15.4.13

Felix Kubin interview for 06:00am




Felix Kubin foto by Evelyna  Domnitch


06: A definition of yourself.

I am an early reflection.

06: If we don't act with immediacy, capitalism will become our executioner?

It’s the other way round. Capitalism forces us to act faster than we can think and consume more than we can swallow. It compresses time so much that there is no contemplation in work, no time to let the particles settle that were thrown on the surface of the water. Life needs time. Art needs time. Love needs time. We have to claim back time and public space. Also, capitalism doesn’t judge the inner quality of things, it only judges their immediate sales value. In its most perverted (or maybe purest) form, capitalism means earning money with money. This is incest and it leads nowhere.

06: Free time is something we have to work for?

We have to buy free time, unless we decide to drop out of the (working) society and become hermits. Some people do that, and they are courageous. I am not a hippie, though. I like taxis, modern buildings, vacuum cleaners and elevators. I want to live in a modern world but detached from ist daily rhythm, more like a ghost.

06: Why did Orpheus turn and look at Euridice just before the exit?

In my radio play version „Orphée Mécanique“ he didn’t look back. Actually, he entered the underworld without finding Eura (he only found her projection). And after he left Hades, he forgot where he was, so he entered again. But in the original version he turned around because he heard no sound behind him. We need sound for evidence. When I saw my dead father lying on the floor, his silence was much more horrifying than the way he looked.

06: How do you perceive the rise of extreme right wing parties in Europe, that is accompanied by a corresponding rise of extreme right wing parties in Greece?

When the economy gets bad and people have to struggle with poverty, right wing (or extremist) parties always get strong. That seems to be a phenomenon of history. Of course, the situation in Hungary and Greece worries me. But most of all I am worried about Russia. It seems that they are light years away from Glasnost and Perestroika.

06: Are radio transmissions today as important as they were in the past? In which ways?

Transmissions are always important! Let’s just forget about commercial radio for a second. I think that the ideal of radio has become more important than ever. For me, radio can be a synonym for quality journalism, in-depth features, radio plays, alternative music programmes and experimentation with transmission in general. Of course, hardly anyone listens to radio by antenna nowadays, only people in cars do that. We mostly listen by internet and usually turn on the radio randomly. We don’t care about the programme schedule. There are some decent radio programmes on internet but most of them lack something that public radio has: money. At the end of the day, you need to pay a radio maker, so (s)he can take time to make a good research. You need to pay the staff of a radio play production: the author, the director, the musician, the actors and so forth. And you need to pay the moderator, so he can prepare for the programme. All of these paid people shall not be controlled by a private company that is only interested in sales figures. They shall be paid for work that is serving public interest, education and a free spirit of culture. Having said that, the democratization of internet has produced a lot of blogs and mini radio stations with some brilliant perls amongst them. But on the long run I really believe that it’s necessary to be paid for quality work, at least if you want to keep a sustainability. This counts for artists and musicians, too. Otherwise it stays a hobby.

06: What has been your experience working with Christoph Schlingensief like?

I had met him few times 10 years ago. Back then, I only compiled some classical music for his theatre play „Atta Atta“, so I wasn’t involved too much in the creation of the play. Few years ago, he wanted me to compose music for his play „Eine Kirche der Angst vor dem Fremden in mir“ („a church of fear of the alien in me“ – actually, the title is hard to translate). But his request came too short in advance of the rehearsals, I couldn’t do it. I think, one year later he died. I always liked his ability to bring people together and create a riot or protest. I liked his interfering with public spaces. He wasn’t afraid of any confrontation. However, I didn’t like his aesthetics very much. He was more an instigator than an artist to me.

06: Can you describe what has been in your life your relationship with the dancefloor.

I have no special relation to dancefloors. Dancefloors mostly create reproduction. They are as much overrated as DJs. I like the idea of a club that creates world, surprising, surreal and independent from the outer world. It needs a lot of creative audience to achieve that, no consumers. I don’t like DJs who play only one style of music and only care about how they can please the crowd. They should rather go into politics then. Parliaments should be dancefloors, DJs should be conductors, dancefloors should be auditoriums.

06: What would you like to do in the future?

I want to work with foley artists and create a composition for a cursing choir.

06: Can you send us a picture of you, of a place or of something else that best illustrates your current state of mind?

I attached a foto that Evelyna Domnitch took of me in Amsterdam in her sci-fi lab.





3.4.13

1.4.13

Dimitris KU Papadatos Interview for 06:00am




06: What is your parents profession? Can you describe the environment in which you grew up?

My mother is a travel agent and my father is a computer programmer who later became a farmer. I grew up with my mother and sister around the southern suburbs of Athens.Very close to the sea, so that I could always get the big picture just by looking at the waves. I went to a public school, and every Sunday we would gather at my classmate’s house and watch all episodes of Nightmare On Elm Str in a row.
I was also a boyscout. I guess I still am since one is always put under the oath.

06: Had you ever wished that you had invented something massive like the blue jeans?
I always wished I had composed Springsteen’s 'Thunder Road' which kind of answers your question.

06: Has your music influenced your parents?

No, I don’t think so .

06: Where do you like to usually walk your dog?

I take Daria almost everywhere I go if it’s in a walking distance. She likes the park close to our house cause all her dogfriends are there.
I like mt Penteli but only on sunny days.

06: What book(s) are you currently reading?

I am re-visiting Brian Michael Bendis’ “POWERS” series, just started Hillel Schwartz’s “THE CULTURE OF THE COPY” and finishing “EVERYBODY LOVES OUR TOWN” by Mark Yarm.

06: Why do you thank Kariofyllia Karambeti in the credits section of your new album Feathers as KU?

Because she taught me that everyone should get paid for their work, and proved it in action and on her own private expense. Plus she gave me some more great piece of advice.

06: Tell us about your new album.

My new album was released on 12’’ + free CD via Inner Ear Records on the 26th of March. The name is Feathers and it consists of 9 songs. The duration is almost 38 minutes. The music and lyrics are mine except where specified on the liner notes. It was recorded on the summer of 2012. It was produced by Prins Obi. My wife is on the cover.

  [RUBICON video directed by Corinna Triantafyllidis]

06: Do you identify with any art movement(s)?

I identify with every art movement there was, is and will be, except action painting.
It makes me sick in the stomach.

06: Reveal a secret of yours.

I have a secret Mimi Parker obsession.

06: What is beauty for you?

A neck ready to be kissed.

06: Do you consider yourself to be talented?

Yes, of course. My greatest talent is memorizing telephone numbers.

06: If you owned a billboard what would you have on it?

It would be a Felix Gonzales Torres.

06: Do you believe that love can overthrow everything?

I do. It should.

06: Would you ever decide to go on an island where all your desires could be fulfilled with the risk that you might never ever be able to return?

Why would I want to leave in the first place if I knew I would want to return? So yes.
My father left for an island and he never returned to the city. I envy him.

06: What features of contemporary Greeks quiet you the most?

If you mean what leaves me speechless, I have to go with the fact that greek society keeps repeating old mistakes and does that in the worst possible ways.

06: If the world is both overpopulated and underfed why are we opposed to cannibalism?

Because the mind is a terrible thing to taste, according to Al Yourgensen at least. Never say never though.

06: What was the most significant encounter in your life?

Meeting my wife definitely. She made me look at the world in its real proportions and this was the most important gift life had to give me.