P. Larkin: The Monday Is OK Mixtape

With all that in mind, we thought we’d ask Mr Patrick Larkin to put us together this week’s mixtape for a Monday… let’s get ease in.

Listen and read the interview below:

Who are you:

Patrick Larkin, a 36-year-old Midwestern man

Where are you:

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

What are you:

A mildly confused individual not trying to fake like he knows what is going on, with relatively mild existential qualms, a dabbler, an aspiring jack-of-all-trades

Tell us about the Monday mixtape you’ve put together for us. 

There’s a bit of whimsy, a nod to more seriously mellow music, some “eclecticness,” some decidedly not electronic music. I’m trying hard not to try to seem cool or aloof and compile something nice and varied, ha.

If it were to be drawn what would it look like? 

It would be an abstracted landscape, squiggly and dappled strokes with a fair amount of earth tones, but some popping pastels in there too, with a thin layer of mist over it.

Image Credit Dan Miller – Cult of the Sun

If it were a food what would it be? 

A warm sweet corn tamale with Ecuadorian crema, lime and Cholula optional

Or

Peach French Soda with tapioca balls that contain one large grain of lime-flavored salt per tapioca ball

What would be the ideal setting to listen to the mix?

Reclined on a comfortable but scraggly / wooly couch in a ground-level or underground but e-gressing room with limestone floors (but a nice rug, also kinda scraggly), there’s a giant sliding glass door that is open even though it’s a bit chilly, a humid chill, but you’ve got a blanket on which balances it out pretty well.

What should we be wearing?

Something cozy but that you’d be happy to wear in public. You have a guest coming over later and you do not care to change between now and then.

Where was it recorded?

My album was recorded in a basement with checkered puke green and 70’s orange painted floors and wood paneling. The mixtape was compiled in the very same place

How do you feel about Mondays in general, excited…or?

 My work week starts on Sundays, so it is just another weekday for me. I shrug and hope for the best.

Who got you hooked on electronic music?

Seeing some electronics-based performers here in Minneapolis has helped me embrace the format in my middle age – as a youth I was a staunch traditionalist, believing in “organic” music that is manually generated (drums, guitars, brass, strings, etc). Some of those performers include Free Music, Noah OB (typically plays trumpet but sometimes electronics), Alone-A, the Pen Test, Lynn Avery (now in LA). My friend Bryan from the group the Pen Test turned me on to the German act Cluster whom I find very relaxing/stimulating. Another friend, Pat Keen, turned me onto Raymond Scott’s Manhattan Research and the music of Dory Bavarsky (Full Color Sound Recordings, artist names including Emmet Zelo and G. Weller). Dory’s work has been a big push for me into the realm of music generated using technology – he makes some amazing stuff that is also fun using purely MIDI.

Who would you say are your biggest influences and what are you hoping to achieve with your music?

Ivor Cutler is among my biggest recent influences – After seeing me do a set as a folk performer, a person told me my music reminded him of Scottish folk musician Ivor Cutler. It has haunted me ever since. Tastes change and mine continue to – I like to grab influence from many avenues, including some of the aforementioned. Here’s a nice heap of names:

John Fahey, Alash, Elizabeth Cotten, Cluster, Haroumi Hosono, Mount Eerie, Judee Sill, Kraftwerk, Roger Miller, Santo and Johnny, D.L.I.M.C., the Shaggs, the Upsetters, Grass Widow, author Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics, the poet Dean Young, Silver Apples

 I hope to find a whole array of emotions and states, and spin up a salad of them: stimulation, relaxation, reflection, cacophony, absurdity, morose, sadness, freakiness, vastness, whimsy.

What were your original aspirations as musicians and how do you think you’re shaping up?

 I don’t think I’ve ever done a good job of having a specific aspiration or goal, other than to explore and make music that challenges yet has lots of friendly points of access. This project is perhaps a bit obtuse compared to that goal, but it’s also easier to listen to than some of the rock music I’ve been making with the band the Miami Dolphins. I think I’m doing decently.

Some self help questions for a Monday: 

Am I excited to dive into the challenges that i have lined up for the week?

I have already begun the dive. Sometimes I’m hungry and I’m eager to eat some spoonfuls of oatmeal, and sometimes the oatmeal appears mediocre and I’m struggling to put the last spoonfuls it into my mouth.

Am I looking forward to engaging with the people i am meeting or working with?

I am generally comforted by the large array of people I spend my Mondays around – a whole cacophony of library goers and library staff in a busy downtown library building. I work with a lot of compassionate people with big and divergent personalities.

Am I going to my dream job?

No. It’s a job I like and feel useful in, though.

Am I being compensated fairly for the value i bring to my job?

No. I am underpaid as a library worker who helps out with various social service things on a daily basis.

Do I feel energised, rested, and confident?

Today I’m tired! But feeling sure of what I’m doing.

Your doctor says you need more exercise….what do you take up for exercise?

Forestry and habitat restoration. Cross country skiing. Swimming. Surfing?

What was the first electronic record you heard and how did it make you feel?

Super Mario Brothers soundtrack – inspired by what minimalistic composing could achieve

Virgin Suicides soundtrack – sad and ethereal vibe

Kraftwerk’s Autobahn – kinda good

How does your brain work when making music? How does it work when you aren’t?

Generally I feel honed in, and my brain is focused on constructing something, similar to when I’m doing a remodeling project or something

What were the first and last records you bought?

Chumbawamba – Tubthumping

Carpet Coccoon by Iceblink

What are you obsessed with at the moment?

Fly fishing and fly tying

What’s your answer to everything?

Love, consideration, building connection and understanding

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