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Recording as Norken, Metamatics, Nacht Plank (with Peter Cox), and Tone Language (alongside a pair of Japanese producers), Norris has an impressive discography that lists a steady stream of music released on such labels as Clear, Dot, Skam, District Six, and Hydrogen Dukebox, not to mention his own label, Neo Ouija. From the twisted, harsher sounds of Metamatics to the ambient pulsations of Nacht Plank, Norris never loses sight of heartbreakingly human emotions as he works amidst a pile of high-tech machinery.
The past year or so has been a busy one for Norris. Last September saw the release of Metamatics' soulful ambient house-Detroit techno blend, 'Spook Tinsel Shoal', an album which reaffirmed the project's place as the shining star on the Hydrogen Dukebox label. More Metamatics material followed shortly thereafter, such as an original film soundtrack produced with fellow Clear act Clatterbox to accompany 'Project Unison', a film in progress on Neo Ouija Films ("it's quite a fucked up movie about nothing in particular," he says). Later, hearkening back to his early Foxx, Depeche Mode, and Kraftwerk influences, Norris released the retro-futuristic 'Dope for the Robot'. His latest venture as Norken, entitled 'Spring Themes' (released on Hydrogen Dukebox), is a delicate, subtly flavored album of intense senstivity which continues where his sublime 'Soul Static Bureau' left off last year. Using an array of bleeps and blips, Norris constructs rich sonic textures and spare melodies which reverberate softly through space. Deceptively fragile and minimal, Spring Themes boasts dense, multi-layered construction reminiscent of early experiments in intelligent electronica. For someone who makes such self-aware, gut-wrenchingly emotional, and tenderly restrained music, Norris is surprisingly easy-going and mellow. Here, he talks to Kindamuzik about living far away from the musical vortex of London, and how weird Americans can be.
So you're releasing Spring Themes in the fall…er, autumn. You call it autumn?
"Fall, I know you use it. I was going to call you a Yank, but I know you
Americans call it Fall, yeah. [laughs]…I really like the twilight seasons,
spring and autumn. I don't really like summer or winter, they're too
extreme. So yeah, basically, if it would have come out in Spring, it would
have been perfect. But I guess autumn's nice, because it gives you that
longing feeling. But, you know, it's nice when everything's starting to wake
up again. And I guess some of my music feels like that. Everything's waking
up. Spring. It's a great time of year. I just wanted to make a record, my
interpretation of it, I guess. I'm quite interested in house music, in the
techniques of it…I was really influenced by it. But I don't actually buy any
house music."
That's a shame! I'm from Chicago, so you know, I grew up with house.
"Well, I do like [it]…I just don't buy it. I like listening to it, but,
um, I like all the Chicago dudes, I like DJ Skool. He's on a Dutch label
called Djax, well he was a few years ago…I can't remember what this guy is
called, from Chicago. I dunno, I get confused with the two, sort of, cuz
they're sort of born in Chicago and then they go and move to Detroit. Which
isn't that far, is it?"
About 5-6 hours.
"Oh really? Oh fuck, that's quite a drive then."
Yeah, it is. But if you fly, it's about an hour, hour and a half, tops.
"I looked on a map, and it looks so close. But yeah, I live in England, where you can get anywhere, really, in a couple of hours."
We know with Detroit, at least, the landscape had so much to do with
that they were producing. Has living in the country changed your outlook on
everyday life, and thus affected your music?
"Yeah, it does, actually. Cuz as you know, living in a city is quite
hectic. I don't live in a city anymore. I live in Devon, and I look out the
window and see trees and green fields and stuff. So when I make this music,
it hasn't got an attitude behind it. So it's got this sort of nice, sort of
melancholic feel to it as well. A lot of Detroit music has, but I guess my
music has got this sort of English feel to it, cuz it's always raining here!
It's got this really sort of subtle element behind it. Almost like my
machines are crying. And I get up here, get up in the morning, look out the
window, and the birds are singing…There's sheep outside, there's cows. Yeah,
it's beautiful. It definitely sort of changes you as a person, and it really
does affect your music. If I was living in the city, I'd probably be writing
this really sort of weird, dark, fucked up stuff. But now I don't have a
desire to write that stuff. So yeah, I really am affected by what my
surroundings are. And I guess that's what rubs off on Norken Spring Themes."
Many people in London think that it's the center for new music. How does
it feel to be isolated from the big two-step craze, the mainstream
electronic music culture there? Where do you get your inspiration from?
"It's great because I don't get any. I don't have any. All my mates still
live in Manchester and London and stuff. If I lived in a city they'd be
knocking on my door all day, and I'd never get anything done. So being out
here, it's great. I'm not listening to music that's coming out. I don't read
magazines and stuff. So I don't know what the current trend is in London.
Garage, hard, weird fun house music. I haven't got a clue what's happening,
I just do my own thing. It's stunning to me that people actually like it! I
could be making something that people think, "oh, that just sounds so shit,
and it's so dated" or others might think "that sounds really nice." I just
do my own thing and I don't really care, I'm not really influenced by any of
the music going around me really…I've just got my machines and I do my
thing. It's nice like that actually. Cuz I do actually think that living in
the city you do get influenced by lots of different things and you end up
trying to make music that's in and trendy. So yeah, it's great. It's really
nice being locked away in Devon."
A lot of the bedroom DJs do produce music that's a bit harder to pigeon-hole.
"A lot of the music from back then [early IDM] has got a lot of emotion
to it. And I think emotion in music is really important. And I think a lot
of IDM today is very cold and it hasn't got any-it doesn't pull at your
heartstrings and it's got no emotion. It's just a little cold, there's
nothing going on in it. I do think the older stuff is really good. If
anything, really, if I'm influenced by anything, it's by the old, old stuff."
Would you think Norken is a bit more accessible to people?
"Yeah, I would actually. I think it's easier for people to understand. I
guess it's something to do with that 4/4 beat. Which, you know, you could
either play it out, or DJs could mix it up, it's not as difficult. The
Metamatics stuff, sometimes, it's like, you know, people think it's a bit
too mad. With Norken, I'll sort of concentrate on that for a couple of
months, and I won't do any Metamatics music. So I definitely get in a frame
of mind. It's a non-stop process, really. I finish one thing and then I
start another. I should get out more often!"
Oh, I'm sure it's beautiful out there. You're fine.
"It is, and it's nice, cuz the pub's just a couple doors down. Jump off
the computer and run into the pub! You don't have pubs there, do you? You
have bars."
They're sort of annoying.
"And you don't get proper beers there, do you? You just get lager."
Well, they do import a lot. So you have your Budweiser and Miller Lite, and a lot of foreign beers now.
"Do you get Guinness? Like, on draft?"
Yeah, but it's not as good. There's just something about it that gets lost across the Atlantic...
"I've never been to America, actually. I'm definitely thinking about doing it at some point."
You should.
"Right. I'm really crap with accents. I couldn't tell if you were from
Texas or Chicago. I was just talking to a guy who was from Texas, and I
can't tell the difference between accents."
It's pretty obvious to us, though…sometimes people with heavy Southern accents are seen as somewhat less intelligent.
"It's definitely like that here! I'm from Manchester, and we always think
people from London sound a bit stupid. And they think we sound a bit
stupid…At the moment we're releasing quite a lot of stuff from kids in
America [on his Neo Ouija label]. I think 80% of the artists on my label are
American. It's pretty cool that there's really good electronic music coming
out of America now. Cuz I mean, you know it's been happening out of Detroit
and Chicago for such a long time now, with house music, but these kids are
making really good sort of IDM music, which wasn't heard of 5 years ago."
There's a lot of interesting scenes spring up in some really random places, actually. In Texas there's a big breakcore/noisecore scene going on.
"It's weird, isn't it? I've got these two guys recording for me now from
Maryland. They said that they live just behind where the Blair Witch film
was made. And it's really weird sort of thinking of two kids stuck in a
bedroom in America making like, fucking excellent electronic music. And I
think because America is so big, it's about time, really, that there was a
big influx of really, really smart music coming from there. Cuz in the past
I've always associated America with sort of dodgy rock bands."
Thanks.
"Like Bon Jovi."
Oh, but he's making a comeback! The 80s are back in a big way...
"I know what you mean, though, about Texas producing something weird and
wonderful. That and something like ZZ Top or something."
You have a couple more names you've recorded under in the past. Tone
Language, Nacht Plank...
"I'm going to do another Nacht Plank album towards the end of the year, I
guess, which is different from Norken and Metamatics because it's just
really ambient, it's got no beats to it. And I hate using that word,
ambient. But yeah. It's risky sort of stuff. And Tone Language is stuff that
I do with a couple Japanese guys from Tokyo. They record their reflection,
they make jazzy sort of, hip hop sort of stuff. Together, we record as Tone
Language, and basically we make sort of droning, ambient music again without
any beats. It's refreshing really, to have a crack at all these different
types of music rather than just doing one thing…It keeps you on your toes, I
guess, making different types of music and I'm really into experimenting
with different things. I'll have a crack at anything, except heavy metal!
[laughs]"
How is it working your Japanese partners? How does the distance affect
the music you make?
"We do it all through the computer. They've been here a few times. I've
never been to Japan yet. Basically, we each do it all through mp3s on the
computer and then mix it together. It's quite a weird process of working.
They're stuck in their rooms, and I'm stuck in mine, and we're making this
music together online. The power of technology, it's amazing, isn't it?"
It's interesting that people from two such different countries can find
that medium to agree upon.
"Yeah, it's really weird cuz, like, they're very sort of quiet, sensitive
guys. They don't speak very good English and they're quite traditional in
their ways, when they've been here a couple of times…They're quite cold
people as well. But it's refreshing to work with…We make this music
together, and it works. It's great when things like that happen. It'd be
great if the rest of the world could just get along and do things. It's
great that we can do things through the power of music."
http://www.kindamuzik.net/interview/norken/norken/990/
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