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Moshe · 11.17.2007, 12:27 AM

interview with carlos giffoni

(This is an interview I did with Carlos Giffoni two weeks ago. An abbreviated form with the introduction below ran on BWOG, here is the link. This is the full interview)

Since the early 2000s, Carlos Giffoni has been at the center of a burgeoning noise scene in New York as a musician, festival curator, collaborator and label owner. He’s released numerous solo recordings as well as collaborations with legendary Japanese noise master Merzbow, Sonic Youth members Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, and renaissance man Jim O’Rourke to name a few. Oh yeah, and Giffoni’s also in two noise supergroups: Monotract, who are on Load Records (home to everybody’s favorite duo: Lightning Bolt) and Death Unit, featuring members of Mouthus and Hair Police. Is Carlos Giffoni an over achiever? Probably, but he would never let you know it.
In most of his solo work and collaborations, Giffoni uses a mixture of computers and analog synths to create music that can be aggressive or gentle, throbbing or static. In 2004, he started No Fun Fest, a three day festival of noise musicians and sound makers which just celebrated its third year. On top of all this, Giffoni runs his own record label, No Fun. Whether or not noise music is your thing, Giffoni is definitely someone to admire. I spoke with him via e-mail over the past week and asked him about his music and extra-curricular activities in anticipation of his show at WBAR on November 15th.

Jamie Johns: How did you get interested in noise music/creating and supporting noise music? It seems a lot of people start out listening to more "traditional" music and then working their way up to noise, was this the case with you and what music was particularly influential for you?

Carlos Giffoni: I've been involved in playing in different kinds of bands since I was 14 and I was always interested in the more experimental sounding stuff. I was in Venezuela until I was 17 so at first it was harder to find but I got my hands on as much as I could, the more predictable stuff was always boring to me. I didn't really work up to noise but rather searched for it until I found it. Music particularly influential for me in my teen years: Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Merzbow, Masonna, anything on the Bulb on Hanson records catalog and dozens of acts I started to meet while going on tour in the US when I was 18.

JJ: To be blunt, you've released a LOT of recordings in a number of formats. Just looking over the discography on your site, you've been on nearly 100 recordings! What has been your motivation in releasing so many recordings, some of which have come out in very limited numbers?

CG: I think documenting ones work/growth is very important. Early on I think I might have released a few things that I wouldn't release today, but that's what I was into at the time so each release is a document of what I was interested in at the moment, or what a live collaboration was like at that point. Nowadays the more limited releases are oriented more towards die hard fans of what I do, they might contain ideas/sketches of what I am working on, or interesting collaborations/directions that I wouldn't normally take.

While the more widely available solo full length releases are completed projects, I consider them my personal statements in sound/art/music. The more widely available collaborations I consider as important documents of my work and snapshots of something that happened only once with musicians I respect/like.

JJ: How do you feel about CD/tape/file sharing? Noise music has kind of soared in popularity over the past few years, do you think filesharing has had a role in this?

CG: Well, file sharing has certainly helped any person in the world have access to anything they are interested in, but CD/tape trading has existed in noise since its beginnings and has been essential to this movement. The 'soar' in popularity is just because there is a whole bunch of new kids that are interested in this music, and the previous and still young generation has got to the point where they are confident/have grown musically to present works full of meaning and that are well executed both in recorded format and in the live setting. File sharing has been as influential as it has been to any other genre, so I don't think it has given noise any advantages over others, but certainly in some cases it might have help spread the music outwards.

JJ: How much improvisation do you do onstage?

CG: It really depends on the project I am presenting. My solo work when presented live is a combination of both prepared structures and improvisation, so the structure is pre-set (no backup tracks, all live, always different) but even then I might find something interesting while I am playing and go with it, so this pre-set structure is very elastic. On the other hand, most collaborations are 100% improvised, except for specific projects like Death Unit where there is a good amount of planning involved, or Monotract where there is hardly any improvisation at all.

JJ: Your releases have been a mix of both live recordings and studio recordings, do you feel that the work you do onstage influences what you end up recording in the studio or do you see performance and studio work as entirely separate entities? What do you think is the benefit of a live recording over a studio recording?

CG: I think it is quite the opposite actually. I spend a lot of time on recordings when I am working on a “studio” record. For example for my last full length (Arrogance) I recorded just under 40 hours of stuff before I felt like I had enough material to choose/work from. So the studio material always ends up influencing what I do live, it is where I polish techniques etc… and work out new ideas that are not ready to be presented live. A live performance is never the same as a studio recording though; there are so many factors like volume at a live venue, audience, acoustics of a room, atmospheric conditions that affect the sound of my analog synths... I find the live setting very interesting and important in my music, but for the most part separate to the studio work.

JJ: One thing I really admire is the way you work with and support the work of tons of other musicians, either by releasing their records on your label or by performing and recording with them. How important is creating and fostering a community of musicians to you?

CG: It is just what I've always done. It is not the kind of thing I sit down and plan, despite what it might seem like. I am a very impulsive person, I do what I feel like when I feel like it and that's how the fest and other shows I set up started, that's how 95% of the collaborations I’ve done have happened, that's how the label and the releases happen. If I see something I like in a band/musician I go ahead and ask them if they want to work with me with a release on the label. So this community I might be fostering is just a side effect of doing what I need to do to feel alive/content with my work.

JJ: Who is your dream collaborator? Would you ever collaborate with someone who wasn't a noise musician?

CG: I have been very lucky in that so far I have been able to collaborate with almost everyone I considered a “dream collaboration,” so what’s really become more of a dream is to work on film soundtrack at some point. There are many directors I like but it would have to be something abstract or on the fiction/fantasy realm. That's really something I want to do in the future. There are still many musicians I want to work with and if they can be labeled as noise or something else does not matter to me as long as I like their work and we can find some common ground.

JJ: Do you approach your collaborations differently from your solo work?

CG: Yes absolutely. Solo work is a dictatorship, while collaborations are based on ideas from multiple ideas and finding a common ground that works sonically and aesthetically.

JJ: How did No Fun Fest start?

CG: One day I felt that a festival of the music/sound makers I enjoy was necessary and I put it together and made it happen.

JJ: I just read that The Hook has closed down. Will you take the festival to another venue? What does the future hold for No Fun Fest?

CG: Yes, before The Hook closed we had already been talking to Knitting Factory and we are getting the entire venue for 3 days: May 16, 17, and 18.

11.17.2007, 12:27 AM	#14
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,866	interview with carlos giffoni (This is an interview I did with Carlos Giffoni two weeks ago. An abbreviated form with the introduction below ran on BWOG, here is the link. This is the full interview) Since the early 2000s, Carlos Giffoni has been at the center of a burgeoning noise scene in New York as a musician, festival curator, collaborator and label owner. He’s released numerous solo recordings as well as collaborations with legendary Japanese noise master Merzbow, Sonic Youth members Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, and renaissance man Jim O’Rourke to name a few. Oh yeah, and Giffoni’s also in two noise supergroups: Monotract, who are on Load Records (home to everybody’s favorite duo: Lightning Bolt) and Death Unit, featuring members of Mouthus and Hair Police. Is Carlos Giffoni an over achiever? Probably, but he would never let you know it. In most of his solo work and collaborations, Giffoni uses a mixture of computers and analog synths to create music that can be aggressive or gentle, throbbing or static. In 2004, he started No Fun Fest, a three day festival of noise musicians and sound makers which just celebrated its third year. On top of all this, Giffoni runs his own record label, No Fun. Whether or not noise music is your thing, Giffoni is definitely someone to admire. I spoke with him via e-mail over the past week and asked him about his music and extra-curricular activities in anticipation of his show at WBAR on November 15th. Jamie Johns: How did you get interested in noise music/creating and supporting noise music? It seems a lot of people start out listening to more "traditional" music and then working their way up to noise, was this the case with you and what music was particularly influential for you? Carlos Giffoni: I've been involved in playing in different kinds of bands since I was 14 and I was always interested in the more experimental sounding stuff. I was in Venezuela until I was 17 so at first it was harder to find but I got my hands on as much as I could, the more predictable stuff was always boring to me. I didn't really work up to noise but rather searched for it until I found it. Music particularly influential for me in my teen years: Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Merzbow, Masonna, anything on the Bulb on Hanson records catalog and dozens of acts I started to meet while going on tour in the US when I was 18. JJ: To be blunt, you've released a LOT of recordings in a number of formats. Just looking over the discography on your site, you've been on nearly 100 recordings! What has been your motivation in releasing so many recordings, some of which have come out in very limited numbers? CG: I think documenting ones work/growth is very important. Early on I think I might have released a few things that I wouldn't release today, but that's what I was into at the time so each release is a document of what I was interested in at the moment, or what a live collaboration was like at that point. Nowadays the more limited releases are oriented more towards die hard fans of what I do, they might contain ideas/sketches of what I am working on, or interesting collaborations/directions that I wouldn't normally take. While the more widely available solo full length releases are completed projects, I consider them my personal statements in sound/art/music. The more widely available collaborations I consider as important documents of my work and snapshots of something that happened only once with musicians I respect/like. JJ: How do you feel about CD/tape/file sharing? Noise music has kind of soared in popularity over the past few years, do you think filesharing has had a role in this? CG: Well, file sharing has certainly helped any person in the world have access to anything they are interested in, but CD/tape trading has existed in noise since its beginnings and has been essential to this movement. The 'soar' in popularity is just because there is a whole bunch of new kids that are interested in this music, and the previous and still young generation has got to the point where they are confident/have grown musically to present works full of meaning and that are well executed both in recorded format and in the live setting. File sharing has been as influential as it has been to any other genre, so I don't think it has given noise any advantages over others, but certainly in some cases it might have help spread the music outwards. JJ: How much improvisation do you do onstage? CG: It really depends on the project I am presenting. My solo work when presented live is a combination of both prepared structures and improvisation, so the structure is pre-set (no backup tracks, all live, always different) but even then I might find something interesting while I am playing and go with it, so this pre-set structure is very elastic. On the other hand, most collaborations are 100% improvised, except for specific projects like Death Unit where there is a good amount of planning involved, or Monotract where there is hardly any improvisation at all. JJ: Your releases have been a mix of both live recordings and studio recordings, do you feel that the work you do onstage influences what you end up recording in the studio or do you see performance and studio work as entirely separate entities? What do you think is the benefit of a live recording over a studio recording? CG: I think it is quite the opposite actually. I spend a lot of time on recordings when I am working on a “studio” record. For example for my last full length (Arrogance) I recorded just under 40 hours of stuff before I felt like I had enough material to choose/work from. So the studio material always ends up influencing what I do live, it is where I polish techniques etc… and work out new ideas that are not ready to be presented live. A live performance is never the same as a studio recording though; there are so many factors like volume at a live venue, audience, acoustics of a room, atmospheric conditions that affect the sound of my analog synths... I find the live setting very interesting and important in my music, but for the most part separate to the studio work. JJ: One thing I really admire is the way you work with and support the work of tons of other musicians, either by releasing their records on your label or by performing and recording with them. How important is creating and fostering a community of musicians to you? CG: It is just what I've always done. It is not the kind of thing I sit down and plan, despite what it might seem like. I am a very impulsive person, I do what I feel like when I feel like it and that's how the fest and other shows I set up started, that's how 95% of the collaborations I’ve done have happened, that's how the label and the releases happen. If I see something I like in a band/musician I go ahead and ask them if they want to work with me with a release on the label. So this community I might be fostering is just a side effect of doing what I need to do to feel alive/content with my work. JJ: Who is your dream collaborator? Would you ever collaborate with someone who wasn't a noise musician? CG: I have been very lucky in that so far I have been able to collaborate with almost everyone I considered a “dream collaboration,” so what’s really become more of a dream is to work on film soundtrack at some point. There are many directors I like but it would have to be something abstract or on the fiction/fantasy realm. That's really something I want to do in the future. There are still many musicians I want to work with and if they can be labeled as noise or something else does not matter to me as long as I like their work and we can find some common ground. JJ: Do you approach your collaborations differently from your solo work? CG: Yes absolutely. Solo work is a dictatorship, while collaborations are based on ideas from multiple ideas and finding a common ground that works sonically and aesthetically. JJ: How did No Fun Fest start? CG: One day I felt that a festival of the music/sound makers I enjoy was necessary and I put it together and made it happen. JJ: I just read that The Hook has closed down. Will you take the festival to another venue? What does the future hold for No Fun Fest? CG: Yes, before The Hook closed we had already been talking to Knitting Factory and we are getting the entire venue for 3 days: May 16, 17, and 18.
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