Part 2
With more and more musicians creating than ever and more and more of these creations being released, what does this mean for you as an artist in terms of originality? What are some of the areas where you currently see the greatest potential for originality and who are some of the artists and communities that you find inspiring in this regard?
There is always an overwhelming amount of generic ideas in music. It's been like that forever, across all genres. But still artists find a way to originate and astonish us! Shout outs to the young generation of Crew Love artists like Nick Monaco, Life On Planets, Navid Izadi and David Marston. These guys are completely original and so talented it hurts!
How strictly do you separate improvising and composing?
For us these two elements are practically married. Improvisation and jamming almost alway play powerful roles in developing our ideas. That being said there are plenty of instances where we have a specific musical goal we want to achieve, but even then some layer will be written with an improvisational feel.
How do you see the relationship between sound, space and composition and what are some of your strategies and approaches of working with them?
That’s a tough question for us because so much of what we do is more about feeling than theory. But as we’ve come to learn about frequencies and dynamics through the post-production process we’ve come to understand more about sound and space in our music and that understanding now shapes our composition process. It also seems like our best songs are the simplest. The ones that give all the frequencies space to breath, let a bassline move or the drums work.
What's your perspective on the relationship between music and other forms of art – painting, video art and cinema, for example – and for you and your work, how does music relate to other senses than hearing alone?
As DJs, so much of the music we make relates to movement. Making bodies move. Making people dance. Color is also important. The way the lights in a room effect the mood. The funky patterns and fabrics that we wear.
What's your view on the role and function of music as well as the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of artists today - and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?
As a recording artist eventually you realize the power you have to be able to convey a message to your audience. You know, most of the time in dance music that message is "HAVE FUN AND PARTY!” or “LEAVE YOUR BODY AND LOSE YOUR MIND!” But with so much going on in the world, more and more we try to include positivity and love. We want the listener to walk away conscious and awakened to the idea of spreading this infectious goodness and intelligence. We do this with vocals, samples and overall uplifting vibes.
Listening is also an active, rather than just a passive process. How do you see the role of the listener in the musical communication process?
I guess that depends if the listener is on a dance floor, in a car, at home, somewhere else … Overall, the listener plays a role of the receiver of vibration. Hhow they chose to react is completely and uniquely different.
Reaching audiences usually involves reaching out to the press and possibly working with a PR company. What's your perspective on the promo system? In which way do music journalism and PR companies change the way music is perceived by the public?
This is a funny thing, it's something we talk about all the time. Can a song reach the masses simply because its REALLY REALLY good. At the moment we struggle to find the answer because we’d like to believe its possible for a song to explode into popularity on its own merits but it seems the reality is that press and PR make the music world go round. It feels like a bamboozle because these journalists and professionals are so far removed from the creation of the music we all love. This is where the BUSINESS of music seems to trump the art.
Do you have a musical vision that you haven't been able to realise for technical or financial reasons?
We’ve talked a lot about turning Soul Clap into a live act. Technically we haven’t figured it out yet and we can’t imagine taking enough time of from touring to really get it right yet, because the shows pay the bills!
Find out more about Soul Clap on their Facebook page.
