Slope Media Group

Chillin’ Out with Emancipator

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Last week Portland-based electronic duo Emancipator took the stage at Castaways Bar in Ithaca NY. Accompanied by a video-VJ the show was both a visually and musically appealing performance. Openers included Natasha Kmeto and Little People.

I was able to sit down with founder, Doug Appling and violinist, Ilya Goldberg to talk about everything from the band, the writing process, and playing shows down by the riverside…

Slope Media [SM]: Welcome to Ithaca, have you ever been? I know you’re a west coast guy…how do we compare?

Doug Appling [DA]: Well we’ve played festivals in upstate, Albany. Never played Ithaca actually.

SM: Where are you guys from?

DA: Grew up in Virginia, moved to Portland few years ago.

SM: Why Portland?

DA: I was attracted to the music scene out there. A great reputation as far as culture, food, and surrounded by beautiful nature.

SM: Have you been watching Fred Armisen’s Portlandia at all?

DA: I have yea! It’s uh…pretty accurate. Certain parts of Portland, oh yeah. I mean those guys live there so they know.

SM: Some call you experimental ambient, post rock instrumental. Do these words define you? How would you classify your music to the untrained ear?

DA: Experimental I’d say so a little bit. Instrumental – hip hop meets electronic. Down tempo, trip hop, ambient. The violin adds texture and has classical elements infused. Orchestral lines, piano pieces etc… I mean we try and play as many instruments as we can play. In the studio mostly violin, harmonica, banjo, percussion. A mixture of sampling and recording.

SM: Let’s talk about the music process – how does it start? When is a song ‘completed’? The beats sound pretty meticulously picked and timed

DA: For me, the drums are backbone of track. I don’t always start with them, usually some sort of melody or loop. Often on guitar or piano. Then just start to add layers and layers over the same loop until you have a vertical stack of layers. And then move forward and arrange it, trying to tell a story using the group of sounds you choose.

SM: I saw you use a lot of interesting samples. In particular, it stands out in a song like “First Snow.” How do you decide what loop to pick for it

DA: That one, the mood of the vocal sample resonated with the music when I was listening to it. Just like any other layer of the song if it sticks it sounds well.

SM: Now I heard a rumor a couple years ago. Word was – you are a snowboarder. And I heard you made your first album as a soundtrack to accompany hitting the slopes… any truth to this?

DA: Hahah actually I’m a skier. And I don’t know where that came from, but I get that comment all the time! Other skiers and snowboarders tell me they listen to it when they go down the hill.

IG: I listen to tunes when I ski. Sometimes our music comes on and you know it feels pretty cool.

SM: Alright, you were 19 when you self-released your first album Soon it will be cold enough. 6 months later you sold 5,000 copies. What have I done with my life? Talk to me about that process, especially how you caught the eye of the esteemed producer and late DJ Nujabes

DA: Well that was actually and opportunity that came to me from putting music on MySpace and I just received a message from somebody who worked closely with him on a subsidiary label, Rockwell Products. And basically got an email out of blue asking if I was on a record label or not, and if I would want to be. Actually I had only heard of Nujabes only about a month before this all happened. So I was a very new fan of his, and when I got this message I guess it was meant to be.

So I sent over my songs over to Japan and let Nujabes mix/master the album for the Japanese release. And I didn’t go out there until 2008 for a Puma tour. That was my first live tour experience.

SM: What was your first show?

DA: The very first show was in Rolling Stone Café in Tokyo. And before the show I got to sit down with the Rolling Stone editor of Japan for an interview. And it’s just like “start up right off the bat.” It was an amazing experience.

SM: Ilya, when did you come into the picture?

IG: We met in boulder thru mutual friend about 2 years ago. We’ve been playing shows together ever since. First together was in Cervantes bar in Denver. We’ve recently been spending more time in studio finding good places for violin parts in some new tracks.

SM: Remix Album: Got some pretty solid collaboration, Big Gigantic, Blockhead, How did it come to be?

DA: I’d been meeting a lot of producers through touring. It was remixed by DVS (Derek van Scoton) who kicked off the project remixing “Jetstream”. I ended up remixing a lot of tracks on my own. Then we reached out to other producers (Blockhead, Uran) and came together pretty quickly. Before we knew it we had a whole album. I like letting others people reinterpret my songs. And I enjoy playing those remixes at my live shows. Some of them are a bit more upbeat, up-tempo so they go over well with the crowds.

SM: I was talking to someone working the show tonight who said ‘Big Gigantic’ had come to Cornell last year at Castaways, and 3 years earlier to Cornell playing in the basement of frat house. Would you ever consider playing in a venue like that?

DA: Um…yea sure! We were just talking about that, some of the crazy venues we’ve played. Theatres, arenas, but our favorite was at a festival where we got to play down by the river underneath some trees and sunset. I love playing a lot of those West Coast festivals, Symbiosis, The Big Bounce.

SM: Lots of blogs, reviews talk about how your music provides the perfect backing for a rap monologue to go over top. There’s a couple remixes out there, you worked with Sadistik on a track. What are your thoughts on the instrumental/chillwave + hiphop combination?

DA: Well that’s kind of taking it full circle. My music inspirited by a lot of the hip hop I listen to. There are a lot of rappers who have been interested on collaborating on their own and just putting it online. Seems to inspire them really well. I personally like the fusion: taking accapella and putting it over my beats. There are some exciting upcoming collaborations that may be coming soon…but can’t talk too much on that. But on the flip side I like to make music that can stand alone and have a voice to guide you throughout every piece. I listen to instrumental music mostly, without words. I love both.

SM: Talk to me about influences. Where do you draw inspiration?

DA: Well both of us grew up on classical music. So Suzuki violin and I got back into playing the guitar. But music influences, a lot of the early electronic kind of stuff – orbital, DJ Shadow, that sort of thing. Even all the trance music of the 90s – Moby, Aphex Twin

SM: How does that shape the direction of your music?

IG: Music inspires you in a certain way. You as a musician yourself are a composer, a producer, singer, and have almost a ‘prism in which you see the world’ filters out. All composers are interconnected because inspiration comes from the same roots. Were all bound.

The natural world is beautiful. I mean that’s an inspiration for me, and filters down into my music. Going through the mountains, you know exploring; it’s always been a good thing for me.

SM: And I always like to end by asking: what are you currently spinning on your iPod?

DA: Busta Rhymes. And some Tupac. Always remember the classics.

Emancipator will continue their Winter 2012 Tour, heading back to the West Coast to share the stage with Ghostly International recording artist SHIGETO.

http://www.emancipatormusic.com/

-          T.B.

Listen to Emancipator here:

Emancipator – Greenland