TW #29 — Faces in the Crowd #5: Esper Division (DennisC)

"Faces In The Crowd: The Publication — Interview #5": DennisC (Dennis Courtney; the header prints master-of-darkness's address maz@io.org next to his name, evidently a copy-and-paste slip) with Francois-Jean de Brienne, speaking for the two-man Montreal band esper-division. The piece is followed by the FITC "Comments / Suggestions" note and a list of suggested songs.

Key claims#

• "No handle. Don't want one. Esper Division is the band's name and we're two members": Francois-Jean de Brienne and Alexandre Jean-Claude, both from Montreal, Canada. De Brienne has been tracking for three years; nothing was released on the scene until "we went public with MC3", where they came "11th veteran" (see compos).
• "We do shows. That's the main purpose of Esper Division. We put lyrics on the tracked pieces" (see live-tracking). Style: "techno-esoteric or techno-gothic. Sort of orchestral stuff with a beat." Influences from outside the scene — Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, Front 242; "got into tracking after hearing skaven's work. It was a cheap alternative to producing good-sounding music."
• Division of labour: de Brienne melodies, Jean-Claude rhythms. De Brienne: "11 years of 'forced' violin lessons which I now can finally enjoy" — not for playing but for composing; "learning music enables you to listen with a more critical and learning approach".
• On North American tracked music: "50% of what's tracked out there basically sucks (and I might just be in that 50%)" — people start "without any musical background just because it seems easy", but good results need "more than just learning to use a tracker". #trax is "too political": style arguments and flames at "the pagan sample rippers" (see sample-ripping). What he would change: "a feeling of collaboration … cut the noise."
• Advice for beginners: "Eat three times a day and sleep at least 4 hours." Age 26, married; e-mails debriefr@dmr.ca and alexandre.jean.claude@softimage.com.
• FITC Comments (Master of Darkness): the interviewees and psibelius suggested that FITC "join traxweekly as a whole instead of just the one article from Jtown in TW, and the three separate ones in the publication", because the inaugural FITC publication the week before had had little publicity — the suggestion was taken. The "Suggested Songs" section had drawn complaints (one composer rated a pick "AT BEST -**"); criticism should go to Master of Darkness or Atlantic, and be constructive.
• Suggested songs (all S3M, ftp.cdrom.com incoming, released 1–4 October 1995): Timelord, Mystique parts 1–3 (demo); Fred, Bawal (demo/orchestral); Mik Rippon, Wake the baby (dance/techno). The staff "will not actually rate the songs, but suggest the ones we think you'd like to hear most."

Practical takeaways#

• Tracked backing tracks plus sung lyrics on stage, 1995 — the tracker as a band's rhythm section.
• Musical training is for listening as much as playing: it makes you a critical listener of your own module.

Notable quotes#

• "Eat three times a day and sleep at least 4 hours." — Francois-Jean de Brienne.
• "It was a cheap alternative to producing good-sounding music." — de Brienne, on why he took up tracking.

Relevance#

The earliest source in the wiki for tracked music performed live with vocals; MC3's veteran section; the FITC publication's one-week life as a separate newsletter and its merger into traxweekly with a staff of Kal Zakath, Master of Darkness, DennisC and Atlantic; another vote for musical training and against #trax politics for tracker-scene-history.

Pages touched#

esper-division, traxweekly, master-of-darkness, kal-zakath, skaven, live-tracking, compos, tracker-scene-history, sample-ripping, hornet, psibelius, fred-ink, mick-rippon.