Interview Simon Kealoha aka Calika

Incuriositi dal modo in cui Simon Kealoha assembla i suoni, di cui ha dato prova nell'interessante lavoro Small Talk Kill Me pubblicato dall'inglese Audiobulb con il moniker Calika, gli abbiamo posto qualche domanda. E Simon ci ha regalato molte interessanti risposte. Calika "Small Talk Kills Me" (Audiobulb) 01.(enter) 02.Jolly Kclit 03.Frown and Be Happy 04.5/4 Swansong 05.We Slaves Nine 25 06.v2RM 07.Quarter Smile 08.Kilter 09.Calm Laid Her Head To Have A Nightmare 10.The Deme Thatre 11.c3RM 12.Shallow Work Is The Work I Do 13.Before You Say Anything, Small Talk Kill Me 14.(exit)

Hi Simon. How are you? Very well thankyou.

Why did you choose the moniker Calika? Well i had wanted to use my middle name 'alika' (which is Hawaiian, i'm half Hawaiian), but that was already being used by a Thai popstar. At the same time as choosing the name i had been reading alot of Albert Camus (after many failed attempts at understanding Satre) and grabbed the C from Camus and hey presto. It wasn't till i started recieving lots of emails from buddist forums that i realised that it had buddist connections but by then it was set in stone.

Small Talk Kills Me is your debut. What a stunning title! Truly ironic! Any yawn for society rules (and society’s musical tastes and/or marketing rulers’ imposition)? A few people have taken exception to the title and it's 'minor profuntity' but it wasn't intended to be a big statement on the position of small talk within society, just a statement on my experience of the society which surrounds me. Yeah, i hate the culture of 'small talk', in the sense that everything seems very throw away i.e. conversations i have with some people, marketing and advertising, quick fix politics, manufactured music and a million other things, but that form of small talk is as much a fault of mine as anyone elses. I suppose i'm just trying to say that in my own little way i'm trying not to nurture that type of culture, because theres so much more i could do with that time. Plus, all that aside, i just like the sound of it.

I’ve relistened your music. Common listener will notice the total absence of loops as well as that you don’t betoken any corruption from “traditional” way of composing. But we notice your “snaky” way of treating sounds which is even more uncommon... And that sketchy guitar and those pillows in the cover-art... J Could you talk about the way you treat them? I've consciously tried to stay away from the traditional approach of music composition because i find it limiting, and i think limits in creative areas are detrimental to development, although, it's still evident in my work. As far as treating sounds, i think the best way to go is anything goes. A few years ago i met mark clifford and he helped me to understand music as sound rather than simply as melody etc. the development of technology in music over the last ten years has been staggering, especially with programs like MSP/Max and reaktor (which i use). they've allowed me to take the acoustic sources and treat them in ways i could never have imagined, which is so exciting for any artist who is interested in sound aswell as composition. The guitar etc in the cover art was just an attempt to humanise the album, as although it is filled with live instrumentation i think of it as a very electronic album....plus no one seems to have noticed yet that i forgot to draw on the fourth leg of the chair. really it should have fallen over by now.

A lot of people involved in experimental music says that they refuse spotlight, but if BBC should broadcast your music...??? i'd be quite happy to have the bbc broadcast my music as it wouldn't be a compromise of the music. the music would still be the focus. the only problem i would have it with advertising. i don't like the idea of that, with the music being used to push a product, then the focus is not on creative expression but on profit maximisation. i have heard there is a debate about Brian Eno allowing his music to be used on an Orange mobaile ad and how many fans can't listen to the album anymore. i think it's from music for airports. i have seen the advert and i have to admit that as a purely visual/audible work i really like it and probably would still enjoy the album.

Some tracks looks like a spongy spluttering, more or less like David Toop experimentations, even if less “realistic” than field recordings. What do you think about field recording? Pure field recording is an art and something that i would love to learn more about. OTI on audiobulb has done a wonderful album called recollections which is a study of field recordings with melodic backdrops and for me is the perfect balance. i've tried to listen to various recordings on Folkways etc but my ear just arn't tuned to it yet and it is something that i have to learn to listen to. i have to admit to not having heard much of David Toops music so i'm not to sure about his experimantations.I've read Oceans of Sound which a great book for anyone to read to get a background on the development of music, and while i was living in London i went to see a sound art exhibition he put on at the Hayward. I'll go and search out some music.

Swans are very famous in electronic music nowadays. I listened to another noisy track (very good) by Xopher Davidson (Swan Lake taken from its recent issue).. Swans are maybe the strangest bird of this world as they are generally associated to the idea of “beauty” but their sound is not like the merry note of the skylark... J I assume you're refering to the track '5/4 Swansong' from the album, which i guess could be described as pretty noisy track. For me it is the best marriage of acoustic and electronic sources which i have managed to achieve so far. each element very distinguishable in it's ownright, but also working very well together as a whole. The title for the track is purely about the structure and sound of the piece. '5/4' for the time signature and 'swan song' because apparently swans are supposed to sing a very melodious song when they die, and the track as it comes to it's conclusion for my ears becomes alot more beautiful and melodious towards the end until it finally dies.

I am very curious in knowing the way you assemblewd Kilter... Kilter was simply the result of wondering around the flat with the guitar plucking on strings until something worked for me. i kept those note pretty much intact and clean, and then put the rest through the ringer. i tried to keep as much space and air in the track as possible so it feels more simple and uncluttered, hence the very dry drums etc, hopefully adding a little dynamic to the structure of the album.

Any work in progress? Well i have also just released a collaborative album with Mark Clifford of Seefeel as Clifford/Kealoha called 'running taper' on Polyfusia Records . Also early next year I'll be releasing some material as 'CEK' which is a band i'm involved with featuring Mark again and Eda, formally of the Boredoms. i play bass and the overall sound is very hard to describe. the best i can say is that it is very free and open. I've been planning a project with Erik Schoster (He Can Jog) for a while so hopefully that will see fruition at some point and other than that i'm always working on more Calika material for the next album.