interview - prague
http://www.poemproducer.com/any.php?id=48



From: agf <agf@poemproducer.com>
Date: Fr Okt 1, 2004 17:43:13 Europe/Berlin
To: hynek dedecius <dedecih@seznam.cz>
Cc: agf <agf@poemproducer.com>
Subject: Re: interview - Prague show

yip


QUESTIONS:
Electronic music is very much connected to new technologies, computers etc. and that is mostly the domain of men. How and why did you start making electronic music?

i wanted to get rid off man/ rock/ cliches

;)

started using sampler and machines

like it

gives freedom

in 1993 i bougt a commodore 64 and kurzweil keyboard
and started doing it... in london dalston

went through atarie/ notator to laptop business

now i can call myself producer


Even though you perform on festivals all around the world, you are not very known here. How would you describe your music work to someone, who hasn‘t got the slightest idea about what to expect? (please try to write more than a few words, maybe a few sentences)

it is a personal view. a personal selection of sounds to create a composition to life. i am expressing myself and i use language and voice a lot and. the music can be anything
it is playing with song writing and pop but its not consistent or perfect. it breaks down and changes. like life. it is influenced by all contemporary and classicla music but it is an individual creation of music. while i am observing the world and mirror it through me and my thoughts and feelings i play with noise. hip hop. fieldrecordings and bass

i wish that my music reaches people in silent circumstances and protects them from carelessness and sonic pollution. makes them stronger


Words play an important role in your music compositions. Your last regular album Westernization Completed contained lyrics based on e-mails etc. – what‘s your attitude towards poetry?

poetry is my way to output feelings and frustration. happiness and beauty
i like poetry cause its aloud to create new words and combination of words
which create different angels and maybe really make things look different
and even change them... at least for me

i am a fan. i love else-lasker schueler. celan. octavio paz.



What does your live show look like? What should we expect from your Prague show?


depends on the space a bit
dont know the place

i try to be there for you

You are one of the three artists who won the latest Prix Ars Electronica contest in the category of digital music. What did you get the prize for? What made the jury vote for you?


thats their statement:

http://www.aec.at/en/prix/awards2004.asp


Digital Musics
AGF (Deutschland):
"Westernization Completed"

AGF's second solo album explores new patterns in the relation between sound and language. Fractured tonal and linguistic sequences, audible jumps, intentional pauses-poetry arises out of the reorganization of these vocabulary building blocks. The components have a tonality all their own and thus become an additional musical stratum and a superimposed level of meaning. AGF shifts its vocals into the center of attention and, in doing so, entices the listener to measure his/her associative potential against their streams of thought. Painting fragile, transparent pictures with sound and mixing in starkly contrasting elements like rolling bass waves or clicking punctuation marks engenders an organic ensemble of acoustic imagery.







> You seem to be very fond of technology. Why is that?

technology is my friend
helps me doing things
more independently

i am dependend on internet
and income and producing
but not so much on attitude of people

i can reach directly what i am looking for

in music/ art and business

Are you a ‚software maniac‘, always hunting for new versions of programs etc.?

no not at alll
infect i like to update my system once a year or every second
i like to rather do music then update software...

but it is important to have a reliable studio
so i do this part of the job with disciplin and professionalsm
but not passion

i am rather a loyal... person
i rather fall in love with a patch
instead of looking for the newest


You‘ve designed the Kitty-Yo label website. Do you also work as a web designer? What other websites/projects bear your signature?

i am not a designer. i produced the kitty-yo website...
i was responsible for the content management and the content
i left kitty-yo in january 2003

internet is my passion... i just help people to get their
stuff on the web

i support some other artists and i helped out bpitch control
but its a minor activity

What other cultural fields and social phenomena are you interested in? Any inspirations from other arts?


film. communities. painting. fashion. books... politics. social factors

everything i come across with
i dont judge things much



On Westernization Completed you‘ve used excerpts from e-mails as ‚lyrics‘. What‘s your attitude towards e-mailing, chatting, mobile phone messages and other modern ways of communication? What would you say to the people who think that this kind of ‚remote communication‘ is unhealthy, that it makes people abandon the ‚healthy‘ face-to-face discussions and real social contacts?

this doesnt go for me

if you do one thing
you dont stop doing another one

i have closest friends all over the world
and i email with them .. soemtimes call them
when i think of them i write sms or i chat

i love them and care
when i have a chance to see them
i hang out with them.. drink eat ... speak.. sleep over
and much more... its more communication

if you do like

but you can just reduce it and shut all off

even with my parents i enjoy emailing
cause we have so much more possibilty to share
things... and i still go a few times a year to see and hang out with them

in general i think this ways of communication
help poeple to learn communicating and practice

i think it makes people stronger and free in communication
and more honest and caring

The word content within your music composition seems to be very important for you. Most other laptop musicians omit this part. What fascinates you about words and the combination of music and words?

i specialiced in that.. i try to explore the quallity.. mmy main instrument is voice
so i have to deal with content or deny it like on HEAD SLASH BAUCH
its a singers/ vocalists curse


Should we understand it (and do you yourself understand it) as a kind of poetry?

however you want
i dont dictate anybody what to think of me

i had to find words to describe from my point of view
to explain... promote.. markete my work

i chose poem producer



What‘s your attitude to poetry in general? What do you like about it? Do you have any favourite poets?

answered all that

Have you ever written any poems?

i write poems every day


Your debut Head Slash Bauch was full of German words but then you switched to English. Why this shift?

my life changed i started writing speaking reading and dreaming feeling in english
i speak 90 % english ... thats why

i keep doing german things at least with laub and so on

i needed also to say something... my listeners will understand
most of my listeners dont understand german

Your music compositions are quite hard to demask. Why don‘t you use more accessible structures?

i dont feel like
i follow my instincts
they are not quantisized and repetitive
i dont like repeating myself

others do that good enough and plenty


ur work combines very abstract music with similarly abstract poetry, so it is a kind of double abstraction. What do you think the listeners can get from this abstractness? Or, in other words, what are you ‚trying to say‘ by your work?

what is abstract ?
something which is not like the other stuff ???
to me britneys spears is abstract or brit pop or
metal... its always where you are and who is there to promote
and pay to market your shit

club music makes people get trunk and dance for hours
i like it... but is it less abstract ??? to life ????

i receive a lot of fanmails
people are touched and inspired by my music
and they feel comforted and encouraged in what they do
by hearing what i do

thats my wish

At the moment laptop musicians are so numerous. In fact, they are sometimes viewed as charlatans pretending to be artists. Why is it so? Where can you see the threshold between good laptop musician and a fake?

you can FEEL it

Is electronic music still exciting from your point of view? Any names we should concentrate on?

lets keep our ears open....

AGF seems to be your main project at the moment but what about Laub, AGF/Dlay etc.? Have you been recently working on any other projects?

all going
here an update
thanks best agf



RECENT

ARS ELECTRONICA WINNER
http://www.poemproducer.com/any.php?id=4
http://www.aec.at/en/prix/awards2004.asp

WESTERNIZATION COMPLETED
http://www.musork.com/o_18.html
now on AGF PRODUCKTION
http://www.agfproducktion.com/

LANGUAGE IS THE MOST
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/review.php?review=530&q=

AGF PRODUCKTION
http://www.agfproducktion.com/

QUIO
http://www.quio.poemproducer.com/

LAPPETITES
http://www.lappetites.poemproducer.com/



EXHIBITIONS

BOX?21
http://www.poemproducer.com/box21/box21.html

SOUND + CALLIGRAPHIE
http://www.wdw.nl/persfoto/tracer/
http://www.poemproducer.com/any.php?id=47




FUTURE

AG.F3 + SUE.C DVD on asphodel/ SF
http://www.orthlorng.com/sue/

AGF/DLAY ALBUM
on AGF PRODUCKTION 003
collaboration with vladislav delay
http://www.agfdelay.com/

ANTYE GREIE / VLADISLAV DELAY/ CRAIG ARMSTRONG
piano album on HUUME
collabo with craig armstrong
http://www.craigarmstrong.com/


maybe also soon new

LAUB
http://www.laub-filesharing.de/