Posts tagged Autechre

A brief conversation with Machinefabriek

Machinefabriek is 32 year old Rotterdam inhabitant Rutger Zuydervelt, who has made a name for himself as one of the most prolific releasing musicians of his generation. For his upcoming performance at Viral Radio at the Bimhuis, alongside in-the-moment British trio Darkstar, Viral Radio founder Juha van ‘t Zelfde asked him some question via e-mail.

Juha van ‘t Zelfde Hello Rutger, how are you doing? I have lost count, but this might well be our 15th concert together since the first one in September 2006 in the Oude Kerk. It is also the third time at the Bimhuis, if I am not mistaken. In all these years, I do not remember having asked you to play a certain way. But with this concert I have. As you know through our ongoing conversation, I have an interest in rhythms. It is because of this that I have asked you to focus on this aspect of your music this time. Are you still up for it? And if so, can you share with us some of your thoughts on this ‘challenge’?

Machinefabriek At one hand, it might sound strange to link my music with rhythm, but on the other hand: my performances are always based on the layering of loops, and loops have a rhythm…. But of course, this time you are asking for a bit more. And I will try. As you know, it is all improvised, so if it is going to meet your expectations, I cannot tell yet. Another issue is that I had intended to use a tone generator as a sound source, but the one I has ‘died’ during my tour in Japan. I am now desperatly searching on Marktplaats and Ebay to find a replacement, but it is really difficult. Hopefully it works out before Friday. It will be a perfect sound source to make some incredible low bass rumbles, and have the Bimhuis tremble.

J I read in an interview with you with The Liminal that when you started making music, you were heavily influenced by IDM, triphop and early WARP music. Have you maintained an interest in these kind of rhythm-driven electronic music? If so, anyone you have heard in the past year that you liked in particular? I saw you at the Mike Slott concert at the Bimhuis last time, what did you think of his performance?

M I am defenitly still interested in beat-oriented music, but more to listen to, not to make. As a way of working, using a beat feels unnatural to me, and makes me feel restricted. Also, there is an incredible amount of intimidatingly good artists working in ‘this field’.

Mike Slott at the Bimhuis was incredible! Other artists I like are Burial, Mount Kimbie, Demdike Stare and Shackleton. But also people that overlap more with “my genre”, like Pan Sonic, Ryoki Ikeda, Autechre and Mark Fell. Fell’s latest work is insane. In a good way.

J From time to time I try to do some archaeology of your music, and I stumbled upon your 2004 album ‘Bricks & Pieces’. This album is filled with miniatures of mostly under 1 minute. Quite the contrast with your longer works these days, especially your live performances. How are you dealing with the notion of time? Is it something you are very aware of?

M ‘Bricks and Pieces’, as well as ‘Stukjes’ and ‘Hapstaart’ all have very short songs. I do not want to make the same record over and over again, so I experiment. Starting from scratch again and again, and every experiment has a different approach. So if I want to make something sharp and spikey, it makes sense to make super dense short pieces. And if I want to make something more ‘trancendental’, the piece has to take its time, so it is going to be a long one.

Time is a very important issue in my work. Not only the time of the tracks, or the albums, but also the time of the individual notes and sounds. It is all about creating a space, and everything in that space is shaped accordingly. Live performances are always one long piece. Because for me, and – I hope – for the audience, it is one trip. A world you step into when the first note starts, and where you step out of as soon as the last sound faded. That is also why I prefer to perform in a dark environment. The less distractions, the less boundaries to get absorbed by the sound. And to take the audience with me, timing is utterly important.

J Has there been music you had troubles with releasing? And any projects you have yet not realised?

M Not really. I sometimes get offers from (small) labels, and a lot of the times that is the starting point of working on new material. Or I release it myself. It is great to be able to do both, because both have their advantages and disadvantages. With projects not yet realised, do you mean project I am ‘dreaming of’ that didn’t happen yet? Well, a few projects did not happen because the organisers did not get the funding that was hoped for. That is always a bummer, but it is part of the job. For the rest, I did (and am doing) more then I had ever hoped for, so there are not many wishes unfulfilled.

J What can we expect from you in 2011? Anything else you would like to share?

M With the quartet Piiptsjilling I am going to do some really nice concerts this year. It’s not confirmed yet, so I can’t say much more about it… The brilliant Japanese label Spekk is going to release the Piiptsjilling album ‘Molkedrippen’ soon. Very exciting. Then there is a film soundtrack I am working on. It is a documentary about American minimal visual artist Sol Lewitt. I also did the music for a great new experimental film by Makino Takashi, which will hopefully be screened somewhere in the Netherlands this year. And the music for a theater piece that is going to premiere in the summer.

And there is a lot more, but you can check my site for that, or subscribe to my newsletter…

J Thank you Rutger, I look forward to seeing you at the Bimhuis on Friday!

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Machinefabriek will play at the Bimhuis on Friday 14 January 2011 at Viral Radio at Bimhuis, alongside Darkstar, Juha, Cinnaman and Datcho (who replaces Aardvarck). Machinefabriek will start at 21:30. Tickets are available via Bimhuis and Rush Hour. Join the event on Facebook.