Name: Kush Arora aka Only Now
Occupation: Producer, sound artist
Nationality: Indian-American
Current release: Kush Arora's new album under the Only Now moniker, Timeslave III, is out now.

If you enjoyed this Kush Arora interview and would like to stay up to date with his music and live dates, visit him on Instagram, and bandcamp.
 


I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

I’d say music with the intention of delivering an emotion to me; usually it’s hard for me to separate from that.

I often don’t care what words are being said, for lack of understanding or even caring in certain situations, so it’s more of what the whole package is doing for me.  As I get to learn more about the artists, the band, etc, it’s harder and harder to associate it with an emotion.

Paradoxical listening is very common for me; inverting the current actual life situation with contrasting emotions. It’s all about what’s working sonically for my body at the time as well.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

To build off what I was saying above - especially considering my love for sounds from countries that I don't speak the language of, or my love of metal (also hard to understand what’s being said often) - it’s quite often I have no idea what the words are. It’s that voice, the space it’s occupying, and how it travels with the music.

People talk a lot of nonsensical shit in their vocals, it’s them blowing off steam or partying. Other times it’s the most profound thing ever, so it’s about the context.

Like anybody there are lots of songs that mean a ton to me. Having produced a lot of dancehall / dub related music over the years, I aim to have vocalists that have meaningful messages that are aligned with my views. It doesn’t always work out like that, but I can get past that at times as long as the vibe is right.

When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing this energy? [Where do you feel it, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

To me, when it comes to what I’m looking for while creating or feeling like something is at the right place, I should feel it in my chest, the back of my feet, my neck, and my cranium, all the zones.

I always envision it as a release, a full blast.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

Sometimes with beat creation the general swing, vibe, and angle the beat takes is best done super quickly. But then it’s often weeks or months of honing the actual sounds or shaping the rest of the patterns. It’s often done that very day, but some pieces need lots of honing.

On working on my last few records, it’s a need to constantly try new methodologies, song structures, and be natural, but also not fall into a loop. Inevitably that leads to a lot of trying things, recreating them, but finally finding a flow and shaping that.

On the ‘Timeslave’ and ‘Indian Unclassical’ series, it’s been a case of tuning stuff back and forth in ideation to final mixes and layouts.



How much of the energy of your own music, would you say, is already part of the composition, how much of it is the result of the recording process?

My goal, as somebody working in electronic music, is to try and make the music feel ALIVE, like a living organism. Not a set of patterns, unmorphing and stone cold.

The energy is vital - it’s all part of the composition - but the process takes it up a notch. Facilitating it through various sounds is very essential as well. Lots of location recordings - on-the-spot field recordings from phones - but also having an environment that leads to easy set up and the quick recording of various drums, household sounds, and synth takes is essential to create in the moment.

Most of the releases - particularly ‘Fate / Will’ and the ‘Timeslave’ series - have a lot of reamping and live takes that are unedited, which are then enhanced in lots of different ways to keep things feeling alive.



For your current release, what kind of energy were you looking for?

On one hand; an energy that is timeless, ancient, rooted in eternal suffering.

On the other; the desire to cope and transcend this suffering, the energy to push past it; a life affirming spirit.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

Making records is a spiritual practice for me, it’s all I do when I have a moment. No matter what the mood, no matter what the energy of that day, I will create for it.

I don’t set out always to premeditate that energy. Instead I meditate on it, and as I’m always working on enough different things at any given time - there will be a place for that particular energy.

When there isn’t, and I need to create something new, that’s when some of the best stuff happens.

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

I love it loud, heated to 1000%, distortion across the entire mix, blazing full speed ahead quite often.

It’s not necessarily always sounding like gabber, it’s about stacking and creating bricks of sound in some ways. It makes the music feel heavy and magma-like. It’s a huge part of what I do and clipping, saturation, wave shaping, and recreating spaces that seem to be blown out but actually aren’t, are a huge part of making the music feel hype.

You can overdo it and it loses its mystique quickly, but if it’s done consistently in the right way it really makes something multi-dimensional.

In terms of energy, what changes when you're performing live on stage, with an audience present, compared to the recording stage?

Love an audience, it brings the energy up so much. It’s where I really get my rocks off and cathartically release everything I have going on in my life.

Performing in different scenarios has ultimately shaped the records. I make sketches based on live experiences or ideas. I first try an idea live, seeing where I take it and how I manipulate it with my FX templates in my Ableton live set, or with my hardware. After that, I often take what worked live and lay it down in the studio; change up the sounds, shape it up etc. Then ultimately redo some of that in the next live performance.

The two stages of recording and live performance are VERY connected for me.

How does the presence of the audience and your interaction with it change the energy of the music and how would you describe the creative interaction with listeners during a gig?

I look very closely at where people’s heads are at before I play.  

Sometimes it’s about immediately changing the vibe to what I’m doing, other times there is something brewing in the room, and it'll be about moulding my music, dubbing it out, using space and dialogue to engage the audience before having the full flow.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

Recently folks say to me that the performances are liberating, life affirming, and unhinged.

The last three or so years have provided me with lots of opportunity to grow as a performer and engage with people, with a focus on moving with them, as opposed to ‘presenting’ material. Better to work simple, with what you can do, show the new tunes and ideas to people, and be in a place to have somebody walk in to see you and feel like they actually lived for a day. Lots of small mistakes, screaming on the mic, and a bit of that off the cuff energy that keeps you moving.

Shit, over the years - late nineties and onwards - I’ve had all types of interactions. From folks being ecstatic to people being truly upset and threatening to hurt me or just cutting the music. Infiltration is always a goal for me, especially within dance music and world music circles, and that comes with its rewards, and its fair share of criticism. I’m always down to try new audiences, places, and environments.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who ultimately has control during a live performance?

I’ll never surrender!!!

If you’re asking about the energy of the room, I come to shape it. If it’s great already - let’s go. If it’s miserable - I’m here to make it better.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

It’s up to us and everybody reading this to bring about change in the world. We do our best, we donate our money, we sing songs and drive it into people’s brains that we are human and we won’t be oppressed.

I love what I’m seeing, but there could always be more activism and less complicity with shitty companies and the vultures of the music industry.