Fwonk* Mondays

Last week we highlighted an all-encompassing label showcase compilation released late last year. Today we're focusing on Fwonk's latest release - an EP by deep techno maestro Puppet Show, aka Auron. For some unfathomable reason, this collection of five MP3s he wrote for Fwonk* goes by the unlikely name of "Five MP3s For Fwonk*". These crazy musicians eh?



Download the EP here. And read an interview with the creator, Puppet Show, below.

How would you describe your music?

Puppet Show's music, generally speaking, is the application of experimental track making methods applied to slow techno, IDM, noise and electro. It's basically moderato dance music, messed with, sometimes with digital oddities, bit rate crushing, botched WAV renderings recorded, or sometimes compositional oddities: improvised synth lines, randomness and minimalism.

Mostly tracks wind up unlistenable, but they're just for my own ears, I normally let the gentler ones out to play which make up the majority of the tunes I play for other people.

Which of your Fwonk* releases are you happiest with and why?

I've only had one. "Five mp3s for Fwonk*" for me was several things: it was a very nervous artistic debut, it was a tester for making tracks entirely in Reason 4, and when I was producing it, I had just got back from a two week long talk on the sorts of techniques modern "art music" composers use, I though it'd have some fun applying them too the usual IDM / techno and what have you.

When and where do you make music?

I have two places (neither of them fantastic TBH). The first is my house in Castlebar, it has a basic set up - Cubase Running various VSTs and Reason 4, midi controller, WAV editor.
I also make music at the university where I study, I use Protools running on a Mac, with decent recording facilities and some odd programmes.
I recently started programming sounds in Super Collider.
Time-wise I'm a night owl, my creative processes flow better at night, and I usually use the day time for listening with fresh ears, making minute mix adjustments and playing the tracks out loud on various systems.

What inspires you?

Great Musicians. Or rather the psychology of a great musician, it's funny when you think of J S Bach, Jack White, Aphex Twin or Arvo Part (just random examples), it would be so easy to say they're all completely different and I like some, I hate another, but they're practically identical. They're all people with undeniably good musicianship.
It's just so obvious, like somebody who's a master of tai chi or has a fantastic sense of humour. and all you have to be able to do is "get" the joke or appreciate the movement and it becomes obvious how great they are at what they do.

How does your creative process work?

I sometimes begin with an idea like: "I wonder what would happen if you master a song in two ways: digitally and with analogue gear, then phase inverted them against one another, what sound would be left over?" And then in order to actually have a track to try it out on, I load up my gear and get busy doodling.
Or I begin the other way round, with a musical idea or phrase, and then once it's complete, have a go at messing with it at the later production stage. With Puppet Show then, it's usually the blending of a typical medium tempo dance track, with some form of experimental production.

What hardware / software / instruments do you use to make music?

Again Cubase, Reason, Sound Forge and some VST here and there or Pro Tools, WAV editor, Supercollider, some VST and a recording studio - depending on whether I'm at home or at uni.
Five mp3s for Fwonk* was made completely inside Reason 4, written, mixed and mastered; not as madly experimental as I'd normally go, but I suppose it stands to reason (geddit?) why I ended up letting them out, unlike some of the H.G. Wells-like wriggling-torso-beasts that are living in the dungeons in my hard drive.

Who are your favourite bands / producers / DJs?

I don't really have any. at the risk of sounding like a complete dickwad, I find no artist is consistently my favourite, they might make a good album, then a bad one, so my mp3 player has like, glitchcore next to Sacred Vespers, and folk songs next to Pop rock all in one giant folder, sometime to comic effect: I was at a bus stop and Bob Dylan "Like a Rolling Stone" came on, for the following 6 minutes I had one of those moments where a really good song connects and really touches the soul, but just after it ended, bam! "Stayin' Alive" came bouncing in and I laughed quite loudly and suddenly. You know, the sort of laugh where mums nervously move their children back from you, just in case...

Whereabouts in the world do you come from? And is that where you live now?

I live in the town of Castlebar, in County Mayo, but I spend most of my time in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, the other side of the country.

What's your favourite noise?

It's hard to describe, it sounds like a cross between a car tyre driving over pebbly driveways and like lots of eggshells being tapped, like on Alter Ego - Betty Ford. Well that, being played on a vinyl record.

What's your least favourite noise?

The Drum riff they teach school children for parade bands. I'm guessing it's the same guy going round to all the schools, I would happily murder him and when the jury is deciding wither I'm guilty or not, play a loop of the riff while their deciding and be safe in the knowledge that they'll either return a "crime of passion" or "not guilty on the grounds of being driven insane by same drum riff" verdict.
It sounds like an English march for dummies and you hear it 27 time a day every St. Patrick's Day running behind an army of tin whistle players.

Five MP3s for Fwonk* is available for free download now.