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AmbiEntrance: Tell about life in New Zealand... Would you say this helps or hurts your musical life? (Are you currently still living in NZ?).
Aspen: currently living in london.
wellington NZ is massive influence on the sound of involve. the space, the
beauty of the environment, the lushness and innocence (naivety). it's a very
cultural place, amazing arts and fashion scene for a small city.
i think about this a lot, especially since i've moved to london my music
style has changed dramatically.
I guess you'll have to wait till i have time to record some of the new
tracks...... some of the new signer stuff will be released on 12" soonish.
AmbiEntrance: Why the move? How is life in London?
Aspen: pursuit of the pound. and travelling is so easy here.. life is good... the
city is intense,,, v. edgy ,, crowded ,, expensive, but beautiful and
vibrant-ish too... the thing i miss most is the lack of space here...
recently when we were in NYC and Chicago and every other city i've visted I
have been amazed at how much space there is,, i don't know what it is about
london,, the noise or the crowds.. but there is very little space here.
AmbiEntrance: I've often thought if I were to defect from the US, I'd like to go to NZ. Would you recommend it to an American looking for a new life?
Aspen: hard question without knowing much about you,, i've had similar
conversations with quite a few people lately , both english and american and
even one spanish guy about this. Are you happy with the simple things in
life, sunshine, fresh air, great food, beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes,
bush and forests??? not that NZ is totally idyllic,,, but it's fairly close.
on the downside NZ is a small place, and things are not always convenient
like in the US.
The people are cool... very 'fresh' attitudes about them and are usually
quietly confident people, willing to try new things. More quiet and
reflective than Americans or Australians...
I think NZers are quite similar to Europeans in their values. It's a great
place truely. You might have to learn to spell and drive properly though!!!
AmbiEntrance: Speaking of the US, you were just over here. How was the involve tour? Have you got any good stories from the road?
Aspen: The involve 'tour' was cool, got to relax in Chicago, Detriot and NYC, meet
up with some loverly people and check out some new cities. Getting away from
London was good for stress levels. Gigs went really well. I always feel
really inspired by new places and write lots of music, or refine my sound
more. Good stories from the road... well I almost smashed my laptop up in a
fit of rage in chicago, and there was also the Mexican transvestites and
Clint's 'pigeon torture soundart experiment' in central park... but I'll
stop there.
AmbiEntrance: What were the best and worst parts of your American visit?
Aspen: best ,, hmm, not having to work and being able to concentrate 100% on
running the label and music.
worse,, that liquid cheese dip that came with some nacho chips that clint
force fed me on the train to detriot... that stuff was seriously radioactive
or something.
AmbiEntrance: You mention your laptop... how much of your musical work is done there?
In what programs?
Aspen: Umm, at the moment it's all done on my laptop... i used to hate using
computers for music,, but it's been growing on me steadily.. I still play
guitar and make sounds on synths and things,, but most of my music time is
spent on my laptop... i'm using audio mulch a lot at present. very good for
loop and groove generation
AmbiEntrance: So, what is your "work", when it's not involve?
Aspen: boring.
AmbiEntrance: Music From Passing Cars is all over the road stylistically... what should
we gather from this?
Aspen: umm, it's just the way I hear things. All the artists at involve are
interested in a huge variety of music and this is beginning to be reflected
in our releases. (including Jet Jaguar and Slowmoe) Mandrake did 4 sets at
the Gathering Festival in New Years (Nz's largest dance festival with around
8-9,000 people attending). they ranged from ambient to house to Peter Andre
rn'b covers.
It's a Wellington thing as well.. the music scene is so intimate there...
one night you'll go to a indie rock noise gig,, the next night check out a
house DJ ,, then later on in the week an electro-accoustic concert at
Victoria Uni and the same people will be there at all shows... that's cool I
think.
My primary influences are mostly guitar bands. I don't listen to much
electronica at all,, it all seems a bit bland esp at the moment... Having
said that I have been really inspired this year by Deep Chord from Detriot,
Arovane and City Central Offices from Berlin and of course the Warp releases
continue to innovate and inspire. (but mostly inspired by Red House Painters
and Idaho, Hood and artists like that)
AmbiEntrance: I must ask where your track titles come from... (I mean, I'm grooving to this lovely little electro ditty then look down to find it's called
"dropping bombs on the pet rug")?
Aspen: that's an image in my head of pooh on red carpet. it's a pet rug though.
dunno why. I like the sound of those words.
AmbiEntrance: I think my favorite thing about "...passing cars" is just how laid-back
it is. Is that something you work toward purposely, or does it just come
out that way?
Aspen: umm comes out that way i guess,, i do write faster tracks but i always then
remix them slower and slower and these versions go on the albums and the
fast ones are locked away cause i don't like them as much... i like music
that takes me into an awake-sleep zone...
AmbiEntrance: Do you have a "process" for composing your tunes, or what?
Aspen: what. i could write a book on this. in short. sounds inspire melodys and
rythms. but some of the time i hear stuff in my head and then try to
represent it. most of this stuff are songs, which I am going to record one
day.r
AmbiEntrance: What do you think of reviewers who compare your sounds to Boards of Canada (I think I might've done so once...)
Aspen: It's better than being labelled 'the British Air'... (heheh stupid london
in-joke)
I can understand this... I love their use of detuning pad sounds.. Aphex
first inspired me to use these. Selected Ambient 2.
Boards have a beautiful
clear, simple sound. Groovy and melodic. And they started out as a group
totally inspired by My Bloody Valentine so it makes sense that I dig their
sound.
AmbiEntrance: How do you differentiate between Signer and Aspen? Do you know from the
start if a piece is a Signer or Aspen track, or do you decide as it
develops?
Aspen: I know from the beginning... signer stuff is all about timbre's and churning
rythmic sounds, compression and echoes and reverbs. aspen is like my pop
songs.. chord progs and melodies and things to hum in the shower.
AmbiEntrance: How was involve bornn
Aspen: i tried to get someone in NZ to release me after some friends and I had done
aspen album and the extraploation jazz CD... no one would so I thought I
would release myself and i knew Michael (Upton) had an album of wickid stuff ready
and I offered to release him and proposed that we work on an album
together.... voila,, involve was born... I made some CD compilations and
sent them out to distro companies and hooked up with some great people,
skimo, bent crayon, hedonizm who were really encouraging and things moved
from there.
AmbiEntrance: How/when did you meet Michael (a.k.a. Jet Jaguar)? Are you friends in real life?
Aspen: I met Michael at a volunteer counselling service. He had stalked me for a
while before that with some sinister audio tape left in a PO box. him
talking thru weird random filters over moody ambient soundscapes. I still
have that tape and will EBAY it in the next 10 years. heheheh
AmbiEntrance: What can you tell those of us anticipating the new Jet Jaguar disc?
Aspen: It's shaped like a circle and silver on the bottom.heheheheh
Musically its more introverted than the first album, less immediate and a
lot more refined and 'complex'...
it's bass driven clear and beautiful... guaranteed to cause a stir !
AmbiEntrance: Will there be more from Patio (Aspen + Jet Jaguar)?
Aspen: dunno,, probably i would say... there were a few tracks recorded before I
left Wellington but they were so rushed,, they aren't good enuf to
release... i played some of them our on tour in europe...
AmbiEntrance: What can you tell us about Mandrake? Are all those "Theme of the
Eternal Champion" pieces from a real video game, or just imaginary?
Aspen: imaginery. Jeremy's personality could sustain me writing for 100 pages. he's
very unique, and has an intense wonderful creativity. I had to work hard
when helpng him record because he would often get distracted 30 mins into
working on one track and start to write a new one. One of the tracks on the
album was written while I was on the phone to my parents. he's just
naturally creative and free thinking... we are gonna record some more things
hopefully in 2002,,, rnb and hip hop free jazz indie hahaha who knows.
AmbiEntrance: What other future projects are brewing at involve?
Aspen: umm quite a bit.
involve Vinyl
loscil, capsule, and signer 12"'s in the next two months.
CD's
Jet Jaguar is love , Slowmoe (ex Sweden, Glaswegian guitarist, beautiful
simple emotive guitar pieces also including remixes by various involve
people)
new Andrew Thomas material ( i have no idea what this will be like ,, but he
says it will be beautiful,,, i can't wait!!)
and there's a couple more new artists who I am working with too,,, pushing
the indie influences through...
I think some people will be more and more surprised with what we are going
to be releasing... I look forward to shocking some people actually.
AmbiEntrance: I'm looking forward to being shocked! Many thanks for your input... is there anything you'd like to add in closing?
Aspen: Jet Jaguar and Slowmoe albums should be out in a couple of months! they're
both really excellent,,... involve vinyl production is underway now as
well... look out for a busy 6 months of releases coming up.. new andrew
thomas, signer, and more new artists.
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