N I G H T V I S I O N

CONVERSATIONS: NIC ENDO.

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:50:00 -0400

Few women in music can compare to Nic Endo, the modular synth-warping magi behind the classic Nineties album, Cold Metal Perfection, and beloved comrade of Berlin’s enduring digital hardcore pioneers, Atari Teenage Riot. As Atari’s frontwoman, a vanguard architect of experimental noise, and as an activist, feminist, and socially-conscious aesthetic icon, she is something of a patron saint to the Nightvision world, and a significant influence on why we even exist as evangelists of extreme ideas in electronica and beyond. Much the way The Knife have made a point of stressing that their vital new album, Shaking The Habitual, became a reality only AFTER they found a political purpose for it, Endo’s music has always been experienced as a very personal ideology in action. Where Atari Teenage Riot express dissent for an imbalanced, hierarchical society through unapologetically direct lyrics, Endo’s abrasive solo work is more about strategically forcing the listener into emotional dissonance; both are confrontational, but hers gets under your skin, quite literally.

With crucial electronic acts pushing the usual apolitical genre dialogue towards a newly sharpened political awareness, it makes sense that Endo recently re-released a newly mastered version of Cold Metal Perfection; long a cult favorite of devoted harsh noise/ outre electronic fans, its also become a paradigm of proudly individualistic enterprise, and a sonic response to her own Fatal Feminist Manifesto.. And that’s really what makes Endo so admirable: she’s proof that art in action will always be a more effective catalyst for real change than polite diegetic contemplation. We are honored to enjoy a lengthy conversation with her about gender, technology — and the tenuous relationship between those factors — as well as her unique musical process, and why music (still) is one of man’s most powerful weapons.

Why did you decided to remaster and release Cold Metal Perfection recently?

At the time Cold Metal Perfection was released the loudness war had not started yet. A year later, the technology was in place and everyone started pushing and pushing it. I am glad that we didn’t redo it back then. With the technology that is now available the mastering can be done much more in favour of the music. I wanted to make the album sound more present, by bringing out the coloration and the character of the original tapes. The remastered album does not only sound louder, but it also still conveys an atmospheric analogue feel, while having more depth as well as having more space and clarity now. It sounds a lot more ‘multi-layered/dimensional’. I’m very happy with the way it’s been mastered now.

What stands out to you most about that release, 13 years later?

What still stands out to me is the Stravinsky piece ‘The Rites of Spring’. I performed this back then with an orchestra in a classical music venue in the Netherlands and it was amazing. We were able to match my mostly digital sound patterns with the orchestra musicians. This project proved to be a bit tricky, because classically trained musicians can be quite attuned to a more conservative and conventional approach and are usually not very open to experiments like that. I had witnessed Alec’s collaboration with Björk and the Brotzki Quartet, and the string ensemble wasn’t able to play to what Alec had written and programmed. He tried to fix it and find ways, but back then the technology wasn’t advanced enough to make it flow in a musical way. So, initially, I didn’t have high hopes, but it worked out really well in my case.

The whole album has become sort of a cult record - many influential musicians and artists had contacted me over the years and told me how much they loved it. I see Cold Metal Perfection in the tradition of New York No Wave and early Seventies synth music. But then there is all the digital hardware gear that I’ve used to make this album, like the last generation of samplers before laptops took over. I don’t think it fits in any category.

What does the name ‘cold metal perfection’ refer to? Does it describe an overall aesthetic that defines your work as an artist and performer?

It describes the atmosphere of the album for me in close connection with the artwork. The photo was taken by Kevin Cummins who did the legendary Joy Division shots, by the way. All elements create this little world once you get drawn into it, something happens. That’s what people have told me again and again over all the years.

The album is now experienced and regarded by many as feminist noise manifesto. Is that something you hoped to achieve with it at the time and do you view it that way now?

It’s nice to hear that. I wrote the Fatal Feminist manifesto about a year before I started to work on Cold Metal Perfection. There was a moment when it felt like we could all define what us women can explore in electronic music. I wanted to show people that I don’t fit the image that the press created of ‘female’ electronic music by focusing too much on the Le Tigre /Chicks On Speed/Peaches package. They drew a picture of girls picking up electronic gear and playing it like children. Don’t get me wrong, this all originated from the Lo-Fi DIY scene of the Nineties.

But the way the mainstream rock press presented women hitting a tiny kid’s keyboard with 12 keys and a Casio drum machine, while big acts like Chemical Brothers or Prodigy were ‘leading’ the dance scene, just completely distorted the reality of what was going on back then. Forward to the middle of the decade and you see the damage. Sometimes I think I wouldn’t have created this record at a later point because there was not that same enthusiasm around anymore. That really affects you. What interests me the most is when women explore the extremes in music - by ‘extremes’ I mean looking at it from the pop music perspective.

It upsets me when people assume most women only want to approach electronic music on a surface, pop level and not really delve deeper into the technical side. Why do you think this is?

Being skilled and controlling the technical side of electronic music is not a ‘male’ thing. Nobody should feel limited to make electronic music only based on some ‘gut instinct’, because they’re female. Electronic music is about brains. It is about the quality of the music, what the music conveys and the person, who created it. I would like to see music, like any other art form and craft perceived and criticized based on these premises only and not by gender. Labeling music coming from women as ‘female electronic music’ or ‘female rap music’, as if they were a genre of their own, in my opinion, has done more damage than good.

We must show that girls and woman are already strong driving forces. It feels great, when I meet girls at shows who tell me that the album has inspired them, because it shows them, that it is possible to go down that path. I always saw CMP only as a first step. Hopefully others will add to it and further develop it.

Did you originally turn to music out of a need to create sound or as a medium to use to express emotional/social ideas?

I’ve never felt any calling whatsoever to make music in the first place. I took classical piano lessons for years, starting at a young age. I was mostly playing/performing classical compositions and it was all more of a technical and theoretical practice. But joining Atari Teenage Riot in 1996 really kickstarted and engaged my interest in electronic music. I was curious and wanted to know about how you create music with machines, how to express emotions and ideas by creating synthesized sounds and programming arrangements with computers, that’s what eventually drove me to create music myself. I believe that all music is inevitably coded with emotional notions and social ideas of the person who created it. I’m half Japanese, half American, but lived most of my life in Germany. I’ve been exposed to racism and sexism more than once in my life. Often the subtle attacks are the worst, but I never saw myself as a victim. These are some of the topics and experiences, among other influences, that I process in my own music, as well as in ATR, but in a different way and style.

Why is music still an effective weapon?

Just because people are confused due to the overload of too much of music online, doesn’t mean that music lost its power as a medium. It’s a temporary problem - creatives are under attack, more than ever before. If you are a film maker, photographer, author…we all face the same challenges.

How has the internet changed the way you and Alec create? Is it more helpful than harmful or vice versa?

It hasn’t changed the way I create music. Okay, it’s maybe easier to update or download software, things like that, but the creativity itself is something that happens when and while you’re disconnected from it all, anyway. What has changed is how other people seem to value music. Often I get the impression that it has no value at all for them. That is very negative. Corporations like Google seem to base their whole business on the idea that creative people must be creative and they will always give in. Many people have a very outdated and Christian view, which is basically that the starving artist is the one that is pure at heart and has to sacrifice everything for the people, the fans.

I’m a very introverted person and this whole constant self promotion that musicians are forced into these days is something I can’t stand, because fans, media and music industry people spend more time looking at social media stats than actually listening to the music. The stats are saying nothing - they are irrelevant, because they don’t contain enough data and are too often manipulated. When one is programming a BBC Radio 1 playlist and is deciding on the basis of YouTube views, if a song fits or targets the right ‘demographic’, that is nuts! And basically just shows how desperate everyone is these days.

It’s interesting how democratizing access to all kinds of music hasn’t actually invigorated mainstream curiosity in more challenging sounds and artists. People still mainly consume what’s marketed to them by default.

It’s not all bad or all good - it’s more like the bad shit got even worse and is reaching new lows on even a wider level. Interestingly enough, Alec asked me the other day in the studio “What was actually so bad about the ‘old’ business model? When you didn’t get signed you started your own label. And those who didn’t get it together are not better off these days either.” That made me think. It’s true… All this stuff that people praised so much about Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails ‘new’ distribution models, which was basically the artist putting it out independently from the big label, was already done decades before by punk and reggae artists, for example. It’s interesting that in 2013 we don’t hear anything anymore about ‘new’ distribution models and most bands are trying to get ‘properly’ signed again. The way journalism is under attack because of the way things work online is scary. The same goes for music and film makers. We all need the independents to flourish because over the past decades the most innovative things came from them. But right now they get crushed on all levels, which on the other hand has an impact on the creativity itself.

At the same time, Alec in particular has really utilized the Internet as a creative means to distribute ATR’s music, as well as his own; it also seems to suit him as a platform for progressing a dissenting cultural dialogue in a meaningful direction, and to new audiences.

Alec is a bit different, he is online all the time while he’s making music, like he hangs out in IRC chats or has Twitter open while he is recording guitars or making beats. I would never do that. I witnessed how he deleted 4 finished songs after we heard someone of the German Pirate Party speak on TV about taking away the right for musicians to earn money and taxing people to then have the government pay musicians if they apply for it. Alec looked at me and said “We both heard my songs, and remember them - these guys will never ever access them.” Then he erased them. For me as an artist the feedback from real fans, real people, real friends or family is often why I create. That was no different before everyone used the Internet.

What do you think the future of the internet will be?

It’s dark. We had our chance as human beings to really change our society towards the better. The internet is becoming a giant spying machine that lets governments and corporations access our personal data. That is dangerous. We wrote the song ‘Digital Decay’ about that. I find myself not even taking my smart phone with me because it’s a tracking device. Anonymity will be a must. Those who don’t understand the mechanisms and what they will lead to, will be the victims. We saw during the financial crisis that the incompetence of people in power is a huge danger. Now, why do we give people like that a key to our bedrooms?

What role(s) will music serve in that digital future?

The way they see it is that music is just a mule to generate clicks for ads. This will create the worst of the worst music. For us, music is a carrier of ideas and information. This will be become even more important. Music has always been about connecting people. The question we must ask ourselves is “Why should we connect? What is our purpose?”

Is the concept of ‘sci-fi’ and ‘dystopia’ relevant to ATR and to yourself - and why?

That’s an interesting question. Usually that comes after we already created the music and the artwork. For us it is definitely the present, the now. I think you can really hear this in our music. It’s all about “Let’s do this now!” and less about “…In a galaxy far away we should maybe do this …”, you know. Berlin in the Nineties…that’s when dystopia was real. When thousands of fans start a moshpit to white noise, that is sci-fi and it already happened.

A lot of ATR’s lyrics and videos deal with human beings’ dualistic relationship to technology. How do you see technology merging with music even further?

When a DJ like Deadmau5 or David Guetta is putting in one CD and presses start for a 70min set, it can’t even get further than this. Next thing is the ‘artist’ won’t be in the same room with the audience. We played our last show in Berlin in surround, which was an was awesome experience. Of course it has been done before, but in our context it was an experience on a whole different level. The computer can offer you a randomization of a beat for example, but it’s not the same when you program the chaos yourself. It’s really about if the person is interesting, has something interesting to communicate to the listener. Technology is just the means - if that’s a wooden flute or the latest software.

Who are men and women whose minds, actions, and art you truly admire?

There are too many to mention here, but a few from the top of my head are: Emma Goldmann, Malcom X, Rei Kawakubo, Simon De Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maya Deren, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Baudrillard…

What do you wear to feel powerful?

I actually feel powerful, and by that I mean being and feeling confident and self-aware. I wear black mostly and I’m most comfortable in a minimal outfit consisting of pants and shirt blouse, plateau shoes or high heels, hardly any accessories. I enjoy wearing scents and make-up, always. To my mind, fashion can enhance and amplify an attitude and a genuine personality, but it can’t disguise or change anything about the way we feel about ourselves in any way. If we’re not feeling confident or powerful, we should ask ourselves why this is and what we can do to change that, but wearing a power suit and some killer high heels alone certainly can’t fake it and won’t achieve a true feeling of power and control.

As a musician and a female, it can be a bit of a double-edged sword to hold a strong image and be judged for it but ignored if you don’t have some visual presence - especially in a male-dominated field. Why do you think this persists?

I completely agree with that, but I find that this holds true for male artists as well. I personally like to see people who have created a very distinct and unique image for themselves. Like music and arts, it’s a way to express yourself and show people how you feel and think about yourself and the world around you. But overall I think the image is not the problem. The problem is when you are good at what you do. That’s when the bullying starts. The way you look suddenly becomes the focal point and that’s the aspect that is then under attack. Because that’s a very easy thing to do. I mean ‘looking good’ or having a striking image, whatever always draws attention, won’t save you, unless you can back it up with your skills and achievements. In the whole discussion about ‘female electronic music’, for example, focusing on the looks is definitely in the way of finding realistic solutions. That’s my opinion. Just because you look a certain way, doesn’t mean what comes from your mind has a certain quality.

What is your take on the current predominant female response to that?

There is something going on that I don’t like at all and it’s this weird collectivism amongst girls and women. You easily become a target when you don’t fit into a category. I would love to point the debate in that direction, if I could, instead of talking about some stupid guys who don’t even understand what you’re doing musically. Any ignorant idiot will criticise any artist, male or female, if they are confronted with something radical or complex. I see more women saying they just give people what they want, make money, then move on. I think by doing that, you’re feeding the beast and the problem actually becomes bigger. And that’s something that too many of us underestimate, it changes you as well. You’re gradually morphing into that other person. That’s why key women in electronic music were never popular, because they would have had to give up their identity in order to appeal to the masses. At the moment I think jealousy amongst women is the worst enemy. Too many use the power structure as an excuse.

When I look at Cold Metal Perfection now, 13 years after it was released, one thing becomes very clear to me: Once you created something and you didn’t compromise, didn’t think about what the idiots were going to say about it, nobody can change that back.

What are some other stereotypes about women in electronic music you think still predominate?

There’s still this popular misconception floating around that all women are somewhat technophobic: women don’t like to engage themselves in anything dealing with technical issues and activities, because they are “naturally missing the comprehension for it”. It’s mostly displayed in the most subtle way in society, but it’s definitely existing. For example, people are still baffled when they hear that you are totally into programming, coding or gaming and love doing it 24/7 as a women. Then you can’t possibly be “a real woman”. They’re assuming, that you must be socially inept, particularly ugly and unsuccessful with men. And if you’re on top of it all also good looking and successful at it, then something must be just downright wrong with you. You know, stuff like that. It’s ridiculous.

Shouldn’t the DIY and exploratory spirit of the digital age help shatter these stereotypes?

Unfortunately, this hasn’t changed with the internet age, in fact it has reinforced all those stereotypes. I find it very hard to even understand why people think like that, but I see it all the time. For too many people the world seems too easily explained. Interesting personalities just don’t fit in. But I find that exactly these types of artists came up with the biggest and most interesting innovations in the history of music. It is insane that technology and any promotion tools are not helping these artists. Instead the industry is conversely using exactly those means to crush these artists. First, in the online world it really didn’t matter how you looked, but then with social media it became all about how you look. It’s like at high school : “Who is the most popular?”. That was the logical consequence. There are too many people in the industry now who are only interested in some popularity stats. We shouldn’t let this corrupt our thinking and our intuition as artists, and it shouldn’t prevent us from exploring the unknown in our music.

Do you think there are factors within the actual production of electronic music that exclude or discourage females from getting involved?

I can’t really speak for others here, but I think, things have become very conservative over the past decade. I’m very surprised to see how easy it was for many to fall back into these old thinking patterns. In the Nineties there was a lot of diversity. I mean from Courtney Love, Garbage, to even Madonna, then there was Riot Grrl, L7 and all of these artists around. When you compare that to what’s happening since a decade, you realize how much damage the George Bush era has actually done. It has led to a point where all of a sudden it was considered ‘cool’ to say that you’re ‘not feminist’. The way I think is, if you want to be in control of your own life, you have to be feminist, there is not even a question about it!

Aside from Alec who would you consider your male equivalent within electronic music?

I’ve never thought about this, to be honest. I guess, it depends on what qualifies to be an equivalent: is it the same taste in music, similar musical style, similar work ethics, biography ? I don’t know. Actually, I wouldn’t even consider Alec as my male equivalent in this regard. We have completely opposing personalities, qualities and very different ways of doing things. We just happen to work on projects together and when we do, we complement each other well, because of these differences and because we value each others characters and opinions.

What do you feel when you listen to your own music?

I feel very connected and in line with the mood of the music and I still get why I did things the way I did at that time. But it also makes me want to move forward. Having been involved in the production of Alec Empire’s albums “Intelligence and Sacrifice” and “Futurist” the past decade and then Atari Teenage Riot, I take those into account as well. I can see from the fact that sometimes people are asking me “What have you been up to since your last solo album came out?”, that they often underestimate my role in those records/projects.

What attracts you to a sound?

The physical sensation and a feeling that it causes. My father used to be a fighter pilot in the Air Force and on some days when I was little kid, he used to take me to the air base where I could watch jets taking off, fly and land. Even though they gave me sound protection headphones, to me the sounds of those jets were still incredibly loud and insanely intense. I could feel the massive rumble and shaking of the ground migrating through my whole body. It made me super excited and hyper. I just loved that noise and the physical sensation and I think, it’s that experience that has set my agenda, taste and view about sounds and music in general to a certain extent.

Cold Metal Perfection, remastered, in full:

What does your own music achieve that strongly differs from ATR? How are the means and ends of the project different?

ATR’s existence and music follows a strict concept and idea. And that has been like this from the start, since Alec Empire came up with it. Every basic aspect in the creation of ATR’s music is pretty much pre-determined and laid out before we even start to record: from the topics, the musical structures of the songs to the tiniest technical details, like for example, how the bass drum should be tuned, the EQing of every single sound to the final mix for every new album to achieve the ideal that we call: “Riot Sounds Produce Riots” .It all actually follows a logical pattern. That’s what it is at least to us. ATR’s sound has been copied a lot, but never equaled, in my opinion.

It’s a collaborative work from start to finish. ATR is the extroverted side of us. Our solo stuff is the introverted side. My own music is like keeping my own personal logs in musical form. When I’m in the studio, it’s like I open the tap and see what comes out, then I decide if I like to pursue the idea. Solo I can just do what I please: there’s no discussions and it’s a different work flow at my own pace, that I really enjoy. And I use different gear as well than in ATR’s music production. I usually don’t think out a aesthetic concept or a certain topic for an album before I work on the music - apart from the White Heat EP, where I specifically wanted to do a pure noise record and one of the hardest existing at that time.

What do you recommend to young musicians wanting to make a sound of their own - that they know the social function of their music first or that they become technically proficient?

Becoming technically proficient and skilled is easy. Biting your teeth out over problems and obstacles and thus learning and remaining persistent, staying curious and motivated, that’s just a natural and logical progression. What could be useful is to know music first, the history of music and understand what you could add to it. It’s a never-ending process, but there is nothing more idiotic than some DJ who claims he came up with something ‘amazing and original’ that was actually done better in the Eighties, for example. And the music industry does the rest to bury the truth in order to sell a new act. One thing is becoming more and more important: Ignore the internet buzz! These are very short-lived phenomenons and they die faster than you can catch up with them. This stuff fucks with many people’s minds. They are trying to adapt and find their audience. But it’s a mess right now. Old institutions, the music press, radio, television, are in trouble. As a consequence, you can’t act and react to it the way bands did in the last century. Now, more than ever before, is it important to know the purpose of your music and why you are making it. And to get clear about how you can behave with integrity along the way.

Here’s Nightvision, Stuart Argabright, Bryan Kasenic,...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:02:54 -0400

Here’s Nightvision, Stuart Argabright, Bryan Kasenic, Marco Shuttle, and the men of Locust, Mark Van Hoen & Louis Sherman, on Newtown Radio yesterday. We offer a preview of tomorrow’s soon-to-be-legendary proceedings at the Nightvision/Bunker show at Public Assembly and also played rare Black Rain and Marco Shuttle tracks among selections from kindred allies, Acteurs, Hacker Farm, Pye Corner Audio and more! Listen above.

Radio News: Tomorrow on Newtown Radio

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 16:48:21 -0400

Tune in tomorrow at 3pm EDST on Newtown Radio to listen to Nightvision and The Bunker join Colin Ilgen’s programme for a special preview of our show Friday at Public Assembly. Joining us will be the evening’s featured artists Stuart Argabright of Black Rain, Mark Van Hoen and Louis Sherman of Locust, Marco Shuttle, and Bryan Kasenic. We’ll be chatting a bit, but focusing our energies on conjuring a future sonic storm in the Newtown studios, as we take over the playlist at 4pm. Expect rarities, foreshadowing, and some heartshaking basslines. Also, stay tuned for a special Nightvision mix and feature with Mister Argabright himself — and, of course, we shall see you all — the noir army, in the flesh, by night — this Friday!

From The Antiquary: Nightvision guest feature for...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:46:00 -0400

From The Antiquary: Nightvision guest feature for Berlin’s Sleek Magazine, Summer 2011.

Nightvision Surveillance: A favourite image of the Nineties:...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 12:38:59 -0400

Nightvision Surveillance:
A favourite image of the Nineties: McQueen’s ‘It’s A Jungle Out There’, Autumn/Winter 1997/1998. Claws by Sarah Harmanee. Hardcore rave couture. Preview of an upcoming Nightvision special on the brutal, man-vs-nature aesthetic complex of the late 90s rave scene - yet another component of the Future Noir agenda we live to explore and advance.

Nightvision Surveillance: Tools of terror from Rei Nadal’s...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:04:00 -0400

Nightvision Surveillance: Tools of terror from Rei Nadal’s brilliant film for Primal Scream’s ‘2013’, probably the year’s best video to date.

Follow Nightvision on Instagram. An extension of our...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:01:36 -0400

Raverbashing.

Follow Nightvision on Instagram.

An extension of our ‘curiosa’ series, this is our daily surveillance portal. We share avant design objects, original art and curations, musical artifacts, and slices of life from the future noir. Nightvision means seeing beyond what is normally allowed to come to light — discovery through darkness. Delve with us.

CONVERSATIONS: THE KVB.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:58:00 -0500

The KVB: the name cleverly suggests a cloistered faction, the kind who meets in the dead of night, an operation as powerful and covert as the former Russian secret police. That narrative befits the dangerous allure of the music namesake founder Klaus Von Barrel and Kat Day make: a perfect storm of guitars and synths that fuses the force of industrial shoegaze with a minimalist mind and cinematic heart. It’s the kind of psychologically suggestive sound that miraculously converges electronic and rock diehards and Kenneth Anger enthusiasts, lurching them into hardcore hypnosis. Legendary sci-fi punks Ike Yard are remixing The KVB’s ‘Into The Night’ (and Klaus and Kat are returning the favor), while Downwards techno titan Regis has already released an early KVB EP and just remixed ‘Dayzed’ — exciting developments for a young band who literally just released their oneiric debut album, Immaterial Visions on Minimal Wave sister label, Cititrax. Nightvision, long-time KVB enthusiasts, invited Mr. Von Barrel to converse about the band’s newly evolved setup, the horrifying prospect of Current 93 shirts at Topshop, and The KVB’s fondness for synaesthesia — it all relates back to the German philosophical idea of ego tunnels. Also, check out their wholly immersive ‘Reflecting Grey’ Nightvision mix here, and below.

What sort of musical experiences lead to you wanting to create your own project, The KVB?
I had been playing guitar in a couple of other bands and doing some other solo stuff for a while before the KVB and I wanted to make something more based around synths and drum machines. Although, it didn’t take long before I got guitars involved with this project, as well and started to bring in other influences. I just wanted to keep the song writing and production simple and the instrumentation minimal, but also noisy at the same time!

What is the typical creative process behind a KVB track? Do the percussive elements or melodies materialize first?
Most of the songs tend to start around the percussion first, and then I build the rest around a melody, a bassline or a chord progression. I’ve always enjoyed the process of layering songs with different melodies that work well against each other.

What attracts you to a sound?
It’s hard to explain what attracts me to a sound. I do feel sometimes like the music I make is already written and trapped somewhere inside my head and I just need to find the right way to release it.

The KVB sounds like touching _____.
Skin.

Ideally, where is your mind when you are writing/recording?
I’m usually alone with little distractions, so I’m pretty focused on what I’m doing. I do most of my writing and recording at night, that also helps me to get in the creative mood.

How did the permanent addition of Kat to The KVB evolve your sound and setup?
It changed the KVB from a ‘bedroom’ solo recording project into a live, touring band. Being an artist she has brought a new perspective to the visual side of things, which has definitely helped us evolve, as well as a new influence over the musical direction and on the recordings, too.

What’s the most surprising evolution of your project since 2010?
I think its that we’ve been able to take the project all over the world and play packed out shows to people, and also that we’ve been able to keep up a prolific recording output since 2010. Back when I started this project, I didn’t have any thoughts of where it might lead, or if anyone would even get to hear it!

Are you drawn to esoteric/hermetic writings or art? Some of your titles (The Black Sun etc.) seemingly deal with subject matter hinting at that spectrum.
No, I wouldn’t say we are particularly drawn to that type of literature or art - ‘The Black Sun’ was definitely a slight nod towards that side — along with the Kenneth Anger inspired cover — although I think there has always been a broad range of reference points in the lyrics and titles and this is something that’s always developing.

We share an interest in post-industrial bands like Coil, Current 93, Death in June etc - dark, historically-fascinated bands often misunderstood/miscategorized by traditional music audiences. Do you feel these acts emblemize one of the few true subcultures left?
Yeah, I think they do — it’s a still subculture that is largely made up of genuine music lovers and real alternative people. This could always change though, if Current 93 t-shirts start appearing in high street shops!

THE KVB - SHADOWS from Kat Day. on Vimeo.

‘Immaterial Visions’ is a great album title that suggests a sense of surreality and synaesthesia. Is that blurring of reality and subconscious crucial to experiencing the KVB?
Absolutely, it’s something we try to convey in our visuals. However, we are also really interested not only in the subconscious, but also in concepts of consciousness and how our perception of reality is constantly mediated by layers of screens, our limited sensory organs and as Thomas Metzinger describes it, our ‘ego tunnel’.

What visual elements do you consider important when presenting your music?
Mainly haptic, abstract imagery which provokes a bodily reaction and immerses the viewer.

What was the first artwork that forever changed your worldview?
I think ‘Forever Changes’ by Love was the first thing that changed my world view; the way Arthur Lee wrote those lyrics (wrongly) envisioning that they were going to be his last and that the world was about to end for him at any point. Paranoid, but beautiful.

Who are some visual artists you consider kindred spirits to what you’re doing sonically?
We’d have to say artists like James Richards, Rose Kallal Mark Aerial Waller, Susan Hiller, Tauba Auerbach, Sara Ludy and Stephen Sutcliffe are our kindred spirits visually.

Your record is out on Cititrax - Veronica Vasicka’s contemporary-leaning label. How do you see the KVB relating to the Minimal Wave legacy, in sound and style?
I’d like to think that we continue the legacy of the original ‘Minimal Wave’ artists in our aesthetic and in our slightly DIY approach to recording music, so far.

On a final note, what city has fascinated you most — and how did it take you in?
Hmm, there are lots of cities that are fascinating to me and we are lucky enough to have been to lots of them in the last year or so: Los Angeles, Athens, Berlin, Brussels, San Francisco, and Budapest are fascinating for different reasons. I still find London a very fascinating place, it’s history and its present.

THE KVB’S ‘REFLECTING GREY’ NIGHTVISION MIX:

MIXBEHAVIOR: THE KVB - 'REFLECTING GREY' MIX.

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:23:00 -0500

We asked The KVB to curate a mix for us, knowing that Klaus Von Barrel and Kat Day’s immaculate tastes would lead us to an exciting collision of restless synthetic sounds. Evocatively named ‘Reflecting Grey’, the sounds fill in the aesthetic details of the universe those simple words suggest: cavernous, malcontent, pensive electronic excursions from the past fifty years of experimental musicmaking. Von Haze and Silent Servant showcase a contemporary assessment of intensely personal (but symbolically dystopian) themes, while Ike Yard and Grauzone’s black waves of synth punk hint at the crux of The KVB’s primary fixations. Sixties vanguards Delia Derbyshire (wobulator matriarch) and garage freq Joe Meek reflect back dreams from a forgotten vintage future. And The KVB’s own remix of Eraas’ ‘At Heart’ exhibits the duo’s knack for reimagining the circuitry of others’ dreams. What did you aim to capture with your Nightvision mix?
I think there is a hazy, dark, industrial winter vibe to this mix, well that’s what i wanted to try and capture. It feels like its been a long, cold winter here and i wanted the mix to reflect that.

What do the tracks contained share with each other?
They are all songs I’ve either discovered fairly recently, or have re-discovered after a long while - they’re all tracks I’ve been listening to a lot over the last few weeks. I had intended to include the original version of ‘At Heart’ by ERAAS, but then thought using our remix flowed well with the other tracks and, of course, would make it more relevant to us!

Where were you when you recorded the mix?
I put it together on a Tuesday morning on a rainy day at home, just after coming back from our brief UK tour supporting Tamaryn.

Where does this mix belong?
Maybe its because we have been traveling around so much recently, but I see this mix as a winter road trip mix. Suited to being played loudly while traveling from one industrial wasteland to another and embracing the grey.

TRACKLISTING:

Belong - Keep Still
Silent Servant - Temptation & Desire
Go-Go darkness - Re-install My Heart
Grauzone - Moskau
Eraas - At heart (The Kvb Remix)
Ike Yard - Kino
Von Haze - Mother Mountain
Delia Derbyshire - Ziwzih Ziwzih 00-00-00
Joe Meek & The Blue Men - The Bublight

We are extraordinarily proud to announce that Nightvision has...

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:08:00 -0500

We are extraordinarily proud to announce that Nightvision has partnered up with The Bunker for an incredible show next month in NYC: Black rain, Tropic of Cancer, Locust, (Mark Van Hoen), Goitia Deitz and TELOAHQAAL — all LIVE in the NIGHTVISION Front Room + DJ sets by yours truly all night long.
ADMX-71 (ADAM X) live, Marco Shuttle, and Bryan Kasenic in the Bunker Back Room!
This is literally going to be legendary - a techno revolution. THRILLED!

21+, 8p-6a
$15 adv / $20 door. Tickets here.

APRIL 5TH.
ALL NIGHT.
See you there.

Nightvision Surveillance: Trees at Thom Browne’s funereal...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 09:37:51 -0500

Nightvision Surveillance: Trees at Thom Browne’s funereal Fall 2013 show, featuring mourning brides and music by Björk.

Nightvision Surveillance:Our nightly friends Tropic of Cancer...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 14:57:00 -0500

Nightvision Surveillance:

Our nightly friends Tropic of Cancer had their chilling track ‘The One Left’ featured in designer Alexandre Plokhov’s amazing Fall 2013 collection video! Melancholic sonic and sartorial architecture collide. This feels like fate and we’re happy to be witnessing it.

CONVERSATIONS: NOCHEXXX.

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:32:00 -0500

The sounds of the club, from the gutter beneath: that’s Nochexxx, lurking, half-hidden, surveying civilians in their midnight play. An ally of the night, a stealth player equipped with analog armor, he has emerged above the surface. For almost four years, he has remained one of the UK’s most shadowy synthesists, revealing very little in his wake but a series of excellent EPs and collaborations, ranging from earlier, disjointed rap-vs-video-game-techno showdowns to looming Sputnik funk. It’s not easy or appropriate to pin the Nochexxx sound down, nor should it be. The man behind the ‘psychotronics’ of it all is even more elusive - so naturally we were drawn to one another’s lunar-lit projects like two unholy moths. Nochexxx and Nightvision delve undercover together to bond over late-nite Bloody Marys, aesthetic agony, sudden legal migraines, and his upcoming debut LP. Plus, check out his warped, brittle and cathartic ‘Guided Subways’ Nightvision mix here, and also below.

What does Nochexxx mean?

At first it was meant as a joke, creating faux hip-hop personas. but also that hip-hop thing of taking a brand, and claiming it as your own. Also, i thought it was funny that Nochex (at least to my mind) was a failed electronic payment system - no where near as successful as Paypal. The irony of it, being a electronic musician and never getting paid! Then, I added another two X’s added and created in this super ego.

Speaking of which, I went to your website - what’s the deal with Nochex vs Nochexxx?? Are you planning to do anything about it?

I received a ‘take down’ letter for trademark infringement. My legal team advised me to delve into the black arts and unleash the hounds of Cthulhu. I’ve placed a ChexxxHexxx, so we’ll see where the storm takes us.

Do you have an update on your Nochexxx full-length LP? When can we expect it?

Yeah, the record is called THRUSTERS - out this spring on Vinyl Gatefold/ CD alongside an animated movie by Plastic Horse (the same amazing animators who created the ‘Charro’ video). The record is comprised of my favourite ‘GTO’ tracks i.e. dubplates I’ve spun out over the last 3 years.

What attracts you to a sound?

The ‘scratch and sniff’ economy of noise.

How do you feel when you listen to your own music?

The phantom appears and scribbles over the illusion, mocking me at every turn. [Laughs.] The creative process is one of pain/suffering/sacrifice, so being my biggest critic, the shortfalls always reveal themselves.

Why do you prefer analogue equipment for your recordings?

I love lots of computer music, but I don’t have the head to produce on a DAW. It’s great hearing Holly Herndon championing the use of laptops, but I’m not sure I would ever be part of the revival. I love the fragility of analogue tech. And it’s incredibly warm! I’ve heard producers say you can make digital sound just as cosy, but I’ve never figured that out. To my ears, digital sounds different - it serves as a useful counter balance to analogue sounds.

Are there any dream machines you are swooning over/want to experiment with?

Labcoat, beards and socks with sandals aside, I would really like to have a go at modular synthesis. But I’m afraid of the endless possibilities and the paralysis effect that comes with having so many options.

Do you work in long, deliberate sessions or feverish impromptu bursts? What role does discipline play in creating your music?

Less discipline, more maniacal obsession! Long hours would be a luxury *sigh* but I have a day job to contend with, so ‘feverish bursts’ it is! Although due to listening fatigue, distance is necessary.

What headspace are you in when you record? It’s different each time, but ideally I’m being sucked into a vortex. I try to control the controllables, but inevitably they become uncontrollable.

What is the ideal way you imagine/anticipate your listeners to experience your music?

If I secure any singular moment of complete focus, disorientation or wild naked abandonment, then that’s great!

How did your geography influence your musical learning?

During the early 90s I was living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia„ so some things got missed. Obvious LPs didn’t make it over. Hard to pinpoint exactly what drives you but K.L. was my first introduction into grassroots independent scenes - DIY etc. Big metal scene, underground as well. Was kinda crazy, ‘cos in certain areas, the poorer shopping districts, you could find ‘jam’ studios’, which you could rent out for a couple of hours. So, as a teenage reprobate I used to go every week and hire an hour, and jam with mates. Inevitably, you’d end up meeting other bands.

What was the first thing you ever read that changed your life and views?

Wendelle C. Stevens UFO Contact from the Pleiades.

What/who was on your wall as a teenager?

Cut-ups of Tom Penny

How has the Internet fueled or challenged your creativity?

It’s probably improved and harmed my life in equal measure. I’ve discovered tons of great shit. It’s often a major distraction tho. I tend to live by intuition, and when you have a bulk of intuitives hitting you at the same time, well, it’s unmanageable!

How much attention do you pay to contemporary music culture? Is it important to you to be ‘in the know’?

I’ll always keep an eye out there and see what new releases I’m feeling. There’s always a bit of glint to be found in a sea of muck. It’s really important to research the past, and draw connections between musical forms. Figure out, and listen to the proto records that shaped the music of today, and don’t always be duped by history books! Lots of great art can be developed outside the margins of culture tho.

What do you hate?

Hatas. I was just thinking today how funny it would be if all the people on Youtube who clicked ‘dislike’ were allocated their own planet. That would be very funny.

Based on what they dislike?

I realise I’m being harsh, but there’s a lot of wonderful stuff on Youtube. Most of it loved by common decent people, and then there will be like 2 out of a million who insist on spreading their negativity.

Someone has to be the prick - always.

They tend to have a voice. In the UK, we have a program called Points of View which is just people writing inane letters to the BBC. i also hate the term UK bass.

I guess I respect anyone who takes the effort to write a letter these days vs the passive ‘thumbs down’ approach.

True.

Not to say there’s not plenty of haters more than happy to vocalize their ire.

Sometimes it’s very warranted. my dad recently told me that he’s been hounded for the last 4 years by the TV licensing people. he doesn’t have a TV, and has letters sent every month basically calling him a criminal. I told him he should write a letter [laughs].

Is a strong visual important to your overall identity (even though you yourself are shrouded in mystery as an artist)?

I’m a total control freak - therefore I’ve been largely responsible for my own designs. But recently I’ve been working with other artists, and have been fortunate to find kindred spirits like Plastic Horse. Painting me as this Joe Spinell a la Maniac type figure in THRUSTERS (THE MOVIE) is genius. Also, props to 2nd Fade and Daniel Ward - both have created wicked covers for my last two CHXFX tapes!

Do you have any plans to do music videos?

I’ll occasionally throw up the odd bit of Youtube detritus, but I’m weary of becoming too caught up in all the self promo work.

Anonymity and/or a remote appearance is fairly common in electronic music. Why do you think in this genre specifically do artists favor this approach - and do you relate your own reasons to that legacy?

It’s difficult to nail this question down in a couple of sentences. There are lots of electronic artists who quite happily ‘out’ themselves. Personally, I’m very camera shy! I’ve always held the view I shouldn’t put my ego in front of the speaker - there’s nothing new in that, it’s the same Detroit Techno philosophy you read over and over. Plus, I think having photos of myself everywhere undoes the alchemy. I like performance art et al, but it’s not for me. It’s a real shame many artists have to rely on gigs for their bread and butter. Some days I’d rather not represent my own music.

Electronic music also is a great tabula rasa to build ideological platforms upon. To me, your music hints at broader ideas, a personal/social manifesto, a hidden world. What universe is Nochexxx coming from?

As I said, it started off as a joke persona, and good jokes are always serious! Ha. In a world that is set up to destroy creativity, Nochexxx is my god-given right to combat the dictators and exercise my rights to never grow up. I’m exploring the inner freak and being ‘the driver’ in a parallel universe. Formative causation is self perpetuating, and the script is now writing itself, rah!

What have you learned about your own creative process over the years?

It gets harder.

What is a lesson you wish you’d learned sooner?

To be yourself.

Who is someone who has surprised you in person?

Gaeoudjiparl always blows my mind.

What will you be focusing on in 2013?

More psychotronics - some self released records. Let’s see what happens!

NOCHEXXX’S ‘GUIDED SUBWAYS’ NIGHTVISION MIX:

All art courtesy of Plastic Horse.

MIXBEHAVIOR: NOCHEXXX.

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:26:00 -0500

Nightvision presents: Nochexxx’s ‘Guided Subways’ Mix.

Tracklisting:
John Bender - It’s Something To Do
Glass Domain - Interlock
Bill Nelson - Transformation 1
DJ Diamond - Torture Rack
Beastie Boys - Sounds Of Science
Afrika Bambaataa ‎– Deathmix (Rush edit)
Negativeland - Michael Jackson
Suicide - Surrender
Moralische Endrustung – Ich Liebte Sie Alle
Frieder Butzman - I’m A 7 Inch Single
Zacky Force Funk- The Split
Thomas Leer - Private Plane
Polyphonic Size - On The Way To Medora
Aphex Twin - ?

‘Guided Subways’ very suitably mutates between screwball hip-hop and deep-below-the-mantle cold wave gems - as well as a classic from Selected Ambient Works 2. Nochexxx on his handiwork below:

What inspired your Nightvision mix?

Perusing your Tumblr and discovering Annie Anner’s glorious ‘Human Race’. Tuning into Minimal Wave and being left speechless after hearing Moralishe Endrustung’s incredible ‘Ich Liebte Sie Alle’. I lean toward lots of oddball ‘secret history’ music myself, so it wasn’t difficult finding a few records I wanted to play back.

What significance do the songs have you to you and to each other?

I just go with whatever makes my spidey senses tingle, always. What was your process of selecting and mixing the songs?

There’s usually only one or two tracks I’ll be obsessing over on an LP, so I’ll pick those out. To be honest, I’m not a great DJ, as I’m crap at mixing, Don’t sweat the technicals!

What does the mix capture?

Straight-up NCHX remote viewing NY through Nika Vision lenses.

CONVERSATIONS: MOON WIRING CLUB.

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:33:00 -0500

By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired. - Kafka.

We are here to crush a lingering assumption that electronica is more a science than art, an aesthetic form for cyborg souls who don’t crave fantasy, escape, fever dreams of their own. It’s a stale way to experience music of any kind, and a boring way to live. Thank God for Moon Wiring Club: progenitors of ‘Confusing English Electronic Music’ and magpies who have straddled ambient, musique concrète and hip-hop universes to coax to life a ghostly swagger all their own. Often roped into what is conveniently bundled as a ‘hauntology movement’ - essentially half-century old library music reanimated by contemporary producers into murky melodic vapors - MWC is actually more of a kind of glamour-conscious pop theatre act.

To understand this, you need to let your mind drift to Clinksell - the fictional timeless, unplottable town created by Moon Wiring Club founder Ian Hodgson (and despite what many think, from penmanship to production, he is the sole creator of all things MWC) - and the slightly sinister, illustrated characters who inhabit it. Foxes, owls, cats, and woodland creatures of all varieties - along with an unsavory Clue-worthy human cast who possess unknowable but seemingly psychic powers -predominate the surreal storylines that reify all six Moon Wiring Club albums. There’s surely enough narrative content by now for Hodgson to produce a wickedly inventive and twisted children’s movie - and we don’t put it past him - but as of now, he can safely be considered England’s most imaginatively visualized electronic act. If Lewis Carroll or Arthur Rackham art directed a deconstructed Drake record, which was then mashed up with old British film dialogue and put on a Luella runway - that’s an approximation of what the Moon Wiring Club experience looks, sounds, and feels like. If you don’t find that fascinating, we don’t understand.

Nightvision conducted an overseas ‘aye-dialogue’ with Hodgson to discuss the decidedly more introspective ‘Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets’ record, the gist of the MWC paradox, and the importance of keeping a secret. Also, be sure to check out the brilliant 90s electronic mix Hodgon crafted for us (eloquently put into context here), streamable below.

About a year ago, you were very interested in field recordings and electroacoustic music, and artists like Maggi Payne and Charles Amirkhanian - and mentioned taking the next Moon Wiring Club record in that direction. What drew you to that aesthetic?

I liked the idea of an immersive, environmental experience. I really enjoyed Chris Watson’s El Tren Fantasma record a lot. It stands apart from a lot of things released in that vein recently. I can’t pretend I can achieve the sound quality created by the high specification recording equipment he uses, but there was something there in that record that felt relevant to MWC. I learned a lot from my field recording adventure; it improved my compositions. The new album is a lot clearer in places; there’s still a knackered quality, but it’s more defined if you listen carefully. Who knows what other people will hear, though! They may think it sounds like ‘album #6’.

‘Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets’ is blatantly less of a party record than Clutch It Like A Gonk was. It’s focused, pensive, meditative.

Yes! This is true. On the last record, there were certain tracks that maybe stood out more indvidually. With this one, it’s more like an hour-long soundscape. When you listen to it more, though, certain nuances emerge from the ether. The sequencing on this one was really important, in terms of building a real environment and mood.

Do you think it’s a deliberate rebuttal to Gonk’s poppier elements? Gonk definitely reflected what I was listening to last year, which was mainly cheesy pop that I loved — along with some very, unapologetically dark material. Nothing wrong with that. I wanted something high-energy and catchy but also unnerving. I think it did meet that goal, and I’m really proud of Gonk, but it was also a mad rush to get it done. With Today, I definitely wanted to slow things down and let it develop on its own accord. Plus, it’s all different time signatures; a lot less 130pm, ‘let’s do a crazy uptempo number here’. It ended up being more somber, but hopefully there’s something to commend in that.

Could it also be a reaction to the fact that pop itself is in an unmistakable rut now? On ‘Always a Party’, you were envisioning the nightmare of being trapped in a club, forced to party. It’s happened!

That definitely was on my mind about eighteen months ago. It does seems like it’s reached a saturation point. Last year, there were certainly cheesy, over-the-top party tunes I enjoyed; this year, the aesthetic was still rampant but far less clever, and I enjoyed it a lot less. It seems everyone’s kind of bored with it, too. There’s a mass malaise.

Every Moon Wiring Club album seems to materialize from nowhere. One autumn evening, there’s a pre-order link, then a teaser video, then the record goes straight into the mailbox of fans, just like magic.

My most hardcore fans will buy MWC records on pre-order without even hearing it. And that’s an experience you don’t see so much these days. I’d remember reading when Autechre’s ‘Amber’ came out; maybe there’d be one track played on a late night show, and you’d rush to record it. And you’d play it over and over and over. Then there’d be a review of the record that revealed certain information, but you still had no idea what it sounded like. Then you’d finally buy it and play it, and in that album’s case, you’d go, ‘Wow, it’s even better than I hoped; it’s amazing.’ You don’t really get that now. The only way to get something close to that is to release the album without telling everyone. I mean, my press releases are literally nonsense, which isn’t very helpful to the press, I suppose!

What is the most popular MWC release format?

It’s impossible to gauge because before I did vinyl, I had a reasonable amount of people going, ‘Oh, do you not do vinyl? Should do vinyl. Vinyl, vinyl, vinyl.’ So then, I did release on vinyl, and the emails started coming in, ‘Is this not available on CD?’ My idea for the ultimate format would be to do a laser disc. Remember those? I have about 22 hours of unreleased music, and I’d release it all on laser disc so that no one could play it. Or, I’d release it all as one track!

It’s actually a great spoof on those who collect vinyl specifically as aesthetic trophies, never to be played or enjoyed.

Well, I collect vinyl and find it attractive, of course. But it does seem a bit odd for that to come first - I mean, it’s meant to be played; there’s a real warmth to it that you don’t necessarily get any other way. Such is the conundrum for the modern listener!

Moon Wiring Club is often thrown in the ‘hauntology’ or, rather, ‘h-word’ spectrum. Do you remember how that started?

Well, the first time anyone heard about what I did was through Myspace; I connected with [Belbury Poly’s] Jim Jupp and [The Advisory Circle’s] Jon Brooks on there. I put some of my early stuff up on my page, and they really supported it. It was really encouraging for me to take it further; then when I made my first record, An Audience of Art Deco Eyes, they kindly put it on the Ghost Box mailout. So, of course, the context people first learnt about me in was in the vein of hauntology. And my identity was revealed; my cover was blown!

How did you feel about the hauntological connotation at the time?

When I read the first hauntology piece Simon Reynolds wrote for The Wire in 2006- people making music sampled from old charity shop records - I was going, ‘hmm’. When ‘h-pop’ (hypnagogic pop) was heralded by David Keenan the next thing, suddenly 40 or 50 acts popped up operating within that so-called genre. But with hauntology, there were, well,…the Ghostbox artists, me, and retroactively, The Caretaker, who had been doing it way before anyone. And years later, it’s still basically that core group of artists. But to make a ‘hauntology’ record, you probably need to have a long-standing - 20 to 30 year - obsession with British telly and the desire to make music. I’m not sure a lot of people possess both those traits.

It’s pretty specific.

In my case, it’s slightly knackered beats and British vocal samples. You would need to be a weird obsessive collector of British TV and also have grown up on hip-hop and jungle records that sample film dialogue; I don’t know if that’s really something everyone would do. I’m not saying I’m a unique special flower! I’m saying, why would you bother?

Well, it also means you can’t really fake it.

Witch House - whatever it was or whatever it still is - has done some interesting things in a similar regard. The difference is you could go on Youtube and go, ‘Right, some Pat Benatar, slow it down, reverse it, there you go.’

The signature MWC sound is even more specific, probably because it’s so closely tied to its process and origins: the Playstation. How did that even happen?

I always wanted to do music. But at the time, around 2001, with something like Cubase, I found it too difficult to figure out what I wanted to use it for. However, I’d also played a lot of computer games; I still do. There’s a game you can get for Playstation 2 called MTV Music Generator; the memory capacity is extremely short, so I gave up with it very quickly - at first. I wanted 6 minute tracks. But I played around with it over time and learnt how to take its shortcomings and manipulate them into beat tracks. Because it was a game - because it was not software - it was alluring, and I kept at it. If you’re obsessive with a computer game, you can train yourself to do things very fast, it’s ridiculous! I eventually became adept at it and loaded my own samples into it and started to use it my own way to create really awful, naff music that no one will ever hear. But that was the beginning.

At what point did you realize you were making a form of strange mongrel pop?

I don’t know, I began to realize I was good at giving atmosphere to things. A default creepy, decrepit vibe became apparent in my compositions. The idea behind the aesthetic, I think, is really strong. The mechanics and production of it is what it is; it has limitations but I enjoy the challenge of working around them. Over time, I have figured out arrangement a lot better and how to construct better beat tracks. On an earlier track, I might have done a kick-snare-kick-snare, but now I might say, ‘Right, let’s mix this kick sample with a heavier, pitched down, less organic sound - a drum machine sound.’ So you have a mixed kick drum, which has more weight to it. I like the Brian Eno notion of learning one instrument extremely well and making it work for you rather than trying to master everything and failing to master any. Over time, I’ve evolved my methods.

Yet the urge to experiment beyond them is clearly there.

If you listen to a contemporary hip-hop track, a MWC beat track will still sound brittle in comparison. That’s not going to change and it can be frustrating. This is one of the reasons I want to shake things up in the future. This is why I’d like to work with a vocalist.

What would happen if a female arrived and crashed the party of the male-centric ‘hauntology’ universe?

Put it this way: I am waiting for a female to corrupt me!

When did your illustrations of women - and Clinkskell - become a key component of the MWC universe?

After university, I started writing and illustrating a graphic novel. It was sort of a children’s book, but one that adults would find entertaining. I started to have a vision of vaguely aristocratic women dominating the stories; nothing kinky or salacious, more regal, impressive, and full of secrets - and to present that as a normality. I liked the idea of children’s entertainment, because you are forced to handle difficult things in a more considered way. You’d sometimes get these very strange, very clever moments within children’s books and TV programmes, where they’d have to figure out how to delicately address sensitive topics. It can lead to moments of true peculiarity. I will always find that more interesting than things being directly dark. I ended up abandoning the novel but keeping the idea of the women alive. They all became characters that are now part of the story of the music. I wanted people to wonder who the women were. I just wanted to present electronic music in a different context than people were used to; for there to be a glamour and mystery to it.

I always think it’s a shame there’s not more of that sense of wonder and enigma in otherwise excellent electronic music. And I don’t mean men hiding behind humanoid masks.

Well, I watch a lot of visual-heavy cinema, a lot of costume drama. In novels, in film, there’s a yearning to the characters. You want to know more about them. In electronic music, you get a lot of things, but not that, really; it’s often set along one line. I wanted to create a world for the music. At the end of the day, I tend to always wind up thinking: ‘This would be better if a woman was in charge of it.’

Part of what I found interesting about Moon Wiring Club was the strong female energy I detected within its presentation. I immediately felt that all the women on the album covers had magical powers.

Exactly. Another reason I wanted to portray a positive female image in control is that when you’re tied in with the darker side of things, you have horror film connotations, and as you’re well aware, horror films generally have a pretty dodgy view as ‘women=victim’. Without making a big statement or anything, I wanted to just have a strong female character type presented. The women on each of the covers represent characters that you’d meet if you’d like to ‘play’ the story, i.e. buy the CD. But they know what’s going on, and you don’t.

Do you think it’s important for the listener to understand or at least appreciate the artwork’s intentions as they listen to the music?

I’m not going to spell it out for people, but I hope people who pay a little more attention notice how there’s a continuity to the characters and the stories of the records. It is leading somewhere. I think it’s best when left to the subconsciousness to absorb; when you’re reading a book and listening to music, for example, all kinds of connections start to take place and it makes the material more accessible on a deeper level. I remember in 2001, I was reading an H.P. Lovecraft biography and listening to Coil (again). Certain tracks and certain details became so much stronger because they were linked together. I’m interested in conjuring a similar parallel potency and resonance between music and narrative.

To me, it’s a suggestion you’re telling a story that can in fact exist outside of Moon Wiring Club, or outside of music, even.

I am working towards doing something different; it’s all early stages, though!

On that note, if Moon Wiring Club could be commissioned to do a dream external project right now, what would it be?

An immersive, interactive Edwardian MWC computer game would be interesting, where you had to find the right ingredients for sweet recipes and the hidden floor of a fancy department store. You could have a character creation mode with ridiculous levels of styling, because everything is dependent on selecting the right hat or hair colour. And of course you’d end up falling in love with a ghost. Obviously, murky rhythms and echoing voices would be incorporated, too. It’ll probably turn out that there was a 1992 Japanese-only Neo Geo game called ‘Lunar Teashop Society’ that already featured all of these elements, but I won’t let that put me off.

Stream Moon Wiring Club’s ‘Midnight In Europe’ Mix:

MIXBEHAVIOR: MOON WIRING CLUB’S ‘MIDNIGHT IN...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:28:00 -0500

MIXBEHAVIOR: MOON WIRING CLUB’S ‘MIDNIGHT IN EUROPE’ NIGHTVISION MIX.

A wondrous mix made exclusively for Nightvision, introduced here by Moon Wiring Club’s Ian Hodgson:

DOWNLOAD HERE.

01. Eo. A.D. 2600
02. Beaumont Hannant. SYm-phon5
03. Reload. Le Soleil Et La Mer (Black Dog Productions Remix)
04. Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. Sooper Kosmos
05. Celia Green. Lucidity
06. Panasonic. Urania
07. LFO. Goodnight Vienna
08. Robert Leiner. Autopia
09. Claude Young. Multiplicity of Zeros and Ones
10. Jeff Mills. Man From Tomorrow
11. LFO. Tied Up Electro
12. FSOL. Everyone in the World is Doing Something Without Me
13. Microglobe. Trust
14. Slowdive. In Mind Bandulu Remix (Out Mind)
15. Soft Ballet. Ride (Global Communication Dub Mix)
16. FSOL. Antique Toy
17. Woob. Amoeba
18. Luke Slater’s 7th Plane. Shades Amaze
19. Biosphere. Novelty Waves (Arctic Mix)
20. Speedy J. The Fun Equations
21. Octagon Man. Klunk
22. Beautyon. Rustless
23. Autocreation. Snatch
24. Baby Ford. Dead Eye
25. Anthony Manning. Concision
26. Saint Etienne. Like a Motorway (Skin up, you’re already Dead by Autechre)
27. Bradley Strider. Bradley’s Robot
28. Mira Calix. Khala (assisted by Gescom)
29. David Holmes. Johnny Favourite (exploding plastic ambience mix)
30. Bola. Vespers
31. Bandulu. Phaze In (Remix)

‘It’s Midnight in Europe: a mixed selection of favourite electronic records from the 90s. (1990s). You could call this music Electronica, or Ambient Techno, or Post-rave, or maybe even Trance, but whatever you decide upon, it all shares a distinctive feel. There’s a uniformity here that dates the music, a pre-laptop sound. Large boxes and keyboards are being squeezed together. Some of these tracks are almost twenty years old (and getting older). However, as time passes by, many of them also retain a curious freshness, a quality that happily places them outside of time…

It makes perfect sense to start with Eo’s A.D.2600, an ear-grabbing tune that paints a vivid picture of the future from 17 years ago. Beaumont Hannant released some of the most beautiful music of the 90s then vanished. Cheers Beaumont. The Black Dog remix of Reload’s Le Soleil Et La Mer is a melodious wonder, here gently blended into Sooper Kosmos by everybody’s favourite Czech shoegaze/electonica act EoST, alongside renegade academic Celia Green who narrated the intriguing Lucid Dreams CD, released by the equally intriguing EM:T label. Panasonic are up next before their second ‘a’ fell off. Urania offers a pulsating template of controlled power that majestically fizzles to this very day. LFO loom in the background with a future Optimum Logo-tone, while the lurching rhythms and euphoric melodies of Robert Leiner provide a classy European flavour. Across the Herring Pond, Claude Young and the unmistakable, flawless Jeff Mills mix things up a bit before we’re listening to LFO at their feisty finest via the exceptional Electro mix of Tied Up. With the phase-howl of FSOL keening in the distance, Microglobe supply a deep dose of aqua-ambience that almost certainly wouldn’t surface today. When it comes to bouncy percussion, Bandulu clearly take the biscuit with their cracking Slowdive remix, while Global Communication dub Soft Ballet with a breakbeat/bassline combo you cannot tire of. After a Polygon segway, FSOL wind-up their timeless Antique Toy, providing such enjoyment you’ll be needing a brief breather with Woob’s wistful Amoeba.

Suitably refreshed? Then drift away on Luke Slater’s 7th Plane - the distinctive reverb on Shades Amaze is so sweetly thick you could ice a cake with it. It’s all gone hypnotic-frosty as the Arctic Mix of Biosphere’s CHART SMASH, Novelty Waves, supplies exceptional laughing ghost-seagull noises, then the quality breakbeats return with Speedy J and his thematic Fun Equations. A fine slab of analogue is provided by the Octagon Man’s Klunk, while unknown oddity Beautyon leads us into the murky, delicious, contemporary sounding decay of one-album wonders Autocreation. Dead Eye is a perfect, dark UK techno gem glowering alone - you could get lost in those chords forever. Conjuring extra gloom is influential mystery-man Anthony Manning, who manages to coax a miasma of glorious dread using nearly nothing. S-s-s-s-scared? It must be the classic Autechre remix of Saint Etienne, but then the soothing beat of Bradley’s Robot breaks through the fog like a lovely lighthouse. There’s night at the end of the tunnel, as the delayed delivery of Mira Calix’s Khala informs us that Night-time is the right time for tears, and David Holmes unexpectedly pops up with a charming pre-Hollywood moment. To round things off, Bola’s sublime Vespers confuses the mix by being released in the year 2000, but we’ll pretend that didn’t happen and peter owt with the endless shimming haze of Phaze-in. ’

THE NIGHTVISION MANIFESTO:

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:40:00 -0500

Nightvision is an aesthetic manifesto, sound chamber, and live platform dedicated to advancing the Future Noir. The name doesn’t lie: we love the nocturnal, the ‘high-tech, low-life’ music, cinema, and art created in shadow, by those on the fringe of everything (and yes, we believe secrets still exist).

We are here to inspire and inform and invigorate the equally committed and curious. ‘Future, forgotten and foreign’ sounds are our specialty, but exceptional music demands its own world to exist within, so we strive towards a holistic aesthetic, presenting complementary ideas from industrial design, sci-fi/horror cinema, literature, and experimental art to coincide with the music we love. This is a place for artists to tell their stories, and a place we plot our own.

We converse with creatives, share original and guest-curated electronica mixes, and dispense exciting video, songs, art, and wisdom we want to share. We host and DJ international electronic shows. We’re interested in those who don’t quite fit into the present, therefore who are totally free of its boundaries - and those whose art challenges, and deserves to impact, ways we relate to the world. We believe in true progress, not quick fixes.

Some may call it dystopian, but that’s just another way to keep people at arm’s length. For the cold, the harsh, the haunted and the lonely: we gave it a home, we gave it a name, and we invite you to join us.

Carpe Noctum,
NV

Thanks to our creative allies Imp Kerr and Singer & Partner for summoning the art and science of ThisIsNightvision.com to life!

13.1.13

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:39:00 -0500

We are relaunching January 13th, 2013. New layout. New mixes. New interviews with legends and luminaries. Indeed: new live shows. Information + Inspiration. An aesthetic Insurrection. Our own theatre and art gallery. A way to experience the world: my little universe dedicated to the high-tech, low-life nightdwellers. A manifesto long-conceived, actualized. Secrets will unfurl, new mysteries will spawn. It’s about time.

Ours is: the future. the alien. the forgotten. the unknown.
resurrect and protect it we shall.
Carpe Noctum,
Mistress NV

“The Social Network” winning Best Original Score. A...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:30:55 -0500

“The Social Network” winning Best Original Score. A stunning moment we shall use to inaugurate the new week….as we tightly hold our breath for the new NIN material.

Paris / Berlin : 20 Years of Underground Techno // Official...

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 14:46:00 -0500

Paris / Berlin : 20 Years of Underground Techno // Official Trailer .
If you aren’t going to Dissolve’s Traversable Wormhole/ Material Object / Gobby techno assault in Brooklyn tonight, live the dream vicariously like us by watching this film tonight.