»On Kompakt I do my music for listeners« – intervju med Markus Guentner

Brian Eno har sagt fler citervärda saker än Oscar Wilde. I en intervju i The Guardian förra året (länk här) berättade han om hur han tappat intresset för »ambient«, musikstilen som han själv var med och lade grunden till med några epokgörande album: »I started to notice that you could buy keyboards of such complexity that you basically press one note on them and you've got a career as an ambient artist. I thought, there doesn't seem much challenge in that any longer.« Han har ju rätt. En förkrossande majoritet av alla album som kan etiketteras som ambient eller närbesläktade genres är dödstrista och formlösa, oförmögna till att skapa den där tredimensionella känslan av rymd och viktlöshet som de stora klassikerna gjorde. Det räcker inte med att ta ett latinskt ordspråk som namn och döpa låtarna till konstiga symboler för att vara i närheten av samma nivåer som exempelvis Brian Enos »Apollo« nådde (för övrigt ett av världens bästa album, som jag skrivit om här på bloggen tidigare). De som lyckas fånga mig idag är de som sticker ut, de med ett eget uttryck, de som precis som en författare har lyckats skapa ett eget universum där deras musik utspelar sig. När jag lyssnar på deras skivor hör jag inte bara arty ljudlandskap utan lever istället i deras miljö, lär känna deras karaktärer, försöker följa med i deras berättande. Som när Tim Hecker släppte »Radio Amor«, konceptalbumet om en fiskare i Honduras. Som när Eluvium flyttar sina klaustrofobiska ljudmassor ut ur högtalaren och krossar mig. Eller som när Markus Guentner gör album som förra årets »1981«. De två inledande spåren på »1981« hette »Wanderung« och »Wenn Musik Der Liebe Nahrung Ist«. Tillsammans klockade de in på sjutton minuter och femtio sekunder. Redan efter dem var jag förstörd. Regnet slog mot fönstret, allt gick i slow-motion, det började röra sig i oupplysta hörn av rummet. Trots titeln pysslade Markus Guentner på »1981« inte med retroljudande syntpop utan med den mest storslagna technon som vi inte kunde dansa till. För Markus Guentner jobbar med pulser och sublima grooves istället för hårda hihats. Han jobbar med känslor, inte med höga bpm. Men till skillnad från andra artister som motiverat eller inte etiketteras som »ambient« bollar inte Guentner med några formlösa ljudklumpar utan har struktur och tydliga mål, även i de mest abstrakta spåren. När sedan en tung technorökare som »Hi-Jacked« plötsligt brakade loss och med kantig bas och stenhårt beat fick »1981« att explodera så var det klart att jag tyckte att det var ett av förra årets allra bästa album. Markus Guentner är intressant. Med sina ambient-fast-ändå-inte-släpp på Kompakt och sina hårdare klubbspår som släpps på Ware är han på många sätt förkroppsligandet av en utveckling inom den elektroniska musiken som jag är en ivrig påhejare av: steget bort från brukstechnon, sammansmältandet av olika subgenres och dödandet av klubbmusikens heliga kor. Jag var tvungen att maila och fråga honom lite om hans musik. Once, electronic music was clearly divided into genres. It was either ambient or techno or some subgenre. Over the last couple of years, I think there has emerged music that isn't quite techno and isn't quite ambient but is somewhere in between the two and I think »1981« is an example of that. Do you agree? - yes. i think the electronic music developed to a mixture of so many styles. when i'm djing, i can play so many things. some years ago there where some labels and some styles for the dancefloor. But now, the djs are more open to play more minimal or melodic stuff. and 'techno' conquered also your livingroom. there are some many electronic-music-records you can listen to at home. Personally, I don't like marking music with labels and then say »this is that kind of music, and this is that kind«, but it’s inevitable to do so one way or the other. From my perspective, it could seem that the music you produce is »not quite ambient enough to be ambient and not quite technoish enough to be techno« and that this could lead to misunderstandings. Have you ever felt misunderstood in reviews and similar, that the concept of what you are doing is lost because of the genre definitions? - well, first of all: to write a review is in my eyes a very hard thing. most of them are good. not because the writer likes it or not. it's more the description of the record. i think a good review is, when the listener can build his own position to that. to describe the record as it is, is a hard job. everyone can say: i like it or not. but to writing down the feelings and 'pictures' of the record is the best thing for a review. - i don't like marking music also, but it's really much easier for the people to select the music they are listen to and what they want. and in my case, kompakt embossed the perception: 'pop ambient'. you are right. my tracks are more like songs. they have much more structure than 'typical' ambient tracks. i think more people find their way into that kind of music, when they have something to hold on in a track. (like a repeated melody or something ...) Although some parts of »1981« are wholly ambient, there are tracks that are arranged like techno tracks. The break in »Hi-Jacked«, for example, is typical for an anthemic dance track - but... It having a low tempo, however, makes it rather difficult to dance to. Same goes for a track like »Sleep Well« on your previous album »Audio Island«. Did you have any overall idea of why it should be arranged this way when you composed these tracks? I'm thinking, most producers would probably have kicked a track like »Hi-Jacked« up to 130bpm and made a club track out of it? - the atmosphere of tracks is really important to me. when i'm producing, i am not thinking about the functionality or the club-thing at all. the most time, i'm not really starting with an idea. it's more intuitive. when i do a ambient song and hear it many times, i think about the 'groove' in that track. some of my ambient songs have a very distinct groove without beats. and sometimes there must be drums to encourage the groove in that track. it's my own sense that let me produce like that. The tracks on »Audio Island« were more beat driven. »1981« sounds almost like if you have reduced the songs down to their most elemental parts - the harmonies. Had you decided to be more sparse before writing »1981«? - theres a big breakup between my ambient stuff on kompakt and the more clubby tracks on ware. on kompakt i do my music for listeners. when there are tracks like 'hi-jacked' it's more coincidence than planned. on ware i also do more 'listening' stuff, but in a another way. it's the groovy and clubby side of me. the ware tracks are also made to play them in the club. When The Field played at the Popaganda festival in Stockholm last spring, he did his set and afterwards I heard a comment from a guy in the crowd who said to his friend »I thought we’d be able to dance to that«. I thought it was a brilliant comment. Not because it was ignorant but because it said so much about what the word »techno producer« stands for. Do you think the meaning of the word »techno« must be redefined today when »techno« isn't just kick drum and TB-303s anymore? - oh yes. today's techno is so much more than club-dance-music. i think everything has it's advancement. music, art, movies ... some people have their association from a kind of music. and it's fix in their heads. it's a little bit sad, but the only way to bring it to them, is the something like the live-set on the festival you've said. they understand it not yet, but maybe later :-) Today, many either download their music or listen to short snippets of mp3s on websites before ordering albums. Tracks that stuck to the listener are probably the »hits«, the ones you can tell right away are catchy. Music like the one you produce often takes it time to get into. It may not reveal itself until you've listened through the entire album in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep. Are you afraid that music demanding patience from listeners might be overlooked with the new ways of distributing music? - well, it's only a easier way to listen to more records than in a music-shop. you don't need to go out of the house to get your music :-) . i think there is no big difference between listen to the snippets on the internet or in a shop. if you listen to an ambient-record in a shop or at the internet-shop. and if you haven't decided to buy the record, you can listen to everytime you want. this whole mp3-thing is very double sided. maybe some people download the whole album, before they buy it. maybe mp3 is sometimes a better way??! the music industry sells less records since that mp3-thing comes up. but in former times you've heard one track, bought the whole album and assert that most of the songs are shit. now, you can listen to it carefully and without stress. when you have downloaded a whole album, you can decide if it's good or not. and if you want to buy it or not. well yes, the most people shortchange the download-stuff. but in most cases, the people are still collectors. they want the record or the cd with cover and booklet.