Gojira (@ Peninsula 2010)
Publicat la 1 Septembrie 2010, ora 11:37
Interviu cu Gojira @ Peninsula 2010
Sambata, 28 august, in programul scenei Kiss l-am gasit pe Gojira, atat cu un warmup pentru Noisia cat si un “after party”, pana dimineata, dupa set-ul Noisia.
Dupa ce am asistat la un warmup de exceptie in fata unui public numeros si in delir, in pauza am tras o fuga pana in backstage pentru a sta la o scurta poveste cu Gojira. Am aflat de micile diferente intre ultimele doua editii, ce parere are despre proiectul “Subcarpati” – ca tot a inceput setul cu piesa “Cand am fost la ‘89“, care este programul lui saptamanal si daca acesta mai include “chestii colaterale / tangente”, gen Divertis sau Green Channel, dar … mai multe puteti vedea in interviul de mai jos:
Cosmin Tudoran (Cassa Loco)
Publicat la 9 Iunie 2010, ora 17:23
De doua zile, vuieste netul cu noua piesa semnata Cassa Loco in colaborare cu George Hora. Se numeste “La Mall” si o puteti asculta mai jos:
Buuun, amu’ ca tot au venit baietii pe la Cluj cu diverse treburi iar pe Cosmin l-am prins prin Irish & Music Pub, macar sa rezolvam si de un interviu, nu ? 
Aflati ce si cum e cu noua piesa, cum sta Cosmin la capitolul “prezenta in online” si ce se anunta pe viitorul apropiat:
In caz ca sunteti interesati de concursul de pe Trilulilu … puteti participa aici.
Richie Hawtin: Riding the wave
Publicat la 10 Mai 2010, ora 12:50
Richie Hawtin: Riding the wave – interviu publicat in august 2009
The last time you talked to RA it was about four years ago, and you said the following, “I appreciate the press wherever it happens. If you can build the momentum up, and try to take the wave to as high a peak as possible, when it comes crashing down you’re gonna be left with more people than at the last low point.” I wanted to start by asking you: Where do you think you are now on that wave?
That’s an interesting question. I would look at that in two ways, myself as a performer and a DJ, and then as the label Minus. And I guess I’d probably say that with so much hype and everything that we all got over the last couple of years, we’re probably over the threshold of the wave and we’re at some point on the way down. I don’t know where that point is, but I feel like myself and the label are both at different points. It’s actually quite interesting…it’s a nice position to be in, because it feels like there’s a breath of fresh air and that we have a little bit more freedom again. It’s always the times when you don’t have everyone knocking at your door—and you don’t have everyone wanting to talk to you—that you actually have a moment to sit back and reflect and develop new ideas and things like that.
It seems like this year has been a little bit quieter.
Yeah, for sure. We knew this going into last year. We put so much energy into the 10 year anniversary and Contakt, and then we were all so exhausted that the last thing we wanted to do was get back on track for another huge project or continue the release schedule as it had been for the last three or four years. So now we have much more time to develop where we want to go.
You said last year that you were inspired by watching Logan’s Run and you found yourself asking the same questions that the movie asked about your own label. “Will there be a renewal, is it possible for a rebirth” and so on. Do you feel like that you achieved that with Contakt? Was there a rebirth, a renewal in the label?
No, I would actually say that Contakt and the ten year anniversary was the accumulation of everything that we had strived for and worked for in those ten years. I think the rebirth and the renewal and the redevelopment kind of comes after that point, and that’s where we’re at now.
I remember you saying in that same interview that you think of Minus as “a vehicle for an aesthetic,” I was wondering if you could sort of expand upon that. What is that aesthetic exactly?
I think the Minus aesthetic has always been about finding a balance between music and technology and art, and finding a refinement and balance within the components that you’re using to make that statement. In graphic art, it’s using just the right colors, the right lines or textures.
And when it’s in sound, whether it’s a Gaiser record or a Plastikman record, you’re fighting to get your point across with just the bare essentials of timbres, of sounds of effects. And when it’s something like Contakt, which in one way seems to be overblown, it’s actually bringing lots of different small things together to create a balance between underlying technologies and experience—SMS, Bluetooth, networking, visuals and sound—and doing that in a way that hasn’t been done before.
All of that goes into the whole Minus aesthetic. It’s minimalistic, but it’s also futuristic and progressive at the same time. That’s the aesthetic that we’ve built on since the early days, and that’s the aesthetic that we’re going to continue to explore over the years to come.
It seems like with the monetary value of music continuing to decrease over time, that the way that you view the label as a label has changed. But, by that same token, obviously you’ve always had a strong interest in making Minus less of a label, and more of a lifestyle brand from the beginning. I wonder, though, has the music business perhaps made you push those non-music projects more heavily recently?
I think there was a conscious effort about eight years ago to be part of things that related to music, but weren’t only reliant on musical output. Even in the early days, we played with that with things like comic books, special events and special merchandising. And that’s kind of progressed into offshoot projects like Richly Hawtin, this fashion line we’re doing.
Also I think, even with Contakt we’re pushing the label. I think for a long time it’s been about creating experience for people. Experiences go way beyond music. Sometimes music is the key component of that—or just part of it—but I believe that since we started as a music label that the music is the driving force behind that. And it’s the glue that ties it together, even if it doesn’t seem to be so apparent to everybody else sometimes.
Do you think there’s a moment where you stop releasing music?
I don’t think so, but we don’t look at ourselves—as you know—as a label. We never called ourselves Minus records. We definitely look at the things we’re doing on a project-to-project basis. Some of those will continue to be musical 12-inches or musical albums, some of them could be further events like Contakt, or it could be applications that help communicate or bring people together and things like that. I think all these things relate to why we first got into this music in the first place. It was electronic technology-based music that brought people together and allowed people to communicate in different ways beyond language. I think that’s—in a way—our underlying mission.
I saw on the website that there is a survey about Plastikman. Is that the next big Contakt-scale project?
There are three big projects we’re working on. We’re always working on and developing new projects. Contakt was on the drawing board for a couple of years, so I would imagine that Plastikman will be a big project over the next couple of years. Maybe next year, maybe the year after. That’s why we put out this questionnaire, because I thought it would be interesting to engage everybody and listen to what people are saying out there.
What has the response been so far?
Honestly, I had my friends sending me some interesting ones, and I just said “Stop! I don’t want to see anything until we start to get a huge amount of responses.” In the first couple of days we had thousands of responses, but I don’t want to start going through them and then six weeks later go through some more. I want to take whatever number there is in, say, two months and sit down for a week by myself and get into that Plastikman frame of mind and see how it makes me change my views, gives me a new idea or maybe even just kind of validates what I’m thinking already in my head.
I hesitate to mention it, but you’re almost 40. Is there a temptation to sit down and take some time out, think about what’s next? Looking at your DJ schedule over the next few summer months, I’d guess not. It looks pretty ridiculous.
My DJ schedule is always ridiculous in the summer, but honestly the fall schedule is lighter than it has been in years, as I need some time to focus on the upcoming projects for 2010. Am I taking time off to slow down? No, I’m taking time off to actually put some time into some other things that I don’t find time to do right now. And being nearly 40…I actually honestly just can’t wait to get over 39 and get into 40 because I’m really excited about that.
That’s a good way to think about it I think. You’ll be taking time for one show at least one stop in the States right before the fall at the Electric Zoo Festival. But the last time you were in New York was for two really small club shows. I was wondering: When was the last time you’ve done something like that, where you’ve played to such a small intimate audience?
Honestly I hadn’t done so many like that in North America. Over in Europe it’s much easier to be doing things like our German tour every year. We do an Italian tour—500 to 1000 people each night—but in America you’re always being pushed into slightly bigger venues because of flight costs, and bringing other people over. This last time in America, we did 11 or 12 days on the bus, and nearly all the shows were small. We had an amazing show in Washington which was for about 250 people, and it was really great.
Let’s be honest: I can play smaller shows in Europe and connect to the people. I can also play larger shows in Europe and connect to the people because there are that many more people into the scene who I would say have quite a good understanding of what’s going on, what’s happened, the history of it. Or at least a real sincere appreciation for what this whole thing is about. And, unfortunately—and this is not a dis to North America, it’s just the way it is—the numbers are not like that in North America. So when you come through and do bigger shows, you have a smaller amount of that audience that is probably really historically aware of who you are and what’s happened.
But when you do these really tiny ones, you’re back talking, connecting, hanging out, drinking and laughing with the crowd that either was there 18 years ago, or is similar to that crowd in feeling and inspiration. We had an amazing, amazing show in St. Louis where they lost the venue, and we had to go into a warehouse. We had this small, 400 person warehouse party, and it reminded me totally of a Detroit party. It was raw. They had one dangling strobe light and the people just went off. It was very, very North American. Very pure and, you know, for lack of a better word underground—in the true sense of the word.
Reminder: Premiera in Transilvania: Richie Hawtin @ Club Midi – 14 mai 2010
DJ Yoda
Publicat la 19 Aprilie 2010, ora 12:27
DJ Yoda a acordat un mic interviu inainte de evenimentul de vineri 
Where do you get your inspiration for the mixes, for the songs you use?
I just try and be very honest with the music that I like, and not restrict myself to any specific genre. So I follow a lot of different musical styles and anything that grabs my attention, I’ll try and work it into the mix.
You say your mission is to make people dance. How do you decide what your crowd will enjoy?
I don’t think that there is a scientific formula for that – I guess the more experience Djing that I’ve had, the more I find it easy to work out what people like.
You will be for the first time in Romania on the 23d of April. What do you expect from that night? What will be your musical choices to entertain the people from Club Midi?
I’m so excited to visit Romania for the first time, and I’m not sure what my expectations are! I’m going to come with an open mind! And as far as music, you can expect a lot of different stuff – everything that I am into at the moment, but mixed in a hip-hop style.
How much time do you spend online? How do you find the youtube visuals that you use during your shows?
I spend a lot of time researching music and video, because I think it’s important to always have fresh and interesting material in my job. So the same way I used to look through old record stores, I now spend that time on YouTube!
I see you are very active on twitter also. Is this a way to keep your fans informed or maybe yourself?
I don’t do Facebook, but I find Twitter very addictive. I do a lot of travel every week, so it’s a good way to keep a record of all the interesting stuff I get to see!
And…what’s with all the cereal boxes on your Twitter background?
I am a big fan of American breakfast cereal – I even made a song about it with Biz Markie!
Grimus
Publicat la 5 Martie 2010, ora 11:58
Cu ocazia primului concert pe acest an in Cluj Napoca, Grimus au acordat un mic interviu
Desi au fost prezenti doar Bogdan si Tamas (1/3 din trupa), am aflat cateva noutati despre urmatorul album, concertul ce urmeaza, cum stau cu online-ul si cum se promoveaza. Mai jos puteti urmari materialul:
Mai multe despre ei gasiti pe site-ul lor oficial. De asemeni, va recomandam ultimul lor videoclip pe care, de altfel, il puteti si downloada
Gojira @ Booha Bar
Publicat la 31 Ianuarie 2010, ora 16:19
Gojira @ Booha Bar – 30 ianuarie 2010
Galerie foto:
[flickr album=72157623194833569]
Dupa eveniment Gojira a acordat un scurt interviu:
Update:
Scarlett Etienne
Publicat la 25 Ianuarie 2010, ora 11:02
Interviu: Scarlett Etienne
Cu ocazia revenirii sale la Cluj, Scarlett a acordat un mic interviu pentru noi. Mai jos puteti citi parerea ei despre clubul Midi, de ce prefera evenimentele open air, cat de activa este in online si de ce, cat si faptul ca ea este, pe langa DJ, o artista.
Pentru cei care nu stiu, Scarlett Etienne are spectacol live cat si DJ set, este model, canta la pian, produce muzica si vrea de asemeni sa se reapuce de balet. Colectiile sale pentru evenimente sunt realizate chiar de ea in colaborare cu anumiti designeri
1. This is your 4rt time at Club Midi. Every year you enlighten us with your presence. What’s your opinion about the venue and the city ?
Midi has got such a great sound system and the people are very warm and lovely. The city of Cluj itself is very interesting to me, because of the history and the architecture. I love ornate, decaying buildings, like the ones in Havana, Cuba. Cluj very much reminds me of that antiquity. The people in Cluj are just wonderful, no pretentiousness and they just love to have a good time. And there’s this amazing Italian restaurant in Cluj that the boys from Midi always take me, that has better food than in Italy!! I forget the name!
2. You were last year at Sunwaves 5 at the seaside. I saw you had a great time and a great crowd. What do you prefer, the open air festivals or the club parties ?
It’s so difficult to choose!! Sunwaves was absolutely mental, I LOVED IT! I can’t wait to do it again this year. I usually prefer smaller venues but for some reason I changed my mind at Sunwaves! I like playing bigger and louder, and it’s great to be able to reach out musically to so many people at once.
3. Your very into online and social media stuff. How come your the one who writes on twitter or facebook and don’t have some social media manager hired for that ?
I love my fans so much! I think it’s important to connect with them and social networking has made it all possible. It can be a bit time-consuming, but I always have my Iphone with me so whenever I’m in a taxi or waiting in the airport I can have a chance to quickly reply to twitters and comments on my myspace & facebook fan page. It goes in waves, sometimes when I’m really busy in the studio or rehearsing for live shows I have less time to update everything, but then sometimes I make time to hear what my fans have to say to me. I love hearing what people have to say about the night, what they thought of my live show, and when they tell me how much fun they had! I believe it’s important to show my appreciation to those who take the time to come out to the shows, buy my music, and leave nice comments for me. My fans are the fabric and fuel of what I do, and I love them infinitely for it.
4. I saw, on your facebook page, pictures from different clubs and big parties, fashion events and concerts. How do you describe yourself ? As a DJ, singer or model ? Or maybe all of that What do you enjoy most ?
I have an appreciation for a lot of different things! Music is my number one priority, and first and foremost, I would like to describe myself as an “Artist”. There are so many things that I’m really into but it all comes back to music. My love of fashion infuses with my music. I design clothes for my live shows with London-based independent designers, and getting involved with the music for London Fashion Week runway shows, for example Ziad Ghanem’s Haute Couture show, in which I am also modeling in the show. I’ve done a bit of modeling, but was chosen because I’m a musician rather than a model. As for music, I write music, produce, play piano and guitar, sing, and take six hours of music lessons a week and practice piano for a couple hours a day. I also take time to see live music shows, I find it very inspiring. Last year I saw a lot of bands like Florence and the Machine, Depeche Mode, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Siouxsie and MGMT. Another thing I’d love to get back into is dancing, I used to be a ballet dancer, and have been incorporating a bit of choreography into my proper live PA shows. I like to have a lot of different outlets for creativity!
Vescan
Publicat la 22 Ianuarie 2010, ora 10:59
Cu ocazia lansarii noului videoclip la piesa “Ultima ploaie” semnata Vescan si Ligia am decis sa tragem un scurt interviu si sa aflam de la sursa unele noutati si detalii despre acest material.
Am povestit cu Vescan despre materialele sale (Dansez cu pozele vechi – 2008 si Ochii strazii feat. DJ Wicked – 2009) de pana acum si despre planurile de viitor, despre noul videoclip, de ce prefera un concert in aer liber, mici schimbari in hip hop-ul romanesc si despre “vremurile bune”.
De asemeni am ascultat in premiera o piesa care inca nu este gata dar care va avea parte de un videoclip foarte interesant si care de altfel suna si foarte bine. Cand va fi gata vom reveni cu detalii
Mai jos puteti urmari scurtul nostru interviu:
Ca tot vorbeam despre noul videoclip, va lasam sa-l vedeti
Vescan: blog / twitter / facebook / myspace
Gasiti aici cateva poze si video cu Vescan si Ligia (student sound days – octombrie 2009)
Satoshi Tomiie
Publicat la 11 Ianuarie 2010, ora 13:28
Satoshi Tomiie revine in Club Midi dupa o absenta de doi ani, ultima data fiind prezent pe 22 februarie 2008. Mai jos puteti citi un interviu acordat atunci dupa evenimentul respectiv
1. How was the party in Midi? Did you enjoy it? If yes, why?
Yeah I enjoyed it a lot, it was awesome, with great crowd & energy.
2. What’s your oppinion about Club Midi and the public from Cluj-Napoca?
I loved the vibe, the size of the club is perfect, good sound on the dance floor and very responsible people. I kept it pretty deep musically but because of the crowd it was way above ‘deep’.
3. How is the audience from Romania comparative to other countries?
You have great audiences, one of the the best in the world for sure.
4. You were for the first time in Cluj-Napoca. What’s your oppinion about this town?
Unfortunately I didn’t spend enough time to tell you.. All I saw was Airport, hotel and the club.. LOL
5. What would you want to do if you stayed for a week in Cluj-Napoca?
Tell me what’s interesting to visit and do there please!
6. What have you heard about the Club Midi untill now?
I have heard great things about the club from Audiofly boys. They were raving about the club so my expectation was high.
7. Do you believe that electronic music will continue to attract more persons in the clubs or this kind of music is just for a certain category of people?
I believe it has been expanding and it will continue but I guess not all the music is for everybody… Ask your parents if they like it, they might say it’s too repetitive.. haha
8. What do you think about the clubbing scene from Romania?
I only know a few clubs, but from what I saw and felt it’s awesome in my opinion.
10. Do you know any romanian DJ that worths our attention?
Unfortunately I haven’t had a lot of chance to listen to many Romanian DJ’s, but from what I heard Bogdan did some great job when he played with me. Livio & Robby have been doing good productions I think.
11. Beside music do you have any other preoccupations?
Eating good food, traveling many places have been opening doors for me.
Loco Dice
Publicat la 23 Noiembrie 2009, ora 14:50
Interviu: Loco Dice
Loco Dice a acceptat invitatia noastra si ne-a raspuns la cateva intrebari:
1. You’ve started as a hip hop DJ. How was this transitions over the years ?
The transition didn’t take years. When it happened, when I realized the vitality and creativity of the house scene back then, I was hooked.
2. We’ve noticed your presence on major social networks like facebook, myspace and twitter and also we saw a blog. Nowadays many djs are present on these and also very active, some of them are quite addicted. What’s your opinion about them ?
I use those channels to keep in touch with my friends and fans, keeping them updated, letting them know what’s going on. Blog gives me the possibility to instantly act and comment things, say thanks to clubers and promoter for some amazing nights etc. We live in a world where information is spread very fast and from that point of view I really enjoy it. But for me it’s not a replacement for club nights, meeting people in real (…) – it’s just an extension of possibilities.
3. You’ve been at Club Midi for 2 times now. What do you think about the club, how do you feel among the romanian party people and how would you put the club on the electronic music clubs world map ?
It’s always great to see passion invested in the club – from the staff and the crowd – which makes you feel really good at the time being there and motivates you to do your best. The crowd knows how to party but the crowd also knows the music – and when the mixture is right, Midi nights are definitely one of the best I’ve experienced.
Nu uitati de evenimentul de vineri: Loco Dice si Livio & Roby @ Club Midi
