https://web.archive.org/web/20110304055 ... alam-acab/
Also advertised on https://dontdiewonderingmusic.tumblr.co ... -interview
Spoiler
Artist Profile: Balam Acab
By [ur=http://dontdiewonderingmusic.tumblr.com/]Noam Klar[/url]
http://soundcloud.com/tri_angle_records ... -dream-out
Balam Acab - Dream Out by TriAngleRecords
The voice of Alec Koone, aka Balam Acab, was more or less how I had imagined it: intelligent, slightly drawling, and flowing with the kinds of words one might expect from someone at the tender age of 19, like "weird" or "I guess." There was no mention of the Mayan semi-gods from which his name derives, or the arcane mysticisms of a reclusive shadow producer-- only the earnest observations of a young artist who enjoys experimenting with sounds, and spends a whole lot of time in his bedroom.
I first came across Balam Acab in January 2010, along with with his other project, Etherea, which share’s BA’s cavernous aesthetic, but takes a more beat-oriented approach. His debut EP, See Birds, was released last August to notable fanfare on Tri Angle Records; it was the debut release for a label that is now home to the similarly gauzy oOoOO and How To Dress Well, among others.
Koone hails from a new generation of internet-savvy musicians, one that draws equal inspiration from the electro-psych of Animal Collective and the beat-driven atmospherics of a Madlib or J Dilla, and privileges mood and imagistic ambience over any specific message or narrative conceit. I spoke with Alec over the phone about his sound-paintings, his reclusive public image, and his forthcoming full-length on Tri Angle.
Balam Acab - See Birds (Moon) by TriAngleRecords
AZ: The EP is pretty sample-heavy, especially the vocal parts. Can you tell us a bit about your songwriting process?
Alec: I never really go into making music with a set idea, because whenever I try to do that, it never works out. Whenever I don't try to do that, I realize what I am making once I’ve listened to the song a few times. It's pretty subconscious, I guess. I gather a bunch of samples right from the beginning-- maybe 7-10 samples that I think I'll be able to work into something-- and I just go from there, editing them. Also, if I hear a sample that I just really like, then I'll take that and make it into something and try to build around it.
AZ: Would you say that your approach takes cues from hip-hop and R&B?
Alec: Definitely. That's kind of what got me into making electronic music, into making beats. I just tried to recreate Madlib's sound or J Dilla's sound, and stuff like that is what really got me into producing. With Balam Acab, however, I try to use all of my musical influences, from drone to noise to folk, and definitely a lot of hip-hop.
AZ: In the article "New Vocabulary," Pitchfork's David Bevan groups you in with artists like Burial, James Blake, and Teengirl Fantasy in terms of a common approach to vocal samples. Do you feel like there's some form of kindred spirit there?
Alec: I had an idea when I was going into the project of really slow beats with weird, reverb-y vocal samples. I guess Burial is probably the one who was the biggest influence on me before I started the project, but I definitely think there's the same general feeling, an association or a tie. My music is definitely similar to Burial, to James Blake, or How To Dress Well-- that vocal music where the vocals are a little bit weird. But it's strange, because I was only made aware of it after the fact.
AZ: Maybe it's a case of using the human voice and syllabic expression for its associative, emotional impact instead of communicating something verbal?
Alec: Definitely. First of all, you can't really make out the lyrics in my music, and they usually wouldn't make sense or mean anything because they're all cut out [laughs]. At the same time-- as in the case of Burial-- the vocals are such a huge part. Even though the words may not mean anything, they give a certain feeling to the music, add something more. If the vocals were gone, it wouldn't feel complete.
AZ: You almost never conduct interviews, and have yet to appear live. Do you feel the need to draw a strong line of separation between Balam Acab the artist and Alec Koone the person?
Alec: Balam Acab is a very faceless project, I guess; it's just like music on it's own. I don't think people listen to my music and think of some 19-year-old kid as the person behind it. And I think that's cool, and how I want it to be. I don't really want to be in the forefront; I want the music to be the main thing.
AZ: The song “See Birds” recently appeared in a L'Oreal commercial featuring Beyoncé. Did you have any particular response, seeing your music in that context?
Alec: Not really, I guess the only reason I've seen it is because it was uploaded to YouTube. I don't watch TV, so I didn't really expect people to even see it. Probably no one who listens my to music really watches TV. For me, that sort of context kind of ruins the music. And I don't know, it's not even really in a “context,” because it's not even the full song or anything. The reason I decided to go through with it is because it was so disconnected from the actual project, and I thought it would be kind of weird for people who typically watch TV all the time to be exposed to it, without even realizing it.
AZ: I take it that you’re working on some new tracks at the moment. Are you using the same set-up that you used for See Birds?
Alec: I'm not really using anything different on the new album, but it's definitely a progression from the EP. I had recorded three songs before Robin from Tri Angle contacted me about releasing stuff on his label, and I wanted to put two of them on the EP. Those first songs were produced in mono, and I was kind of stuck with that, because it would have been weird if some of the songs were in mono, and others in stereo. The new stuff is produced in stereo. It's not really lo-fi; there's maybe a tiny hint of that, but the production is just deeper, and it's just a bigger sound. One of my friends said that if the EP was like an old, ancient stream, this new music would be like a vast ocean.
AZ: What else should we be expecting?
Alec: I'd say that from a vocal standpoint, it's less loopy, and more poppy and catchy in a way. A lot of the songs that I've been making have a verse-chorus structure, as opposed to just like an extended loop. At the same time, I'd say it's more textural, too. In a way, it's also weirder, because it’s very poppy when you're just listening to the melody, but when you stop and think about the components of the song, it's not at all like pop music. It's also slightly slower than the EP so far.
AZ: I saw a previous interview in which you talk about performing live. Is that also something you're working on at the moment?
Alec: It is. The whole live thing is still very tentative, but I want to do something cool as opposed to just touring constantly. After I finish my album, I'm going to really start working on it, but the idea right now is to play shows very sparsely, and play them in kind of weird places, with a limited number of people. I'm working with a friend on visuals for the live set and it's going to be very visually oriented-- basically half audio and half visual, just for it to be something special. I might even try and find a way to do it so I'm not visible when I'm playing, but I don't know. Hopefully it'll be something special when it all gets worked out; that's all I know for now.
See Birds EP is out now on Tri Angle Records, and an LP is in the works for Summer 2011
Tags: balam acab, features, artist profiles
Posted by alteredzones on 03/02/2011 at noon.
By [ur=http://dontdiewonderingmusic.tumblr.com/]Noam Klar[/url]
http://soundcloud.com/tri_angle_records ... -dream-out
Balam Acab - Dream Out by TriAngleRecords
The voice of Alec Koone, aka Balam Acab, was more or less how I had imagined it: intelligent, slightly drawling, and flowing with the kinds of words one might expect from someone at the tender age of 19, like "weird" or "I guess." There was no mention of the Mayan semi-gods from which his name derives, or the arcane mysticisms of a reclusive shadow producer-- only the earnest observations of a young artist who enjoys experimenting with sounds, and spends a whole lot of time in his bedroom.
I first came across Balam Acab in January 2010, along with with his other project, Etherea, which share’s BA’s cavernous aesthetic, but takes a more beat-oriented approach. His debut EP, See Birds, was released last August to notable fanfare on Tri Angle Records; it was the debut release for a label that is now home to the similarly gauzy oOoOO and How To Dress Well, among others.
Koone hails from a new generation of internet-savvy musicians, one that draws equal inspiration from the electro-psych of Animal Collective and the beat-driven atmospherics of a Madlib or J Dilla, and privileges mood and imagistic ambience over any specific message or narrative conceit. I spoke with Alec over the phone about his sound-paintings, his reclusive public image, and his forthcoming full-length on Tri Angle.
Balam Acab - See Birds (Moon) by TriAngleRecords
AZ: The EP is pretty sample-heavy, especially the vocal parts. Can you tell us a bit about your songwriting process?
Alec: I never really go into making music with a set idea, because whenever I try to do that, it never works out. Whenever I don't try to do that, I realize what I am making once I’ve listened to the song a few times. It's pretty subconscious, I guess. I gather a bunch of samples right from the beginning-- maybe 7-10 samples that I think I'll be able to work into something-- and I just go from there, editing them. Also, if I hear a sample that I just really like, then I'll take that and make it into something and try to build around it.
AZ: Would you say that your approach takes cues from hip-hop and R&B?
Alec: Definitely. That's kind of what got me into making electronic music, into making beats. I just tried to recreate Madlib's sound or J Dilla's sound, and stuff like that is what really got me into producing. With Balam Acab, however, I try to use all of my musical influences, from drone to noise to folk, and definitely a lot of hip-hop.
AZ: In the article "New Vocabulary," Pitchfork's David Bevan groups you in with artists like Burial, James Blake, and Teengirl Fantasy in terms of a common approach to vocal samples. Do you feel like there's some form of kindred spirit there?
Alec: I had an idea when I was going into the project of really slow beats with weird, reverb-y vocal samples. I guess Burial is probably the one who was the biggest influence on me before I started the project, but I definitely think there's the same general feeling, an association or a tie. My music is definitely similar to Burial, to James Blake, or How To Dress Well-- that vocal music where the vocals are a little bit weird. But it's strange, because I was only made aware of it after the fact.
AZ: Maybe it's a case of using the human voice and syllabic expression for its associative, emotional impact instead of communicating something verbal?
Alec: Definitely. First of all, you can't really make out the lyrics in my music, and they usually wouldn't make sense or mean anything because they're all cut out [laughs]. At the same time-- as in the case of Burial-- the vocals are such a huge part. Even though the words may not mean anything, they give a certain feeling to the music, add something more. If the vocals were gone, it wouldn't feel complete.
AZ: You almost never conduct interviews, and have yet to appear live. Do you feel the need to draw a strong line of separation between Balam Acab the artist and Alec Koone the person?
Alec: Balam Acab is a very faceless project, I guess; it's just like music on it's own. I don't think people listen to my music and think of some 19-year-old kid as the person behind it. And I think that's cool, and how I want it to be. I don't really want to be in the forefront; I want the music to be the main thing.
AZ: The song “See Birds” recently appeared in a L'Oreal commercial featuring Beyoncé. Did you have any particular response, seeing your music in that context?
Alec: Not really, I guess the only reason I've seen it is because it was uploaded to YouTube. I don't watch TV, so I didn't really expect people to even see it. Probably no one who listens my to music really watches TV. For me, that sort of context kind of ruins the music. And I don't know, it's not even really in a “context,” because it's not even the full song or anything. The reason I decided to go through with it is because it was so disconnected from the actual project, and I thought it would be kind of weird for people who typically watch TV all the time to be exposed to it, without even realizing it.
AZ: I take it that you’re working on some new tracks at the moment. Are you using the same set-up that you used for See Birds?
Alec: I'm not really using anything different on the new album, but it's definitely a progression from the EP. I had recorded three songs before Robin from Tri Angle contacted me about releasing stuff on his label, and I wanted to put two of them on the EP. Those first songs were produced in mono, and I was kind of stuck with that, because it would have been weird if some of the songs were in mono, and others in stereo. The new stuff is produced in stereo. It's not really lo-fi; there's maybe a tiny hint of that, but the production is just deeper, and it's just a bigger sound. One of my friends said that if the EP was like an old, ancient stream, this new music would be like a vast ocean.
AZ: What else should we be expecting?
Alec: I'd say that from a vocal standpoint, it's less loopy, and more poppy and catchy in a way. A lot of the songs that I've been making have a verse-chorus structure, as opposed to just like an extended loop. At the same time, I'd say it's more textural, too. In a way, it's also weirder, because it’s very poppy when you're just listening to the melody, but when you stop and think about the components of the song, it's not at all like pop music. It's also slightly slower than the EP so far.
AZ: I saw a previous interview in which you talk about performing live. Is that also something you're working on at the moment?
Alec: It is. The whole live thing is still very tentative, but I want to do something cool as opposed to just touring constantly. After I finish my album, I'm going to really start working on it, but the idea right now is to play shows very sparsely, and play them in kind of weird places, with a limited number of people. I'm working with a friend on visuals for the live set and it's going to be very visually oriented-- basically half audio and half visual, just for it to be something special. I might even try and find a way to do it so I'm not visible when I'm playing, but I don't know. Hopefully it'll be something special when it all gets worked out; that's all I know for now.
See Birds EP is out now on Tri Angle Records, and an LP is in the works for Summer 2011
Tags: balam acab, features, artist profiles
Posted by alteredzones on 03/02/2011 at noon.