TW #1 — Interview with Phoenix (Populus)
IRC interview (1995-03-09/10) with phoenix (Andrew Voss) of the kosmic Free Music Foundation, credited by Populus with 107 songs; his own picks are The Red Horizon, Nervous Breakdown (extended mix), Synaesthesia, Diseased (no antidote mix) and Lifestruck.
Key claims#
- Andrew Voss, 18, computer-science freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY); only group Kosmic.
- Joined KLF (Kosmic Loader Foundation, later Kosmic) in April 1994 after quitting a local group, LD-50, via an application seen on The Sound Barrier BBS; released a solo musicdisk Pyrology before that, then about 20 songs for KLF/Kosmic. First tune a techno remix, latest hard trance.
- Stuck with Amiga MODs until the end of 1993; then inspired by maelcum, skaven and Deus. Names Purple Motion's Turbulence as a standard setter for demo music.
- Starts a song from "a simple rhythm or synth pattern" and moulds the songs "floating in my head" into it.
- Predicts "alternative demo-music" rising in 1995 as demo style became the mainstream of tracked music; sees Kosmic as so big that "restructuring" is coming; Kosmic would compete in the demo field at NAID, not only in music.
- Listens to Front 242, Meat Beat Manifesto, Depeche Mode, KMFDM, trance and ambient; scouts trip-hop, gabber and Rotterdam for tracking ideas.
Practical takeaways#
- Rule of thumb for style: "if I'll listen to it on CD, I'll listen to it on computer".
- Keep a notebook: he regrets not writing down the music he made from age 12.
Notable quotes#
- "I think I've been my own inspiration for the most part." — Phoenix.
Relevance#
Kosmic's early-1994 recruiting model (BBS applications), the KLF → Kosmic name change, and a data point for the 1995 "demo-music" mainstream.