Interview by Jean Pierre Malbec (23/02/2007) :

-First of all, welcome Mister Nicolas Kern!

Welcome my dear, I’m glad to see I interest you!

-New head amongst the French electronic music scene, what would you say to our readers to make them know you a bit better?

Well, I really don’t think I can be compared to these masters like JMJ, Vangelis, Enigma, Klaus Schulze and so on, but if I was thinking : “my music is pure crap", I wouldn’t have shared it on internet !

-Easy question : what are your main influences? And how did you discover these artists?

Well, first of all, I discovered JMJ, in my father’s LPs collection, this cover with the skill was frightening me, so I wanted to know what was inside this sleeve. I took it in the turntable and was like amazed, but frightened at the same time, I was young after all ! so, I almost forgot it, but some years after (in 2002, I’d say), I re-discovered this “frightening album” and then found Equinoxe (my father had it too !), then, I bought the whole discography and discovered Vangelis (my father had some LPs as well) and I registered on the old Jarrenet forum, dead nowadays. I met Gert aka GeeJee and he introduced me some artists, and I found by myself by browsing the web informations about this odd music style. I discovered very lately that it was called “ambient” and then, I tried to find any well known artists, like Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Enigma came after, I rediscovered them for the release of they album “A Posteriori”. But a full list would be too long as there are more than a hundred of artists I like and love.

-Which album would you bring on a deserted island? Yes yes, only one album, I know, that’s hard!

This is not hard, this is impossible ! It really depends of my mood of the day. But I’d say… maybe Zoolook or Are You Sequenced ? But that’s really hard… ok, let’s say Zoolook !

-And which book would you bring in your… loincloth or buoy?

A book ? I don’t read so much… but I have to say I would bring with me « Les Trois Mousquetaires » by Alexandre Dumas, as it is an enormous book, so I won’t be bored while reading it in loop !

-What is irritating you the most at the moment, as well as in the news than in the agitated world of music?

About the current events, I’d say… Hm, well, I’m not too much into that thing… but I think these elections are driving me mad because of such weird ideas they can have… and about music, I’m against these so called “marketing music” or “commercial music”. You know, the music made in 3 minutes by an artist with his farting bee (Roland TB303), playing some random arpeggios on it (a patch, of course, not a sound made by himself, that takes too much time). I really hate that !

-Your favourite film, your favourite actor and actress?

My favourite film is without doubt « Les Visiteurs », you can’t imagine how much I laugh when watching it ! My favourite actor and actress… I quite love Jean Reno, but this is hard to determine… about an actress, I’d say… well, that’s hard… Marie-Anne Chazel, maybe but still…

-Your favourite plate?

It is called « gratin de macaronis » in France, but I don’t know what’s the name abroad !

-The serie you never miss?

NCIS ! I love that one !!

-Are you rather vinyl or CD? Metal or rap? Train or fly? Cushion or bolster?

I really love LPs, the quality amazes me, and the size, the fact to put it in the turntable, this is wonderful, much better than double-clicking on an MP3 ! Metal or rap ? Without doubt Metal, I hate rap, and a friend of mine makes me love metal more and more ! And since I know Dream Theater, I changed my mind literally ! Train or fly ? Train without doubt, my ears hurt when I’m in a fly, I can’t stand it ! In a train you can look around through the window, I like that, you can use your laptop as well, and even compose some music with a little keyboard, like the Korg microKORG (that’s actually why I’d like to buy one) ! Cushion or bolster ? Cushion of course ! I hate bolsters!

-Your favourite quote?

« Better late than never », this is one of my favourite one, even if I don’t use it too much, but this is for Gert, he knows why!

-Your favourite humorist?

Chevalier et Laspales, yes, I know, I’m outdated!

-Now, let’s speak about Paradox : what was the investigator moment of this disk ? A state, a meeting, a wish necessary for your survey?

Well, this album has been composed because I wanted to do something very experimental, the whole album had to be like « January, 17th » and « Life On Earth », but in fact, it turned to something very different, without any link between tracks, that’s why there are two parts in this album. The title can be explained because there are so many paradoxes in this album! Tracks have no link, in fact I composed them all with the same material, all virtual. The two only links are that when I was composing them, I was thinking about the word “paradox” and they were all composed with virtual synths, using the same method. But they all are showing the mood of the moment, a track equals a mood, this is really a summary of this year, love, “whispers and cries” as JMJ would say!

-What’s the album’s concept?

This is a real mess ! there is not really a concept, maybe a summary of this period, but the basis-concept was an experimental album, but it turned into something other as I was having a lot of inspiration at that time, and not related to experimental ! so, the concept is : a summary of the part of my live covered by the composition of the album.

-Your favourite track, which gives you the most pride: « Yeah, that’s indeed from me! »?

This is a hard question, but I would say « Eighties’ Synth Power », « Final Paradox », « Enigmation », « Love Paradox, « Theme For Happiness », and the winner is « Love Paradox », mainly because of this piano sound I especially enjoy.

-What’s the departure of the track « Enigmation »?

A drumtrack made by JMJ’s favourite drumbox: Korg MiniPops7, a bass and a sequence by the CS80, then, add a choir by the Mellotron, a lead by the Theremin and you have the main experimental track of the album! The thing which made me compose this track was that Theremin sound!

-« Modular sequence » is this really an assertion of the inheritance I’d call « Jarrish »?

Well, when I composed it, I wasn’t thinking at all about JMJ, I was only thinking about this track. But after listening to it, yes, it has some Jarrish sound, indeed!

-Developed in your album, the concept of loneliness is, for you, happy, like a favourable moment to the re-discovering of the self, or in the opposite, a suffered moment, cold as inox you hate?

The concept of solitude is highly present in this album, it even haunts it. But there are really two different sorts of solitude in this album, the positive one, which makes me happy, I rediscover me, as you said, and the negative one, which makes me sad, even crying inside the music. That’s why tracks have not been composed like that, they all have a soul, moody at the maximum possible.

-Now, let’s speak about  « love paradox », real serenade. But who is this track destined to ? To your girl friend ?

On www.zolook.nl, I discovered a very kind girl, she was Polish, she was my age, and I have to say I fell in love with her way of speaking, she was always kind to me. She made me love Poland a lot, I promised to visit her someday. So this track has been composed for her, and then, I decided to include it in Paradox.

-« Sweet melody Of paradox »: what do you think about this track, with hindsight, the worse (in my opinion) of the 20 tracks?

Well, the sequence in the beginning is wonderful to me, but when the Talking Pedal comes, it is not very beautiful… in fact, I fell in love with the sound of the sequence, do I decided to make a track with it. The Mellotron choir sound makes it moody, but in fact, this is not a masterpiece at all, just some addition of sounds I like…

-Eighties’ synths power deals with eighties: would you like to live at that time?

I wish I was born in 1955, 1969, I see Neil Armstrong on the Moon...1971, I buy La Cage, and 1976, I fell into the Jarrish side of the World... Prophet5, Minimoog, for you, these names don’t mean anything, but what a part of the history they are, VCS3... So yes, I wish I were living in the 80’s, and even before!

-Were you particularly happy when the composing of « theme for happiness », real debauchery of positive energy?

In fact, I composed a random sequence and then, it drove me mad, I was in love with it, so I came in front of my master keyboard and began to add a solo on it, the solo is quite easy, but it gave me such an energy, and I still can feel it nowadays, this track makes me happy, hence the name!

-Let’s speak about « Chépa » ! Is this title really humoured, or is it the result of a black hole of inspiration?

It is the result of the biggest black hole of inspiration I have ever had! This is always hard to find a name which will fit perfectly to the track… so, no humour at all in this track, or maybe a little bit, but still…

-Talking Moog: beautiful track, no?

Well, beautiful is a big word to qualify it… very moody as always when I add choirs from the Mellotron, and this bass played with the MiniMoog with the Talking Pedal is huge! in fact, in the beginning, the track was lasting 2 minutes, but then I added a short lead and the track is a bit longer now ! but I like the sounds of this track.

-Because that’s the title of one of the tracks, tell us what do you think about the techno scene of nowadays? I think it’s worth peanuts…

Well, in fact I’m not that much into this kind of music as I find it too « hardcore » for my tastes. But I’m evolving and trying to get into this world, only the “soft” part, though. There are two kinds of techno, commercial one and passionate one. Of course, I only listen to the non-commercial one. But techno has good points, I quite like some tracks, even if some are really not my taste.

-According to my informators (to tell who they are would force me to kill each reader one by one with my hands), one of the tracks take the rhythm of one of your old creation, called « Ishigaki »: why does such an enigmatic title? What’s the history of this title?

Well, in fact Ishigaki has been composed some months after my track! This is a patch drumtrack, and as I liked it and as I was too lazy to compose a new one, I used the same. So, this title is referred to a Chinese word, it means “wall”, lyrics are very hard to understand, you’ll see…

-Thanks to have given some time to me. See you soon !

As I’m used to saying: « seeyabyebye »!

Interview by Jean Pierre Malbec, traducted by Nicolas Kern from French to English

Copyright (c) 2008 - Nicolas Kern. All rights reserved.