sept 03, 2001
Bent Sentient
we are:
Starspine
name: Jacques
age: 31
home town:
East London
musical
background: Played bass for a few Alternative type bands
and
Parasyke
Name: Pierre
Age: 30
home town:
Joburg
musical
background: none, but a long time meddler with electronic noise makers.
When and how did you get into music production, under whose initiative?
Was producing psy-trance your original aim?
J: I played my first Trance set as a DJ at Rustlers in 1997. There
was some guy from Israel playing as well - I got a great response
from people and realised if I wanted to take my DJ'ing career overseas
I had to produce as well. Producing psy has been my one and only aim.
P: The how predates the when by over a decade. Ive been drawn
to electronic noises for as long as I can remember - my first synth
was an old short wave radio that Id tune between bands to get
this weird frequency modulation effect. In my early teens I stumbled
across a prophet 5 and I was hooked. But it was only much later when
I actually had the cash to start getting a small studio together.
Psy-trance only come quite a bit later, but it provided me with the
impetus to quit my crappy job and get on with making music.
What were your first experiences/influences of psychedelic trance?
J: A full moon party on the slopes of Chapman's Peak thrown by Patrick
from Logos fame, in about Dec. 1996.
P: a warehouse party at quay 5 in the Cape Town docks, Nov 95
I think, Sid Shanti was the main attraction. It simply pulled the
rug out from under my feet - it was the sound Id been waiting
my whole life to hear. Id been into house and techno for about
5 years already by then, but as soon as I was exposed to (what was
then) goatrance there was no going back.
Bent Sentient, as of yet, has no releases what is their background?
How is Midranged related to Bent Sentient?
J: Bent Sentient is basically me and P. We had known each other for
quite some time before deciding to attempt our first track together.
It was Deathrattle. We stuck the CD "Mideranged" together
with another guy called Jeff (who had suggested the name Midrange
Freedom Fighters). When we started working together exclusively, we
decided on the new name.
P: We have a release coming up on Alchemy. It wont be the last.
How does Furtive records tie in to your music?
J: We basically established Furtive Records as the label name for
the CD release. At that stage we knew there would be no chance of
getting the CD released so we did it ourselves as a consolidation
of our efforts till then.
The genre of trance has moved into many different
categories since 2000 how would you describe Bent Sentients
sound?
J: Progressive twinges lost in a forest of psychedelics. I feel that
too much of the current progressive minimal stuff lacks identity and
character. I like its groove and concentration on percussion but it
needs more psychedelics to spice it up and give it more character.
The emphasis with our sound is on bass and percussion - the heart
of the engine. You have to be able to dance to it first and foremost.
The psychedelics are the ear candy that transport you to different
dimensions.
P: To extend what J is saying, I feel that our emphasis on percussion
and the groove is simply a return to the root of all dance music,
regardless of its specific genre. If you get that groove going sufficiently
people are sucked in, whether they like it or not. As much as I liked
goatrance to start with, its bombastic nature ultimately did it no
favours. Its alienating for newcomers to the scene to be met
by this wall of sound and even for old hands it can get a bit much.
Also, all that clamour makes it difficult to get a really good rhythm
going. Music is as much about space as it is about sound, after all.
When you create the extra space you can insert much weirder sounds
into that space and really do peoples heads in.
How do you feel about the goa sticker that psychedelic
trance is usually related to? Is goa dead?
J: A label that has ultimately been detrimental to the trance scene
as a whole. I prefer Psychedelic Trance. Goa is definitely over and
done with. The twiddly melodies and concept that trance is about layering
as much sound together has led to its rejection on the whole. I also
feel too many producers in SA are trying to emulate the goa sound
without a true understanding of what is currently happening in the
psy- trance scene. I feel the direction 3D Vision has taken with the
old goa style is far more relevant and kicking.
P: Here I disagree with J a bit - I think the goa thing was fucking
amazing and, although its no longer relevant, I feel disloyal
denigrating it. Those grinding, searing, wobbly lines were what made
the psychedelic stuff stand out at the beginning and some of the best
experiences of my life have been in the path of that particular express
train. But music, by its very nature, is about change over time -
anything thats static is ultimately boring. Goa trances
powerful identity was, in many respects, its undoing. Still, GMS are
still doing very well out of the storming stuff
South Africa has had a thriving trance scene for many years, yet
has taken South Africans a relatively long time to start producing
their own music? What are some of the barriers that are holding them
back?
J: The expenses of setting up a serious studio, a lack of people
with relevant PC/ MIDI knowledge, and a lack of producers to interface
with and share ideas and techniques.
P: money, skill, talent, dedication, lack of recognition. Acquiring
decent production skills is a bit of a mountain to climb because it
requires both access and application. Overseas there is a community
of engineers/producers that newbies can learn from and studios to
learn in, but here theres none of that. The number of people
here who know anything about dance music production is negligible.
And they tend to guard their secrets jealously. But even when youre
willing to help, its frustrating to try and help people who
dont seem to want to help themselves by reading, experimenting,
etc. There are loads of resources on the net that simply did not exist
when I was starting out and newcomers to the production scene owe
it themselves to spend as much time as they can getting a good grounding
in the basics. Then theyre in a really good position to get
something useful out of those of us whove been at it for longer.
What are some of your more important pieces of equipment, in your
studio? How important is the computer in the whole process? (Do you
use a Mac or PC?)
J: Basically my A3000 sampler is in the thick of it all. The Virus
is also great at everything - from percussion to ripping leads and
some veryyyyy strange psychedelics. The PC is basically my sequencer
at the moment (I don't own a decent sound card) but in future I will
be using it more often. It's great for manipulating samples in a more
sculptural sense. The sampler conversely is great for unexpected sample
manipulations and percussion. It's basically a glorified (and very
extremely sophisticated) drum machine.
P: My whole studio is designed in a modular fashion - virtually everything
can be routed into, through and around everything else. This gives
me a lot more options than I would have, given my (relatively) limited
kit list. Most important bit of kit - it pains me to say this (because
I love synths so much), but the PC. Without the PC Id not be
doing this and Im using it more and more all the time. My favourite
bits of kit: integrator and doepfer modulars, nord micromod, a beautiful
new Indigo. As for samplers - Im ditching mine just as soon
as a decent VST sampler (on the level of exs24 for logic) is released.
Anybody want to buy a cheap sampler?
How important is the production feature when writing your music?
J: It's as crucial as everything else. Without decent production
techniques your killer bassline is a mere wimp trying to push out
his chest and hold in his tummy. This is even truer for percussion.
P: Its the main thing, I think. Dance music is production music:
its generally played on huge systems so it had better sound
good.
Trance is considered to be more musical than other
forms of dance music, how important is a musical background in your
opinion? Would you say that you have to be a musician to write psychedelic
trance? Does past Dj experience help/ influence your style? What would
you say are the more important skills for a producer?
J: A musical background is undeniably beneficial just in terms of
knowing what the hell youre doing and makes some basics of composing
easier. It doesn't mean however, that you'll create good trance. Creating
good trance is all about understanding the genre and approaching the
whole thing with your ego locked away in a cupboard. It's a sacred
and majik form of music and needs to be respected as such. Moulding
a track is much like using magic to cast a spell - if your intentions
are good then the spell works its charms. If not it just ends up sounding
morbid and drab. Humour is a key element. Key elements of production
are firm grip on rhythm and percussion, the willingness to be experimental
with your approach to making sound and putting it together, good editing
skills of knowing what is working and what not and throwing the crap
out no matter how good you think it sounds. I find DJ experience to
be crucial in terms of staying up to date with current production
techniques and styles. Like I mentioned earlier - too many SA producers
are trying to make Goa.
P: Every skill you bring to the party helps. But the most important
attribute, IMH, for producing this style of music is the deep desire
to do so. A lot of people harbour creative impulses but dont
realise just how difficult it can be to actualise those impulses.
They also have no idea how much it hurts when you spend hours and
hours producing something and people criticize it. And this is why
a sense of humour is almost equally as important. This music (and
certain of its producers) can get very up their own arse and humour
is one of the best laxatives out there. Finally, a healthy mixture
of self-belief and humility would also help.
Outdoors or indoors which do you prefer?
J: Outdoors, naturally. The music strikes resonances and chords with
the frequencies and mathematics that surround us in nature and in
the universe. The sympathetic resonance that emanates exerts a far
stronger effect on people than in a club.
P: I cant believe anyone could prefer being indoors. Unless
its raining. Or below zero. Oh, and a good club definitely has
a vibe about it. Er, ok - they both have their merits, but I generally
prefer being outside. Seeing the moon peeking over a stand of trees
as a great tune is rising into the atmosphere
or the smiles
on peoples faces as the dawn breaks
mmmm.
Psy-trance does not have the reputation of being well mixed
when played to parties. Do you think the dominance of cd has anything
to do with this? Should psy-trance be beat mixed?
J: Psy trance is not mixed well because most DJs don't have a fucking
clue. All my sets for the last year have been played off CD and have
been beat mixed. Psy should be beat mixed but not in the techno/ house
tradition. Chopping and changing trax while theyr'e playing tends
to disturb the central concept of trance, which is flow. The beat
mixing should enhance the flow, not disturb it.
P: People raising this sort of criticism have simply never seen a
decent psytrance dj. When the music is properly mixed the whole experience
changes and you start getting these evolving soundscapes going on,
rather than someone playing the hits. At the risk of seeming
biased (but Ive been to trance parties on every continent except
Australia so I think I have some experience in this), J is one of
the best out there: fantastically good at putting a set together with
impeccable mixing. You guys down in Cape Town are missing out.
Would you say local artists and producers are well supported?
J: No, we suffer from the usual South African syndrome of Overseas
is Better. Conversely the artists suffer a similar disease - if I'm
big in SA that's all that matters. Our DJ'ing and production need
to be 100% up to international standards or else we shouldn't even
bother. If it's good enough in SA it doesn't necessarily mean it's
good enough.
P: We should remember that psytrance is fringe music in this country
and is probably never going to get much coverage in the press, on
tv, etc. Support is often simply the result of a concerted
marketing effort, but marketing takes money, and theres no money
in psytrance, so
Thus, your classic music industry vicious circle.
Having said that, some of our music is going to be in a forthcoming
episode of yizo yizo and its quite a trippy idea
that well over a million black South Africans will be exposed to a
type of music that they have never heard before. And theyre
paying us for it.
How do you think artists/labels overseas view South African scene
in terms of producers and Djs is there a market for SA music
overseas?
J: They don't - we haven't given them a reason to sit up and take
notice yet. We are doomed until our producers start making cracking
psy - trance with an indigenous identity - and I DON"T mean ethnic
or African sounding.
P: There needs to be more of a production scene here with people
feeding off each others ideas - this, more than anything, will
give the music an identity. Other than Ans and Regan, I dont
know of anybody else doing it seriously. Id like to see a little
production scene developing along the lines of the one that krushed
and sorted have created for beats. Perhaps Solipse might provide the
impetus for this. Theres always a market for good music, wherever
it comes from.
You have a release coming up on a London based label, how was
their reception to South African artists/sound? Is your release on
a 12" or cd? What will be the best place to get hold of this
release?
J: Very good. Basically all trance is viewed with one concept in
mind - quality. The release is on a new compilation CD coming out
called Electrum on Alchemy records. The best place to get hold of
it will be the usual channels. It's set for international release
in April.
There are many new artists from all over the world. Who would
you say is making interesting/innovative music at the moment?
J: The 3D Vision crew for making absolutely storming psy - trance,
Yumade for making sophisticated and primal trax, and Manmademan for
pushing boundaries and producing trance of the highest quality. And
all the Scandinavians/ Germans for putting the groove back into trance.
P: I have a strong affinity and liking for idiosyncratic artists
like Process and Quirk, who often seem to be outside of trends and
yet produce utterly classic tunes. And Billy Cosmosis is also great:
very underrated, I think. Otherwise, I like what the French and Scando
guys are doing.
Are there any other artists outside of psy-trance category that
you are currently listening to at the moment?
J: No need.
P: For the first time in years Ive been listening to a wide
variety of music again (mostly older stuff though). I must be honest,
though, its mostly to pinch percussion and production ideas.
I dont know if it means Im becoming an old fart, but my
girlfriends even been turning me onto jazz. Haha - J will probably
break up the band after that revelation.
no comments yet