I became interested awhile back in modular synthesis and jazz for different reasons: for modular, the unpredictable, rich tones artists made fascinated me; for jazz, the improvisation sounded like the purest expression of passion and emotion, which painted such vivid mental pictures. However, I had yet to find a group that so effectively combined those elements, adding to that winning formula a propulsive drive of Krautrock, along with the finesse of jazz and the curious exploration of modular synthesis—it’s an excellent match. To carry this further, the modular synthesizers are the pasta, whereas the saxophone is the chunky tomato sauce that’s sometimes mellow, other times spicy depending on the chef’s mood. As you can tell, I was cooking while listening to your record and writing this question.
To start, can you tell me, if you had to describe your latest album as a cuisine—what would that be? What food groups do you all bring together to craft this delicious auditory recipe?
That’s a funny analogy, maybe the initial idea was a simple meal, but over time it became more complex. The amalgamation of the elements puts it more into a sauce territory, or even a potion. Something that has to simmer for a while for it to be good. Sometimes it’s both complex and simple, like for example a minestrone, a lot of ingredients and preparation, but ultimately and ideally, an easily digestible meal.
There are several ways to deconstruct and reconstruct music; I’m familiar with the traditional manner of tearing a song down using stems and putting its pieces back together differently, resembling a “remix.” However, in the jazz, live instrumentation space that I believe your band inhabits, deconstruction looks like something else. Reviewing a prior interview with Fifteen Questions, Marek, you said, “I like to build the idea alone with one complete theme, but the next step is to share it and deconstruct it or to complement it with the other band members.”
How do you tailor your performance to achieve this hypnotic effect? In what way was krautrock pivotal to your sound?
In this last album we started to build riffs without the electronics, just sax and drums. A lot of this hypnotic effect comes from the polyrhythms, which are like a hologram in music. In composing a polyrhythmic theme or riff, we applied a simple indian ghati/jathi formula, let’s say a total amount of beats 42, then one of us can play 7/8 groove, the other 6/8 riff, and we meet after six iterations of the first and 7 iterations of the second. We do this in a couple of places in the album, sometimes it is really simple, like me soloing over 3/4 and Marek playing a simple 4/4, which creates a sense of two trains moving at different speeds. The hypnotic effect depends upon your perspective, from which train you are perceiving the movement and is the train you’re looking from moving as well.
The synth was there from the start, we wanted it to be our third member, something we both trigger and fool around with. A lot of gear on stage seems like a crutch at first, until you understand how much fun you can have with it.
There are plenty of head-bobbing grooves—”Gesualdo” and “Minus” are excellent examples where the punk sound, to me, is at its most prominent—I love it! Then, the saxophone arpeggios move around the stereo spectrum, reminding me of chaotic moments in the 70s electronic jazz scene, which I associate with the artists adding effects and modulation to their instruments to create something unique.
What were some of your favorite or most-used tools that underpinned the production on your latest album?
Alright, gear flex! Here we go: the instrumentarium expanded dramatically from our last album, apart from our trusty Dave Smith desktop Evolver, which was a core of our electronics for two albums, we used an old Oberheim Matrix 6, a 909 clone, Moog DFAM, Arturia Minibrute 2s, Moog Grandmother, several modules in my Eurorack, for effects we used Eventide H90, Moogerfooger delay, Ring Modulator, Phaser, Make noise Erbe Verb, Mimeophon. Marek used an old Sonor Swinger drum set from the 50s, I play an old Selmer SBA baritone sax from the 40s.
Visuals are so meaningful when combined with music. I find that some of my favorite albums are burned into my brain because of what I saw while listening to the music, and not necessarily because I liked the album itself, either. For your group, I see that Lina is in charge of the visuals. Moreover, it appears that Lina is an integral part of the band who shapes the sounds of your records by constructing interesting, interactive visuals.
Is it true that you record performances to tape while Lina creates live visualizations to match the performance? How does constructing visuals and projecting them during the recording influence the band’s playing?
Lina uses VDMX for visuals, her aesthetic leans towards minimalism that expands outwards. We send her raw signals of a snare drum, saxophone and synth, which she then scales and connects to the generative visuals. It’s working towards an expressive audio-visual animal, which moves upon reflex. Sometimes taming this animal is a challenge and we need some time to set up before concerts, but once it works, it really looks as one organic entity. Sometimes Lina brings a second projector, which she uses to map visuals on different surfaces of the venue, making everything a big teleportation terminal.
Picture this: it’s a dark, stormy night, and the cult has gathered for their daily ritual. People of all ages congregate near the center of a large white circle drawn on the floor with chalk. A few whisper excitedly before the grooves of Brzice kick in; everyone begins chanting, dancing, and waving their arms around. It’s beautiful, yet difficult to watch, as the tones are played in a circuitous pattern and are almost dizzying in their repetitions. They spin in a tight circle, letting themselves shove each other around naturally. As participants exit the circle boundary, they go and stand in the corner, facing the wall like children sent to time out. Once there are only two members within the circle, they shake hands with unusual gestures—a secret combination of signs and signals. Afterward, the outside members applaud and rejoin the remaining members in the center—the cycle repeats. Thank God.
I feel this way while listening to your art. It’s like watching a ritual of the senses where the performers know their place and control the air in the room, luring us into what can only be described as a near trance-like experience. I’m grateful that I can listen to your songs again and again.
Thank you for the amazing music.
Our music is repetitive and cyclical, so it can be heard as ritualistic, reaching full effect on festivals, where everybody celebrates everybody. Thank you for sharing your dream!