song: mallspace
comma
by timlo
ok, first give me the ruff stuff - who r u, how old r u, what do u do when not doing music (this is getting pretty interrogativ, hehehe) etc.
And behold, I am Matt Wight and I am 19 years old. I just moved back up to Portland, OR to go school. It's great up here. When not making music I am hanging out in the city with my friends, reading one of the billions of magazines I bought this week, studying, masturbating. The usual really.
so for how long have u been doing music?
Hmm that is a tough one. Seems like a long time now. Days on days on days... It has probably been 2 or 3 years. I first got into it when I had this friend who was using his computer to multitrack guitar parts. We collaborated on this song, ripping off tons of samples from the internet. I had so much fun, I decided to keep on, so I have.
what equipment, hard/software do u use
For a long time I used Buzz exclusively. Buzz is nice for a tracker in that you can sequence effects. Unfortunately, it has limited support for stereo, no MIDI capabilities that I know of, and just doesnt sound to great with out a major struggle. So, I am in a transition phase, attempting to get into Cubase. It's and awesome program with incredible capabilities but the learning curve is a bit steep. I am starting to figure it out tho. The song that accompanies this interview was done entirely with Cubase and Sound Forge. I actually think that Sound Forge is the best tool when you want to get a really high tech sound. I used that to d/reconstruct all my loops. I also have a CZ-101 and an MC-303 which I can now use to input notes via MIDI.
why do you do music? i mean, you could do paintings or get drunk....
I do get drunk! I'm a big fan! Oh yeah... music... I find music so fascinating in every aspect. I am especially into the production end of it, what happens in a studio. It has also grown into a great way to express myself. Initially, it was kind of just fucking around and making noises for fun, now I have gotten it to the point where I can really capture my mood. It's also really satisfying to sit back and listen to your track and think, "Damn B, this shit is hella tight and I made it." It's strokes my hulking ego.
you do music under two monikers, COMMA and KLUNKO - what's the story behind this, what's the difference between them?
Well, it works like this: When I first started making tracks back in the dizzay, I recorded only under the name Klunko. Of course, these were my first tracks so they were kind of poor. One day I just kind of realized that most of that music was wanky, directionless, and just plain not to palatable to the masses. I realized that I wanted to sound hi-fi not lo-fi and I wanted the largest amount of people possible to enjoy my music. Oh yeah, and I wanted to be funky. In a fit of inspiration, I climbed a large mountain in Japan and met a really really old sage. He was stting in his little sage teepee thing or whatever and I said, "Master, I want to conquer the world with my music". And he leaned forward and said one word: "Comma". And the rest is history.
....But, Klunko lives on. I thought I was just going to ditch him but I found myself wanting to make fun, weird experimental music. So I brought Klunko back to life. Klunko is crazy, noisy, usually with tons of random samples tossed into the mix. Comma is deep lush melodic hip hop influenced electronic badassness.
what music do you listen to, what music influenced you and btw, giv me your alltime top10
Damn, you shouldn't have asked...
Well, as cliche as this is, what first got me into electronic music was going to raves and dancing and being really high and all that. I used to listen to a lot of trance actually and I think the euphoric element of that music finds its way into my tracks. And my love of pure synthetic sounds probably comes from there to. My all time favorite dance music is and was jungle music. And I really do mean jungle, not drum and bass. I like raw speedy breakbeat madness. I like a lot of the older tracks from Jungle Sky Records a lot and T-Power.
From there I got into experimental electronics. Mu-Ziq was the first artist to really turn me on to this style. From there it was all the greats like Aphex Twin, LFO, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Plaid, Bola, Cylob. I like a lot of stuff of the Warp, and Skam labels. I used to like Rephlex but they have gotten pretty lame these days. In fact experimental electronic music in general is getting a little too sarcastic for its own good these days. Its like sincerity is too uncool or somehting. I blame it on and indie rock invasion. I do like some newer artist a lot tho, like Hrvatski and Funkstorung. Those two are genius.
As mentioned above, I also enjoy a lot of hip hop. I like artists like Del the Funky Homosapien (and Hieroglyphics in general), the Grouch, of course the legendary Tribe Called Quest, Jurassic 5, Dilated People, Ming and FS. I like MCs who dont suffer from shiny suit syndrome, who talk about life as it is, not about Benleys and Benjamins. I do feel that the actual music in a lot of hip hop tracks is really repetitive and simple, and I sometimes try to kind of push it to another level with Comma. There are some producers who have gotten above this like Roots Manuva, DJ Shadow, and Timbaland, even Dre. I actually really like Timbaland, whether that is cool or not. He makes funky-ass pop rap.
Um, I listen to other music too...
Ok so lets rap it up with a quick top 10:
1) A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
2) Mu-Ziq - Lunatic Harness
3) This is Jungle Sky Volume 1
4) Del - Future Development
5) Bola - Soup
6) Squarepusher - Hard Normal Daddy
7) Souls of Mischief - '93 Till Infinity
8) Plaid - Not for Threes
9) Boards of Canada - Music has the Right to Children
10) The Grouch - Don't Talk to Me
how would you describe your own music?
Kind of answered this above. I think my music is beat oriented and funky while always retaining a firm sense of melody. At my best, I think I balance the expermintal and the poppy of aspects of music so that the song is creative while being pleasant as well. Of course, I really cant say what my music is like since I am so close to it. I cant be objective.
how did you get in touch with the metempsychosis krew?
They put up a call for artists on the old Buzz mailing list and I sent them an old track. For some reason they liked it and we've been together ever since.
how do you work together? is there like exchange between the artists? or is it mere a like platform to release your music?
There is definitely an exchange between the artists. We compete with each other and compliment each other all the time. We help each other with technical aspects a lot too. Metem is very dear to my heart, and I really dont think my music would have grown to the point it has if it weren't for thier feedback and encouragement. Props to the Metem Kru!
any plans on releasing your stuff other than over the net?
Yeah, I am learning about music theory right now and taking piano lessons so I figure by the end of the year my music will finally have really come into its own. I plan to send out demos then to a select group of labels.
do you get a lot of reactions to your traks?
Yes and no. At this point I really only share my tracks with my friends by burining CDs for them. These CDs always get a lot of feedback for me, almost all of it positive. I also get feedback from the internet. Altho I do sort of wish I got more in depth feedback instead of just, "This is good." Not that I dont like that comment too!
and finally: what is your favourite colour
Blue, totally.
comma website