In Conversation with Euphonious Murmur Blend (EMB) April 2005 A little background: Saulations to Bela Emerson (again) who in her own way has been Responsible for at two other interviews in-directly before this one and quite possibly another one or two hopefully forthcoming. Bela is a brilliant double bass and cello player who manages to take these instruments much further than their original classical roots into something much more freeform perhaps soundscape being the best word. I have seen Bela play on a number of occasions over the past few years and although she has been brilliant to watch, part of the pleasurehas been sometimes speaking to and watching other artists that areon tour with her. Previously through her I had met Chris Cook aka Hot Roddy / SameActor who does just as haunting with a sitar and Sherry aka MusicFor one who develops things with a guitar which to start withAlmost sounds like a instrumental Nick Drake and then headsOff into much different territory rapidly. I met Paul Morgan aka Euphonious Murmur Blend (EMB) the last time I saw Bela play at the end of last year at thesame gig which featured both Bela and Music for One also. Paul’s set as Euphonious Murmur Blend (EMB) was amazing inA total different way from both Bela and Music for one in theWay he would mix live sounds using various electronical Equipment which was held together by a ticking old manualKind of clock which gave a weird tortured heart-beat toThe song. After the gig I bought Paul’s untitled EMB CD called emb26/10/05 and emb27/10/05 which left me gob smackedat the challenging nature and almost sucessed in deafeningme at more than one point during the second track (butthat is another story for another day). Really impressed with the CD, I e mailed Paul and I pickedUp a number of the CD’s he mentions during this interviewAnd we spoke about this interview at the start of this yearWhich then got delayed by Paul’s travelling (see below)And the death of my own PC (See before). For more information on EEB – Please contact PaulOn Or have a look at his myspace.com page Thanks again to Paul for this excellent interview andThanks to Bela again for the introduction Cheers Andrew N Setting Sun: How’s things and what are you up to at the moment? EMB: Just got back from Xmas and New Year in Africa; Uganda and Kenya. And I will spend a couple of weeks in Mumbai in April. So I’m about to start collating those field recordings for the new EMB album Nyama Choma Diode which should be ready in a by the end of 2006 hopefully. EMB Discography: A Monochrome In Warped Atmosphere [Sequential Grapevine]
cd 2002 “Verity Synt” track on Slightly Off Kilter Volume One [The Slightly Off Kilter Label] cd 2002 “Please Drive Recklessly Through Our Village” track on Hilter Skilter!!! [The Slightly Off Kilter Label] cd 2003 “Analog Symphoney – edit” track on Hilter Skilter!!! [The Slightly Off Kilter Label] cd 2003 Compression ep [Sequential Grapevine] cd 2004
A Monochrome In Warped Atmosphere (reissue)
[The Slightly Off Kilter Label] cd 2004 emb26/10/05/emb27/10/05 [self released] cd 2005
Setting Sun: Can you next tell us a little bit about yourself, what started off with music - who fired the starting pistol be it for a better word etc? EMB: The beginning of Euphonious Murmur Blend was in 1993. During my preparations for my Final Degree Show at West Surrey College of Art and Design, I was working on a video installation. I decided it needed a music soundtrack and rather than use an existing piece of music I opted to generate the music myself live with an electric guitar and some digital effects. I wanted the piece to be “unplayed”, in other words no traditional technique or playing involved. I started working out ways of getting the instrument to sound without actually touching it too much, and then amplifying the signal with digital effects. Of course, in the early 90’s digital guitar effects weren’t of the quality they are today and those 8-bit processes certainly produced some interesting and unusual results… Setting Sun: Music wise, what are you listening to at the moment and what are your influences? EMB: Current listening: Cristian Marclay, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Fuck Shit Up Adam Lygo, Surface Scratches; Extreme Loops vol. 1 & Infestation; Extreme Loops vol. 2
Miles Davis, Tribute To Jack Johnson Derek Bailey, Music And Dance Supersilent, 4 Bleaklow, Our Beautiful Ridiculous Plan Jez Riley / IME, the female, Gisele Bone, Amy Todman, Toshimaru Nakamura, Tamaru & Mark Wastell, Intuitive Composition[Small Packet] (a compilation)
Spontaneous Music Orchestra, Plus Equals (1974-5) directed by John Stevens Borbetomagus, Barbed Wire Maggots The Vitamin B12, Candy Influences: Terry Riley, Brian Eno, Delia Derbyshire, Phillip Jeck, Morton Subotnik, Gordon Mumma…
Setting
Sun:
I
know from conversations with yourself that are you involved
with
several other projects / bands – can you tell us a little bit
more
about them and how they compare to your EMB stuff?
EMB:
I play in an
improvising collective called The Vitamin B12.
We release our
music on limited vinyl lp’s. I use
similar equipment
as with EMB.
I play prepared
electric guitar in a duo with loop guitarist Adam
Lygo.
This music is also improvised but after spending most of
2005 playing
live, we are now concentrating on producing music
for film.
Adam and I also
play in a noise band The Surly Bonds Of Earth
with Matt Rains
and Sam Eden-Green from www.mentalistassociation.co.uk
.
This is quite a
new project although we are about to release a cd-r
of a session on
The Slightly Off Kilter Label.
Setting
Sun:
I
also see you are involved with “Slightly Off Kilter” an excellent
independent
label in Brighton – can you tell us a little bit more
about
your involvement with this label?
EMB:
The Slightly Off Kilter Label started as an extension of a regular live event I had got involved with at The Freebutt in Brighton called “Slightly Off Kilter”. In 2001 I had played at Slightly Off Kilter with my experimental dance music project “Kaleidophon” and gave away copies of a five song cd to anyone who enjoyed the show. I thought it would be good if Slightly Off Kilter could occasionally offer a free cd at their shows as people came into the venue. The cd could be a compilation of bands that had played at Slightly Off Kilter. My idea was that the cds would help promote both Slightly Off Kilter and the bands on the discs. We would produce no more than 50 or so copies and then put any that were left over into Edgeworld Records the day after the show. We did about eight compilations then I thought it might be nice to start putting more specific things out. I was really impressed by Alasdair Willis’ vinyl output under the name The Vitamin B12; the sleeves were always designed by him and looked fantastic. He did everything himself and I realised that it could be possible to put out our own vinyl too. We thought hard about our favourite bands and after some deliberation, it was decided that Bela Emerson’s Scythe ep was going to be our first piece of vinyl.
Setting
Sun:
What
future plans does “Slightly Off Kilter” have also?
EMB: A cd-r from Manchester’s own A Middle Sex. A cd-r from EMB called Nyama Choma Diode. A series of split 7”s for 2007. Ongoing issues of Honest Music For Dishonest Times zine. Setting Sun: I know from seeing you play live recently that you obviously play gigs on some kind of regular basis - how do these compare to your recordings / releases? Is there one you prefer over the other? EMB: Its actually quite rare that Euphonious Murmur Blend plays live. Before this tour with Bela Emerson and Music For One I played the Vincent Gallo-curated ATP in May 2005 with The Vitamin B12. And probably no more than a handful of other gigs since the first Euphonious Murmur Blend cd came out. I really think of Euphonious Murmur Blend as a studio project; that really is the nature of the project, but it does escape into the outside world occasionally… Setting Sun: When I saw you recently, I purchased an CD off yourself which was simply two long epic tracks simply called emb26/10/05 and emb27/10/05… Can you tell us a little bit more about the sessions for this CD and how it came about etc.. And how the bits of white noise appeared on track 2, which nearly blew my ear drums out (I didn’t read the warning until too late! Lol) EMB: Having been asked to play on the Bela Emerson / Music For One Tour as the warm-up act, I gathered together some portable equipment a couple of weeks before we were due to leave and started pressing buttons… As I tried to get used to playing for a 15 minute set, I recorded every attempt as I went along. I felt those two tracks were the most successful and as such would be good to have something really up to date to take as merchandise on the tour. The white noise on track two is the sound of my vintage 1960’s Fender Princeton amplifier blowing up…. Setting Sun: What is the inspiration for your name “ Euphonious Murmur Blend” out of interest too.. EMB: The word “euphonious” means literally “kind on the ear” which is not always the case with EMB music as I’m sure you will agree! There is a lot of “blending” of different sound sources in the music as well; record decks, field recordings, different acoustic and electronic instruments, test equipment… So I tried to think of a name that would kind of describe the music. It could probably do with a bit more murmuring… Setting Sun: What’s next for yourself? Do you have any more releases in mind etc, etc? I met a guy in Bristol who makes contact mics so I want to make some pieces of music constructed exclusively from sounds generated by these mics. I’ve bought three already, but I think it would be good to have access to lots more. Also, I’d like to have a “greatest hits”-style record to take away with me the next time EMB tours. Plus I’m going to insist that the next release has a hand-painted cover like the original 2002 Sequential Grapevine release of “A Monochrome In Warped Atmosphere”. I’m thinking a limited lathe-cut 7” ep might be the way to go… Setting Sun: A few more light hearted questions to finish off with… Firstly, what would you be your dream job if you were not a rock and roll star? EMB: Being paid to travel the world recording sounds like Chris Watson does is a very attractive idea. Setting Sun: Lastly, something light to finish off (Borrowed from a pal's zine almost) – Imagine you were ship wrecked on a desert Island and could have (Clearly have second sight here – lol) the choice of having 5 records or Cd's with you with a stereo of course- what would be your desert Island discs? EMB: 1 Lee Ranaldo From Here To Infinity 2 The Vitamin B12 The Latest Release Is A Ten Record Box Set 3 Pan Sonic A 4 Master Musicians Of Jajouka / Bachir Attar Produced By Talvin Singh 5 Brian Eno Music For Airports