“I think to really live in a moment, to really “think of life,” one has to appreciate how imminent death is. ”
-K4m37r0n
Introduction by Marquesa Rotuski & Interview by Theo Constantinou
I began with the video…this was my first listen, coupled with sultry visuals: the perfect introduction to Stereo Alchemy. I am no Lohan fan, but this is neither here nor there: bare skin, clouds of cigarette smoke fogging a dimly lit bedroom, lips parted in ecstasy…sin after sin. This is what I watched once, twice, three times over, taking in the music, feeling it. Lindsay’s Private Party, a video created by Yu Tsai, exclusively for Muse Magazine features, “A Rapture,” from God of Love; Alchemy’s debut album, set to drop on Valentine’s Day. Though “Rapture” is satisfying on its own, I was grateful for the visual aid. It allowed me to comprehend how Christopher and K4m37r0n define their genre: decadent electronica, “dramatic, dense layers of sound and evocative lyrics.” The eroticism the video portrayed is exactly what “Rapture” stirred in me, what kept returning to me three listens later, goosebumps gracing my arms. With lyrics borrowed from Thomas Carew’s poem by the same name, a piece that had my cheeks burning while I poured over it in my English seminar two years back, the song is sexually charged, fiery, worthy of nails digging into flesh, tongue tasting skin. First track down and I was ready to light a cigarette.
The album, which K4m37ron mused, “explores themes of life, love, madness, and death,” provokes several drastically different moods, as it covers a wide range of styles. While I loved the occasional dose of 80’s inspired synth pop (“My Hearts Fit to Break,” “Young Lovers”) and the darker undertones of several songs laced with “trip hop,” I felt spoiled by the immediate seduction that was “A Rapture.” The songs collectively tell a story (complete with lyrical gifts borrowed from poems of the Romantic era, a detail a fellow English major can certainly appreciate) of lust, love, and eventually love lost; I felt like a lover walked through the door with “Rapture,” and left with “Love is Love,” (the brightest spots of the album). Somewhere in between, there may have been a long, highway drive, late night dancing, a slamming door, but I continued to long for that initial seduction of “Rapture,” and kept going back; isn’t this a universal craving?
Christopher and K4m37ron both spoke of their distaste for the romanticizing of the creative process; of trying to make moments of inspiration appear sexy. I found this particularly intriguing, as I felt sex dripping from almost every track; perhaps from a technical viewpoint, there was hardly anything sexy about producing each individual beat, though the album is feverish with this certain sexual energy. K4m37ron told Paradigm, “I want to make music that makes you want to dance, do drugs, have sex, and smash things.” I hardly wanted a dose of MDMA mixed with neon lights and a pulsating dance floor; this felt like the exit soundtrack: shaky limbs, sweaty skin, intoxication, random stranger, back alley, back home. As far as decadent electronica goes, this proved successful. Cue God of Love and the exhilaration ensues a dirty, Lohan-esque love affair, teeth catching lips and hair being pulled, all chased with clear liquor; you can thank Stereo Alchemy during the pillow talk.
Why did you choose to take portions from the poem, “A Rapture,” by Thomas Carew as lyrics for your song?
C: I was an English literature major in college, and spent some time studying the classics at Oxford University in England. I came across, ‘A Rapture’ in one of my classes; it was instantly one of the most erotic things I’d ever read, and seared itself into my memory. When I saw that Lindsay Lohan video, it just popped into my mind, and it was a perfect fit. It was so decadent, so over the top: absolutely perfect.
What is decadent electronica and is that how you would specifically define your music?
K: It’s defined by a sense of the dramatic, dense layers of sound and evocative lyrics held together with fine craftsmanship.
C: It’s also a philosophy… not being afraid of being a little over-the-top, in a Romantic Era sort of way.
The respective definition of alchemy is: a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages, and the renaissanceany magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value. How do Christopher & K4m37r0n produce chemistry of little value and turn it into a substance of great value which becomes … Stereo Alchemy?
C: We like to combine the old with the new in our music. All the songs on our album, for example, are taken from old Renaissance and Romantic poems (by Christina Rossetti, John Donne, and more). We also like to combine more vintage sounds in our music with more contemporary synths and such. Even the way we’re mixing the tracks is a nod to a more old-school, analog way of doing things.
K: The whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. That goes for the myriad of elements that make up each track to the album as a whole.
I had asked you guys a question last year when I had first started doing interviews, it was something along the lines of inspiration and impact … I really liked K4m37r0n’s answer; he said that he hated the question, I agree. Why do you think it is that people are so obsessed with musicians or any creators’ inspiration?
K: I think there is a need to understand the creative process in a rational, understandable way. There is also a tendency to romanticize the creative process, but the reality of it is that it doesn’t always make sense, and often, inspiration isn’t that sexy. As an artist, I love many kinds of music. It is all connected for me, but it’s not something that I can distill into a simple answer; I just try to absorb as much music that speaks to me as a I possible can. I try to understand it from a technical point of view, I try to understand how to dance to it, I try to understand it emotionally…I just try to get it into every cell of my body. When the time comes to compose something new, you just do it; once it’s done you look back and try to make up a story of how it happened. While you are in the moment, it doesn’t work that way. You are just reacting and acting, and drawing upon your technique and knowledge base, and you just make it happen. Inspiration is just a word we use to describe a moment, when the ideas that are rattling around in your mind coalesce into something you can use. I’m just not sure that moment is knowable.
C: Personally, I rather despise anything that romanticizes musicians and the creative process. Movies like Mr. Holland’s Opus and Once really drive me crazy. Maybe there are some musicians out there who take a much more sentimental approach to what they do, but I, for one, don’t. Some people are good at doing taxes, some people fix cars…I write catchy melodies: there’s not much more to it than that.
To follow up that question, I read a quote by Nat King Cole that said, “The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it.” Is this true and, what happens when people who do know something about music start talking about it?
K: In my experience, when people who know about music start talking about it, the conversation usually gets pretty geeky. If you are talking with other giging musicians it goes to things like: “I really love Tony William’s approach to the high hat,” or some other nuance that only musicians care about. Or there is the technical geek approach: “The new Lexicon 224 plug-in is sweet!” Then there is usually a heated debate about the merits of plug-ins vs. hardware.
C: I think music gets a lot of conversation, because it’s inherently the most abstract art form, and so the language it takes to talk about it is built upon a lot of artificial constructs. Much visual art, for example, is representative…a picture of a tree represents something that you see in real life: a tree. But what is music? What is a series of notes? It doesn’t represent anything that actually occurs in nature. Music is a vast matrix of interconnected frequencies and durations, and all the enjoyment we get out of it is purely based on our enjoyment of abstract notions of order and cohesion. How’s that for geeky?
Death and life has been a constant conversation piece over here at Paradigm … I came across this quote from French actor Alain Delon in which he said, “I don`t really have the fear of death. I think to life.” Do you think that you fear death, or do you think of life?
K: I’m going to get all eastern on you and say that, there are two parts to the same whole. They aren’t in opposition to each other, but are different expressions of the same thing. I think to really live in a moment, to really “think of life,” one has to appreciate how imminent death is.
C: I’ll give a much less cryptic answer. Yes, I fear death: my own, and for those around me. I have a lot to live for right now, and I’m only getting started.
K4m37r0n, you said your signature decadent electronica sound will explore life, love, madness and death. Do you think those four elements are not only true to your music, but true to life as well? You live, love, go a bit mad in the process and then die, or is there more to it than that?
K: Nope that’s exactly it. You live, love, go a bit mad in the process, then die. I believe that each of us lives a very intense inner life, yet we have very few opportunities to express that. Our day-to-day lives don’t define who we really are. Art is the way we communicate this inner life to the world. I don’t want to waste my time making background music or pleasant music; I want to make music that is a cathartic experience. I want to make music that makes you want to dance, do drugs, have sex, and smash things.
What is your relationship with Yu Tsai? And how did that phone call to work on the music for his video with Linsday Lohan, change the direction of your life?
C: Yu Tsai is a longtime client and friend of mine. In my other life I compose music for films, video games and commercials, and I’ve written music for several of his fashion and commercial projects. On the flipside, I hired his company to do the branding for my own company, Tin Works. We’ve known each other for close to a decade now. It remains to be seen whether him calling me for music for Lindsay’s Private Party will ultimately change our lives, but it’s been a great partnership, and I hope it carries on into the future.
I recently finished reading Herman Hesse’s, Demian. There are a million lines I underlined in that book, but a portion of the introduction sums up my question …
“Few people nowadays know what man is. Many sense this ignorance and die the more easily because of it, the same way that I will die more easily once I have completed this story. I do not consider myself less ignorant than most people. I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to the teachings my blood whispers to me. My story is not a pleasant one; it is neither sweet nor harmonious, as invented stories are; it has the taste of nonsense and chaos, of madness and dreams–like the lives of all men who stop deceiving themselves.”
Do you feel that you two have now stopped questioning the star’s and, have begun listening to the teaching in which your blood whispers, specifically related to Stereo Alchemy?
K: This quote is perfect for Stereo Alchemy. I’m definitely still a seeker. It also illustrates why we chose to base our music around poetry. My ability to manipulate language is so limited; I have always felt this as far back as I can remember: I knew that I should find another way to express myself besides using words. I deeply admire individuals like Hesse who, have such an ability to express themselves through language.
C: I’m not a seeker, no. I don’t ever stop to question the stars about who I am. I know what it is that I do: I write music. That’s my duty in life, and I don’t question it any more than a cold-blooded killer questions himself before pulling the trigger. I have the job of a poet, but the soul of a soldier.
