Two nights ago Tobias Freund had a live at Moscow. It was a rainy day (it's still raining, no summer this June, I guess), there were only a few people on the dancefloor. Probably Moscow is tired of clubbing - the last two parties I went to were lack for people, though the previous one was Gilles Peterson's first visit to Russia, definitely long-expected. I still don't loose the feeling it's better that way, when you are sure that those who came know what they had come for.
So, this night was also very special, though it was a short one. Tobias has just released his EP on Wagon Repair, which already proved its power on dancefloors, but he as a musician has mush more to show.
This is a short interview we made for mixmag.info, coming along with the awesome podcast, the best we've ever had for sure.
MM: There is a strong prejudice against recording and creating music, and just as a literary critic would never write a novel, it's not so easy to find a music engineer who is into his own productions. What is the philosophy of sound behind Tobias Freund as a musician? What is your consideration for sound, for music? Do you feel that a sound itself is a material to be reshaped and restructured for to be built up into a composition?
Tobias.: Soon after I started listening to music I realized that there is more to it than just the song or the person who is performing it. Some songs I liked just because of how they sounded. Voices and melodies are creating a special feeling, but for me it's also the way the instruments are recorded, processed and placed into the stereo panorama.
I've always been very interested in the combination of shaping sounds and developing a musical piece, it belongs together. I don't think it is unusual nowadays to find a musician, a producer and a mastering engineer all in one person. Some musicians I know try to do all by themselves. Sometimes it works out, but most of the times, it doesn't. There is music software, which provides almost everything relevant to produce a song from the start to the end. Even if you don't have any ideas you can use some pre-programmed sequences or sounds to write a song and master it afterwards with pre-programmed plug-ins. I think people are getting too lazy and impatient. Of course it's a matter of money and trust, but only a musical piece that is produced with care can last forever.
MM: You were involved into quite a range of different musical projects since 1980, what were your first steps into music, how did it all start?
tf: My first step was a radio play in school. In 1980 I bought my first synthesizer a korg ms20. together with my school friend Lars I started doing sound experiments. We were never interested in becoming famous pop-stars, we only wanted to play around and try things out. After I finished school I started working in a professional music studio as an apprentice. There I was surrounded by a lot of new equipment which I would use in my spare time to record stuff that I could use at home as backings. I was working in the studio for almost 20 years, engineering and mixing some successful productions like Milli Vanilli, Meat Loaf, La Bouche, No Mercy... I never wanted to get involved too much in these music productions, it was a job, more or less to earn money and stay connected with high-end studio equipment. Of course I learned a lot about how things should or can sound. At the same time I was developing my musical interests at home. I thought I wanted to create something connected more to music than to money.
MM: Okay, then returning to the first question, is there a different philosophy for each project you are into?
tf: The only philosophy behind all my projects is trying out as many different options as possible to produce music. It's quite interesting for me to work with different people and look at the results. Or sometimes it is nice to for example to change the main sequencer in my setup, to change the routine.
MM: Do you think of organizing a project with Cassy?
tf: We are already working on some music together but I want to take some more time for that. Right now we are both developing our own projects. I am planning to finish some music with Cassy this year. It will be very different from the music we did so far.
MM: The 20th century's avant-garde music has a rich history, and from the very beginning of the futurists movement throughout the century musicians were in search of a new sound, a new form. Do you think that this search is over now and there's nothing new to achieve?
tf: I think there is still a lot to achieve. I wonder what the future holds...
MM: Is there anything in music that cannot be produced by computers?
tf: I guess computers can't start or finish developing an idea.
MM: Does NSI perform live? If it does, how exactly is it arranged?
tf: We have already played several times in different clubs. We used some analog machines and two computers, but right now we are working on a performance without computers. We have an offer to perform in Krakow end of this year at a festival. We will probably be using a piano, some module synths, a drum machine and several effect units.
MM: The title of NSI's album, "23 pieces for piano", recalls "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky, which is a famous suite of 10 piano pieces composed in 1874. Did you look behind when working on the album? Maybe inspired by something?
tf: Max (Max Loderbauer) is a very good piano player. He once played a piece of Bartok on his electric piano at home, and actually this was like the start of the idea to do some piano tracks. We are both great classical music enthusiasts, but we would never copy a concept. We are inspired by classical music in the same way as we are inspired by techno, ambient or punk.
MM. Who to your mind among the musicians also produces non-standard works?
tf: Actually non standard is for me the standard because the music I am listening to is mostly non standard. I think all musicians I am working with are producing kind of non standard music.
MM. Is there any non-electronic musicians, or groups, or albums, or composers of your favorite?
TF: I really admire the music of the Baka Forest People of Southeast Cameroon. They developed their music to communicate in the forest. It' s so beautiful to hear children and adults interacting and singing.
MM. What are your plans for the nearest future?
tf: I just released my new tobias. ep, it is called ' I can't fight the feeling ' and it's out on wagon repair (wag 040). I also finished a new NSI. EP with my partner Max Loderbauer, this one I will release on my own label, non standard productions (NSP o4).
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