INQB8R interviews Gosh from "Yaputhma Sound System" (a.k.a. DJ Snobo)

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INQB8R Community / COMMON / INQB8R interviews Gosh from "Yaputhma Sound System" (a.k.a. DJ Snobo)

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Author	Message
INQB8R Admin	# Posted: 27 May 2008 11:16 - Edited by: INQB8R Gosh is a person which obviously impressed the development of the local Latvian underground scene. Specially known for his leadership of Latvian experimental bands Yaputhma Sound System (YaSoSy) and Pasaki Onkuliem Ata ("Tell Bye-Bye To Uncles"), now he is stopped any kind of wide public promotion and more supposed to bedroom vigils, highly local web self-promotion, live sets on 2 comps, ambient massage courses & hard drive crashes (this is quoted from his MySpace profile). To be more precise, described pastimes and states of mind have been applicable to the period immediately after YaSoSy (1997-1999) only, while he was still producing electronic music. After that he's taken a sabbatical and returned to the Yaputhma planet; in other words, in-to exile until the further official notice. Despite of it, he is still often a subject of a public attraction of the local media, and building a net label in Latvia, we were logically decided first to get his watching eye on hold and asked for a little interview with us. (We hope such kind of interviews with the famous and upcoming musicians will regularly appear on our forums.) So, first question comes below. Gosh, you outlived a lot of alternative music scene initiatives, and now we appear as yet another appearance on the huge music scene with yet small proposal. What could you tell about our label's direction so far?
gosh Member	# Posted: 7 Jun 2008 01:50 - Edited by: Admin My taste and expertise tells me that INQ001 is a varied, detailed work, that employs an intricate sound palette and really has a face of its own, it really stands out in the sea of music I constantly digest. And I just can't say the same about other releases. INQ002 was still more or less ok, but simply not very original to my ears. Forgettable. INQ003, to me, sounds very dated and plastic. Again, disposable. And INQ004, sorry, is just amateurish - which again, paired with the eloquent (although funny) mythology, triggers my bullshit detector. About INQ005, Sweeping Logic. It's a very professional work, strong concept and perfect execution. Objectively, I wouldn't pick on anything. I think it is a good continuation of a line drawn from the INQ001 - and should there haven't been 002-004 in between, I would be already running around hyping about INQB8R on every corner ;) Subjectively though, it wouldn't make my annual charts... For my ears, it sounds a bit too straightforward and pretty, and too 90's (I just OD'ed on too many trip-hop albums and tracks way back then). I prefer my downtempo either more glitchy, or on the contrary - very acoustic and live. Actually, it reminds me a bit of Scott Herren's works (and production quality-wise, it's on the similar level, so much respect!). But what I like about Scott Herren, is his Delarosa & Asora project (much more complex, glitchy and multi-layered); or, alternatively, his Savath & Savalas alter-ego, which is so warm and natural. If you know that music, you could tell why I prefer it to Sweeping Logic. And also, drug-related and other mystically sounding samples just don't mean much for me. So, all in all, INQ001 still wins the 1st prize ;) But objectively, I believe "Lucid Side of the Dream" a good work and a very decent addition to your catalog. You need more releases, and more quality/truly original releases, like the INQ001 or INQ005. All the others were, frankly, weak. And some real vital contacts, resulting in real promotion in the proper webzines, like Textura, Dusted, Tiny Mix Tapes, whatever, asking for interview/feature... Contacting more artists, some of which might also have connections with zines/mags. Some truly contemporary, alive & creative artists, not dinosaurs like me spinning around their own planets... Tip: contact Martinez Gonzalez. He's very talented. And he's got tracks enough for dozens of labels... And the tracks are very EP-ready (not for album-only packaging). Ask Selffish. You know him. Cliche. But of course it's you who choose your artists.
INQB8R Admin	# Posted: 9 Jun 2008 12:16 - Edited by: INQB8R We agree that currently we don't have a massive promotion around, but as our experience shows, most interesting things do not need a pressure persistence at all. They are coming on the way. If you own an original idea, it will gradually promote itself. Here, we are just curious - did you catch the idea of our label? Nowadays net labels are rapidly growing like mushrooms. We think they are offering much more crap than us. But if they have enough funds to create a heavy promotion, this would lead to a lot of other-side crap anyway. What do you think about such kind of promotion? Do you think only promotion matters? And... *What did you specially like in our 1st release? What does it mean to be a "quality/truely original release" for you?*
gosh Member	# Posted: 9 Jun 2008 19:14 The idea of your label... I was puzzled about it when I read your motto. I mean, you seem to state two things: 1) you release EPs only 2) you release quality music only, quality over quantity, the music that breathes, super-strong selection criteria etc etc... So, the idea of EP-only label - ok, it makes sense, why not, but are you really sure, putting your hand over your heart, that it's so bright, unique and original idea that it would be enough to make your label to really stand out? The 2nd one. Excuse me, but it really sounds to me like a self-promotional boasting :) Because, isn't it obvious? Could you imagine a label that would declare to release only shitty, unoriginal, boring music with quantity over quality? And, the worst of all, for me - personally - it just contradicts with the actual state of things (those infamous INQ002-004). So when a label proudly and eloquently talks about quality and originality, but releases music which IMHO is far from being original, my bullshit detector starts ringing. Sorry. Yeah, I guess there is a lot of crap elsewhere, but at least most of the netlabels I've seen don't boast that eloquently ;) By promotion I mean only getting known. Spreading the word, in a targeted way. I don't think funds are needed for that. Promotion of course matters - again, only to make people know about you. If they don't know... No one will listen, correct? ;) Quality/true originality... Of course it's subjective. Perhaps that's really a matter of taste and expertise in music? I consider myself more or less an expert in more or less wide area of contemporary music, I guess the same applies to you. But experts also might have different opinions... However, this is no formal theory of sets; can I prove that this particular release is crap, and that one - a work of genius? I doubt that. Actually, I don't really want to spend time trying.
INQB8R Admin	# Posted: 10 Jun 2008 11:08 - Edited by: INQB8R Are you really sure, putting your hand over your heart, that it's so bright, unique and original idea that it would be enough to make your label to really stand out? As Alex Exler once wrote, "I don't like listening CDs from the beginning 'till the end, because even premium musicians do not record such works which could be listened continuously". Despite it's just a minor opinion, for us it matters a lot, because we just agree to it too. Explanation: mostly musicians, especially alternative musicians, are lighted with some genius idea and create just one track which blows the mind. Or even few tracks. For better selling them, their label forces them to create other tracks to fulfill the CDDA. The final listener experiences a CD with two good tracks, and the other ten are label's profitable garbage. Our target is to cooperate with musicians like any major label, but on the minor level. EP format is just enough to feel in shark jaws, that is what it's about. That's why we don't follow exploration of the genre like many labels do already, but a cultivation of the difference in personality in whole. Our choice is unheard. Our goal is to collect difference. We are sure, despite its simplicity such concept is still not taken into rotation by any other label, or at least we still can't find any proofs of such concept anywhere. Of course such concept may be not remarkable if we have small amount of releases by now, but for us it just means a beginning of our course. Really, only the time will show if it goes into the right direction, and we will take into attention your position too when developing our strategies. Could you imagine a label that would declare to release only shitty, unoriginal, boring music with quantity over quality? That's a brilliant idea. You need to build a philosophy from it and maybe even patent it. We are sure by this day nothing similar exists :-) Still, we could only sadly mention there is a lot of net labels nowadays which follow such "idea" even without declaring it. As for example, you have mentioned Martinez Gonzalez, and one of his two "official" releases so far is issued on the local label called "Dirty Deal". We have listened to all of this label's releases, and there is nothing really remarkable. Maybe except Gonzalez's "Whales" track where somebody coughs like after taking a big portion of weed. It's funny, nothing more. Overall, Martinez Gonzalez's release consists of 4 very short tracks, 14 minutes long in total, including a remixed work, and they are very various tracks, which are technically perfect, but with no human concept behind. Quick and unexpressive work. It's a miracle Gonzalez was strong enough to release a full-length, thus on legendary "Lagunamuch", making his LP continuous and genre-oriented. We would be very interested in such type EP on our label of course, but here exactly we're not sure that Gonzalez's "dozens of tracks" really mean "dozens of quality". At least the quality like we propose it. Or, if by "Cliche" you have mentioned, you mean the project presented on the aforementioned label, we can't say we would listen to their album twice, because it's too obvious: cosmic flying which is recorded on synths in various times and doesn't follow the overall concept at all. It has no soul, a music which was studied in and out years ago by other musicians, a professionally sounding release from the authors collecting their side project works and finally deciding to publish them for a small auditory. There are tons of such music around. Great sound can improve the impression of music, but the impression of music can't consist of its sound only. For sure, we understand "Dirty Deal" is really a cafee, and probably they release "their own" musicians, which have a lot of chances to play live in this 20-persons room, but which are known in a small circle of Latvians only. It doesn't have a big global meaning, and it seems they do not a big promotion at all. At least we were confused when it was impossible to get Gonzalez's "Dakstins" from them, at the time they are official distributors of this album in Latvia. At the time we are not trying to bang the Latvian "elite underground musicians" society's can, initially we are international and open-minded label, as you see now, we have releases from Spain, Japan, Latvia, Germany, and upcoming are from Russia and US. What do you think of the above said? What could you say about this yet another Latvian label foundation? Which way this label could differ from others? Only because it has a different title? When establising our label, we were just excited to break the passive things out being different from others. Else what the sense there would be to build something which already exists?.. Do you think there is a lot of Latvian labels and/or musicians which gained the success on the worldwide scene? (let's not mention "Brainstorm" for sure) If not, what could be the reason - why? And if yes, could you provide some examples for our dorky team to study? Interview continued on the 2nd page

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