Charles Uzzell-Edwards interviewed

Q: You’re from an artistic background. Can you describe your early years and the influences that may have encouraged you to gravitate towards art and music?

A: Wow this is going to be a LONG…interview… My dad was the biggest influence on me and still is. He is a painter www.johnuzzelledwards.co.uk and he dragged me kicking and screaming into galleries and museums from about six months up until the present day. We moved to Rome in ’68 because he won an arts fellowship and the art education carried on in that vein from then until now.

Q: Am I right in thinking that you moved to San Francisco in 1990? Why did you choose San Francisco and what influences do you think the place had on your life?

A: Yeah I broke free of Thatcher’s vice-like grip on the UK and left to go skateboarding in San Francisco. I stayed there for 10 years, it’s that kind of place…I got into graffiti and street art out there, and got well into electronic music - those two things are the two main focuses on my life. I also was a sperm donor out there so I have about 12 kids on the West Coast. I hope to meet them some time it would be cool.

Q: When did you first become aware of Fax Records? …and this may or may not be a separate question: How did you first have contact with Pete Namlook?

A: When I was out in San Francisco I started LOVING The Orb and thought: man! More people need to hear this music so I started doing chill out rooms and I became aware of Fax from looking for music to play out. The local SF record stores had started to stock them but I needed MORE. So I got in touch with Pete (Namlook) and invited him out to San Francisco. He loved it out there. I guess it was a lot different from Germany and we became friends. He also hooked up with Jonah Sharp and did some music with him, and came and played at a weekly chill out club I was running with my DJ buddy Darkhorse. At that time there was a massive explosion of club culture and electronic music out there. We had a fun time, for sure.

Q: The two Create albums were recorded in San Francisco and the A New Consciousness albums in Frankfurt. What are your memories of recording in both cities? What was recording with Pete like and can you remember your working methods when you were in the studio together?

A: When I think of recording with Pete in San Francisco I think of putting contact mikes on windows and using the sound to make a drum, recording a crazy-ish guy on Haight Street or recording a beat underwater in the bath, trying to replicate what it sounds like to listen to music underwater. Most of the equipment I brought to it was stuff I found in pawn shops in the Mission District in SF, old school Alpha Sentauri music computers from actual old schools, defective drum machines and sequencers that I only half understood how to use and Pete brought a James Bond style music case with keyboards and doo-dads. In Frankfurt we used a big Briar Theremin, a kind of Jean Michel Jarre light beam instrument, lots of Oberheims and some pretty hi-tech things to make the sounds, having a break at a certain time every day.

I also remember going out recording in the Frankfurt Cathedral with a really nice stereo mic and revelling in what it sounded like back in the studio. This was the kind of vibe of both collaborations for me. I remember also hanging with him in his studio in Traban Trarbach on the Mosel. He was quite committed to growing the perfect beetroot. Which kind of relates to the quest for the perfect beat. I remember bumping into Bill Laswell or Richie Hawtin out there. It was really good fun.

Q: Your Octopus albums seem to be a mixture of found sounds or environmental recordings with electronics, some dub influences and lots of titles revealing rather a quirky sense of humour. They offer quite an immersive experience. What do you remember about putting each of them together?

A: It was an environmental music vibe. Once I had walked back from a party and heard paper in the street or the sound of birds flying past and I realised that EVERYTHING was music. This was the main Octopus vibe. I liked wiring my lowrider bicycle up with a DAT recorder and a stereo mike and just recording a ride through the Golden Gate Park, weaving around a fountain… that was just awesome…

Both the studios I recorded in were kind of octopus like in configuration, there was a main computer and then it led out to about eight arms…keyboards, drum machines, sound boxes, DAT players. One was in San Francisco and one was out in a forest over the Golden Gate Bridge in the hills of Marin. That was a really idyllic place to work. The two studios really created the feel of the music. In the city I had to create a lot of white noise first to blank out the sound of the city BEFORE I could make music, and in the natural environment I could just make one sound and just let it hang for a while, while a squirrel walked by and popped his furry nose in to see what I was up to. One night I left my record box out in the lane outside my apartment and the next morning it was still there. Imagine that EVER happening in the city. It would be gone Daddy-O in SF.

Q: What was recording with Tetsu Inoue for the Audio album like? How would you say it differed from working with Pete?

A: Tetsu is an amazing artist. Working with him was a blast. It was different because he was more computer-based. He’d put the architectural plan of a modern train station into a computer program and PLAY the building…stuff like that which is kind of mind blowing. I think I used to be an old Japanese man in a past life and so I know it when I say he is MEGA Japanese in his temperament and I really liked that. He is just a brilliant dude. He IS his music.

Q: I read somewhere that Pete Namlook saw San Francisco as something of a spiritual home. Do you think that’s accurate? If that is true what do you think he loved about it?

A: I think after hanging out in Frankfurt where the grumpy neighbours would leave rude notes on his door saying things like 'your music is bad music etc.' the contact with groovy San Francisco was quite marked. We also spent a lot of time going out to the countryside and visiting beaches and looking at nature. Northern California is a paradise…and a playground. In SF electronic music was really going off big time…I know it was too in Germany but it was the kind of heady psychedelic freedom of the West Coast that was a perfect place to listen to his music. People loved it. I know that from experience playing it to ravers. Drop the opening moments of Dreamfish into the mix with a bit of spoken word from Terrence McKenna and a bit of Terry Riley? BLAMMO!

Q: Do you have a favourite Fax album or albums?

A: Dreamfish…an amazingly inspired collaboration and Shades or Orion. What’s always a buzz is hearing the collaboration albums and seeing what it comes out sounding like…

Q: When did your interest in graffiti art start?

A: I saw TWIST (Twist is Barry McGee, a San Francisco painter and graffiti artist – ed.)

Q: Can you tell us about your art and musical projects under the Pure Evil banner, please?

A: I run the PURE EVIL GALLERY and I make art under the name PURE EVIL. It’s a lot of fun…its all here…. http://www.pureevilclothing.com/ It’s a dictatorship not a democracy and I like that. I can do whatever the heck I like which is brilliant. I have been very successful and I have also been very lucky. Like being in San Francisco in the ‘90s, landing back in London in the ‘00s was very good timing. Right place, right time and all that.

Q: You have a new album, A New Dawn, coming out on the Psychonavigation label in late July. Android, the track I’ve heard fizzes with energy. Is that a fair reflection of what we can expect from the whole record?

A: Yeah it is. I have been able to put a lot of time and hours on eBay building up an amazing assortment of musical instruments. I have been getting to grips with the guitar, and ‘tuning’ things, and drumming and there’s no computer in the studio, which is not really the done thing for electronic music these days, but I want to have a unique sound. Inspired by Pink Floyd, and CAN and NEU with a bit of LIARS and STEVE REICH thrown in.

Q: And finally how would you pay tribute in words to the great Pete Namlook?

A: I was so GUTTED when I heard he died. I figured we would have so many more conversations together in our long lives…it’s unbelievable that he is not around anymore. He was a musical pioneer and he gave himself to so many people throughout his music and his collaborations. I learned SO MUCH from him as did so many people. Now he has gone to the big gig in the sky and I hope to jam with him again up in the clouds. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed and his electronic energy is going to live on forever in the form of the amazing music he made and the energy he has created between people…LEGEND.

I have done a piece in memory of him, which will be coming out on a compilation soon. I hope it’s a suitable tribute. It’s called KUHLMANN.

Massive thanks to C.U.E. for patiently answering my questions! To check out some of the latest Pure Evil music please follow this link:  http://pureevilgallery.virb.com/music

Review: Tetsu Inoue - Inland (2007) PS 08/111

As the 1990s progressed Japanese musician Tetsu Inoue drifted away from making the ambient music that had characterised his first four solo records and off into glitchville. For the next ten years his music would lose much of the smoothness found in his early works, travelling instead along grittier, experimental and frankly more challenging paths. In an interview, a few years after choosing to explore new avenues he stated ‘I was doing such a direction, like landscapes, for such a long time. I became kind of bored by it. The new music uses more of a "hard cut" style... not body music, but more active-listening, more intellectual.’

Early in 2007 fans of Inoue’s early pure ambient direction finally had their appetite satiated after a long wait, when 2350 Broadway 4, the first installment in a series produced with Pete Namlook for 11 years suddenly arrived. This was a beautiful album of gentle drones (and a story for another day) but would Inoue continue to re-explore these ambient stylings in his solo work? The answer arrived four months later with the release of Inland; a work inspired by the hilly, rural surroundings of Woodstock, NY and it was a very happy yes. Although he may have been back with a bang Inland must surely serve as one of the most underrated albums ever released on the Fax label. Try searching the internet for information about this release and there is very little out there, yet by rights when it arrived there should have been fanfares from the tops of mountains. Yes, it really is that good. When Tetsu Inoue sets his mind to producing works of environmental ambience it is a testament to his great talents that the results don’t sound like music inspired by nature - they sound like nature itself. With this in mind trying to review the gorgeous Inland is a difficult task, a little like trying to pin down the wind.

Over the course of nearly an hour of almost seamless music Inoue taps totally and completely into his natural surroundings, producing results that seem effortless. The opening track, with its backwards textures suggests breezes, sweeping over fields and hills, as cloud formations slowly move, allowing sunlight to periodically break across the ground. This is a mood that carries over into Tree and Me, which confirms the album’s direction, whilst evoking changing seasons and moments caught up in the magic of nature’s constant, unpredictable flux.

Peak delivers precisely what its title suggests. It is as if a climber has reached a summit, turned around and is surveying the magnificence of a panoramic vista. For a few fleeting moments the whole album comes to a powerful high point (pardon the pun), courtesy of some emotional surges of sound.

Symphony H20 makes good on the promise of its title, the music sculpted to sound like globules of water. Droplets of rain and flowing streams and rivers can all be seen, simply by listening and some clever, semi-submerged white noise even paints pictures of waterfalls somewhere in these cavernous, immersive sounds.

Overlook, its title taken from Woodstock’s Overlook Mountain, is the longest track on the album and it manages to bring proceedings to a suitably beautiful conclusion. Ever stood on hilltops, bathed in warm sunlight, as time momentarily seemed to stand still? Well, it’s right here, captured in sound. Inoue’s clever craftsmanship as a musician is made clear in a track that rises to a gentle crescendo way before its conclusion and then drifts to a close. 

That this album wasn’t more celebrated on its release is approaching criminal and to this listener’s ears Inland is…whisper it…second only to Ambiant Otaku in Inoue’s solo canon. Yes, that’s right: even better than Organic Cloud. As Inland is a particularly subtle affair those approaching it for the first time would be well advised not to expect fireworks with the first play. It is only after three or four listens that this album really weaves its watercolour spell.

So where is Tetsu Inoue now? Sadly, Inland stands as his last album to date. As e-mails from close friends and business associates have gone unanswered for several years there has been mounting speculation regarding his whereabouts and even the truly awful possibility that he may have been caught up in the Japanese tsunami of 2011. Personally, I like to believe that he is safe in Japan with family and will re-emerge to make more powerful music when he is good and ready.

Ringelblume update and Namlook tribute album on the way...

With Britain caught up in the middle of the coldest March weekend in 50 years and snow featuring heavily in weather forecasts the chance to plant my marigold seeds in Pete's memory (see previous post) hasn't arisen yet. While we're waiting for the sun to come out and the merest hint of blue skies we have this heartwarming photograph, sent by Mark from Bisley in Surrey. Mark says: I planted from  Pete's seeds a couple of years ago, and thankfully they keep coming back, with very little work! Big thanks, Mark for a lovely pic. As soon the weather warms up my seeds will be planted too. Hope you will join me.

In other news Mick Chillage announced this week on Facebook that there is to be a Pete Namlook tribute album released in the not-too-distant future. Whilst this news inevitably arrives with more than a little sadness (after all Fax was supposed to be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year) it is also surely the greatest tribute to Pete that there could possibly be. Mick says: 'Ear Rational in the states are gonna be releasing a Namlook tribute comp...Confirmed contributors for this release...Bill Laswell, Spyra, Lorenzo Montanà, Mick Chillage, Charles Uzzell-Edwards, Eraldo Bernocchi, Krystian Shek, Gate Zero, Material Object. We are awaiting responses from other folks. Stay tuned.' It looks as if this release is to be a 4-CD set with two CDs by Fax artists and two by fans.

It is possible to follow news as this project develops here:

https://www.facebook.com/EAR.Rational?ref=ts&fref=ts

....or here if you don't have a Facebook account:

http://namlooktribute.tumblr.com/

Let's hope as many Fax artists as possible come forward to make this the massive tribute it deserves to be.

Project Ringelblume

Here's some news on a project in Pete's memory that I hope some of you might want to get involved with...

A couple of years ago, as spring approached I ordered a couple of CDs from Pete and was intrigued when they turned up accompanied by a packet of seeds and a little note. The seeds were called 'ringelblume' and the note included some information about when was best to plant them and their health benefits. I was very touched by this heartwarming gesture and intrigued as to what the seeds could be. Ringelblume? A little homework informed me that they were what we call marigolds here in Britain. 

As Pete instructed I planted the seeds in one of our flower troughs in the backyard, looking forward to them coming up. I often listen to Fax tunes on my MP3 player in the backyard so this would all fit together very nicely. One morning I went out and was a little crestfallen to find big dimples in the soil where I'd planted my seeds. It seems that sadly the birds ate them for breakfast.

Now, a couple of years on I've bought some more seeds and I'm ready to plant them. This time in Pete's memory. I plan to avoid both the icy weather and the birds by starting them off indoors and then taking them into the yard when it warms up a bit. If it all works out I'm going to post the photos up here on the blog as a tribute to Pete.  

Here's how you can get involved if you wish:

Do you still have seeds that Pete sent you or could you buy some? If you plant some marigolds in Pete's memory please feel free to send me the photos (to the e-mail address provided on the blog) and I'll post them up here for everyone to see.

Please do get involved. I'd love to hear from you and I hope Pete would enjoy this as well. Happy gardening!

Review: Gate/Sol – Gate/Sol (1994) PS 08/47

Gate/Sol are Charles Gate and Victor Sol (aka Lars Müller). Their sole collaborative album consists of just two tracks, Red and Blue, each a little short of 30 minutes in duration and the format of these two efforts is essentially the same: very gentle, sparse pads and some highly melodic, fluid keyboard playing. This is no join the dots ambient record with themes that are purposely semi-sketched. The reason that this album could be described as ambient comes from the very noticeable contrast between what is going on in the foreground and the background.

In terms of the emotions that it offers up this record is a contradiction in terms, both warm and a little chilly at the same time and it took this listener a short while to work out that this is because the warm lead instrument, the keyboard, sounds almost lonely in the middle of its spartan musical surroundings. This mixture of moods is amply demonstrated with the first offering, Red. Gentle synth pads and the finest of atmospheric sounds, suggesting breezes and distant chirping insects introduce the record and an atmospheric motif that will return cyclically is played. There is also something faintly cosmic in the shimmering ambient sounds that provide the piece’s atmosphere.

Some African percussion arrives, subsequently weaving its way in and out of the mix at various points and a synthesiser is used to play some lovely melodic lead that sounds somewhere between an electric piano and a classical guitar. The cumulative effect of all of this is like sitting around a bedouin campfire under a canopy of stars, whilst cold winds shave across the surrounding desert dunes.

The two tracks are bridged by thunder and a rainstorm somewhere in the distance. Blue is upon us, and the rather arid environmental sounds of Red are replaced by waves breaking on the shore. Once again tasteful atmospheres and some lush, unobtrusive chords are joined by a sparkling electric piano-like lead. This time there is more playing and what is there is even more melodic. Whilst Red may have provided some African flavours, Blue sounds decidedly European in its approach.

The opening theme, a lovely melody, dominates the track and snippets of both birdsong and lapping waves help to create a sense of environment. At one stage, fairly early in the recording the piano-like keyboard voice skates gracefully and joyously away from the main theme, sounding like something from a Hans-Joachim Roedelius record, before returning to a more subdued section and ultimately the rather wistful, recurrent theme.

Initially Gate/Sol had this listener perplexed, as it sounds unlike anything else in the Fax discography. The keyboard playing is unusually melodic for recordings on the label and the contrasts offered by the record take a little getting used to. This record is an acquired taste but an acquired taste that most certainly pays big dividends after three or four listens. Gems like this, scattered throughout the Fax back catalogue make the label what it is and the clever contrasts between the record’s background and foreground make for some powerful, emotional music. That Charles Gate and Victor Sol didn’t record together again is a crying shame but at least we have this excellent album to enjoy.    

Review: Pete Namlook/Peter Prochir – Possible Gardens (2000) PK 08/151

Possible Gardens, a Namlook collaboration with Peter Prochir, a member of Sielwolf and electronic musician whose work stretches back to the early ‘80s, is book ended by a title track that pays homage to the works of Florian Fricke and his ground breaking cosmic/religious group Popol Vuh. The gardens in question here probably reference Popol Vuh’s classic 1971 album In den Gärten Pharaos.

The first couple of Popol Vuh albums are known for their early experimentation with a Moog modular synthesiser; the very same Moog that Namlook himself eventually owned and the cosmic sweeps of synth sound that can be heard throughout Possible Gardens can also be found on the Popol Vuh albums Aguirre and Nosferatu. Add bongo-like percussive sounds and what sounds like a very gentle, hypnotic electric piano and we have a very obvious tribute to Mr. Fricke and his amazing cosmic collective. How poignant, then, that Florian Fricke would pass away the year after the release of Possible Gardens at just 57 years of age. 

The sinisterly titled Breeding Machine is every bit as dark as its title may suggest. An ominous synthesiser buzzes, as layers of repetitive, industrial electronic sounds slowly emerge. The sound of heavy breathing does nothing to dispel the rather claustrophobic and doom-laden atmosphere of this offering. As the track progresses a bold, abrasive bass-heavy sequencer arrives with a sound so laser sharp it could cut through sheet metal. After the gentle title track Breeding Machine presents a complete change of mood and whatever is happening in this factory wouldn’t make anyone want to hang around for too long. A fascinating piece, that succeeds in painting some dark and dystopian images.

Terminal Beach is quite possibly named after a collection of J.G. Ballard short stories, first published in 1964.

In the actual story Terminal Beach a man whose family have died tries to escape to an island once used for nuclear testing. The results of visiting this poisoned getaway are all too predictable. The track coasts along on a very gentle rhythm, using rim shot percussion. A flanged keyboard adorns a recording that is wistful, reflective and suggests sunny vistas. Adding to an already jazzy mood Namlook plays some beautiful, clean-toned jazz guitar but the breathing sounds from the previous track, Breeding Machine, are still present and correct and lend Terminal Beach a slightly unsettling feel.

Whether Memory Lagoon conjures up images of a physical location where people from past chapters emerge from the shadows or is symbolic of the dark recesses of the mind is for you, the listener, to decide. Thankfully a great title has been given to a piece of music that does not disappoint. The track starts with what sounds like sheets of metal and gongs being bashed gently, as mysterious snippets of backwards sound emerge from the dense, gray swamp. As the clanging metal sounds continue an electric piano emerges, producing hypnotic sounds redolent of the track M C from Soft Machine’s Fifth album. This music could easily serve as a metaphor for the vaults of the unconscious mind, as a variety of blurry sounds softly percolate beneath warm drones and splashes of electric piano that advance and recede. Clockwork noises tick and tock, like mental machinery, perhaps symbolising the passage of time and the inevitable memories it leaves us with. Memory Lagoon is a peaceful end to a fine album and as it fades out the title track returns, its chiming clock noises perhaps underscoring the themes of the previous track.

One of the interesting things about this musical journey is that it offers an enormously varied collection of tracks, whilst managing to retain a sense of cohesion. Somehow it all fits together. Highly recommended.

Autumn of Communion 2

The first Autumn of Communion album was a belter: a latter day Fax classic and now the sequel, Autumn of Communion II, is available for pre-order via the Anodize label. Looks as if the CD will come in a special tin and there will be a limited edition of just 300 copies. Get it while you can, as the demand is sure to be great! Pre-order here:

http://anodizesound.bandcamp.com/album/autumn-of-communion-summer-2013

...and listen to some teaser clips here:

http://soundcloud.com/search?q%5Bfulltext%5D=autumn+of+communion

Autumn of Communion man Lee Anthony Norris's Ishqamatics CD will also follow on the same label in autumn. Once again this will be a limited edition with special packaging.

More information here:

http://anodizesound.bandcamp.com/album/ishqamatics-fall-2013

Lorenzo Montanà interviewed

Q: Can you tell us about your pre-Fax musical projects, please?

A: I started to play music in the early ‘90s, with some rock bands but I've always been interested in electronic music. I released my first album in 1996:  Isolazionistic w.o.r.l.d. and it was a DIY production, so only 50 copies. Then I started to work as producer in some studios for different projects and different sounds from chill out and ethnic to electro and industrial music.

Q: Can you remember where and when you first heard music on the Fax label?

A: Of course, The first time was on a radio radio station. The show was from 2am to 4am only ambient music, every night during the week. I always went to sleep with my headphones on. Then I discovered some Fax albums in few independent record stores in my town.

Q: Which Fax albums are your personal favourites?

A: Hard to say.  I’m a big fan of Fax, so here are some of my favourites:

Namlook - Silence (all of the series), Spyra - Invisible Fields, Jochem Paap – Vrs-Mbnt-Pcs 9598 II, Pete Namlook & Geir Jenssen - Fires of Ork II, Air - Air (I -V), Dreamfish – Dreamfish 1 & 2, Gate Zero – Tides, Namlook XXVI - Pearl IV, Mick Chillage – FAXology, Peter Benisch - Waiting For Snow.

Q: How did you first make contact with Pete Namlook and at what point did he suggest releasing your debut solo album?

A: The first contact was in 2007 when I worked as producer for Tying Tiffany's album Brain for Breakfast. She was looking for an ambient track to complete the album, so we made State of Mind. Then we tried to contact Pete to ask about a collaboration and he enthusiastically said yes! Then I started to share some ambient tracks and finally we get a track list for Black Ivy together.

Q: Black Ivy seemed to blend some of the traditional Fax sounds (specifically those evoking nature) with some fairly radical new directions. The music is full of very crisp, contemporary sounding rhythms and also sounds fairly tightly focused. Do you have any particular musical influences that you feel helped to shape your sound or is this simply an approach that you found worked for you?

A: Black Ivy was born from what I feel like in my past years. There are many influences in my sound that come from what I listened during my music research. The Fax sound is obviously one of those. I was also fascinated by the sound of Stephan Micus (ECM), Autechre, Wally Badarou, Omicron and some releases of Silent Records and Kk but I'm very open and I listen and like all kinds of music.

Q: We have a sort of song on the album with Erasing You, which is not something one tends to hear on Fax albums. How did that collaboration come together?

A: I met Chelonis R. Jones during the producion of 4Gotten Floor's album. He listened to the instrumental of Erasing You and he tried to sing on it. Well, I was in love from the first time I listened to his voice. The sound was incredible; something like an experiment between the ambient/Idm sound and a real song! Pete was very opened too and he wanted this track as the opener for Black Ivy. There is also the version of Erasing You from the 4Gotten Album - less IDM and more electro.

Q: Looking at many of the titles it seems as if walks through a forest or woodlands influenced the music. Would that be true?

A: Yes, true. I feel a lot the woodland and forest universe in my music. I find something mysterious and magic in some lifeforms and I like to describe them with the music.

Q: …and your second solo album, Serpe was influenced by a religious ritual involving snakes? All of the tracks seem to be named after types of snakes. Could you explain a little about this concept, please?

A: Well, it came from when I saw some videos of La festa dei serpari. It's a kind of weird religious ritual from a small mountain village in Italy. For La festa dei serpari snakes are collected and wrapped around statues of St. Dominic in the hopes of being cured of various ailments. Afterwards the snakes are returned to their natural habitat. I like the side of music that lives off certain moments as a soundtrack and this story caught my attention.

Q: At what stage did Pete Namlook suggest collaborating for what became the Labyrinth series?

A: After Black Ivy he ask to me for a collaboration via e-mail. It was a real big honour for me!

Q: How did you tend to work on the Labyrinth records? Did you work in the studio together on these projects or bounce ideas backward and forwards online? Did you ever visit his home studio and if so what was it like?

A: Both. We shared the tracks via e-mail and I went to his studio two times to work on Labyrinth. His studio was totally awesome, with a stunning collection of analog synths that I had never seen in my life. It's based in the middle of the forest. The landscape and the atmosphere was incredible!

The funny thing was during Labyrinth 3 he asked me to come to my studio to work only with Virtual Intruments. He was intrigued by the way that I had to find sounds and compose the line for Labyrinth. I laughed and said, you're kidding, right?

Q: Is there a concept (and/or) inspiration behind the Labyrinth albums? Did the title Labyrinth come from anywhere inparticular?

A: The Labyrinth was inspired by a radio show I listened in the ‘90s, called Il Labirinto, created by DJ Steeve. The show mixed ambient tracks with sentences taken from science and marketing books. It was conceptualised as a labyrinth, where all of the tracks were a path and at the end a voice said: “At the end of the labyrinth, the universal dimension of your mind.”

Q: Five Labyrinth albums in fairly quick succession. That’s a big body of work and I think many Fax fans would probably agree that the fifth record is just as good as the first. Yourself and Pete must have been passing material backwards and forwards fairly constantly for a period of time?

A: Yes we worked hard! I found in Pete a very good musical feeling. We both worked fast and we never lost the direction during that time.

Q: Listening to the Labyrinth material it sounds as if you prepared many of the rhythms and the textures of the tracks and Pete then added to this. Would that be an accurate assessment or is this an over simplification of things?

A: Talking in general I mainly worked on the rhythms and bass line and Pete on the textures and synth leads.

Q: What are your memories of working with Pete and what do you feel that you learnt from him?

A: I have wonderful memories. First of all his peace of mind, his calm. In his studio there was often confusion, but he was very tidy in his mind. I remember he tuned analog synthesisers with guitar tuners, which I had never seen before. I didn't know that he was an amazing jazz guitarist and it really surprised me. I felt like a child abreast an absolute legend of music and I did always have questions about his way of working. I'll remember these moments forever.

Q: I think we’ve all been shocked by Pete’s untimely passing but he has undoubtedly left an amazing legacy. Can you pay tribute to the great man: his personality, his music and his label?

A: I can say that I met someone really amazing, with a great human side. A true musician who did not care about the success or media attention and a friend who has left us a vast musical heritage.

Q: Your new album, Eilatix is coming out on the Psychonavigation label in May. Could you tell us about this, please? Is there a concept to the album or a theme running through the tracks?

A: It's my first release on Psychonavigation Records and I've very excited, I enjoyed some of their releases like Lackluster, Mick Chillage and Gel-Sol. The main theme of  Eilatix is still the world of nature and life forms of an island. It can be considered a continuation of Black Ivy.

Q: What can we expect from the music?

A: There are different things than I have done so far; new structures and sounds. But my brand is the same: a touch of IDM with the rhythmic and melodic bass line.

Q: Do you have any musical projects in the pipeline for the future?

A: Well, I'm working on new projects, an album of T.T.L. (Through the Lens) with Tying Tiffany, where we compose the music for cinema and movie trailers, like The Hunger Games, Coriolanus and Battleship. I have also started to work on a new ambient album; totally different from my style.

Before our interview concludes Lorenzo says...

I would like to add a little curiosity that no-one knows. I made this video because Pete during the last period had started to produce honey and it was probably one of the best I have ever tasted, so I did this video as a personal memory to him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXIspgr5jgM

Super-mega thanks to Lorenzo for patiently answering my questions and also to Keith Downey of Psychonavigation Records for kindly allowing me to use promotional images and the artwork from Lorenzo's forthcoming release, Eilatix.

Eilatix will be released in May 2013 as a limited edition of 300 copies and is available to pre-order here:

http://psychonavigation.com/post/40721969237/psy066-lorenzo-montana-eilatix-special

For more information about Lorenzo's T.T.L. project see also here:

http://www.zerokilledmusic.com/#T-T-L