interview with guenter schlienz

Guenter Schlienz (Stuttgart, Germany) is known for his vast catalogue of tape & cdr releases on different great labels around the world – Sacred Phrases, SicSic, Goldtimers, Constellation Tatsu, etc. He is the man behind wonderful Cosmic Winnetou label, releasing all kinds of experimental/drone/ambient artists — maybe not as frequently as we'd like, but each time pleasing the taste of any tape music geek. Creating his minimalist compositions by means of d.i.y modular synths, tape loops and field recordings, Guenter achieves the serenity of classic ambient works, while keeping the vibe of 70s kosmische musik (think Cluster or Harmonia) and sometimes reaches the territories of academic minimalism, exploring the sound as ding an sich, inspiring the listener to invent its own narrative. Being part of Navel band since mid 90s, Guenter's place in music world has a long, but still almost unknown story which continues nowadays with further explorations of all kinds of ambient music.

~~~

Pied Paper: First of all, I'm curious about how it all started for you — ambient music, synth building, tape releases, etc. I know that you were involved in many other projects before, call you tell a bit about them too?

GS: phew, where did it all started… definitely many many moons ago. was active mid till end 90s in some heavy stoner psychedelic rock band. was the guy responsible for producing some "far out sounds" with his guitar and some delay pedal. so there already was this drone element in what i did. but far from recognizing it as this for myself. bit later during the same decade i did a session with a guy who did guitar and singing for another noise rock outfit. we just fiddled around with our guitars and with every pedal we could get our hands on. we recorded our very first session with some broken 4track and quite liked the results. after presenting the finished cdr people came back and reported "this is quite cool drone music". so yep, that's how we learned the name of this style. and after having the name we were able to dig deeper and learned names like Stars of the Lid, Flying Saucer Attack, Brian Eno etc pp. this guitar drone project of us is called Navel and we are still recording and doing live shows.

beginning of the 00's i quit doing this rock band stuff, so there was plenty time to do some other things. after getting introduced to all this amazing kraut and kosmische musik (during a navel live show in france by an english man, but that's another story) there was the idea to do some kind of electronic music solo. so i needed an instrument, and after bit of research i discovered that the schematics for some modular synthesizer would be something i could manage with the training in electronics i already had. so i started soldering, first quite simple filters, later more and more sophisticated modules.

the tapes, yep, fast forward to the end of last decade. stumbled over this tape scene thing by accident via the internet (god bless it). those days i was pretty frustrated and bored by the music all the labels and magazines i knew presented, so this occurred to me like a big relief. yes. so many people and projects and bands and labels are doing fantastic stuff, exactly the music i love, right at the moment, and sell it for very low money to people all around the world. yes! couldn't belief my eyes. that the favorite medium of all those labels and projects were cassettes don't really bothered me (of course i had this "ugh? on tape? strange…" moment like everybody else i guess), because i never really stopped using this media since my early childhood days.

I like to dramatize a bit some things some times, but this discovery of the tape label scene kind of saved my artistic live. it gave me so much energy and confirmation and countless hours of joy during listening sessions that i got the feeling that i have to give something back. hence i started my own tape label.

Pied Paper: Your music sounds almost academic sometimes, especially works as Organ Studies, Loop Studies and Furniture Sounds — which, as I understand is a homage to Eric Satie. But your name is strongly associated with "underground tape scene", as we call it. Did you ever thought about making your music open for the interpretations, to write it down on a paper maybe, letting the others perform it?

GS: huh, not sure if i my music sounds bit like academic music. for sure i'm quite interested in this genre, mean contemporary composers with "classical" musical education composing pieces for concert halls and operas and stuff. like their approach to their art through quite rigid concepts, their huge knowledge about musical structures and about music of many centuries and cultures. perhaps you see my enthusiasm for their rigidness shining through my stuff? that would be a compliment for sure, at least in my opinion. and of course, if there would be a small ensemble crazy enough to perform it, i would love to write a score for them (though not sure if i would like to conduct it). but i guess your name must be some lou reed or some other in the same league to be honored like this. actually i'm pretty sure that many of those academic contemporary composers would be happily release their stuff on tape if they would only know this special scene around it.

Pied Paper: It's clear that ambient music is a wide field for interpretation, same sound can be perceived in different ways depending on the artwork, liner notes, track titles, etc. Can you tell something about your own perception of your music? Does it have some stories within, or it's just abstract form which everyone can fill with its own meaning?

as you see in the answer of the last question i like some kind of concept around the music. and if this concept even gets its visual equal with the artwork i'm more than happy. so of course, there is a story in every piece. but hey, its music, its a form of art, so who am i to dictate what some listener and spectator wants to see in it? isn't it the very meaning of any art, that the consumer of it knits his very personal meaning to it?

actually i am not able to describe what i hear in my music anyway. for me the answer to this question would lead to some kind of poem, some painting, some huge novel, some dance or any other arty abstraction. in none of the mentioned techniques 'm very good at, so please, listen to the music.


Pied Paper: Imagine a situation when you someone asks you to create music with specific mood, theme, etc. — like for a movie scene or something — would it be easy for you? What you enjoy more - improvisation or composition?

already did this, i mean creating some music for a specific use (to earn some money), and hey, that is pretty hard work (and hard earned money)! to create some music without some customers needs to be satisfied, just the personal ones, isn't really easy to do as well, but much more gratifying for the soul. its an privilege to be able to do this, and i have a (pretty time consuming) bread and butter job to create the circumstances to fulfill it.

can't really separate those strategies during my performances, both live and during my recording sessions. its always a mixture of plan and being ready to include some coincidences respectively enlightenments. actually my believe is, gained through many observations and talks about such things, that nearly every work in which i am interested in is created this way.

Pied Paper: I know that you enjoy recording outdoor, do you have any specific set-up for this?

not really specific, the equipment just have to have some possibility to work battery driven. luckily my modulars fall into this category. just to improve the handling of such adventure i have build my modulars as small and compact as possible, and since a couple of months a work on some modules who will be included into some water proofed case.


Pied Paper: Probably you've noticed that releases of first wave of cassette drone/ambient in 2009-11 was mostly lo-fi and many of same artists still doing tapes nowadays came to much cleared and well-produced sound - is that natural growth or trying to be more "mainstream"?

yes, i'm aware of this development as well. i think it just was some other group of people with bit different background which had been running those labels you' mention. In those early days of the reemerging of this medium the leading actors had had mostly a background in the noise scene. hence the tape as favorite medium, hence the cheap and ugly aesthetics of the chosen instruments. these different (don't like to ad some other evaluative adjective) sounding tapes of lately are from people without this background, they just take over the torch and work with it out of their musical socialization. so in my opinion it is either "natural growth", this sounds like some kind of improvement who isn't any need for, nor a try to reach broader audiences. the good stuff of recently is produced by people who are just as true to their own style as their ancestors had been, and therefore it is as important and equal beautiful as the old stuff.


Pied Paper: As a label owner, can you tell how many demos you receive? Which kind of styles you receive most? I'm asking because it seems that ambient/psych/drone music isn't that popular anymore - I see tons of vaporwave/webpunk tapes at new-born labels, while such imprints as Stunned, Tranquility tapes, Goldtimers are long gone (or maybe it's just old man's talk, huh).

yes, and i'm very happy about it, i receive quite a lot of demos. always love to get some new sounds for my ears. mostly the artists are very good informed about the style of the music i usually release and about the aesthetics i'm interested in. perhaps you are right, there are less people out there which do their own style of ambient/psych/drone as perhaps eight years ago, but i'm not sure about that. and as i stated in the last paragraph i think those vaporwave labels and the like took the torch of the cassette celebration and run with it their own way. and this is a good thing. who needs the 16th or whatever version of the emeralds (insert here the name of your favorite release of those years)? isn't this exactly what have happened with pop and rock music and what makes this stuff sometimes unbearable to listen to?

Pied Paper: And what are your plans for the Cosmic Winnetou in the foreseeable future?

prepare my next batch right now which will be released in a couple of weeks. but after this 13th cosmic winnetou bundle of cassettes i will need a hiatus, unfortunately. i love to do the label work, but it is very time consuming. have lots of projects for this year, music and private stuff, so i have to pull the brakes to this project for this year. but really looking forward to restart the tape label with new ideas and energies end of this year.


Pied Paper: Do you ever think about future of music? Is it possible to invent something new, or we are doomed to retro-mania, returning to same tunes from different angles?

of course there will some day somebody release some music which haven't been heard before and will blow all of us completely into the void. don't know which day this will happen, but i'm pretty sure someday it will. just look around, not only the music is stuck into retro mode. clothing, hair style, performing arts, pictorial arts, industrial design, i think that in our days nearly every form of artefacts are done with quite old ideas, just a few new kind of tools here and there. the whole mood, you can call it "zeitgeist" if you like, is like "let's try to preserve what we have", not "perhaps this is a better idea for the future, let's work on it". in my opinion everything is linked together somehow, and we have this retro mania since the 90s, starting with this global change of the modus vivendi. but nothing is forever, so i'm sure this will change someday. these thoughts are just my 50cents about a very complex question. but yeah, i think about this, and love to exchange ideas about this kind of topic.


Pied Paper: Humans already sent some music with space probes - which titles would you choose for such mission? I know you won't choose Wagner, huh :)

really nice question, this is. indeed already thought about that, and i think the nasa did a quite good job with the "golden record" for the voyager mission. very good selection which shows how wonderfully diverse sounds humans are able to produce, and each and all of them aim at the listeners heart. but always wondered if it would be perhaps a good idea to send some field recordings of this strange planet into the void, and f so, which i would chose.

some people laughing, some people fighting, a mother singing her baby to sleep, the audience at a soccer game, a sundown at the shore of a calm sea with waves and cicades and everything? what else?


Pied Paper: Okay, that's it — you can send high fives here or add something if needed! Thank you!

hey, high five to you and many thanks for those questions! took my a while to type the answers, because you found some topics and ideas i love to share my thoughts on it. and of course many thanks for your support!

perhaps i would like to ad a big "thank you" to all the readers of those lines, time is precious and i'm happy that you waste it reading them. and a big "thank you" to all the people who listen to my music and perhaps even bought the cassettes and cds and vinyls with my music on it. to know that somebody out there cares about my music means a lot to me. hugs.

guenterschlienz.de

selected albums:

guenter's bandcamp

sterne uber der stadt

organ studies

tape studies

autumn

kaliska

kaliska ~ the path we make (inner islands, 2012)

"walking a personal path, howling at the moon" braden j mc kenna

hoy es el cumpleaños de ana, el momento perfecto para publicar esta conversación con braden j mc kenna, una de esas personas que de no existir habría que inventarla. de nuevo volvemos a intentar descubrir a través de preguntas más personales el por qué de una música tan especial y de la importancia de un sello como inner islands. "the path we make" es el último disco de braden (aka Wyld Wyzrdz aka Coyote Dreamer aka Kaliska), recorramos ese camino con el propio braden.

trees :: i must admit that sean (ashan, gkfoes vjgoaf), stag hare, high wolf and you, are creating the most spiritual music in the outer regions of the world we are living. how is your relationship with the "real world"? ie the world in which we must work to pay bills, mortgage for a house, etc ... how do you deal with the madness floating around us?

braden :: I’m still figuring out my relationship with the "real world". I’ve done a pretty good job the past few years not worrying about money. I try to only work part time to keep my energy free for creating art and music, running the record label and exploring. but lately money and bills and stuff like that have become more real. as I get older my lack of temporal security is becoming more obvious. as for right now I’m just trying to keep a balance, doing what I need to do to survive as a human in the world today.

trees :: where did you grow up?, what was your first contact with music? what led you to create your own music?
braden :: I moved around a bit as kid, but I mostly grew up in Utah and Washington. I was born into a mormon family, my first experiences with music was singing hymns in church as a child. I started playing the guitar at age 15 and first learned to play punk rock. later, as a teenager I got really obsessed with "the glow pt. 2" and that pretty much sparked the desire to record my own records.

trees :: the microphones!!! I got quite impressed with this record too, and of course with “song islands”, specially with“I lost my wind”, have you lost your wind sometime?
braden :: Ya, I’ve lost my wind before. I think most people do from time to time.

trees :: I think you're making the most organic sound out there. do you think it’s affected the place in which you’re living?? or maybe it’s more mental than physical?
braden :: I think my art is equally affected by all of my experiences. whether it’s spending time in nature or meditation, interacting with friends and other humans, going to work, playing video games etc… my art is a reflection of my life, whatever that may consist of.

trees :: what’s your favourite place in the world?
braden :: I am learning to not have favorites, so this is a tricky question. ;-) I resonate with a lot of different places. I recently went on a backpacking trip with my father in southern Utah, the desert there has a very strong power. I’ve also been eating at a local tibetan restaurant called Shambala on a regular basis. that place has such a good vibe and the food is so tasty. but ya, I guess any place can be your favorite if you are in the moment.

trees :: how is the process in creating these mantras?, and technically how is the recording process, and what tools you use?
braden :: my process for creating music can be different from album to album. In reference to my most recent album "the path we make", I was coming out of a period of intense anxiety and emotional distress. so I was kind of in a weird space when I started recording that record. I had made very basic versions of the songs and would meditate on them for hours. the sounds of that album brought me a lot of comfort and peace, it helped ground me. as I got deeper into those sounds it became clearer to me what the album meant to me and I completed the record accordingly.
on the technical side I record music on my laptop. I’m currently using logic pro. my process generally consists of making a solid drone and few loops first, then outlining a basic structure. I then sit on that for a while to try and figure out what is going on. I improvise a lot in the recording process, making loops out of the magick moments. I use a lot of repetition in my music, so a large portion of my time is used making subtle mixing changes throughout the track and honing in on the best possible song structure. It kind of feels like sculpting or painting.

trees :: I often say that humans today have lost touch with nature, its link with the spiritual world. an idea that always comes to my mind when I hear your music. I find it the perfect soundtrack playing in the ideal world, the one i feel plenty, that my head imagines. how do you reach a sound so organic?
braden :: my process involves a great deal of electronics, so I’m glad it still has an organic feeling. when approaching a recording I try to be as honest with myself as possible, only keeping what really needs to be on the record. I want to make music that is totally open and honest, music that comes from a loving place. I want my music to feel human. I guess my intention in creating the music could lead to the organic feeling you have experienced.

trees :: the world is going through probably one of the worst moments of history, rather than the end of the world I think we are about to enter a new dimension of thought. what moves you going out of bed every morning?
braden :: I’ve gone through a lot of changes that past few years and with that have come a lot of amazing experiences as well as many challenges. despite the natural ups and downs that come with being a human there is something deep inside that wants to survive, something that is curious about what tomorrow brings. I still feel like I’m learning what it means to be a human, you know still discovering my self. I also have a very strong desire to keep creating art, so far that’s been enough to get me out of bed.

trees :: "make an island of yourself, make yourself your refuge; there is no other refuge. make your island truth, make truth your refuge, there is no other refuge." (digha nikaya, 16) this words remind me the philosophy of inner islands. am i wrong? what led you to create a music label?braden :: those words definitely dialogue what Inner Islands means to me, but I guess there is not a single specific meaning to the name of the label. Inner Islands is a reference to experiences I’ve had on Antelope Island, as well as the process of personal exploration. I also just think the name sounds cool. ;-)
I had previously ran a label called "magic goat music" for a few years. but as my life began to change, it felt like it was time for a new beginning. I wanted to start a label that had a much more focused intention, I wanted a new record label to reflect the newness of my life.

trees :: absolutely, the name sounds cool. talking about names, where wyld wyzrdz or kaliska comes from? “antelope island” I don’t know where is it but I want to live there! tell us more about this suggestive place.
braden :: Honestly there wasn’t a whole lot of thought behind the name WYLD WYZRDZ. I decided to spell it wrong and use all caps so it would look cooler when written down. I was originally going to use Coyote Dreamer for my new project name, but earlier this year another artist started releasing music under that moniker, so I decided to use Kaliska to avoid confusion. Kaliska means coyote chasing deer. The music I am making with Kaliska is intended to be the sound of survival truth. I feel the image of a coyote hunting a deer fits that pretty well.
Antelope island is an island on the Salt Lake. It’s a special place to me. I’ve had some experiences there that have shifted the way I think about myself and the world I live in. If you ever make it out to Utah I’ll take you there. ;-)

trees :: the other day I saw "encounters at the end of the world" (werner herzog). really amazing, it really struck me (beyond the antarctica's beauty) the co-incidence of extremely interesting people living there. that leads me to think about your relationship with sean conrad (ashan, gkfoes vjgoaf) or garrick biggs (stag hare), how did you meet?
braden :: I’ve seen that film, I really vibe with it. I’ve known stag hare for a while; we started to become friends about 5 years ago. we are both from Utah and our artistic and social paths eventually crossed. stag’s music was very influential in me starting to explore drone-based music in my own recordings. I’ve had a lot of meaningful experiences with stag hare as an artist and as a friend.
I met sean in the summer of 2010. he had just gone on tour with stag and ended up staying at our place in Portland. there was no getting to know you period. sean was instantly familiar. the first time we hung out stag, sean and I recorded the river spirit dragon album. I’ve only spent about three weeks in person with sean, but I consider him one of my closest friends.

trees :: do you remember the “depressed” penguin? he ran towards the unknown, surely knowing that he would die. I envy her, the determination to left the community. maybe we should dedicate one song to the adventurous penguin!
braden :: Of course I remember the “depressed” penguin. I’ll make a song for the penguin and send it to you when it’s done. ;-)

trees :: introduce us sean and tell us his favorite breakfast :)
braden :: the best way to know sean would be to spend some time with him. but if you don’t have that luxury I’d recommend paying close attention to his photos, drawings and music. he is a very sincere artist and puts a lot of himself into the gifts he creates. I don’t really know what his favorite breakfast is, but when we went on tour last summer we mostly ate cereal with warm rice milk that was left in the backseat the car.

trees :: introduce us garrick biggs and tell us his favourite way to spend a sunday morning :)
braden:: garrick is an alien house cat who spends most sunday mornings fast asleep.

trees :: ana wants to know what about looping "being here" from laraaji :D

braden :: oh no! has ana been spying on my last.fm account? I developed tinnitus over a year ago. when it first started the constant ringing in my ears caused me a lot of distress. I would lay in bed and get really freaked out, my head would begin to hurt and I wouldn't be able to sleep. I started to listen to music while going to bed to help mask the ringing in my ears. the track "being here" by Laraaji became my comfort track, I'd just play it on repeat and go to sleep.

eventually I started doing meditation to change my perception of silence. I still have the constant ringing in my ears but I am in a much better emotional place with the situation. I can now fall asleep fine while still hearing the ringing in my ears, but I'm currently living in a house with five other people and I am a light sleeper. so if people are up late and being noisy I use the laraaji track to help me drift into dream land. It's kind of like a drug to me, as soon as I hear the song my body knows it's time for bed.

trees :: musically what caught your attention lately?, what do you think about "dolphins into the future", "taped sounds"?, and what labels you recommend?
braden :: I’ve been vibing on erykah badu quite a bit lately, but she’s a usually in rotation. I’ve recently been getting back into gamelan music. I’ve also been getting into “from there to here” by sunhiilow, really into the blend of darkness and light on that album. recently I’ve discovered the band medicine. I’ve been digging their album titled “the buried life”. the guitar sounds are so warped. I’m living in the house where “seven feathers rainwater” is recording their new album; it’s sounding really good. so stoked for people to hear that when the time comes.
I’ve only heard a little bit of “dolphins into the future”, but I have been down with what I’ve heard. and honestly I know of “taped sounds”, but am not too familiar with what they do. as far as label recommendations, my buddy seth from “seven feathers” is gearing up to get “moon dial” going again. there are a handful of high quality releases that should be out within the next several months.

trees :: oh! I really love “dancers of bali – gamelan of peliatan” you should listen to it! I’ve heard hear hums “opens”and sounds bit different than the usual vibes on inner islands. How’s the way you decide to release one record? what about the near future releases?
braden :: ya, hear hums is a bit different than the classic Inner Islands sound. recently I felt it was important to expand the vibes of the island. there are a few more releases lined up that will shake up the vibe too. mainly I just want to work with open and honest people that are making music from a loving place. I like to work with people I know personally, but have recently been venturing out to releasing music from people I only know through internet communication. It’s kind of scary for me to do that, but I feel it’s important for me to branch out if Inner Islands is going to grow.

trees :: what was the last great movie you saw?, what about the last great book you read?
braden :: last night I watched “where the dead go to die”. It’s a cg film that was written, animated, and directed by jimmy screamer clauz. the film is totally fucked. super dark and crazy, the film never lets up. I was totally drained by the time the film ended. It really explores a lot of the darker aspects of humanity and the psyche. despite being into it I would have a hard time recommending the film to too many people.
I’m not the most avid reader in the world. I’m currently going through a collection of short stories by haruki murakami titled blind willow, sleeping woman. this is my first time reading the works of murakami and I’m really feeling it so far.

trees :: do you feel a strong affinity for any animals? and trees?
braden :: my spirit animal is the coyote, which can be a tricky thing. ;-) I really love cats and make it a point to chill with every cat I come across. I also resonate strongly with deer, antelope and horses. I’m a fan of trees. when I was going through some pretty bad anxiety over a year ago while I was living in Portland I’d go on walks down to the willamette river and put my forehead on the trees. It was good medicine, in a matter of moments I’d begin to feel grounded and normal.

trees :: trees are friends :) I have no more questions, I only want to tell you one thing. thanks for existing, “from a stone” is probably one of my 5 favourite records ever.
braden :: oh gee, thanks. I’m really glad you are resonating with that release. “from a stone” is very special to me. I really feel like trish’s vocals on the album took it to another level. before I go I’d like to thank you for the wonderful questions. I’d also like to give a shout out to my dear friend andrew alba. he is an amazing visual artist. his work can be found at stones in a river and moonfaced.

no sé a vosotros pero a mi braden me devuelve la fé en el ser humano. felicidades braden y felicidades ana!!

download | buy

ashan

ashan ~ to return to (inner islands, 2012)

"hello friends, getting to the good stuff! today, this full moon, marks the release of the first album by ashan, 'to return to'. inner islands has wonderfully released this album digitally and on cd. it is about messages of love, listening to the heart, giving is receiving, celebration, and many ineffable things. so i shall say no more and let the music speak for itself." sean conrad

hace unos días, sean nos envió un correo alertando de la inminente publicación de su primer disco rebautizado como "ashan", coincidiendo con la luna nueva de febrero. ana habló de hacer una crítica pero como la cascada de adjetivos grandilocuentes que le hemos regalado a su música se ha secado, hemos preferido para esta ocasión tan especial hablar con el propio sean, acercándonos un poco más al hombre tras el nombre. parafraseando al propio sean, dejemos que música y respuestas hablen por sí solas.

microphones in the trees (trees) :: what music was in your house when you were little?

sean :: my dad playing the piano. like rachmaninoff, bach, chopin, rock ‘n’ roll stuff. and we’d listen to madonna, jewel, the beatles, and around christmas this series called ‘celtic christmas’. 

trees :: what moves you to make music?
sean :: lately it’s been because i have a feeling or experience that i want to share with others. from my heart and spirit. it comes out as sounds and images mostly. it’s really just energy. i feel love for this world of individuals and want to express that.  

trees :: what would be the ideal effect of your music upon the listener?
sean :: whatever they take away from it is ideal. 

trees :: do you have a ghost story?
sean :: my current understanding of ghosts is that they are clusters of energy that might not have a physical form, but we know they’re there because we can sense energy. i think our (as humans) psychic abilities are pretty underplayed for the most part though. but with ghosts.. i’ve definitely felt presences in my bedroom as a kid, often sitting in my desk chair. i told it to go away and it did. but sometimes it would return and i’d have to ask it again. 

trees :: do you believe in another life (s) beyond the one we're living?
sean :: i think there are beings that exist in different dimensions that aren’t like this one. like how our world/dimension is created by our senses (touch, sight, etc), i’ll bet there are other dimensions based on other senses. there could be “aliens” on our planet but we can’t perceive them with our 5 senses. perhaps with our psychic sense we can. 

trees :: how mystical are you?
sean :: 0%. i’m not at all mystical. totally real and true. i don’t want to mystify anything in my life. but there’s another sort of idea about ‘mysticism’ that has to do with magick and spirituality, which seems different to me. i’m way down with magick. earth is a very magickal place. i’m seeing it more and more every day. it almost seems like humans forgot about their magick and their power to consciously work with energy. for instance, there is a lot of magick in intention and pouring your energy into making something happen. that manifestation is magickal to me. 

trees :: a memory of your childhood.
sean :: learning how to ollie on a skateboard in front of my parents’ house with my friend harrison. it was a cloudy day in the mid-afternoon. 

trees :: what do you think about the consciousness of non-human animals?
sean :: they are certainly conscious beings.. if that’s what you mean? 

trees :: yes, for sure. i know they're conscious and sentient beings like you and me. what about eat them?? i mean, most of time i hear people who loves animals (specially dogs, cats, horses, dolphins, panda bears, etc...) but at the same time they could eat a cow, or a pig, a turkey, etc... i can't understand the way they separate their moral value. i always think human animals suffer moral schizophrenia.
sean :: hehe, i like your term. yeah. i think it’s a lack of compassion on both ends. it seems when people have a lack of compassion for themselves that is the limit of their compassion with others. if we can not show ourselves love then it is much harder to do so for some creature we have never met and probably never will meet. also, i don’t think that most people know about factory farming and what really happens there… 

trees :: favorite films and why?

sean :: princess mononoke is one of my favorite films. it speaks many volumes about animals (including humans), spirits, magick, ignorance, awareness, intention, way more, and the interaction between all those. there’s so much to say, hehe. this is perhaps not the best place to get into it. but if you’ve seen it then perhaps you know what i’m talking about. if you haven’t, and that sounds interesting, then perhaps check it out. 

trees :: hehe i know what you talking about!! princess mononoke is a great film absolutely. i love all studio ghibli's films but my favorite could be "my neighbor Totoro". have you seen? i've got a soft spot for cats =)
sean :: indeed i have seen it! it’s one of my favorites as well. earlier today i was just talking about the scene where the cat-bus is walking on the telephone wires. and just a couple days ago i was standing in my garden with my partner rosa recalling the ritual that totoro and the girls do to grow the trees. 

trees :: where "gkfoes vjgoaf" & "ashan" names came from?
sean :: ‘gkfoes vjgoaf’ came from trying to think of band names, coming up with nothing, and then surrendering to the energy i was working with and saying, “what are you called??” and then closing my eyes and typing, “gkfoes vjgoaf”. but now i feel like i’m dialoguing with different energies. ‘Ashan’ is a word/force that my dad’s friend bo gatewood came across while doing some channeling work. it means, “the vibration of creation, of harmony, of unification, and of love. used as a greeting, blessing, and an expression of love. to be spoken or said mentally to attune oneself to the rhythms of the universe.” that’s an excerpt from a book called ‘Ashan: The Gentle Way’ that flowed through bo. it came before i was born and my parents named me ‘sean’. i think they were subconsciously dialoguing with ‘Ashan’. so it feels like a pretty homely name to me. maybe like a deeper version of my given name.

trees :: introduce us braden J mckenna (wyld wyzrdz, coyote dreamer, inner islands) and tell us his favorite breakfast :)
sean :: braden’s favorite breakfast is a deep one ;-)
it’s hard to introduce through words. i feel like i was introduced to braden through playing music together. the day we met we had a really deep jam with our mutual friend, stag hare. i also go really deep with braden’s music. i’m excited for his new energies, Coyote Dreamer*, to be released into the world. he also runs a music label/family, called Inner Islands. it’s rooted in love, peace, and coming from the heart and spirit. he’s a spirit friend for sure.
and back to totoro, braden's family has a cat named catbus. hehe.

* coyote dreamer - the path we make, will be released on cd, april 16th 2012. check inner islands for updates!

trees :: way to spend a sunday morning? 

sean :: today is sunday. i spent the morning sharing a coffee with two great friends and going deep. it was wonderful! 

trees :: i think dreams are mirrors of ourselves, with our desires and our fears, do you think they have a determinate role in our lives?
sean :: i dunno about a determinate role. but for me they’re totally just extensions of our waking life. just not so much basis in the limitations we normally put on the possibilities of events and physical forms. i like what you said about mirrors of desires and fears.

trees :: imagine your house is burning in flames and you only could save 5 records, what would they are?
sean :: at the house i’m living at right now i don’t even have 5 records. just a couple gkfoes lp's. i’d probably let them burn though.

trees :: physical detachment rules??
sean :: are you asking if i have rules about physical detachment? if so, not specifically. but i do like to keep things simple. i’m living in melbourne, australia at the moment and all my records are at my parents’ house in los angeles. there is much abundance in the world though. it’s up to us to let it in. so many beautiful things to breathe in and breathe out.

trees :: neil young recently said: "piracy is the new radio, because it's how music gets around". are you agree? 

sean :: that makes sense. music gets around so many ways. 

trees :: favourite tree to put a microphone and play some notes.
sean :: i’ve never done that. but it sounds like fun!

trees :: how did you know the song of my soul?
sean :: sometimes i know the song for my soul. i didn’t know that i knew the song for yours??

trees :: haha, i've got a theory about relationships. i think some people are connected through invisible red threads. no matter where they live, finally they meet because "they have to". causality, not coincidence. i think we're talking because "we have to". i'm wrong?
sean :: i don’t believe in coincidence, other than that is co-incidence. all things are happening together in harmony :-)

trees :: thanks!! i feel like we were talking in the "real world"

sean :: this has been wonderful talking! muy bonito!

pues eso, bonito muy.

 download "gentle magick" & "how sweetly i am loved"

cover art: sean & rosa

fotos: sean