Formerly known by fans of drum’n’bass and breaks as Raiden, Berlin-based British producer Chris Jarman recently deployed “Dead Skin Cells,” his debut album in the guise of Kamikaze Space Programme (out on Osiris Music), after spreading some tracks on labels like WNCL Recordings, Mord and Mote-Evolver and tunes through regular sets, meeting the likes of Tresor and Berghain. On Kamikaze Space Programme, Chris managed to combine some sonorities of his DNB-driven age with contemporary techno (or post-techno) and rhythmical noise textures, but its creativity managed to give that plus to this stylistic hybridization. The release deserves to be checked out…particularly in possibly forthcoming suicidal space programs…

Chain DLK: Hi, Chris! How are you?

Chris Jarman: Hello! Good, thanks, trying to stay cool in this extreme heat, 98 degrees at the moment! I’m off work for the summer; just played at this nutty club called Berghain yesterday which is always crazy, and my new album was released on the same day. Probably going to take me a few days to get over all this excitement.

Chain DLK: A British DJ in Berlin…sounding like an American Werewolf in London? Jokes aside, even if I can imagine the reasons, as Berlin can be considered the real European capital of techno culture, music and parties, why did you move there?

Chris Jarman: Or a plastic cockney in Berlin! It’s certainly a cliche to move to here, but there’s no smoke without fire. I was once told Berlin is the graveyard of creativity by a particularly prolific artist and I can see their point; it is very easy to get distracted here, so you need some discipline. I kept visiting Berlin and being incredibly inspired, and each stay would become progressively longer until the point where I didn’t go home. I’m not so into the clubs these days. I’d rather hold court at the bar where I can sit down. I’m really enjoying the whole Audio Visual scene; there’s some utterly mind blowing events going on particularly at Kraftwerk, such as Berlin Atonal, Skalar and Deep Web. What keeps me in Berlin is my job as a university lecturer at dBs music in creative music production. I love my job and my students. There’s an incredible sense of community here. It’s a very inspirational city full amazing people from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe. But at the same time, Berlin has made me a lot more sensitive to my roots in the UK bass music culture as there’s very little of that here. Berlin could do with an extra octave of bass!

Chain DLK: A question that anyone who got in touch with your music maybe already asked…why did you name your project Kamikaze Space Programme? Just a way to describe your style or a slightly sneering statement on space programs?C

Chris Jarman: I originally took that title from a song on an album called ‘Curse of the Golden Vampire’ by Techno Animal, aka Alec Empire. It seems such a ridiculous concept; a space programme based on a promise of failure. I used this name for a Raiden EP on my Offkey label back in 2009. When it was time to make a new alias, I felt this name was too good for just an EP, not to mention it would be the largest name on any flyer, which has not yet been beaten. My next alias will consist of 2 letters or one syllable with the email to match.

Chain DLK: What’s up there beyond the clouds in your viewpoint?

Chris Jarman: Lots of empty space following the laws of physics that is hostile to life, punctuated with the odd bright, radioactive mass that is begging to be explored. Maybe a Dyson sphere.

Chain DLK: Besides bpm and drum patterns, I noticed a certain similarity of many tracks made by you as Kamikaze Space Programme to the style and the way of forging breaks by Future Sound of London… I guess you’re a fan of FSOL, aren’t you? Are there any artists that you could consider a milestone in the development of your music?

Chris Jarman: Ha! I’m a HUGE fan of the Future Sound of London, completely obsessed; is it really that obvious!? I have been listening to their music since they released Dead Cities, which is my favorite album of all time. I still buy every record they make on sight, which is a lot. I don’t know how they have such a prolific output, releasing multiple albums per year. For me, they are the greatest producers of all time, so any comparison I take as a huge compliment.

Aside from FSOL, other artists which have inspired me heavily in terms of my music production would be Mika Vainio, Dillinja, Emptyset, The Scientist, Mick Harris, Roly Porter, Matthew Herbert, Ed Rush, and Optical, lots of bands, I could go on…I’m a huge fan of many types of music, everything from Latin music such as Hector Lavoe and Les Baxter, to field recordists such as Alan Lamb’s Wire Music and Chris Watson. I just love sound.

Chain DLK: As an admirer of Renegade Hardware, I admit I knew you as Raiden before, but I pretty much ignored the project KSP. Maybe I heard some Kamikaze Space Programme, but I should have thought it was just a weird and vaguely fancy way to refer to a remix. What’s the bridge connecting Raiden and KSP?

Chris Jarman: I would say the connection between my aliases as Raiden, Dot Product and KSP have become quite blurred recently, particularly on my latest KSP album. You can hear influences from all my music projects over the years on this latest record. When KSP started, it was exclusively based around field recording, but this has opened up a bit over the last few years. For some time, I disregarded my past as a DNB producer, but these days I’m quite proud of it; it’s not easy music to make or operate in, but it has taught me a lot. I’ve recently built a studio centered around the equipment from the late 90’s, which Jungle was made with, gear I couldn’t afford at the time, merged with cutting edge equipment and homemade microphones. This clash of heritage with modern equipment makes for a power set up that links past, present and future.

Chain DLK: I had the chance to listen to your recent album Dead Skin Cells! Very interesting tracks on it! First of all, what’s its conceptual framework (if there’s any)? What’s the common aspect (besides the author!) of the tracks included in this album?

Chris Jarman: Thank you! There is a strong production aesthetic to this record. I wanted to pursue a more stripped-down, bass-heavy sound and work more with space and emotion. I asked Simon Shreeve if I could make an LP for Osiris and, as someone who has supported me for almost 20 years, he was into the idea and gave me total creative freedom; he didn’t even want to hear the record until it was mastered. First I wrote about 20 tracks, but something was missing and I hadn’t quite nailed the sound I was imagining, so I scrapped every song then started again. I built an all-new hardware set up to disrupt the habitual in the box workflow I had been using for the last few years and built a new room. From a production standpoint, the concept of the album is based around the many obscure field recordings I have made over the last few years such as tesla coils, rain, crickets (they are the hardest things to record, especially Greek crickets) and background ambiances from my various travels. These would be manipulated using E-MU hardware samplers then weaved together with hardware jams using many effect pedals, with lots of dub mixing techniques using a large vintage analog mixing console. I also explored glitch/data processing, and I recorded impulse response effects of unique spaces. I wanted to make something that captured everything I have learned in the 20 years that I have been producing music in one release. This LP is my latest invention.

Chain DLK: Can Derelict (awesome track!) be considered a reference to your work as Raiden? If yes, why such a title for this ring of the chain?

Chris Jarman: Absolutely. I find long, distorted bass tones in combination with melodic pads to be highly emotional, which many Raiden tracks also had. Originally, the track didn’t have any drums and it was intended as an interlude. As for the title, I wrote this track about a feeling of being numb and emotionally derelict. Many of the tracks on the LP have a reference to decay or bad weather, which is a metaphor for a being melancholic.

Chain DLK: I heard very well-forged breaks over the whole album…do you miss jungle sonorities, by chance?

Chris Jarman: Yes, for sure, but I also wouldn’t want to make music as I did 20 years ago. I wanted to take the parts of jungle I love, leave the bits I didn’t and make something fresh. After spending the last 7 years working with rhythms that were made purely from chopped foley recordings, I started to miss using sampled breakbeats and twisting them; the vintage samplers certainly helped. Breaks have a lot of vibes baked into them as it’s the recording of a talented drummer at the peak of their creative flow. Nowadays, I have a lot more knowledge in production that I wish I knew back when I was making DNB. I adapted many techniques on the drums that I adopted from top mix engineers such as Tchad Blake. For my next record, I recently booked a studio and recorded hours of live drums played by one of my students, which I’m currently mixing and editing. Aside from the breaks, I really missed making huge sub-bass that would test even the biggest sound systems; there’s something very physical and intense about low end when it’s done right. No musical movement did this as well as Jungle/ DNB (apart from dub!) and it’s forever in my heart.

Chain DLK: Is there any track that could be somehow related to your inner world (other than possible references to outer space!)?

Chris Jarman: I would say I’m more fascinated by inner space than outer, the atom, etc. So let’s say Stratosaatti by Ø / Mika Vainio!

Chain DLK: Would you say that Offkey ceased any activity, or are you planning to push something through your imprint?

Chris Jarman: I would probably say that it is finished. But I’m constantly contradicting myself, so who knows? Maybe one day it could come back. The catalog is no longer available; I quite like the idea that it existed in one era and that’s it. I like to move forward and not dwell on past glories. For now, I don’t have much desire to run a label as I’m so busy with teaching, so what time I do have left for music I’d rather produce, and I’m more than happy with the labels I record for…

Chain DLK: I saw your name on a split release on Ohm Resistance together with the one of Mick Harris (as Fret)! Any word about this split?

Chris Jarman: Mick Harris has been a huge inspiration to me since the early 90s. His recent output as Fret has blown my mind, particularly the Overdepth LP. Kurt that runs Ohm Resistance knew this and invited me to contribute a track to the Ohm Resistance subscription series, with a bait of sharing the record with Mick as Fret. Where do I sign??? I got to meet Mick recently, which was amazing. We talked about music for all but 30 seconds and spent the rest of the evening talking about coarse fishing; he loves it as much as I do.

Chain DLK:Any collaborative work in progress?

Chris Jarman: Yes, many. For me, collaboration is purely fun, a social activity, and if a track and a cup of tea come out of it, even better. I’ve been working on new music at various stages of completion with Simon Shreeve / MØnic, Cocktail Party Effect, Appleblim, Charlton, Boris Brenecki and Second Storey.

With Adam Winchester (as Dot Product), we have an EP out soon with Japanoise legend KK Null, and collabs in progress with Renate Knapp (Singer of Amon Dull ii) and Richard Thair (drummer of Red Snapper, Sabres of Paradise, The Aloof). We have a new member called Geso who’s a talented visual artist.

Chain DLK: …And as a soloist? Any forthcoming stuff?

Chris Jarman: I’m currently working on another KSP album, also for Osiris music. It’s still in its very early stages, so hard to say what the vibe is, but so far it seems to be an extension of Dead Skin Cells, slower with much heavier low end and more emotion, but we’ll see when it’s finished. I hope to release this within the next year. For the future, I’d like to focus more on albums rather than singles/EPs. I rarely listen to EPs myself, only albums, so I thought, I should be doing this too.

Chain DLK: Do you keep on performing on live stage? Under the guise of…? DJ/producer? Raiden/KSP/Chris?

Chris Jarman: I’m very busy playing as KSP all over the world with live sets and DJ sets, although nowadays I only do shows I’m really into. I’m currently working on a live AV show with an extremely talented visual artist called Geso. I’m about to do my first 3d Ambisonics live set in London next month, which I’m really excited about, and I’d like to do more of these concert type shows as we do as Dot Product. I tend to play the odd Raiden set once per year saying this is the last time; I’ve been saying that for the last 8 years. I still perform with Dot Product, and we have our first audiovisual installation at an experimental arts festival in Spain next year. I’d like to do more sets with Cocktail Party Effect in the future too, as we have so much chemistry as well as being one of the most exciting producers of the moment.

The name, or I should say his name-in-art of Timothy Lewis, better known as Thighpaulsandra, is commonly matched to that of Coil; when he joined the band after meeting John Balance, he managed to enliven the creative fire of the band and to persuade the formerly hermetic group to get out of the darkness and perform on live stages. Tim also kept on honoring his partners in art in Coil after they passed away by compiling and editing the first photographic art book of Coil co-founder Peter Christopherson as well as a book of John Balance’s little known sketches and drawings, titled ‘Bright Lights and Cats With No Mouth’ (published by Timeless in 2014). His solo project to spread his own music was strongly encouraged by both Christopherson and Balance, and thanks to their support and to that piece of advice, we can appreciate absolutely amazing outputs by Thighpaulsandra today. After I was delighted by the tracks on his last one “Practical Electronics with Thighpaulsandra” (released in March 2019 by Editions Mego), I managed to deliver some questions to the author. Check out his interesting answers down below.

Chain DLK: Hi, Tim! How are you?

Thighpaulsandra: Very well, thank you.

Chain DLK: You don’t really need introductions in my opinion, particularly to all those who more or less deeply know Coil. Some of your former Coil mates persuaded you to spread some stuff as a solo artist, didn’t they? Your debut as Thighpaulsandra came out on Eskaton (why not on Threshold House?) as well… Did any particular member of Coil interfere in your creative process?

Thighpaulsandra: John Balance and Sleazy were both very supportive of my solo material. I would not say that they interfered in any way but were keen to help if they could, and both of them chose to contribute to my solo albums by both performing and contributing to the album artwork. The first three releases were on Eskaton because I don’t think Threshold House existed at that point.

Chain DLK: Your first appearance on a Coil album was on the occasion of “Musick To Play In The Dark”… How do you remember the work on that wonderful output?

Thighpaulsandra: No, my first appearance on a Coil record was the Prescription Records original vinyl release of Astral Disaster, which was recorded in 1998 but released in 1999. “Musick To Play In The Dark” was my second appearance later the same year. It was the beginning of an exceptionally creative period which I enjoyed immensely. I remember spending many weeks working on the album with John and Sleazy at their studio in Weston Super Mare. It was close to the sea, so the quality of the light was a great inspiration. We drank lots of tea and ate cakes. Although we hadn’t known each other very long at this point, we all felt a very strong bond immediately and the thrill of mutual musical discovery was very potent.

Chain DLK: Is there any Coil album where your musical veins and ideas influenced the sound more than other ones, in your opinion?

Thighpaulsandra: “Music To Play In The Dark 1&2,” “Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil” (which is probably my favorite) and “Queens Of The Circulating Library.”

Chain DLK: Both some lyrics of your recent outputs (in particular, the ones of Brown Pillows) and your biography surmised a pretty well-known Coil song to me, “The Last Amethyst Deceiver”… Do you pay respect to vultures?

Thighpaulsandra: Vultures are a constant problem, and we seem to be surrounded by them. If your question is really about whether or not Coil influenced my work, then the answer is undoubtedly yes. It was impossible to work with such wonderful people and not be influenced by them.

Chain DLK: You recorded your previous album The Golden Communion in a secluded place in Western Wales (Golliwog Farm in Pontypridd, right?), didn’t you? Which location did you choose for Practical Electronics With…? Is the cover a clue of the location?

Thighpaulsandra: The Golden Communion was recorded partly at Golliwog Farm but also at my current studio Aeriel in West Wales. “Practical Electronics” was recorded entirely at Aeriel Studios. The cover photograph was taken in my secret laboratory where I perform electronic experiments on young men.

Chain DLK: A question on some of your old entries… That awesome trance-inducing ambient suite turned into a bizarre psycho-abstract hybridization of electronic whirls, progressive kraut a la Can and industrial noises titled Michel Publicity Window… Do you remember the source of inspiration?

Thighpaulsandra: No, I don’t remember exactly, but at that time I had been listening to Faust IV and other Krautrock albums a lot so I suspect they had some influence. The drone sections were probably inspired by Tony Conrad and La Monte Young.

Chain DLK: “He is a wonderful bright Pagan STAR in his own rite and I are very happy he accepted my invitation. Now we are 5 sided.” These were the words by which John Balance talked about you and your joining to Coil… How do you feel when you read his introduction today?

Thighpaulsandra:I feel very sad that John is not still here and we are not still making wonderful music with Sleazy. I miss them both very much. They were both great teachers on many levels and a source of inspiration to me. I will be eternally grateful to them for letting me be part of their world.

Chain DLK: Besides its bizarre cover (can you tell us something about that as well?), your Chamber Music orbits around stuff that someone might label as New Music / Free Improv today. What would you label as really new in contemporary music?

Thighpaulsandra:I don’t really listen to other people’s music very much these days, so that question would be difficult to answer. I don’t deliberately try to mould my music to any genre, I just do what comes naturally.

Chain DLK: One of your recent projects I really appreciate is Uruk, the one with Zu’s bass player Massimo Pupillo… Any forthcoming issue after Mysterium Coniunctionis?

Thighpaulsandra: Yes, we have a new live album, “The Descent Of Innana” recorded at Cave 12, Geneva available from www.thighpaulsandra.co.uk. We have started work on a new Uruk album which will probably be released next year.

Chain DLK: Can you introduce “Practical Electronics with…” in your own words?

Thighpaulsandra: Practical Electronics grew from the requirement to play shows without my group. Many promoters do not want to invest in a four-piece group playing challenging material of minority interest. It occurred to me that I should write some music that I could perform solo, and so that is how those songs came about. There will probably be more songs in this style, but I’m still writing and recording group and instrumental based material too.

Chain DLK: The title evokes the ones used for DIY or IT handbooks…Any “didactic” intent behind it?

Thighpaulsandra: Certainly not. The title and cover art is a parody of the popular UK DIY electronics magazines of the 1960s and 70s. The covers often featured serious-looking amateurs prodding around with a soldering iron. I thought I would combine this idea with one of my usual homoerotic covers in rather a tongue-in-cheek style. My humor was obviously lost on the editor of The Quietus, as he found the cover offensive and refused to review it.

Chain DLK: In Brown Pillows, I noticed a certain relation between the words of the lyrics and sounds that seem to translate them… What can you say about this relation between word and sound in “Practical Electronics with…?”

Thighpaulsandra: I always try to complement my lyrics with appropriate tonal colors. The sounds and the lyrics often seed each other in unexpected ways which, of course, I revel in. Incongruity is often the key.

Chain DLK:Any work in progress?

Thighpaulsandra: Yes, I’m constantly writing and working on new things. I spend almost every day in the studio, sometimes writing, sometimes experimenting, but always recording. I also have a few new collaborations planned although, for now, they must remain secret. I have also been mixing a series of Coil live recordings from tours around 2002. The first of these was released last month on my Retractor label.

Shohei Amimori started his career as a composer and arranger of both classical and contemporary music when he was still a student. His orchestral graduation work was so appreciated that Tokyo University of Arts decided to purchase it and preserve it permanently at the university’s art museum. After his initial stylistic fields, his interest gradually moved to different forms of sound art and pop music, and he also began to produce music for commercials and television programs. His output on Noble Records (released at the end of November 2018) partially mirrors this path, but also embraced the bizarre concept of pataphysics that French writer Alfred Jarry defined as “the science of that which is super induced upon metaphysics, whether within or beyond the latter’s limitations, extending as far beyond metaphysics as the latter extends beyond physics.” It’s a sort of parody (quoted by many musicians in the past including the Beatles, Soft Machine and the awesome Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple) that Shohei tried to apply to his music generation according to a derivative process and the bold hypothesis that “music does not yet exist ≈ imaginary music ≈ PATA MUSIC.” We had a quick chat with Shohei about this concept that we invite you to explore by checking out his nice album.

Chain DLK: Hi, Shoei! How are you?

Shoei Amimori: I’m good.

Chain DLK: What is PataMusic in your own explanatory words?

Shoei Amimori: For me, ”PataMusic” is an issue for the existence of music by using pop music.

Chain DLK: Any conceptual connection with the notorious Jarry’s Pataphysics? Do you feel like a Dr. Faustroll for music? 🙂

Shoei Amimori: Of course I was inspired by the Pataphysics that Jari advocated. However, rather than using it as a concept, the issue I was thinking about at the beginning was Pataphysics.

Chain DLK: How many possible approaches do you take into consideration to inject abstractness into music? What’s your favourite one?

Shoei Amimori: Today, I think that with the way of listening to music, the power of the album package has been disabled. So, I did something to highlight the contradiction of the package form itself. For example, if you move on to the next song, the previous song will be seriously ruined. I set up such an element. Bringing abstraction into music, making it stand out and sharing it, is always a big goal for me. But that’s very difficult.

Chain DLK: Can you provide some commentary on the tracks of PataMusic? Any hidden story behind it that you want to share with our readers?

Shoei Amimori: Anyway, there were many kinds of songs and it was difficult. I’m not a singer but there are some songs where I’m singing, some songs like “Climb Downhill 1” that require elaborate post production on a computer, and so on. I made full use of the right and left brain poles. However, in order to raise the above-mentioned issue, there had to be many kinds of songs.

Chain DLK: You have a relevant academic background…is there any composer you studied that paved the way to PataMusic? If so, how?

Shoei Amimori: I have always given respect to and credited some critical aspects to John Cage. Cage had valued the ‘‘sound’’ and ‘‘listening.’’ I would like to draw out the power of such elements without making them mysterious.

Chain DLK: Some tracks sounds like mirroring TV commercials…any jingle that became like a recurring nightmare during composition or over your career?

Shoei Amimori: For me, the most interesting element of music is melody. The reason is that it is difficult to create or listen from a quantitative point of view like harmony or rhythm. Nevertheless, it can be addictive to listeners. That may be why it sounds like TVCM.

Chain DLK: Many moments of PataMusic resemble the amazing experiments by other great Japanese composers, who became famous out of national boundaries, like Haruomi Hosono or Nobukazu Takemura…do you feel closer to some of them, by chance?

Shoei Amimori: As you say, my work may resemble their works in some ways. I’m intending to look over the music all over the world in the same way as them, but that may be just “Japanese.”

Chain DLK:  Are there any connections of PataMusic with your previous outputs? Can you talk about your more or less recent past releases?

Shoei Amimori: Last year, we presented an orchestral piece of contemporary music under the commission of NHK (State-owned broadcasting stations of Japan). Since the premiere on the radio was released, I added a part just before the broadcast occured in the piece to be interesting when listening on the radio. For example, using a very long silence. This attempt is similar to the challenge for the form of the album that was made in “Pata Music.”

Chain DLK: Did you plan any touring to spread PataMusic out of Japan as well?

Shoei Amimori: Regarding the live performance related to my solo works, I’ve only done them in Tokyo. So I want to do it all over the world. I will make plans in the near future.

Chain DLK:Any other work in progress?

Shoei Amimori: This year, I am planning some productions. These are an exhibition of sound installation, a production of other artists, and so on. Now I’m enjoying some collaboration works. I want to start making my own work next year.

Shoei Amimori website URL: www.shoheiamimori.com