FIBER Podcast

About FIBER Podcast

Exploring the deeper corners of the electronic music spectrum

Publisher

FIBER

Category

music

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

12 Jan 2011

Latest episode

29 Jul 2020

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Jul 2020

   FIBER Podcast 040 Alex Downey

   It is a natural process to end something, so that there is room for new things to emerge. After releasing 39 FIBER Podcasts over a period of almost 10 years we arrived at number 40; the final release in this FIBER series by none other than Brighton based selector Alex Downey. We look back on a rich and very personal series, in which talented local artists and international rising names shared their sonic worlds on our platform. Their sets offered countless paths to find new artists and tracks. A lot has happened in 10 years and the electronic music landscape has changed along with technological, cultural and social developments. This is the reason for us to now bring this series to a fitting end. A full circle almost 10 years after our organisation’s foundation. We thank all the listeners for following us and the artists for their contributions. For the final installment we asked vinyl connoisseur and Freerotation Festival resident Alex Downey to record a grand finale podcast. And so he did… In three hours Alex will take you through the depths of his record collection. That says a lot when you know that he operates a warehouse stocked floor to ceiling with the black gold. Luuk Meuffels curated Podcast 40 and Fabian van Sluijs interviewed Alex about his evolution as a DJ and his inspiration behind making this podcast. Now, get yourself ready for a three hour mix. Interview with Alex Downey by Fabian van der Sluijs Alex, how did you approach this mix? It all started with me going through some of the newer bits I’ve been picking up recently, and getting more familiar with them. Before long I was perusing my entire record collection, trawling through for inspiration and ideas, as I wanted to feature tracks that I have not played in any live sets or radio shows lately or before. I have a lot of vinyl, so this was a lengthy process in which I rediscovered long forgotten gems, un-earthed unknown killer cuts, or found amazing previously overlooked b-sides. With a collection this large, it can be a bit like plundering one’s own musical history and mind, so it’s common to come across records where you’ve no idea how or why you own it, and probably haven’t heard since the day you first acquired it, which can sometimes be 20 years ago – so it’s a kind of like revisionist discovery of what’s lurking there on the shelves! It’s a real voyage of discovery. In the process of reacquainting myself with the tracks, I found I often get struck with ideas of what will blend with what, and gradually a picture emerges of where they will fit into the mix. In previous  interviews (http://www.untitled909.com/alex-downey/) you have discussed the influence of your parents on your musical upbringing. As FIBER aims to merge the sonic with the visual, we wonder: what inspires you visually? I have  always been inspired by images of space travel, photographs of rockets, lunar-landers, EVA. As a kid I wanted to be an astronaut (or a deep sea diver). But also anything science-fiction, Blakes-7, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica. I would plead with my Mum to let me stay up late to watch ‘Star Trek’ and can remember being absolutely transfixed by ‘Silent Running’, and being hypnotised by ‘2001 a Space Odyssey’ at a very young age. I was always very big on Lego, and would often try to build craft or spaceships I saw on the screen, not sure if that counts? Later in life I was greatly inspired by the imagery of 60s psychedelic counterculture – and by early computer based graphics found on rave flyers , films like ‘The Lawnmower Man’, electronic music records like Warp’s ‘Artificial Intelligence’ LPs, and in music videos such as Stakker – Humanoid, or on chill out VHS tapes like the 3Lux series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l2V72BzlbM).

2. 

   8 Mar 2020

   FIBER Podcast 039 Wanderwelle

   FIBER Podcast number 39 is part of a triptych of three podcasts that will be released shortly after each other. With this, FIBER celebrates almost 10 years of sets and live recordings. We end this series at #40 and prepare for something new. Thanks to all artists, followers and listeners. The second piece in the FIBER Podcast closing triptych comes from Amsterdam based duo Wanderwelle. Phil van Dulm and Alexander Bartels have been making music together since their high school years. They often use a conceptual approach and find inspiration in the history of art, nature and combine these things in their music. With releases on Silent Season and performances in museums they are a perfect fit for the FIBER Podcast series. Listen to their podcast and find the interview about their visual inspiration sources below. What role does the visual medium play in your work? The visual medium plays a huge part in our studio albums and our live sets. Films by Tarkovsky and Bergman are a great inspiration for us, as well as the works of contemporary filmmakers like Von Trier, Lynch, Eggers and Aster.  Unfortunately The Netherlands does not have too many great film directors working right now, luckily Van Warmerdam and Van Driel are making us very happy with their films. Aside from cinema, we take great inspiration from art history and literature. At the Van Gogh museum, we premiered our first site-specific performance ‘Reapers’ amongst the paintings. The twenty minute piece was inspired by the reapers and mowers by Van Gogh, Millet and Hodler. Last year, we finished the script for our first graphic novel. At the moment, we are giving it shape together with our favorite illustrator in Amsterdam. We cannot wait to share some more details soon. At the start we did not expect the process to be far more time consuming than making an album, but it will be totally worth it. It is amazing to see your ideas illustrated by an artist instead of the usual translation of our ideas into sound. How do you go about making music in order to spark the imagination? When creating music, field recordings are a very effective way to create a cinematic, almost visual experience, as they immediately push the listener into a certain atmosphere.  For our upcoming album, which is our first electro acoustic work, we used and manipulated more abstract recordings to make things more ambiguous, while still adhering to a clear leitmotiv. The album will focus on the many aspects of decay: from shipwrecks to natural erosion, and from archeological digs to false prophets. The album will be released next month, keep an eye on our socials the coming weeks for the official announcement. Could you choose a visual companion piece for your podcast and elaborate your decision for this piece? One of our favorite tracks in this showcase is one from Jan Jelineks’ Zwischen project, an album consisting of twelve sound poetry collages using interview answers by prolific artists. The track we used contains voice fragments of one of our favorite German artists: Joseph Beuys. He was one of the leading figures in art from post-war Germany. Beuys created his own mythology, which was his main inspiration for his work and often held public debates on environmental, social and political subjects. The chosen artwork is a result of one of his speeches, where he used a chalkboard to visualize his ideas. This work is called ‘Letter from London’ (1974), which we read about when we ourselves were in London for one of our favorite gigs until now: our performance at Cafe Oto. Interview by Fabian van Sluijs | Podcast curation by Luuk Meuffels Image: Blackboard (Schultafel) (1974), Joseph Beuys Also check podcast Number 38 by Fenna Fiction (https://www.fiber-space.nl/podcast/fiber-podcast-38/).

3. 

   10 Feb 2020

   FIBER Podcast 038 Fenna Fiction

   FIBER Podcast number 38 is part of a triptych of three podcasts that will be released shortly after each other. With this, FIBER celebrates almost 10 years of sets and live recordings. We end this series at #40 and prepare for something new. Thanks to all artists, followers and listeners. Fenna Fiction is a DJ and graphic designer. To her those practices are similar, they only entail different senses. Below you can find the interview we did with Fenna about the mix and the accompanying artwork. Thank you so much for your mix. Could you briefly introduce yourself and tell us about your approach for this mix? I am Fenna, an artist/graphic designer and DJ living and working in Amsterdam. My mixes are always a collection of music I recently found and been listening to, this one included. It’s a mix to listen to on your headphones. Could you tell us about who/what influenced you in becoming a DJ? Since I was a teenager I was always listening or dancing to music and I’ve always unconsciously surrounded myself with people who did the same. A lot of those people eventually started working in music but it never occurred to me that I could do that too. The younger me thought there was only one way of doing the DJ game: knowing every release in the record store and perfect beat matching. I was experiencing music in a more emotional and intuitive way so I didn’t think DJing was something for me. It was when Job (Oceanic) introduced me to Lena Willikens her radio show ‘Sentimental Flashback’ that I heard mixes that evolved around listening to music for the first time. When I moved to Gent to study I started doing some radio shows at stroom.tv (http://stroom.tv/) with exactly this intention, creating mixes for listening at home. Because of these radio shows some people trusted me to play music at their venues, and that pushed me to invest time in learning to DJ. It was never part of the plan, but I’m happy it happened. Apart from DJing you also work as an artist focusing on collage, can you tell us a bit about your influences in the visual spectrum? Creating a collage and a mix is the same process, but with the use of different senses. Like with a music mix, I start with material I recently bought. I roam a lot of thrift stores for books full of photographs and if I like the colours and shapes I buy them. It is the same with music, I find it hard to describe what i’m playing or why. I find music or photographs which I think are beautiful, and then I’ll put it together in my own way. If I have to name one artist who inspired me since I started making collage work it is definitely Malin Gabriella Nordin. Thinking about a visual representation of the mix could you choose an artwork that can function as a companion piece and tell us why? I chose this little piece because it is exactly what this mix is made of: a reference to nature, some morphed moments, a hint of sweet fruit, some colour, songs with a lot of detail, a contemporary interpretation of a familiar feeling. Interview by Fabian van Sluijs | Podcast curation by Luuk Meuffels

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