Eat Your Heart Out » DHR

ON THE RED CARPET TO NOWHERE: MEET BAD BRILLIANCE!

phenomenonRZ22 — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:21:33 +0000

ON THE RED CARPET TO NOWHERE: MEET BAD BRILLIANCE!

Alec Empire interviews new New York based producer Bad Brilliance!

Alec Empire:

“Bad Brilliance – you are from New York, Brooklyn. Were you born there ?
tell us about the city. How is it these days? Is the energy back? Story over
here in Berlin goes that New York and L.A. are the cities of the next decade
(while London and Berlin will be crossed of the map)….”

Bad Brilliance:

“I was born in Brazil, raised in Rio de Janeiro until I was 9. Now I live as a full time artist in New York, i hate offices and jobs.
New York has a lot of energy, it just isn’t where you would expect to find it.? In the summer it’s kind of explosive, but it’s also important to ask a cab driver where he likes to party and not just rely on whatever activities are targeted at young people.

As far as the cities of the next decade i think they already are facebook, twitter, pitchfork, you tube.

People are not living in a physical location anymore, they are living on the internet.? Someone in New York would have gone out to an event on a tuesday night ten years ago, but this year they have the option of sitting at home on the internet and working on their fame.? It’s somewhat dark.”

Bad Brilliance with Sophia Lamar

Alec:

“Is there a genre definition for your sound? Is that Hip Hop? Do you even
care about genre definitions these days?”

Bad Brilliance:

“According to me the genre of my music is Rap – more of the fast and dirty version of hip-hop.? Whenever you hear someone say that they are interested in HIP HOP over Rap because it has more integrity, that is the opposite of what I am going for.? I am interested in that sound accompanied with the least integrity.? Just the pure syrup.

I am also fascinated by Hyphy and other variations of rap/hip hop.? I think that genre’s have a place in the discussion of music because all of these obsessions have to be organized.? People have to be funneled into their obsessions with certain sounds.? It’s intense how there are extreme reactions for or against certain genres.? To me it’s like saying that you hate dinosaurs because they are too trendy.? It’s just a specie or creature with certain properties based on a previous creature.

At the same time, i think that the genre of POP is the most powerful and it’s intense how it changes and also amazing the effect that subgenres have on it.”

Alec:

“The image many Europeans get from the US is that all genres are very
divided and don’t really cross. Many wouldn’t never believe that a guy like
Andrew WK would appear on a track like “Quackhead”. Please describe your
scene.”

Bad Brilliance:

“The thing that everyone has to understand is that people are more complex than you would imagine.? I’m obsessed with rap, but when I hear Brazilian music from my childhood it makes me want to cry with joy and love.? If you feel like you have Andrew W.K. figured out based on his product then you would never know how excited he is about Baby Birdman, or Gucci Mane.? Genres are only divided in Middle Schools where music is an intense reality for the inexperienced.? That might also be the best time in someone’s life to enjoy music.? The strange thing about Hip Hop or Rap is that it has transcended it’s own genre by being a complete lifestyle, clothing, speech, if you are African American it’s impossible to avoid it.

click here for BB on YouTube
My scene… is me in the shower blasting HOT 97 every day before i get started with my work – I am often photographing fashion shoots and album artwork, that is how Andrew W.K. met me. You can roughly see my work at www.andrewstrasser.com .? It’s very heavy on the lighting.

There are also other artists that I work with, I do album art for Girl Talk, he is also obsessed with rap/hip hop, and when I go on tour with him to do stage visuals the tour bus is always blaring rap and hip hop.? Essentially it’s white people who are jealous of rap.”

Alec:

“Santos Party House – a new club…how is it? Are you playing there as
well? Andrew posted us the link….what do you think of the New York club
scene?”

Bad Brilliance:

“Santos Party House for me is a club and also a home. ? I can land form a flight and immediately head to Santos.? If it’s a friday night things can get very intense, I have seen P Diddy and Ciara there before, and my sister saw Busta’ Rhymes and LL Cool J.? Also you can totally run into Bjork or Thurston Moore on a Tuesday.? I designed the website for Santos, so it’s pretty easy for me to walk to the front of an extremely long line and get in.? Also in costume I have great success getting into the most exclusive clubs in New York – there might be someone in a suit begging to pay 10,000 G’s for bottle service and they will let Bad Brilliance float through the door.

The New York club scene is very exciting if you are visiting.? Otherwise it’s all about specific weeklies etc. There is an entire economy around weekly events in the gay world, I call it the Gay Economy, and I have sent you a design for that term that I created”

Alec:

“You mentioned to me via Twitter that one of your first shows was with
Digital Hardcore underdogs Ec8or years back. How was that? What did you
think of this sound back then?”

Bad Brilliance:

“I was obsessed with DHR in high school, I wanted to be on <20, and I made little songs here and there.? My favorite was Bomb 20.? I remember there were other people floating around that had a similar style, this one guy TRS-80 had? a website and the shit he did was amazing,? prank phone calls.? Anyone who tried to contact him got a very cruel treatment from him. He was not interested in scenes.? Also there was another guy Combat Drug.

There were many people that were circling around the DHR style and vibe, and it was one of the more intense times in my life, and it was all on the internet.? I remember installing a red light bulb in my room so i could live in a DHR music video that I had seen on AMP on mtv at 3 AM and my mother came crying and screaming to take it down.

When I was in Cleveland going to Art School, I found out that I could open for Ec8or at a strange place called Speak In Tongues, sort of a bombed out hole in the wall.? This was amazing news for me, it was like opening for the Smashing Pumpkins in my mind.? The other band that played was Black Dice, they saw my show.? It was just a fat little boy sitting behind a computer playing music that sounded like this http://www.imeem.com/badbrilliance/music/zWlJ-rjj/andriu-ill-never-forget-cherry-cherry-island/
It was a combination fo DHR and being completely bored in the American suburbs.? I was living in Poughkeepsie, NY at the time. It is a totally fucked place, very trailer park oriented.? The mall is a way of life, with coffee and grease stains on everything.”
click to watch pioneer duo Ec8or

Alec:

“How do you record your music? Is that a bedroom thing or what is going on?”

Bad Brilliance:

“I record most of my music on my laptop on my stomach laying in bed.? My goal is to have the most portable set up. I want to have an entire studio in a bag.? All I need is my laptop, soundcard and microphone and I can make radio hits if needed.? The only thing stopping me is my mind. “

click for BAD BANK

Alec:

“What’s the idea behind Bad Brilliance? On your website there are many
pictures showing you in your outfit harrassing people at the New York
Fashion week haha…Do you perform in these clothes? Do you walk around in
the street of Brooklyn like that? Do you ever get in trouble?”

Bad Brilliance:

” Bad Brilliance began as a reaction to my work in the field of New York society photography.? I was an underpaid worker labeling names on the photos of New York society people for a website, so that magazines could pick them up.? It was a wonderful time but at the same time I learned a lot about the business, it was a big McDonalds to me.? So I created a conceptual society person.? He has his name on his face so you know who he is.? That is the Bad Brilliance of it.

As soon as I began photographing myself I was flown out to Amsterdam, that’s when I knew I had created the ultimate socialite.? An evolution.? I was invited to fashion week once, but was not allowed to wear my costume. I was invited as Bad Brilliance and received a call to attend in normal clothing.? It was a Diesel runway show, I brought Andrew W.K. along to that and it was quite wonderful.? I get dragged about, one time I witnessed a porno shoot in my costume.? I took my little red wind up toy car and let it drive under the bed where people were boning.? Also I attend different society events. I am greeted with love and hate, some people are so excited and I am asked to take a photograph with someone every 30 seconds, otherwise someone comes up to me and whispers something very dark and hurtful into my costume.
I never get in trouble, but often I am escorted out of an event by the PR people and their goons.”

Alec:

“What are your next plans?”

Bad Brilliance:

“My next plans are to get the music rolling along.? I need to start recording seriously on microphone.? I have an EP planned out with Andrew W.K.’s Skyscraper Music Maker, and with his partnership with Cargo Records.? It will be 6 songs and the goal is get every moment of it to sound as heavy as possible.? I’m very excited to be working with Andrew, he is one of the most amazing people you will meet.

Aside from that I am working on doing a residency in Miami as Bad Brilliance.? Miami is a great place for my costume.? All the rappers live there or have summer homes there, and also the women are beautiful and I relate to any city that reminds me of Rio in it’s superficiality and beach culture.”

red carpet to nowhere is his upcoming ep on andrew wk’s record label

GET IT!

check out Bad Brilliance on Myspace!

official website! click here!

www.eyho-blog.com

REALITY OF LIFE IS TRAGIC AND UTMOST BRUTAL

Alec Empire — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:57:11 +0000

ALEC EMPIRE TALKS TO CHRISTOPH DE BABALON ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM, BREAKCORE, SAMPLING TECHNOLOGY AND GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Alec Empire: “Please tell us about your new album. What made you come up with the concept? I think it is outstanding that a musician would think himself into such a imaginary world and drags the listener into it.”

Christoph de Babalon:

“My new album “Scylla & Charybdis” deals with the destiny of two greek mythological figures, who once used to be beautiful nymphs and then became monsters because of witchery. I wanted to work with the story, because i find it very touching. I didn’t only want to emphasize the fact that both are monsters and kill lots of seafarers but rather concentrate on the tragic elements of their lives. The pain of suddenly being a monster, they had no choice and no way out of it. I also like the fact that their fate can be seen as a symbol for the Tragic in everybodys life nowadays, as a very real thing and not just a mythological one. Reality of life is not a polished, beautiful or fun thing. It’s tragic and utmost brutal. Bless those who have not seen it, yet. Most of us will end up as tragic monsters or as their victims. Resistance is futile!”

Alec Empire: “Your tracks take time to build up the intensity. This is one strength of your music. It wouldn’t work as a 3min song. Do you think we will see more music which is longer, now that radio is becoming less important in the age of the internet? My secret hope is that the traditional song structure will be forgotten at some point in our culture. Have you ever felt you should write a “song”? or did you ever write some?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“To reach an intense experience, a piece of music has to be dense and compact, rather than just be long. I also feel it is not so much a matter of “song” or not “song”. There has to be a reason why something is three minutes or thirty minutes or three hours long. If it is both long and intense and keeps the suspense, it’s perfect. I like music that spreads out to eternity as well as having a lot of atmospherical information. Music that really creates a world around you and in you.
In these superficial and fast times it seems like the craziest thing to make tracks that are longer than 5 minutes. It seems to be some kind of taboo, because people lose attention so quickly.”

Alec Empire: “Do you think spending time of writing music is important to reach a certain level of intensity? I think it’s an interesting question to ask in these times, when everything happens faster and faster. It sometimes feels that people don’t make the effort to explore music as deeply as they could. You seem to be very careful about how and when you release your music to the public. I think that’s great…. Too many seem to load up their music on the internet right away without thinking. How do you feel about this?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“Of course, Music is a mirror of society, things are going faster and faster. So how do i feel about this? Generally i think, a great work could be done in very short time. It really depends on what the idea is. Also how it is done. I prefer spending a longer period of time on making records, because i discovered for myself that i can go deeper into the feelings and sounds. I try to create different worlds, that takes more concentration and time. For me and the listener. The first idea and selection of instruments usually goes quick, but i take a lot of time sculpturing, taking breaks and listening back. “Scylla & Charybdis”, for example, is the most complex work i have ever done, i worked on it for more than three years! Most music that’s done quickly cannot go really deep or last long. I think its not just a problem of uploading fast, also downloading today is very easy. I Like to play with different formats, as i did with the “Premium Edition”, to make people more aware of what they are listening to. i would like people to do things that are more defined and pay more attention to their lives. I have never followed any trend with my music so I guess it’s OK, I have got the time!”

Alec Empire: “Radio legend John Peel used to love your records? How did that feel to be recognized by such an important DJ ? I really miss him, I feel that we would need a person like him so much right now. Someone who discovers new music and communicates that in an interesting way to people.”

Christoph de Babalon:

“It made me very happy that he supported me. It felt like an accolade. I have always looked up to him and his way of “half of what i know people will like and half of what i think people should like”. There is noone to take his place as far as i can see.”

Alec Empire: “In my opinion you redefined “dark” in this genre. Before your releases, Jungle and Drum’n'Bass had never reached this kind of intensity. When they used “dark” string samples it always felt like a 12 year old acting as Darth Vader or something. What made you go deeper at that point in time? What kind of music did you listen to back then?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“When I started making music I had no intention of making D&B/Jungle, of course i was influenced a lot by Jungle Techno rhythms but the atmospheres i wanted to work with come from deep within me.
Some sort of melancholical longing. A sea of tears, a universe of sadness, a romatic apocalypse. I always took more atmospherical inspiration from classical music and from books and paintings. I have always seen my music more as an artistic medium to express what I feel about this world than to worship some form of lifestyle/DJ- and Clubculture. I make music for people who look beyond the shallowness of this world.”

Alec Empire: “What do you think about sampling? To me it seems that despite the advanced technology that we have today , most “artists” imitate electronic music from the 90ties. Do you feel the same way? Have you spotted any new talents which actually use technology to move music forward instead of just speeding up the process of making it?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“Sampling is great but i don’t think about it so often. I use technology not to imitate something that has been done before. I use the voodoo of sampling, I feel, I sample atmospheres rather than music. Like sampling a large room with someone crying in the corner on the other end while it’s raining outside. Someone coughing while the orchestra plays a pianissimo. Some poor soul singing in the subway and being barked at by dogs. Because we have this complex technology we must use all the new possibitlities, but incorporate and learn about the past as well. Otherwise we just repeat history, and thats not my idea. The human composer must have dominance over his machines and create something that evokes new worlds.”

Alec Empire: “I thought about the whole history of breakcore and I want to talk a bit about that first….do you remember exactly when we first met? It was this “illegal” free rave near Cologne , in some forrest…if you compare 1994 to where we are now, what do you think has changed and how do you feel about it?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“That rave was crazy. It was very foggy and superdark. Back then it all was very exciting, it was something that just started. This kind of music just hadn’t been there before. We didn’t even call it breakcore. Also there was some kind of youth culture thrill. I haven’t got much relation to a breakcore scene anymore, we are talking about 3rd generation now, and sadly, most “artists” couldn’t add anything to that style. Breakcore now is just boring repetition of formulas and to be honest the whole thing is really DEAD for me.”

Alec Empire: “Please tell us about Cross Fade Enter Tainment. It is one of the few labels which is still going. Has anything changed since you started?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“CFET is not a traditional record company, it’s a label but more like an art project. So at least we won’t go financially bankrupt, perhaps morally. We have taken a break since 2003, because we had done all we wanted at that point and we didnt want to repeat ourselves. We have received some interesting demos, some new concepts are coming up.
A new era has begun for Cross Fade Enter Tainment. We have started working on the next releases already. Stay tuned!”

Alec Empire: “You moved from Hamburg to Berlin a while back. Was there a reason ? What do you think of Berlin ? Some people look at it as the darkest city in Europe, others feel it’s changing so fast, that it is quite superficial. What do you think?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“I live in eastern Berlin in the former Stalin Allee since 10 years. A lot of the GDR-military parades were held here. A lot of history surrounds the place. That’s what I like about Berlin, this crazy history. Not so much a lifestyle thing. Berlin is very complicated and fucked up.”

Alec Empire: “What are your favorite 10 electronic albums?”

Christoph de Babalon:

“No order, only valid now:

Wicked Messenger – Black Tourmaline
Iannis Xenakis – Persepolis
Toecutter – Wetopia
Atari Teenage Riot – The Future Of War
Drumcorps ? Grist
Revolting Cocks – Beers, Steers & Queers
Underground Resistance – Revolution for Change
Cabaret Voltaire – Red Mecca
Atomsmasher – Atomsmasher
Bourbonese Qualk – On Uncertainty”

you can order this crazy packaged album here: http://cfet.com/stores

ALEC EMPIRE “CAPITAL NOISE MANIFEST” FROM 1995

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 1995 18:24:21 +0000