Jim - Gaia 13 Records

Vi presentiamo un musicista molto giovane e poco noto al pubblico italiano: Jim Baltz. Il suo interessante repertorio (pubblicato insieme ) si caratterizzano per un'ampia eterogeneità di stile e per numerosi esperimenti di texturing fra elettronica, musica etnica, strumenti tradizionali. In occasione della recente pubblicazione del suo terzo lavoro sulla sua etichetta (Gaia 13 Releases), intitolato The Sea Turtle Project (contenente alcune tracce video), abbiamo deciso di porgli qualche domanda.

Hi Jim. How are you? I'm great, how are you? Thanks for having me.

Let’s introduce your new album... First of all, why did you called it "The Sea Turtle Project"? Someone could think you’re a greenpeace warrior... That's funny (laugh) that you put it that way, but I see your point. That is a good question but a difficult one to answer. The album uses alot of beats and bass and you can move to it but it also works on the imagination, I think. During the course of recording and producing the idea for the name appeared. I thought it represented a question that I heard hidden in the music. I visited a friend in Florida and the day before I arrived he had found a huge sea turtle skull. It was a strange coincidence and I decided to definitely use the name for the album. To me the sea turtle is such a powerful symbol - I'ts best qualities are something I would like to see more of in human beings, but instead it is disappearing after 500 million years as a result of human activites. The irony is that today it is depending on us to survive. It is as if it is challenging us to be more aware of other living things and to share the earth more wisely. In a similar way I think music can challenge you to change the way you look at things for a while and leave you with something new and fresh, some idea that there's more out there than we we see and hear everyday, and to be open to that new world. It's exciting. That is one of the most powerful things that motivates me to make music at all. My impression of "The Sea Turtle Project" is that the music is just asking a question and letting you dream about it. I guess I was dreaming about the Sea Turtle, but it could be something else. Something where you say, "Hmmm. I wonder.." But you know what, it you just want to dance or chill out and not think deep thoughts that's fine too! (laugh).

What about the equipment? Well the gear that hasn't changed in the studio over the years is my sampler and a synth that I really like. I used to sequence the sampler and other instruments using an old macintosh computer and eventually I added an MPC drum machine which took over as my midi controller and effectively added another sampler. So for the new album I wrote many of the songs using the MPC sequencer and a keyboard controller, and I control the songs live using the MPC across the mixer and some compressors and gates. I also use an effects processor. This can be a lot of things to operate during a performance but I like to be able to change any little sound in as many ways as possible and add samples and sounds on the fly. I recorded an produced this album using a mac g4 and Logic audio and alot of production took place in that environment. Alot was added at this point. Now I can perform with just my powerbook laptop, my MPC sequencer/sampler, a bunch of knobs and faders, and a keyboard. This means now that I don't have to worry necessarily about 300 pounds of equipment. I have it now to where I can perform all my songs however the mood takes me with just a backpack and a shoulder bag, basically in terms of gear. So that is great, I'm ready to perform at any time and it makes travelling and lugging gear much easier.

Nice videoclips... are you the author of them too? Cool, thanks. I'm glad you like those. I experimented a little bit and tried to create some cool effects in some of those videos. I have a few different videos of a bee up close, I slowed it down so that when the bee takes off and flies of the flower it is frame by frame - but still it is too fast for the camera to capture, it turns into a blur, i really like how that looks especially. I tried to create video images that compliment the feeling of some of my songs - the idea is to incorporate those images into my live shows by creating a visual collage live as I perform the music. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm working on that.

The first thing that hit my eyes looking at the info-sheet was the cover of your first album. That’s a basrelief picturing an Assyrian or Babylonese god-like character taking two ferocius beasts from their tails... Why did you chose that image for "Life On Planet Earth"? Again, I think it communicates a strong message. You're very close -it's actually Sumerian - but the three societies are very closely related. This carving of Gilgamesh holding two lions by their tales is kind of an illustration of the oldest written text. It was as story told for who knows how long before written language emerged in Mesopotamia almost 7000 years ago. It was the first urban society and technologies were emerging, people were recording ideas onto clay tablets. To me, that is where the image ties into music. Music has always been around, but technology makes this kind of music and production possible. The ideas that over huge amounts of time things are connected, that change is happening all the time, is a part of the album. That image also demonstrates that people have tremendous amounts of potential energy, that you can do something amazing. And it sparks the imagination which is something the album tries to achieve. In a musical way "Life on Planet Earth" is saying look at some things happening here and now in this place, but here are some elements from some other place or some other time, and they all work together, They all fit together and create a unique perspective. At the same time it is technical and produced, which is why there are all those mechanical things and the earth on the cover of that album also.

You don’t look too clinged to a particular tempo. Is there any particular reason? Well I like to explore all kinds of things but rhythm is also so important. So I write what I feel at the time, and I've found that those are songs that I still like 4 years later. This has always made it hard to categorize the music because the way I produce it and perform is best described as "electronic" more than anything. It is experimental in the fact that I am trying new things with the productions, but I don't think of it as experimental exactly because it has structure and melody and rhythm and mood and everything that make it accessible in a few genres. It's downtempo here, but there are some drum and bass elements there. I hear some dub influences and IDM in that. This song is pretty ambient. That is kind of techno. There are world influences there, and on and on. But Gaia13 is different from all those things too. I think it draws on some of the music that I love in so many styles and from all over the world sometimes in subtle ways. I do like to make sure that it is something you can move to, that it's danceable whatever the overall mood of the track might be. Though occasionally I like to see people just sit down and try to induce a nice dream kind of state. Sometimes that works for me! (laughs) The album goes through different feels and moods and tempo is something I use to help create that effect.

We know you’re famous for your live performances in St Louis. What was the best one you still remember? I've played alot of different kinds of venues and each has it's own good points. Each time I perform it is a chance to try something new, to adapt, and I enjoy performing live so much that it is difficult to say one was the best. One of the most interesting shows I did was at an art gallery opening. Hundreds of people were there. Some were dancing and some enjoying the great images of the photographers and painters and sculptors and some people started break-dancing. There was alot of creative energy in that room that night. That was where I got the title of the song Photogrammar which I had just written around that time. Another show really stands out is when i played alternating sets with a guy Eric Hall who does such interesting stuff with instruments and electronics. At the end we collaborated and played together. That was a really awesome show. And recently I played to a great crowd in the basement of a reggae/dub club and the stone walls and ambience of the room was incredible. For that show I used a new setup and I was so happy with how it turned out.

Are you planning to perform abroad? I'm definitely planning on playing outside the states. I was just in Japan and I promoted the new CD around Tokyo while I was there. I was prepared to do a live set if I got the opportunity but it was difficult because I don't speak Japanese and I was there for such a short time. But I have seen some positive feedback from that already. I've been talking to people all over the world who I'd like to work with in the future. I hope this will lead to traveling and performing in a lot of different countries. I'm planning a collaboration soon with the vocalist Odette Di Maio from Milan, Italy. She's working on a project out of Paris called Lorbi that really caught my attention. And my new album is getting airplay in Germany and got a great review by Alooga radio there. I've also been talking to a guy doing some cool original productions in Japan. I'm excited about all of this and I hope it will lead to some performances in those places at least. I think there are more opportunities opening up in Europe so it would be great to play in a bunch of different countries and cities there. I'm planning to perform around the US soon too. I'll keep you posted on that. There's no extra shipping for international orders because I get requests from all over the world. If you didn't notice, I like making international connections!

Why did you choose the self-production way to promote your music? Are there any particular advantages or disadvantages related to it? Since I produce everything myself it just makes sense to do it that way. The big advantage is that I am in touch with a lot of great people myself and I like that personal involvement. I am ready now to begin bringing other artists to the Gaia13 label. But I'm considering changing the name of the label so that it doesn't cause any confusion as I bring on new artists, since I also write and perform under the pseudonym Gaia13. I like the name though so maybe it's not so confusing. Gaia is a mythological name for Earth and the 13 relates to transforming life on this 12 month cycle planet through music. So it works as an umbrella under which to include alot of talented artists doing something new to awaken that energy in society through their music.

You performed with the renowned University’s Indonesian Gamelan ensemble. If I remember well Toby Marks (aka Banco De Gaia) performed with them in the past. He published the result of that recording on Maya, in a great track called "Gamelan". Did you heard it? If yes, what do you think about it? I don't know that song but I will definitely check it out now. A friend of mine who has a techno label Surveillance Records introduced me to Toby Marks music because we both used Gaia in our name. I wonder if it also refers to a kind of fusion of global influences like I feel effects me when I'm writing music. If he was in the same Gamelan ensemble that would be pretty crazy! I went to school partly because of the World Music program they had at the University there. And in that town there were so many opportunities to hear music from all over the world. Traditional mbira music from Zimbabwe had the biggest effect on me then, and I learned to play the mbira from some of Zimbabwe's greatest mbira performers who came here to teach. Mbira music is so accessible and so powerful, hypnotic, and soothing. So full of rhythmic energy. Those are all things that I try to carry over into Gaia13.

What about your experience with the fascinating sound of Gamelan? Back to Gamelan though, you're exactly right. The sound is absolutely fascinating. In the sound of each note there is a fundamental tone and there are other sounds created in harmonic overtones. So each note that is hit creates many other sounds that ring out above the main tone and those overtones interact with each other in such an incredible way. It can create a fluttering effect that seems to come right out of the air. There is nothing else like that. The sound of the Gamelan in Bali especially brings on spirit possession in the dancers. It is an amazing thing to see the performance with the masks and dancing and characters portrayed. It is a very ceremonial sound and is also very hypnotic. Hearing Gamelan for the first time live, it changed my whole perception of what could be achieved through music. I was studying electronic music at the same time and had heard some composers who created these amazing sounds that you just couldn't believe, and here was this traditional xylophone kind of ensemble creating something even more intense but also so beautiful. I found out that it was called Gamelan and was from Indonesia, particulary Java and Bali. In Java it is more relaxed in tempo and energy, while in Bali it is more intense and energetic and caught up in shamanism. These are generalizations because of the diversity of Indonesian ensembles, but tend to reflect the two different regions fairly accurately I think.

In these days, the debate on the meaning of words such as "experimental" or "organic" (if related to music) is involving a lot of critics and artists. What’s your opinion about this matter? Yeah. Definitely that really is true. I think it is very difficult to put into words or to describe alot of music, especially using the regular terms. You just have to listen to it sometimes. To one person experimental means something different from the next. To me all good music is experimental. It is doing something original, it is reaching out with something memorable, it is creating a mood in a new way, it is opening you to something great. But the way it is used in electronic music is too vague all by itself. Just saying your breaking the mold doesn't give you an impression of what you are creating. Organic means more to me when describing electronic music. To me that means that it is not completely computer generated, it uses instruments and microphones, and who knows what other natural sound, and then maybe changes them to create something new using electronic or digital equipment.

You have a BA in Anthropology and Music... Really interesting. In your opinion, what’s the album among yours which was more influenced by your academic studies and why? Probably "Life on Planet Earth" because the world influence is most apparent. That was my first release around 2001, but was in the process for a couple of years before that. I had great access to the electronic music lab in the music school, so I really learned alot about the technical side of producing music and creating sounds. When I finished school, I pieced together my own small studio and began writing "Life". "Inside the Star Furnace", the second Gaia13 release, was influenced also alot by where I was at that time and I really went in a new direction with "The Sea Turtle Project". I'm excited about the positive feedback and response it's already getting less than a month since it's release.

What’s the most interesting subject you studied for your BA? There were too many interesting things! The music of Papua New Guinea was interesting. A guy Tony in a band Sanguma from PNG visited the class and set 2 smooth stones on everyones desk. He suggested that we experiment with compositional structure by tapping a rhythm with stones - whatever was in your mind at the time. Everyone should start at once, and no one should think about what anyone else was doing in terms of tempo or rhythm or anything like that. That was really an awesome experience because we were making music together - it was a group of about 6-8 of us probably - and without any of the concepts of so-called music theory. But there was a theory, he explained, though not something they taught at the music school. We were making the music that frogs make as they sit around a pond. We were making frog music. What could be more interesting than that?!! (laughs)

Any yawns while answering? Not at all! Thanks again. I appreciate it!