by: Schizoid
S: Hey, want to do an impromptu interview over here?
S: I could post it to the DTRASH site on the Interviews part
RA: Sure
S: Okay, ummm... questions...
RA: Hehe, the tough part
S: First I guess, how would you describe RA to someone who doesn't know, when you talk about it with
S: people, I can sort of describe it, but it's a mix of different stuff but there's this like common reality to it all
RA: If it was an average MTV/Top 40 listener, I would describe my RA project as fast, distorted funky
RA: breakbeats chopped up with a lemon twist - If it was someone in the know, i would describe it as a
RA: sometimes moody, yet wacky take on fast distorted beats
S: What kinds of stuff do you like to sample from to make it?
RA: Classic sci-fi movies, like "Hardware", "Bladerunner", etc, then movies like "Kentucky Fried Movie"
RA: :>
S: yeah, there's sort of a bit of a lighter humour-y type part to it, but not in a like corny way, it's not like very
S: oppressive type thing even if it gets hard .. hehe Yeah the 80's movies are the shit to sample from
RA: Ya
RA: Anything old w/John Cusack
S: (I watched Tapeheads and Better off Dead like a few times in a row last weekend it was great)
S: Okay, well yeh it seems tho on this new stuff your stuff is a little harder than say the DTrash13 release,
S: How do you think they're different from each other?
RA: I have much more experience now than I did then
S: And how does that experience translate into the RA song writing experience..
RA: And the material is a progressed DTrash013, mostly it translated over in technique experimentation of
RA: different sorts, ranging from melodics to percussion programming
S: The 1st album seemed a bit more experimental and not as straight forward as this new one in ways
S: Tho theres a lot of slow and neat ambient parts in some of these tunes
RA: Yes, i had the opportunity to pick and choose tracks for the 2nd album from a much wider list,
RA: so it could have more of a "direction"..
S: Was there more than these like 10-20 songs in the cache?
RA: Yes, some just didn't quite fit
S: Neat
S: So, this rythm-tech.net page, is this like the comprehensive RA & Family of projects type of page?
S: Is this new?
RA: I've had it for a year and a half or so.. it's just a site dedicated to my range of work
S: Hehe oops? Never came across it in my online adventures
RA: I don't spam it too often :> it usually shows up in a RA search
S: I think we just spam in different circles in ways, although its all the same shit basically
RA: Yea, it was hard to stay in the same circle after the circumstances of my departure from DTrash
RA: back in the day...
S: heheh Yikes
RA: But that's all in the past and well healed :>
S: Those days were really neat, but too much arguing, not enough work
RA: I agree.. I enjoyed it most then. It was all so new
S: So these other projects... who's involved in 'em and what type of style is all of these
RA: Well, Unseelie has been my main recording name for a few years now. it's mostly just a mellow,
RA: melodic thing with abstract beats. Digita`lis/Phlox is a project that i did percussion with one of my best
RA: friends from high school, wherein i did the beat programming and he handled the melodic side of things.
RA: It was a continuation of RA for me, as the project happened almost right after dtrash013, oftentimes the
RA: beats in D/P would be just as fucked and abraisive but with much more melodic sense to each track.
RA: (err, that came out bad.. needs editing :>) (redundant, rather)
RA: But ya, unseelie is all me.. except for the Knifehandchop & Unseelie stuff.. that was me doing the
RA: drilly beats. :>
S: What Unseelie releases have there been out there and how can people check it out
RA: None.. i've never sent any demos out.
S: Wow, so there must be a ton of material then eh?
RA: Ya.. i think most of it is crap tho.
S: About what percentile would you say is crap
RA: I'm most proud of my newest Unseelie tracks
RA: Hmm.. 67% i'm not happy with :>
S: But you had an Unseelie page on besonic.com type thing didn't you? At some point
RA: No, I had one om mp3.com before that site turned into a fatcat moneyfarm.
S: Whut, an Unseelie site, hmm maybe I'm just remembering things
RA: Ya., before mp3.com went gay and wanted to charge money to get into the spotlight
S: Yeah I hate that so much, SO much, a lot of us all met on mp3.com,
S: with the whole '99 type of online digital hardcoreish stuff going on
RA: Werd!
S: Now they only llt you store 3 songs? that's retarded - S: Didn't like Vivendi or somebig company acquire
S: them? Fuck, my music has to be placed next to McDonalds and Join the Army ads?
RA: Hehe, exactly.. so thusly i bought my own domain for my music :>
S: It's good to still keep open I guess, but I concentrate on my own site now|
S: Which i guess is better for us, pushes us to work on our own sites, instead of using mp3.com
RA: Yep.. it's the mature step to take, really - I need to reboot. can we continue this? :> BRB
S: cool
RA: *back
RA: Cubase SX is giving me shit
S: yeah man, outlook was fucking up for me earlier - Is that what you use, Cubase and stuff like that?
RA: Nowadays, yes
S: Is there a personal formula or do you try lots of different types of techniques
RA: I've been getting into a groove lately of writing my melodies first then building the beats around them.
RA: But overall it just varies on what sort of idea i have in my head to start with.
S: And then you know whether it's a RA, Unseelie, or other project style
RA: Ya.. it mostly depends on my mood
S: Cool, yeah tell us a few CDs that are rocking for you lately
RA: Honestly i haven't been listening too anything in particular. the last album i really enjoyed was by a band
RA: called "the postal service", which is indie rock pussy shit mixed with very nice electro/nintendo styled
RA: melodies. :>
S: Neat when they use Nintendo-y type melodies in stuff
RA: If you like that sort of thing.
S: Cool, so this CD coming up, what's "The Sprawl", what is sprawling about it
RA: Three books by William Gibson really inspired me. they were dark, gritty and basically defined the whole
RA: "cyberpunk" culture. Those three books are 'Neuromancer', 'Count Zero', and 'Mona Lisa Overdrive'..
RA: they are called "The Sprawl Series", and here's a direct quote from the William Gibson aleph website:
RA: "The setting of these books is a dark, gritty future where multinational corporations rule the world and
RA: computer networks are used for nearly all transactions and communications"
S: Hah, do you think that last line ... gritty future here... is like how it is now?
RA: Sometimes i feel that the current state of things is not far off from this, as that series was started in
RA: the 80's.. Of course, look at Corporate America, for example!
RA: It's a fast food culture, ruled by false media - God bless it!
S: Yah scary stuff!?
RA: wuite :/
RA: err quite :? :>
S: Yeah, us Canadians wonder what the hell is going on down there sometimes
RA: I'd rather be Canadian. :>
S: Hehe
S: Cool, so far as like the 'interview' goes I'll cut it off at this point, unless you have any closing words:
RA: I'll end it with this: enjoy RA's "The Sprawl"