song: lekt's dance
lektrogirl
by mikrosopht
The title of your album is I Love My Computer... Im stuck on my machine all day and I just cant feel the love. Its always treating me like a bitch, crackin the whip n such.
A good craftsman will never blame his tools,
so they say....
I just meant I get sucked into internet land and am unable to come out for days on end...
I know what you mean. I am the same - i check my mail first thing in the morning when i wake up and realise it is like 1pm and the whole morning has gone. there is always another url someone has given me i wanna check out or something.
If I had a Commadore 64 things would make more sense eh? I remember Goonies on that platform was a thrill...
Shit that game was brilliant. My sister was the best at it - she has always been better at computers than me i guess She got a job at Mc Donalds, then a job as a Cop, then she quit because she got sick of being punched in the boobs by all the criminals and wanted to become a horticulturalist, so she got a job in a video shop inbetween times and figured she was doing something right because all the girls from the video shop had better cars than her and then she changed her mind about being a gardener and as part of the management at a big cinema. She only has to sell popcorn sometimes....
anywho what makes you write in your lofi style?
my musical preferences. my sense of humour. it is the sounds of stuff i like. popcorn was the first track i ever really really loved. it says it all!! all the gaming i used to do with my little sister was based on the which games had the best music and we would play a crap game with wicked music over a better game with no music
Whata yur favorite track on ILMC? why?
i used to really like progressive euro track, which some american magazine actually included on their free sampler cd a few months ago - was it cmj - is that what it is called. it was all this bonkers grunge music from garages on it then mine jammed in the middle. i felt really out of place! I really like tear tear though. i understand if othr peole aren't gonna respomd to it in the same way - afterall the music is so personal anyway but i think tear tear is a really beautiful track. but it depends on my mood. some days i listen to the music and i think different tracks are amazing and i think - shit how did i come out with that? and then other times i lie in the bath feeling miserable listening to it thnking this is COMPLETE CRAP and i am soashamed. it was lush hearing the tracks when i did some sets a while ago in germany hearing it all on club speakers. i was quite impressed but terribly nervous.
How does the ILMC fit into your plans as an artist?
artist? if i was to put it into the context of 'art' then i would say i employ a lot of the same idea that i like to use in other fields (photography or painting) firstly question 'what is music' for example (or 'what is photography' 'what is art' - those eternal questions that easily make people appear like they have their head up thir own arse if they go around telling people what they think of it), like not all electronic music is dance music and 'what is dance music'. also use the materials that are available - the whole album was composed on one keyboard with a built in sequenver and taped onto a walkman tape on my little sisters stereo that is so shit that you have to bang on it to keep the volume working. and then the album was mastered from that.
No Rap No Rock: definately your easiest listen on ILMC.
oh do you think so??
the hook sinks deep =]
thankyou - do you like the video? Arthur Baker's girlfriend is one of the 'fairies' and i am the dancing red girl with the wig.....
I cant help but smile when I think of that vid. I love it when you travel to the moon to bug out. The whole vid has a strong sense of a Macromedia flash presentation. thatd be one kewl web site to navigate, plinkin fairies around and shit. hehe. and the kiss travel marks / heart are a nice touch too! Looks like more time went into your vid than bogdans latest (reminded me of Blur).
i think bog made his himself. mine was two days in a virtual reality studio for me and then the guy who made it - Nick Phillips - who is an old friend that just wanted to make a video because he was putting a show reel together (he has just made a skateboarding movie of some tour around europe and Cylob has done some music). He spent a lot longer doing it - it took him ages. The ideas are his for the video.
when you made this song what were you thinking? MC Hammer praying?
ha ha ha. no it was all about this sticker i saw on the rear window of a car as i sat and waited for the bus in hobart where i am from. it has a picture of a kite on it and said HOFM No Rap No Rock as the stations slogan. The tasmanian stations are all rad in that they are all so rotten. there is a station that is perfect for driving around the dtate call 7TAB which is horse racing results and what i would call 'Nam Music - like America - Horse with no name and 10CC and that Hotel Claifornia Song. that kind of stuff.
In all honesty I too loved MC Hammer circa Please Hammer Don't Hurt Him and onto Too Legit To Quit, even wanted a pair of those hammer pants... course you're going back to cali and ready to push it as well. How do you think these influences play into your music?
I actually think that they are all good songs. How they influence me i don't know. But often when i was younger i would buy a record just because i liked one little sound used in the production or a nice chorus or something. Push it was amazing - these girls rapping and it was such a wicked song. It still makes people dance. I used to think the lyrics though that go TOP POP SHOW were HOT POT SHOW until my little sister pointed it out...
which would you prefer?
top pop makes more sense when you stop to think about it and i really hate hot pot - mum used to make it all meaty vegetabley watery slops. blurgh!! perhaps for the strip clubs there should be a HOT SLIT SHOW - now push it!
Ok Im really curious on how your album was made: how did you and rephlex interact in creating ILMC?
I made a tape of music for my own entertainment and no other reason on a keyboard i had borrowed from someone. I sent the tape to my friend ed dmx - it had the first six tracks on it from the album i think - definatly the first four - kind of as a stupid joke - like you make music well so do i - not thinking much of it - just as a laugh really but he rang me back (i was living in australia at the time) and said he was going to release it if grant at rephlex didn't want to but he wanted to know if it was okay to play it to grant because he thought it was lush and he though grant would like it too. in the meantime i had continued writing more tracks and gave a whole tape of them to grant when i got here for a holiday and he released all of them but two.
What kind of general guidelines are there when creating an album?
I'm no expert. but i hate those skits on rap album particularly when they have bits that are meant to sound like there are a room full of people fucking as if the releasing rap star is a super lover. so my advice is don't make any of those. i also think don't take it too seriously. and about 30-40 minutes is long enough for an album. any longer than that and i get bored of it -i never hear the end of albums except if they are truely lush.
So a 40 minute Juicy Luke Vibert track just wouldnt do it for ya?
i have a short attention span.
when/where/why did you get started?
i met all these people in england who for them making music was their life and they seemed real happy doing it and laughing all the time. i could keep up with talk about records and stuff though but when it came to technical information like compression or reverb i didn't know what all that stuff was and so i got left behind in the conversation. so when i went back to tasmania for a little while i enrolled in a studio engineering course and learnt some stuff. i got picked on by all the boys for being a girl. and for being a girl that didn't were a skirt. and for being cleverer than all of them.
Whats the most important thing for aspiring pro artists to remember?
it is more important to sound like yourself than your favourite artist and that i am no pro!! Keep your ears open and listen to everything in the world
Whats on your playlist right now?
I was listening to busta rhymes while i did this but my favourite stuff at the moment is a german white label album by a group called C2064 which with an atari do cover versions of different tracks. My favourite is Smells like Teen Spirit which is brilliant in the new computer style. They are playing a gig in hamburg soon that i am djing at and i am secretly thrilled to be seeing them play. I also like the album of another guy called Ill-Young Kim - the album is called Spielzeug (translates as 'plaything') He is a presenter on german tv for viva. it is a wicked album with a really cool picture of him on the front as a kid with aposter of superman. I really like Cylob's stuff. I love Missy Elliot. I also love a bit of guitar stuff like AC/DC and The Cult and Carcass for variety. I bought a Best of Motley Crue the other day. In the past few days i have been listening to Sabrina, Vulva (Another Rephlex artist) a german pop track called Techno Disco (a Thoman P. Heinkmann remix) umm what else, ESG from New York, some old Library Music froma friends record collection - you know back ground music for news reports and advertisments and things.
coooool vinyl =] love that shit. also you dig Bogdan? I couldnt stop saying black/belt for the longest time.
I was saying 'mathematics strikes back' for like EVER. Bogdan is a friend of mine. he actually shared a house with my ex boyfriend who made the web site and his bedroom was next to antoines and we would wake up at 8 am listening to some loop bogdalina was working on and then we would go to sleep that night listening to the same bloody loop. It would drive me mental!!!!! I love Bogadan's music though (when it is finished). Sometimes when i get lonely i listen to the music my friends make and i don't feel so lonely because they are singing away on my stereo. it is a nice feeling.
try this: take some vinyl (expendable preferabble) and a knife (dull is fine). draw a line from the center out. play the record. yummy loops =] works really well with opera! mmmm hmmmm hours on end... la dee da
i think i would actually like to listen to bogdan making music more!!! Have you seen his web site - no i know you have because i've seen you post messages there. Though he has never admitted it to anybody, i suspect he makes the whole site himself and writes half the comments on there himself and most of it is bullshit I am sure.
well what about jq (the moderator)? he seems pretty real to me =] or is that just an aka? you seem to like conspiracy theories?
i'm sworn to secrecy
What does the future look like for Lektro Girl?
It is just plain Lektrogirl actually though sometimes i draw it as twowords.
oops. heh heh...
I am having too much boyfriend and exboyfriend trouble for my own good. I have material for another album but i am feeling kind of shy to give it to grant at rephlex in case he doesn't like it and i would feel like a geek. I am playing gigs in Hamburg and Berlin in a month and a half and djing a bit around london. I would like to do some vocals on tracks next.
hey cool we could do an old school rap track on it and I could be snow and you could be hammer! we down?
No i want you to be Vanilla Ice and do that really unsmooth dancing style in a waistcoat.
what do you think of that village voice work they did on you?
In truth i nearly peed my pants. Firstly in that article i thought - 'wow i'm being talked about with all the grown ups!' - like i felt like i had been included amongst what i see as the 'proper' rephlex artists, this hasn't really happened before. then i read this sentence and nearly weed myself all over again without my pants drying out of the first time and thought 'wow i'm being talked about with the really big people like FOR REAL' and then i emailed the article to my mum and my exboyfriend and my kind of new 'boyfriend' and my best friend and everybody else on the block....
Which artists need to be heard more in the future?
I have no idea. i would like to see a friend of mine called Boublinka released. He makes beautiful music. I just bought this record today - a ten inch - called Mein Kleines Pony which is ten tracks written on a yamaha portasound by a guy in Gemany. It is really nice.
Whaddaya think of the www.rephlex.com web site? add to the image or lazy? =]
I like it. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by the image though - like your definintion of who rephlex are is gonna be completely different to mine. the rephlex office is pretty small - there are only a few people running it. they have a lot to do already. but they are also pretty much no bullshit people - why say 100 words with flshy gaphics when just one will do. well this isjust my opinion. i like their style. or i wouldn't be with them you know what i mean.
gotcha. funny the first time I went to the site I thought Id gone to the wrong url, but seriously it does make sense (I really like your 100 words illustration ;). rephlex is 100% no bs. that alone makes it quite the desirable label eh? Id give an arm and a leg to get on there (since I have one more of each) maybe even toss in some extra toes and fingers to sweeten the deal... yeah...
If it took an arm and a leg to get on rephlex there would be a pile of limbs a mile high outside their office. it surprises me that it is SO desirable and I got on it you know. like HOW THE FUCK DID I MANAGE THAT? I did not have to give up any part of my body or booty to get signed by the way.
What do electro nooze readers need?
hmmm.... a few of them probably need to get out and meet some girls without a digital interface and maybe there are some girls who need to take their glasses off and get out into the sun and i guess they all need to feed their taste for music.
Id just like to take this moment to say my weekends are internet free and reserved for my fiances enjoyment. thank you. always trying to find good food to feed my music monster is nice too =]
I am the nerdy girl who can hardly read without her glasses and fails to recognise friends unless they wrestle her to he ground becuse she's so blind and glued to something else....
Does your ex-boyfriend set-up lektrogirl.com domain move help your relationship or will you always just love your computer?
he set up the web site as a belated birthday present. his nick name is slow mo. he had been emailing m y mum and everything to extra photos for it. i cried when i saw it. i had started seeing some one else and he had continued with the web site despite eveything. I love my cat Brendan the most though. more than any boyfriend.
thats one happy cat
mum was telling me this morning he had an abscess on his head and she had to squeeze all the pus out. I guess he weren't too happy then....
arent pre peeled oranges just creepy shit?
like SO WAY YES
like so no way! I really love pre peeled oranges. a lot. they are yummy yummy! hehehe
you are a funny guy ben. you make me laugh!!!
are you going to name a tune pre peeled oranges?
not even
Ive never had a pre peeled orange.
i never bought one to eat but have had it in fruit salad that my mum has made but that doesn't really count. orange and bana eaten together tastes like vomit. try it.
rephresh my memory: why do I want to taste vomit again? thanks. but if you meant banana and orange Ive had an orange julias that was alright ya know? those shakes can mix up anything and itll taste good. Its like superman ice cream.
no it was an accident - a bit of orange, then a bite of banana - or was it the other way around. i used to work in a restaurant and we did a drink called breakfast in a glass and it was a glass of orange juice, a banana, a teaspoon of honey, a tablespoon of wheatgerm and three of plain yogurt. once it is all blended and smooth it is totally rad and does not taste of vomit.
What do you prefer and why: hardware or software?
i like it all. but i am not a proper computer nerd. i would like to be though but i don't have too much patience.
CDs or MP3s?
it makes me sad to know people are making files of music and burning cd's and breaking copyright law and all that when i know that often the people making the music aren't getting a lot out of it anyway. but at the same time it is kind of like the way things are isn't it. i like minidiscs actually.
Id like minidiscs too if I had money, therefore listening to mp3s is what I do usually. and if I dig the music I buy the cd. I think theres something there that record labels should see as a positive side on the mp3 front or something.
yeah i know. i'd be lying if i said i never recorded a friends albums or whatever to cassette in the good ol' days but as part of the music biz i don't wanna go around advocating criminal behaviour now. i learned the error of my wayz.
a peanut butter and jelly or vegemite sandwhich?
i really hate sandwiches like that. and even more i hate salad rolls that have been sitting in your lunch box all day. though i like foccacia bread or turkish bread. and i like toasted sandwiches. i like toated ham and cheese sandwiches or cheese and chutney that my mum makes A LOT. Vegemite on toast is pretty good. I only had peanut butter and jam once and hatd it, i also tried mixing cream cheese on it as well and that was even more rank. my dad loves sandwiches though. he eats mashed pumpkin and chocolate cake or chips and peas or something in a sandwich. he loved bread and butter. i prefer hummous to butter.
pig guys or guy pigs?
ohh i don't understand - i'm all confused
sorry must be just us wankers slang =] let me rephrase: slutty men or male pigs?
i'd like a slutty male pig thanks. oink oink. sorry now i am just being perverse.
Las words?
if you wanna ask me anymore stuff feel free. i'll be more than happy to.
On it! =] Keep it comin if you like we can write a book! heh heh
yeah we can call it Lektrosopht or Mikrogirl. Hey I really like mikrogirl - i think AM DEFINATELY GONNA CALL A TRACK THAT
Good luck and thanks emma! keep on rokin!
yeah, rock 'n' rock some more
lektrogirl website