jeudi 29 mai 2014

Interview : Craig Louis Higgins Jr (Save!, Mutado Pintado, Black daniel, Paranoïd London)



1. Your first musical memories?
My earliest musical memories are listening to old 45’s on an all in one record player that my great grandmother gave me. I would listen to The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Purple People Eater over and over again, as well as a lot of what I would call Golden Oldies and sort of Rock A Billy stuff. I also have to say that my sister would play music to me in her room, which I never would have found, like Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Vanity 6, B-52’s, and Devo, so it was quit an education. Also I have to mention that the most groundbreaking musical experience was my mom taking me to see James Brown when I was probably 10.

2. The best record you received as a present? / The worse one?
The most recent that I can remember would be a toss up between Scatman John “I'm A Scatman” and Trancesetters “Secrets of Meditation” and the worse Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby” 12” .

3. The first record that you lost?
This hurts bad. A split 12” LP of Tenor Saw on one side and Nitty Gritty on the other that I bought in Jamaica. Whoever stole that from me can definitely suffer for eternity if it’s possible.

4. The name of your imaginary band?
Lady Anus

5. On your EP “Blue”, you present three radical versions of the same song: from the shoegaze pop of “Blue (radio edit)” to the electronic orchestral pop of “Blue (Gluid remix)” to the acid house of “Blue (Johnny Aux Mix)”. Would you define eclecticism as a characteristic of your sound?
Yes definitely. I am fully into trying to express whatever I am feeling and without worrying about sticking to any kind of format or direction unless it happens naturally. As it goes, right now is such a great time to make music for someone like me. I am surrounded by so many talented friends and people making waves in music that it’s inspiring and also overwhelming. I want to do everything and anything without worrying about it. My only stipulation is that I like what it is I am putting out. That probably sounds silly or cliché, but it’s the selfish truth.

6. Who changed your life?
Albert Hoffman, my family, James Brown, New York City

7. What will music sound like in 50 years / 5000 years?
I hope that there is some revolutionary change in the way we hear music, but I am sure it wont sound too different, much the way we compare the new music to what we have heard in the past now. It would be nice if the way we hear it was somehow changed dramatically though. Some kind of Dune type compression chambers blasting music through heart valves would be wonderful.

8. The perfect record to listen to when having a drink?
I suppose it depends on where I want to go mentally but I think for this particular moment I am going to choose Moebius & Plank “Rastakraut Pasta” because the first track makes me feel like I'm riding a horse through the desert like some kind of Roman army leader on mushrooms, some kind of king of some kind of world.

9. Can you tell us a few words about your work with Paranoid London ?
It all started from Quinn asking me if I could try some vocals out before I went to work, and then Eating Glue happened. I figured I totally blew it and that he would have to sit around editing it, and when it was done without editing at all, (it was a one take shot off the top of my head while we sat there), I thought he was out of his mind. He is really. He is one of the best people I know in music and an amazing hard working person, and so talented and really does not give a fuck about what people say or think. I just figured he was being polite to me, but that record went off the meter, people pay over £100 on discogs for it, crazy. I don’t even have one though, typical artist rape tactics. Anyhow now we are a band of misfits travelling around the world playing live, and it’s a lot of fun and an honour. They stick to what they believe in, no press, no digital downloads, nothing but analogue and what they like. Its great to see something work and also be a small part of it. Quinn and Del make a great dynamic duo in terms of wanting to piss everyone off and do exactly what they want to do and how they want to do it by literally putting all focus on the music alone. Long live it. An album is coming out soon which should be pretty amazing.

10. Your dream collaboration?
Gibby Haynes, Prince, Steve Albini or Little Richard

11. The record that freaks you out? 
Good freak out: Prince Around The World In A Day bad freak out: This : Wade Denning ‎– Sounds To Make You Shiver, I used to listen to it as a kid and get really scared. Actually that could go as another record that I am sad to have lost.

12. Monsters & Fairies – the new album from SAVE! your side project with the australian singer/composer Saskia Sansom and the french electronic music composer Marc Nguyen Tan (Colder) – was produced without you ever meeting once in the same room.

Was this method of production more relevant to the way you usually record music  (i.e. remixes, etc.) or was it simply the result of practical constraints : time/space/money?
It was literally due to being in different countries, but at that time I was going through a period of only wanting to do stuff by myself so it totally worked out. We, or at least I could fully express myself without worrying about anything at all, so I would totally let go and hit send and let Mark be the genius that he is. It is all going to change soon though as we will finally be meeting and putting more stuff together and getting a live act ready. It was a very lucky meeting and an even luckier result, we really get each other which is amazing but never meeting wasn’t something that was planned, it was just what happened. Now I look forward to collaborating together to see what happens.

13. The little-known track that everyone should have heard of?
Mutado Pintado & Jonathan Dryden present Patience The Wheel, yes a shameless self promotion, but worth it I promise. I put it out on a very limited 7” earlier this year, but we have a whole album to release either the end of this year or beginning of next.

14. In a recent Guardian Review article about the future of the novel, the British author Will Self suggested that Modernism did not die out when Postmodernism started, and that contrary to this, “we are still solidly within the modernist era, and that the crisis registered in the novel form in the early 1900s by the inception of new and more powerful media technologies continues apace.” For him his observation also extends to Music and Fine Art.

Considering the music of Black Daniel – which seem to tap into different styles, notably acid house and a rock’n’roll revival, as in “Get me my cane” and “Gimme what you got” (on Soderbergh’s Magic Mike soundtrack) – would you agree with his remark, or do you think we are entering a new era for the way we listen/produce music?
Maybe

15. An album you wouldn’t want to be?
Pretty much anything on the Radio at the moment.

16. The cover version you would love to do?
Prince - The Beautiful Ones

17. “Imagine waking up tomorrow morning and all music has disappeared. All musical instruments and all forms of recorded music, gone. A world without music.”. What will you do ?
Start painting again.

18. The text you would like to produce a soundtrack for?
I would love to make a movie and soundtrack out of the text from the book Durango Street by Frank Bonham.

19. Have you ever had auditory hallucinations?
Naturally once, it was at a Brian Jonestown Massacre show in New York City, they played Whoever You Are and my eyes literally rolled in my head, it was unbelievable and never happened again.

20. How would you like to die?
Loved and respected or at the very least something comparable to this http://youtu.be/-_DC0P9yPBo.


Here's our selection of Craig Louis Higgins Jr's works and an extract of SAVE! below. Plus : watch Rainy Monday video and listen to Peasant Vitality mixtapes. Go to SAVE! tumblr, to Mutado Pintado soundcloud, to his facebook, bandcamp, twitter and to his youtube channel.

Paranoïd London sera en concert avec Mutado Pintado à la Villette Sonique 2014, le dimanche 8 juin au Cabaret Sauvage.









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