A note to the reader: the interview that follows was partly completed in Montreal. Montreal has a very serious but unpublicized anomalous space-time structure. Because of this, it may appear that the questions jump back and forth in time and we apologize for any confusion that may result. Our advice is to let yourself yield to the idea that all things, times, and places are one, and any insistence your mind might make to the contrary is simply an illusion.
IGLOO: Well, to start with, I guess you guys should introduce yourselves. You know, like “my name is Bob and I grow potatoes for biological warfare”, so all us out here in computer land can say, “oh yeah, that guy.”
JEFF: Okay. Hello my name is Jeff Allen. I’m a 33 year old ex-vandal from Brooklyn, N.Y., temporarily residing in northern California. I’m co-founder of two labels, Hydrant / Sprout records, and have recorded and released music under the following names: Varathane, Circle of Fifths, the Brittle Ones, Chipsett and Baretta.
DOUG:Hello my name is Doug. In a nutshell, I am the graphic designer of Hydrant / Sprout. I work on the site, have designed just about all the graphics, and take care of most of the day-to-day things like orders, promos, etc. I am now recording as well, have lots of finished material, but none that I’m fully ready to release, but soon. I’ve been producing for about 2 years.
IGLOO: So what are you guys up to right now? (Reader please note: “right now” is November 1999.)
JEFF: As far as Hydrant is concerned, the Proem release will be the last for 1999, while we concentrate on smaller run CD-R projects on Sprout. I’ve just completed the Chipsett EP, which should be mastered by mid-November. Twerk will be mastering the EP, as he did a fine job mastering the Brittle Ones EP. Also Doug is in the studio and Rick Bailey a.k.a. Proem is currently working on tracks as well.
DOUG: I’m currently working on a few different things. I’ve finished up some DSP-heavy ambient type material with no beats, and I like it, but it’s real atmospheric, without much structure, so I don’t know if I’m going to release that material yet. Currently, I’m doing some 4/4 techno type material, as is Jeff. It’s a change of pace, maybe Hydrant will release that type of thing next year, we have to do some thinking about where we want to go with both labels. I can’t put a timeline on my own releases yet. I’ve been a bit of a jack of all trades this year, doing graphics, the website, and supporting my friends music and the label. So in the coming year I’m going to shift my focus more towards my own music.
IGLOO: Jeff, could you explain what all of your different projects are?
JEFF: Well for starters, Varathane was my first ‘ techno ‘ project. The original concept came from the name “Varathane” which is the brand name of company that manufactures spray paint, varnishes and other such products. I wrote graffiti in New York for many years before gettin’ into this music thing, so that’s the tie-in to the spray paint based name. Varathane is more of a techno based project, i.e. lots of synthetic sounds etc., Detroit/Sheffield influenced. I’m currently working on the first Varathane release in two years, I have opted for a more stripped down sound, it’s actually more of a deep tech – house type style, suitable for 12″. With Brittle Ones, the influences are much more DSP based. After several years of listening to labels such as Warp, Skam, Rephlex and Schematic, I’ve gotten into that more production oriented crunchy type sound. Here the computer plays a greater role in the music making process as opposed to say, the Varathane project which relies more on synths and outboard gear.
Chipsett is an offshoot of Brittle Ones, incorporating the computer for sound manipulation as well as analog synths and other retro devices, in an effort to blend both old and new production techniques. Last but not least is Baretta, here the influences are much more lo-fi ambient funk / rock sound, influenced by artists such as Fila Brazillia as well as 70’s fusion group Weather Report.
IGLOO: Cool. You seem to only put out EP’s on the Sprout side of things. Is that part of the theme for the label, and are there any other themes you try to stick too?
JEFF: For Sprout the theme is really “Northern California,” sort of a mix of environmental design and Silicon Valley technology. Another major consideration is money, which we have very little of! (We are not tech geeks pulling big silicon bucks.) Thus the emphasis on low cost production coupled with conceptual in-house packaging. Concerning the EP format of the Sprout releases next year we plan some full length CD-R releases, I for sure will be releasing a full length Brittle Ones sometime in the next six months. We are really interested in people sending us some quality demos, it’s very difficult to find good artists. We receive the worst shite demos, it almost as if people send us music without ever having heard a single track of ours! Having made a firm decision not to approach other labels/artists due to the pervasive elitist crap amongst most of the domestic IDM scene, it seems as if some people make geek electronic music, and that automatically elevates them to some illuminati status, i.e. “how dare you approach us you peasants ” attitude. So that brings us back our post office box, when some wicked demo arrives, we’ll be all to happy to put it out!
IGLOO: What kinds of music do you two listen to? Obviously electronic stuff, but what kind, and where else do you get your influences?
DOUG: Yes. Although we are an electronic label, I listen to much more jazz and fusion than probably anything else. Some of my favorites include Miles, Pat Metheny, Jaco, Return To Forever (just about anything that Airto Moreira or Chick Corea have their hands in), Herbie Hancock. I love Brazilian stuff, Milton Nascimento, Jorge Ben…ECM is probably my favorite jazz label. I’m really into moody stuff like Pink Floyd and more recently, Boards of Canada, Broadcast and Plone. As for electronic stuff, I’ve been into Warp since the beginning, recently they have been more hit and miss for me. I like more dance based stuff like Planet E, Fragile, Force Inc. I’m more into individual artists, such as Plaid and Black Dog, B-12, Freeform, Russ Gabriel.
JEFF: I tend to like music with two key elements, a strong rhythm section being one element, the other being some sort of melodic idea. I listen to a lot of jazz/fusion type stuff, improvised stuff is my favorite type of music. Growing up in New York, I was fortunate to have been exposed to loads of great music.
As far as electronic music goes, I’m 32 years old and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I used to break dance to “Planet Rock” while passing around the hat so we could get some money for weed and beer! My brother in law used to spin at WBLS as well as Zanzibar, the sister club to the Paradise Garage back in the early 80’s, so I’ve been around this electronic music for quite some time now…shit I’m gettin’ fuckin’ old! I’ve always listened to a lot of Pat Metheny, Miles Davis and Weather Report recordings. On the electronic side of things, Boards of Canada are one of my favorite bands, simple but effective; Freeform is another artist who has his own twist on that IDM sound, sort of an organic sound, it’s refreshing. Then there is Proem, who I signed after hearing 15 seconds of a tape he sent me, tapes are good. I’m also very much into Pork recordings (Fila Brazillia, Baby Mammoth) type of future soul, psychedelic downtempo sound. As of late, I’ve been listening to bands such as Labradford, Broadcast, Plone, Tortoise and Four Tet. I like that mix of electronics and live instrumentation. What’s next…whale bleeps and martian drone beats!?
IGLOO: Has the electronic scene around you (Oakland) affected or infected your music?
DOUG: There is no electronic scene to speak of here, except cheesy West Coast hip hop., which isn’t my scene. We’re moving shop out of here across to San Fran very soon for that reason.
IGLOO: Where is electronic music headed?
DOUG: One person alone cannot answer that question.
IGLOO: What inspired you to start your own CD-R label?
JEFF: Well that’s an easy one to answer, it’s a matter of artistic survival… fuck all those labels that say “Hey send us your demo, and maybe if we approve of your music then just maybe we will put it out sometime in the future, but hey don’t call us we’ll call you.” Sprout was formed after realizing that, no one was serious about the music I was making, and that if I don’t press it up myself, no one else would. So now with Sprout I have an outlet for all projects, no more sitting on music. With Sprout we can release a wide variety of electronic music. I am impressed with the diversity of music on labels such as Warp and Rephlex, so expect the same variety from Sprout.
IGLOO: So clarify something for me; you started these labels to get out of the trap of labels who are unresponsive and uninterested in basically everything they get, but how do you avoid doing the same with the stuff that you get? I.E. you getting the worst shit for demos like you said before.
JEFF: Yes, I started Sprout so I could release my tracks, who is gonna put my music out if I don’t? Remember I’ve never released music on another label other than Hydrant/Sprout, I’d love to, but there are no offers coming my way from outside labels, so maybe we all have to start our own labels then, fuck waiting for someone else to put our music out, people gotta do it themselves these days. As far as our demo policy goes, we listen to every demo we get, we reply to those producers who’ve caught our ear. Often we find ourselves contacting producers whose demos are quite good, but not suitable for release on Hydrant/Sprout. If we are contacted by someone who has sent us a demo, and we’re not that into it, we will still respond with honest feedback…98% of the time…as best we can without spending hours e-mailing everyone who sends us stuff…as Warp says, we would never get any records released!
IGLOO: Are you concerned with the accessibility of your music?
JEFF: For years we have had a most difficult time in distributing our music. So much so, that with the exception of Skimo, we would probably sell maybe 12 copies of our stuff. This disgusts me greatly, considering the favorable press we receive from many a credible scribe. Another major obstacle is that there is so much ‘sweating’ of a certain label / artist’s sound, that thus label/artist’s sound is what’s expected by some it seems!? Shall we be the next untouchable label so we can sell many records, no! There has to be some diversity amongst these various entities, otherwise this ‘IDM ‘ scene will suffer from a formulaic sound of computer dependent, musically void and emotionally flat, sounds & beats type of music, hardly the ‘intelligent dance music ‘ that some claim it to be. Well I guess I am concerned with the accessibility of my music!
IGLOO: Okay, just one more and we’ll wrap this deal up. Who is this Lewis Overton guy, (his CD was
real kick ass I must say, congrats) and do you have any other newbies lined up?
JEFF: Myungho Choi is Lewis Overton, he’s from Ohio and also runs a label called Transit Records. Any newbies yet? Nothing set in stone, but this guy by the name of Ray Sweeten has caught our ears with his classical influenced IDM.
IGLOO: Thanks, we are all looking forward to what you guys have in store for us soon!
Sprout Records have recently released Varathane’s Last Wash EP, as well as Lewis Overton’s Something Like Close to This.
