Track By Track: Mattheis – Kindred Phenomena
Nous'klaer Audio are a very interesting label at present. Based in Rotterdam they have slowly but surely been releasing records and establishing a pedigree for well produced, electronic music with a melodic sensibilities. The latest release is an LP from Mattheis who has had many appearances on the label previously. However, this is by far his most accomplished to date. Kindred Phenomena could very easily have slipped under the radar, and that would of been a terrible shame as it is quite possibly one of the most beautifully melodic records to surface this year. We let him explain the coming together of the album for Ransom Note:
Herds
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
Spring
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
From the studio I look out across a large courtyard. I remember it was Spring, the whole place filled in green, and a jumble of birds were singing real loud, trying to overpower one another. Still it was like listening to a symphony. With "Herds" I feel this is similar. All individual elements slowly shape up to a whole that in the same time can be experienced as very chaotic and disorganized, but the moment you would take one single track out, the whole arrangement would collapse like a house of cards. When I just finished Herds, I listened to it quite often while cycling alongside the river "De Rotte", just outside the city of Rotterdam. I always feel like you can hear different elements come together within this track, and a good way to experience this is while listening to it outside, surrounded by greenery.
Ben_m (Tidal Fields Version)
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
I think that where the Original Mix is more of the storm, the Tidal Fields Version is the calm before it. No season excluded.
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
It was the original mix of Ben_m that inspired me to do the Tidal Fields Version. It took me an awful lot of time to finish the original mix. I spent months listening to it over and over again, and I got to a point where I got so fed up with it that I could not hear it anymore. At the other hand I felt a natural desire to finish the track, so in the meantime I finished the Tidal Fields Version, gained confidence to finish the Original Mix, and Ben_m was there.
Ben_m
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season:
I think all seasons relate to the track. For me at least. It took so long for me to finish this track, so ik mijn associaties gaan het hele jaar door. If I had to pick one I would say winter matches best.
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
For me Ben_m is the one track that basically has been the foundation for this album. I think it is fair to say that the whole album pretty much evolved around this track. As for the inspiration for Ben_m I think this goes back to periods from my childhood, when my parents repeatedly played this Most Spectacular Synthesizer Hits cd. I still think "To The Unknown Man" is one of the best synth-oriented tracks I heard in my childhood. To make the connection to the press-text I think this is the best track for driving from the city to the island. I have never done it, but hopefully wil do it one day.
Bit Fragments
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
The track finds its origin in Spring. It has this uncontrollable, though organised characteristics that I often associate with Spring.
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
Bit Fragments derived from a period in 2015 when I was listening to Terry Riley a lot. I was invited to do a live performance at the World Minimal Music Festival in Amsterdam, where Terry was the special guest. A friend of mine left his modular kit at my place, and this track was instantly born. I don not quite remember where I was when I came up with the idea for this track. The track is definitely best to be listened to on some proper headphones, in your most comfortable chair, with as little as possible sensory stimuli around. I still do that sometimes, really calms me down.
Swell
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
Autumn
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
There is not one particular piece of music or experience for this one I think. I just found myself in the studio one day and the track just arose. I endeavor to make my tracks interesting with as little as possible. Metric-wise my tracks do not make any sense, but I like the recordings themselves to be the cause of what the track is going to be like. Especially with Swell this was the case. I can imagine people thinking this should definitely be listened to in a club, but myself I would rather listen to this at home. Desirable on a proper sound system. In my opinion the track is too empty to be heard in a club, you would hear people chatting and miss out on the hi-hats.
PR6
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
Summer. PR6 for me has this discreet flow that just carries on, almost like a long summer day that just doesn't end.
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
The track arose from a recording I did of a bassline I played. It was an eight-minute recording, but in the end only fifteen seconds were used. The fading in of the synthlines is something that I often experience as both slightly irritating and interesting at the same time. For me this is one of the main reasons I think the track is interesting to listen to both in a club and anywhere else. I still recall the moment when I told Sjoerd (Nous'klaer) that I felt 7:38 was the best part about the whole track, and he burst into laughter.
PR8
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
Winter
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
The idea for PR8 arose from a desire to produce a track while focussing on the absence of a bassdrum, and where synthlines predominate. It was only five minutes in that I felt like a bassdrum should be part of the arrangement. I still feel that bassdrums are often distracting from, at least what in my opinion is the essential part of music, especially in electronic music. I like listening to this track the best when I'm walking through the city, when there seems to be a perfect balance between listening to the music and keeping track of everything around you. Anything faster than walking will either get you involved in an accident or not listening to the music I guess.
Current
Colour/s What colour most relates to the track?
Season: What season most relates to the track?
Summer
Inspiration: What was the inspiration behind the track’s creation, was it another piece of music, some other experience etc?
The original recordings for Current where merely percussion recordings. While making the track there was this natural urge – that I never seem to be able to escape from – to add synthlines, and eventually I decided to cut all percussion recordings. From that point of view, working on this track was a real experience itself. The recording I did on an old Fostex cassette recorder. The same deck was used to do the stereo to mono conversions at the beginning and the end of the track. The funny thing about Current is that I think this is the one track from the album that might be even better when listened to on a very low quality sound system. One time I played the original recording from cassette of an old car's audio system, which was just a phenomenal experience. Different from any hifi system.
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