Jason Amm (aka Solvent), a connoisseur of all things analog and simple spent some time in the Igloo over the past few months to warm up and shed some light on his journeys as a dedicated Canadian Snow Robot. Having recorded for a host of record labels and running his own label called Suction Records (with Gregory Durocher, aka Lowfish), Jason Amm finds comfort on the Igloo Sofa to discuss the details of his passionate marriage to analog synthesisers and oddly shaped boxes from the age of 16. Wasting no time, and gladly accepting a hot bowl of Black Turtleneck soup, Jason Amm speaks to Igloo with all recording devices turned on.
And so the interview process begins. Solvent, as many of you may already be aware, creates some of the most delicate analog driven music around. The interaction between human and machine is met peacefully when Solvent fiddles with the rhythm machines. From his debut self-titled CD on Suction Records through to his latest full length on Morr Music called Solvent City, Solvent’s up-beat melodies are driven by a light industrial backbone of tight percussion and precise rhythms…
Find out why Speak & Spell is rotated at least once a week in Solvent’s home, who he’s collaborating with on upcoming releases, and where his inspiration evolved from..
Igloo tunes in attentively to the Solvent landscape..
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Igloo: Have you ever recorded under any other alias’? When did you begin recording your music?
Jason Amm: No I haven’t recorded under any other alias’. I recorded some music in the
late ’80s when I was about 16, using nothing but a Casio CZ-5000
synthesizer. At the time, I was trying to sound like Fad Gadget without the
vocals. Soon after that I lost interest in the sad state of
contemporary electronic music, and stopped making it. I got back into it in
leaps and bounds when i first heard stuff like Aphex Twin & U-Ziq’s Tango n Vectif, around 1993.
Igloo: What are your main reasons for creating such inspiring 80s infused electronic music?
Jason Amm: I have a love for purist synthesizer pop and I don’t think there is enough
music like this in the world. I will always remember that feeling I had
during the late ’80s when I had practically concluded that this art form
would never be resurrected, and thinking that I would have to listen to
nothing but the same 20 records for the rest of my life. That was a very
uninspiring era, and I think I wore out about 10 copies of Upstairs at
Eric’s by Yazoo during that time! Now that I can see a future for purist
synthesizer pop again, I am inspired to contribute. It is nice to hear that
my music is, in turn, inspiring.
About the ’80s thing, it’s a sketchy area. you see, it is true that most of
the best purist synth-pop records so far were created in the early ’80s, so
these records continue to be the key inspiration for modern synth-pop
composers. But I think this genre does not need to be relegated to “80s
music” and there are new artists who are already helping to change that;
guitar pop isn’t forever referred to as “60s music” even though the key
elements were more or less invented & perfected during that era. there are
currently a hand-full of artists who are creating great pop music with
analog synthesizers again, and I think it sounds really fresh and modern,
unlike a lot of supposed “cutting edge” digital music.
Igloo: What are some of your influences? It seems your Solvent alias is one that has attracted folks who enjoy nostalgic, melodic and “cute” electronic music..
Jason Amm: I am influenced primarily by late-70s/early-80s synth-pop. These were the
records that first attracted me to electronic music, and they are still the
best records I have yet heard. I would say that Daniel Miller (Mute Records
founder / producer and programmer behind so many great early synth-pop
records) and Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode/Yazoo founder) are my two biggest
influences. Of course, my version of synth-pop has also been well-informed
by ’90s electronica, and Aphex Twin in particular. I think his early records
established a whole new set of ways to think about synth programming,
production, rhythm, and emotional depth in electronic music, and I think it
would be absurd for any true conneisseur of synth-pop not to take note.
I think my music is an antidote to a lot of contemporary electronic music
because it takes the majority it’s cues from pop instead of from techno and
other post-techno genres. I think the people that are especially attracted to
Solvent are looking for pop music created with synthesizers, with melodies,
hooks, and some sort of a song-based structure. They are either bored or
just plain uninterested in music that comes from an entirely post-techno
background.
Igloo: What kinds of instruments do you use to create the Solvent landscape? It
seems your analog synths play a major role in making your “sound” so unique.
Jason Amm: For the last year or so I’ve used strictly analog instruments – no
samplers, no digital synths. I’ve also started working with an analog
sequencer, and collecting a stockpile of analog FX boxes. analog
synthesizers & drum machines are my “medium,” and I guess my “sound
landscape” does sound unique these days because my music is like a painting
in a room full of computer graphics, or like chewbacca in a room full of
jar-jar binks…. hmmm, that maybe sounds kind of elitist. sorry. I know
that it is possible to make great music with digital instruments, but all
of this Clicks & Cuts/Autechre overkill in contemporary electronic music
really has driven me into a becoming even more of a rennaisance man lately.
Igloo: What was your release theme for the new Solvent City on Morr Music?
Jason Amm: I took the name Solvent City from a review in Germany’s De:Bug magazine
of my last LP Solvently one Listens. The review described this utopian
society where synth-scientists and new romantics sit around drinking
cocktails, discussing programming techniques. And there are analog
synthesizers everywhere and so everybody shares. I thought it was amazing
that my music had evoked this picture in somebody’s mind. It sounded like
my kind of town, and so I decided to develop this idea for the Solvent City LP. It’s a really nice place where Solvent-style synth-pop is not
relegated to some niche market; it’s the soundtrack to common peoples’
lives!
Igloo: What’s the next step in Solvent? Where do you want to take your sound? Upcoming projects?
Jason Amm: The first couple of tracks I completed after Solvent City have vocals,
and these are both coming out January 2002: a remix for Adult. on Ersatz
Audio, and a track that I sang (with a vocoder) & wrote lyrics for, coming
out on a really exciting compilation called Disco neaveau on Ghostly
International.
Everything I’m working on & all of my plans at the moment involve vocals.
I’ve got several proposed collaborations with vocalists on the go.
Igloo: Who are you collaborating with on vocals?
Jason Amm: G.D. Luxxe aka Gerhard Potuznik, Roger Skanfrom, a Roland sbf-325 vocoder,
and an unknown local robot named Thomas, who i may be starting a full-time
project with in 2002.
Igloo: You’ve really enjoyed the 70s and 80s melodic pop music.. Do you feel inclined to continue in this wave of electronic music, or do you want to create a new level of appreciation from your listeners?
Jason Amm: My idea is to blur the distinctions between 80s vs contemporary synthesizer
pop. At the moment for example, I find Yazoo records in the “rock/pop”
section, and Solvent records in the “electronica” section – it would be
nice if these records could be filed together. For example, when I’m
dj-ing, I play everything from Lowfish to John Foxx to Skanfrom to Depeche
Mode to Perspects to Cabaret Voltaire to Bochum Welt to Drexciya to Fad
Gadget to Aphex Twin to New Order to Yazoo to Electronome to Duran Duran to
Adult. – sometimes in that exact order! This is also pretty reflective of
the kind of music I listen to at home. To me it makes perfect sense when
you hear a playlist like mine, and I think if more people heard it all
together, they would find it as refreshing and inspiring as I do.
On the other hand, I think there are a lot of people making dodgy ’80s
inspired music at the moment; either deliberately and stupidly retro, or
cheapened with a soul-less pounding techno backbone. I want to keep my
distance from that. I have utmost respect for the pure synthesizer pop
pioneered in the 70s and 80s, and so I do feel inclined to develop and
contribute to this wave of electronic music. It’s an area of music where I
definitely see a lot of potential to grow.
Igloo: Do you design the artwork behind each Solvent release? There is a distinctive pattern of cute & happy non-stick figure looking beings dancing away on (almost) every release. Can you tell me more about this?
Jason Amm: I direct the artwork but don’t design it myself. I found this picture
series by the Russian photographer Rodchenko, which was designed for a
children’s book. Surely Rodchenko was able to hear into the future and was
listenning to Solvent when he created these images. I love the contrast
between these happy, geometrically precise characters and the stark, shadowy
world which they inhabit. I worked with Lowfish (Gregory Durocher) to design the sleeves for
Solvently One Listens & the 7″ on Bad Jazz, and for the Morr release I
asked Jan (who does all the Morr Music sleeves) to use Rodchenko’s designs
and the Solvent city theme to come up with his own thing.
Igloo: What have you been currently listening to?
Jason Amm: My favorite contemporary artsists by far are Lowfish, Perspects, Skanfrom,
and Adult.. I fill out my cravings for new music with electro stuff, even though I do consider most of it to be disposable… the dutch stuff is
definitely the most interesting. I do not listen to any IDM at all anymore
— in fact I hate to say it, but I’ve been so burned out on all of the
endless cookie cutter crap that even the old stuff that once meant so much
to me (early Autechre, Warp, etc) is sounding rather stale to me these days.
i listen to a select set of “classic” records a lot — I’m not like the
average techno person who’s always trying to listen to the latest thing; if I fall in love with a record it will get played endlessly for years to come. I can seemingly never get bored of Speak and Spell by Depeche Mode; I play it at least once a week & have been doing so for many many years now…
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Solvent Discography :: Composed by Suction Robot, Edwin Wong.
RELEASES :: :: ::
COMPILATIONS :: :: ::
REMIXES :: :: ::
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Playing with Track Names :: :: ::
With googly eyes and stretchy legs and arms, Solvent casually blurts, “The ice-bag scale in my blue car will be 49¢; with a replacement value of $2.00 –but it’s not for sale“. With his tape recorder in hand and an oddly shaped old tin duckie in the other, Mr. Solvent was content to reply to all the Igloo questions while his good friend Steve Strange stored some frozen food found in the Igloo Refridgerator into the built-in microphone of the tape recorder. “Well Igloo friends, I need to get to Solvent City before Ernok Avenue gets too crowded.”
And in less then a few minutes this professional synth-pop constructor & analog melody maker walked out of the Igloo doors to continue on his way to Solvent City. It’s alway a pleasure inviting Snow Robots to Igloo, we’re looking forward to many more visits.
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