Mr.Projectile is Matthew Arnold, and has an album
on the way on Toytronic Records.
Igloo: At what point in the process of recording music and then releasing it do you gain the most satisfaction ? [ eg. making sounds / hearing that someone bought it for their mother’s birthday / reading reviews etc. ]
Matthew Arnold: The most satisfaction for me definitely comes from performing live. You get a direct listener response. Whether it be guys gettin’ naked and hugging
everyone, to people leaving the room. I once had a couple come to me and say they fell in love while dancing to my music. It probably doesn’t get much more intimate and direct (musically) than that.
Igloo: Do you think that the practice of MP3 bootlegging
in the electronica genre has an impact on smaller labels? Have you experienced this with any of your releases ?
MA: Of course! When you boil it down to money. No one is making the money they once did releasing music. Look at Warp Records. They’re scrambling to sign artists more widely accessable. It’s a sad sight. On the other hand. (this statement might be very tired and cliche, but fuck it) For artists such as myself and others who do things on a much smaller scale, mp3s are perfect.
People who would have never heard my music otherwise are able to instantly hear it from anywhere there’s a phone line. Mp3’s have put me in touch with people I would have never met otherwise. And for me it is perfect because I prefer to use the internet to bring me closer to actual individuals rather
than hide from them behind the wall that can be the internet.
Igloo: You are now working with a vocalist, how do you go about writing music, and do you find it difficult to integrate something as dynamic as the human voice with more synthetic sounds ?
MA: In the past I’d write some melodies and Amy would choose which ones she liked. Then we would expand on those melodies together. I’m in charge of the beats. She’s in charge of the vocals. And we collaborate on the melodies. Recently Amy bought the exact computer set up I have. In the future we will be able to write things alone at home and trade files
seamlessly. Probably the most ideal way for two electronic musicians to work these days. We are really excited about it.
Integrating her voice with my music has been magical. Never once did I doubt that a particular song wouldn’t work with her vocals. I definitely tailor the sounds to agree with her voice though. The songs just seem natural to both of us. We have similar musical minds.
Igloo: Do you think that Melody is slowly becoming a more prominent and acceptable ingredient in electronic music today?
MA: This is a topic I could easily get carried away with, so I’ll try to keep a subjective point of view. Wait, no I won’t! The type of elec music I’ve always sought out has always been melodic. I pay attention to other genres though, and have noticed a definite move towards melodies. I had hope for hard techno about a year ago when the Swedish boys were using strings and such, but hearing Plastikman DJ a few days ago reminded me of how bland hard techno can be. I’m putting faith in the surgeon to sorta lead the way as far as that stuff goes. The more minimal techno being made these days seems
to be less afraid of melody than stuff previously released. These days I am not as amused by programming tricks and crazy beats as I am just plain good music. So to sum up, I would like to see good music be a more prominent ingredient in electronic music.
Igloo: If Mr.Projectile’s music was used as the score to a Hollywood movie, what would the plot be?
MA: It would be one of those really confusing David Lynch type movies where things never make sense and you’re always confused. And the ending is confusing too. And you walk out of the theatre confused as all hell. And you try to describe it to friends afterwards, but you just confuse them.
Either that or a romantic comedy starring David Schwimmer from “Friends”.
