OUR BLOG
Hello fellow music lovers, we're very excited to be here today to show you into the mind of the articulate and mesmerizing Futexture who brings us his interpretation of the vibrations and sounds that characterize our world into a swirling mixture of beauty, thought and feeling channeled into audible bliss. Read about how his mind creates his "exploration of (trans)personal experience through sound" and delivers it to our auditory receptors (our ears people) and watch out for his performances intermittently throughout the week!
Swaager: You've spoken before about how the intentions of an artists are infused into a piece during its creation and how an audience can pick up on this vibrational message when observing/listening to the finished piece. What are some pieces of feedback you've received regarding your latest LP, The Science of How Things Unfold. Does this feedback align with your intentions during creation of the music or does the feedback open up undiscovered topics?
Thats a great question. Its always so interesting to see how people respond to any kind of stimulus, but its especially intriguing when you're so involved in bringing it into fruition. I've found that in general, the feedback I've gotten regarding the overall nature of the music is pretty in line with my intention for it; however, the specific imagery that people have mentioned regarding their experience with individual songs is all over the place and definitely very subjective - thats one of the best parts though, the music is just a seed, and how it grows is very much up to the person experiencing it.
Creating music is somewhat of an expression of my gratitude for the experiences and awareness (beautiful but quite limited due to the fact I'm a human) I have, and the connections I've cultivated to nature, spirit, and music itself. Its a bit of a feedback loop in a way. If you look in a dictionary, music is usually defined as "sound organized in time." I think its pretty narrow minded to assume that the only sound that is organized in time is the kind that humans make up. Sound is innately organized in time and music exists everywhere, always, all the time - even the music we can't hear with our ears. I'm music, you're music, the universe is music. Its just a matter of scope and reference. So when I say I'm channeling my own experience into music, I'm really just condensing what I perceive to be music already into something more easily accessible. Intention is really just the first step in the process though, its nothing without follow through. I think thats where feedback is really important - its the only way to see how effective the process I've been utilizing has been in expressing my original intent.
Its been really beautiful to see how people are perceiving the album, especially since its actually pretty far away from the vision I have in my head. The technical process has its limitations, and its all about figuring out ways to get closer to directly transducing whats in my head into audible sound. Writing this though, I'm finding myself a little bit self conscious about including quotes from the feedback I've gotten. I guess I don't like to feel like I'm gloating since the responses have been so positive… but since you asked.... A review on the utz.com says "Every once in a while, an artist comes along who is deftly able to capture what it means to be connected with the sounds they are creating, weaving a connective thread between source and terminus" … Its very validating to feel that the motivations and intentions in my head and heart are actually tangible to others via sound.
Its also been pretty surreal to receive positive feedback from artists I've looked up to for years. Jamie Watts (Kilowatts) has been very supportive since we first met about 2 years ago, and his music one of the main inspirations that got me started producing electronic music 5 or 6 years ago in the first place. Jamie had this to say about the album: "Its chock full of surprises. David Krantz is creating some incredibly detailed and lush atmospheres, fusing together a strong musical ear and razor sharp sound design." It definitely makes me feel like I'm on the right track. Its all very full circle feeling, but the music is still really just in the beginning stages too.
An interesting bit of feedback I got was from a friend who is generally into heavier and harder music. He told me that he hit a "rough patch" during a psychedelic adventure and for whatever reason decided to put on some of my music. He said it smoothed out his trip and ended up listening to it for a few hours, and then later finished his night up with some Bach. When you're in a hyper sensitive state like that, the underlying energetic properties of whatever you experience are magnified pretty intensely, and music can have a pretty powerful interaction. Music can act as either an chaotic antagonist or a recalibration mechanism for the psyche, and on psychedelics those qualities are more amplified and more tangible than during ordinary consciousness.
As I said earlier though, people's interpretations of specific songs have been really intriguing to hear about. One friend said that the track "Nightmares and Friendly Tigers" brought to mind images of being on a tropical island. I was actually inspired by a dream that had nothing to do with tropical islands, so that definitely opens up some undiscovered territory. Its ultimately up to you to experience it exactly as you will…
You've mentioned in the past that your musical inspiration can be equated to yourself serving as, "an antenna," for musical ideas. Expand on this point and paint us a picture of a time you've been fully immersed in this reception of inspiration.
Well at some level I feel like our brains really are more like antennae in general than independent thought generators. We're constantly filtering visual, auditory, tactile, and more subtle information and organizing it in a way that seems to make sense. The thoughts and feelings we have are so heavily dependent on where we are, what we're doing, and what we're interacting with that its a bit uncanny. For instance, I'm quite sure I wouldn't be answering this question exactly as I am if I wasn't typing this naked in a bed in a hotel in Denver, Colorado right now.
Nikolai Tesla, who was one of the most tuned-in humans to exist in the last century wrote extensively about how he felt as though he was an 'automaton', and that he never really made an independent decision his entire life. It brings up some pretty heavy questions about free will, but similarly I think that music exists with or without someone there to put it into tangible vibratory form audible to the human ear. Take for example Mozart who was able to perceive fully finished symphonies and concertos in his head. It was just a matter of writing them down. He was a musical antennae tuned directly into the cosmic symphony. I think it speaks heavily to the concept of 'going with the flow'. Not in the sense of throwing everything to the wind and forgoing one's responsibilities like that phrase is generally interpreted as, but more in the sense of being able to tap directly into the ever-present flow of universal consciousness, learning how to understand and interpret that awareness, and then going with that flow.
I'm not a savant like that by any means, but sometimes I will have moments of inspiration where layers upon layers of sound just exist in my head. Brief glimpses of understanding that go far beyond my physical body and localized mind. Those moments are so humbling and awe inspiring that I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try to share them through music. Its simply the most direct way I know to express these experiences.
To give you a specific example, take the song Spiraling Inward off "The Science of How Things Unfold." Sometime in the fall last year I went camping in a place called the high mountain meadows near Hot Springs, NC. I hadn't consumed any marijuana in about 2 months, and decided I would smoke a little bit that night. Althought typically the effects are pretty mild, if you take a long break like that, it can be very psychedelic, especially when combined with a lengthy meditation session beforehand. So I took one good hit, and the only way I can describe it was I spiraled inward for the next 2 hours or so. The constant sound of frogs and crickets became a symphonic exposition that augmented my altered state, effervescently bubbling up into triumphant chord changes and alternatively bursting into cacophonous growls of unearthly sounds. The ambience of crickets in that track was recorded during this experience, and the rest of the track is the later interpretation of that experience. Most of the tracks I write have nothing to do with drug related experiences, but this was one of the more tangible and easy to describe moments of inspiration. Often times it is much more abstract than that. I am very interested in altered states of consciousness though, and I do draw alot of inspiration from dreams, meditation, and other 'anomalous' states of awareness. Paying attention to your mind when you're asleep can lead to some very interesting realizations and gnostic downloads of information. Its pretty difficult to explain with words, but that's why I do it with music.
How are you currently pushing and expanding your limits as a musician? Is there anything in particular in which you are experimenting with?
Its a constant growth process. Right now I'm looking at revamping my live set-up completely. I have a Quneo controller on order right now, and as soon as I get it, I'll be working to create a much more interactive live set. I'm pretty excited to play around and see what happens.
I've been traveling the last month and a half, so I haven't written any music, so instead I've been working on my acoustic chops and have been playing a good bit of mandolin. I'm a string player who spends too much time on the computer. I love electronic music because of the precision it allows, but I've always loved the improvisational aspect of music too. I'm really pushing myself to figure out how to apply improvisation more to my live show. I've got some cool ideas, but its also going to take a good bit of gear…
You have a large collection of self-recorded water samples; from where are some of your favorite samples from and why are those locations important to you? What other elemental samples would you like to capture for future work?
The recordings I took of Iguazu falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina are some of my favorites in terms of a large waterfall. Its the biggest waterfall in the world by volume, and one of the most beautiful places on earth. Rainbows are formed all over the place from the resulting sprays and the sound is tremendous.
I'm also especially fond of a particular sample from Upper Falls in Morganton, NC. Its of a little trickle from a side stream that has such a fantastic gurgling and popping sound.
I just took a sample of a geyser at Yellowstone a few days ago, so I'm pretty excited to play around with that. It has a really neat pulsing quality to it…
To answer your second questions, I'm not sure how safe or practical it would be, but the idea of recording a large wildfire seems pretty cool to me.
How was your Symbiosis 2012 experience?
It was pretty fantastic. It was my first festival experience on the west coast, and I felt very fortunate to be there. Met some very cool and interesting people, saw some amazing art, and heard some great music. I got to play a set at the Tribe 13 art gallery dome, which was alot of fun, and the Tipper downtempo sundown set on Funktion 1's was indescribable. Some other musical highlights for me were Max Cooper, Rena Jones, Welder, Kalya Scintilla, Bird of Prey, and Thriftworks.
Talk to us about your recent addition to Re:Evolution and what does this move mean for you?
Its been really a huge blessing to have been added to this family of musical visionaries. Its growing every day, and the best part is that everyone involved is doing what they do because they truly love it. Theres a real focus on music and art as a catalyst for healing and personal development, and not just for making money. This is my first time being part of an agency, so its really a nice change for me to be able to just focus on creating music and not have to worry about booking. Its wonderful to have someone behind me who really believes in what I'm doing, and is willing to spend time and energy emailing and making phone calls on my behalf. Theres a lot of work that goes in behind the scenes to set up shows. I'm really excited to be able to share my art and vibration with more people because of it.
You will be attending Sonic Bloom 2012 in Georgetown, CO as well as playing some rouge sets there. Which performers are you most excited to see and why?
Well Tipper of course. He's a huge influence and his sound design is second to none. I'm pretty excited for Eskmo, Ott, and Zilla as well. The guys in Papadosio are good friends too so it'll be fun to hang out with them and check out their set. Also the Sonic Bloom Orchestra should be pretty cool.
Finally... we are compiling summer festival survival tips - what are some pieces of advice you can share with Swaager's readership?
Leave your aardvark at home. It may seem like a great idea and everyone might think you're super heady for having a way to clear ants out of your campsite, but its just not fair to bring exotic animals into the festival setting. They just have no idea how to respond to wompy bass at 4 AM. Yeah.. just leave your aardvark at home.
And check out his upcoming performances in CO! (Click on the link for more info)
6/26 Cervantes Electronic Tuesdays
6/30 Grassroots Flagship Store
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