INDIDGINUS INTERVIEWS
Tronique Interview:
Interview in January 2010 with Tronique Essential Publicity:
There are music artists who've longed to chuck it all in and turn their worlds upside down. Then, there are those who've actually gone through with it - literally. Case in point is British ex-pat Michael Martin, aka Indidginus. Shedding his native England in 2003 for the exotic airiness of Cape Town, South Africa, the self-described creator of "Organica" has navigated a prolific career this century implanted in the "other down under."
Best known for his trademark Australian blow-tube "Didgeridoo" techno vs. wind mastery fusion, electronica producer Martin has been pegged in some circles as an artist gone mad as a hatter.
We happen to know otherwise.
With a collection of 4 albums to date: Kaleidoscope (2009), Feast or Famine (2008), Align (2007), and soundtrack to the Robyn Sheldon book, Guided Relaxation for Birth (2009), he's proven he's firmly committed to Organica, or in his words, "evocative electronic music and organic soundscapes infusion, in other words good mood music."
Seems reasonable enough, don't you think?
It's hard to precisely pin down the sonic shish kabob Indidginus has pierced together with his Didgeridoo slide since the aural tidbits are constantly rotating and dripping on the spit. However, it's fair to say his sci-fi tinged electronica is thoroughly marinated in world beat, psy-techno, downtempo and leftfield dub. Never boring, always challenging. (Plus, anyone with the balls to cover Funky Town at an 80's exercise video pulse deserves his own genre entirely. TE Note #1: The BPM rates are thoughtfully provided on Feast for every track. Never mind the aerobics - just listening is a work out.)
In addition to his self releases, he's rumored to have cloned himself in a clandestine trance experiment to mutate DNA with other artists' side projects. Ongoing efforts include Open System and Octophonic with the ambient Matt Hillier of Ishq. Warping the time/space continuum even further, he's produced soundtrack material for a number of S.A. TV commercials and the independent film, Cognition Factor. This shoot-em-up buddy comedy tackles fluff topics such as, "What is the future of the species?" and "What happens after we die?"
His latest effort is work on remix tracks for the accomplished Dom Beken and Alex Paterson, members of the legendary Orb on their 2010 High Frequency Bandwith project. Yes, THE ORB, who coincidentally also contributed to the "chase scene" of Cognition Factor. In the pipeline for an upcoming HFB EP, are remixes of Holes for Black and Harmonic 5. (TE Note #2: all of HFB's track titles require abbreviation with the letters HFB, proving it's Beken and Paterson who've gone as mad as a hatter. See, we told you.) He recently remixed a synthpop version of Both Sides for the cheeky Brooklyn outfit, The Vanguard and is remixing Strange Parallels, covered by Nick Warren for IDM mini-genius Tripswitch. (TE note #3: 2005's Circuit Breaker is a chillout classic prominently featured on Charlie North's Charlie and the Chillout Factory's podcasts).
Highlights from his previous 4 releases include:
Guided Relaxation for Birth - the four guided visualization instrumental tracks, all clocking over 9 minutes each, that trace the stages of the day respectively: Dawn, Daylight, Twilight and Night. Definitely his most ambitious excursion into ambient depth. You just wish Moby would remix them on his next album.
Align - Champa with it ritualistic alien birth imagery set somewhere in the remote brush crystallizes left field at its most imaginative. Conversely, the world beat Transgenesis catches Martin deep in the throes of world beat ass-shaking bliss. African tribal chanting hasn't been made this accessible since early Afro Celt Sound System.
Feast or Famine - the afore mentioned Funky Town somehow holographs Prince as a DJ at the alien bar in the original Star Wars. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo aren't far off, this time clad in Spandex and Mullets with Richard Simmons in tow. Back to earth, Deutschland to be exact, Faerie Tale pulses as a fine piece of Techno that would make Kompakt records proud. Its artistic high point is clearly Gene Swarm (featuring Colin Angus from The Shamen's guitaring and additional sound FX by Matt Catt) from Cognition Factor which dubs Terence McKenna's commentary on the population of life on the planet. It's a challenging piece that requires a fair number of spins to absorb. But like fine wine, once the absorption is complete, the euphoric buzz sets in. At the 3:59 point, it breaks gleefully into a dance beat inviting the listener to celebrate and contemplate McKenna's question, "Who are we?"
Kaleidoscope - Spiritual Spearmints for its clever title and ability to deliver on the goods, crafting a methodical journey into the heavens that nutures with angelic wistfulness. Unstuck, perhaps the poppiest track in his catalogue, unfolds like Ivy's twin with delicious minor key dissonance punctuated by sweetly flirtatious pings. It's the listening equivalent of drowning in a vat of Wonka Factory Quaaludes with Sterolab on the iPod. And if that's wrong, who wants to be right? A party's a party, after all.
Speaking of parties, on with the interview!
TE: How would you describe the indie electronic scene in South Africa?
I can only talk from my own experience which is that the music scene is quite limited in comparison to other places. However, those who are involved in different genres of music, like Kwaito (South African Hip Hop) may have very different experiences. The musicians I know in Cape Town who have achieved some success have had to go abroad to get gigs, establish a fan base and the like.
There are many artists here producing music, but not on the same scale as abroad since Cape Town is a small city. Gig venues are limited and radio outlets traditionally have tended not to promote local talent across all genres. But that might be changing. Recently, a local psytrance artist Protoculture - was given a slot on 5FM which is great news!
TE: Can you describe the advantages and disadvantages being based there compared to the UK/Europe/North America?
Advantages: outstanding natural beauty on your doorstep. We're surrounded by mountains and sea! And people are generally friendly :)
Disadvantage: on the tip of Africa we are far from "where it's at", which brings its own unique set of difficulties.
TE: How did you come to collaborate with Robyn Sheldon on the Guided Relaxation for Birth CD?
I first met Robyn at a meditation group that she was hosting in her home some years back and we connected. She is a midwife and hypnobirthing therapist and had the idea of doing a guided visualization for birthing CD early last year. She asked who I thought might be able to help her manifest that. So I said "me!"
TE: Just curious, are you a fan of S.A. wines? Would you ever want to develop live gigs playing at wine tastings?
I don't drink alcohol, but I hear SA wines are the bomb. Sure, I'd play gigs at vineyards. Beautiful settings and great exposure to an entirely different listening audience!
TE: Have you ever visited the States?
It's been a long time since I was in America - I lived in Albuquerque for a year when I was a student at UNM. I would love to gig there and reacquaint myself with the country! I'm open to offers ;) I've been told by Ben at RethinkPopMusic that my didg playing and music would go down a storm in the US since it is quite different to what most are used to hearing there.
TE: Can you explain more about the slide didg? Your current Youtube videos feature your playing prominently.
It's an almighty instrument invented by the talented Scott Dunbar who's based in Australia. I do have plans to get some more video footage of me playing. Hopefully that will happen in the coming weeks! I'll keep everyone posted on that through my news page, news feed etc....
TE: How did the Dec. 30 gig go?
I think it went very well. The Transkei is a beautiful part of South Africa, so the location was ideal. It was great to get away from the city. And the organizers are very good at their jobs, which helps a lot!
TE: Did you see District 9 and any comments on the state of S.A. filmmaking?
I did see District 9, and thought it was a great film. Up until this point I think that SA film-making has mostly revolved around apartheid stories, which I feel is getting a little tired now. Time to let go of the past I think and move forwards into the future! And District 9 is a refreshing film in that regard. It still deals with segregation issues, but with a very different (and humorous) slant. If it gets a thumbs up from Peter Jackson, it's got to be pretty good! So good luck to the team who did it!
TE: What about Invictus with Matt Damon?
I haven't seen that one, but I heard a lot of girls talking about Matt Damon being in town during the filming.
TE: Can you tell us a little about the girl on lead vocals of Unstuck?
Her name is Jacqui Roche. She's a mum in Scarborough (South Africa) now and as far as I know doesn't have much to do with music any more. I met her through my partner Nikki and she told me she was a singer so we decided to record some of her vocals for Unstuck.
TE: Speaking of which, have you gotten any feedback comparing the sound to the NYC band Ivy?
I'd not actually come across Ivy before, but a Google search brought up some very interesting music of theirs. I love their sound. Reminds me a bit of the band Air.
TE: Why did you decide to cover Funky Town?
Because it is a kick ass disco track :) And it makes me smile to hear it!
TE: What are your favorite advantages/disadvantages to marketing music on social networking sites?
I like the fact that I am in control of what is going on (if you want something doing right, do it yourself, etc!) and that in many ways what you put in you get out. But, I dislike the fact that it can easily suck many hours of my time if I'm not focused when I should be - writing music!
TE: Which is why you consulted w/ Brenden Mulligan I gather.
Yes, I spoke to Brenden to have a chat about ways to work effectively with social networking. He's a helpful guy with some great ideas.
TE: Would you like to give him a plug here and point out any specific pieces of advice he's given?
Sure - he runs Brenden Mulligan Consulting and a company called ArtistData which has various tools to help make social networking a little easier and less time consuming.
As for advice - the main thing I got from our chat was to offer incentives to people to grow my mailing list i.e. offer free tracks, etc. in order to encourage folks to sign up. He also said Facebook and Twitter were better options for viral marketing (as opposed to MySpace). Although, I think MySpace is still a good option for musicians. Also, try to get fans involved by being more personal (that's where status updates etc come in.) I think every genre can benefit from web marketing if applied in a focused manner! Otherwise "web marketing" quickly becomes "time wasting."
TE: How did you get to remix tracks for HFB? Are you an Orb fan?
I became acquainted with Dom Beken and Alex Paterson through a soundtrack we were both working on for Cognition Factor. I am definitely an Orb fan (and a High Frequency Bandwidth fan!), so I asked them about the possibility of doing a remix or two for them and they agreed. Which I was very happy about! If you want to hear the Holes for Black and Harmonic 5 tracks that I finished remixing, previews are available on my discog page. Hopefully the remixed versions will be available soon either as a download or as part of an EP (or both!).
TE: Indidginus style seems artistically contrasted to the organic drum-n-bass hip hop derivatives permeating HFB. Your style seems to bring in a more other worldly science fictional vibe. Is this a conscious choice or more based on the mixing software you're using or more in the crafting?
My style is contrasted to HFB's for sure, which is why it was such fun to remix for them! I'm a science fiction geek - what can I say?
TE: Define "geek" then. Do you dress up as any characters?
Erm, no - I'm definitely not that much of a geek! Geek means to me someone who is around computers a lot and enjoys sci-fi, Lord of the Rings and that sort of thing, so I'm not surprised to hear that it comes through in my music.
TE:What music artists have you been listening to lately?
I've been listening a lot to the artists I've been remixing, so:
But I've also been enjoying the following bands on my WinAmp player:
• Bonobo
• Pitch Black
TE: Do you have a favorite album to date and what are your favorite tracks?
I don't really have a favourite album as such. It's generally the one I'm working on at the time! All the albums are quite different so I don't think I can say any particular one defines my sound. They all have a unique flavour, which I guess you could therefore say is my signature sound. My favourite tracks are:
• Transgenesis (from Align album)
• Nimbus (from Kaleidoscope album)
• Gene Swarm and Faerie Tale (from Feast or Famine album)
• Night (from Guided Relaxation for Birth album)
And currently the remixes I've done for High Frequency Bandwidth - Harmonic 5 (Indidginus Baragouin Rmx) and Holes for Black (Indidginus Event Horizon Rmx).
TE: Do you get "Top Gear" in S.A.?
I believe we do get Top Gear here, but I haven't seen it as I don't watch TV much.
TE: What kind of lap time do you think you'd do on Top Gear?
My lap time? Hmmm, no doubt very slow. Depends on what genre of music I'm listening to in the car at the time I guess! Hardcore jungle might yield a significantly improved time in comparison to new age ambient for instance.
TE: What track would you play if you were ever a guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show?
I think I would play the new HFB remix if I was a guest on Jonathan Ross' show! Nothing like a bit of shameless self-promotion! :)
TE: Speaking of TV, were you able to negotiate a life time supply of Schweppes Ginger Ale as compensation for you soundtrack work?
Unfortunately not, which is a shame since I like ginger beer.
TE: So what exactly are your UK tour plans for the spring?
I'm just in the organizing stages at the moment, but so far so good. Again, I'll keep everyone posted via my site etc.
TE: Any chance you'll catch up with Matt Coldrick from Pan Electric and Green Nuns of the Revolution?
I'm hoping to catch up with Matt Coldrick for sure and a few others!
TE: Will you get to tour the legendary Ealing Studios if you hook up with Dom?
I'm definitely aiming to connect with Dom and experience the Ealing Studios.
TE: Are you a fan of his previous project, Belka and Strelka?
Yes, I am a fan of Belka and Strelka.
Thanks for the interview, Tronique. Happy 2010 to you and your readers!
