In the fifteen years since they formed Alog, Norwegian musicians Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan have released some extremely original and fascinating records, made from a vast array of acoustic and electronic instruments, most of which they build themselves, With their new album, their fifth, they have worked with a number of other musicians and involved them in the creative process. In its complete version, the album stretches over four LPs and 2 and a half hours. Here, Alog talk about their formative years, how the new album came together, working with collaborators and how playing live has to be approached very differently.

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Thomas Strønen is undoubtedly one of the most talented drummers of his generation. A member of Food, Humcrush, Meadow, Monsters & Puppets and many more, his very diverse, yet highly recognisable style puts him is at the heart of these projects. With new albums from Monsters & Puppets, Humcrush and The Living Room, Thomas takes some time off his incredibly busy schedule to talk to themilkfactory about how he started playing drums, his long-standing collaboration with Iain Ballamy as Food, his relationship with Maria Kannegaard and how it led to Monsters & Puppets, and what his next solo project may be. Continue Reading »

Richard H. Kirk was already a legendary figure on the electronic scene when he teamed up with DJ  Parrot, then one of the main DJs at Sheffield’s club Jive Turkey, to form Sweet Exorcist, and recorded a series of minimalist techno records which were released on a fledgling label called Warp. The following album, Clonks Coming, was to be the first album released by the label. Twenty years on, to celebrate this momentous event, Warp have collected the album and EPs into a double album. Here, we catch up with Richard H. Kirk and look back at the whole Sweet Exorcist story, from how the pair got acquainted to working with Warp and becoming part of the label’s legend. Continue Reading »

In just a few years, Berlin-based pianist Nils Frahm has worked with the likes of Peter Broderick, Greg Haines, F.S. Blumm, Ólafur Arnalds or Deaf Center, but it is with his own work, released on Kning Disk, Sonic Pieces and Erased Tapes that he has gained recognition. With his new album, he explores a miniature nocturnal sound world where every sound of his piano is amplified to reveal its most minute intimate details. Here, he talks about his formative years, how it is easier to like the music created with others and the recording of his new album. Continue Reading »

Norwegian trio Splashgirl may have started as a fairly conventional jazz formation, but as time went on, they have evolved into a much more fluid formation, incorporating elements of other genres in their increasingly improvised music. As they are releasing their third album, Pressure, following a refined performance in London in June, Jo Myhre and Andreas Løwe talk about their predominantly acoustic approach, pushing further into improvisation, experimenting with sound and how their various other projects all inform what they do as a trio. Continue Reading »

Born of Croatian parents, both musicians, and raised in Sweden, trumpet player Goran Kajfeš has played with an impressive number of musicians and artists of international stature. As a solo musician, he has released two albums and his third, X/Y, a double album presenting two very different sides of his work, has just been published. We took the opportunity to talk with him about how his Balkan roots and Scandinavian upbringing influence his work, working with megastars, and how the two distinct sides of his new album are in fact complimentary. Continue Reading »

With his latest album, British sound artist Monty Adkins has been finding inspiration in the painting of Pip Dickens and art collective Brass Art, an approach that already partly infused his previous record. Over the years, he has work on various installations, scored dance projects and curated projects for the legendary GRM in Paris. Here, we talk with him about working on a project celebrating the work of Pierre Schaeffer, looking for electronic music in the orchestral works of Ligeti and Saariaho and understanding the process used by Rothko and adapting it to his own work. Continue Reading »

Arandel goes a long way to protect his identity, from performing behind a sheet to posing for publicity shot whilst wearing a mask. With his first album, In D, released last year on InFiné, he aimed to create a techno-infused record using only sounds of real instruments which he had sampled himself. Followed a string of remix digital EPs which are now about to be collected onto an album, due to be released in the coming weeks. Here, he talks about the need to remain anonymous, the challenges of working with real instruments, his influences and what Arandel could be like as a live formation. Continue Reading »

At the beginning of the nineties, Seefeel, originally formed of Mark Clifford, Sarah Peacock, Justin Fletcher and Mark Van Hoen, who was later replaced with Darren Seymour, found themselves treading the boundary between shoegaze, then in its dying days, and the rising electronica movement, releasing three seminal albums and a handful of EPs between 1993 and 1996. Then, although the four never officially split up, Seefeel was put on an indefinite hold. Now back, with two new members, a new album and a forthcoming tour, we took the opportunity to speak with Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock about the very idea of Seefeel, their renewed focus and what may be the beginning of a new era for the band.

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PART 1

You seem to attach a lot of importance to the graphics on your record covers. You’ve been working with Intro pretty much from the start…
Trish: Yes, from the start, from the Accidentals single…

James: Well, it’s not actually Intro, it’s Julian (band acquiesce). Before he was working with Intro, we were working with Julian. He happens to be there now.

Do you see that side of a release as a further expression of your work?
Tim: Definitely. When you buy a record, you can’t help but look at the sleeve. We’re all record fans. When you buy a record, you’re exited about it, it’s like it creates a whole world for you. It’s very important you know… there’s nothing worse than having a record in a blank sleeve.

Trish: It’s the greatest advert for the music. Continue Reading »

Following the untimely death of Broadcast’s Trish Keenan on Friday morning, I have decided to republish the intereview I did with Broadcast back in June 2003, which was published on themilkfactory in July of the same year, as they were gearing up for the release of their second album, Haha Sound. You can also read my tribute to Trish publised on The Liminal.

Only a few weeks before the release of their much-awaited second album, Haha Sound, we met up with Broadcast’s Trish Keenan, James Cargill and Tim Felton in the backyard of a pub situated only minutes away from the Warp offices in North London. Settling down for a spot of lunch, the band, who were just back from a successful US and European tour, talked about the painful recording process of their first album, working on the second album, life on tour and the importance of being creative with EPs. Continue Reading »

Using a prepared piano as his instrument of choice, Düsseldorf-based musician and composer Volker Bertelmann, AKA Hauschka, has developed a very personal style since his first release back in 2004. With his latest album, he teamed up with the Magik*Magik Orchestra in San Francisco and explored the orchestral side of his work in depth for the first time. To coincide with the release of the album, Hauschka embarked on a tour which saw him joined by different formations according to the country he was playing. We took the opportunity to catch up with the man following his UK to talk about his new album, the techno project he is about to unleash, the joys and problems of playing with different orchestras, the unpredictability of playing a piano loaded with ping pong balls and having other artists adding vocals to his music. Continue Reading »