New work from Konx-om-Pax who recently has designed and created music videos for the likes of Hudson Mohawke, Jamie Lidell and Capracara.

RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENTS: CARL CRAIG, FRANCESCO TRISTANO & MORITZ VON OSWALD, MATMOS, BUGGE WESSELTOFT & HENRIK SCHWARZ DUO, DJ SPRINKLES & ANDRAS FOX
Friday 12 February

A one-off night at Royal Festival Hall, bringing a host of pioneers from the worlds of experimental electronics and avant-garde music. We have a pair of tickets to give away.

To win a pair of tickets, simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state what city Carl Craig is from.

Our friends at We Fear Silence have put together another killer line-up of all thing bass to push London’s Corsica Studios Funktion 1 Soundsystem to the max on February 6th. We have got a pair of tickets to give-away. Simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state what city Shackleton now lives in…

More information about this and other We Fear Silence events here.

Ceephax has a new album on Planet Mu. So we decided to talk to him about some stuff…

Who did the artwork for “United Acid Emirates” and describe the thinking behind it?
I did the artwork. It was inspired a bit by Arabic music cassette tape covers that are often quite garish and colourful. The background carpet and picture were photographed in amusement arcades which are one of the main places that have shaped me and my music. The TB-303 flying carpet ties in the arabic theme with the acid tunes! Basically a collage of some of my influences done in an eye-catching and appealing mess.

What is your studio set-up and what process do you normally go through to make a song?
Here’s a pic of my studio, mainly analogue synths and drum machines (pictured below). Normally I make a tune in a minute or two, have the bassline, chords and stuff ready in less than an hour, but if I want it to be a more developed and sound good then I spend a few days or sometimes a week or more fiddling about and turning it from a good idea into something that is a piece of music and not just a quick jam, whilst trying to retain the magic of those first few creative minutes which at the end remain the most important thing no matter what you add to it. Sometimes this works, and sometimes you lose the magic which is sad. This album is a mix between tracks that I put loads of work into and some spontaneous stuff that was made in minutes.

Tell us the most surreal / crazy gig you have had?
I think one of the strangest gigs was in Bern in Switzerland where I was on tour with 3 of my mate musicians. It was in a sort of tiny underground library squat (?) with books lining the walls and a balcony that ran all around and the stage underneath, so that most of the audience were looking down on you. Anyway we managed to get so drunk on gin and whatever else that we were flailing and falling about the stage and tiny dancefloor and playing absolutely terribly whilst the rather serious crowd looked down on us from the balcony as if we were some kind of curious new exhibit at a victorian zoo freshly imported from the Congo…well that’s what it felt like at the time. It was great fun though, possibly at the audience and organizer’s expense !

What is the best video game ever and why?
Asteroids is probably the best arcade game for me, as it’s non completable and random in such a nice way..It looks amazing too because of the Vector graphics that you can’t recreate on a cathode or LCD screen. I don’t agree with lurking though. Best home computer game..Turrican on the c64. So massive at the time, so deep, I consider it a work of art as incredible as any famous symphony or painting.

What’s next for Ceephax?
At the moment I’m concentrating on videos for my music as film/video has been something I have wanted to get into for years. It completes the Ceephax experience…

coming soon on Bleep… release date 8th February.

Autechre, Flying Lotus, Omar S, Ellen Allien, Martyn, Joker, Kode 9, Nathan Fake, Derrick May, Lindstrom, Appleblim, Pinch, Surgeon, Geeneus, Roska, Lue Vibert, T++, Ceephax, Joy Orbison, Kelpe, Subeena, Breakage, Billy Nasty, Zinc and more… The line-up is huge and it’s in a Butlins…. what more could you want?

For full details, click HERE.

We are giving away a pair of tickets to the weekend. To win, simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state the name of the new Autechre album currently being pre-ordered on Bleep.

This Saturday sees the official album Launch for Hudson Mohawke’s Butter album in New York’s Santos Party House. Featuring the man himself, and supported by Mike Slott, and Falty DL… this night is going to be a stormer.

To win a pair of tickets, simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state who would be your 3 ideal guests at your ideal party….

Those good guys over at Numbers are teaming up with super-club Fabric to put on one helluva party… in the main room will be none other than the living that it is Todd Edwards alngside Hudson Mohawke, Rustie; with 2562, Headhunter, Joy Orbison and Untold all in the mix too.

To win a pair of tickets to this stellar event, simply e-mail info@bleep.com and state what is your favourite number and why…

You have been known for your diverse style of sounds that you create – what external influences do you think has helped shape your wide sound pallette?

Well, I try to let other music influence me. I can’t always keep up, but when I get into a rut, it usually helps to hear what other people are doing. Sound wise, I’m mostly sample based, so I try to collect sounds that might be unusually interesting and try to make them musical. I guess that helps keep my sound diverse.

A Certain Distance has a much more pop sound… What do you think made you lean this way and was it a conscious decision?

Sure, I guess I just got sick of dealing with the same sorts of structures, so I wanted to experiment a little more with verse/chorus and vocals and see if I could make it work, while still keeping my sound.

How do you go about constructing a song? What musical set-up / equipment do you use?

It’s a combination of hardware and software. I might start with a particular instrument that I haven’t used in a while and just jam until I come up with an idea. I don’t have any set rules on how to construct a song really, but it usually involves building patterns individually and doing variations on those patterns.

As you do both, what do you find easier – scoring a movie or making an album?

Neither, they both come with different sets of challenges. Scoring a movie is basically trying to collaborate with the director, but finding your voice within a set of parameters that works with the movie. Writing an album can be just as hard because you have to come up with something on your own, without any guidelines. Both ways can be inspiring and frustrating at the same time.

You have had many different guises to your music, is there a reason why you have differentiated these personas and their relation to the music of Tadd Mullinix / Dabrye / James Cotton / SK-1? Do you have a different work set-up / structure for these different personas?

I sorted my aliases according to genre for several reasons. In order to try to remove myself from the music I create a persona that will encompass the things I like about a certain style. I also think that it is important to prepare the listener for a certain kind of experience. Context plays a big role in how people take in art. And context is important when making art too. Some techniques are more interesting in a certain musical context. I think that few people would be interested in a music that is a hodge-podge of many styles that I find interesting.

How do you go about constructing a song? What musical set-up / equipment do you use?

Usually, I begin with a very basic idea and I work on it with instruments until I’ve got something that I think is interesting. Sometimes I experiment until I get something that sounds good and then I elaborate on the main ingredient. I use Technic 1200 turntables, a personal computer, a Roland tr-808, tr-909. tb-303, sh-101, mc-202, tr-606, sp-404, tr-505, tr-707, Alpha Juno 2, Boss DR-660, Yamaha CS-15, DX-7, Ensoniq ESQ-1, Realistic/Moog Concertmate, Casio RZ-1, SK-1, and whatever FX I can get my hands on.

Who are your favourite producers and why?

My Favorite producers are Aphex Twin (because he was my stepping stone into the electronic music world and is usually doing something very interesting with sound design, melody and rhythm) and the late J Dilla (because his music is superior on all fronts. He never made an OK beat. They are all sick!).

What projects is coming up and when can we expect to see it?

2AM/FM will be releasing a 12″ on Creme Organization and a few tracks on M>O>S early next year. And perhaps Dabrye will be doing a remix for a certain (really GOOD) well known dirty south group for a certain late night cartoon program (for ADULTS). And James T. Cotton will be releasing another diverse EP on Spectral Sound soon.