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Fitz Ellarald Interview in Nov.2003 *What is the idea of this album? Strictly speaking, there was not any clear idea at the very begining. Then I collected these pieces and during the listening to them, it occurred to me I could combine them in this way. It seems to me some tracks sounds like biomass swarming and developing from its habitat. This collections can be compared with a swamp. The place gives birth to flowers, frogs and whatever... the human in the end. *How was this album made? Ideally I want to imagine my tracks in gradual development. I mean changes both into a composition and in layers. This ideal track should live as a spring with its water swells uninterruptedly. I wish the best metaphor for my music would be a comparison with water. Moreover it must be running water which carries small parts on its surface. Naturally these small parts plays thier own roles in the common stream but their roles are secondary ones. The main thing that there is the flow and it is running and developing wave by wave. New parts and elements are not appeared on its surface as times goes by but if it starts form the very begining having such elements they remain in the flow up to the end in changings. About my equipments, I use, it's a pile of rubbish: old soviet synthesizers(Altair 231, Polyvox, Faemi), broken mics and phones, several sorts of tape recorders (I should say a half of I suppose any musician or artist has a certain method. It is very often is perfected many long years. I'm not against this approach. As for me I have an idea to contrive new methods for every new artefact. I understand that sometimes it is hard to put into practice. That's my idea for avoiding to become numb after a bit of time. *Please let us know about your activites in moscow. Sad to say but modern Russian culture is pretend to be "modern Russian". One can find a lot of borrowings from European and American standarts of living. I mean that „p political and social image recasted to fit the times... and a cultural one, too. I agree with saying Moscow looks like great capital, but it is only in semblance rather than in fact. Now Moscow is a feeding-rack for Russian provincials. I am one among a millions who came to Moscow to earn money for living. It is bitter truth. When I came to Moscow I'd hoped to find a modern electronic scene here. But I could find nothing. There are at most several hundred people who interested in electronic music phenomena though for them it is something like IDM, WARP-stuff or at least Mouse On Mars (only last time). It sounds strange but I only found in Moscow my friends who live in Swiss, they were opened for any cooperation. Russian musicians aren't. The biggest part of Russian producers are extremely arrogant even to talk to anybody else. So once I had a call from my friend saying there would be a strange experimental duo Les Halmas from Swiss in Jerry Rubin Club. I went there and met Trixa Arnold and Ilja Komarov. Later four of us (+George Bagdasarov) formed an impromptu quartet, Las Kalugas. In this summer, we got successful small tour in two capitals (we call Moscow and Saint Petersburg as "two capitals"). So I have no collaborations with native musicians up to nowadays. One more bright spirit I met was Sasha Reshetilov. At that time he played some very good stuff in Territory club and Bamboo cafe. He helped me to buy great vinyl recordings and arranged some parties. *Are there any artists in whom you received influence? I've recently listened to lots of music... Tomlab for instance. The main thing which I'm influenced on is music. It modifies me and refines my tastes. Actually tasty music lend wings to me. For the last year I've listened to lots of new Japanese music which my friend Sasha introduced me to. It was a complete new cosmos for me to explore, so I spent a lot of time on that. There are so many other types of music to still find, and it seems like electronic is not only sort of music interesting to me. I'm always looking for the big emotion thing and I can' t find it mostly in electronic music. I see lots of focused moments on very special things, but that's closer to a scientist's work than a musician's work. I'm more interested in music than science. I love pop music very much. It inspires me rather than experimental stuff. Vincent Gallo, Arto Lindsay, David Grubbs, Nick Drake, Mantler... Well, it's so difficult, because if I named bands that I listened to people tend to trace back what I do to what I heard and that's not necessarily true. What you listen to does not necessarily make what you create. My taste in music totally changed during making my own music and learning. Getting an approach to making music maybe makes the music and doesn't have so much to do the music that I was listening to. It has nothing to do with what I'm doing. I moved to Moscow from Kaluga. It is rather a small city near Moscow. It is famous due to it's history and Kaluga is well known as "cradle of Cosmonautics". Konstantin TSIOLKOVSKI lived and worked there. Actually I worked a little bit in Museum of Cosmonautics and wrote some articles about Tsyolkovski. He was completely mad about several thing - space voyage, philosophy and all-iron-dirigible were among others. His strange manner of thinking... He struck me as genius. Another now living genius for me is Jan Svankmajer. Jan has always been a model of creative living. He's made so much great movies, arts and cartoons. I visited his gallery in Prague two years ago to buy some things of him... He is tremendous and monstrous artist. I like his methods of working, his stunning effects are created without any computers. Such work is probably a titanic one! *What do you think about cultural situation in Russia at the moment? How this situation will be changed in the future? . It is hard to believe, but the economic is 180-degree turned by this country led us to such grave consequences. Our values were ruined and no substitution has been made. I mean material and spiritual values. This country (Russia) has had a lot of changes. People get tired with changes. We had it. It is enough for us. We are waiting stability anxiously. *You are a visual artist also. what are you making? Ah... my father is an absent-minded person. He can go out of doors wearing different shoes or specs with only one glass in because his head was full of various kinds of thought usually. I really love him. He is the man who has encouraged all my beginnings. He always likes all sorts of junk. Me too. I like those things around me you know all usual things. I like forsaken things very much, things with their long long history. I started to make fotos using old Russian cameras like Smena, Zenit and FED for some time now. As a rule for making music or pics I use an equipment I've already got. I hate to increase my tool kit. Let's return to the question at hand. I was mad about microscans of tiny objects. I want viewers confuse with my works. Theoretically my image should be on the one hand familiar and clear for viewers on the other - difficult to catch. And I don't forget about aesthetics as a very important criterion. I have many photofilms and once I decided they can also be scanned in from film without any film adapter. The results require special elaboration but it is worthy much... finally images looks like Polaroid transfer. They are full of noises and not a bit digital-looking. This is my art for now. Before... It was time of queer performances and this sort of things. My friends and me liked provoked people with our strange actions. We held something reminds of fashion show but our models were completely drunk or they were people from the street... beggary... always in the same spirit. *Are there any messages to audience? We are here to love and to be loved. |