ghost in the machine

by Lounge Lizard

Photos Courtesy of 3.goddess

Icy cold and merciless, 3.goddess’ music can come across as harsh and emotionless to many. However, closer inspection reveals the different layers of sonic sculpturing peeling back. Belonging to a small but burgeoning scene of laptop musicians, Safuan Johari takes time out to talk to Aging Youth.

How did the moniker, 3.goddess come about?

This is one question which I get often and the problem is that I don’t have an exact answer. But I shall just give it another try. At that moment, when it came up, I just needed a moniker and I myself couldn’t really recall where this came from. It sounded nice and it took me a while (a few months later) to realize that it sounded like ‘3 gorges’, and hence the niceness (light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind of experience). Tell me about it; it’s a complex and ridiculous world that we are living in.

How did you arrive in this music direction? Why does Intelligent Dance Music (for lack of a better word) attract you?

Initially, with IDM (or whatever not), it all boiled down to convenience. All I need is a working computer or laptop. Unlike making music with a band, I don’t have to tolerate with the ever-disappearing guitarists, late-coming drummers or perpetually drunk vocalists. I’m not stereotyping, but just avoiding such troublesome possibilities.

What are the influences in crafting your music?

The greatest influence of all and the one who converted me to electronic music definitely have to be Richard D. James aka Aphex Twin. At a close second will be the great techno masters hailing from Detroit, i.e. Derrick May, Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson, Jeff Mills, etc. They amaze me with the manner they inject soulful grooves into the industrial kling-klang of synthetic sounds. Of course, after these two, there is an endless list.

And I try very hard to be like them; it’s the constant failure that keeps me going.

Your pieces are very cinematic in nature, as if they are designed to serve as a movie soundtrack. Were they intentionally crafted to be so?

I don’t think they are crafted consciously to be cinematic. They are more visually inspired pieces. For some weird reason, the tap, which the music making juices ooze from, in my brain works best after viewing a great film or any still or moving images that intrigue me. It’s like an aural reaction/orgasm from a visual pleasure (whatever that means). But I definitely would be interested to work on pieces for films, if the opportunity ever arises.

I like 'Sunflush’ and ‘Untold’ quite a bit. What was the approach you took to craft your tunes? Does the beat come first or the melody?

I don’t have a specific approach that I religiously stick to when I work on my pieces. I can start off with anything, the bassline, the beats or melodies. It is a subconscious thing. Reducing the process into words is very hard.

On ‘If Not Love What Will’, I am not sure if it is me. But I hear shades of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’. Is it meant as a tribute to that song?

I am so glad that you spotted it and the first one to mention it out too. I even titled the piece as such to suggest that it is indeed actually some kind of tribute to a great song by a great band which has influenced me and affected my life in so many ways.

From 'Animalistic Complaints', I can hear distinct shades of hip-hop influences. How big a hip-hop fan are you?

I can’t really say I’m a big hip-hop fan, but I really like the diversity you can find in hip-hop today. I love all of them; the crispy beats of the mainstream like Jay-Z and N.E.R.D., the glitches and cut-ups of Prefuse 73, the experimental sounds from Cloudhead, the crews from Lex, Anticon, Defjux… Oh well, this is going to be another endless list.

Could you share with us how the collaboration between 3.goddess and the Blazianize crew come about?

I have always wanted to do a proper hip-hop track with full-on rap vocals and all. The opportunity finally came when Blazianize was interested to work something out with me and we managed to complete ‘Animalistic Complaints’.

On your self-titled EP, there are these 2 tracks which perk my attention, ‘Flight Of The Butterfly’ and ‘And Its Short Lifespan’. Were these 2 pieces meant to complement each other?

It is not actually a self-titled E.P.; it’s just a sampler that I pass around for those interested. Anyway, there are actually 3 specific tracks that I have created to complement each other: 1) ‘Untold’ 2) ‘Flight Of The Butterfly and 3) And Its Short Lifespan, which were done immediately one after another (in the numbered order), using mainly the same sounds that have been modulated differently for each individual tracks. The sentence that is formed by piecing the titles together serves a personal purpose; a reminder to what was going through life while creating these 3 pieces.

You are a founding member of My Funky Turntable. I couldn't contact you guys in time for our feature on local independent labels. But I'm very curious to find out if you guys are actually more of a collective or a record label?

It works both ways. It started out as a DIY record label to reach out to a relatively greater audience other than the friends that we have been passing around our demos to. That resulted in our sole release so far, North West Bound. After the release, we work more as a collective, getting and helping each other out at gigs. Last September, we organized a gig together with Ang Song Ming (Circadian) called “No.lgorithm” at the CyberArts Studio, National University of Singapore. We are considering a second installation (probably making it into an annual event) of that and definitely more releases. So do check us out at www.myfunkyturntable.co.nr.

Would that be another compilation from My Funky Turntable?

Instead of another compilation, we are considering upcoming releases that can feature more of the musical styles and traits of the individual artistes. After giving sneak peeks from the couple of songs found in the debut compilation and establishing ourselves as a collective, I think the next step should provide greater insights on each artiste. Most probably, (we might have) a split EP by any two acts from the current line-up.

Would you be releasing any albums in the near future? What would we be expecting for your next release?

I have to admit that releasing albums would be an ambitious task. As mentioned above, the next one would most probably be an E.P. At the moment, I can’t make any promises when will that be. Musically wise, I have been experimenting more on the different elements of sounds these days, rather than on structure. So, expect beat-less pieces of glitches and noises. In the case of releases not materializing, you can check some of the tracks out (most probably later in the year) at www.myspace.com/3goddess.

How did My Funky Turntable start out?

The rest of the guys (Underneath Blue Skies, Kamikaze Space Pilot, Walls of Silence, Dis_arm) and I were tired of waiting for things to happen so we came together and simply decided to create our own platform to spread our works.

A friend of mine who used to be a member of the National University of Singapore's Electronic Music Lab told me this. She performed in a concert once, playing a techno piece. As she does not play any instruments, she admitted that all she did was to hit the 'Play' button to trigger the programmed piece and pretended to look busy on stage. Have you done this before?

This is definitely a tricky question for many laptop based electronic musicians nowadays. I have to admit, it is not very exciting or interesting to watch a person fiddling around with his/her laptop on stage. To quote George Chua, we look more like clerical staffs rather than musicians. However, we definitely do more than just pressing play and go on to play a game of solitaire to pretend to look busy. Personally, for me, sometimes I wish there is no such thing as a stage where the artiste is the visual centerpiece. I don’t mind being hidden and let the audience concentrate solely on the sounds without any visual distraction.

Electronic musicians like you are still struggling to gain credibility among the musician community at large. To some folks, a laptop musician is an oxymoron. Others have the preconception that when someone plays a pre-programmed track live, he's not really a musician. What's your take on those views?

Gaining credibility as a musician? I don’t think we are out to do that. Labeling is a tricky issue here. Till someone comes out with a better term, which could satisfy everybody, I think we just have to make do with whatever we have i.e. musicians, sound artists, etc. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter to me.

IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) or glitch pop? Which is the worse genre term for your style of music?

Nothing can be better or worse, including the ones mentioned. It is just inherent for listeners to categorize for the ease of recognition. I shall just go along with whatever term that is being coined and used.

Are all the tracks composed on your laptop? Could we know what brand and model are you using? Is there a preference for PCs?

Yes, most of my stuff is created on the computer. I have no preference for PCs. As long as it works smoothly for me, I guess I’m fine with it. Anyway, I’m not good with all this tech-talk and to get away with all that, I shall just mention that, without such preference, I guess I have somehow minimized the chances of my work from getting too technologically determined. In other words, with specific preferences you tend to let whatever hardware or software, you are using dictate what you are doing as they have their own unique capabilities and limitations.

What software are you running on your laptop? Why the preference for it?

Just like hardware, I have no specific preferences for software. I use them as tools to get whatever I want to achieve. If software X helps me to get the desired sound, then software X I shall use. Usually, when it comes to production, I will use a whole range of software which I can get my hand on, Fruity Loops, Reason, Acid, and various plug-ins and VST instruments. For live performances, I would use Ableton Live most of the time.

Do you use any hardware to go along with the software?

Honestly at the moment, I can’t afford to have such preferences even if I want to.