FortheRecord
Interviews

[ New Reviews ]
[ Electro Lounge ]
[ Electro Lounge Archive ]
[ Moog & Mood ]
[ Sound Library ]      
[ Retro Remixes ]
[ Imaginary Soundtracks ]
[ Swank Samples ]
[ License to Score ]
[ Found Wax ] 
[ Series Spotlight ]   
[ Coming Soon ]   
[ Links ]
[ For the Record ]
[ Interviews ]

REVIEW ARCHIVES: 
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Chatting with Shawn Lee
of Ping Pong Orchestra

Score, Baby! recently spoke with Shawn Lee, whose Ping Pong Orchestra albums are favorites among sound library and cult soundtrack collectors. The fourth PPO album is Voices and Choices.

SB: Voices and Choices doesn't appear to be part of the series you
recorded for Ubiquity over the past few years, yet it's a Ping Pong
Orchestra album. What's the diff?

SL: Voices and Choices is very much a continuation of the first three albums in my mind, but I would say that it's a leap forward. I have incorporated vocals into the mix and gotten deeper into the arrangements.

SB: Again, you wrote and produced all of the material and played most of the instruments. Did you have the tracks completely arranged in your head going into the project, or was there a lot of experimentation in the studio?

SL: I sometimes have an idea about what kind of drum groove I want to start with. Other times it might be the mood or instrumentation. Once I begin the recording process things have a way of mutating and shifting. The truth is that when the tracks are finished they're nothing like I originally envisioned.

SB: Whenever I'm listening to a PPO album I'm struck by the little bits that are reminiscent of some classic soundtrack or library recording, and I'm always impressed that the bit is contained within a completely new, original piece. When you play those bits in the studio are you aware of the similarity or point of reference, or is it a subconscious thing?

SL: I'm influenced both on a concious and unconcious level. 70's cop TV music really is in my blood!

SB: This is the first PPO album to showcase lyrics/vocals.
Did those tracks come about organically based on jams with vocalist friends, or did you seek Ohmega Watts, Nino Moschella and Pierre D for those specific tracks? What attracted you to them as vocalists and why didn't you sing the tracks yourself?

SL: Yes the vocalists came into the frame quite organically. Pierre D is one of my engineers and has recorded many a Shawn Lee overdub! I sort of forced Pierre to drink a bottle of wine and do a Serge Gainsbourg piss take/homage one night at the end of a session. He's still embarrassed by it! I had previously remixed Nino Moschella and did it as a swap. Meaning I  do a free mix if you do a free  vocal for me. Nino has a great voice and he really hit the G spot with "Kiss The Sky". Ohmega was also a Ubiquity label mate and dropped some wicked bizness for me on "The Hour Glass Effect". I sort of made a decision not to sing initially on the PPO albums and to separate them from my other vocal albums. I think me doing a lead vocal on a future PPO will happen in the future.

SB: Like all of your PPO and Ape Breaks albums I'm struck by the funky
drumming on Voices and Choices. Do you consider yourself a drummer
first and foremost? Do you record the drums first? Who are your
favorite drummers of all time?

SL: I consider myself a musician/composer first and foremost. Funnily enuff, playing drums is my least favourite thing to do! As far as fave drummers go: Bernard Purdie, Idris Muhammed, James Gadson, Earl Palmer, Paul Humphrey, Hal Blaine and Brian Bennett for starters.

SB: The track "Glass Act" features unusual instrumental textures. It has a psychedelic/giallo/Argento meets Hitchcock vibe to it. Are the "special effects" organic or sample-based? What inspired it?

SL: The original influence for "Glass Act" was a Bruno Nicolai drum track from an album called Sound Dimensions. From there on the track turned into something very different. The glass breaking sample came from a really old sound FX album that I've had for nearly 20 years. I knew it would come in handy at some point!

SB: Are there any anecdotes connected with these tracks overall?

SL: Right before the end of "Glass Act" you can hear me say Oww! This is because something fell off the wall and hit my hand during a piano overdub. Also, "Bobulski" and "Tense Bossa" share the same drum track. It's funny how differently they sound.

SB: As an eclectic musician, I imagine that you derive inspiration from all sorts of things. Do you have any viewing/listening/experiential recommendations for ScoreBaby readers based on your experience making
this album?

SL: I'm really digging on The Future Sound of Lesiman at the moment. That album is deep! The Italians definitely have it going on with 60's/70's film/library music.

SB: Thanks for sharing, Shawn.

SL: My pleasure.

Chatting with Jason Willett,
Compiler of Music De Wolfe, Vol. 1

Score, Baby! recently spoke with Jason Willett, compiler of the excellent new CD Music De Wolfe, Vol. 1. Jason is best known for his work in the noise rock group Half Japanese and other avant-garde projects.

SB: What should library music fans know about this compilation?

JW: There’s a lot of passion behind it.

SB: How long have you been collecting library music?

JW: Well, I don’t have the money to collect original LPs. I've been collecting the comps since 2000. And I have rips of full albums. Soulseek has a lot of original library albums.

SB: When did you first develop a taste for library music?

JW: I got involved with library music when I went to Australia 10 years ago. When I stepped off the airplane I was swept up by this ‘60s style go-go dancer who took me to the Sounds of Seduction, the most-happening get together in Australia. It takes place in an old hotel in Sydney every Saturday night. About 500 to 600 people pack in. It's a magical experience. That’s where I first heard “Hard Hitter,” seeing my go-go girlfriend dance to that song. It was like discovering a part of my personality that I didn’t know I had. It's almost 10 years and I’m still trying to figure it out. And that’s where I first heard the term “library music.” I became good friends with DJ Jamie Leonarder (aka Jay Katz) who’d previously had an industrial noise band of schizophrenics called Mu-Mesons. Now, he’s the host of a popular “Entertainment Tonight”-type TV program called “The Movie Show”. Sound of Seduction came out of Mu-Mesons, started as a cabaret show that mushroomed into an insane all-night experience. There was a Sounds of Seduction compilation on Shock Records as well, featuring tracks by Syd Dale, Ennio Morricone and others.

SB: So, what happened when you came back to the States?

JW: When I came back to Baltimore I wanted to DJ and get a lot more library music. Now, when I DJ in Baltimore, it’s a lot wilder and crazier than Sounds of Seduction. It’s no inhibitions. It’s like a joyful exorcism. I prefer doing big open spaces that are private more than clubs. When I say wild and crazy, I don’t mean that it’s a drug scene. It’s almost like having a preacher conduct an exorcism. Baltimore is a different experience. It’s one of the most down to earth cities I’ve been to. People are very real here.

SB: So, how did you put this comp together?

JW: The process started with an epiphany to call De Wolfe and inquire about the cost of putting a comp together. They told me it is $3,000 for 10 songs. I ended up purchasing the licensing fees for 15 tracks to the tune of $4,500 for a maximum of 3,000 pressed CDs.

I went to De Wolfe in New York. You sit in a waiting room until they call your name. I met my contact and was shown to “my office” with a stereo system and directed to another room for the records. I just went back and forth for about five hours, moving as fast as possible. I went through a lot of records with fascinating covers that proved uneventful as a listening experience. I probably went through about a 1,000 tracks between the DeWolfe office and other research to select the final 15 tracks. When you listen to so much in search of something special it’s easy to start thinking that the cool stuff isn’t in abundance after all. In most cases, you know in 20 seconds or less whether you want the track or not. Some tracks keep you listening longer. They'll sound promising but are missing a critical element and fall short of sending you over the top. Other times, I was thinking “this is good,” but after listening to it several times it wouldn’t hold up. The songs that are on the CD I listened to about 100 times over the course of a year and some of the songs that didn’t make the cut simply didn’t hold up as well as the others. They could end up on a future volume depending on what else I find.

I have a hunch that there’s more at the De Wolfe office in London that they don't have New York. One track I sought, “Heavy Lace,” they didn’t even know that they had. A week later they called me back and said they found it, and thanked me for mentioning it because it has a break in it that would interest the hip-hop producers who come to libraries like De Wolfe to “crate dig” for fresh beats. They make most of their money from hip-hop producers. Anyway, the fact that they couldn’t find the track at first makes me think that there’s other stuff out there that the New York office doesn’t know about. I'd like to think there’s enough for additional strong volumes.

SB: What struck you the most when plowing through track after track and what kinds of things were you listening for when selecting tracks?

JW: The thing I encountered is that a lot of library tracks lack personality or strong melodic statement; there’s a sterility to a lot of it. There are funky workouts, sure, but a lot of them have no big hook. I set out to select tracks that have a strong theme, distinctive rhythms and odd arrange-ments. I was hot for Nick Ingman’s Big Beat, which is stunning. He plays instruments he invented on that album. That’s the greatest full library album I’ve heard. I included three tracks from it. And Keith Papworth’s "Hard Hitter," which is featured as well, is the best library song I’ve heard.

SB: Was De Wolfe surprised that you wanted to compile tracks from their back catalogue?

JW: When I told my De Wolfe contact what I wanted to do, I got the impression that they’re not familiar with the concept of making library compilations commercially available. He seemed a little perplexed by the notion. When I first mentioned “Hard Hitter” the guy put it on and said, “Oh, okay, break dance music.” I guess you could say it’s a prototype for break dance music because the rhythm is so busy and frenetic. It’s from 1972. To a certain extent the library employees are out of touch with the older recordings. The majority of what they deal with are new library recordings. If you go to their Web site it’s hard to find the old stuff. Even when you search someone like Ingman or Papworth you only get listings of their later more recent recordings. It’s like they’ve got these recordings off in a corner with cobwebs growing over them, and it took hip-hop producers to call attention to them. Even so, they seem really secretive about what they have, as if they want to make it hard to access.

SB: Why do you think that era of library music is so appealing?

JW: That was a great era for music, period. At the end of the ‘60s you got the groovy side, but the heavy back beats started kicking in ’70. Any time
you have a lot of people opening their minds up great things come from it. But ’75 seems to be a landmark drop in quality for music. Library music after ’75 also reflects that drop in quality. Library music is odd because it’s created for mass consumption but at the same time it’s an underground
thing because so few people know about it. I had a customer (at my store the True Vine Record Shop in Baltimore) who asked me to play Music De Wolfe for him. He didn’t buy it because he thought it would be more commercial. I thought that was funny, because music couldn't be more commercial than library music — it’s made for commercial use. That didn’t change his mind. This is one of the most accessible records I sell in my shop. Nine out of 10 of my customers dig it. It makes me happy. I don’t want to be a snob about this music. I want to get it out there, and turn people on to it.

SB: The cover art is spot on. Did you handle the art as well?

JW: My friend Jen Kirby did the design based on my idea that it be minimal, sterile-yet-flashy and vibrational. I wanted it to be very clean looking, which is unlike anything I’ve ever done before, because most of the music I’ve made has been very raw and experimental, so the covers have looked very thrown together. Over the course of a year I must have made 50 different covers for the CD before I lent Jen the library record cover book (The Music Library, Fuel 2005) from which to draw inspiration. I simply chose the colors.

SB: So, what's next?

JW: If I can sell all of these CDs I’ll pursue another De Wolfe compilation, and maybe some other labels as well. There might be library companies that I don’t even know about that have amazing stuff.

Chatting with Money Mark

"All of my records are the soundtrack of my life"

SB: So when was the last time you played in Detroit?

MM: It was a little while ago -- maybe it was in '99.

SB: Supporting the last record?

MM: Right. I guess that's what you'd call it.

SB: So you moved from Detroit to L.A.

MM: That was when I was a child and my parents moved to L.A. My father was an electronic engineer.

SB: How's the tour going?

MM: It's going ok. It's been pretty rigorous. It's been healthy for us to do this van tour -- feel the road and be responsible for everything. It started in Phoenix and it's going to end in Los Angeles, so we're making a big loop. Some of these dates are make up dates for shows that were cancelled last fall after 9-11. We actually played a show in the early morning before the attacks at the Knitting Factory in New York, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center. In fact, a lot of the songs on Change is Coming are inspired by New York City. For me the tour is to help me reset my thinking about everything.

SB: What do you mean?

MM: I needed to do it myself. Get grounded, feeling gravity again.

SB: You probably had some varied concert our experiences.

MM: There's was one where we played for 60,000 people at the first Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco. Then I continued on with my own tour and the next stop was in Portland and six people came to an in-store. That was the very next day. That was a relief.

SB: How did you hook up with Emperor Norton?

MM: Originally I got an call to collaborate on a Bruce Haack project? A tribute thing. I would have collaborated with Beck, but then we both got busy. So I collaborated with one of the guys from Sukia. I don't know what happened with the record.

SB: Change Is Coming is different from your previous records because it's all instrumental. Was that intentional or did it just evolve that way?

MM: It evolved to the point where I thought I'd make an instrumental record and now I'm going to make a record with vocals -- that's what I'm working on now. I actually do have a newer vocal record out in Japan on V2; I just haven't put it out here. It's called Love Stains: A Demo. Those songs are the sketches of the songs I'm working on now. I'm working on other stuff too. It's never ending -- the recording. Like your tape looping right now. The record button is always on around me.

SB: Would say that you're composing m.o. is different for your songs and your instrumentals?

MM: That's right. For the songs, I'm sitting under a tree with my guitar or little Casio keyboard and really making constructions in my head. Change is Coming really represents me with a band and everything is flowing out. It's kind of a jam, though some of it's composed.

SB: Who did the video for "Information Contraband"?

MM: That was three fellas from Los Angeles. They're company is called Hello, Logan. And I spent three days in front of a green screen. They married to some other visuals.

SB: Were surprised by the outcome?

MM: Yeah, I was. I saw sketches of it, but it was something that you couldn't see until it was finished. It wasn't linear at all.

SB: There's a good soundtrack vibe on Change is Coming. Do you have any particular favorite funky soundtracks?

MM: Hmm... Well, at this point I still have a little trouble with the category of funky, the word funky and what it all means. I like "The Pink Panther," Mancini stuff in general. To me that's kind of funky.

SB: I use the term loosely.

MM: So, then I say Petey Wheatstraw, Curtis Mayfield, Morricone stuff is absolutely fantastic. But then there's a lot of good music on TV from the 70s. A lot of studio musicians were just busting out soundtracks, production music. Walter Murphy, for instance... I had those records a long time ago. At the time I was listening to them, I didn't know how profoundly they were affecting me. It was influencing me a lot. But then, a lot of the musicianship died off. A lot of the musical lineage got disconnect maybe beginning with the Mancini stuff when "The Pink Panther" theme became a hit song, Hollywood realized that soundtracks could be money generating things.

SB: Obviously, your musical influences are varied. Did you grow up in a musical family?

MM: Yeah, my mother was a singer, but became a nurse. Her whole family were musicians. Getting together weekly on the porch. That was really a part of my life.

SB: So, your dad is Japanese and your mom is Mexican.

MM: She grew up in San Antonio Texas. There was a lot jamming on the porch.

SB: What was your first instrument?

MM: It was a tape recorder. I bought a 3440 Teac 4-track. John Cage really turned me on to recording. I learned to play and learned to record at the same time. In my mind they're one and the same. I'm a modern person. The record button is always on. I was in my room listening to records before I was able to go to clubs.

SB: What records did you wear out as a kid?

MM: I wore out Stevie Wonder records, the Beatles. My mother had some jazz in the house. She worked for a jazz publisher at one time in her life. Oscar Peterson... I didn't wear them out, though. I didn't start appreciating that until later. But then there are the sounds of the city. And the sounds of nature are really intriguing to me. I recorded a hippopotamus at the zoo. There's a bird in Australia that imitates sounds, like the sound of a chainsaw.

SB: You didn't bring "Shakes the Monkey" with you tour, did you? {See Mark's Push the Button album}

MM: No. Shakes is actually the sound of me playing a cigarette wrapper, blowing through it. We slowed the tape down and thought it sounded like a monkey. So that's where it came from.

SB: Other than the sounds of the city, what have you been listening to lately?

MM: I 've not been listening to anything. I'm trying to write new songs, so I'm tuning out other stuff for the moment.

SB: You've worked with Beastie Boys, Beck, Los Lobos. Who else have you worked with recently?

MM: I played on a Femi Kuti record. I played all the keyboards on it. I went to Paris for that, stayed there for a month. Stayed in Femi's dungeon. Collaborations are really about the human dynamic for me. Those moments are gems for me. The recording becomes a whole separate thing when a business person gets their hands on it and turns it into a product. I love to talk with people, hear everyone's stories.

SB: I like the origami on the cover of Change is Coming. What's your favorite currency?

MM: I don't know. If jokes were currency, that would be my favorite. My grandmother on my father's side showed me how to do origami. When I was travelling in college in California studying theater, I didn't have lots of money to leave tips so I'd fold the currency into origami. I could get away with leaving the smallest tip, because it was this little charming piece.

Chatting with J.G. Thirlwell of

Q: The new Steroid Maximus CD Ectopia, with its elaborate arrangements and cinematic atmospheres, is not something one might expect from an artist more closely associated with the industrial sound. What gives?

J.G.: Well, I may be associated with "industrial," but that is a phrase placed on me by the press and I am uncomfortable with being pigeonholed. The term "industrial," which was originally applied to people who were challenging musical forms and presentation -- such as Throbbing Gristle and Eisturzende Neubauten -- got somewhat devalued when it got applied to everything with a dance beat and a little distortion. I don't think you can encapsulate what I do with one word.

From the genesis of Foetus I was recording serial/systems pieces inspired by Reich, Cage, Glass and Stockhausen. The Foetus albums in the mid to late eighties were starting to become almost 50 percent instrumental, with moody and seductive and sometimes jarring orchestral and soundtrack-like pieces. Foetus always had a lot of big sounds and arrangements. I have made a lot of mutated demented big band/warped jazz and orchestral stuff often mixed with musiq concrete, noise and electronics, beats, rock, you name it. However, the perception was still based on an image of violence based on the lyrics and vocal delivery, as if people never listened to the music. Hence, I broke the instrumental work away into Steroid Maximus. It also gave me an opportunity to collaborate with various people (Foetus being a project where i play every note).

I made two albums as Steroid Maximus around 1990-1992. Steroid lay dormant for a while and has now reemerged, and has also been -- at least partly -- informed by what I spin when I DJ (as DJ Otefsu). Steroid Maximus has become a meticulously crafted beast, which recently prompted me to begin yet another instrumental project, Manorexia, which is also quite cinematic though more spacious, open and instinctive and more like a psychodrama where your mind is pitching battles with itself. Manorexia can break down into long looped sections, then into lilting orchestral pieces; some people see that one as my classical project. I have released one album as Manorexia, Volvox Turbo, which is available exclusively from my website www.foetus.org. And I am working on a second one for release this summer.

I also have a couple of other "franchises": Baby Zizanie, a laptop duo with Jim Coleman (so far just a live project, we have been touring Europe with this), Clint Ruin and Wiseblood, just to confuse matters.

Q: Was this record incubating a long time, or did it manifest itself quickly?

J.G.: It was started at the same time as the last Foetus album Flow and many of the pieces were recorded parallel to that. I gathered about a dozen of the ideas and had compiled them in their unfinished states and listened to them on my last european tour, where I decided to record four more pieces and finish it when I returned. I transferred all the raw data from my old setup (Creator/ADATs) into my G4/Logic setup and got moving with that. So, really it was over a period of a few years, but not consistently. Once I had some of the cornerstones of the direction of the album, things started to fill in after that; those cornerstones were setting the tone of the chase music/cop show type flavor which was a basis from which I departed.

Q: There are so many familiar soundtrack styles at work here -- horror, spy, funky crime, thriller -- who do you recognize as your cinematic influences and what are your favorite recordings by those artists?

J.G.: The obvious ones are the biggies like Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, Piero Piccioni, Christopher Young, Henry Mancini, Nino Rota, Roy Budd, Goblin, Peter Thomas, Stu Phillips, Elmer Bernstein, Francois De Roubaix, Neil Hefti, Quincy Jones. I don't want to give too many tricks away. Certainly some of my favorite soundtracks are Bullitt, The Taking of Pelham 123, Thomas Crown Affair, Planet of the Apes, Taxi Driver, In like Flint/Our Man Flint, The Tenth Victim, City of Lost Children, The Day the Earth Stood Still, lots of generic '60s stuff that, say, Johnny Williams scored (especially if it has a chase and a party scene!), blaxploitation, horror movies, crime and spy TV shows, the James Bond stuff, spaghetti westerns, porn soundtracks and library music, that groovy Italian stuff that Easy Tempo, et al re-release and countless more. Most of my listening is to soundtracks. I'm particularly interested in hearing music like that divorced from the action, because usually it is expository, or related to unseen cues, or to evoke an emotion that you are also not seeing, so you make up your own mental visuals. The omnipresence of the music video has taken away a lot of personal evocation, because once you've seen the video you forever associate a song with that visual interpretation. Having said that I would love a director to take a Steroid Maximus or Manorexia album and make a film to it! I have also done a little scoring myself.

Q: How much of the music was played vs. sampled?

J.G.: It's all played at one time or another. When you use samples, do you add them to already developed tracks, or do they provide inspiration up front?

Q: How does it influence your working methods in general?

J.G.: It changes track by track. Sometimes I have the idea, melodies or emotion in my head; sometimes the direction of the track is steered by me but evoked by the sounds that I am manipulating; sometimes it is the basis; sometimes the icing, though you can create a "chord" that you would not have thought of while time and pitch-stretching two disparate pieces, sounds or samples and juxtaposing them.

Q: Will you perform this music live? With what kind of set up: band or DJ?

J.G.: I will be performing the Steroid Maximus album live in Los Angeles on 17 Oct as part of the UCLA 2002/2003 season as a nineteen-piece ensemble. In the live realization of Steroid Maximus I'll be exploring and expanding the themes on the album with different voicings, radically reworking Steroid Maximus material with arranger/ trumpet meister Steven Bernstein (of Sex Mob, Lounge Lizards) for an ensemble which includes three trumpets, trombone, flute, baritone sax, keyboards, samples, three violins, viola, cello, concert percussion, latin percussion, bass, guitar and drum kit, and I will serve as conductor and maestro of ceremonies. The textures of the Steroid Maximus recorded material are re-imagined for the live instrumentation. Steroid Maximus in concert should the the project to a whole other level again, veering heavily into my warped interpretation of Quincy Jones/Mancini on PCP/Bernard Hermann territory and beyond, making it a true collision of the historical and the hysterical! I hope to bring Steroid Maximus to Europe for selected dates in early 2003.

Q: Sometimes when listening to this record, I'm reminded occasionally of Amon Tobin's work. Who on the contemporary scene do you listen to?

J.G.: I love Amon Tobin's work. I released an album last year as Foetus, Blow, which contained remixes of the previous Foetus album Flow, and it contained remixes by Amon Tobin, Kid 606, Pan Sonic, DJ Food, Franz Treichler (Young Gods); these are naturally artists whose work I admire. As I mentioned I listen to a lot of soundtracks, but of current artists I also dig Elysian Fields, Enon, Bertrand Burgalat, Calla, Hrvatski, Matmos, Melvins, Lightning Bolt ,Mystikal, Arab on Radar, Flux Information Sciences, Cannibal Ox, PJ Harvey, Firewater, Portishead, just to name a few. I love vintage France Gall and Serge Gainsbourg, too, of course.

Q: Unfortunately, I have not heard the previous Steroid Maximus records -- how does this one compare?

J.G.: It takes the concept and treats it a lot more cinematically. The first one, Quilombo, had more moody soundscapes and Gondwanaland had more ethnic musics "from a civilization yet to be invented," yet both contained also the cinematic stylings and traces of the crime spy intrigue that characterize the core of Ectopia. Ectopia has ten years more livin' and cryin' under its belt.

Q: If you could live in any cult movie, which one would it be?

J.G.: A lot of movies that are art directed very beautifully and sumptuously don't necessarily look like they'd be terribly comfortable to live in, so I'd settle for a film like "Amelie" ...ooh la la!

Chatting with Jake Wherry of

Q: The Herbaliser balances its hip hop style with a strong soundtrack sensibility. Was that a conscious decision or did it just happen?

JAKE: Now that we have done five LPs including Session One, we have pretty much developed our sound. From the start, we didnÕt know too many rappers, so in order to fill up the content of our tunes, we used our influences from the freedom of soundtrack music, to create hip hop beat-based, organic instrumental tunes, that were pretty much the clichŽd 'piece of music for an imaginary scene from a film,' be it a chase scene (old favorite!) space scene, love scene, etc. Now that we have hooked up with plenty of MCs, we produce tracks in two different ways -- one way for the rappers, and then we go a little deeper to do our instrumentals.

Q: What soundtrack composers have had the biggest influence on the group's sound? Which scores are among your favorites?

JAKE: Lalo, Quincy, Roy Budd, Ennio Morricone, Johnny Pate, Dudley Moore. I particularly love Johnny Pate's Shaft in Africa -- it's an all time favourite. And Lalo's Enter the Dragon is awesome too.

Q: The title track on the new album, Something Wicked This Way Comes, features a dynamic lead vocal (by Seaming To), which lends it a strong cinematic atmosphere -- kind of like a Bond theme song. Tell us a bit about how this track came together.

JAKE: Ollie and I always wanted to do a tune that was a song with a melody and singer. Two years ago we were doing a festival in Manchester, and we were supported by a band called Homelife. Seaming is its singer, and we felt that she had that 'something' about her voice that was different. So we slowly built the song up from some samples and live bass, added keys from an old time musician friend 'Ollie Parfitt' (now a member of our live band). Then we got Seaming sang some strong melodies. That, coupled with Ollie's idea for the vocals for the chorus (which comes form Shakespeare), gave me inspiration to write the lyrics for the verse, over her melody. We then approached both Chris Bowden and the Easy Access Orchestra (all of whom play in our band as the horn section) to do strings and horns, respectively. Finally Ollie and I edited all of the bits together, and then spent six days with engineer extraordinaire NO SLEEP NIGEL, mixing the song, very lovingly. And you haven't heard our remix yet... it's a bossa soundtrack classic, and is the next single! There you go -- the most detailed description of the song given out so far!

Q: What comes first: the titles or the music?

JAKE: More and more, it's the titles -- and what Ollie doesn't know in musical terms, he supplies in terms of 'titles' Then I come up musical ideas, which we mix with other samples (which come from both of our extensive vinyl collections); though on this new LP we have used far less samples than ever before, on some tracks the credits show clearly which samples were used, as there are less musicians credited.

Q: Do the instrumentals evolve out of jams, or from samples? How much of the recordings are sample-based vs. band-originated?

JAKE: We DONÕT jam as a band...always it's an idea or a sample, followed by some live bass or guitar by me, then more samples, then we might get some extra musicians down too. We build them up quite slowly and painstakingly, because at the end of the day, neither I or Ollie can score music, and that is the type of music we are trying to emulate, so we have a lot of work creating layers, to try and get that 'old soundtrack sound' that you , me ,and the people that come to this site LOVE. We DO feel that we have pretty much hit the nail on the head with Something Wicked This Way Comes.

Q: Ninja Tune, as a label, seems to have a strong affinity for cinematic sounds (Amon Tobin, Cinematic Orchestra, etc.) Tell us a bit about the band's relationship with Ninja Tune.

JAKE: They are cool. They are free with us. We have been with them since 1994, so we are kind of old school ninjas. Lots of things have developed and got bigger over those years, and we have seen other bands on other labels release and sell lots of records, and not get paid, whereas Ninja always pays on time. So we are happy to be with them. They have a good image, but they REALLY DONÕT sell lots of records, certainly not Herbaliser anyway. Our new LP went into the national UK chart at 71 last week. That's a first for us, but then I thought, 'What 70 other records are there this week that have tracks like "Something Wicked..." on them?' -- see what I mean?

Q: Any offers for The Herbaliser to do a movie soundtrack?

JAKE: Yes... Yes...but cant reveal just yet! Gonna be big if we do it like they want it!

Q: The Herbaliser is about to tour Europe, with a few stops in Canada. How about the U.S.? Will it be a DJ tour or a band tour?

JAKE: Not as a band, we are touring a Herbaliser 4-deck DJ set with MC Wildflower, in the UK and Europe at the moment. Canada will be the last two weeks of June and WITH THE BAND. We are thinking of a DJ tour of the states in August, but if the soundtrack happens, we will drop everything and concentrate on that. Unfortunately, we lost loads of money on our last US band tour, and not too many people turned up to the shows, so it's hard to get the US Ninjas to put us up again, unless of course the new LP blows up!

Q: What's "in your ear" right now?

JAKE: Just the gentle sound of my new G4 iMac whirring quietly as I type this.

Chatting with Alex Gimeno aka

Q: The new Ursula 1000 record is very polished. It's more difficult to tell what's sampled and what isn't? Tell us a bit about the recording process?

ALEX: Well this time around, I tried to re-play sound bites,and get them sounding as original as possible, using old amps, instruments, recording processes, etc. Things like percussion were a little tougher so you'll still catch me "digging in the crates" -- so to speak -- looking for that right sound. This was a lot less cut-and-paste than before, less collage, pastiche and overall more challanging -- but rewarding!

Q: Kinda Kinky is very frisky. Did you set out to make a sexy record, or does it just come naturally?

ALEX: When I was thinking of sexy or kinky, I had in mind that visual of a librarian who throws off her glasses and undoes her hair and BANG! ...sex kitten! Definitely more playful and the tracks more thought out. Like little adventures.

Q: What comes first, the titles or the tracks?

ALEX: I have a list of titles or phrases that I hear in passing be it a movie or a conversation, whatever. Then I work on those ideas, creating scenarios and music to soundtrack them. Usually in house music or in techno it's all about the beat and sounds and the tweaking of frequencies, etc. Not that I don't also do that, but it has to be melodic and it has to take you somewhere, be it India or swinging London!

Q: This record sounds a bit more contemporary in comparison to "The Now Sound" which was ultra retro. Do you see yourself growing out of the cheeky ironic style, or will that always be a part of the Ursula 1000 sound?

ALEX: Humor will always be a part of me, my music and my DJ sets. Electronica takes itself way too seriously and that's not who I am. I will always be cheeky! The process can be more defined and slick, but that ironic tongue is firmly planted in my cheek!

Q: Your sound isn't particularly cinematic, but what are your favorite scores and soundtrack composers?

ALEX: Well, y'know, the masters of course: Mancini, Morricone, Goldsmith, Lai. A favorite of mine is most definitely the Bedazzled soundtrack by Dudley Moore. Just so over the top, jazzy, quirky pop. I mean, my dream is still to perform "Bedazzled" or "Love Me" on one of those Top of the Pops, Hulabaloo-type shows with screaming mod teens!

Q: Brother Cleve of Combustible Edison appears on the title track -- how did that collaboration come together?

ALEX: Cleve is a good friend. We met through some mutual friends. We are very much on the same frame of mind when it comes to music and when the Hammond solo came to mind, Cleve's name was the first and obvious choice! He actually read my vows at my wedding last year! He told me he was an ordained minister through the Church of the Subgenius and my wife and I thought: that's our man! A crazy party needless to say!

Q: Shag contributed the wonderful artwork for the new release. How did that come about?

ALEX: We have mutual friends also. This time it was the folks over at House Industries -- the font people. He was up for it and I was SO happy! He has that Gene Deitch/crazy retro/futuro style that I am trying to achieve musically, so the connection seemed to be destined! I couldnt be happier with it! The last track, "Nightcap", is for him. Maybe I should have called it "Something for Shag"!

Q: How is it working with Eighteenth Street Lounge as a label?

ALEX: Wonderful! and all the artists on the label are super duper nice. ESL has a real look and sound and I'm happy to be aboard. I think all of us fill a certain gap. Thievery Corporation has their more chilled atmosphere, Thunderball takes it a bit more "Superfly" and I guess I take it to its hyper-active/cartoony side. I mean, Desmond Williams, Nicola Conte... it's all really good stuff. Classy, but without the pretentions.

Q: What's "in your ear" right now?

ALEX: What, right this second? My finger. Well, I had an itch! No seriously, it's been.... Gary Numan! The 80's bug bit me ever so slightly on the butt and, I don't know, just been listening to his old albums and also a lot of Prince! Especially Vanity 6! Some crazy drum programming and very creative sounds, and of course....supa funky! Anything by Mansfield from Japan is also a must for fans of loungecore beats. Oh, and that bloody damn Kylie song!

Chatting with legendary filmmaker

Q: Have your soundtracks ever appeared on LP or CD before? Who's idea was it to put this collection together and how did it happen?

HGL: Some years ago, to my astonishment "Rhino Records" issued a recording of the music from "Blood feast" And "2000 Maniacs!" É music I wrote. About a month ago a company named Birdman Records went a step beyond, with my music from a whole batch of movies. I had nothing to do with the assembling, but I agreed to write short commentaries about each.

Q: As you state in the liner notes -- which are fascinating, by the way -- you did the soundtracks more due to cost limitations than the need to express yourself musically? Listening to them now, how do you think you did?

HGL: IÕll tell you one truth: I couldnÕt repeat those orchestrations. Yes, I wrote the theme music for "Blood Feast 2" É but thatÕs a primitive accomplishment compared with the actual composition, orchestrating, and kettledrum-playing for "Blood Feast." At no time did I consider myself a "composer" but, rather, a lucky fellow who was able to escape both the gigantic cost of a professional composer and the triteness of standard pre-recorded music effects. Ego and that accursed "auteur" syndrome were never factors.

Q: Is there a particular score you like the most? Is there one you wish could have been better?

HGL: My favorite remains the theme music for "2000 Maniacs!", not only because in my opinion it captures perfectly the spirit of the film but because itÕs my own voice on the sound track. Technically, it isnÕt all that significant, but emotionally, it has a wallop.

Q: You had collaborators on some of the soundtracks. Tell us a bit about those working relationships?

HGL: Larry Wellington played organ and accordion and often made musical suggestions on a level of professionalism far above my own. Chuck Scott (Charles Glore), who later played the lead in "Moonshine Mountain," contributed many riffs. Paul Champion, the banjoist on "2000 Maniacs!" was unquestionably the most brilliant banjo player I ever heard play.

Q: Did you compose the music after the film was edited, before or during the shoot?

HGL: I composed "Blood Feast" after shooting was completed. All the others were ready to go before shooting began.

Q: How is Blood Feast 2? Did you do any of the music? When is the movie getting released?

HGL: I wrote only the opening theme music. Several "transitions" are lifted from the original. Jacky L. Morgan, the producer, contracted for all the other musical bits. He controls distribution. Contact him at thejackyl@aol.com.

Q: What are some of your favorite movie soundtracks in general?

HGL: Obviously, anything Korngold composed is pure gold. John Williams is a master orchestrator, although sometimes obvious. I still remember the off-center score for an olld Disney film, "The Black Hole" Ð which many didnÕt like, but I admired.

Chatting with Devon Levins and Roberto of

Morricone Youth is a band from New York City that plays groovy soundtracks. The band has yet to get signed, but one listen to their promotional disc is enough to make you a fan. Score Baby recently talked with the band's guitarist Devon E. Levins and its "chanteuse" Roberto.

Q: First of all, Morricone Youth (nice Ciccone Youth pun) appears to be the first-ever soundtrack cover band. Tell me about the band's origins.

Devon: Early in 1998, when I was still living in San Diego, Chris Stillwell (The Greyboy Allstars/Robert Walter's 20th Congress), Steve Kader (B-Side Players) and I discussed the idea of putting together such a band. The idea never got off the ground. After I moved to New York later that year, I still wanted to try to pull it off if I met some like-minded people, which I did. Originally, the idea was geared towards doing mostly (if not all) instrumentals with a strong leaning towards blaxploitation/funk soundtracks with sci-fi/detective/crime/spy themes thrown in to break it up a little. Chris and Steve are both big soundtrack collectors as well.

Robert: When I met Devon, he wasn't really looking for a permanent vocalist - a good third of the material in the band's repertoire is still instrumental. But I think the fact I was so well versed on this sort of music got me the position.

Q: Just based on the band's rarefied description, there may be a cynical temptation to think of it as a "novelty act." In your experience, how do people react the first time they hear Morricone Youth?

Devon: The band does not feel like a "cover band" or "novelty act." None of us come from such backgrounds. The band is comprised of members with backgrounds in indie/college rock, pop, jazz, funk, live drum n bass, electronic music, world music, contemporary classical, punk, metal, death rock, you name it. Everybody in this band plays, or has played, in other original projects, such as Big Numbers, Plan Nyne, The Chairs, CGibbs Review and The Karvells. The band seems to function because soundtrack music often extracts from similar types of music and then arranges it into a 3 or 4 minute structure (similar to the pop song). Additionally, the music that we choose to perform usually has some universal appeal, such as a strong and memorable melody or rhythm. Soundtrack music, by its nature, is usually designed to create some sort of immediate mood or feeling in synch to the image projected on the screen. Often this is accomplished by creating something that sounds familiar. The average pop song arguably functions the same way.

Robert: In terms of reaction - it's usually very favorable. And why shouldn't it be? - we're playing arrangements of really great material. We played this party, "Spy-Fi Friday" at Windows on the World - the restaurant that was in the World Trade Center - this past summer. The folks from Jet Set Six ran it, and it was really interesting experience because about only 30% of the room was there for the party and to see us. The rest of the audience - and it was pretty crowded - were tourists, and they loved it! As Devon said the music has this universal appeal. It was an extremely odd/poignant experience in retrospect though - having played that room only a couple weeks before September 11th.

Q: How are the songs picked?

Devon: Initially, Robert and/or I picked the songs as founding members and soundtrack collectors. However, as the band has evolved, every member contributes song ideas. The Morricone Youth Manifesto reads, in part, that "...all pieces of music performed or otherwise recorded by Morricone Youth must have been 'originally' intended for film or television. Any piece of music recorded without such intent shall prohibited and punishable..." Most recently we have been doing a lot of themed shows so the material naturally picks itself. The recent Halloween show was made up of all horror and monster movie themes (which included music from Carrie, Elephant Man, Exorcist 2, Dario Argento films, Mothra and, of course, Halloween). The WTC/Windows on the World/Spy-Fi Night was comprised of 60's soundtracks with an emphasis go-go music (including music from The Liquidator, Mission Impossible, Mannix, Lady in Cement, Barbarella, the Bond films, etc.). Obviously, the Tributes to Morricone, Schifrin, Elvis/Bowie Jan. 8th shared birthday shows respectively work from such composers (or in Elvis's case, performer).

Q: From what I've read, guitarist Devon Levins and Robert are the long-time soundtrack fans. Are your fellow band mates of like mind or merely newbie enthusiasts?

Devon: Brand nubians, but everyone in the band has a strong appreciation for the music. A band comprised completely of record collectors would be way too nerdy. The others often keep Robert and I in check when we are overly attached to some piece of questionable film music (e.g., "Phantasm" and "Cat People")

Q: This short disc is such a tease. When is the full length coming out and what will be on it?

Robert: The next batch of recordings will be probably commence just after the holidays. There is a lot more material we're eager to take on.

Devon: We have been talking to some labels/distributors in Europe who have expressed interest in assisting us in putting out a full length (which will be more representative of the band). It appears that the idea is more widely received abroad.

Q: How frequently does the band perform live, and where? What's a typical set list?

Robert: We've playing out a lot of late - at least once a month. We've done all the usual haunts in NYC: The Knitting Factory, Brownies, Galapagos, The Mercury Lounge, CBGB's, The Cooler, etc. When we play a standard set - as opposed to one devoted to say a single composer - we try to bring together a set of material with a real dynamic range, that also hits as many of the great soundtrack composers as we can.

Devon: For instance, our most recent (non-themed) set list included main title from Papillon, The Sicilian Clan, main title from Arabesque, The Ballad of Hank McCain, the lullaby from Rosemary's Baby, Barbarella, "Polo Pony" from The Adventurers, "End Game" from Mannix, Theme from Six Million Dollar Man, Theme from Profondo Rosso, our Our Man Flint Medley (Our Man Flint/Your Zowee Face/NY Skyline), Tango Whiskeyman by Can , "Simone's Theme" from Pee Wee's Big Adventure, "Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, main title from Halloween, "The Cantina Band" from Star Wars, the main title from Fargo, The Look of Love, etc.

Q: I hear a hint of early Roxy Music in the band's sound (particularly on "Affair in Madrid"). Is that intentional or just a coincidence?

Robert: A little of both, really - we're all very big fans of the Roxy's LPs from the 1970's. I live and die by those records - everything from the first album right through to most of "Manifesto" - so I deeply appreciate the comparison. Likewise, Bryan Ferry's solo/cover LP's from the same period "Another Time, Another Place", "These Foolish Things", etc. - have been a great source of inspiration for me. I find his attitude really instructive. At the time, Ferry had this amazing ability to re-think/subvert a classic piece of pop music, and yet find/keep true to something very intrinsic at the song's core. All that being said, Devon CAN'T STAND Ferry's solo records!

Devon: Ironically, there are no vocals in "Affair in Madrid." Everybody in the band is a fan of differing levels of early Roxy Music. Moses loves Andy McKay. Jefferson loves Eno. I love Phil Manzanera and Eno (the first four albums).

Q: Somehow, I hear you singing "From Russia with Love". What's your favorite Bond theme song and why?

Robert: A very close tie between "Diamonds are Forever" and "You Only Live Twice" - though "Thunderball" is pretty damn brilliant, as is "Moonraker", (which is the most underrated Bond theme, I think). All of those songs are great example of John Barry's strengths - the tonal colors, that heavy atmosphere, the dynamics, that really beautiful sense of melody. We actually do a pretty good "Goldfinger" in our set now - though our version owes more to Anthony Newley's demo that to the Shirley Bassey arrangement - which is so perfect/apocalyptic that even Shirley is crushed beneath the weight of it these days.

Devon: My favorites happen to be the non-Barry soundtracks for "Live and Let Die" and "The Spy Loved Me" (featuring the SpaceBass of "Bond 77").

Q: Are there legal ramifications the band has to address to play this music?

Devon: None, other than paying mechanical royalties to the songwriters. It's not as if we are changing the words in a Weird Al kind of way that would offend the copyright owners. Its no different than covering a Zeppelin song.

Q: Thanks, in part, to the lounge and swing revival of the late 90s, the interest in groovy soundtracks has surged, resulting in a flood of reissues. How has this phenomena aided Morricone Youth's development, and how will the band sustain it if the interest in vintage soundtracks (like the popular interest in swing and lounge) subsides?

Robert: All the reissues has been a huge boon to me personally, because I don't have the hoard of rare/used vinyl that Devon has. The one of the best aspects of our band's manifesto statement is that there is so much great film music out there, and you keep tripping over new compositions/composers. Piero Piccioni and Piero Umiliani - for example - are my new obsessions. Their stuff is just amazing, and much of it was written for really obscure European spy films or horror movies , so I'm grateful that these reissues allow relatively easy access to this material. I would hope what we do transcends any trend or niche - the music certainly does. Morricone, Barry, Goldsmith, Piccioni, etc. - all these composers wrote great, potent, memorable pieces of music, and if someone decides to relate to this work simply in terms of "camp" or "kitsch" - even if there are those elements present - or as some sort of aural accessory they can abandon should something else be deemed more "hip", then they're doing the composers, the compositions, and themselves a disservice.

Devon: The price of vinyl has sky-rocketed. $5 records are now going for $30+!

Q: Does each member of the band have a favorite score. If so, what are they?

Robert: If I had to pick one score - "Exorcist II: The Heretic" by Ennio Morricone. Runners-ups: "Mephisto Waltz" by Jerry Goldsmith, "Obsession" by Bernard Herrman, "La Decima Victima" by Piero Piccioni and "What's New Pussycat?" by Burt Bacharach.

Devon: One score would be "Escape from the Planet of the Apes" J. Goldsmith. If I add on like Robert did, I'd have to add "Taking of Pelham 1-2-3" D. Shire, "The Adventurers" Jobim, "Hanged Man" Bullet, "Enter the Dragon" Schifrin and "Shaft in Africa" J. Pate.

For more info about Morricone Youth, contact the band at info@morriconeyouth.com

Chatting with Richard Cameron of Arling & Cameron (and with AC3D)

SB: The new album covers a lot of ground stylistically. Was that intended or did it just turn out that way?

AC3D: We had nothing to do with the music on the Arling & Cameron album... We did the photoshoot for the cover on behalf of Arling & Cameron...

Cameron: Let me take over. All our albums were covering a lot of different styles. The reason why is that we feel that sticking to one particular style is not natural. If you're a creative person you want to explore all the possiblility's that modern music offers you. For us our music is the most natural outcome of Gerry Arling and Richard Cameron being together in a studio for a couple of weeks.

SB: Your album Music for Imaginary Films was very creative -- especially in the use of fake movie posters to validate the theme songs. Tell us a little more about the creation of that album.

Cameron: Apart from making music we want to play with all the other creative outlets that are at your disposal as a pop musician. There's record covers, video's, photo's and concepts that can all add to the overall experience of enjoying the Arling & Cameron music. Each of those elements have to have a strength of it's own but they are not dependent on each other. We hope that a person can enjoy our music without any knowledge of all the things we add to it in terms of covers and concepts...

SB: Name a few of your favorite "groovy soundtracks.""

Cameron: My all time favourite soundtrack has to be the soundtrack to The Birds by Bernard Herrmann. There's no music, just sounds of birds... Also the soundtrack to "Crash" by David Cronenbergh was very interesting, just a guitar and some reverb... Soundtracks that I like to listen to for fun are Henri Mancini's "Hatari" or John Barry's "James Bond" stuff. Also "Anotomy of a Murder" ( was it by Duke Ellington ? ) was one of my favourites ( when I lived in London 15 years ago...). There's so many great music. I hate lists... We made a list on our new album and we use part of it in the new live show. It's an unfinished list...Listsare always unfinished, that's the point we're trying to make. The reaction by people, regarding the list, are always; "but why didn't you put that&that one on it ?!"... It should rather be; "why, of all the names in the world, you chose to put that one on it ?!"...

SB: Who are you listening to these days?

Cameron: Arling & Cameron. We are very busy with the new live show and we just made a recording of a show we did in club Paradiso, Amsterdam. Tomorrow we're going to mix it...

SB: Image is a big part of finding popular success in the music business. How do you describe A&C's image?

Cameron: Hopefuly we are a puddle of water in a sea of sand. We try to be just a little bit more entertaining. To us it seems so simple to just be ouselves and be playful and be creative. Unfortunately, a lot of bands and artists are stuck in a mold. Because their record company wants it that way or because they think their record company wants it that way...

SB: Are you touring? If so, what can your fans expect from your shows?

Cameron: A lot of entertainment and the introduction of AC3D (our virtual alter-ego's). We play with a 4 piece band and we have video. We do dance as well as pop, but the overall feel is quiet heavy ROCK...Some0ne in Amsterdam described it as having a train rolling over... I'm not sure what that means...

SB: What's the next album going to be like?

Cameron: No idea...what's this album like?... We have plans for an un-plugged album for AC3D...

SB: When you sleep, do you dream of electric sheep?

Cameron: that would be one for AC3D I guess ?...

AC3D: ....oh...there you are ....'electric sheep' ?...'electric ship'?...'electric's hip'?...yes, electricity is hip...can you repeat the question ?....

Cameron: Sorry, they are not used to those kind of questions yet...

Chatting with Tomoyuki Tanaka of Fantastic Plastic Machine

Fantastic Plastic Machine or Tomoyuki Tanaka to his friends, is an international DJ and Emperor Norton recording artist . Score Baby recently contacted the man behind the 'machine.'

SCORE BABY: BEAUTIFUL is a stylistic departure from LUXURY and your eponymous debut. What prompted the change?

TOMOYUKI TANAKA/FPM: There was no particular reason. I just tried to express a different style.

SB: "Fantastic Plastic Machine" is the name of an American movie about surfing. Did you take the name because you liked the movie/original soundtrack or because it was simply a good name for your project?

FPM: Unfortunately I haven't seen the movie, but I love the soundtrack. I chose the name because I like how the words "fantastic plastic machine" sound.

SB: What are some of your favorite "groovy soundtracks"?

FPM: Geee.... Too many.. But here are a few:
CAVALO DE ACO ('73/Som Livre/Brazil)
BURBUJAS ('79/Producciones Artisticas Latino Americanos, S.A./Mexico) It's the only soundtrack 'the' Esquivel did!!!
RACCONTI DI MARE? (RCA/Italy)
GOODBYE GEMINI ('70/Cinerama International Releasing Organization/U.K.)
TOP CRACK ('70s/A.M. Recording/Italy)
ALLORA,IL TRENO ('75/Fonit-Cetra/Italy)
L'INITIATION ('70/Initiation Records/London Records/Canada)

SB: What are you listening to these days?

FPM: I'm looking for soundtracks from countries like Brazil, France, Canada, Poland, Mexico, Australia...

SB: Favorite current movie? Favorite cult movie?

FPM: Oh.. I wish I had time to go to see a movie... Any recommendation for me? (T. -- Check out "Five Dolls for an August Moon" by Mario Bava.)

SB: What was your first favorite record as a kid?

FPM: Japanese "Gamara" soundtrack.

SB: What cities have you most enjoyed performing in during the recent tour?

FPM: Recently, I DJed in Mexico and Russia - Both were really fun!

SB: Describe your compositional process? And how does it differ from your live DJing?

FPM: The process is different for each track -- it can start with a melody or a sample. The big difference between composing music and DJing is the purpose -- recording music is for myself; DJing is for audiences.

SB: On BEAUTIFUL, you dedicated "God Save the Mona Lisa" to Marcel Duchamp and Yoko Ono Lennon. Why?

FPM: Because Marcel Duchamp put a mustache on Mona Lisa's face and made it his art. Yoko Ono had a conceptual art in her book of poems called "Grapefruit," saying "Steal Mona Lisa from gallery and make it fly like a kite". I strongly agree with and respect both of the artists -- especially the idea of putting a mustache on Mona Lisa's face. So I used that idea in my lyrics.

SB: The string arrangement in "On a Chair" sounds like Prince during the 80s. Are you a Prince fan?

FPM: Yes. But I didn't think of that... anyway, I like Prince. I love "PARADE" It's the best!!!

SB: Where's home?

FPM: Tokyo

SB: Describe a typical day in the life of Tomoyuki Tanaka.

FPM: Wake up at 11a.m., go to studio after noon, work till about midnight recording stuff, and after that, spend some time DJing or hanging out with friends.

— Kristopher Spencer