luke vibert STEVE BECKETT-It's all music for Warp label ( Interview)

STEVE BECKETT

It's all music for Warp label

By SUZANNAH TARTAN

Special to The Japan Times

Warp, home to sonic pioneers such as Aphex Twin, and Boards of Canada is arguably the most influential electronica label in the world. But don't tell Warp founder Steve Beckett. For Beckett, who began the label with now deceased partner Rob Mitchell in a Sheffield record store in 1989, genre, and in particular "electronica," is an irrelevant concept.

Indeed, asked to name a few albums currently crowding his desk, Beckett comes up with an eclectic list, including recent releases by Americana group Lampchop and Argentine tango accordionist Astor Piazzola. Look a little closer at the Warp roster and the electronica label looks even farther off base. Yes, it continues to be a haven for artists that broadly fit under the electronica rubric -- the upcoming i-Warp events in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are an electronica smorgasbord featuring techno prodigy Jimmy Edgar and uberproducer Luke Vibert. But recent signings have been more all-embracing: Maximo Park makes bright pop rock, while Grizzly Bear's dark music owes much to postrock. As Beckett explains in a telephone interview from London with The Japan Times, Warp isn't about any one genre; it's about innovative music.

Ten years ago, if a kid wanted to make music in his bedroom, he was probably using a laptop and a sampler. Now he is probably using a guitar. What happened?

I don't think he is doing it with a guitar; I think he is doing it with his laptop and his guitar. I think what has happened is that music has come full circle. We went through a cycle where guitars were seen as very old and uninteresting. Everyone got interested in this new technology and computers and being able to make amazing sounds that they'd never been able to make before. And then that went full circle where everybody has heard everything there is to hear in terms of revolutionary sounds.

Warp label artists Maximo Park

I think Aphex Twin and Squarepusher have gone about as far as you can go in creating sounds you have never heard before. A lot of people followed them down that avenue and realized that they weren't able to do anything new. They have come back inside of themselves, back to making more personal, more organic.

People really weren't so concerned with song structure because they were so excited by the sounds they were hearing, and the sounds were so powerful they were overriding any need for a song. But now, because everything has been heard, things are going back to being more personal, which is always going to be that traditional song structure. . . . I think a thousand years from now, people are going to be listening to songs.

Where does that leave electronica? Is it a passe term?

It's passe to me. It was passe when I first heard it, which was at least 15 years ago. I never liked the term and I've never used it.

I am interested in individual artists that can express what is unique about themselves. I think people will still use electronic instruments and electronic ways of making music in the same way they can still use a tape machine or use a guitar, but the interesting bit is not what they use but how the use it.

But when Warp first started out, you focused on music that could be termed electronica -- technology-driven, very dance-oriented and not song-structured. How has Warp evolved from that initial focus?

It is like anything when you grow and develop -- you go through different stages. When we first started, that was the only music that was of any interest to me whatsoever.

We were selling rock, punk, dance music, metal and stuff like that at our shop. And then this revolutionary music came out -- acid house -- that wiped that floor with everything else. I just wanted to be involved with the most exciting music at that time, acid and then techno . . . Now, I just want to be involved in what excites me now, not what excited me 15 years ago.

Is there a common element among your artists that says, "this is a Warp band?"

I think most of the artists I deal with on the label have a maverick spirit. They aren't concerned about what other people are thinking or doing. They are creating their own world and letting people into it.

Sometimes I meet bands and they are very aware of what everybody else is doing, and they know what everybody else's releases are, and those aren't the sort of acts I am interested in. The ones I am interested in are the ones like Boards of Canada. I go up to visit them in Scotland and they are just in a unique space that isn't really effected or influenced by other people, or the media, or whatever else is going on in the world.

When you first started signing "guitar bands," did you get any flak from devoted followers of Warp, or was there an acceptance of that evolution?

No, we've always had flak for whatever signings we make, which is usually a good sign to me. The fourth record we ever put out was a hip-hop record by DJ Mink. When we put it out, people said, "How dare you put out a hip-hop record!" And we put out Vincent Gallo and people said, "How does that work?" If I'm putting out releases and people say, "That's exactly what I'd expect," then there is no point in doing what I am doing.

You've said the most interesting things going on in music are what is called "blend" music in Japan. Where do you think music might be going now?

There are so many "rock" bands in the U.K. now. It is a logjam, but for every Franz Ferdinand or Arctic Monkeys that goes crazy, there are a hundred acts selling two or three thousand copies. So you can already see the pendulum swinging back -- possibly with people this summer getting into the "dance rock" thing.

A lot of people are combining rock with rave music and house music and it's really influencing a lot of the rock acts. They just want to get up and party a bit more. We have a new !!! album coming out this year . . . and with other bands like LCD Soundsystem, and other DJs fusing the sound, it just feels like the pendulum is swinging back.

What effect has the Internet had on music in general and on Warp in particular?

It has completely revolutionized it. My Space [an online social network] has just completely changed the way people are listening to music, especially for new bands that aren't signed. They are getting to the point where they have a huge following, where you turn up to a gig and, instead of like it used to be five years ago when there were five people there, the place is totally packed out and everybody knows the songs -- and they haven't even got a record out.

The other way it has changed things is that artists have an unintimidating way to talk directly to other artists. Before, if an artist wanted to work with another artist, they had to get their manager to phone the record label to find out the name of the other person's manager and then speak to them and whoever was in the way would stop it from happening because it's not in their interest.

Do you see anything coming up on the horizon that hasn't been heard before?

I definitely don't see anything like the whole techno/acid house thing anywhere. There are loads of genres and sub genres that are still interesting, but I think the excitement is coming from the differences rather than massive revolutionary explosions. There are underground scenes building again on the dance side that are completely out of the media's eye: fusions of really dark drum 'n' bass and really happy breaks. But there is nothing coming up that is completely new to my ears. If there was, I'd be on a plane.

I-Warp, featuring Steve Beckett, LFO, Plaid, Luke Vibert, Jackson + his Computer Band and Jimmy Edgar, will be at Studio Coast (AgeHa), Tokyo on May 26, Fanj Twice, Osaka May 27 and Club Redix, Nagoya on May 28; all show start at 10 p.m. and 6,000 yen. For more information visit www.i-warp.com

this smiley accurately represents how i feel after reading that interview:

:sick:

  aphexvancouver said:

Everyone got interested in this new technology and computers and being able to make amazing sounds that they'd never been able to make before. And then that went full circle where everybody has heard everything there is to hear in terms of revolutionary sounds.

 

I think Aphex Twin and Squarepusher have gone about as far as you can go in creating sounds you have never heard before. A lot of people followed them down that avenue and realized that they weren't able to do anything new. They have come back inside of themselves, back to making more personal, more organic.

 

People really weren't so concerned with song structure because they were so excited by the sounds they were hearing, and the sounds were so powerful they were overriding any need for a song. But now, because everything has been heard, things are going back to being more personal, which is always going to be that traditional song structure. . . . I think a thousand years from now, people are going to be listening to songs.

That's a shame that he feels that way. Claiming that "everybody has heard everything there is to hear in terms of revolutionary sounds" is a very bold and naive statement I think. I wouldn't mind if the non electronic acts were actually interesting, but most of them are a bore.

I agree, electronic music is still the most interesting and inventive music around imo.

I also dont even believe that we have seen everything Aphex is capable of.

its interesting (and stupid) that he says it was all about the new sounds. yes it was about new sounds but that didnt mean the music was bad as he is inferring it was a great blend of the two.

  Quote

There are so many "rock" bands in the U.K. now. It is a logjam, but for every Franz Ferdinand or Arctic Monkeys that goes crazy, there are a hundred acts selling two or three thousand copies. So you can already see the pendulum swinging back -- possibly with people this summer getting into the "dance rock" thing.

I thought about this for a few months now, and I think this is really happening. More (danceable)beats for indie bands, which eventually goes to more electronica with a hint of rock/guitars. I'm sure of this, and then Warp Records is going to be so mainstream. Or not. But it's a fact; electronic music is taking over.

..

Why can't they keep doing Arcola? That's the most depressing part.

More (danceable)beats for indie bands, which eventually goes to more electronica with a hint of rock/guitars

err Stone Roses, Happy Mondays etc etc

I am sad to say that Warp , who I USE TO LOVE SO MUCH is coming to an end.....Rock and electronics is not new ...Jump - Van Halen again???? YUK!

Songs...who fuqin needs songs!!!! Madonna and Britney have songs ..I dont need some sad fucker singing to me I need modular synths, other worldy stuff to get away from the world, I need the abstract and THAT is what Afx, AUtechre do best!

A BILLION ARTISTS DO SONGS!!!!!!!!!!!

indie rock plus electronic beats... electronica plus indie guitars.

sounds ike he's not interested in innovation any more (despite his claims).. he sounds more interested in homogenisation.

i've heard more ground-breaking demos in the last year than warp have made major releases in the last five.

what the fuck does he mean there's nothing new to hear.. people were saying that after the renaissance... then after the baroque period had run it's course. and again when classical structures had become ingrained..

there has been more development in music in the last hundred years than ever before.

bear in mind that the structures and instrumentation of any clearly defned 'period' (ie.. renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic)... were ingrained, and lasted for like 100- 150 years.... look how much music has chang4ed for us in the last five years.

steve beckett speaks out of his anus i'm very much afraid.

  Quote

Everyone got interested in this new technology and computers and being able to make amazing sounds that they'd never been able to make before. And then that went full circle where everybody has heard everything there is to hear in terms of revolutionary sounds.

He talks sense.

You have to think back to 15 years ago.

When things like Quoth were coming out, people really hadnt heard stuff like that before.

But now everyone's got a laptop and a pirated copy of Ableton and electronica is being churned out in droves.

He's not saying electronic music is over, he's just saying its evolving. Pure wierd noises isn't so interesting any more (but thats not to say that some talented peeps can still _make_ it interesting). Song structures are starting to count more again. As is the sound of humans playing instruments with their hands. But theres still plenty of room for abtract electronic stuff as well.

And he's right, in 1000 years time, if there's still people, people will still be listening to songs.

Good music and good lyrics are a fantastically powerful combination, and will always be with us.

  Quote

And then that went full circle where everybody has heard everything there is to hear in terms of revolutionary sounds.

another thought:

He's not saying that every possible sound has been heard (that would be ridiculous)

but in the multi-dimensional space of possible sounds, much more has been mapped out now.

People will still find little niches and nuggets of new sound now and then

But the general space has been sketched out over the last decade or two. Now people are just exploring within the spaces that have been left between the paths of the pioneers.

what and everyone doesnt have a guitar?

of course songs will always be around but take Window licker as an example, that is a standard verse chorus track and it is so different to what anyone has done, and how many people have come up with that?

He talks sense.

maybe to you.

You have to think back to 15 years ago.

When things like Quoth were coming out, people really hadnt heard stuff like that before.

Don't be daft! Distorted/ring modulated beats have been popular for 40 years at least!

But now everyone's got a laptop and a pirated copy of Ableton and electronica is being churned out in droves.

True but that's allways been the case, wankers singing bad poems over shit guitar demos.

He's not saying electronic music is over, he's just saying its evolving. Pure wierd noises isn't so interesting any more (but thats not to say that some talented peeps can still _make_ it interesting)

Didn't he say aphex and squarepusher have done it as far as it will go or similar?

. Song structures are starting to count more again. As is the sound of humans playing instruments with their hands. But theres still plenty of room for abtract electronic stuff as well.

I agree a structure is good but it doesn't have to be a typical song structure, is Quoth a 'song structure'?

And he's right, in 1000 years time, if there's still people, people will still be listening to songs.

Good music and good lyrics are a fantastically powerful combination, and will always be with us.

Yes! you are right also! In a thousand years time everything will be how you and steve predict.

Yes! you are right also! In a thousand years time everything will be how you and steve predict.

ha ha :-)

  spaniel-ears said:

Don't be daft! Distorted/ring modulated beats have been popular for 40 years at least!

There more to Quoth than that. I'm talking about the idea of releasing a track thats beats and very little else. Ok probably that had been done before by some experimental outfit.... but what I'm trying to say is, 15 years ago the territory was more wide open, it was easier to come up with electronic stuff no one had heard. Now it is much harder.

  spaniel-ears said:

Didn't he say aphex and squarepusher have done it as far as it will go or similar?

He said that they have gone "about as far as you can go in creating sounds you have never heard before". That doesn't mean they've got nothing left to do. It just means that the space of possible sounds has been well explored.

  spaniel-ears said:

I agree a structure is good but it doesn't have to be a typical song structure, is Quoth a 'song structure'?

  spaniel-ears said:

Yes! you are right also! In a thousand years time everything will be how you and steve predict.

Look at it this way:

The head of a very interesting label gives and interesting interview about how he thinks music (or musical tastes) are changing. He knows a lot about music, he's followed the scene for a long time, and he's entitled to his opinion.

Everyone is entited to disagree with him too, but they should take care not to sound like a bunch of Aphex fanboys who can't handle the idea that there's more than one type of music in the world. Being into music isn't like supporting a football team.

The situation evolves all the time. Steve from Warp's tastes are evolving too. Good for him.

I'd much rather he championed innovation that electronica-for-the-sake-of-it.

he's right, you're wrong. game over

The head of a very interesting label gives and interesting interview about how he thinks music (or musical tastes) are changing. He knows a lot about music, he's followed the scene for a long time, and he's entitled to his opinion.

His taste is changing so we have to follow? NO

its all quite simple really. steve beckett is growing older his hormones are changing and he wants acoustic melodies etc (boring). when he was a young man he wants hard techno acid yeah. just like some people on here who are "evolving" examples ivo,awkward.

awkward has always been like that.

i dont really enjoy warp indie music very much myself but you have to reckon electronica has turned into the worst genre of it all, thinks about all the boring clones of autechre, etc...

warp have among their roster the very best in that field (afx, autechre, etc..) so they dont need third rate autechre. that said, i think steve beckett is wrong on the "song vs avant-garde" thing. its not that simple.