12 questions for SLEEP CLINIC
SLEEP CLINIC constructs rather than composes. And his buildings are more cathedrals than simple structures, made of the most refined materials sourced from an unknown place. It’s almost impossible to decipher the embedded codes or take in all the granular details hidden inside. But rather than trying to make sense of it, one should simply enjoy the full immersion offered to them. We asked him the magic 12 questions.
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1. What drives you to create music? What do you seek to achieve with it?
It seems natural to me having played, created, and having an obsession with music and sound from a really young age. It is just simply a part of my life the way breathing and eating are. The drive and my seeking are in the same vehicle. For me, it is an extension of my thoughts and feelings both toward events and the abstract. Articulations and expressions that need to come out in some way other than verbally or written. I guess I want to better that language for my own self reflection, if other people connect with it in that process, I think that's even better.
2. How would you describe your music to someone who’s never heard music before?
As documents exploring sound and exploring time.
3. Which album do you wish you had made?
There are so many albums across so many genres and styles that resonate with me in deep ways... that is so hard to really pick.
4. If music is a form of therapy, what is it healing in you?
Everything. Paths to acceptance, understanding myself and others better, making the process of introspection and reflection an easier and more detailed task. Helping me to stay connected to people since it's probably one of the biggest hurdles I've yet to handle well. Quelling anxious or depressive states, cultivating and harnessing motivation and goals, getting me out of my head and shoes... really, everything. It's like the best type of meditation and therapy for me.
5. If you could use one image to represent the intention of your work and burn it into your audience’s heads, what would this image be?
6. What do you consider your best piece of work yet? And why?
I think that may be a toss up between some of my live work over the last couple of years and something that I have created for my next release with Errorgrid. For the live material, I always have a very rough skeleton laid out that I build on during the performance. The last couple of years have yielded some of the best results of that approach and process and the ability to straddle the line of channeling the moment by way of feeling it, and to have the ability to make conscious decisions over direct intentions, it feels like magic when that zone is operating at a high level, and you know it will only exist for that moment. Kind of like working on music in a dream only to wake up and feel the slight devastation that you won't be hearing that again. I guess I should start recording performances more. The new material for the label...it just feels like a new chapter and a breakthrough, and that feels really good. It feels like a reflection of where I am and want to be, and has the momentum and the proper mood as a backdrop to the goals I have set for myself right now. Momentum and Alignment. They're like sign posts I am on the right track. Synchronicity speaks.
7. What is your sentiment about the current music scene, and how is it helping with the state of the world?
I have negative and positive sentiments on the current music scene. This could potentially boil my water, but...In one hand I feel that the ability and the access for people to be creative is hugely positive. I have always encouraged everyone in my life to find a path to creativity it doesn't matter what the medium is. It is good for you (see the question above about therapy) and I am blessed to have the natural compulsions and needs to be a creative person, it has literally saved my life a few times. There is a lot of inspiring creativity coming out of this access, that in turn pushes my own creativity into new limits. Over the years in LA the electronic music scene is rather large here and covers a lot of different ground. There has always been a very healthy and friendly element of competition that encourages the people on those different grounds, and I really love that. The negative aspect is that it has become more and more hyper saturated just like everything else in the world. That saturation and the over exposure to share what you are doing before it is complete, to use it as a vehicle to generate popularity, the politics that come with the involvement of scenes, and now more than ever before the shifting to what style is trending and getting people the most hype I find negative. I guess since my connection to music and being a creative person is so linked to my life and my spirit, it isn't a good feeling to see large amounts of people approaching it or presenting it with such a blase attitude at times. It perpetuates this awful mindset of music and art being just another disposable commodity. That was cool, for a week...what's next? What could get me more attention today? This mindset now extends to relationships and people even. I watch it happen all the time, and I don't appreciate it. Undoubtedly, there is business in creativity, and it has always been there. You shouldn't have to play this game though to be successful in the world of music, and you shouldn't treat one of the last true forms of magic like a spent piece of gum you're ready to spit out. The saturated state I mentioned means you have to dig harder for things that will change you, and in turn, the world. While we're on the topic, and given the nature of Errorgrid...step away from homogony. Be different if you're different. Not everything needs to sound the same or contain the same messages. We need variety and vantages now more than ever.
8. How would you describe ERRORGRID in your own words? What is it to you?
Errorgrid is taking a risk. The music that is cultivated and shared through this label isn't trying to latch onto any bandwagon or moment in time. It is looking for and riding its own wave. The importance is put on what we all want and need from music, but it also looks to nourish the cerebral aspect of experiencing music as a priority also, and I love that. I have always been fascinated and obsessed with the future as an idea like most people. This label looks in that direction and I think that's a great thing. I've said it before, nostalgia is more like a mental illness now than returning to appreciate the feelings and thoughts something from the past gave us. People just want to stay in it and be comfortable. Errorgrid to me is about taking up the same type of torch other musicians, artists, and labels have sprinkled across our lives to uncover and generate growth in expression and in appreciation.
9. When do you consider a piece of music finished and ready for others to hear?
When I am either perpetually frustrated or at peace with it.
10. How much importance do you put into your tools?
They're everything. From its interface to its ability. Without the tools you just have ideas locked in your mind. Be that a pen, computer, or sampler.
11. What is the one piece of equipment you will never part with?
I’m going to say all of my elektrons since I use them all midi’ed up, I tend to treat them as one big workstation environment versus separate entities.
12. What do you have in the works/ what is next for you?
I'm currently working on the Errorgrid follow up, as well as a sprawling boxset for Chondritic Sound. I am also working on new material with my Marching Dynamics partner in crime Shane Talada for his current project, Artillery Nightspace. And, I am spending more time in the box since the summer programming and developing new techniques in the realm of engineering and mastering.
The four track EP ‘A.D.’ by is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and Apple Music.