MORPHEUS
MUSIC INTERVIEW - SHULMAN
23.03.06
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q:
Can you give us some details about “Random Thoughts”
the new album you have just released? |
|
Yaniv:
The new album which is entitled “Random Thoughts”
was released worldwide on February 20 2006, is not a typical
Shulman album in a sense that all the tracks on it weren’t
written especially for it or for any other specific project,
unlike what we usually do. Therefore, we consider this album
to be more like an artist “compilation” in some
aspects more than an artist album. Since the tracks contained
in this album were made in different musical periods and
with different musical goals, the end result as a whole
is a very diverse album representing a large array of musical
styles and elements. It contains musical fundamentals from
many traditional cultures such as Sufi, Turkish, Egyptian,
and Irish, up to more modern electronic music such as IDM,
Psychill, ambient, atmospheric D&B, and “normal”
modern music such as Rock and Jazz. Also there are collaborations
on this album with many talented musicians, some of them
are world famous like Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Steve Shehan,
Bluetech, Sub6, Amir Gvirtzman, Entheogenic, Ori Beanstock
and many other less famous but very talented musicians such
as Yinon Yahel, Matan Chapnitzky, Lee Triffon and others.
I think this album is very different than what you may call
a classic “Shulman” album. We thought it is
a nice idea to offer our fans these tracks as it does represent
another side and slightly different aspect of our musical
work. Also we believe this random concept album is a suitable
platform to release these tracks and finally have them out
there in the ocean of musical creation. We hope the listeners
will enjoy it. |
|
Q :
Shulman has been an established act for some years now
- why do you do what you do?
|
|
Omi: We
do what we do from the love of music. The joy of creation
takes us forward always and makes us get new picks and reach
higher goals, and did I mention the chicks?
Yaniv: I have a very strange and unexplained
passion for composing music. And what started as a nice
side hobby quite quickly grew into my work and became an
important and meaningful part of my life. I wouldn’t
really want to do anything else in my life at the moment.
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Q :
Can you tell us a bit about the different roles you both take
on as members of Shulman? |
|
Omi: In the
music creation and production we don’t have specific
rules, we each do what we feel like and try things out and
once we find something that we like we both work on it to
fix it up just the way we want it to be
Yaniv: As for the logistic side of things. Omi handles
the fresh beer supplies and chicks while I’m in charge
of smoking and lighting effects in the studio.
|
|
Q :
How do you go about constructing a new track - is there a
process that you favor - or some favorite techniques?
|
|
Yaniv: When
inspiration hits me it’s usually just a general idea
for a melody and/or harmony, or sometimes it’s just
a general concept for a piece. I usually try to write down
the idea when it pops up or if I’m not in the studio
I just record it humming it into my cell phone. If I don’t
write it down or record it I usually forget it after 10 minutes
which sometimes can be really frustrating if you were looking
for a really good melody for the last two weeks! Once we have
a general idea for a piece we start to expand and improve
it until there’s enough concept or potential material
to start the actual buildup of the piece. Some pieces took
us over 3 years from start to finish. Especially the material
for the next Shulman album is going through many cycles of
improvements. Some of the tracks that are intended for it
are being worked for almost two years now. Omi:
We usually start of with a general idea and build the track
around it, we compose many different elements during the
track and in the end we pick only a few from them and build
the whole track around those. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Q :What
would you say is the philosophy behind your music?
|
|
Omi: The philosophy
behind our music is to experiment in everything we can and
take the listeners to new grounds and find new places of light
and joy. Yaniv: Did Omi mention the
chicks already? |
|
Q :
There are some beautifully rich acoustic performances on the
new album - where do these come from?
|
|
Yaniv: Those
came from where most beautifully rich acoustic performances
come from… from the hands, mouths and minds of great
musicians and players. In my eyes there is no electronic replacement
for real instruments played by real people, or for sounds
and emotions created by the human voice. Some feelings and
elements in music just can’t be created by electronic
instruments and of course also the other
way around. Moreover, I think that humans react emotionally
differently to the human voice and acoustic playing and get
much more emotions floating inside than any other sound on
earth. I strongly believe that the combination of these two
worlds is the way to cover the vast ocean of musical possibilities
and create new and groundbreaking things in the electronic
music scene. About the players that took part in this album…
Omar Faruk is one of the world’s most praised nay players
today and Turkish/Arabic arranger and composer. Ori Beanstock
and Amir Gvirtzman are part of the Israeli group “Estha”,
a group that plays ethnic music. Amir is also considered one
of the worlds top wind instruments players in his field, and
he plays a stunning array of wind instruments of all sorts.
Ori plays a lot of exotic string instruments. Matan is a young
and talented Sax Player who studies at Berkley College at
the moment. So I think this list reflects and can explain
the variation of styles contained in the album. They are all
wonderful musicians! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Q :
The Shulman sound is very much 'cutting-edge' - how
do you maintain this?
|
|
Omi: A lot of bandwidth and good download capabilities hehehehe,
we do our best to keep up to date with all the new amazing
software that comes out and beside that we are always open
minded about our music and try new things all the time and
that is what is keeping us on the cutting edge I think.
|
|
Q :
What would you say is the most exciting piece of kit you've
acquired and why?
|
|
Yaniv: for me the most exciting
gear I bought was Yamaha CS1-X synth which was the first
electronic musical instrument I owned. In the day I bought
it I just couldn’t wait until my job has ended and
I left work earlier and rushed home to play with my new
toy.
Omi: The most exciting piece
of kit we have acquired for me is the computer and it
never stop to shock me. The abilities of this machine
are endless.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Q :
Tell us a bit about Shulman live - how does the music
translate to the stage?
|
|
Yaniv:
Shulman live is currently played by 4-5 people, depending
on the availability of the players involved and the promoters
budget. All the tracks played live have been rearranged
for the live show. The show’s full setup is performed
by a drummer who plays a full set of acoustic drums, an
electric bass player, a keyboard player, a wind instruments
player or a singer, and me. The outcome is just fantastic
and is very different from any live show of any electronic
group that I’m aware of today. The show also features
a few unreleased tracks which will be released on our next
album (due out in the last quarter of 2006). If you have
a chance make sure you catch us perform since it’s
something really special and unique! Also I’m very
happy as how this show turned out as it advances the whole
concept of electronic music further out of its traditional
boundaries and it gives the audience a real musical concert.
Personally I’m tired of watching someone plays with
his laptop’s mouse and calling it a show, and the
whole concept of electronic music performances needs a serious
makeover, which is what we aim to do. I hope to upload to
our website www.shulman.info some audio recordings and short
video clips to it soon. |
|
Q :
Do you have any fears or concerns for the future of
electronic music? |
|
Omi: I
have no fears what so ever, the technology is growing all
the time and there is no limit to where it can go, I’m
sure the electronic music has just began and it is here
to stay for many more years.
Yaniv: Not really. I believe the electronic
music is here to stay and I that there are plenty of new
grounds to explore in it and sonic places to visit, both
as a composer and as a listener. I’m also pretty excited
about the fact that electronic music creation tools, especially
highly advanced and capable software and computers are accessible
to so many people all over our planet these days. This fact
alone means that many more people can experiment and create
music, which in turn leads to new and fresh thinking musicians
who can come up with exciting new ideas. The downside of
this explosion of technological availability, which I think
hurts the blooming of electronic music, is that a lot of
crap also gets released. I think that filtering the crap
is the label’s job, which sadly they don’t always
do.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Q :
What does the future hold for Shulman? What can the
fans look forward to? |
|
Yaniv: our next album (the fourth
one, untitled yet) will hopefully get released in the last
quarter of 2006. We already have about 60% of it ready and
judging by the quality of the material which is already finished
this is going to be a very special and interesting album.
In addition, our live show is something our fans should look
out for. I just can’t explain how special and good it
is… |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Thanks
to Yani and Omi for allowing us that interview.
|
|
| |
