squarepusher Questions Answered

[goonstock]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A16410791

 

 

On Music Process.

1.

Hols_444 asks: In recent interviews you appear warmer. Has age has lifted the strain and pressure of the creative process? Does your high stature allow you to relax a little? Or is the pressure to explore even more always a factor? I'm more curious about the personality behind music.

Squarepusher: Luckily for me the creative process has never been a strain. Possibly because it wasn't a strain, it ended up being my main activity. Who deliberately seeks discomfort? As far as high stature goes, if I was to take that at all seriously I'm sure it would make me anything but relaxed! One of the reasons why I rarely conduct interviews is that one is often required, in a short space of time, to give a coherent account of current states of mind and the like. Possibly that is easy for some, but I find the task difficult to do with any sense of completeness. In addition to this, as I have no desire to fuel any sort of romanticisation of my personality, there seems to be no significant incentive.

 

As I perceive it, the main reason that people ask questions concerned with the personality of a composer is to try to form some sort of background against which the music may be contextualised. It may be the case that a musician's state of mind at a given time will have fed into the work. The problem is that in this domain we are in danger of conducting a science so soft as to be formless. This, at least in the context of publicity, is what constitutes the lack of incentive for me to bother starting even some sort of sketch. The links from personality to music-making are there for sure, but to make sense of them will require more than anecdotal descriptions of states of mind and folk psychology - something like a “phenomenology of music”. In lieu of a proper understanding, the music media seems very ready to generate hype and intrigue around musicians, based on the more sensational details of a musician's life.

 

Indeed, it seems to me that a proper understanding may not even be desirable for most listeners. This relates to the uncanny aspect of music to transform the listener's state of mind. To establish some sort of deeper understanding as to what happens when our moods are transformed by music may in some way be seen as a threat to the elemental enjoyment of music. It may be said that it debases musical experience to try to reduce it to theories. Yet all folk interpretation of music apes proper theory, however inaccurately.

 

and more

[not_vikur]

he blabbers on so much i couldnt be bothered reading half of it. it was mostly spent saying i dont want to give you any answers so ill say something nerdy instead fuck off.

[goonstock]

yeah

 

thats kinda what i gathered

[phudoshin]

seems like a nice, intelligent and funny chap to me....like his music.

 

 

go figure

 

i enjoyed it all especially when referncing the tracks he did. its pretty obvious Red hot car lyrics were more about the sound than the meaning so i wasnt sprised about that.

 

 

i wish i asked him about his japan tours as from the live mp3s they seem to be the ones he enjoys most - judging from the general vibe i get from them...alive in japan, liquid97 and Roppongi05

 

i had a dream about him the other night and we talked about martial arts in it. So him mentioning martial arts, as if he practices them (??) - as i do - is,well, nice, i guess i reallyn think TJ would understand budo without any of the bullshit that usually follows it.

[amnesia]

he should be a politician with answers like that. Id vote for him/

I can see it now the country stops for a bass solo

[amnesia]

i have just read all the questions...he is too smart to be a politician.a good read a clever chap

[Parsifal]

Dog_belch asks: Cocktails, do you have a favourite? Have you made some of your own? Or would you just drink whatever was to hand? Or just a tea, thanks very much?

Squarepusher: I'm really no sort of an expert in the cocktails department, but I cannot recall not enjoying a cocktail. I'm interested to further my knowledge in this department, but as I live in a tiny Essex village with one pub that struggles to serve a decent pint of beer, my day-to-day chances of achieving this seem slim. White Russian seems to be a good one, although I've never liked milk. Sorry this answer is a load of crap. Is Dog Belch a cocktail?

 

When reading this I thought of the Cassetteboy track: "Tucked away in the Essex countryside is a clinic that deals mostly with alcoholics" :stuart:

[playbynumbers]

it's sort of hilarious ... he gives like 1000-word answers and quotes foucault and sartre and generally just sounds kind of pretentious. some of the answers reminded me of like skytree or mirezzi

[six]

Yeah he sounds like a bit of a pretentious douche, overly drawn out answers to simple questions.

[Guest Kazuo]

i love squarepusher's music but most of his interviews are terrible. but the part about the apples is fun.

[Guest Dr. Elemeno von Hat X: PhD]

he blabbers on so much i couldnt be bothered reading half of it. it was mostly spent saying i dont want to give you any answers so ill say something nerdy instead fuck off.

 

i think he just wants you to work a little for 'em.

 

Theoriginallogboy asks: There seems to be two camps of fans, one for the bass noodlings and one for the 303 action. I prefer the electronica-edged stuff, yet I can see the benefits of the challenges, the compromise, the new directions you can take such fans in when you turn out a record that is more from a bass guitar perspective. What's your opinion on the relationship between the more traditional aspects and the more modern electronica aspects of your music?

 

Squarepusher: Is it possible to have an opinion of one's “fundamental project”? (Borrowed from Sartre.) Is it not the “fundamental project” that determines opinion? It would be like having an opinion of your hands, or comparing your mind to your face.

Translation: "My hand is not my face, but both my hand and my face are part of me. The relationship is based on who I am, and as such I don't really have an opinion on it. Next time, simply ask what the relationship is, rather than my opinion on it."

 

Indeed, it seems to me that a proper understanding may not even be desirable for most listeners. This relates to the uncanny aspect of music to transform the listener's state of mind. To establish some sort of deeper understanding as to what happens when our moods are transformed by music may in some way be seen as a threat to the elemental enjoyment of music. It may be said that it debases musical experience to try to reduce it to theories. Yet all folk interpretation of music apes proper theory, however inaccurately.

 

If Aphex had said this in an interview I might not have made my Saw II dissection topic... I guess, until something feels justified, I absolutely cannot accept it. People telling me it's magic, leave it alone, don't analyze it... well, they never said why!

 

There were a lot of other good points, as well...

[phudoshin]

i think, it was elvis costello who said

 

"talking about music is like dancing about architecture"

 

 

 

but squarepushers music is so fucking out there you just got to talk about it as a way of sharing in the enjoyment and to hear tj talk about the untalkable just shows how much he damn well enjoys his own music too, which is pretty evident from his live shows, but its nice to share in it in a differetn, more interactive way.

 

talking about talkig about lusic must be like juggling about dancing about architecture!

[chim]

hes' a very intellectual person, the answers may be percieved as "nerdy" "pointless" answers at first glance, but there's are some really wise words there.

[Guest Last post by]

he writes a bit like Alan Moore. I can imagine those two having a really deep and intense game of Dungeons and Dragons, possibly while taking deep and intense drags of opium.

[Zephyr_Nova]

The only bit that bugged me was:

"It seems commonplace in the world of electronica for a musician to say that they make what they want to make. In saying this one says that they are not bound by the concerns of others in the approach to composition. Personally, I find this idea nonsensical..."

No no no, what a person wants to make is sometimes in part dependant on what others also enjoy hearing. Usually those two things (what one person wants to make and another enjoys hearing) conveniently coincide with one another. There's nothing nonsensical about saying you make music you want to make. Geez. Who makes what they don't want to make? Even if someone held me at gun point and told me to write the gauddiest music concievable, I would want to do that because doing so would save my life. He's got some great insights, but he also has a strange way of interpretting some questions, kind of rewording them into new questions that he'd like to go off about. That said, I find his musings to be interesting for the most part, even if I disagree with a lot of them.

[Bubba69]

That was well enjoyable

[Guest frogdog]

"Out of the pieces that I have released, I think the most time-consuming was 50 Cycles on Ultravisitor. Roughly speaking it took a month to make."

 

 

lol at spending a month of your life writing that muck

[Bubba69]

50 cycles is pretty fucking nuts.

[azatoth]

that was a fun interview..he sure likes to go on and on...i guess he likes the sound of his own voice...

[Guest Dr. Elemeno von Hat X: PhD]

i think it was typed :)

[acid1]

WHy you guys just slamming these answers? He let people ask him questions and he answered them honestly, what more do you douche bags want?

[Guest Dr. Elemeno von Hat X: PhD]

people will bitch if it is day. people will bitch if it is night. people will bitch if it is wrong. people will bitch if it is right.

 

they will bitch if it fits,

they will bitch if it's tits

 

they will bitch on a plane

they will bitch on a train

 

in short: people will always bitch.

[awepittance]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A16410791

 

 

On Music Process.

1.

Hols_444 asks: In recent interviews you appear warmer. Has age has lifted the strain and pressure of the creative process? Does your high stature allow you to relax a little? Or is the pressure to explore even more always a factor? I'm more curious about the personality behind music.

Squarepusher: Luckily for me the creative process has never been a strain. Possibly because it wasn't a strain, it ended up being my main activity. Who deliberately seeks discomfort? As far as high stature goes, if I was to take that at all seriously I'm sure it would make me anything but relaxed! One of the reasons why I rarely conduct interviews is that one is often required, in a short space of time, to give a coherent account of current states of mind and the like. Possibly that is easy for some, but I find the task difficult to do with any sense of completeness. In addition to this, as I have no desire to fuel any sort of romanticisation of my personality, there seems to be no significant incentive.

 

As I perceive it, the main reason that people ask questions concerned with the personality of a composer is to try to form some sort of background against which the music may be contextualised. It may be the case that a musician's state of mind at a given time will have fed into the work. The problem is that in this domain we are in danger of conducting a science so soft as to be formless. This, at least in the context of publicity, is what constitutes the lack of incentive for me to bother starting even some sort of sketch. The links from personality to music-making are there for sure, but to make sense of them will require more than anecdotal descriptions of states of mind and folk psychology - something like a “phenomenology of music”. In lieu of a proper understanding, the music media seems very ready to generate hype and intrigue around musicians, based on the more sensational details of a musician's life.

 

Indeed, it seems to me that a proper understanding may not even be desirable for most listeners. This relates to the uncanny aspect of music to transform the listener's state of mind. To establish some sort of deeper understanding as to what happens when our moods are transformed by music may in some way be seen as a threat to the elemental enjoyment of music. It may be said that it debases musical experience to try to reduce it to theories. Yet all folk interpretation of music apes proper theory, however inaccurately.

 

and more

 

 

i wonder if he rambles so much because he is on serious opiates. It definitly sounds like an opiate intoxicated diarea of the keyboard rant to me.

[Guest jim]

if he put as much effort into making the music as talking about it hello everything mightn't have been as shite as it is.

 

you'll never catch RDJ acting like such a pretentious arse in his interviews even though he's clearly the greater artist of the two

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