DOTDR: In preparation for this interview I
revisited Extranos Dias De Pandra and
it still completely amazes me. What did you guys set out to do on EDDP?
Enrique: Well, to be honest the recording happened
only after a period of inner turmoil and the fracture of the band's basic core,
which was I and guitar/vocalist Inkvlto. Then, like a year after (2008) I
started listening to the then-new Crepusculo Negro stuff like Volahn,
Arizmenda, etc. and I felt very related to that anger and fierceness, so I took
a guitar and started "playing" it… sorta. I realized I would need
help so I asked two old friends from the local scene and showed them riffs and
well, the main aim was basically to capture the sound of my/our distress.
DOTDR: Right now "Render
Null and Void" is playing and I love the way it goes from psychedelic and
shoegaze black metal to almost a raw Summoning feel, the misanthropic mournful
howling and raspy vocals that are buried so far behind the mix that the whole
song feels like it’s on the verge of evaporating into oblivion. That has to be
one of my favorite tracks on the album. You really captured the turmoil, but in
all honesty, I’ve rarely heard something so ethereal and unique in recent days.
It has an even more vaporous feel than Velvet Cacoon!!!
Enrique: Yes, it's funny you
mention it because we recorded that one on a Panasonic boom box from the 90s! Also, that track is improvised.
For the record, I only wrote riffs for "Behest of
Mayhemic Buzz" and "Raving Fanatical to the Dire".
DOTDR: Whoa!!! That's awesome!!! It really has
that unique lo-fi sound to it that fits the song title. Did you record it like
that on purpose or did it just come out that way because it was all that you
had available?
Enrique: This is a
bit embarrassing... 'cause we were just too lazy and/or stoned to set up the
mics again (borrowed from one of the guys of the local band Korgull), so we
ended like, yeah, whatever, let's improvise; put a (probably used) tape and
pressed record.
DOTDR: That's hilarious, and it was probably
the best lack of decision a band could have. So then how did you record
"Behest..." and "Raving...", they also have a great warm
lo-fi feel to them and are also really old school black metal?
Enrique: Hahaha thanks, I'm glad you like it; you
seem to be one of the few persons capturing most of the RECORD essence. As with
most friends/boss labels/journalists we've shown the tape, the thing is they
either like the black metal OR the experimental tracks.
Those
were the two tracks recorded with proper mics, a 12-channel mixer and
computer/soundcard. I hate 80s/90s techniques of recording (when people records
"clips" and then the engineer assembles everything in sync/time) so
I've just set it up in the room with mics everywhere, kinda like the 50s jazz
recordings and we did it live, first take, it's full of "mistakes"
and shit. I overdubbed some guitar on Raving, though.
DOTDR: Shit!!! That's a
brilliant way to go about getting the right sound!!! I'm a 50-60's jazz nut and
many believe that the recording styles are the whole reason that those albums
sound so good on vinyl.
I also love the
combination of both styles on the album. It's different, but still very much coherent
and really does give a very bleak and dark side of things wavering between
fanatical and pissed off to solemn. I'm now on "Steel of Elitism and
Blood", another experimental track that is incredible. What's the story
behind this one?
I also don't hear any
mistakes on "Raving..." it's that raw instantaneous vibe that makes
it so harsh and REAL.
Enrique: Sick story. That one is a track done using a technique called
"granular synthesis" in which a short sound (from, you say, less than
half-a-second) is divided into "grains" of sound, which can be
altered in pitch, speed, etc. I'm really interested in the concept of
"error", so I ended running a micro sample of the sound of when you
accidentally unplug the guitar, you know that DAH! static sound, through some
granular delay synthesis effect, I press record and manipulated it in real
time. No overdubs, no keyboards, no "musical" sounds, just the
annoying sound of static dissected and re-organized in infinite ways.
And
about "Raving", what can I tell you...I'm so partial to that
track...it's prob. my favorite.
DOTDR: Wow!!!! How did you come up with that?
Enrique: Well, to be honest much of these granular techniques were shown to me
first by a younger composer of contemporary music, called Elias Puc. I happen
to play and organize experimental gigs here in my town alongside a couple of
friends who have been into experimental and contemporary music for quite a long
time. I'm still learning from them.
DOTDR: I know that the cassette sold out a
while ago, so others must hear and sense the incredible energy it has. Are you
going to do another release in the future?
Enrique: Yes, actually we're about to have two different releases, one is a demo
tape which will come out through Depressive Illusions, the other one is the
debut single-sided LP for the Prison Tatt label from our esteemed Wm. Berger!
DOTDR: Outside of the inspiration mentioned in
the beginning, what other sounds/styles of music are you into?
Enrique: it's pretty diverse and indicative of a mental illness. For example, I
collect old house records. Obscure 90s deep NJ/NYC/Chicago/Detroit house. Love
it since I was a kid. I hate so much of what passes nowadays for
"house". I also really like electro acoustic improvisation and
composition, like the American composer Michael Pisaro, who is a MUST. Of
course noise, jazz, specially early 70s, 60s and 50s, a bit of
sludge/doom/stoner, Wagner, Strauss, Shostakovich, Mahler... tons of black
metal tapes with poor production...
OLD 80s/90s Hip Hop like KRS-One!
Ah...you shouldn't make the question. I'm now thinking of dozens
of shit!
DOTDR: Yeah, once you get me going on what
music I like it becomes this explosion of stuff like ripping a fire hydrant out
of the ground. Jap psyche is another one of mine, I scored a nice Blues
Creation Demon and Eleven Children a
few weeks ago!!!
I just cleared out my entire Detroit techno/acid
house collection. I had so much of it and was really into it for about a decade
at least but never listen to it these days and needed cash to fill holes in my
death metal collection. That's pretty cool to hear that you're so diverse. I'm
a huge prog/kraut fanatic and my
recent obsession over the last year has been Turkish Psychedelic Rock.
Enrique: Whoa!! I'm a huge kraut fan and Jap psych; I even bought
that Julien Cope book!
What can you recommend me of Turkish Psychedelic Rock? A
good compilation?
DOTDR: OOOH yeah. I’ll
send you some info, but start out with the Love
Peace and Poetry series, also grab the Turkish
Freakout comps while they’re still available, I can give you the info on
where to get them, labels, etc.
Great book as well, I need
to pick that up but still tend to get books on metal instead (laughs).
You've been my first live chat interview victim!!! I'm so
glad you were able to do this, I've been waiting to get a chance to hear more
Kavra material and am glad to know that there's more coming. You're really
innovative!!! So in closing, is there anything you'd like to say?
Enrique: Well, thanks a lot first for the chance
to do this, it was really great, so far off from the shitty posed interviews I
often read from black metal interviews. I just want to add that nothing of this
will be happening without the terrific work and commitment of Mr. Kenny Crum of
Wohrt Records. Kenny believed in Kavra since he heard it, so much that he let
us have the huge honour of starting the Wohrt label with EDDP. I always look
forward to work with Wohrt again, so, I raise my keg of beer to him.
DOTDR: Absolutely!!!! WOHRT is great and I'm
stoked to work with Kenny!!!! Kenny has taste; I did not know that you were the
first release though. That’s really great!!
Thanks again for your time, the making of the album was
really interesting as was the album itself. Keep in touch and best of luck with
the next crop of releases...you bet I'll want them!!!
Enrique: I'll be
more than happy to send you copies of both, the demo will be out just before
summer and the LP is expected in November!
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