Thursday, December 31, 2020

TOP 10 Best Music Albums of 2020 from Internet Archive

 

TOP 10 Best Music Albums of 2020 from Internet Archive (Netlabel Collection)

As each year since 2017, we decided this year also continue with the tradition and make a top of the very best long duration albums that you can find on the internet archive music platform. 

Of course in not massive music genres (experimental, drone, dark, weird electronic)

Released by other netlabels (not for Cian Orbe / Witch Spectra)


Enjoy this list for all the free music lovers!

(not in order of relevance) 


Artist: Demonic Sweaters (usa)

album: Turn Of The Scroct

released 30 August 2020 by Anthill Recordings (USA)

genres: experimental avant-garde, electronic, synth, progressive

LINK: https://archive.org/details/the-scroct/

 


Artist: Telegraphy

album: By my self

released 8 September 2020 by Ionosonde Recordings

genres: Ghost Drone, Dark Dronescape

LINK: https://archive.org/details/by-my-self

 

Artist: Roy F Guzmán (Puerto Rico)

album: Axiomas Indígenas

released 22 August 2020 by Archivo Veintidós (Chile)

genres: Sound Art, Acousmatic, Minimalist Music

LINK: https://archive.org/details/A22018_Axiomas_Indigenas
 
 
 
 
Artist: JUNY (France)

album: MOTOMONOTONO

released 26 April 2020 by Bestiar Netlabel (France)

genres: alternative rock, shoegaze, experimental rock

LINK: https://archive.org/details/JunyMotomonotono/


Artist: OHMNOISE (Germany)

album: 13th House

released 17 May 2020 by DIENSTbar (Germany)

genres: Industrial, Noise

LINK: https://archive.org/details/ohmnoise_13th_house/

 


Artists: ∆z0.mp3 / MMSNEONCHAN / xe_vinar (split) (Russia)

album: School Days

released 9 July 2020 by Immoral Basement (Russia)

genres: dark ambient, drone

LINK:  https://achive.org/details/IBR_1687

 

Artist: Brain Influenza (Germany)

album: Schwarz (Just Another Suicide Soundtrack)

released 7 June 2020 by cOmaRecOrdz (USA)

genres: Gothic, Dark Electronic, Industrial

LINK: https://archive.org/details/BrainInfluenza-Schwarz-JustAnotherSuicideSoundtrack

 

Artist: Sun-Inside (Ukraine)

album: Lllegal Mutation

released 4 June 2020 by Picpack Netlabel (Ukraine)

genres: IDM, Ambient, Experimental Electronic
 
 
 
 
Artist: A Symbiotic Experience (France)

album: Rebirth

released 15 June 2020 by Le Colibri Nécrophile (France)

genres: Abstract, Psychedelic Rock, Experimental
 
LINK: https://archive.org/details/Rebirth_A_Symbiotic_Experience
 
 
 
  
Artist: 303 (Laos)

album: JAMS

released 1 June 2020 by COTA303 Records (Laos)

genres: IDM, Glitch, Sound Collage, Computer Music
 
LINK: https://archive.org/details/JAM008/
 
 
 
 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Interview to Gorium / †▼††† (2020)

 INTERVIEW TO GORIUM


https://soundcloud.com/user-884461255

https://www.instagram.com/deathcultdevotion/

https://blvckgovtcvlt.bandcamp.com/

https://necromancia-darkmusic.bandcamp.com

https://diablovalentine.bandcamp.com

  https://andre-gorium.bandcamp.com/

 

Today we did an interview to the dark electronic composer André Gorium from Brazil.

 First say welcome to this written interview for Cian Orbe blog.


- Which are the concept behind your 2 current projects? Gorium & †▼†††, and which are the differences between them?

Gorium is a dark ambient project that I created in 2008, focusing on dark atmospheres, noise and sound experiments. It became my main project, even though I don't have current releases, I will always be working on it. I try to create the soundtrack with varied themes but always an obscure version of things, sometimes mythological.


In † ▼ †††, I create things in the witch house / post-witch genre, also with some characteristics of the dark ambient, which is practically my essence, and industrial. In this project, the main idea is to address themes related to death and also a sound version of disturbances that affect me daily.



- †▼††† (Death Cult Devotion) is the continuation of your past project Black Goat Cvlt? or is something different?  why you decide change the name of the project?

† ▼ ††† was a consequence. When I decided to end Black Goat Cvlt, due to some emotional crisis and also when vocalist Rokayda left the project (it was her decision), I spent a few months without creating anything, until I released the last album entitled Via Dolorosa with all the unfinished songs from project.

BLΛCK GOΛT CVLT - Via Dolorosa (2019):


After a while I started creating some tracks and taking the first steps of what would become † ▼ †††. I didn't want to go back with this musical genre, witch house, but my desire to create and what I experienced with Black Goat Cvlt made me try again. Now with a new project, a new existence.

This sequel made me have another vision and helping in the creative process, now even more intense.


- Gorium & †▼††† are your only monikers? or you release music under other alias?

I am always working with the sound and genres that I most appreciate, sometimes creating new forms of something I've done before, sometimes just experimenting.

And yes, I have other projects. Some are still active, others are "sleeping" and others are still in the creation phase. They are:


- Diablo Valentine" (lofi, triphop): https://diablovalentine.bandcamp.com

- "Ghost Church (⍫)": (witchwave, emotional, atmospheric):  

https://necromancia-darkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/sacrament-nm-001

- "Nimrod": (spooky dark beats): https://necromancia-darkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/consummatum-est-nm-006

"Zigoto": (experimental, noise): https://sickcultlabel.bandcamp.com/album/cotard-ep

"MoOoN": (ambient, glitch, downtempo)https://cianorbenetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/mooon-ep-cior-269

 "Old Witch": (dungeon synth, ritual): https://necromancia-darkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/old-witch-nm-025

"Cryptopurge":  -

"Entropia": -

 

- Which inspiration you have from the place where you live? There's some inspiration from your country in your music?

For some time, I have been inspired by ritual music from Afro Brazilian religions, such as Umbanda, to create atmospheric tracks. I believe that I will use this element much more in the creations, it is really something that fascinates me.

 

- Which are your favorite music projects and visual/plastic artists who inspire your work?

In music, since the beginning of what would become the Gorium project, I have always been inspired by artists like Mortis, Atrium Carceri, Black Autumn, Kandelabrum, Ahab, Doom: VS, Akira Yamaoka, Posthuman Tantra, Maiesti and Morgul.


In the visual arts I can mention Roberto Ferri, Wayne Barlowe, Olivier de Sagazan, Francisco de Goya and Gustave Doré.

 

- Which is your favorite song and album created by yourself?

I don't have exactly a favorite album or song. I always like a lot of things I do.
But I can mention the work with † ▼ †††, the album "Abaddon" and the first song I did for this project, "Nothing Inside", they are definitely very different works but I really liked the result.

 

- How do you see the current Witch House music scene. How you imagine the future of the genre in the next years?

I met the witch house in 2014, when a friend introduced me to the genre and soon I was fascinated by this whole new world. Today I see more producers coming up and many amazing works day after day, and that is indescribable, all this passion, all this need to want to participate in the genre, do your own work and contribute, made the genre grow. Now I see that we are the consequence of what they did in the beginning, just as we can be part of the inspiration for what will come in the future.


Everything happens very fast, I cannot imagine a future, but it is certain that it will not be a genre lost in limbo. much will be created.

 

 

 

- Tell us about the concept & the creation process of your latest album "Abaddon" released by Blvsphemy Records. link: https://blvsphemyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/abaddon

Abaddon was a mix of crisis and bad moments trapped inside me, at some point they needed to be purged. Part of the concept was based on passages from the Habraic Bible about a destroying angel who rules an endless abyss. So this whole panorama became the concept for the album. I see this abyss as my own mind. Each song is based on personal things, they became my demons. An angel of flesh, hate and disorder.

 

- Tell us about the underground music scene in Brazil and which are your favorite artists from your country?

Here the underground scene is full of influences, many different genres of music and new things always come up. Metal bands still have a strong weight in the brazilian underground, and it's great to see that the world is listen more from here. Since many don't appreciate the local bands, unfortunately.


Some Brazilian bands have even become part of my musical influence and my personal development in the area. Some that I always listen are Serpent Rise, Arte no Escuro, Plastique Noir, Sonata Soturna, The Downward Path, Posthuman Tantra, Mythological Cold Towers, Hell Light, Mortiferik, Subburbia, Maldita, Noturna Régia, Gorempire, Bells of Soul, Vultos, Lupercais, Pecadores, Keptrancour, Maiesti and Luz de Velas.

 

 

- What has been the experience of make live performances? 

I came back with live performances about three years ago. It is always a very intense experience. I always choose the heaviest songs to create a dark atmosphere and I usually try to interact with the audience to offer them a more direct experience with my performance. 

And everything is connected, the songs, the visuals, colors, everything to give a different feeling to each show.


 

- Any anecdote that you want to share with us in the creation of some track?

Many of my songs are based on real experiences, I can quote the song "Faust" from the album Abaddon.


One night I was trying to finish the song, but I was so exhausted by things that made me think about suicide, I had been thinking about it a long time, that I couldn't concentrate on finishing the track. That same night I heard about an event in the city and decided to go there. Soon when I back to my home, I feel more relaxed and inspired, so I back to work on that track and finally I finished.


So the next night I showed the track to Moisane (Moy Veishchi) and remembered Goethe's poem called "Faust", so I decided that that would be the name of the track, I felt a similarity in parts of the poem with what had happened to me that night . This is one of the most significant tracks on the album, one of my favorites as well. And that's it.


 

- Which was the reason for create your own netlabel Necromancia?

Necromancia came from the idea of helping unknown artists and also involving all those who always want to promote their music. After feeling this need, I decided to create the label. Even being from Brazil, we accept artists from all over the world.


The netlabel is temporarily not active due to personal problems and I am not managing to manage (since I am the only curator on the label), but I will continue with it until I die. Then I will need someone to bring me back.

PS. But i'm making occassionally v/a compilations as Elisium Mortis:

https://elisiummortis.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKjlBx_CbN3892j-5WRJAA



- Any news for 2021 of any of your music projects?

 


I am currently working on two projects to try to release something until March 2021. 

They are genres that I always like and I always wanted to do something in the area, doom metal and goth rock. So these are my main focuses for next year.


I also want to do something experimental to play live, and it sure involves several projects, like a festival, but I'm still thinking.


Another thing is in cinema area, producing short horror films. I hope I can focus on that too.
And that is what I can say that I am already planning for 2021, but a lot of things can happen.

 

- Any other thing that you want to say to your listeners?

Thanks for all the support over the years, I do it all with love and devotion. Knowing that you appreciate my art is an incredible payment that I cannot explain. You are amazing, you are beautiful.
 

Search for everything that is buried within you, do it until you find your purest essence. There are no limits to your mind, there are no rules to trap you in the flesh. We are all imperfect and that is our beauty. 

See beyond what the eye can see. Show what is most beautiful inside you. And even such a vast desert surrounding us, we can still find unique pleasures to live and death will unite us at the right time.
 

With love Gorium.


André Gorium releases in Cian Orbe:

- MoOon - MoOon (EP) (2018): https://archive.org/details/mooon-ep

- Gorium - Sacred Death I (EP) (2019): https://archive.org/details/gorium-sacred-death-ep

Monday, December 28, 2020

Witch House en Latinoamérica (Una escena oculta pero existente)

 

A las puertas del año 2021. Podemos decir que la escena del Witch House está desapareciendo? 

Quizá esos años gloriosos del género entre 2009 a 2013 donde el boom de artistas y sellos digitales y de material físico fue muy abundante jamás volverán.

Pero dejando de lado la nostalgia, la respuesta a la pregunta está a la vista, mas bién en las plataformas musicales. Una nueva ola del llamado por los de la vieja escuela: "Post-Witch House" se ha ido gestando desde hace años atrás. El clásico sonido witch se ha mezclado con el industrial, con el gótico (denominado como "NU-GOTH") tambien con el "Wave" y con el "Dark Trap." Todos estos sonidos contemporáneos están inundando los sitios webs y sellos digitales. Aparte si visitas páginas como Soundcloud, Bandcamp e incluso Spotify. Verás que mes a mes el número de exponentes del género crece y crece. 

Ahora vamos al título de este artículo. En gran número los exponentes del género son de Estados Unidos, de Rusia y del resto de Europa en general. Pero si nos vamos a latinoamérica. La gran masa continental debajo de la "seudo-America estadounidense" Encontraremos no unos pocos, sino decenas de artistas. Algunos con una gran trayectoria desde los inicios del Witch House, hasta los tiempos recientes y de la gran parte de los países. Desde el norte en México hasta la zona sur en Chile.

 

A continuación detallamos algunos eventos, compilaciones, artistas, lanzamientos esenciales del género en latinoamérica.  También llegaremos a nuestros días mencionando nuevos artistas y netlabels que siguen a la fecha dando vida al movimiento en estos lados del mundo.

🇨🇱

El primer netlabel de este lado del mundo fué Equilateral Records (Chile) fundado en 2012 por Denzi Suarez, miembro del dúo †ENEBRÆ. Que lamentablemente hace poco eliminó todo el material de Equilateral por motivos desconocidos, quedando así sólo el recuerdo de su registro en la web de Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/label/643471-Equilateral-Records-2 

En Chile se realizaron varios eventos difundiendo la escena, donde el Witch House y el Trash Rave eran expuestos por artistas como los mismos †ENEBRÆ, Warloc, Casa Occvlta, Black Sun entre otros.

Otros artistas relevantes dentro del movimiento witch en Chile son: Humanfobia, ΣϟQUIϟ0MBIΣ,  CRYSSIS☆✧,Filmy Ghost, Afterdeath, Capgras, SeBlack, SATVRNXX, TØMHɆT, Violence.

Otros sellos digitales posteriores fueron Unnatural Vibes (2017-2020) y Nuestro propio netlabel Witch Spectra (2018-2021) [tenemos pensado terminarlo los primeros meses de 2021 y solo seguir con compilaciones de varios artistas pero bajo otro nombre]


 
 

Humanfobia - A Gloomy Collection

Lanzado en 2019 por Witch Spectra:

https://archive.org/details/humanfobia-a-gloomy-collection 

https://open.spotify.com/album/4zzE1daSejQNLiSuVfEO26

 

Black Sun - V I C T I M S

lanzamiento propio de 2014

https://bl4cksunmusic.bandcamp.com/album/v-i-c-t-i-m-s

 

Varios Artistas - Creepy Vibes

lanzado en 2017 por Unnatural Vibes

https://unnaturalvibes.bandcamp.com/album/creepy-vibes

 
 

🇦🇷

Trasladándonos hacia Argentina. Tambien tenemos las compilaciones lanzadas en el netlabel:"Witch Kadabra": https://witchkadabra.bandcamp.com/ creadas por el productor y DJ argentino: Joel Hurtado Portella (Kadabra Project).  Que también ha organizado eventos de música witch y de otros géneros de la electrónica. En los eventos llamados: "Purgue Witch." En los que han participado artistas como Casi Todos los Males, SΔØ CØM y más. 

Otros artistas dentro de la escena en Argentina son: +d33b+, Lemur Night, †Я▲СΣS ❍F GΗ❍5†5, †ḧΞ ШЇⱬ▲Яᶑ, .asylum. y cxrdxllxrxdxlxsxndxs.


 

 Compilación "Witch House Argentina" 

lanzada en 2018 por Witch Kadabra netlabel:

https://witchkadabra.bandcamp.com/album/c-mpil-i-n-itch-h-us-rgentin

 

Lemur Night x Humanfobia - "Entidades Paralelas (EP)" 

lanzado en 2017 por Cian Orbe:

https://humanfobia-official.bandcamp.com/album/entidades-paralelas-ep-2017

https://archive.org/details/entidades-paralelas-ep


+d33b+ - M33NDWORMS 

lanzado en 2019 por Hexx9 records:

https://hexx9records.bandcamp.com/album/m33ndworms


cxrdxllxrxdxlxsxndxs  (cordilleradelosandes) - EP 1

lanzamiento propio de 2016.

https://soundcloud.com/cordilleradelosandes/sets/ep-1


🇲🇽

En México tenemos que destacar los eventos de la mano de la productora "HFC". Podemos ver el flyer del Evento de 2014 donde se presentaron en vivo: Ritualz, Teehn Bwitches y DËLATOR. 

Como también los lanzamientos del sello MALIGNA, que desde 2012 lanzó música de artistas WH mexicanos  como Ritualz, HDXD, OCCULTDΛNϞΣ y los clásicos: TEEHN BWITCHES.

Otros artistas relevantes de la escena en mexico son CATHEDRA, △GL△OPHO†IS y
Toxiques Moi.



También otros eventos del underground de la escena electrónica dark mexicana han contado con la participación de artistas de estilo witch. en la imagen de arriba se ve en este flyer de 2018, la presentación de los artistas CATHEDRA Y Toxiques Moi.

En este evento de 2014 llamado Viernes, El trece, de Las productoras Nucleoroto y Wos se presentó el proyecto witch house: △GL△OPHO†IS.

REGISTRO SONORO: https://archive.org/details/aglaophotis-live-viernes-el-trece

 

teehn bwitches - CDR

Lanzado en 2011:
https://teehnbwitches.bandcamp.com/album/cdr


CATHEDRA uno de los máximos exponentes del witch house en México:  

https://soundcloud.com/cathedra_music


🇧🇷

En el gigante Brasil, tenemos varios artistas que se han vuelto muy importantes dentro del género tales como BLΛCK GOΛT CVLT (después renombrado: †▼†††), $ A L T H, ▲IW▲SS, ʝovs, ΓVMΞS, IESXS, TERR0RISM entre otros.

†▼††† - Tentacles are coming​.​.​.

lanzado en 2019 por NƎCЯʘMΛNCIΛ:

https://necromancia-darkmusic.bandcamp.com/album/tentacles-are-coming-nm-020


ʝovs - Clonazepam (EP)

lanzado en 2019 por Witch Spectra:

https://archive.org/details/jovs-clonazepan-ep/ 

 

ΓVMΞS / BLΛCK GOΛT CVLT

lanzado en 2018

https://witchcultfumes.bandcamp.com/album/vm-s-bl-ck-go-t-cvlt

 


 TERR0RISM - <​/​3  (2014)

lanzando en 2014. lanzamiento propio

https://trsm0.bandcamp.com/album/3

 

Otros artistas relevantes dentro del género en Centroamérica y otros países de Sudamérica son:

🇨🇴 

They Will Make Ceme✝eries Their Ca✝hedrals (Colombia)

C O R V U S (Colombia)

🇬🇹

Dreamfactory (Guatemala)

🇵🇪

SAD † B☹Y (Perú)

🇨🇷 

Witch in the West (Costa Rica)

🇵🇾

 Coven Cvlt (Paraguay)

🇵🇦 

LUCIFEAR (Panamá)


 NETLABELS LATINOS DE WITCH HOUSE Y GÉNEROS SIMILARES 

ACTIVOS E INACTIVOS:

Witch Spectra [Sub-netlabel de Cian Orbe] (Chile)

Netlabel chileno manejado por Sábila Orbe y Mist Spectra. 

Géneros admitidos: Witch House, Dark Vaporwave, Cyberwave, Gothic slow beat. 

https://witchspectra.bandcamp.com

 https://archive.org/details/fav-witch_spectra

https://www.facebook.com/witch.spectra/

 desde inicios de 2021 se traslada a:

https://new-age-vapor-witch.bandcamp.com/

 


 NƎCЯʘMΛNCIΛ (Brasil)
 
netlabel Brasileño manejado por André Gorium.
 
géneros admitidos: Witch House, Dark Ambient, Dark Experimental
 
 
 
mas compilaciones en Sub-netlabel: Elisium Mortis:
 
 


TATUANA PRODUCCIONES (Guatemala)
 
netlabel Guatemalteco inactivo desde 2018.
 
géneros: Witch House, Dub, Vaporwave, Metal
 
 
 
 

MALIGNA (México)
 
netlabel mexicano inactivo desde 2017.
 
géneros: Witch House, Techno, Alternative.
 
 


Unnatural Vibes (Chile)
 
netlabel chileno inactivo desde 2019.
 
géneros: Witch House, Dark Beats, Lo-fi, Electrónica Alternativa.
 

 
 
  
Sick Cult / DEVIL KVLT LABEL (Colombia)

netlabel colombiano manejado por Rotten Wolf.
 
géneros admitidos: Witch House, Vaporwave, Dark Electronic
 
 
 
 
EQUILATERAL RECORDS (Chile)

Sello chileno (2012-2015) manejado por Denzi Suarez. 
 
géneros admitidos: Witch House, Vaporwave, Dark Electronic
 
(solo registro de algunos lanzamientos, su bandcamp fué eliminado):
 
 
 
Esperamos que este artículo, sirva a quienes están explorando el género musical del witch. Y asi descubran artistas, sellos digitales y hasta tal vez se animen a crear su propio proyecto y ser parte de este estilo musical tan único y lleno de oscura belleza.


Interview to Wilfried Hanrath (2020)

Interview to Wilfried Hanrath

Today we did an interview to the experimental multi-genre, multi-instrumentalist composer & improviser Wilfried Hanrath from Germany

 https://wilfriedhanrath.bandcamp.com

https://soundcloud.com/flyingtonefish

https://www.youtube.com/user/flyingtonefish/videos

https://www.facebook.com/Wilfried-Hanrath-802956243231862/ 


First say welcome to this written interview for Cian Orbe blog. - 

Thank you very much for inviting me. Giving artists the opportunity to speak about their work and their approach etc. is a great project, thank you very much.

 

Which are the concept behind your music, how you categorize your own music?  

To start with the second question: I do not think in categories. In my opinion, thinking in categories is think only in black and white. I prefer to think in colours and the richness of diversity.

When it comes to releasing an album, it is important to find categories, I know - but it is very hard for me. Not only because I play many styles and genres, is because I love to mix genres, having grown up in an era in which many people broke up the old rules to find new ways ....

Well, even if many of those new ways ended up becoming old rules again, this was the spirit I grew up with and which I preserved to the day. As for the first question: to be honest, I do not have a concept for my art, which ismusic and photography. I am sure most artists know this feeling that there is something within themselves that seeks to be let out, to be expressed, be it painting, or writing, or music. Being the emotional type, I feel the urge to express what I feel inside, but I do not see any necessity for analyzing or describing it. 

What I can say furthermore is, that there is a deep spiritual aspect to everything I do. Making music for me is about passion and emotion, Music is where I feel at homeland where I can find a language to communicate with others. One more thing is that free improvisation is the basis for all of my work. I do not like restrictions, I think I perform best when I am free to do what I want to do. There was one crucial point in making music when I suddenly was partially paralyzed.

On my right side, which included finding new ways, of striking strings and others.Luckily this handicap is only a mild one, many people do not notice, but I do, each time I try to move my right-hand fingers, and with each step I go. But still lucky.

 


Do you release music only under Wilfried Hanrath name or you have other music projects, bands, monikers?

Using monikers was sort of hiding behind them for me in the first time. 

My first album was released by German label Opa Loka Records, my moniker was oracle.sing#sing.oracle. When I joined to Soundcloud, it was W:I:L, but after a while I started to use my own name for my music. 


 - My band is AnyDayNow, the drummer and I have been playing together for nearly 14 years, we are a quartet now and we play entirely improvised space-jazz-rock...

https://completelygonerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/live-subsol-d-sseldorf-feb-1-2020

https://completelygonerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-the-studio-may-29-2020

 

Also I am member in several ensembles for improvised music. But I also have virtual projects, like my transatlantic duo The Hauchzart Ensemble with Matt Getchell from Portland, USA.

 soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-700628387/tracks

 

My latest project is Die Abbilder with German electronic musician Dieter Mauson aka Occupied Head. 

https://soundcloud.com/flyingtonefish/die-abbilder-heartbeat-1

 

- In what year did you start making music? which was your first band?

When I was twelve, I started to learn classical guitar. But after a year I quit, because everyone that i knew played rockmusic, and I wanted to play electric guitar and be real loud. We played Hendrix, Doors, Beatles, Stones etc. in a rather punkish, jazzy way. But as lifehas it, soon the band split up, and I continued alone, teaching myself drums and bass, The next band I joined was 2007, 30 years later, it split up when we were about to startplaying gigs....but I kept playing with the same drummer until these days.

 

 - Which inspiration you have from the place where you live? There's some inspiration from your country in your music?

I tend to think that the environment is no a fact of influence for me when it comes to making music. It is like being yourself always wherever you go; but being in a quiet, peaceful environment sure helps. Apart when all your life is about improvisation you always try to take the situation and find your way to handle it. 

I grew up in a rural area, and I feel blessed to have grown up there...blessed also, because many of Germany ́s top Krautrock bands played there. And it was only a short distance to a larger city where I could attend concerts international musicians played. With my interest for music arising in 1967, I felt blessed also to witness the beginnings of Krautrock, electronic music with the likes of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Ashra Temple...I also felt attracted by free jazz, there was an annual free jazz festival nearby, and Peter Brötzmannand Peter Kowald also lived nearby.


Special Moments that mark your carreer as musician?

Living with a consciousness for the moment, I ́d say always the one I am momentarily involved in. In retrospective, there are moments that are of very special meaning for me – like a concert I played with a band I had joined only half a year before- the drummer died 2 ½ before the event, and playing without drummer, honouring him,created a very special and very creative atmosphere, this concert is one of a few I love especially.  

Using visuals for music is nothing new, but for us in AnyDayNow it was, and we found that when we started playing the music for films we watched this sure changed our way of playing. I have played quite a number of performances with a great musicians I met in one of theensembles I was member of. Sean Derrick Cooper Marquardt invited me to join him in.

Playing the live soundtrack for silent movies from the 1920's, and this was one major big experience for me...watching the movie with the audience, and improvising the soundtrack. I had known most of those movies before, but the exciting difference in watching them not just for fun but with the intention to play the soundtrack is that you get all the deeper into the film.

 

 - Most of your cover artworks are abstract art. what are your main influences for this kind of visuals?

I have always loved to take photos, and had a very special perspective on my objects. Things changed when I suddenly was paralyzed (after a long illness) on my right side and could not hold the camera without tremor. In the first time I was very disappointed, and wasabout to quit photography, when I attended a meeting of friends. 

When I took a photo of them,I was fascinated by the result. Well, you could not recognize any person, and I had no idea where those colours came from because they weren ́t in the room – but this photo helped mechange my mind and accept my handicap. Later I learned that others intentionally move their cameras. - Then again, making interesting photos is not a matter of the camera or the technique, but most of all it is a feeling, a way of looking at your environment that helps you discover those little details that are so beautiful.  

Besides, I am very happy with my girlfriend. She is painter, and her way of painting is very similiar to my way of create music. I do all documentation of her art for her, and in return she allows me to be creative with my photos of her paintings. Her name is Susanne Stepbach.  

 

How do you see the current Experimental music scene?  

There has always been experimental music. Nowadays, in our digitalized world, it has become increasingly easy to record and edit stuff. 

Taking a loop, for example...nowadays you have yourlooper, you press on a button to get it started and hit another one to stop it and you have your loop. In former times, in order to create a loop you had to cut out a piece of a reel tape and glue it together...Apart from this technical aspect, I think that there is indeed a rising interest, both in musicians and in listeners. 

 

What has been the experience of make live performances? 


Playing live is ... to create magic. It is quite an adventure when you go on stage, to join people you have never seen before, without any concept or idea of what to play - but with the confidence to unite and make the moment sound great. It gives you the thrills when you realize you play the soundtrack for the moment, then you create something that is larger than its parts.

Which is your favorite song and album created by yourself?  

To be honest, I do not have any favourites of my music. Like I wrote before, the project I am momentarily working on is closest and most important to me. So long...until it is finished and I move on to the next project which again becomes closest and most important. However, memories are often connected with music...with some pieces or albums I have very intense memories, but it does not imply that they are my favourites.  

 

Tell us about the concept & the creation process of your latest album "Head up in the Skies" self-released // link: https://wilfriedhanrath.bandcamp.com/album/head-up-in-the-skies

I have released since then, on my bandcamp but also with Completely Gone Recordings.Owing to health issues, I haven ́t made any new music for a while now. To make the best of this situation, I started to clean up my external hardware-drive (which is rather messy), and to put the audios I find in files...and some of those files I combine with others...and in the end this is what makes up this album. I have to mention the artist who gave the inspirationfor the artwork – Andrea Thierbach also lives in Wuppertal, and even if we have never metin person, we sometimes write. 

 

 - Tell us about the underground music scene in Germany or in your zone. and which are your favorite artists from your country

Oh I am sorry I cannot say too much on this topic. For ¾ of this year 2020, nothing or almostnothing could take place due to the pandemic. I felt lucky to play a concert with my band AnyDayNow shortly before the lock-down started, and even happier to have particpated in the re:flections festival in Augsburg in the south of Germany, curated by Sascha Stadlmeier, who is one great musician for sure. 2 months later I felt blessed to perform with SeanDerrick Cooper Marquardt and the Accidental Orchestra Berlin he founded for this occasion. 

This concert was multi-medial, there were dancers, livepainting, a food ritual....we played open-air, and it started to rain, but we could not stop playingbut covered our pedalboards and equipment and continued – the magic of the performance was so strong we did not want do disturb it. Oh, this one is only about me ....as for the scene, there seems to be a growingnumber of events on experimental and improvisational music, workshops, concerts, labels, musicians.

As favourite artists...CAN always come first, Klause Schulze with his work in the 70's, Embryo, Manuel Göttsching, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Soft Machine, to name only a few,fantastic wave and indie – music in the 80ies, minimalistic musicians like Philipp Glass and Terry Riley,also techno and house in the 90's, hip-hop in 00ies....nowadays Max Richter is one of my favourite composers.

 

We have always seen that you love collaborations, which have been your favorites?

In one of my first major collaborations I encountered Cian Orbe netlabel, when Mario Lino Stancati asked me for a collaboration. 

Neal D. Retke was and isa major influence for me. I first met him – virtually – when he called for submissions for an album to be released on president Trump ́s inauguration – TrumpFunk. 

I have since then participated in many of his numerous wonderful projects, like the ones in which he teams participants in duos or trios that hitherto haven ́t worked together, so this is really always thrilling. 

I learned a lot about collaborations in the time I took part in the disquit junto project run by Marc Weidenbaum, on thursdayyou received you email with the topic for this week ́s project, and you had little time, Monday midnight latest you had to deliver your work. 

Collaborations were oftenpart. When it comes to collaborations, I feel so blessed....I had two remix projects so far, Something (in the air and in-between) and Portland, (both I count as collab – albums)and I am so very happy and grateful for all the wonderful submissions...more than 80 for the Portland – project, released by Thomas Mathie on his label wereallghosts in 5 volumes and little less for my Something – project, which I released on my bandcamp. 

 

 

Any anecdote that you want to share with us in the creation of some track?

Well, in the chapter about performing live I already mentioned my concert with Versuchsanordnung, with Christian Barthold and Christoph Uhlhaas...we playedto honour our drummer Joe Becker, who had died 2 ½ weeks before the festival.  

The thing is, he had promised his girlfriend who runs a gallery, to play at the vernissage that same day. So we went to play the festival – our concert was scheduled for the early afternoon, and immediately after we finished our concertwe left to play at the gallery, which was quite a distance to drive. Meeting Joe ́s girlfriend was very touching, and it touched me to watch her while we played...but I was so very very happy when I saw that she had tears in her eyes but couldenjoy our performance. Later, friends joined us...and the event turned into a party....But this day was pure bliss and magic, this is one of my performances if not the one I love most...luckily, this concert was filmed:versuchsanordnung: Oberscheid ...there are three videos

 

Any news for 2021 in your music project?

Plans for next year are difficult, since nobody can predict how long this pandemic will last. Nonetheless, another of my projects, IMPROCITY, a guitar-noise trio, has applied at an avantgarde-festival, and I also hope to be able to perform with my band AnyDayNow. For one of Neal D. Retke ́s projects I made two cover versions of Brian Eno – songs. I ́d rather say re-interpretations than cover version, but I really loved to work on his music , so I feel tempted to continue. Especially since someone wrote after listeningto my rework of The Fat Lady of Limburgh he was curious how My Third Uncle wouldsound in my rework. No further plans beyond this, but I am very curious how things will develop.... 

 

Any other thing that you want to say to your listeners?

As an experience musician, I think I hope I may say this, sort of advice: always enjoy, what you are doing, and never try to be or to sound like anybody else – always try to find yourvery own and personal sound

 

WILFRIED HANRATH RELEASES IN CIAN ORBE:

2017: Mario Lino Stancati & Wilfried Hanrath - Tutto è riva (EP) (CIOR-130):

https://archive.org/details/cior-130-mario-lino-stancati-wilfried-hanrath-tutto-e-riva-ep

2018:  The Hauchzart Ensemble - Calicomb (CIOR​-​272):

https://cianorbenetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/calicomb-cior-272

2020:  60's/70's Bands Tribute (4 tracks contribution: 27-28-29-30):

https://archive.org/details/va-60s70s-bands-tribu