Columbia City Paper/Interview

===Interviewhttps://mycolumbiasc.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/moogfest-2011-interview-with-clara-boucher-of-grimes/===
Moogfest 2011: Interview with Clara Boucher of Grimes
Posted by colacitypaper on October 22, 2011
FR: So, you will be performing in this year’s Moogfest in October. How did this come about? Are there any artists you are excited to see perform?
CB: I’m really excited to see Araabmuzik and Moby if i can. I would say Austra – but I’ll be on tour with her so I’m sure I’ll be well-acquainted with her set by Moogfest.
FR: I have read where you describe Grimes as post-internet. Can you explain this description? And are there other artists you would refer to as post-internet?
CB: Well, I would say most artists making music today are “post-internet” — I wasn’t trying to make any serious cultural diagnosis or anything when I made it. But I was basically referring to the generation that grew up with Napster and everyone after that because I feel like their approach to music is inherently going to be different from the older generations because the nostalgia that stems from early adolescence is so much less specific in terms of what music one would be listening to. For me, I’m as nostalgic for Lata Mangeshkar as like, New Order or something. There was really like an infinite amount of music that I was exposed to whereas before that you would have to go to the record store. And emotionally formative years were really driven by specific things like I know my dad just has this obsession with when he first heard David Bowie and Bowie being the one ultimate savior of high school or something because it was so hard to get music and it was the only cool record he had. Which is totally chill, i just think like that lead to a kind of stasis in terms of what he can enjoy. People who are my age but even moreso people who are younger are, like, really able to be experimental in their taste. You look even at mainstream music and its soooo fucking weird, because teenagers are like, insatiable. They have everything so you just need to bombard them with the craziest shit.
But if you want artists who I think really embrace the chaos — I would say Doldrums does it the most. Cop Car Bonfire, Blue Hawaii, I don’t know.. I feel like Flying Lotus kind of has pretty chaotic vibes in terms of how he approaches music. Really everybody though. Like, I did not invent this idea — everybody who’s mashing pastiches and hopping through genres is from this generation. I think its not a movement its just the natural progression. I don’t want to be like, labelled as the inventor, im just doing what everyone is naturally doing and ppl latched onto a word I used to describe it once.
FR: Technological advancement and over-saturation are only picking up speed. How long do you think before we move into the age of post-post internet? What did you think this era will be called?
CB: I don’t know- I’m not really sure what that would entail but I imagine things will either slow down or the means of consuming or making music will be much faster. They’ve got motor based systems now where you can control movement with your brain to say, “Play a video game” or something. I think if this can be translated to music – like you just think of notes and they record themselves, this will be post-post internet.
FR: You recently toured with Lykke Li- what was that experience like?
CB: Really great, she’s a smart and driven lady. I learned a lot from her.
FR: Grimes boasts a tone that is both wonderfully ethereal and macabre. I’ve heard it described before as a “haunted music box”. How does this sound translate to the live circuit?
CB: Well, live it’s much more dance-oriented. Like, I want the listening experience to be unsettling and personal, but i want the live experience to be communal and ecstatic, so it’s definitely weird and sonically interesting- but I guess much happier?
FR: The videos for “Vanessa” and “Crystal Ball” are quite memorable. Will there be a video from Geidi Primes?
CB: No, Geidi Primes is too old. There will be videos for every song off my new record though-Visions. It’s an audio visual record- like the Doldrums VHS maybe. Seriously, check out Doldrums. I don’t want to get credited for his ideas.
FR: What was the recording process like for Geidi Primes? You have another LP out this January- what is the secret to your productivity?
CB: It was just recorded straight into the mic on garageband. It’s super ghetto, which is why I think it’s funny on vinyl. But I definitely stand behind it because I like it’s experimentalism. I think there is no secret to productivity besides just like, if you love something- you want to do it all the time as much as you can.
FR: Can you give us a hint as to what the next Grimes album will sound like?
CB: If Aphex Twin and TLC decided to make a band.
FR: In this post-internet era, music is available in a wide array of formats- digital downloads, cassettes, CDs, vinyl, etc. What is your favorite way to listen to music?
CB: As digital as possible. So i guess .wav files, in headphones, in the dark, while stoned-merging with my computer.
FR: Any advice to up-and-coming artists struggling to make it in the 21st century music industry?
CB: Go to New York.
Category:Interview
Category:2011