Entrevista a Talamasca

Dejo acá esta nota que le hicieron, tiene cosas muy interesantes. Si no entra todo dejo el link para que sigan leyendo (está en inglés pero se comprende re bien).

The French connection: Talamasca gets ready to conjure up some magic @ We Love Infected 001 (09/08/08)
The Derren Brown of dance music is back. DJ Lestat aka Talamasca ? also known to his friends as DJ Tom Cruise thanks to the movie of The Vampire Chronicles from where he took his DJ name ? is an prolific artist who has helped define the genre of psy trance. Having made over 150 tracks, including ?Magic Mushroom? 12 years ago with ?a kid called Erez? who impressed ?because he was so young, so good and so fast?, it is indeed fitting that Cedric Dassulle is coming back to London town to headline We Love Infected 001 at The Coronet on Saturday 9 August?
You used to be a resident DJ at the infamous Rex Club in Paris. What first got you into dance music? And what made you turn to psychedelic trance?

This was a long time ago. I was resident DJ in the Rex club for two years, 1994 and 1995. Before 1992, I was listening to heavy metal, and believed that electronic music was not music. Fortunately, my friend who I was with in school, DJ Mael Aka Nomad, put me one day in a big rave party and I realised then the ?power? of this music.

This was in 1992, I was playing a kind of hard techno, even hardcore sometimes, but in 1994, one of my friends came back from London with some of the first Dragonfly Records by Genetic and Man With No Name, and the ?High Energy Protons? by Juno Reaktor on Nova Mute, and those tracks made me understand that there was a way to make real music with electronique. At that time it was called ?Goa? trance. It changed with the time to ?psychedelic? trance, which if you want my opinion, is a very bad name that doesn?t reflect the message I want to pass on with my music. I just want the people to be happy, and to dance with their friends at parties. I don?t care so much about how it is called. I call it ?dancefloor? music.

Why the name DJ Lestat? And Talamasca? Have you always been into vampires and mind control?

AHAHAH?.. you have to remember that I chose my DJ name in 1992, at a time when all the cops in Europe were stopping parties. It was not good at that time to put your real name on flyers, unless you were called Laurent Garnier. But for me, especially as an ?underground? DJ, it was better to choose a name. I chose ?Lestat? not only because I loved the book, but also because it is a French name; it sounds French. But I don?t know anyone French called anything like that! Also, I couldn?t know at that time that they would do a movie about it few years ago, with Tom Cruise as Lestat! My friends called me DJ Tom Cruise for years?

Talamasca is another story. Beside the fact that it is coming from the same book, what I loved about the name ?Talamasca? was that it was a group of people with some mind powers. I?ve been learning Mentalism for years now, and that?s why my label is called Mind Control Records. I love all those techniques, I am myself a hypnotist and a mentalist, and I am used to practising my skills backstage at parties here and there.

And now that we are speaking about this, and because you are from England, if anyone who reads this know how I can contact Derren Brown, it would be sooooo wonderful. This guy is really my idol, and I would love to meet him to design some experimental track during a party ? maybe an Antiworld one. This would be my ?childhood dream?.

What have been the highlights of your career so far?

Mmmmm?. that?s a very hard question. I think that to be part of the top five DJs in most of the countries where I play is more important for me than just ?one? highlight ? and I am always thinking that the best is always to come. I am still very far from my dreams, artistically speaking. I would consider that I?ll reach the highlight of my career the day I will have enough budget to make some kind of Jean Michel Jarre show. I still have plenty of time; I am ?only? 33 years old, heheheh.

What goals do you have for the rest of 2008? And beyond?

I have four projects in mind for this year. First, I need to finish the two albums I am working on. One is a collaboration album with my friends from the band XSI, that I?ve released the album with last year. Then I am working also on a much more personal project, because I am doing my next solo album around the concept of the four seasons. Not a Vivaldi remix, but ?my? own four seasons translated into music with four tracks of 20 minutes each. I am tired of the usual eight minute track standard.

Beside those two albums, I am working on a new website. I opened it a few days ago. It is called http://www.trancepool.net and the goal of this website is to offer to trance fans a site where they will be able to buy music directly from their favourite artists. We?ve made a system that allows anyone who makes music to upload their tracks there, generate a player and begin to sell their music through this player on their own website, or their myspace page. Beside this, and still on the same website, I am seeking now for the ?old school? artists ? and most of them came from England at that time ? to make a ?trance history? database, where people will be able to find the tracks they were dancing to few years ago, and for a cheaper price! I am so pissed off when I discover everyday a new website who sells my music without permission! I found some of them who are still selling my old tracks from the first album a 1.49 pounds, or from the newest one at 1.99 dollars!

Amazingly high price ? especially after I put my last album for free on my own label website at http://www.mindcontrolrecords.com/free.html and even more when I put my old tracks for 20 cts of euros at http://www.trancepool.net! So if you know some artists who were, or who are making trance, any kind of trance, then tell them about it!

And my last project, still connected with the Mind Control stories. I am trying to find a way now to design a special live act, combining sounds and video, where I will ?play? with people?s minds using some tricks (hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming) to make them have their best time ever ? hahahaha ? but this will take me a year, minimum, so let?s wait.

Which DJs and producers have influenced you the most over the years? And now?

From the past, I have to say that I am very classic: Juno Reaktor was ?the revelation?, then came naturally Man with No Name, Astral Projection, Trancewave, Etnica, Total Eclipse and Hallucinogen. Those guys have for sure influenced and inspired me, no doubt about it.

But time passes, and now the scene have changed. I am not ?influenced? so much by trance artists. I search my ideas when I listen to older things, like Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, or mike Oldfield. I believe that I?ve found my own style. It is a bit pretentious to say, but I think that Talamasca is unique. But of course, I still have my favourite producers such as Astrix or Spacecat.

Your style has changed a lot over the last ten years. How would you describe the current Talamasca sound?

Well, I really don?t think that my ?style? have changed. I kept the same line because I am the same person who has mainly the same taste in music, and specially ?party music?. So of course, my music is less ?Goa? than before, because like any artist I follow the wave. But a few years ago, you would have described my music as ?full of energy with beautiful and deep melodies? That still matches what I am producing nowadays, but maybe now we can add ?in a very professional quality of sounds?. Am I ego tripping here?!

Good psychedelic trance is notoriously difficult to produce compared with other forms of dance music. Are you a self-taught music producer, or did you study formally?

I don?t agree at all! I used to believe also that our kind was more complicated. It is not true at all! There is not any kind of music which is ?easy to make? The thing is that because we have a loooot of sounds together then it sounds complicated, but from my opinion, 95% of the ?psy trance? released is ?easy?.

If we compare it to some other kind of music, such as jazz or classical, 99% of us are ?beginners?, musically speaking, because this is the point: electronic music is a mix of music and technology. Most of the people who make electronic music nowadays are not musicians, or not in the ?normal? meaning of it. I personally had the chance to play the piano for years and years when I was kid and teenager. I was ?punk? in the day, and I was being a piano bar player in the evening with good clothes, hahaha.

But don?t misunderstand here, I think that it is very good that everybody can try to make music. In the past, only those who had the chance of having music lessons in a formal way could become musicians, and still only the best of them, the best ?technically? but sometimes, it is not the best piano players who are the greatest composers. Electronic music gives a chance to everyone to make music. Astrix, for example, is a very talented guy with a very good ear and a lot of ideas, but he doesn?t know how to play any instrument. Because of electronic music, he could become what he is now: a talented and respected musician.

What software and hardware do you prefer to use in the studio?

YeAH, finally a very easy question! I am a PC user, so ?logically?, I use Cubase 4 as a sequencer. For the rest, to name the most important, I am using the eventide H8000 for most of my effects (delays, reverb?), the Virus TI, Nordlead or Voyager minimoog for the hardware synths, and the rest is mostly from VST instruments. All those sounds are going through my RME fireface audio card, to my ?English? mixer that I love, the TOFT audio ATB16. + some little things like the powercore or UAD1. I am planning to buy an Andromeda synth in 2008 and I use Dynaudio BM6 speakers.

What inspires you to get busy in the studio? Is it difficult to constantly come up with new ideas?

YES! It is difficult for me, because when we make a track we are not ?free?! We have to keep in mind, in my point of view, that we are making music for parties, and to make the people dance! Most of the people for who I play are younger than me, and I also keep in mind that most of them are going to parties just to enjoy with their friends. So I make ?happy music?, which is not always my mood. And as I said earlier, I am tired of making the eight minute standard format tracks, with an intro, then it starts, going up until a first break, starting energetically, going down a bit before the ?final break? and then start ?full on? for the end? Come on, I?ve done more than 150 tracks like this, so I need some time to find new ideas. That is why I did the ?Zodiac? album ? to find a concept and change the length of tracks ? and that?s why now I am doing the ?4 seasons?.

The big problem is that in ?everybody?, you have also the ?anybody? syndrome, and because now it is easier and easier to produce yourself your own music and CDs, we?ve see a lot of bad production music in shops for the last years. But I am not complaining, it is the evolution of things, and like anywhere else, the best ones will succeed?.

(http://www.harderfaster.net/?sid=905809933507d0020cef67917a412edd&sec tion=features&action=showfeature&featureid=11935)

What inspires you to get busy in the studio? Is it difficult to constantly come up with new ideas?

YES! It is difficult for me, because when we make a track we are not ?free?! We have to keep in mind, in my point of view, that we are making music for parties, and to make the people dance! Most of the people for who I play are younger than me, and I also keep in mind that most of them are going to parties just to enjoy with their friends. So I make ?happy music?, which is not always my mood. And as I said earlier, I am tired of making the eight minute standard format tracks, with an intro, then it starts, going up until a first break, starting energetically, going down a bit before the ?final break? and then start ?full on? for the end? Come on, I?ve done more than 150 tracks like this, so I need some time to find new ideas. That is why I did the ?Zodiac? album ? to find a concept and change the length of tracks ? and that?s why now I am doing the ?4 seasons?.

You released an album called ?Zodiac? in 2003, which consisted of 12 tracks each names after a sign of the zodiac. How did you go about putting this together? What star sign are you?

I am Leo ? but honestly, I don?t believe in astrology. As a ?mind controller?, I tend to believe that because you know you are from a specific sign, and because from the beginning of your life people tell you things like ?Wow, you?re Scorpio? Hard sign!? Or because you read books about your star sign, which tell you how people of your sign behave, and you, as a human being, need to be part of a ?group?, subconsciously, you follow the directions of the book: this is what I believe.

So why I did do this album? Again, because I loved the idea of having a concept that everybody knows, and ?translate? it to music. To have the idea and the direction of the track before beginning it and to stick to the idea. That?s why. It was a very artistic exercise,

Your label is called Mind Control Records. Why did you start your own label and what productions does it have in the pipelines at the moment?

I started my own label before Mind Control Records when I made 3D Vision with Absolum and Mael, but in 2003, Christof (aka absolum) went to live in Ibiza. I stayed in Paris, so it was hard to work together as before. I decided to create Mind Control Records because I didn?t want to fit a style for my music, I wanted to be ?free?. Also, I found this XSI band, and I wanted to produce them, because I really have trust in their music. Besides the two albums I am preparing now, I don?t have that many plans for the label. Compilations are hard to release now because the CD market is going very down. I think that from now release I?ll only albums and make compilations on mp3 through the http://www.trancepool.net system.

It?s now easier to produce and distribute music than ever before, but even harder to make a living from it. As a label owner, how have the recent changes in technology affected the way you do business?

Well, we reach again the point of the mp3 thing here. If I had to live from the label, I would be homeless now. Fortunately, I live from my bookings, and as long as I still love what I am doing, I mean to play my music for people, so as long as I still play everywhere, I can not complain. But I?ve worked hard for it, for more than fifteen years, and I am ready to work more and more.

Last year you released ?Talamasca and Friends?, which included collaborations with some of the top names in psy trance, including XSI and Gogo, Skazi, GMS and Eskimo. How did you decide who to work with on this album? Is there anyone you?d still like to collaborate with if you get the chance?

No, the ?Talamasca and Friends? album was released in 2004 and contained collaboration tracks with new French artists that I invited into my studio when I created Mind Control Records. Last year, I released the ?Obsessive Dream? album, which was composed of two CDs, one of my own tracks, and one of collaborations with the names you mentioned, plus Eskimo, Sirius Isness, Shagma, Spacecat and Yuman for an ambient track.

I gave this album away for free and I had more than 40,000 downloads, which was the goal anyway, because so many countries are beginning to listen trance, like Chile, Korea, Turkey. And so many others are too poor to buy CDs like Indians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Africans, so the goal was that they could also listen to my music, not only the Europeans and Japanese.

Concerning the collaboration tracks, of course I want to do more! I?ve done a lot already in my career with a lot of artists ? the list is too long to be written here ? but if I name a few, it would be Spacecat, Skazi, Oforia, GMS, Eskimo, Domestic, Deedrah, and of course I want to make more! But now it is less easy than before because most of us have families and kids, so it is harder to find time when we are not living in the same country.

Also, 12 years ago I did a track with a kid from Israel. The kid impressed me because he was so young, so good and so fast! We did a track in one night! This guy was called Erez and we called the track ?Magic Mushroom?, ?magic? because I was a magician already, and ?mushroom? because it was part of the name of the new band that this kid had just made with another guy called Duvdev ? an ?infected? band, heheheh!

You?re currently giving away you new double album ?Obessive Dream? on your Mind Control Records website as a thank you to your fans. Why are you giving your music away for free?! Is this not financial suicide for you as a producer and label owner?

First of all it is not financial suicide, because I also sold it in a normal CD form, and I sold as much as the previous one to tell you the truth, which was unexpected. And the goal, as explained above, was to give my music to everybody who couldn?t get it. Also, I was quite pissed off to see this album everywhere on Bitorrent or eMule. So I decided that if there is one guy who can give it for free, it would be me, not someone else.

Now, I believe that in the future, artists will have to give, or at least to sell cheaply their tracks, and they will make money by playing. There is no reason why my ?home-made track? will be the same price as Madonna! It needs to be cheaper. You don?t know me so well in England as in some other countries, but I think that I am known as the guy who always find a way to ?fuck the system?. I did it with my last album, and I still do it with the http://www.trancepool.net system because with our system, there is no intermediate between the artist and the customer, and we are the only ones who give 70% of the price (the price that the artists decide by themselves !!) to the producers.

You?ve played at festivals and events all over the world. What?s been your favourite festival so far? And where has been your favourite country to travel to?

After all these years it is hard to choose. The biggest was in Brazil anyway, and it is amazing to play for 35,000 people! As for indoor parties, I remember very well a party in Japan where the venue was an amusement park and there were roller coasters above the dancefloor people could use, it was amazing! Also, there was a boat from Israel to Cyprus in 1999, a cruise with parties every night in the middle of the sea, it was magic. For clubs clubs, I used to love the Fridge? in Brixton in the old times, for the Return to the Source parties.

You?re currently giving away you new double album ?Obessive Dream? on your Mind Control Records website as a thank you to your fans. Why are you giving your music away for free?! Is this not financial suicide for you as a producer and label owner?

First of all it is not financial suicide, because I also sold it in a normal CD form, and I sold as much as the previous one to tell you the truth, which was unexpected. And the goal, as explained above, was to give my music to everybody who couldn?t get it. Also, I was quite pissed off to see this album everywhere on Bitorrent or eMule. So I decided that if there is one guy who can give it for free, it would be me, not someone else.

Now, I believe that in the future, artists will have to give, or at least to sell cheaply their tracks, and they will make money by playing. There is no reason why my ?home-made track? will be the same price as Madonna! It needs to be cheaper. You don?t know me so well in England as in some other countries, but I think that I am known as the guy who always find a way to ?fuck the system?. I did it with my last album, and I still do it with the http://www.trancepool.net system because with our system, there is no intermediate between the artist and the customer, and we are the only ones who give 70% of the price (the price that the artists decide by themselves !!) to the producers.

You?ve played at festivals and events all over the world. What?s been your favourite festival so far? And where has been your favourite country to travel to?

After all these years it is hard to choose. The biggest was in Brazil anyway, and it is amazing to play for 35,000 people! As for indoor parties, I remember very well a party in Japan where the venue was an amusement park and there were roller coasters above the dancefloor people could use, it was amazing! Also, there was a boat from Israel to Cyprus in 1999, a cruise with parties every night in the middle of the sea, it was magic. For clubs clubs, I used to love the Fridge? in Brixton in the old times, for the Return to the Source parties.

What?s the psy trance scene like in France? Are there many psy trance events on?

PFFFFFFFFFFF !!!!!!! It is going soooooooo down. The thing is that we had a lot of gangs who came to parties to rob people between 2001 to 2006. Added to the fact that the Euro money appeared and suddenly the prices of parties were going much higher while the line-ups were losing quality. So we lost a lot of people who preferred ? and I understand them ? to go to clubs where it was safer, and with better music most of the time.

What advise would you give to the bedroom DJs and producers reading this who would like to pursue a career in the music industry?

Don?t bet everything on it. I stopped school to become a DJ and I was lucky. That was not the case for all my friends who followed me. So think, there is a way to live from it, but you must be good, and not only from your ?friends? ? point of view.

It is harder now than before to succeed, but it is still possible. Get inspired from your favourite artists but don?t copy. Find your own style and remember that the most important thing is the quality of the production. The rest is a question of taste.


You?re back in London to play at We Love Infected 001 on Saturday 9 August. Are you looking forward to getting back to London? What can your fans expect from your set? And why should readers who?ve never heard you play come along?

Only one way to know??


http://www.harderfaster.net/?sid=905809933507d0020cef67917a412edd&sec tion=features&action=showfeature&featureid=11935

Terminé yo porque la señorita Lauchi/Psynoy se quedó sin mensajes :P

Después queremos review de la We Love Infected 001!