Feature
Daedelus: Buttons, Tunes, Dublab
TF: So I guess the first question that I just want to get out of the way... your
name, Daedelus, did you pick it from the Greek myth or James Joyce, or both?
Daedelus: Both indeed, one informing the other and so on.
TF: What's your studio environment like? Do you have a handful of indispensable programs, hardware, toy/regular sized instruments you use when you're writing? Do you use the Monome/MAX/MSP setup in studio, or is that more of a live thing?
Daedelus: My studio is a mess; instruments falling over one another, records precariously balanced against shelves fat with CDRs and broken kids' toy keyboards. All barely making room for a computer running Protools and a few microphones. No MAX/MSP in the home, occasionally some Monome button pressing will make a song, but really mostly all of that is saved for my live show.
TF: So the leap from studio to live performance can be a precarious one. What was your approach to adapting your music for the stage? Has your live performance gone through multiple incarnations as your creative process continues and evolves, or has it been a somewhat straight trajectory? Has the Daedelus live set always revolved exclusively around electronics, or have you ever introduced live instruments as well?
Daedelus: There was a time of other instruments, other guest players who weren't an accidental emcee or vocalist. Those days were limited from the
start by being a fringe-y electronic artist with little money and
limited songs to perform. Those problems remedied to a small degree, which
leaves the door open to once again have a band feel, but then again
that Monome I use allows for so much improvising it's hard to consider
going back.
TF: How did you first encounter the Monome? Were the Monome and MAX/MSP a simultaneous "discovery" or did the Monome come later?
Daedelus: Software has been on the scene for a while, always improving, but rarely compelling. The Monome is something special. Sure there are
plenty of controllers out there now, so many buttons to button, but the
Monome is quite nicely undefined. It can be used in any sort of way,
and then once you party it to software like MAX with all those
freedoms together it's a dangerous mix.
TF: Have you ever tinkered with circuit bent sounds on your records, or in
general?
Daedelus: Quite a bit of tiny shocks have gone into my fingers from such
explorations. From my first LP "Invention" from 2001 and on, a lot of
toys have been sacrificed to sound.
TF: So the word is that all of that velvety smooth bass clarinet on your albums is you playing. Can you tell me where that comes from? It's a really lovely instrument that you unfortunately don't run into nearly enough.
Please tell me you play the contrabass saxophone as well.
Daedelus: No saxophones sadly (that monster is unwieldy, I can speak from experience on the Contrabass Clarinet however), but mostly bass
clarinet on records. It was my first instrumental love in grade
school, I try to find a place for it on all the records I've released.
TF: So I know you're a big fan of samba/bossa nova, between records like "Denies The Day's Demise" and that "Adventure Time" record. (And also this very lovely "The Long Lost" record I just started listening to the first time, as I write this question.) Can you tell me some of your favorite records on that front, and how you got into that stuff?
Daedelus: More songwriters and composers. Jorge Ben, Walter Wanderley, Luciano Perrone, Elza Soares, so many more.... The music has a very unique flavor of melody and rhythm without parallel. In fact there is a word "Saudade," which loosely means longing that only begins to describe
the unique sound at the heart of Brazilian music.
TF: Any other musical finds lately (or in general) that have left you completely giddy at your discovery or have been really inspirational to you as of late?
Daedelus: People like Samiyam, James Blake, Ghislain Poirier, and Airhead are doing really great music right now!
TF: I've read before that you were involved in some shape or form with the
founding of Dublab down in Los Angeles. Can you tell me a little more
about/clarify that?
Daedelus: Totally right place at the right time. I was DJing at the same college radio station that most of the original dublab DJs had previously been associating at. We all shared an appreciation of all things electronic
and out-there, but since I was a little younger I had a junior role
for a time. Such great people make up the Dublab collective!
TF: What's next for you? It looks like you've got a handful of dates coming up all over. What else is cooking?
Daedelus: I have more tours to do and more records to release. Up next is
"Righteous Fists of Harmony" on Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder records, and
then an LP entitled "Bespoke" for Ninjatune. And hopefully returns to
fair shores again soon!
TF: Any other sage words you'd like to share?
Daedelus: Never be bitter, or a biter.
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