interview with carl stone

Actually, they contacted me. I had worked with John Welsh of New Albion Records for my album Mom's. David (of t:me recordings) and John knew each other, frequently exchanging CDs and stuff. David knew about my work and sent me a letter (they didn't have e-mail back then), asking me a track for their compilation em:t 5595. (NDI: sudi mampir) It worked out to everybody's satisfaction, and this first piece set the stage for my full-length album carl stone 1196.

The people I work with are usually aware of my work, and generally know what to expect. Chris & Dave (t:me recordings) were, so we didn't really discuss at all the details of what I was going to produce. I didn't have any directions, no.

The only request on my part was that they wouldn't break up the four tracks that make up my piece nyala. In fact it started out as a single track, and it's only for promotional reasons that it was split up in four parts. It was created as one logical unit, and later re-organized in four parts at the request of t:me recordings.

t:me recordings had licensed a full photo catalog from some UK advertising agency; it included just about everything. They sent me this huge book of pictures, asking me to pick one for the cover of carl stone 1196. Since nyala starts with some heavily modified frog sounds, I initially picked a picture of a frog, but t:me recordings told me they had decided to restrict their use of frogs to compilations only; it was just a convention they had created. My second choice was insects, so I picked that grasshopper instead. It just seemed to fit, and t:me recordings went with it.

I have been going to Japan for about 10 years now, and was an artist-in-residence at XXX in 2001. I am currently a professor in the media section, teaching classes such as Network Art, Art & the Five Senses, Sound Design, Music & Computer Programming. Note that this isn't an art school; more often that not, it's the students' first exposure to expressive art. Students range in age from 19 to 25 years old.

I am certainely very grateful for all the opportunities I have had to perform in Japan and the support of the Japanese public. I certainely wouldn't say the Japanese culture is more receptive to electronic music, although my works seem to have received a more enthusiastic reception in Japan than in other parts of the world.

A certain aspect of Japanese culture seems to encourage focusing and a deeper reflection than our attention-challenged Western culture. This focus can become quite passionate, and in fact, sometimes borders a bit on the fanatical.

You mean it's boring? Unfortunately there's some truth in that. It really depends on people's attitude. I strive to challenge my audience in a new and different way. I would like them to listen carefully, listen deeply. Ideally I would like you to turn off the lights, close your eyes and truly listen.

Yet the visual center is so dominant in the human brain, there's almost a tyranny of the visual, it's hard to escape. I hope to bring people enjoyment and pleasure by stimulating a different area of the brain. If we could put the visual center on a diet, the other senses would become stronger as a result.

Nonetheless, I've been experimenting with visual projections, but at heart I'm not just much of an entertainer. What has been suggested to me, and that I will certainely NOT do, is display my computer screen on stage. While people should feel free to come up to me and discuss specifics of the performance, I do not want to snare the listener into the details of the tools used to create the music.

Could my music and performances be more popular if they incorporated video output? Maybe. But fashion in art doesn't last, one must go deeper than that to find some truth. Take Conlon Nancarrow for example; having voluntarily exiled himself to Mexico for 40 years, he nonetheless managed to write some of the most complex and beautiful music ever invented -- he wrote what can only be described as eletronic music without the help of a computer. He's a true musical genius, and I have tremendous respect for him.

I have never been to Burning Man, no. The whole rave culture/tribalism bit doesn't necessarily attract me much. But there is an interesting overlap, and I think I would like to go and see what's it's all about. Unfortunately my workload and professional obligations in Japan don't make it an easy trip. Maybe next year.

Generally speaking, I'm interested in what goes in the mainstream music industry, and keep abreast of the new developments. It's just that its commercial imperatives and need for immediacy is often at odds with the work I do. The tyranny of the beat in particular is something I do not wish to abide by. My early works were quite beat-full, and it's only in recent years that I've moved away from that. Maybe some secret desire to stay away from the mainstream?

It was a pleasure.