HOME | MAIN | ARTISTS | DIRECTIONS | REGISTER | REVIEWS
ANDROCELL - Gaian Mind Summer Festival 2005
1. So, Gaian Mind Summer Festival! Its a great one! Tell me, is this your first gig in the Eastern US? What other travel plans do you have coming up?
Yes, this will be my first time on the East Coast performing. Taking pleasure in knowing we'll be chilling in an outdoor environment. I'm going to San Francisco around June 18th for the Convocation show. Had two gigs in May and another possibly again in August, so maybe I'll get a chance to hit the studio more around then and get back to finishing enough material for the next ANDROCELL album.
2. You have a long history in music, fill us in on your path as a musician. Include any prominent influences in sound or technique, and tell us what you're listening to right now!
Haha, I don't know if it's that long of a history but I started creating electronic music in 1996 after a childhood riddled with a short burst of piano, vocal choir, and a fair amout of drums/percussion training/practice. Started releasing psytrance in a duo project called PRABHAMANDALA and learned quite a bit through hours of experimentation and self-instruction about the gear my old bandmate and I had acquired. I started to move away from trance in 2003 and started to focus on my solo psychedelic chillout project called ANDROCELL. Abandoning the psytrance project entirely, I acquired all the gear I needed to assimilate Androcell Studio and began working strictly solo, focusing all my personal musical expressions via ANDROCELL. In 2004, my debut album "Emotivision" was released on Celestial Dragon and along with its mild success I'm starting to become sought after as a quality psychill perfomance throughout the U.S. My sound is shaping up a bit different as I've been inspired by the sounds of VIBRASPHERE, SHULMAN, BLUETECH, TRIPSWITCH, ANAHATA, ABAKUS, OTT, and you know the list can go on and on... Digtal PsyDub is more or less what it probably boils down to if you need a classification. I've been getting into that kinda clicky-glitchy sound a little these days... but all in all it still comes down to that NDROCELL vibe... it's still in there... you'll see. AGALACTIA (Aleph Zero artist) appears on a new track in which he supplied me with raw flute performance samples recorded in his studio based on some criteria I gave him. He shot them to me via FTP and I built a track around what I found most interesting from his output. Also had mad fun finishing up a dubby remix of AES DANA's "Natti Natti" recently. An ANDROCELL remix of TRIPSWITCH's - "Indigo" is in the future works.
3. Whats your favorite piece of studio gear or software? What kind of setup do you run right now!? Anything top secret? Can i have it!?
I recently acquired an Access Indigo keyboard so I'm wrapping my ears around it at the moment. I've only sprinkled one track with it so far. Right now, I run a G4 desktop and a G4 powerbook Mac-based setups running Digital Performer and NI Battery. I love digital plugins but have no fear of using my fair amount of outboard processors and synth/samplers for alot of the sound creation. Favorite piece of gear is the two G4 dual processors in the studio desktop machine.
4. With all those knobs and processors, you make some wild sounds... does your music turn out at all like the sounds in your head?
The
question is really, "Does my head turn out at all like the sounds in my
music?", right? 
5. Elaborate on the process involved in the production of an ANDROCELL tune, from start to finish, in 100 words or less! Go!
It all starts with a title, becuase I like to tell musical stories about mystical and psychedelic places and things. Once I know what I want to portray then begins the journey of creating small chapters to make up the composite track's "story" by patiently creating/tweaking and manipulating all the right sounds and writing rhythms needed to make it tell the tale through aural communication. It's a process that I love forming. The tracks must convey themselves so they musically live up the name of the title. This is very important to me.
6. Do you have any particular insight on the relationship of music to spirituality, or a glimpse at the source of your inspiration for the magical sounds you create?
For me, this kind of music evokes spirituality and mysticism, so I'm trying to create music that is rooted in human spirit yet equally transcendent. I'm trying to activate the imagination through tonal signals and auric suggestion so that hopefully you can really get inside and experience it.
7.
Explain for us some aspects of the relationships between you and Saiko Sounds,
sonic dragon, aleph zero, or any of the other labels you do design work for
at this time... and a brief list of some of your recent accomplishments! Dont
be shy!
I am Saiko Sounds' immediate graphic designer and create
many of the animated banners you see on the website as well as advertisments
in global trance publications, etc. I've also kept busy doing assorted CD artwork
design/layout for various labels who have shared their interest in my work and
contacted me about doing work for them. A list of some things I've created this
year so far are:
Aleph
Zero - Natural Born Chillers compilation CD artwork/layout
Celestial Dragon - Portal of Perceptions compilation CD artwork/layout
Manic Dragon - Inner Panic compilation CD artwork/layout
Manic Dragon - Multiple Personalities CD artwork/layout
JOCID - Sonic Addiction CD artwork/layout
More info about design I've done and artwork can be found @ www.androcell.com
8. Whats next for ANDROCELL, another album? More releases or collaborations you have in the works?
Second ANDROCELL album out in fall on Celestial Dragon. Also, I have two unreleased tracks on Celestial Dragon's "Portal of Perceptions" compilation which is now out... order it @ www.saikosounds.com
9. With all these projects, what do you do in your spare time?
Kick it with my lady, Alicia. Puff some time away. Retreat into nature and enjoy a divine moment of truth or lazy sunday daydreaming. Sleep.
10. Give us a bit of a rundown for what to expect for your set at the chillout at the Gaian Mind festival. do you have some tricks up your sleeves or what??
Just
expect to see/hear live improv keys/synth and drumpad work along with various
remixes, new mixes, unreleased tracks and
my ANDROCELL energy engaged.
OK, thanks for your time mate.
Thank you. Peace and dub.
ANDROCELL was interviewed by BLUE SPECTRAL MONKEY. www.touchsamadhi.com
May 27, 2005