Welcome to our almost daily quickie Q&A feature: One Question Interviews. Follow us at facebook or twitter and we'll post one interview every Monday-Thursday. Okay, sometimes we miss a day, but it will be four each week.
After our social media followers get the first word, we post a wrap-up here at the site and archive 'em here. This week check out Q&As with Seven Sisters of Sleep, Dead Bars, Modest Midget and Alexeï Kawolski.
Brian Thomas (Seven Sisters of Sleep)
SPB: What do you think of cassettes?
Brian: Tapes are cool--cooler when it says “Megadeth” on it and you shoplifted it from a Kmart in 1994, and totally got away with it.
As they stand today, they sound like shit compared to other formats, they have a limited lifespan, and break way too easily. All that said, tapes have an undeniable charm to those of us old enough to remember why CDs coming out was a big deal.
John (Dead Bars)
SPB: What does your name mean?
Dead Bars: It comes from a long history of drinking by myself at bars with no one in them.
Lionel Ziblat (Modest Midget)
SPB: Which music by classical composers do you think has held up the best into the 21st century?
Lionel: Great question! Since it's also a great passion of mine to write for Classical instances (choirs, orchestras and chamber), I try to keep in touch with contemporary Classical music as well. You'll be amazed how much good music was written since Purcell (17th Century) ‘til Ligeti (end of 20th Century).
I think that Classical music plays a much bigger role in our lives than many people realize. There are the few very famous tunes that everybody knows like the theme from Beethoven's 9th, which is one of the most popular tunes out there still(!) although most people don't even realize it. But there are also other influences that more modern composers like Stravinsky & Ravel have had on Hollywood film scoring throughout the 20th Century.
Still, I feel that nowadays well-crafted music, whether it's classical, jazz or anything else, is too often overlooked and neglected. Because we are enslaved to some amazing technology now in a way that our focus on details and on spiritual quality is getting very poor.
Alexeï Kawolski
SPB: Is today's EDM scene hurting electronic music as a whole?
Alexeï: English is not my first language, I hope my answer makes sense...
I'm maybe naïve, but I don't think EDM scene is really hurting electronic music as a whole and I don't see it as a threat to experimental electronic music.
EDM is mainly focused on being entertaining and making people dance, it responds to a legitimate need. Other music fulfil other needs. I don't see music genres as exclusive or as competing against each other. I like to think that some part of the audience that got interested in electronic music by EDM will dig further toward other electronic music genres. The same person can listen to Deadmau5, Alva Noto, and Richard Devine depending on the context.
Perhaps someday people will get tired of EDM. Maybe it is an ephemeral trend that will be replaced or maybe it will last. Anyways, the need for experimentation and innovation will always be. EDM only challenges other electronic music genres in a positive way; more than ever, they need to be inventive to stay relevant and to avoid to be shadowed.
