Interview Mat Jarvis aka Gas/High Skies

Una copia della precedente edizione del suo lavoro intitolato Gas 0095 -che in questi giorni la Em:t e la Microscopics hanno ripubblicato- ha raggiunto i 350 dollari in un'asta sul noto portale di aste eBay. Il motivo risiede non solo nel fatto che ne esistevano pochissime copie in circolazione ma anche per l'abilità riconosciuta da tutti di questo musicista elettronico inglese, che oltre ad usare un'invidiabile strumentazione per la sintesi sonora- tra cui il costosissimo Roland Sound Space RSS 3D, autentico feticcio per gli appassionati di tastiere e sintetizzatori-, ama cimentarsi in tricks, che per foga creativa e spessore compositiva, ricordano i primi gloriosi Orb: dalle suite Discovery a bizzarrie quali la lunghissima Experiments On Live Electricity dalla durata "namlookiana" e la breve Timestretch, che si vocifera essere una traccia di quattro minuti "compressa" in un secondo (molti si sono divertiti a "scompattare" queste frequenze con l'ausilio di software e registratori), fino alla minuscola "Minuscole" (una traccia della durata di zero secondi!!!). Affascinato dalle interazione fra musica e matematica, si presto ad iscrivere Mat Jarvis -meglio noto con i suoi pseudonimi artistici, Gas e High Skies- nel filone "organico" dell'elettronica. A sottolineare il concetto di base del suo modo di esprimersi -frequenze naturali potrebbero apparire frequenze aliene!- una cover, che pare sia stata concepita dai geniacci della Designer's Republic, raffigurante una ctenofera (un minuscolo animaletto dotato di tentacoli, che costituisce una parte notevole del plankton marino) ingrandita a tal punto da sembrare una navicella aliena!!! Noi abbiamo voluto conoscere meglio Mr.Jarvis. Gas0095 (Microscopics/Em:t) 01.Generator 02.Experiments On Live Electricity 03.Microscopic 04.Miniscule 05.Pixels 06.Vapourware 07.Selenium 08.Earthshake 09.Mathematics And Electronics 10.Timestretch 11.Earthloop 12.f 13.Tellurium 14.Discovery 15.Generator 74

Hi Mat. First of all, how are you? I'm great thanks.

Why Gas/High Skies? With 'Gas' I had to come up with a name quickly before the EP (on Time Recordings) was sent off to be pressed. It was simple, scientific and no one else was using it.'High Skies' is my phrase for those endless late summer days when the clouds are five miles high. Open and relaxed. Today is definitely a Low Sky day in England.

I already appreciated a lot a track from your repertoire on the pages of our zine (Burning Buildings). Could you trace an "evolutionary" curve of your music spectrum from the first time you connected to the plug a cable of a synth/computer? The first time I played on a synthesizer I was sheltering in a music shop from the rain. The assistant gave me a demo on a monosynth and kerblammo, I had to have one! I got a part time job and with all the money I was saving for a holiday I was able to buy it. I had been into electronic music before this, but this kick-started the music making. The first pieces were a mixture of melodic and experimental and tended to be quite fast with a lot of energy. I just used to sit for hours with the headphones on programming the synthesizer whilst it played a simple sequence. I guess things haven't evolved that much because I still do the same today. I think the main thing that has changed is the tempo, which is slower now, and things are a bit more relaxed. I still love pure electronic sounds as much as when I started. Perhaps I use some more complex waveforms now.

The so-called "organic" electronic music is living a sort of Renaissance in United Kingdom. Labels like Microscopics and em:t are making school in this music field... and the recent re-issue of your Gas 0095 confirm this trend! Any particular reason in your opinion? I'm not sure. Things tend to move in circles I guess.

I've just listened your last release... It remind to me some chilly releases coming from another quite famous French label -Ultimae-. At the time when some soundings were still developing, it was quite easy to verify the existence of networks between labels located in different areas. Is it still so? I think the original Emit stuff was quite isolated. It was just a bunch of friends from Nottingham making the music they wanted to make. I'm not sure we felt part of any network or scene.

Some music journalists still try to categorize music on the basis of the place and/or the situation most fitted to "consume" it. What's the better place (even mental) for your music? Cologne 1974 (only half-joking). When I wrote Gas 0095, I had an image in my head of some pure electronic music from the 70's. Not actual music, just imagined. But probably the best place to listen to the album would be on the set of Blade Runner.

The spreading of nice music software (such as Reason or Sound Fourgy) maybe caused a sort of revolution for the development and the ways of "frution" of electronic music. People which are not so deepened in technical issues on hardware/software and so on are still asking themselves what are the criteria that a producer applies in order to produce an electronic musician. What about your experience to solve this "dilemma"? It's easy to get bogged down in reading manuals and collecting plugins, I know I can sometimes. But a great way to make electronic music and not get distracted with technicalities, is to get hold of a monosynth, some simple software and just start recording what you play. It gives you room to make mistakes and create happy accidents. One of the problems with all this technology is that you can over polish things and they start to sound like wallpaper.

How do you imagine the perfect music instrument? A huge analogue modular with the soul of a Minimoog, the heart of an Oberheim and the brain of a Genesis Device.

You look fascinated from the intersection between music and mathematics, don't you? Numbers are beautiful, pure and elegant. On one side, numbers can be very structured, formal and ordered, and at the other totally natural. Mathematics is the language of nature. Music is mathematics, hence the track 'Mathematics and Electronics'; The maths is the music, the electronics are the sounds.

Are there any electronic composer you consider a "master"? David Sylvian and Richard Barbieri from Japan, Ralf Hütter und Kraftwerk, Brian Dougans and Gary Cobain from FSOL, Richard H Kirk from Cabaret Voltaire, Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin from Boards of Canada...

That chinese writing means "green", if I remember well... Any "echologist" intent in your music perspective? I think it means 'shine'. I certainly don't recycle my sounds. I usually delete everything from my last track and start again, although there are certain sounds I favour. I would like to think there is a natural element to the music and sounds, even if those sounds are from another planet.

What's the role of improvisation in your way of composing? Sometimes I just press record, and play. Like the track Vapournaut, it took as long to write as the track is long.

Have you already insured RSS from theft? :) I wish. The RSS (3d processor) belonged to Square Dance Studios. It was fantastically expensive at the time, around £15000 ($30000) in the early 90s, but Roland gave it to them for free.