Il Blog della Domenica

Contro Castaldo. Senza se e senza ma

  

LE INTERVISTE DELLA DOMENICA

 

Parliamo ancora di BubZigohn, perché ci sono degli sviluppi. Infatti, visto che non trovavo nessuna informazione su di lui, l’ho interpellato direttamente: e BubZigohn – che ora ha una nuova identità e si fa chiamare Johan Ess – mi ha risposto subito. Ecco dunque la chiacchierata che ne è venuta fuori (grazie a Vincenzo Crostino per la consulenza).

 

I discovered your two eps via the "Open Source Audio Archive": it
means that you give people the opportunity to legally download your
music. Are you satisfied about the feedback you got so far?

 

People who are into the open source music scene are definitely a lot more willing to give their opinion and appreciation to the artists than the typical music listener. This is especially true with the kind of niche music people like myself make... Most people I have given an album to (on cd) seem to be put off or unimpressed by it unless they are into music that is really avant-garde and electronic. At the same time, almost every release I've put out through my netlabel has gotten reviews from people who are passionate about what we are doing, and I think that's really valuable to an underground artist who resists the pressures of our homogenous culture on a daily basis.

You made these two eps under the name of "BubZigohn", but since then
you've switched your name to Johan Ess. So, now you think about
youself (as an artist) as "Johan Ess"? Or rather as a kind of multiple
personality?

 

Well, after using it for a couple albums and playing shows as bubzigohn, the name definitely took on its own personality. Once I became deeper entrenched in the music scene in Orlando, I came to realize how having a subtle approach can leave a better impression on people. The bubzigohn persona was so kooky and wacky that a lot of people were just walking out of the room as soon as i started playing.

Now as Johan Ess, I just want to open up to people, simplify the beats instead of being so manic, and put people in a good mood. I guess the music I've been making lately has a lot more of a pop sound but still allows me to be experimental and grunt into a distortion pedal.

Are there any musical differences between BubZigohn and Johan Ess?

 

Anything under bubzigohn has a lot more of a compositionally erratic, deranged, noisy, shamanic folk sound. It expresses my Id; bubzigohn is the hedonistic creature inside of me. I believe everyone has something like this in them and I wanted to show this to people.

Johan Ess is a lot more organized and comprehendible. Words arent lost in layers of effects and the production is cleaner. The tracks aren't as long either... they're actually perfect length for radio! I'm not afraid of exploring musical standards now because I think people pay more attention to something that has sounds they are already familiar with. It doesn't mean I'm selling out either, I've just tried to compromise what I'd like to do on stage and what people will actually tolerate.

 

So, now Johan Ess is working on his first proper album. Will it also
be published under a Creative Commons license?

 

I've actually decided to try and make my new album more of a commercial venture, merely because I think it will be the first album I've made which shows potential for being sold in the independant music market. I won't be putting it up for free because I want to challenge people to pay for my music and see that its still worth it to buy someone's music now and then, not only because you're supporting the artist, but you have a physical copy that you can listen to and enjoy as a whole. I'm trying to find another label that would release it so I can get wider distribution as well.

Your music has an evident 'domestic', diy feeling. Is there any
chance that we hear something live (from BubZigohn and/or Johan Ess)?

 

I don't have any recordings of the shows I have played yet, but it is something I have been meaning to do. I play shows whenever I can, and I would love to perform in another country. I'm definitely up for a live performance online if someone can help me figure out how to set it up and promote it.

Can you tell me something about your label, Alpha Cat Boogie?

 

It started as a group of friends that I was a part of who all made music or art of some form. I felt that we could unify it as a collective by starting a website, and after a couple years it has transformed into the netlabel and cd-r label it is today. We rely totally on underground support, everything is handmade and all the profits are sorted so that an artist recieves full royalties if their cd is sold. We use paypal for our online store, so there's no chance of the payments getting messed up.

I think that the Creative Commons approach could open the way for a
brand new type of musician. Someone – I would say - anthropologically
different than the traditional one, someone who doesn't rely on
sellings (well, at least not completely). Do you agree with a point of
view like this?

 

I agree completely, but I think it is necessary to think about where you want to go as an artist when you incorporate copyleft into licencing your music and especially when incorporating it into your record label. When an unknown artist puts their music up for free, most people will listen to a few tracks and move on. I know this because I do it myself. This is the result of the internet being a much wider and chaotic community than the "physical" music scene around you.

 

I think that open source music has not really created a type of artist as much as it has made it possible for artists who have always existed and couldn't get signed (because they were too left-field or not trendy enough) to take releasing their music into their own hands. It's an enormous step for the artist as an individual, to go from completely obscure to having an international fan base.

 

Thanks for the interview, it was fun!

 

Ascolta Independant rock music di Johan Ess.

Un post che ilblogdelladomenica aveva il dovere di scrivere alle 18:46 commenti

 

Make Prodi History