Thursday 24 July 2014

Silent Flow

We got in touch with Max Gruzin, label administrator of the Silent Flow Netlabel, based out of Moldova. A country between Romania and Ukraine who became independent from USSR in 1991.
Who are the people behind Silent Flow? Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
I’m the founder and label administrator, Max Gruzin. Bogdan Bondar helps me with social networks and Kirill Kirillov with cover art. I’m from Kishinev, Moldova. I work as a senior programmer in a charter aviation company.
Where did the idea of setting up a netlabel come from?
I wasn’t planning to start a netlabel. I was fond of netlabelism and released some compilations of netlabel music. In a month or so I’ve started receiving submissions from the artists. I’m still releasing both: artist submissions (SLNT) and compilations (BRE).
Did you follow other labels as rolemodels or inspiration to create Silent Flow? Can you drop us some names?
Yes, there were netlabels that I’ve got my inspiration from. It’s a pitty that some of them are defunct. Groovecaffe, Zymogen, Cism, Clinical Archives and of course my favorite: Resting Bell. I must have listened to all of their releases.
I’m still following a lot of other netlabels and artists as well.
Is your artist roster focused locally or worldwide?
We’ve got releases from artists all over the world. And only one of them is local.
You seem to have special concern with the artwork of the releases. Do you have a group of graphic designer or photographers helping out?
Our policy is simple: artist can use his own artwork or we can help with that. We prefer colorful nature pictures. Photographer Kirill Kirillov suplies us with most of the photos, also we use some creative commons images which can be found on the internet.
You also seem to follow a specific genre / aesthetic line. Can you express it in words? Why this specific genre/style? Is it just your preferred type of music?
Ambient, Experimental, Soundscape – that is our main aesthetic line. But we are open to different genres. I think it’s because these genres need much more attention and publicity. True “gems” can be found among these genres.
Can you tell us about your latest release?
“Sozu Project – Introspection [SLNT064]” is one of the latest releases. I’ve got the submission from Paolo in February together with “Requiem” [SLNT059]. We’ve decided to release “Requiem” first and “Introspection” as its continuation. I really love this EP, especially the last track “Elevation and Return”. It’s so close to what I want Silent Flow to be. I really recommend listening this one.
Do you have any connections with local event organizers?
Unfortunately not. Ambient isn’t popular here at all. We are pioneers here. Most downloads and listens come from abroad.
The boom of the netlabels seems to be dying out, with many artists opting for the 100% indie stand of previewing tracks on soundcloud and monetizing them on bandcamp, cdbaby or similar services. How is Silent Flow adapting to these changes?
I’ve noticed this trend some time ago and you’re probably right that netlabelism isn’t what it used to be. Netlabel boom ended, a lot of them disappeared, but some are still functioning and new ones appear. Soundcloud and bandcamp are digital markets distributing and streaming all what users upload. You can simply imagine how much “bad stuff” is there. Netlabels are closer to the listener, we have quality standards which help filter music. We reward loyal listeners by releasing music listener expects us to release. Surely these families become smaller, but they become more loyal as well. We also have our “strongholds” on the enemy side – profiles on soundcloud, facebook, vk and other social networks.
Some netlabels are hybrid with physical releases, have you tried anything in that department or have plans to do so in the future?
We make free digital releases only. We’re still experimenting with different forms of presentation like internet radio streaming, listening directly from the website, subscriptions and more. We’re not planning to give up or stop releasing. And why should we? We’ve never received this much submissions as we do now. Here’s a simple advice to new netlabels: release quality music only, be sincere with your artists and listeners.
It was a pleasure answering your questing and thank you for the opportunity to share my opinion.

Sunday 27 April 2014

Datamask

Continuing our series of interviews with different netlabels, we ran into the recently created Datamask netlabel:
Can you tell us a little about who the people behind Datamask are? Where are you from? What do you do for a living?
Datamask is run by me, Ghostwerk, from North Hollywood, California. I don’t do anything for a living besides making music, because I’m 17. Releases have been from friends of mine on irc and otherwise.
How did you get involved with netaudio?
Ever since I was a little kid I have been interested in computer music and the culture around it, netlabels and trackers being a part of that.
Datamask is not a “normal” netlabel, can you tell us a little more about your concept and format for releases?
Datamask is a module based netlabel, the releases will be in tracker module formats like .it (for impulse tracker or schismtracker) or .xm (fasttracker or milkytracker).
All of your releases are tagged as being released in 1999 even though they were released in 2014. Why the fascination with 1999? On your website you mention Inpuj, Milk and Mono netlabels as your inspiration. Why those three in particular?
1999 was a time in which mp3 netlabels hadn’t really taken over module labels, and the tracker scene was still flourishing, the fascination with those three labels are just examples of influences on the style of datamask releases and their presentation.
Can you name some of your favorite releases from those labels?
After having religiously listened to Inpuj, Milk, and Mono releases for so long I can’t really pick any favorites, but artists I love that have released on them are Ilkae, Proswell, Temp Sound Solutions, Meek, Vim, Mortimer Twang, Xhale, H.Kyllonen, Ylikulju, Emit, Muira Puama, the list is neverending…
All 3 of those labels eventually turned into mp3 labels and revamped their image. Inpuj is still active after a few relaunches. Why is the old format more relevant for datamask?
The old format is romantic to me as I’ve always felt like I was born too late to really be a part of the tracker scene like I wish I was, and with a bunch people still making modules I felt that it’d be cool if I brought that netlabel paradigm back.
Is Datamask only focused on IDM and experimental electronics then?
Datamask is indeed focused on experimental electronic music, some would call it IDM but even that’s a bit too restricting for the types of releases that will come out.
Can you tell us a little more about your latest release?
The latest release is katovaa.it by Henkka Kyllonen under his tainnos alias, which I definitely had to release because henkka doesn’t track that often and it was really nice of him to make an .it specifically for datamask! The style is sort of influenced by my stuff as Ghostwerk but infused with his style.
I’m out of question, anything else you’d like to add?
Soon Datamask will be releasing a music disk organized by vim (Keith Baylis) who is one of my big influences in the tracker game, it’s honestly really great to have people you respect and are influenced by want to work with you!

Sunday 16 February 2014

HAZE

Continuing our series of interviews with different netlabels we came across HAZE netlabel and ended up asking its curator Dzmitry Ladzes a few questions by email:
Who are the people behind Haze? When was it formed?
It was formed in 2007. I had an idea to create some kind of web resource that would represent the Belarusian experimental and avant-garde scene abroad. Local musician and DJ, as well as my friend, Vladislav Buben proposed to use the format of a netlabel for this purpose. That’s how it all started.
I read from your website that you are based in Belarus, can you tell us more about the netaudio scene there and music in general?
Yes, we are based in Belarus. Belarus is a very strange country, which is located in the geographical center of Europe between Poland and Russia. It’s a strange country with a strange history. And the music scene in this country has its oddities. When I started HAZE, the aggressive experimental stage dominated Belarus. Electro industrial, harsh noise, etc. Can you imagine a noise party in a gay club? At that time the country did not have enough good clubs, there were no professional club promoters. But the experimental stage was very active nonetheless. Parties and festivals were held in very strange places.
Today there are many clubs and venues in Belarus. But they haven’t formulated concepts or orientation. For certain clubs, yesterday could have seen a reggae party, a retro party might be held there today and tomorrow they could even host a children’s party. The experimental scene has also changed. While some individuals are still active, young musicians are not so interesting as they do not yet have their own unique vision and sound. Of course, there are exceptions.
Are most of your release artists from Belarus or other countries?
In the beginning I published only Belarusian musicians. But then it grew into an international netlabel. Currently Belarusian musicians are organically merged into a huge global context of experimental music.
Why the focus on experimental, avant-guard and eclectic music?
Because it is the music I like.
You are a musician yourself right? Care to tell us a little more about your personal project?
My project is called Aortha. I do not use instruments, synthesizers or samples banks in my music, only what I have recorded. I like to record the sounds of the street. Then I create samples of these records and processes them through a variety of effects. This is creating collages from the sounds of urban transport, supermarkets, voices of the crowd. I like this method. It’s like hearing an “angel’s song” in the humming of the fridge or finding interconnections in ordinary things.
Are you involved in organizing local events?
Oh… Previously, I was organizing parties and festivals. For example, together with Vladislav Buben we organized the Belarusian part of the Unsound festival. Later, together with the guys from the Foundamental Network and local promo-group Intelligent Punks we organized the experimental music festival InTouch.
Being an ‘artwork manager’ doesn’t just bring one satisfaction from the activities and participation of musicians and audiences. It is very hard work that requires a lot of effort, time and money. Therefore, I decided to quit organizing cultural events, for the time being, at least.
Can you tell us a little more about your literary series?
The literary series was an experiment. Musician had to rethink the literary heritage of the great writers of the 20th century. It was an attempt to translate a literary text into the language of sound and rhythm. We published a total of 12 releases for 2012–2013. Each release was dedicated to a single writer.
I, as a curator of the project, loved this series. Musicians really immersed themselves in the texts of writers and passed on their ideas. However, it seems to me that the series failed.
Today we launched a new series of compilations. HAZE comrade and my wife Anna Rodina suggested a cool idea. Musicians dedicate their works to the cities. Cities in which they were, which they never visited, the city they love, fear or avoid. You know, every city has its own smell, its air. But other than that every city has its own sound, rhythm and musical mood. These features we strive to convey in the new series. This is a sonic journey through various cities. The first compilation from this series will be dedicated to Minsk.
Have you considered other means of distribution? Physical media, paid digital downloads?
Today HAZE publishes music in digital form only for free under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
It is possible that we will soon start selling selected releases on CDs. But it will be an additional opportunity for collectors and connoisseurs. I’m not going to abandon the free distribution of music. It’s part of my values.
What other labels influenced your work? Can you drop us some names?
Variety is one of the features of netaudio. Therefore I find it difficult to identify some leaders. Nevertheless, there are netlabels which draw my attention more often, e.g. Clinical Archives, headphonica and Brusio netlabel. I try to monitor Belarusian netlabels as well. Foundamental Network released very good quality music.
What process do you have to announce a new release? What platforms do you cover?
Mainly I use social networks to promote the releases. Unfortunately, many resources that were dedicated to the promotion of netaudio no longer exist today…
Care to tell us a little more about your latest and upcoming releases?
Heh. It is very difficult to identify a particular release. Just today I published an album with the collaboration of four musicians. This is freejazz. The album is interesting in that it was recorded at a distance. Usually jazz musicians come together in one place and play their improvisation. But there was no visual contact. It was a cool experiment. Recommend listening.