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2016-02 The New Noise (with Fabrizio Garau) I interviewed Antoine nine years ago, in 2007, when “Descension” came out for Public Guilt. Since then I considered Aluk Todolo one of the most promising bands of the 2000s. Today, in 2016, I’m really happy to see that I was right. In 2007 you seemed already very conscious and very sure of what were you doing. It seemed to me that you did not need to learn anything, that you already reached maturity. What did you learn in the last nine years? Thanks for your kind words, but we surely did and still do need to learn a lot of things. This is a difficult question as the essential elements of our practice of music are far from being communicable with words. Music is a quest for us, a quest for conquering reality, or mastering the consciousness. So it means that we are indeed learning, but I'm not sure that we know. Music is an uncompromising teacher to whom you must show respect, devotion and humility. If not, it seems that Music will instantly stop having any interest into teaching you anything. I could tell you that during the last nine years I've learnt how to tune my drums, how to place my cymbals, I could tell you about how I seat and about the position of my spine, but the truth is I am still learning everyday. We're learning how to listen and I think that the day a musician's learning is over, he doesn't have to play music anymore and can vanish into silence. You are an instrumental band and that you don’t need words to express yourself. Also to have/hear a “Voix” does not necessarily mean to have/hear a “Language”. What is voice for you? Aum Tat Sat. What is the role of improvisation in your music? It seems that instinct and immediacy are a big part of your modus operandi. Improvisation is present during the process of the elaboration of our music, but we don’t improvise during our shows or recording sessions: All our material is composed. But in the context of our band, which is instrumental and has hypnotic and entrancing intentions, and entheogenicity as ultimate goal, interpretation is improvisation, since we envision our music as archetypal, and we aim to perform it by putting attention and intention in every note, in the very fraction of the moment. In this case, improvisation is inevitable, as every instant of music is almost an accident. In this context discipline becomes freedom, and the more written the music is, the more instinct and immediacy we are able to put in, as we realise that even if we want to, we never can play the same thing twice. And what is the role of repetition in your music? One could see repetition as an easy way to reach trance or an hypnotic state, but the role of repetition in our music is the same as in the recitation of a prayer or a mantra, it's about escaping the meaning to reach the vibratory essence of pulse and notes, which lies in between. Your particular imprint is recognizable in every record, but I must confess that I have a soft spot for “slow” albums like Descension and Finsternis. When Aluk Todolo play slow, sulphur comes out from the speakers. It’s a strange sensation. Why did you change your speed with Occult Rock and Voix? We are servants of the music, so we do what the music requires. Our Methods are not easy to rationalise, it's very mediumnic in a way, and we need a feeling of absolute necessity, so the choice of speed is not something I feel we are responsible of, and I'm not sure it really matters. But maybe the next album will be slower? Slow or fast, it's still very slow compared to the fractal nature of vibration, which is infinite. Maybe you consider yourselves as outsiders, but I still would like to know how do you perceive your trio in the context of the catalog of Norma Evangelium Diaboli. Do you think that there is a fil rouge between you and other NED artists? We could say so. Noevdia is definitely a label with a vision, and we are honoured to be part of this vision, especially since we are not a black metal band . I’m reading again my questions today. Yesterday The Wire has published a full stream of your album on his website. Metalheads listen to you, also because you are linked to black metal, but you also can lean on a different kind of listeners, more interested in avant-rock, kraut and so on... A similar thing happens to Sunn O))), for example. In your opinion, why your music speaks to different people? We don't play for a specific audience, we we play for the soul, so I guess our music can speak to anyone who has a soul. Our music surely demands an effort on the behalf of the listener, but that's the difference between entertainment and enlightenment. In that old interview, Antoine told me that you don’t don't play for the audience, but with the audience. Is your live still a ritual? In all these years did you notice strange reactions to your hypnotic music? I remember a late show in a crowded venue, but by the end it seemed that everybody had left. The truth is they were all lying on the floor. Of course a live is a ritual, as I always say, music is the ritual, the invocation and the manifestation, sound is the begining and the end. You will play live with Sum Of R this year. They were your labelmates on Utech. They are another of my favorite groups of the 2000s (there are reviews and interviews on The New Noise). I really would like to know your opinion on this project and I really would like to know something about your next tour, please. It will be great to play with them. We booked a show of RM74 (another project of Reto Mader from Sum Of R) in 2010 in Paris in a small cave of a Parisian café, and it was a great moment of music. |