Anyway, I began experimenting with my laptop and really horrible recording techniques... so it was a bit limited, but I had some good instruments at my disposal... I currently own a ukelele, acoustic guitar, various tin whistles, a cracked ocarina, a flute (that was recently stepped on), a set of Scottish shuttlepipes, a saxophone, an accordion, and I'm borrowing a dilapidated electric guitar missing a string and a little amp.
After a couple of CD-rs worth of experiments, some better than others, I think I finally started to get my vision focused by the time I was leaving Holland. I'd been listening to all sorts of music, but in the end a few definite influences emerged that would inspire me and leave a mark on my sound:
Badgerlore: on all their albums there is a sound that I love, but in particular it's the individual elements each member brings that really struck me-- Tom Carter's improvised guitar textures and electronic noises, Ben Chasny's mystical and primitive melodicism, and lately, Liz Harris' (from Grouper) heavily delayed hazy vocals...
Fripp & Eno: Fripp's improvised electric guitar solos are otherworldy, and I could never hope to do anything nearly so good, but the style has really impressed me. And I've been a fan of Eno's ambient soundscapes for a long time...
Then there is a series of groups and individuals that have inspired me in their amazing use of feedback in their music. The list is quite diverse, and artists come from different genres, but they all use and manipulate feedback quite masterfully for a beautiful outcome:
Boris, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Kawabata Makoto, Oren Ambarchi, and Thuja.
Next is a sound that haunts my dreams. Quite a few artists have begun using it, but for me there were three in particular who introduced me to it and use it to spine-chilling perfection: Daevid Allen of Gong, Mike Moya of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple. They are all masters of the glissando guitar drone, a sound I could listen to and make for days...
Another more general sound that has caught my attention is ambient-folk: Rameses III (also the North Sea & Rameses III), and Hush Arbors have been making beautifully spaced-out and dreamy folk music that could be easily associated with the ambient genre.
Stephen O'Malley has been involved in many incredible projects, but Ginnungagap and Aethenor have particularly caught my ear with their dark ambient, freely drifting, drones. The keyboard on Aethenor's album was especially arresting...
The Jewelled Antler Collective of San Francisco has been in my ears a lot. Their many bands and artists have been a huge inspiration to me. Their use of feedback, improvised folk, drones, and their choice of instrumentation is truly incredible... My favorites are Thuja, Steven R. Smith and Hala Strana, and the Skygreen Leopards.
Acid Mothers Temple is a very eclectic band, but their more folky songs have definitely left their mark on me. They start with a folk riff and just build on it.
Then there are a few things that make my music distinctively mine... mainly these are things that have arisen from my limited resources and have turned out to be good things. Necessity is the mother of invention they say, and I use what I have access to. I don't own any slides, so I've been using my tin whistles, flute, and other metal objects like scissors. This has lead to some great sonic discoveries...
Also my low-fi equipment has definitely marked my overall sound, as well as the instruments I have access to.
In the end I think my sound is coming out like a combination of Sky City, Thuja, Tom Carter, Drona Parva, and William Hooker with Eyvind Kang and Bill Horist... for example.
My latest recordings, which I think are the best, are three tracks that I've called the Foundland demo. They were all improvised. The first two were recorded last fall in the garage of a house my wife and I stayed in for a few months. My computer crashed during the recording of the second track so the levels were not good at all, but fortunately my pal Joe Diaco back in North Carolina mastered them and they sound better. The final track is an electric guitar improvisation, the first thing I've recorded since moving in to my new apartment and since my daughter was born. It hasn't been mastered and I think there are some phantom noise issues. But for now it is how it is. At the end I used my accordion and voice.
You can hear my Foundland demo here:
Antilope – phoenix above and below
Antilope – third green falcon
Antilope – Malleable Moonbeams and the Birth of a Moëss
So far I don't have any real prospects of getting this released on any labels, but I don't know if it's ready for it yet... My pal Bo White from Kinnikinnik Records in North Carolina asked if I'd like to release something, and I'd love to, but I'd like to get some more feedback on the "Foundland Demo". So let me know what you think, I'd really appreciate all comments (good and bad), advice, etc...
Some photos I took mostly in Nijmegen that for me represent the beginning and essence of Antilope:
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