Interview to Cumsleg Borenail (2024)

Cumsleg Borenail is an experimental, IDM, Noise, vaporwave artist from UK. 

Also he is the founder of Borenail Records.

https://cumslegborenail.bandcamp.com/

https://borenailrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://linktr.ee/cumslegborenail

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8Lkq6hB2nbtf3G4Bbg7R3A

https://archive.org/details/@borenail_entertainment

https://whatjoyisthereinliving.bandcamp.com/

https://frishprence.bandcamp.com/

- What is the meaning and the concept behind the name of your music project?

Hey, the original name was Ploist Drencrom, but it just didn't sound right to me. Drencrom from Clockwork Orange?? I think? It lacked that punch I was looking for. I came up with Cumsleg Borenail and I think it has a better flow. I had a remix track on BBC Radio 6, they couldn’t bring themselves to say the word ‘Cumsleg’ so settled on ‘Seesleg”. Plus, Borenail; kind of reminds me of Withnail from that classic British film Withnail & I;. You know, the eccentric and alcoholic actor? It gives the name a bit of that same kind of quirky, unpredictable vibe. Most tracks I wrote jump from genre to merging with another genre.

- What equipment do you use for create music?

Gear4music Fretless bass, Eagleton electric bass, Akai MPC One, Elevation acoustics guitar, Violin, Serum vst, reaper, Tx16wx, mooer harmonic square, korg kaoscilltor, Donner electric guitar, Saxophone

Yamaha PSR-340 as midi keyboard. All of the above are sampled, chopped up, repitched into something new. The running theme of cheap hardware, the MPC an exception, runs through Cumsleg Borenail.

Cheap, British, Pay as you go, nasty.

- Tell us a little biography about your project, when you started to make music?

I began with classical piano training from the age of seven to eleven. I eventually became obsessed with the electric guitar, from exposure to Nirvana and Guns ‘n’ Roses. Even though I was raised on Godley & Creme. Then finding myself in the derivative world of metal bands for the next decade. This period,while partly fulfilling, followed a secret history of 15 years, culminating in the birth of Cumsleg Borenail around 2022. I’m nearly old.

Initially, I experimented with popular genres like Vaporwave and Ambient, but found my attempts consistently sounding nowhere near the confines of these established styles. My work, though attempting unique, struggled to find its place within these existing frameworks. I couldn’t stay ambient for more than a single track and in vaporwave hated going through 80s city pop samples. 

Kept plugging away, I embraced a more balanced approach, seamlessly blending samples, analog and digital equipment, and even incorporating AI-generated sound effects. This layered approach allows me to explore uncharted sonic territories and cultivate a fairly distinctive sound. Not ambient!

- Who are your main music and artistic influences?

Throbbing Gristle (The use of imagery and sound are inspirational and I always have an album on in the mix of everything else I consume. Albums like Mission Of Dead Souls are perfect. It is something I plan to do when playing live. All original and improvised), Coil (A Throbbing Gristle offshoot never fail to reach a new level with every release, even post mortem. I do think about the look of their corpses, not sure if they were cremated), Van Der Graaf Generator (mostly their 70’s output but the reform in the 2000’s was even more complex. Recently saw them in Bath forum. My back ached in the seats.), Nine Inch Nails (Only the downward spiral and broken. The rest is just nostalgia to those albums), Psychic Tv (First two albums are superb, the acid house and beyond not so much so), Giacinto Scelsi (The structure and space of all compositions are masterpieces).

- What underground artists from the netlabel scene do you like?

So pretty much anything off Irregular Patterns ( https://irregularpatterns.bandcamp.com/ ), just started getting into Mortality Tables (https://mortalitytables.bandcamp.com/) and Third Kind records (https://thirdkindrecords.bandcamp.com/ ) and finally Adventurous Music (https://adventurousmusic.bandcamp.com/ ) who don’t have a bad release. Underground work has waymore heart. More perceived meaning and context.

- Do you have some influence from your country in your music?

The grey British skies crush my soul in a temporary body and I am fine with that until I am reborn in a future genealogical slant. An equivalent to Adonai operates a frequency that holds our body parts together. Hobbs leviathan provides me a system of worship and taxation.

- What is your favorite album/ep composed by yours? And why?

“An Occidental Felo-De-Se” due to the leaps in my confidence in vocals, production and the general “quality” of the work. Which, from my home studio, seems great to me. Granted me an assurance overall that I could produce a piece listenable to my ears if not anyone else’s. The earlier work on 60th listen seems a great task. Tiring. 

Occidental : “Is an adjective that means "of, relating to, or characteristic of the Occident or its natives and inhabitants"; The Occident refers to the western part of the world, especially the countries of Europe and America. The term occidental is often used in contrast to oriental, which refers to the eastern part of the world.”

I am here, raised here, stuck here.

Felo-De-Se: “Is an obsolete legal term derived from Latin, meaning "felon of oneself"; It referred to a person who had committed suicide. Under English common law, suicide was considered a felony and was punished by forfeiture of property and an ignominious burial. The concept of felo-de-se was abolished in England and Wales in 1961 with the passage of the Suicide Act 1961. However, the term is still sometimes used colloquially to refer to suicide.”

Humorous that post mortem your punishment still stands. That’s very British.

- What are your preferred music platforms/websites? Why?

All the music platforms and streaming sites bring someone from somewhere.

- Any news for 2025?

One definite live gig and my usual album a month.

LATEST RELEASE: "Birds With Vertigo"(with Sammy J Matthews):

https://cumslegborenail.bandcamp.com/album/birds-with-vertigo

Interview to Paco Moreno (2024)

Paco Moreno is a vaporwave artist from US. Founder of PMP Label.-

https://pac0m0ren0.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/PAC0M0REN0

- What is the meaning and the concept behind the name of your music project?

That is a funny story really. Back in the day I was invoved with a woman and online, particularly on Facebook I used my real name, and so, I would get a lot of messages in my DMs from...women of the past. It got me in trouble a few times so I decided to change my name. The first thing that came to mind was Paco Moreno, a character from a 1983 movie called Bad Boys with Sean Penn and Esai Morales (Paco). I always loved that movie and the Paco character so I changed my name to Paco Moreno. Years later.

When I decided to make vaporwave, I simply adapted that name because that is how I was known in the vaporwave forums. That was in 2019. Before that I made electronic "Death Noise" under the name Dying Face begining in 1994. That project can be found on ReverbNation.

- What equipment do you use for create music?

Oh that has varied over the years from a variety of guitars and keyboards in the beginning to my trusty  ENY dv6 laptop that I use now in which I have two of them.

- Tell us a little biography about your project, when you started to make music?

I am a creator, not a musician, let's start there.  I have been making mix tapes , field recordings and albums scince I was 8 years old in 1984. My frind and I

would throw a tape in the boombox and record ourselves, we would do skits as if we were a radio station. We would perform songs, act out commercials and do radio spots.

I was also big on field recordings as a kid . I always had a tape recording in the back of the room at get togthers and just randomly recorded sounds. I still have some of those tapes.

Fastforward to 1994 another friend and I recorded a noise album called Tunnel of Insanity and from that session I used left over bits to make my first solo noise album,

Divine Empire of Evil: Forever We Rot under the name Dying Face in '95. I continued with Dying Face into the 2000's . I released a song on Youtube under the name S.O.94

around 2015. (Summer of '94) Then in 2019 I made my first vaporwave album under the name HiBias Casstte. The album was called Good Vibes and it really made no waves at all.

in 2020 I made another vaporwave album,"No Problemo" under the name Paco Moreno and let my friend Dos Pinos of TVVIN PINEZ M4LL hear it. He offered to releas it on his label The Bogus Collective.

That was a big break for me into Vaporwave.

- Who are your main music and artistic influences?

My main musical influence throughout my life has without a doubt been BLACK SABBATH, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne being the most influentual.

I have such a wide and diverse taste in music I could go on and on from genre to genre naming names that have influenced me...for example just to name a few...

Cannibal Corpse, Poison Clan, Hank Williams,NIN, Johnny Cash, King Diamond... and on and on as I love all genres of music from rap to country heavy metal, black metal, death metal

and so on.

As far as vaporwave is concerned by far my main influence has been TVVIN PINEZ M4LL.

- What underground artists from the netlabel scene do you like?

being an owner of a Netlabel I have many favorites that I have listened to and worked with. After all vaporwave as a whole is really underground and most of us are on netlabels.

I enjoy, and I am gonna try to diversify this a bit, again TVVIN PINEZ M4LL (vaporwave) From Tokyo to Honolulu (chillwave) Humanfobia (witch house) Tony Fawkin Heal (future funk) CT57 (signalwave) and I could go on and on.

- Do you have some influence from your country in your music?

Again i'd have to say TVVIN PINEZ M4LL has been the most influential on my vaporwave career. I should mention though my early career in extreme noise was predominantly

influenced by Italian artist Marco Corbelli of Atrax Morgue.

- What is your favorite album/ep composed by you? And why?

That is a tough one becuase there are a few that I really love such as Miami Weather Report , Tom Selleck and Forever.EXE . All for different reasons. I'd say the one I listen to the most

is All Night Long , originally released as 밤​새​도​록 by 오후, because this album is so funky and just has an excellent vibe. I'd say the albums that I am most proud of would be my work with Itallian artist Tele+1 on the albums Fresco & Analog Ghost. These albums are incredibly tight and really showcase our craft.

- What are your preferred music platforms/websites? Why?

For me it is BandCamp for sure. I like the control I have there. I really dont venture outside of BC very much besides YouTube. Plus I have an extensive physichal collection that stems back

to the very first tape I ever owned which is David Lee Roth's Crazy from the Heat. So at least at home I have a huge library of music to listen to without the internet.

- Any funny anecdote in the composition of a track or an album?

There are many. Lot's of funny things happen while making music. One thing I do is hide things in my albums, I have put my voice, the voice of my kids and small samples of those early

field recordings I mentioned earlier all throughout my music. My most recent album, which is unreleased as I say this but will be out real soon is a mallsoft album called

Christmas Mallsoft Medley of Melodies and I recorded all of the mall ambience while on a family outing to a local mall and so you can hear me and my family all troughout the recording.

- Do you play live? How was the experience?

I dont play live. I traveled throughout the south east for a decade with bands, filming and promoting shows in my early days and honestly I have no desire to play live.

- Any news for 2025?

2025 will be a big year for PMP. I have so many great acts lined up and much to share with you all. Stay Tuned...

- Do you want to say anything else to your listeners?

Thank you my friends.

I love you all.

Paco Moreno.

LATEST RELEASE: "Christmas Mallsoft Medley of Melodies":

https://pac0m0ren0.bandcamp.com/album/christmas-mallsoft-medley-of-melodies

Interview to Mig Inc (2024)

 

Mig Inc is a french experimental, post-industrial, noise

composer. Owner of L'Abeille Cool label.

https://miginc.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063522939803&ref=bookmarks

https://www.youtube.com/@labeillecool363

Other projects of the same artist:

Saishō 最小 (lo-fi, synth drone, dreamwave):

https://saisho.bandcamp.com/

Ｔ０Ｐ_ＢＵＤＧ€Ｔ™  (vaporwave, chopped & screwed, eccojams):

https://t0pbudg3t.bandcamp.com/

- What is the meaning and the concept behind the name of your music project?

Mig Inc is short for Migraine Inc, which was the name I started under in 2007, before shortening it in 2013. I am a big migraine sufferer. Especially at that time, I had extremely painful and frequent attacks. Making industrial noise was the way I found to express those very intense body sensations when I lacked words. It was partly intentional, but also unconscious. Looking back, listening to old recordings, I find the expression of very specific body states, evolving over time. This is still the case today, even if my ability to manage pain has evolved, Mig Inc remains a bodily and sensory project. I express states of the body in the broad sense, not just pain and illness. I put a lot of joy, pleasure and love in my music.

- What equipment do you use for create music?

Well I started over 17 years ago (fucking shit!) so I have had a lot of different setups. I use synths, acoustic instruments, vocals, extremely various recordings I take everywhere I can. But the central nervous system of this migraine machine is my laptop. This is where I regroup and arrange all these sounds, where I manipulate them and create beats, when there are beats. I often play live with just my computer + knobs midi controler.

- Tell us a little biography about your project, when  you started to make music?

Regarding Mig Inc I have already answered this question, so I can go back a little to tell you about my beginnings in music, which was an accident. I didn't want to make music. I had a glimpse of music theory and it seemed really boring and not fun. I was more interested in writing and visual arts. I must have been 13 or 14 when some friends who were starting a punk rock band asked me to write them some lyrics, which I happily did. One day, the bass player was not here and I was asked to replace him by playing bass on a keyboard. Then when the bass player came back, I stayed behind the keyboard. I didn't know how to play, it was really crap, but discovering that music wasn't just a place where you have to work and follow rules, but was something emancipating and joyful, did me a lot of good. It was exactly what I needed at that time. Today I still write but I've abandoned the visual arts. At least in appearance, because I think I make music more like a visual artist than like a musician. But I am self-taught in all these areas. School has never been an exciting place for me.

- Who are your main music and artistic influences?

I can name some artists and bands that literally changed my life. like Bérurier Noir, John Zorn, John Cage, Throbbing Gristle, The Residents... I think their music doesn't sound like mine because their influence was indirect. Listening to them changed my body, then my body changed my music. I’m really not good at imitating.

- What underground artists from the netlabel scene do you like?

So many ! If I stick to the industrial / noise / dark ambient scene, I listen a lot to Morbid Beauty these times. I also love the noise walls from This is what I hear when you talk. Also Rojinski and Sonnov (this last one is not dark, but minimalist and delighful ambient).

I like vaporwave, lofi and subgenres as well. I’m fascinated by b e g o t t e n 自杀 or Voyage Futur, for example.

- Do you have some influence from your country in your music?

Every experience I have influences my music, so yes, inevitably, I have influences from my country, especially since I don't travel very much. Talking about music with other artists, getting sick, getting over it, having a memorable party, having a new girlfriend or boyfriend, breaking up with them, taking drugs, stopping this or that drug, a police check in the street, a racist speech from a minister, a friend who tells me that she is being sexually harassed at work... all of this influences my music, and in my case, it happens in France.

https://miginc.bandcamp.com/album/b12

 - What is your favorite album/ep composed by you? And why?

Hehe, it depends on the day. I’m pretty satisfied with my last album « B12 ». It’s pretty hard to say why in a short answer, it’s such a non-verbal sensory experience. When I listen to an average recording of mine, I say « ok, that’s what I just played ». But when I listen to a good recording of mine, I’m more like « is that really me who just played that dope sound ?! ». B12 belongs to this second category.

- What are your preferred music platforms/websites? Why?

Definitely Bandcamp, even if there is much to criticize, starting with the fact that they were bought by the multinational Epic, which is not a detail. I like it because there’s no advertising and it is possible to make your music accessible to everyone, with the possibility for listeners to make donations. Also the streaming quality is better than some other platforms, like YouTube for example. The ideal platform would be entirely run by the artists themselves and funded by the public, without capitalist parasites to take money from us and decide how it works for us. All businesses should work like that, if you ask me.

- Any funny anecdote in the composition of a track or an album?

In spring 2023, I recorded a live improvised session using samples taken from protests and riots which were taking place at that time in France, while Macron’s government was passing its reform to raise the retirement age. It was one of the biggest social movements of the last fifty years, and between the ferocious police violence and the popular determination, it was a very intense period, and I needed to express myself on it. 

Listening back to it, I found this recording really ugly and confusing. I wanted to delete it at first, but then I thought that all this ugliness and confusion reflected my feelings about what was going on. So I made an ugly cover and released it on my Bandcamp page, as a short-lived release to cover the news, with the idea of deleting it after a few weeks. But it seems that listeners perceived it differently, since it is to date one of my most downloaded releases. So I didn’t delete it. The album is called "Bordélisation" which can be roughly translated as « disorderization ».

Ok, it’s not that funny, but it’s an anecdote. The thing is I’m alone working as Mig Inc, I think funny anecdotes happen more often with bands. 

- Do you play live? How was the experience?

Yes ! Well, the experience is each time a new one, so it depends. My last gigs were awesome moments shared with great artists and a lovely audience. In recent years I have played little live to focus on other things, like writing (short stories, novels, poetry). But this year I got back into it and it feels so good !

- Any news for 2025?

Hopefully more gigs ! I’ll be still releasing new recorded stuff, but there should be more splits and collab projects. I don't have a very specific schedule, but between my different solo projects, the bands I play in, and my label (l'Abeille Cool) 2025 will be a very, very productive year.

- Do you want to say anything else to your listeners?

Thanks for being curious and supporting the underground scene. Make noise, create a band, a label, a fanzine, a webradio, whatever. Do it yourself, without transforming your work into merchandise, and without seeking recognition from merchants. Do as little as possible for your boss. Go vegan. Fuck the police. Reject any hierarchy. Love yourself.

Thank you for the interview !