1. Hey, Julia. To begin with sorry me for my bad english. Tell the story of you and your project.

 

I began recording in about 2006ish - my friends Seamus and Justin would get together at Seamus' apartment in Jamaica Plain and we would get high and record. We spent hours from 2005-2007 recording. Justin moved to Chicago, I moved to Cincinnati and Seamus lost his girlfriend - we stopped recording for awhile. We sorta got things back together a bit when I moved with Justin to Annapolis... we sent files back and forth to Seamus and created my first release "Pussy Willow." It was mostly computer edited sound projects and field recordings. I later took all the master tapes we made from the Jamaica Plain recordings and spent a week in Dallas mixing and editing them down to decent tracks. The difficulty then was the label that released Pussy Willow wasn't interested in doing my releases anymore - I started my own label - Afternoons Modeling - and soon after released the second part of Pussy Willow titled "A Soccer Mom." This album was similar and contained more "myspace djing" - which is exactly as it sounds- checking out myspace profiles while recording. The record label hasn't seen much success so I've been trying to have other labels interested in my sound release the Jamaica Plain recordings and a few new things I've been working on more recently. Basically we have been taking amps, cassette recorders, radios, anything that can make some noise and been pulling them together to create different soundscapes. Often times we sample different songs to create some beats and other fun sounds. One night we put contact mics on an old couch - we buried them in the springs and jumped on the couch and recorded that! I hope this isn't too long of a response - I get carried away sometimes. We did our first live recording on Phoning it In - a radio show - just a few months ago. That may very well sum it all up.

 

2. That's ok, I like long answers :) How you think, why Afternoons Modelling is not popular (i mean why so few people are interested)? I saw AM, Darbolistic Rex, Felt Cat...great music and so very limited (of course mp3 downloads are available but anyway)...

 

I think so many factors are effecting the current music industry and really hitting some of the smallest of labels/artists. No one wants to buy music anymore - and the industry is moving towards accommodating that. I've spoken to a few different labels recently who have either limited their releases or cut their prices down just to attempt to sell items. Considering shipping and pay pal fees - $4 for a cassette gives nothing to the artist or label - its a matter of breaking even or minimizing your losses. There are so many labels doing the same thing and for some reason very few artists that actually sell. I can't figure it out. Walter Gross did a month long tour in Los Angeles, a close to two month tour in Europe and we sell one copy of his CD. It doesn't make sense. I think additionally, how do you advertise a fresh label - we have very talented artists that are doing their first album with us. We don't have funds to advertise our releases so we count on blogs to help get the word out - but even that is hard. Forums too - but no one reads a forum and then buys an album. Its so difficult. You have to beg people to buy your stuff. We have limited to 10 releases and we have artists that play live - their friends aren't even buying the albums.

I'm happy that people have mentioned to me they have downloaded and enjoyed some of the releases and I really enjoy making the packaging. I absolutely love that aspect of the whole thing - its just a shame that no one else does. I wish I could continue doing this but I am not rich - I can barely afford rent and like many other labels I'll end up stopping as a result.

Internet labels are so lame in my opinion - I really don't care to just download a zip file - I like the physical copy. Felt Cat is cool - Devin does some great stuff- AM was heavily influenced by their ideology - I felt like if Devin is doing it I can do it- but I want it to be different - I care a lot more about the way the website looks. I love Felt Cat though.

 

3. Tell me about experimental scene at USA and your city.

 

I live in Annapolis, MD. I don't think any sort of music scene exists here - peeps go to Baltimore - I have a child and work full-time so I end up staying in and record and do my stuff once my son goes to bed. I haven't really been apart of any scene although lately I am connecting with more people. I have a few collaborations coming out soon and I'm talking to more people. I just haven't had the opportunity to see the scene here first hand. I guess people like Merzbow and I think he/they is/are from Ohio or something - I don't know anything about Merzbow though... I post on this noise forum and that is about all I have time for. I hear the Netherlands and German noise scene is much larger. We have pockets - areas where there is a certain sound of noise - a bunch of people that are friends doing the same thing together.

 

4. What do you think about 2012?

 

I think we've already seen the end of the world and there are many days where I hope for forty days rain. I think 2012 will be just like Y2K. I also think that while a small minority of human minds are moving forward and making huge discoveries and doing some great things it is making the majority of human minds dumber, lazier, and weaker...

 

5. What would be if cats were able to fly?

 

Total chaos - kittens like to scratch and this would enable them to reach people's faces so much easier! Oh but it would be cute as hell too - until one smashing into your windshield while driving!

 

6. What can you say about life of these animals: cat, cow, duck, pig, shark?

 

They represent the spirit of the soul - in each wave of life - we as humans experience the demure of a cat, the cunning of the shark, the cleanliness of a pig, the anxiety of a duck, and the docility of the cow.

 

7. What are talking about russia and Africa on lessons at usual american school?

 

I've been watching this six part National Geographic series titled Wild Russian - it covers the wildlife and terrain of different regions of Russia - such a beautiful place. I don't remember much from school except that the USA won the cold war and ended communism thus saving the world! We are such a great country! But really, we were taught that. Also - surrounding WWII and WWI and how bitter cold Russia was causing problems for the Nazi army and how Russia took over part of Germany and how mean they were to the poor Germans and the Berlin wall thing. Africa - we were taught how it is a third world country stricken with poverty and much of it was colonized by the British or French. Also, the whole slave trade - how we shipped the Africans to this country to work in the cotton fields. I don't remember much about the political stuff - I know we talked about Lenin and Stalin but I don't remember anything about that. I was suppose to take a Russian history class and visit Russia but I ended up leaving high school early for college. Typical US history centralizes about the US- including world history - how does the world relate to us - so we mainly learned about the United Kingdom, Japan, France, China, and Germany...

 

8. Do you like cinema? Some favourite directors/movies..?

 

Love cinema. Favorite movie is Last Life in the Universe - its a Thai film - very beautiful - damn I could watch that over and over again for hours. Have you seen it? You should cuz it is sooo beautiful. I also enjoy the Jim Jarmusch movies - particularly Dead Man, Down by Law, and Stranger than Paradise. His Ghost Dog was great too. I enjoyed the Tim Kinsella debut film that my "other" record label released - I drove to Chicago to see it in the theater (it was a day and a half drive). Also went through a Goddard phase (who hasn't). Really like My Life to Live and Two or Three Things I Know About Her. I also like common pop movies too - oh yeah! and that one director - can't remember his name - he did that one movie - hold on I have to look this up... ok - Wes Anderson - he's a good one, I loved The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I like slow movies usually. Seven Samarui was good too.

 

9. No, i haven't seen. But thanks for the recommendation, i'll necessarily do it. And of course you love music too :) Some artists/bands which need to listen..?

 

Yeah - right now I've been listening to a lot of this dude Walter Gross - he lives near me and he creates some massively intense beats and noisey stuff - its incredible! I think he's my favorite right now. I've been listening to this Coyote Clean Up album we released too - this dude has some incredible talent - so tender so beautiful. Make Believe Bombs is a great project too - Devin is creative and fun. I can name everyone on Afternoons Modeling since they were all asked to be apart of it cuz I liked their stuff. I also like this girl Juliet Piper - she is more of that arty folk type singer songwriter stuff but its so beautiful. Also love Damien Rice as cliche as that may be. Oh you know what - Cooler than Cucumber records released this amazing 7" by AbSUrd. that dude is the greatest too. I've been getting into this underground hip hop type stuff lately - its been a lot of fun. I've also been spending so much time listening to my own stuff and editing that and working on that - its been very consuming.

 

10. What's meaning of life?

 

Life is a series of experiences - we are storage tanks full of memories of these experiences - we collect them. There are people that experience more than others - the meaning of life is to experience everything you possibly can.

 

11. You saw in your life some paranormal activity or other like this?

 

When you start thinking about those type of things - in a real deep way you can sort of see how weird the world is we live in. Is everything by the grace of God or just a butterfly effect?

 

12. I'll continue to ask my standarted questions :) What about literature, any favourite authors/books? And by the way, can IHAC/AM to release a not big story/novel (or compilation of them) in some limited edition?

 

I am huge into reading - I do more reading than anything else. I can make a huge list of favorites; Ferdinand Celine, Dostoyevsky, Lucretious, Rousseau, Camus, Herodotus, Aristotle... My favorite book is Rousseau's Second Discourse on Inequality and Celine's Journey to the End of the Night... have you read either of those? I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy right now - Walter Gross lent me that one. Russian lit - I am really getting into Dostoyevsky (don't you spell his name differently?) - I only read a few of his works though.

IhAA at one time thought about doing a Tim Kinsella tour book - but it didn't happen for more than one reason - we would love to do a book just not sure how that would all work out.

(and i even haven't yet read any works of Dostoyevsky...at this moment i read Koji Suzuki - Ring...)

13. Which country is best to emigrate in your opinion?

 

( i forgot to mention i've been listening to rza and gza a lot lately - oh well)

So - I've always wanted to go to France - its where my family is from. That may sound very typical though. I really like to be able to go on long trips in a car - and I like mountains. I at one point was going to emigrate to Germany - so lets say Germany.

 

14. Three your wishes? If you have them.

 

1. I wish your wishes won't come true 2. to have the most wonderful child 3. to become a real live artist

 

15. Final! and very standarted too - some words to all readers of this interview?

 

You can either devote your life to the lord in hopes for a change at the afterlife - or realize that your life is meaningless.

 

 

by Sasha

(russian time January 1-13 2010, USA time December 31 2009 - January 13 2010)

 

(extended version)