out especially because they are UN palatable, but on the other, i do censor myself!

PS: There’s the segue i was steering for. I find that for many people, the concept of noise has negative connotations, while i think for most people the concept of music has nothing but positive connotations. What defines music for you?

JF: uh oh! OK, To be honest…

PS: Please, yes, honestly only if you can manage…

JF: Music is sound that, filtered by the human brain, is given rhythmic or melodic significance. more specifically… any sound filtered by the human brain is attributed to a physical action, a movement. Some things we can all agree on - if i hear a bark we assume it originally comes from a dog. Every persons sense of rhythm and melody is different, however.

PS: Certainly, there’s so much subjective to the world. Variety is the spice of life. I always like to say that music can contain noise, but noise cannot contain music at the very source of it - music is noise that transcends mere action and has been given purpose, would you agree?

JF: If i hear scaffolding fall from a roof top for example - i am more likely to hear music within it than someone else… Regarding the question: Only if that purpose is to be noticed and filtered by a human mind that would then attribute the noise as music, then yes i would agree.

PS: Hmm… that’s suitable i think, still fits with my definition. The ‘purpose-ness’ can be as simple as communicating the sound of collapsing [anything] or as complex as the infinity of all space, so it’s very flexible in my mind, but it is reliant on the observer too, but everything is from my perspective. Noise is what can happen before that mental filter, but music is what happens after?

JF: Exactly.

PS: So with this in mind, the ‘mental filter’ aspect in mind, how does writing a remix compare to writing an original Jfrank track?

JF: The starting point is entirely different, That’s the main thing. Even if i don’t have an original reference mix [ed note: none of the remixers had the final arrangement of the track they remixed] the sounds at my disposal were created / imagined by someone else. Trom that point on, the remixer picks up the story.

PS: That’s been the most interesting aspect of writing this album for me, i gave the remixers just bits of the track, the elements… or the words, per se, and let the remixers interpret them in their own context. It’s like hearing someone retell a story from a list of words.

JF: …Like chinese whispers or those games where one has to start telling/drawing and the other has to finish.

PS: yeah! So when writing your own tracks, there’s the searching for the ‘word list’ before any arrangement happens, but when you’re doing a remix the ‘word list’ is a launching pad for other ideas?

JF: yes

PS: stop me if i get too abstract

JF: nono, your descriptions are quite precise!

PS: Moving on — i understand you’re near ready to release a new album, could you tell us about it?

JF: Well, all the albums i’ve made lately have been almost like interpretations of different genres (or feeling of genres). this particular consists of referencing the acid techno genre (through jfrank filter!).

PS: Nice, while i’m not huge on the acid techno thing myself, i do enjoy the jfrank filter. Where & when will the album be available publicly?

JF: It will be free to download on www.brainstormlab.org sometime in March [ed note: this album is available now to download from this page]

PS: Great! any plans for you musically past May?

JF: Actually, May is about as far as i have thought! There’s plenty going on before hand though.

PS: Aha, please elaborate then unless it’s secret… in which case you can send me a smoke signal.

JF: On the 6th of March I will be playing a live set on a web radio here in london - at www.Illfm.net, In April there will be a remix compilation released by brainstormlab to look out for. The remixed track is called ‘un1q’ originally by ‘iqbit‘.

PS: I’m looking forward to all three of those things! Looks like we’re about at the end of the interview, any closing statement?

JF: none, apart from looking forward to hearing your final completed album!

PS: Hopefully life’s distractions will settle long enough for me to finish it sometime before summer! Stay tuned and maybe i’ll get a chance to return the remix favor for you sometime too?

JF: Definitely, I am currently working on a remix pack for the near future!

PS: wicked, to the near future then!

[end interview]

The track ‘Drowning Coins’ is the second on the album, and is a transitionary moment on the album from the first track that covers alot of narrative territory.

Here’s a bit of the original:

JFrank’s remix takes the basic themes, as displayed in a loop-based remix pack and makes them completely his own. Here’s a sample of that:

…Great stuff! The full versions of these songs, along with 3 other remixes and 6 other original tracks will be released on the full EP ‘From Unity To Segmentation’ on Xynthetic Digital later this year.

Comments and feedback greatly appreciated! Stay tuned for more…

Friends!

I hope you have all had the chance to buy wonderful adornments for your loved ones this past Valentine’s Day… and i say this not purely out of pseudo-cynical smugness, but also in a genuine desire that we can take advantage of this time as an opportunity to create a sense of open-ness in our relationships, to fulfill the sometimes stilted wants-to-communicate. I’m unsure how narrow my specific tunnel is sometimes, but often i feel that too much time is spent not communicating just how important people are to us. That we stay superficial either out of fear of rejection, insecurity or other inner traumas. We do need things that promote an easier path to understanding, especially as the world continually provides more and more technological ways of distancing and distracting us from one another. So go ahead, buy that overpriced box of chocolates but use it as an excuse to get to the heart of the matter.

Speaking of the heart of the matter - i would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those that have noticed the track that was on xlr8r.com as a featured song and given me feedback, criticism and encouragement - it’s been a really great surprise. And… well the spike in Myspace page views has been kinda neat to witness too. Power of the press, eh? I can’t wait to see what ripple effect happens when the magazine itself — and accompanying CD comp with the track on it — hits news stands.

Work has continued on the album, though not without many distractions. My fascination with tumblr has continued, and after going through my page there and noticing how voracious my habit has become with that i’m a little embarrassed to see much i’ve put into it versus all my other commitments lately. Even so, you’re welcome to take a look at my other blog here. You’ll find a full description on the page, but basically i’ve been putting everything non-album specific that i do [mostly doodles] as well as key curiosities and things that have influenced me in a significant way on it.

The next interview in the series has been scheduled — it will be with Jfrank, of Brainstormlab.org. It’ll be happening sometime this sunday and i’ll hopefully have some time to transcibe it by early next week. Along with the interview, i’ll be posting bits of his remix for my track ‘Drowning Coins’ and bits of my original version from the album… which may or may not be done by the time it all goes down.

Maybe i should backtrack a little here… When the album was first being dreamed up, i had most of the the tracks started in at least sketch/pattern form, and had started performing them live in different ways to see how they could come together. At this point i also came across the music of Jfrank and Dirty Fire Project, and knew i wanted them to participate in the album. It was agreed that what would happen was a set of remix trades — and everybody that offered a remix i’ve either remixed already (like Hecq), or i will be remixing a track for them as a return favor/cross pollenation thing. So anyhow, as the potential remixers responded, i went into the hospital and was unable to really work as much as i would have otherwise. In my weakened state the remix packs came together for all the artists, though they didn’t include my original version of the songs in their arranged form. It’s definitely influenced the outcome, giving the remixes a flavor probably impossible to have had if things had worked otherwise.

Back to the present, ‘Drowning Coins‘ has had a bit added to it since Jfrank’s remix was finished, but it’s still around 80% done. There’s been an incredibly long gestation period for all of the tracks on ‘From Unity To Segmentation’ but they are being finished in roughly the same time period. The narrative element to this album was built-in more or less from the beginning, as i’ve been living it… but compressing it and weaving only the essentials into the album in a non-invasive way — in a way that doesn’t detract from the songs as individual things — has been pretty tricky, and is probably the hardest part of writing.

Finally, the last thing on the initial ‘stuff i want to do with this blog‘ list; taking studio pics and generally boasting about the machines i use will finally happen sometime next week… prepare to be shocked at the luxury of Sinterbox Studios Room 1c! …otherwise known as my booze-den and insomnia palace. The digicam is sorted, i just need to find a box big enough to put all these dead bod—– i mean, ahem, “garbage bags” and we’ll be in business!

Stay tuned, there is more to come soon!

It has been officially 2008 where i live for the past 67 minutes.

How was your year?

Are you still partying?

Were you able to hold the right people in your mind as the calendar page flipped?

As 2007 comes to a close, i’m given the sense that a strange weight, inconsequential as the actual numerical change of a year may be, has been lifted from my self. 2008 in it’s approach has been, in my mind, some sort of milestone for at least my own output, giving me many strong currents to be directed within the scope of my projects — especially when it comes to music, to art.

I’ve chosen to to notice that — in some mostly-subconscious way– what is created from me is in essence always a clue regarding next step when it comes to steering the good-ship-sinter. My tastes and perspectives are in constant motion as I write, and the end-product mostly reveals itself “in-the-process-of-becoming” itself… which in the case of ‘From Unity To Segmentation’ has spanned almost two solid years.

Life has given so much to consider (if i am paying close enough attention) it often feels so very overwhelming; the overall sense of awe (whether manufactured by ‘my-self’ in the singular or ‘the-self’ in the grand scheme of things) is enough to dredge tears from my eyes. The very ponderance pulls away a veil between the spaces between me and a larger thing.

When it comes to the gift of life, what i believe makes it so valuable is at least the sense or possibility of an underlying, unifying, element. I swear i’ve felt it, could never deny it’s being. This influences a large set of proposals that become known every single day for me. It, for instance, means that there is a genuine cause for coincidence outside-of-it-self. It may mean that all there is, is ideas: executing themselves in slow motion — but it gives me great strength in knowing that it’s impossible to be alone as a some sort of nodal point, to be a cog in an impossibly large machine whose sole purpose may only be the recognition of itself over the course of many aeons.

I knew i’d go a big rubbery one here, but i’m leaving it because this is what this thing is for innit?

Thoughts? Comments? Complaints? Questions? Put them in the comments! Interact!

p.s. blog will receive some plugins by the end of the week; expect the ball to begin rolling ever faster!

1 am on a Monday Morning.The Perfect time to launch a blog? Perhaps not… perhaps…

The point is it’s about time. This blog will document the time spent, primarily, on writing and finishing my upcoming album for Xynthetic Digital’s XDR line — meaning itunes, beatport, and other digital distributors will handle the actual album rollout — entitled ‘From Unity To Segmentation’.

In itself, the album covers quite a bit of ground, and I don’t quite know how to sum up the backstory outright. I guess i’d describe it as a study on how one’s motives deviate, how they split and bend and sometimes curl up back towards ourselves like twisted little mirrors from a larger frame of purpose. Whether or not you’d ever know that by hearing the album alone remains to be seen [heard] but the concept for the album started somewhere else completely before it split and curled up back towards me until i surrendered the very thought of conceptualizing, making crystalline that single phrase that now enshrines the title and every meta-meta-meta thing within it.

So what’s next? I want to share with you bits of the album, some things i’ve done in the process, some pictures of my studio… everything that will hype the whole thing and maybe give a little bit of myself that you might relate to in the process.

Enhancing my capacity to exchange ideas with you, to have some input during the writing process of the album is one of my personal goals for this blog. As it gets rolling i hope to see in the comments [plenty of links to pandas?] but even more links to differing mindsets, other perspectives that might compliment or help me further trace my motivations before the album is finally delivered to Xynthetic and released.

Starting this week this blog will start to fill with content related to the album, along with the first sketches and some other things. How about you, though… What do you think should come of this?

Does this request completely demystify the whole idea of an artist as a reclusive weirdo or amplify it?

Why is blue?

I’ll close out this first post with the first desktop wallpaper/desktop. It comes in two sizes, hover the mouse over each image to see which is which.