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Post by Darkcrawl on Mar 17, 2009 23:22:26 GMT
Best interview with you that I've yet seen. May I just iterate my absolute, total agreement with your opinion of Brooke's clean vocals on 'The Great Unwashed V'. It's not that I think he's the next Leona Lewis, they have this slow, creepy atmospheric quality to them that really gives me chills. More of that is most welcome chez Darkcrawl (though not necessarily beside me in bed!) I also agree with your comments regarding 'open-minded fans'. Whilst I too had a couple of initial reservations, repeated frequent listening to Urfe has banished them to an incredibly horrible place. Thanks for posting this link! |
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Post by The Moderator on Mar 18, 2009 6:42:02 GMT
Thanks darkcrawl, im not that great so i have to be creative with what i can, i still cry myself to sleep at night because im not Warrel Dane though  |
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Post by St. Mark on Mar 18, 2009 21:21:45 GMT
This makes the lack of a full interview in Terrorizer (the only music mag I buy these days) so much more depressing. Obviously we speak with a(n earned) bias here, but there's so much fascinating, insightful stuff to be gleaned from these - in support of what will easily be the most alien release of the year, one that fully deserves a bit of background - that it could only have been essential reading.
Two of your records were albums of the month in T, I think, (Physical just got a great review, if memory serves), including your last, so it seems a little senseless. An interview such as the above backed by the positive review could have had you challenging Lily Allen's sales figures. Possibly. Well, I'm sure Myklon has a reasonable back story for the oversight.
Anyway, that's my little moan, and I thoroughly enjoyed the articles.
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Post by Darkcrawl on Mar 18, 2009 22:32:15 GMT
Well, this album demands an interview more than the others because of the scope, diversity and 'differentness' of it.
I also see that ZT has snubbed TAOP completely. No review or interview or even mention. Nothing. Bah!
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Post by Darkcrawl on Mar 19, 2009 21:27:25 GMT
An anonymous letter with referring to a puzzling person named 'suspension tower'.
You've got to love Babelfish!
Some interesting stuff, of particular interest to me was the stuff about the artwork. Brooke has posted a similar, 'rough' version of the Urfe cover on his Deviantart page, I noticed t'other day. A sketch-out of the finished piece perhaps?
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Mike
Tarpaulin Skin
Transition Engineer
I will cure the world of this plague of hope...
Posts: 247
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Post by Mike on Mar 19, 2009 21:33:17 GMT
Much as I admire the dedication of the zines that meticulously translate our ramblings into their native tongues, I've never had a gift for languages and so for the benefit of others like me, here's the answers metal.de got from me. Of course, I've no idea how well it translated.
1. I was very excited about how the new album would turn out. Neither did I expect a double album nor that I would be taken by surprise like when I listened to it for the first time. I guess a lot of listeners will share this experience. "Urfe" features a lot of your trademarks, Black Metal, Industrial, dark ambiences and the overall cinematic aspect of your music, but the radio drama-like vocal performance is something new.
How would you describe the album? Is it a music album, a soundtrack or an audio book… or something completely different?
A music album, unquestionably. Neither of the alternatives are adequate. The narrative has been composed to follow musical characteristics; the dynamics of the performance, rhythmic cadences and the choice of words themselves were motivated by sound as well as content, to use the voice as a musical device in itself, gesture and texture every bit as important as actual “meaning”. We wrote the industrial/ambient music directly around the narrative in order to embed it wholly into the compositional evolution of the album, hence its continual fluctuation between recognisable monologue, fragmentation, submergence and disintegration within the surrounding tones and textures. The overall idea was to completely replace our previous (bad) film sampling habit with something genuinely substantial, and provide a story that the listener can focus on entirely or allow to wash over them, depositing a stream of images and impressions. We also wanted to thoroughly explore this aspect of our sound in sharp focus, which appears to have been a highly unpopular, contentious move within our existing fanbase, but which we maintain was absolutely necessary for us.
2. When did you start working on "Urfe" and what can you tell us about its progress over time? Which equipment and instruments did you use to build up the sound world of Locus Eyrie?
We started working on “Urfe”, unbeknownst to ourselves, in Autumn 2006. We already had a few parts written for the next album “Tenements”, but had also come up with some persistent ideas which seemed to suggest a separate, self-contained release in between. We originally envisaged the release as a single thirty minute track under the name “Grief Of The Unclean”, partly inspired by Godflesh’s “Go Spread Your Wings”. However, the process of recording and finalising that long song (which ended up being broken up into tracks three to five of “The Great Unwashed”) resulted in more ideas, and before we knew it we had forty-five to fifty minutes of material, enough for an album in its own right. At this point, we’d started having discussions with Les about providing some narrative for Axis, discussing the Axis “world”, its geography, dysfunctional internal logic, operant dynamics and functions, and its overall purpose, as well as its aesthetic hallmarks and the major psychological preoccupations that shaped it. We had the idea that he’d provide a little bit of vocals here and there, and gave him free rein to create his own parts. Imagine how startled we were when he came back to us with the narrative of “Urfe” essentially fully formed….after recording it, we released with some shock that we had an hour and a half of unedited narrative that was wholly beyond our expectations and rich in Les’s wealth of esoteric knowledge, semi-biographical revelations and extraordinarily vivid writing style. At this point we’d already announced the release of two sister albums, “Grief Of The Unclean” and “Tenements Of The Anointed Flesh” (now shortened to simply “Tenements”), but decided to follow our instincts and write enough music to utilise as much of Les’s work as we could, expanding “Grief…” into the 2CD behemoth that is “Urfe”. Creating so much industrial and ambient music was an absolute joy for us and an opportunity to celebrate (to varying degrees) a large array of influences, some of which that haven’t been explicitly displayed in our work before; Swans, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Nick Cave, Godflesh, Esoteric, Scott Walker, Angelo Badalamenti, Ulver, Throbbing Gristle, Stockhausen, Mark Anthony Turnage, Penderecki, Coil, and all sorts of grimy industrial/ambient and electronic music.
With this release we worked very extensively with collecting field recordings, much more so than before. It was wonderful to be able to obtain fascinating and detailed source sounds from evocative and Axis-friendly locations, using more experimental and challenging techniques than we’ve ever had the resources or the infrastructure of support to really do before, and for which I must thank the music department at Newcastle University and in particular Dr. Will Edmondes.
3. The story of "Urfe" is quite striking and carries a lot of symbolism. When I am thinking of Locus Eyrie and the agony Urfe is going through, things like purgatory, limbus, a personal, self-created hell, loss of control and reality turning into an endless nightmare come into my mind.
What can you reveal about the concept and context of the album, what do you want to be left to the listener to discover?
Urfe is a broken man, bewildered by his own unidentifiable physical and spiritual illness, searching for answers. An anonymous letter hinting clues from an enigmatic individual known as Pylon lures him to a clandestine meeting at a derelict library. Here, however, he encounters a being that horrifies him, from which he flees. As he flees, his environment disintegrates around him, gradually revealing a surreal hell that may provide salvation, damnation, or a hideous, deceptive amalgamation of both.
The content of “Urfe” is already as decipherable and digestible as we wish it to be, but those concepts are certainly at the forefront of the experience. The story of “Urfe” is fevered and psychedelic, wracked by the inadequacies of its narrator, with thoughts, images, observations and emotion all bleeding into each other in an exponentially incoherent outpouring. The Axis “world” could certainly be seen as a purgatory, the cauterised wound of perichoresis where two abrading realities adjoin. The central defining law of the Axis “world” is that despite certain core locations and their set characteristics, it acts psychoreactively. That is, the “world” is at least partially emergent from the psyche and subconscious of anyone luckless enough to wander into it. The world that Urfe experiences is a nightmare collision of memories, personal demons and increasingly insane narrative vignettes in which his perceptions cause his environment to decay around him. This is one reason why the narrative at times takes such crude, ugly and explicit tones; Urfe is compulsively obsessed by his own disease, uncleanness and decrepitude, and this disgust manifests around him via his own narration and recollections as abject filthiness. It’s another aspect of “Urfe” that we’ve received a great deal of criticism for, and people find the almost grand guignol tawdriness to be verging on comical. Our work does have a touch of humour to it, of course, and always has; we wouldn’t want to deny that. There’s quite a few occasions on “Urfe” where I’m reminded of Chris Morris’ “Jam” series, and I think the mixture of moods from black humour to inconsolable despair complement each other.
4. The label's promotional flyer links THE AXIS OF PERDITION to such influential industrial artists like Throbbing Gristle, Godflesh and Swans. Personally, I wouldn't pick certain names but I think that your musical work incorporates a lot of the early, innovative and sort of anarchistic spirit of the original Industrial sound, unlike most of what is labelled 'industrial' nowadays.
Where do you see yourself rooted, musicwise, and what was your well of inspiration to create "Urfe"?
We see Axis as an industrial band that uses metal as a texture within a broader palette of sounds. Consequently the way we write and arrange music usually isn’t informed by the usual structural rules of pure metal music. This has always been our goal, but starting off in a metal background as we did, it’s taken us a long time and several releases to come even close to achieving it consistently. Our goal to unify the disparate musical disciplines completely was initially a reaction to how underwhelming metal billed as experimental sometimes turns out to be, usually in the form of a standard metal band that uses a few touches of industrial or some other genre as an tentative garnish on the periphery of their sound. Now more bands are taking genuinely daring steps than before and we’re not remotely as reactionary and belligerent as we used to be, but while I wouldn’t say any particular aspect of our sound is especially innovative in itself, we’ve created a nice little empty pocket in the convergence between several genres which is ours alone, and I think our style is pretty unmistakable.
5. You mention Akira Yamaoka in the "sounds like" section of your myspace profile, with the addition "for fans of" – which I can totally agree on. Concerning the eerie, rich textured cinematic soundscape there are a lot of moments on "Urfe" (as well as on "Deleted Scenes…") which remind me of the depressing atmosphere of the Silent Hill series.
Did his work have an impact on you? Are you fans of the Silent Hill series?
Yes, with the exception of Les, who only saw the film and wasn’t keen. We’d be foolish and arrogant to deny the staggering influence Silent Hill has had on us as a band and as individuals. When it first appeared in ’99 it seemed to have almost been designed just for us, it catered that completely to our tastes in horror and sound, and resonating deeply with our upbringing in the urban blight of Middlesbrough. I think it remains the foremost argument for games as a legitimate art form. However, the high-water mark of our Silent Hill preoccupation was 2003, when we were playing through the second and third games; since then our enthusiasm hasn’t exactly waned, but we’ve moved on and gone in different directions as people, broadening our tastes and influences, so Axis is now much more widely culturally informed than it was, even though these roots will always been discernible and always be accorded respect by us.
6. The vocal performance is an integral part of "Urfe", and you decided for actor Leslie Simpson to do it. What brought you to him and what were/are his thoughts of being a part of "Urfe"? Are you satisfied with what he has accomplished?
I’d already known Les for several years, and when we were looking for an actor to work with he was the obvious choice. He’s a Teesside native so understood that aspect of our character very well, he’s extremely adaptable and receptive, extremely talented, original and ferociously dedicated to his craft. He’s hugely knowledgeable, well read and ravenous for new musical experiences, so he brought lots of new and interesting ideas to the table, challenging us to do better, to step out of our “comfort zone” (such as it is). The collaboration was such that it was almost tempting to release the album under the name “Leslie Simpson And The Axis Of Perdition”, except that that sounds like some kind of horrible Harry Potter parody : - )
7. From what I have already observed (and I didn't expect anything different, to be honest), the album is met with different views and opinions, like all the previous works. There are raving reviews, harsh critiques and in between some kind of undecided evaluations. I think the main concern of those is the 'lack of music' and the omnipresence of 'sounds'.
How important are critiques of your music for you in general, and whose feedback do you appreciate most?
Like all musicians ultimately, we’re here to satisfy ourselves before anyone else. I have been a little taken aback by the amount of venom we’ve incurred for our artistic decisions this time round. It’s not like Axis fans haven’t come to aspect a certain amount of metamorphosis and difficulty from us in the past, so I’m at a loss to explain why so many of our listeners are horrified at the quantity of industrial versus metal on “Urfe”. It suggests to me that a lot of our listeners only really engage with the more superficial aspects of the music, which is fair enough; however, I think it shows a misunderstanding not of the music but of what we’ve trying to achieve with it. I am a little aggravated by the suggestion that many are making, that the ambient portions of our sound have less substance than the metal, that they take less compositional effort and thought. Nothing could be further than the truth; I think that anyone who considers industrial music “easy” simply isn’t trying hard enough. Equally, I think it’s silly and rather blinkered to dismiss the industrial parts as not being “music” at all; there’s 60 odd years of musical history, from Schaffer to Stockhausen to Throbbing Gristle to the contemporary industrial underground that establishes its legitimacy. I find it exciting to work between pure tones, to explore the texture and spectromorphology of sound. It genuinely mystifies me that many people who consider themselves Axis fans (or more likely, former Axis fans) think of it as nothing more than sonic wallpaper of an inferior order to metal. It was never our intention to antagonise listeners with “Urfe”, but nevertheless I think it’s healthy that it’s divisive and provoking opinion, even if it is mostly scornful. I’m mostly satisfied with the album, and that’s all I need to know.
8. While others see a lack of metal or 'real music' my impression was kind of contrary. While listening to "Urfe" I quickly embraced the conception of an audio-book-like told story with a soundtrack and an environment of effects and noises. I didn't really wait for music passages, in fact, as they kicked in on the second part (The Great Unwashed) I was taken by surprise, for a short time it felt like a disruption of the flow. So there are very different perspectives on the listener's side – What is your view on this, is there really an imbalance?
I know exactly what you mean, though at this stage it is a little difficult to talk about the sonically lopsided form of the album in detail. The fact is, the story of Urfe will ultimately be a trilogy, with “Urfe” providing the first two CDs and “Tenements” the third. The complete work and the context each disc provides to the other two is not yet evident. The possibility was considered at one point of releasing the whole story as a three disc monster, but we thought it would probably ruin the label producing something so costly, and that few would buy it. There was also the possibility of releasing it one disc at a time, but we thought, pragmatically, that if we did so then very few people would bother with the metal-free disc and miss out on what we feel is a crucial aspect of our sound, and more importantly the first whole chunk of the story. When all the pieces are in place, then we can talk more freely.
9. The album comes with an impressive panorama artwork that stretches over the four panels of the digipak. It looks like a part of a big eye encapsulating a landscape with pillars of fire… or a modern city buried under a poisonous blanket of smog, but that's just my interpretation.
Who is the artist behind the artwork, does it convey a special message?
Your interpretation is accurate; it’s an abstracted depiction of Locus Eyrie, as viewed from a tunnel entrance, painted by Brooke.
10. Inside the digipak and on the CDs you can see some disturbing photography. That one photo with all the (medical?) instruments lying on the table somehow hints to the previous album. What do you want to illustrate with the photography?
The interior photos are stills from a short film Les was in called “I Love You”, by director/special FX magus Tristan Versluis. Les felt there were very direct parallels between his unnamed character in the film and Urfe, and Tristan gave us permission to use the pictures. Brooke edited them quite heavily to make Les look as deeply, horribly unhealthy as we imagine Urfe to be. I always imagined Urfe to ultimately look like Les, because during his performance in the studio, he embodied the character very convincingly, and that impression has stayed with me. This was a way of sharing that with our audience.
11. The whole story is planned as a trilogy and will continue with "Tenements Of The Anointed Flesh". What can you tell us about the next step, what can we as listeners expect from the next chapter(s)?
“Tenements” will conclude the story of “Urfe”, but will still be a recognisable album in its own right. Due to its concept, which we originally envisaged before we even imagined the existence of “Urfe”, it can also be seen as following up the story of “Deleted Scenes”, though in a more remote way. On a rudimentary level, “Urfe” shows a character starting off in normality and finishing in a broadly similar position as the protagonist at the end of “Deleted Scenes”, so both albums terminate at roughly the same location, though with different outcomes for their respective protagonists. It will not be like either of the previous albums; we have no intention of making the same album twice.
Thank you for answering my questions! "Urfe" is a fascinating and absorbing piece of music. While others refuse to set a step into 'your world' I really enjoyed delving into it.
Good! Remember to wipe your feet afterwards, though. And scrub your hands. And eyeballs. And tongue…
Mike
TAOP
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Mike
Tarpaulin Skin
Transition Engineer
I will cure the world of this plague of hope...
Posts: 247
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Post by Mike on Mar 19, 2009 21:40:05 GMT
I also see that ZT has snubbed TAOP completely. No review or interview or even mention. Nothing. Bah! Not so, it just wasn't finished in time to make the issue. I had a good chat with Dan Hunt from Wraiths. Back in July I slept on his floor for a weekend and we went on a field-recording expedition around Edinburgh, so we already had a good rapport going. I'm not really privy to the intricacies of editorial decision making at the T, but they seem to be cutting down the experimental stuff to make way for more straightforward metal stuff. To be honest we've no one to blame but ourselves for the titchiness of the interview, because if we'd made our original deadline for a Spring '08 release then the editor at the time, Joe Stannard, was talking of doing a big feature. By the time "Urfe" actually showed up the editorial team had changed and as you'd expect, they've brought their own tastes more to the fore just like every editorial team has in the past. |
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Post by Darkcrawl on Mar 19, 2009 23:01:13 GMT
I also see that ZT has snubbed TAOP completely. No review or interview or even mention. Nothing. Bah! Not so, it just wasn't finished in time to make the issue. I had a good chat with Dan Hunt from Wraiths. Back in July I slept on his floor for a weekend and we went on a field-recording expedition around Edinburgh, so we already had a good rapport going. I'm not really privy to the intricacies of editorial decision making at the T, but they seem to be cutting down the experimental stuff to make way for more straightforward metal stuff. To be honest we've no one to blame but ourselves for the titchiness of the interview, because if we'd made our original deadline for a Spring '08 release then the editor at the time, Joe Stannard, was talking of doing a big feature. By the time "Urfe" actually showed up the editorial team had changed and as you'd expect, they've brought their own tastes more to the fore just like every editorial team has in the past. Hmm...you've no-one to blame but yourselves. I've heard that before somewhere.... I agree that the stuff that gets the better reviews seems to be the more straight-forward BM agressive stuff (in ZT). Not so much experimental/genre boundaries-pushing music. However, they then advertised themselves as having an entire section devoted to power electronics/dark ambient etc. in this issue and a separate bit devoted to bands from Newcastle, which I believe is now home of The Axis. Mind you, I rather enjoyed the Ayat album they reviewed last issue. |
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Post by Darkcrawl on Mar 19, 2009 23:03:25 GMT
One more question has sprung to mind: What help/input did the Newcastle Uni music dept. give and the staff therein?
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Mike
Tarpaulin Skin
Transition Engineer
I will cure the world of this plague of hope...
Posts: 247
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Post by Mike on Mar 20, 2009 14:28:02 GMT
When I was talking about editorial decisions at the T I meant Terrorizer there. Sorry for the confusion. The uni people helped me with the Masters, of course, which gave me new knowledge, technology, and possibilities.
Had to imagine "Urfe" without them really.
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