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Week 34: And we're visiting an old friend of the WeeklyTreats team. We've worked with AndaruGO multiple times over the past 2 or so years so we can safely assure you he's about to blow your fucking mind. Grab the track here and watch out for his new release dropping tomorrow!!
WT: What was your first contact with the chiptune scene?
AndaruGO:
My first contact with the chipmusic scene
was through myspace in 2006. I was getting really in to Japanese
synth-pop and came across a band called Enie Meenie (https://myspace.com/eniemeenie). Then somehow-- I managed to come across Sabrepulse's myspace
page, and downloaded all of his albums for free off of his myspace. I
wanted to make chip music so bad, but I couldn't find any information about how
it was made. I ended up searching forever (close to 4 or 5 years off and
on) until I found out how to make chip music with the Gameboy using LSDJ after
watching Reformat the Planet in early 2011.
WT: Which artists inside and outside the scene have influenced your work?
A: First of all
and most obviously I'm sure, one of the major influences in everything
concerning the art/music I produce is Nullsleep//Jeremiah Johnson. I find
myself obsessing over the sounds he makes, dissecting live cuts of unreleased
songs and trying to wrap my head around chip music written by someone who has
been doing it infinitely longer than I-- it's like sitting inside of a puzzle
box with constantly shifting pieces that are somehow phasing in and out of time
and space (both within and outside of my grasp, so to speak). Other
massive influences to my composition and ethos are Covox, CONDOM (lololol),
MONODEER and Bit Shifter (obvz). Without these giants paving some kind of
way or serving as some semblance of a guiding light, I really don't know what I
would be doing or how I would be conceptualizing it.
"Something something,
the shoulders of giants-- something something, the future."
WT: Could you talk us through what went into your WeeklyTreat track please?
A: My track for
WeeklyTreat is the direct result of a year of planning BRKfest with Curtis,
working on and subsequently finishing my new album CONSPIRACY SECTOR, and
finally feeling like I'm coming out from a lot of pressure that I put myself
under this year. This track, 'ice wall' is my way of expressing a lot of
pent up feelings and emotions that without LSDJ I couldn't express otherwise.
I wanted to work a lot on sound texture as well as sculpting a landscape
of sound-- something you could live in. I guess the goal was to create
something that (without context) could make the listener experience what I
intended them to-- I don't know if forcing catharsis on to the listening
parties is a good thing or not but at this point I would like to think that
making someone experience anything they wouldn't experience otherwise is always
a good choice.
WT: Care to explain your upcoming release to us? What went into it, the
themes surrounding it etc?
A: My upcoming
release is called 'CONSPIRACY SECTOR'. What went in to it was almost a
solid 8 months of programming by me or showing things to hunterquinn for
constructive criticism. I also would meet up with spOOked on a regular
basis for CC as well-- this album was truly elevated by all of my friends,
without whom I would most likely perish.
The release itself has a primary
focus on data, the internet, personal networks, as well as our current state as
human beings committing ourselves to data collection and cultivation. I
just find it endlessly fascinating that what we do now, as far as data and the
internet are concerned-- may or may not echo for all of eternity with the
proper curation. All of our photos, memories, and precious videos we
spent so much time uploading and editing to show the world can all be erased
with the flip of a series of switches-- which could very well lead us in to a
post-burning of the Library at Alexandria on a farther exponential scale.
Whereas in the burning of the Library at Alexandria we lost a lot of basic
knowledge-- with the burning of the library of the internet we may (at this
point), completely lose touch with our cultivated and curated identities.
Using these basic concepts as an artistic impetus I set out to make the
best thing I could possibly make at this point in time right now-- and I find
it fascinating to no end that I had started making this album well before the
NSA data collection was reported to mainstream media.
WT: What has been the most enjoyable release to write thus far and why?
A: Using my
last statement as a jumping-off point, I would think that as far as
conceptualization, execution, and artistic impetus-- this upcoming album
CONSPIRACY SECTOR has been quite possibly the most fun I have had while making
an album. Simultaneously however it has been the most troublesome and
cathartic-- the original cut was 13 tracks long, which was then edited down to
5. I think I screamed a lot the day I had to edit everything down.
I screamed very loud. And very a lot. But other than being totally
beat down by my own editing I think this next album may possibly be the best
thing I have ever made since I picked up the Gameboy and started making music
with it. There are some emotions that without this format of expression
(LSDJ) I would not be able to express, so I hope that everyone can share those
emotions with me when they listen to the album.
WT: You also do art. Could you talk us through how you do it, who you’ve
done it for and the inspirations that go into it?
A: I'm a
process-oriented dude, plain and simple. I really like breaking things
down in to different steps and then trying my best to conquer those steps.
I recently within the last year or so started making 2-D art with my
phone using a series of applications for data bending like DECIM8 for the
iPhone and a handful of others (to just save us all from a litany of
name-dropping). Lately I've been branching out of 2-D in to live
visuals-- I really like taking video with my iPhone and then using iMessage to
send it to myself (OSX allows you to access your iMessages on your laptop, it's
pretty cool to be honest). I take those videos (usually videos taken of
my television, or laptop screen) and then throw them into a visual sequencing
program called 'resolume'. It's a really powerful program, and if you put
in enough seat time and read the manual you can do some truly inspiring stuff.
I would say as far as inspiration is concerned however, the main
inspiration from my artwork comes directly and indirectly from the available avenues
for expression that I can then use for self-empowerment. For example,
finding ways to generate the content you desire through available applications
and understanding your own editing process and limitations therein. So in
essence, it's kind of a 'look-around-you' system based on embracing what you
don't have instead of pining for what you 'need' in order to make art (which is
why I use cell-phones and freeware// one Gameboy with LSDJ). Less can
indeed be more, if you simply learn how to edit yourself.
WT: You recently took, alongside Datathrash Recordings, the reigns for BRK
from Curtis Ware, how did this come about and have you got any tidbits about
what’s planned next year for us?
A: This is
actually kind of funny-- not a lot of people know this so I may as well use
this as a forum to express this. I am one of the founding members or
BRKfest (of which there are two). Curtis and myself created BRKfest with
the idea (sad as it may be) that hunterquinn and myself needed better shows to
play in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, instead of being simply relegated to play in
between punk-acts as some kind of side show or playing to almost nobody.
The first and second BRKfests were joint efforts between Curtis and me--
we collaborated the whole way down the line as far as artists, dates, and
everything in between was concerned. Curtis, bless him-- bankrolled both
years almost entirely. Which is why I've never tried (in any capacity) to
express my involvement in BRKfest beyond just managing the twitter, website, Facebook
page, and general organizational details like visuals or international artists
and translating (Japanese). This event has become Curtis' baby, and I
have acted like a midwife to make sure our baby got out in the world as it
deserved.
BUT MOVING ON TO THE QUESTION.
This upcoming BRKfest (2014) is
going to be insane. We have already confirmed several artists, and are
looking forward to bringing (as with every year so far) an amazing mix of both
heavy-hitters that people know of paired with people who are not well known,
and even some people who have never played a show before. We really,
really like that as the precedent of BRKfest. This is our (Curtis,
DATATHRASH, myself) event-- but more so this is OUR event. Everyone that took
part in BRKfest 2013 did such a great job either being SUPER HYPED or making
sure that other people were SUPER HYPED (even if they couldn't attend).
The planning for BRKfest 2014 is
already under way, and I guess I just want everyone to know that without you,
we have no BRKfest. We are made of people. The love that we all
share can, will, and is still growing-- and with proper curation and dedication
to a basic set of core principles we promise to give you a show worth going to.
A show you can believe in. We believe in you. Do you believe
in BRKfest??
