André Stordeur was a pioneer of modular synth music and the leading exponent of the form in his native Belgium; sadly, he passed away in April 2020 before being able to complete a session or be interviewed for Philippe Petit‘s Modulisme. A session was however constructed from historic recordings, and the interview (which has already appeared on Modulisme) reproduced below dates from 2018, conducted by Chris Ferreira.
interviews
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I first caught Edwin Stevens perform as Irma Vep sometime in the late noughties at London’s Mascara Bar venue. He took to the stage solo and struck me as an earthier Will Oldham-type character: radiating emotion and pathos with only a guitar and voice. The set was intense and beautiful; it also involved humour and belching. In the intervening years, Irma Vep has released a flurry of LPs, […]
Kevin Rix is perhaps best known for his work in Hollywood as composer at Paul Dinletir‘s Audiomachine production company, where he has been responsible for the trailer music for films such as Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon and many more.
Benge (Ben Edwards) built his MemeTune studio as a haven and playground for his wondrous collection of vintage synthesizers. He has released numerous solo albums as well as forming the duo Tennis with Douglas Benford of Sprawl club and label fame, and has branched out to curate the Expanding label. Freq interviewed Ben about his session for Philippe Petit‘s Modulisme project, and he reveals a deep and lifelong fascination […]
Silver Rocket / Lokal Rekorc E, the collaborative project between Thalia Zedek, Gavin McCarthy and Jason Sanford, is perhaps the purest form of musical collaboration, with each member bringing equal input to their intriguing and fiery — but at times slightly sinister — brand of melodic, post hardcore guitar music. All three have done their time in the indie rock scene, with Thalia in Come and Live Skull, […]
Jono Podmore has been at the studio controls of a host of musicians and bands since the 1990s, also releasing music as Kumo and as part of the all-analogue ensemble Metamono with Mark Hill and Paul Conboy. Jono is Professor of the Practice of Popular Music at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, where he runs the MA course in Production.
Tapete In a world that seems to have gone completely crazy, it feels like the perfect time to welcome back Bobby Conn after too long away. Tapete clearly felt that the world wasn’t the same without him and on his debut album for them, and first since 2012’s Macaroni, he has wrapped himself up with his regular collaborators and boy, do those guys really bring the funk when […]
Founder of the N&B Research Digest label and member of Night Prospekt, F.R.U.I.T.S., Volga, ASTMA and the Fake Cats Project among others, Alexei Borisov has been a key member of the Russian underground since the Soviet era. He is also the curator of the Noise And Fury festival of experimental music at the DOM Cultural Centre in Moscow.
Celebrating a decade of promoting emerging and underground music gigs, the Chaos Theory collective takes over sprawling double venues at The Dome and Boston Music Room in Tufnell Park, north London for their Ten Years of Chaos festival for one day only on 29 February 2020. In advance of the festivities, Freq asked a few of the day’s acts about chaos, festivals and how they intermingle. Zu, Chantal […]
San Francisco residents Thomas Dimuzio, Tom Djll and Gino Robair are three leading lights in the world of improvisation and modular synthesis. All have been active on the ever-bountiful Bay Area experimental music scene for many years, and are interviewed below about their individual contributions to the Modulisme sessions organised by Philippe Petit. Their answers reveal the many and varied approaches, options and possibilities that the form offers […]
Doug Lynner started out as a keyboard and guitar player in psychedelic rock bands in California in the 1960s. Doug also teaches music composition and is known internationally for his modular synthesis performances and online tutorials. He was editor and publisher of Synapse magazine and currently helms the Neat Net Noise label. Doug improvises as Bloop Quack with R Duck on processed guitar, and the duo hosted a weekly live […]
Todd Barton has been composing for films, theatre, radio, quartets, orchestras and more besides over many decades. Nowadays, Todd teaches Buchla, Serge, Hordijk and eurorack online. and is a consulting artist for Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. To accompany Todd’s session for Philippe Petit‘s Modulisme platform, Freq interviewed him about a life in modular synthesis.
Robin Rimbaud, best-known as Scanner, has been pushing the boundaries of soundscaping since he first brought intercepted unencrypted mobile phone conversations to the world of the avant-garde on his self-titled debut album in 1993. More than a couple of decades and tens of releases on, he provided Philippe Petit‘s Modulisme platform with a session and talks about it and his immersion in modular synthesis as part of Freq‘s […]
Turntablist, BiP_HOp and Pandemonium label owner, radio host and more, self-professed “musical travel-agent” Philippe Petit has been a tireless bastion of electronic and experimental music, having released more than fifty albums over the last decade alone, some featuring a cast of co-conspirators including Lydia Lunch, Edward Ka-Spel, James Johnston and Eugene S Robinson. His latest venture is Modulisme, a platform / label / radio programme to promote modular […]
The month that his new LP Infinite Sprawling is released on Upset The Rhythm, Robert Sotelo is interviewed by Andrew Doig on life, the creative process and new release anxiety.
Preceded by the “Chateau” single earlier this month, unconventional musical subversives R.O.C return with their first album in twelve years, Bile And Celestial Beauty, appearing on rocmusic on 29 March. Oleg Rooz has created seven short films to go with the album, and his video for the track “Divorce”, which is released this Friday (15 March) and receives its exclusive premiere below, accompanies an interview with Mr Olivetti.
Richard Knox established Gizeh Records in Leeds at the dawn of the new century, and the label has grown organically from strength to strength since then, building a reputation for bringing adventurously expansive music to the world. Mr Olivetti spoke to him about the origins of the label, the art of collaboration, and how he keeps Gizeh and his musical project A-Sun Amissa going in uncertain times. What came first, […]
“” — Lisa Jayne Following the release of their latest Void Axis CD via Fourth Dimension and Foolproof Projects, Lisa Jayne and Andy Pyne sat down to discuss the album, their music, art, methods, origins and sources of inspiration with Kev Nickells. The interview is presented as two audio recordings