[interview] Pictureplane

Fortunately, I could interview Pictureplane. Fusing house with psychedelic themes, transcending cliché acid house, this artist could easily make a tune that would be a hit in many discos, if people nowadays cared more about music when they go to a disco. He also makes magic with a Microkorg [how I envy him, I wish I could be that good with my synth].

Serotonin Sounds: What do you think of Witch House? I asked you this one because I see you use lots of "occult" related images, like the triangles and ourobouros, etc.

Pictureplane: dont think a lot of people know this, but i invented the term "witch house" ! the first time it was used was on my blog. my friend shams and i were joking around about a new style of occultish house music that we were making. and we called it witch house. it actually is supposed to be house music, not the slow stuff that is being called witch house. i dont know how it took off on the internet like it did, but it is really interesting.

SS: What are your influences?

PP:contemporary art, fashion, the future, mysticism, the occult, aliens, the "other", the hidden, mysteries, touch, sex, magic. oh , and other music.

SS: You seem to have a wide musical taste. You like Siouxsie and the Banshees and at the same time make your own music: with this I mean, why do you feel related with these more dark trends and at simultaneously make your music, which seems to be happier?

PP:there has always been a darker element to my music. a lot of my old lyrics were really violent and stuff. i always liked that juxtaposition. i love pop music. and my music is meant to be positive and optimistic. so that is why it sounds happy i think. music and art can look or sound a certain way but still carry different meanings. of course. i like to hide things within my songs. but at the same time, i have always been influenced by "dark" music.

SS:Are you the author of your artwork?

PP:of course. i went to school for painting actually. visual art is a huge part of my life.

SS:When playing live, you use a Microkorg, right? When producing, you still use the Microkorg? And do you use any other synths too while producing?

PP:i love my mikrokorg! i have had it for 6 years. it is covered in dirt and some keyes are missing. i am trying to get a new synth, but i am pretty poor and i am also a wizard with the korg. it is the only thing i use really.

SS:Would you like your music to be played at discos?

PP:more pictureplane at discos!

SS:Are you planning to sell some of your t-shirts online? [I want one, hehe]

PP:yes! HOPEFULLY THAT WEBSITE WILL BE UP SOON.

SS:Do you like Throbbing Gristle? If so, how have they affected your music?

PP:i am an extremely huge fan of throbbing gristle. more so for their concepts and theories about culture, the world, freedom and magik. i honestly never really "listen" to them, but i am constantly reading about them and studying them. i collect writings by genesis p. orridge, who is probably one of my biggest life inspirations. genesis forever.

SS:Choose one band / musical group you're enjoying lately and tell us why.

PP:future islands. i have loved this band for a while, but they have a new album and just performed at where i live in denver, rhinoceropolis. and they blew me away. they are one of the best live bands and their music is so emotional and beautiful. they are truly a special and rare band. not enough people know about them.


Thank you once again, Pictureplane.

[film reviews] ODDSAC

ODDSAC is supposed, according to Danny Perez, the director, to not make sense, to be chaotic and make you abstract of your surroundings, involved with positive and/or negative thoughts. The soundtrack was made by Animall Collective, just for this film.
I got the chance to see this film last week at Faculdade das Belas Artes. Before the film began, Danny Perez spoke about how the film hasn't got a story and conditionally, not care about it's logic. Short after, the film started.
Well, I haven't gone to the cinema since some months ago and as I remember, I haven't seen so much people leave the room as in this peculiar case.
The film was intense, had lots of psychedelic effects and surelly hypnotised you very easily.
If you saw the videoclip of Animal Collective's "Summertime Clothes"( which was also directed by Danny), there was lots of paint and dripping effect that perfectly attach to the song; it's a reinvention of the word "psychedelic", characterised by Animal Collective.
The "story" first began in some grass fields, by night. Like you'd expect from a Danny Perez film, some of the image featured people "making the effects": with this, I mean that there were people making balls of fire (it weren't digital effects). Then you see a girl in a house. Later, one of the walls starts bursting paint, from a hole. The poor girl, tries to stop it from dripping all the black paint, but it's effortless. Afterwards, she gets drowned in paint.
I won't talk more about the "story", you have to see it, because the words can't described this art piece.

You can see below the trailer:

[gig reviews] Black Bombaim and Mamute at Galeria Zé dos Bois, March 2010

Black Bombaim are a portuguese band that are part of the Barcelos' underground scene. Their psychedelic, stoner apprentices. Tight riffs, fast drums, blazing theremins, absent vocals, all these things make the listener beg for more of their songs. They sure get you high without the need of any drugs: the music is the drug here.
At Z.D.B. they performed what seemed almost like for straight an hour or so. I filmed almost all the gig. It's available on youtube: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5.

Below is the fifth part of Black Bombaim's concert I filmed:


Mamute consist of a portuguese duo that love and create heavy rock. They entitle it "cliché". It may sound like it is such thing, but not the kind of deal that'll get you bored for sure. You could rock on to their music for days.
Here are some parts I filmed of their gig: part 1, part 2 and part 3.
Below is a part I filmed of Mamute's performance:

[musical instrument] Cacophonator II

Ok, today I was seing DJ Scotch Egg's myspace (one of the best 8bit and glitch DJ's I currently know of) and I found a post on his page about a strange thing called "Cacophonator II". What's that? It's kind of an instrument you link to another musical instrument (or whatever can be linked to) and it simply mutilates in many ways the sounds you produce. It's really interesting, it can make some good noisy combinations. It has a high price, yeah, it's 250 euros (around 325 dollars). For more info, check out the official website here.

There's also a good video about this instrument and how it works:

New York Gong "About Time"

Daevid Allen decided to go to New York in 1979 and moreover he formed New York Gong: his "Gong" band influenced with punk and psychedelia, a mix he did with influences of the CBGB scene.
The text written next to these words was taken from the booklet that's included in this CD:
"Arriving in New York, he [Daevid] was greeted there by a new world that focused around the CBGB's, the epicentre of post-punk artiness. Emotionally fragile, unsure of where he fitted in, Daevid found this unobtrusive collective of artists, actors and freeform musicians welcoming. It was a creative hotspot where anyone on the fringes of artistic society fitted in, and a perfect place for Daevid to rekindle, and update, his Gong mythology.
Old time cohort and manager Giorgio Gomelsky was running a rather strange and beguiling event in New York called The Zu Manifestival. Daevid, sensing a minor revolution, got involved. It was through this assortment of odd-ball jazzers and free spirits that Daevid met Bill Laswell (...).
Together, Maher, Laswell and Beinhorn became the axis of Gomelsky's all-purpose Zu Band, backing up Daevid Allen at the Zu Manifestival and embarking on a ten-city tour. Even at this stage, the Material-to-be group was already playing musical chairs. As well as playing together at the Zu Band, Laswell played with the other three groups on the tour, Maher with two and Beinhorn with one another. (...)
The result of the riotous amalgamation of Allen-goes-Stateside was the 1979 album "About Time". Reflecting their chaotic live performances, it's an odd hybrid of psychedelia ("Preface"), new wave ("I am a Freud") and punk ("Much too old"), with a lyrical sentiment reminiscent of early-'70s Gong ("Jungle Window"). The album opens with an effects-laden recording of Allen reciting his "trippy" poetry. Some of the compositions, like "I Am a Freud," bleed quickly rhythms and melodies resembling the work of the League of Gentlemen and Talking Heads whilst "Materialism"and "Strong Woman" feature Allen's glissando guitar, which sounds pretty much a forerunner to the sound Fripp and Belew were to employ on their early-'80s King Crimson Projects. "Materialism", penned by Laswell, is the album's standout track, with its dominating bass relentlessly driving home to the groove.
Daevid stayed in New York for another year, experimenting with cut ups, electronic music and performance art, all of which culminated in his 'Divided Alien Playbax' album and its accompanying live shoes. Throughout this period he revelled in uncommercial creativity, heightened by his sense of the absurd and anti-capitalist politics and succesfully avoided becoming an ageing hippy."
These excerpts let us have a good vision of how New York Gong was formed and what it actually is. I haven't listened to Gong actually, so I can't compare them with New York Gong.
However, I admire this "About Time" album, which is quite fine and is original in its own way.

If you want to download the album click here or click over the cover.

Next follows a link to one of their songs on this album (although it's not my favourite, you should hear it before downloading the album):