11V / Interview with Jan Jelinek

jan/1.1
I'm not sure if its a particular approach, but i guess that i'm focusing more on the repetition than the event. Actually I have problems with separating these two points. My goal is to produce a track, or lets say a 'loop', which works so well, that it implicates the event as well - An event on a transcendental level, of course. Such loops enable listeners to associate musical layers, or let's say: the cognition of the listener is adding events. That's actually my goal. Of course I'm adding events in reality, but most of these events have the function of underlining something like the 'hypnotic' repetition.
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11v/1.1
Gramm’s Personal Rock displays a fascination with rhythm and incident communicated in an oblique fashion. Do you have a particular approach or approaches to event and repetition in your music?
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Introduction

Jan Jelinek is one of the most interesting artists currently working in the field of electronic music. His output to date has been released both under his own name and under a number of pseudonyms including Gramm, Farben and Jan Jelinek Avec The Exposures, the latter a fictional group for latest album La Nouvelle Pauvrete. At time of writing his discography comprises the following releases:

ICE compositions (Farben)

Textstar / Starbox (Farben)

Loop-Finding Jazz Records (Jelinek)

Personal Rock (Gramm)

Improvisations and Edits with Computer Soup (Jelinek)

La Nouvelle Pauvrete (Jelinek Avec The Exposures)

Jelinek's music is a plexus of implied space, maximised minimalism, groove and conceptual enquiry.

The interview was undertaken by email over a period of two months at the beginning of 2004. My sincere thanks to Jan for agreeing to be interviewed. Please either select the arrow (below right) to begin reading the interview or select Options (above right) to learn more about this interview and to manipulate its interface.

Colin Buttimer, Eleventhvolume.

Options 1.3
Above you can see a title, in the interview itself the title will consist of either '11v' (me, the interviewer) or 'Jan' (Jan Jelinek, the interviewee). There's also a number appended to the name: the first question and answer is 1.1, the second 1.2 and so on. If I ask a question of part of Jan's reply then that question appears when the highlighted link is selected. This sub-question and its answer becomes 1.2.1 and so on. Below you can see two symbols: selecting the lefthand underscore will close the current window. Selecting the righthand arrow will open the next question. If there is no arrow - most likely on a subquestion - that signifies the end of that particular string. Should you ever get there (!) it will also signify the end of the interview...
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Options 1.2
Select the relevant number to view a particular question. If you wish to move this box around the screen it can be dragged around the screen (unlike all the other boxes) by clicking on the highlighted word. [1] Gramm’s Personal Rock displays a fascination with rhythm and incident communicated in an oblique fashion. Do you have a particular approach or approaches to event and repetition in your music? [2] In interviews you've indicated an interest in 70s soul and funk, with short samples from those musics particularly audible on Textstar. What causes this interest? [3] What do you regard as the differences and similarities between Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records and Textstar? 4. text 5. text 6. text 7. text 8. text
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Options 1.4
I wanted to offer the reader a full transcript of the interview with Jan as well as the more traditionally condensed version. At time of writing I haven't completed the interview and therefore haven't begun to contemplate an edited version except for the idea that I would provide a link to the version currently before you. I considered implementing this version using multiple subpages, but decided to go with this dhtml format to provide a cumulative impression of the information the reader navigates as well as avoiding having to design a potentially cumbersome breadcrumb navigation system.
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11v/1.2
Interesting - one of my observations about your music (particularly Gramm) is that listening to it can be compared to the act of drawing where you focus upon the negative space around the object to achieve the object itself. Are saying that implied form is more interesting than actively delineated form - like maybe the difference between a Hollywood movie's 'closure' and the openness that might be found in some artmovies?
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jan/1.2
I guess that this is a possible way of describing it. The object - the loop - is always present. Consequently this presence describes the repetitive aspect of the song, a standstill > (do you say so in English?), but in a positive way. All the layered events are on the one hand pure functionalism (breaking the standstill), on the other hand they are nothing more than ornament. i know, thats sounds like a contradiction. I would say, that the last point describes my view as a producer. Finally i'm always asking the same question while i'm producing: how do I get this one bar loop stretched into a 5 minute piece? Naturally this problem is solved by adding events. And this is exactly the moment when events are mutating into ornament > . But the immanence > is located in the loop, not in the event.
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jan/1.3
Yes, thats true. Actually there is no big difference between gramm and early farben pieces. The reason why i gave the 'personal_rock' album another moniker was because of the special 'selection' of tracks, compiled by move d and myself. I guess that 'personal_rock' sounds more like a 'source' album, which means less rhythmic patterns and more chords. On more recent farben-releases the connection to house-music is more obvious.
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jan/1.2.2
Yes, in a way. What can I do? I'm socialized in germany!... As a musican I use ornament as a stylistic device, to create alternation and to cover up my ideal of strictly loop-based music. Ah, I guess that I'm exaggerating a little bit.
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jan/1.2.3
When I'm talking about the immanence located in the loop, it's always connected to the specific compositional process as well. The loop is always in the centre of each compositional idea - every subsequent compositional idea gains legitimacy by the presence of the basic loop. The reception of the final composition works differently. Something like 'hierarchic structures' (ornament/ function) inside a composition can be only determined by the composer/producer, it's not audible to the listener. Again: ornament is only determinable by the composer. Also its impossible to reproduce the studio-situation for the listener. Who will be able to listen to a loop for hours when he/she is not involved in the process as well? The reception of loop-orientated music is much more superficial than the production of it. I don't say this critically.... and because of these 'problems' (less time to present a loop, etc.) the presentation of a 5 min loop needs events/ornaments. I made this aestethic decision for myself. I can imagine that a lot of people have a different opinion about that, but I think that 5 minutes of pure repitition is boring, 5 hours of pure repetition is trance.
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jan/1.2.4
When I started to produce computer-based music, my influences were house/club-music. I still don't want to leave this context, even if I know that most of my productions do not work on the dancefloor. Its not only the purity of composition which is interesting. As a sample-artist I also want to point out historicity. To choose a specific sample is not only an aesthetic decision because I still want to stay close to the social context > of club-music. I try to refer and underline this with the specific selection of sample sources: 'black-music' and disco which are able to represent a specific continuity >, a historical coherence. Techno music especially was a genre which had a paradigm that denies historicity >. The technical metaphor, the references of 'how to produce it' and 'with what kind of machines/ software', formed the basis of the identity of this genre. This aspect is still really interesting, but I'm working in a different area. Even if I try to make the sample source unrecognizable by strong editing, I am still asking the question whether there's something like an 'axiom of sound' > which is shimmering through strong editing. That was the concept of Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records. So ultimately the historical reference is important as well. Every track title I choose is an already existing title, every piece of sound i'm editing is a snippet of an existing song.
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jan/1.2.4.1
I do not divide into these categories 'body'/' intellectual'. I feel obliged to the social meaning of club music in a historical way (disco). And concerning the social context I still think that hedonism can be a good ground for innovation.
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jan/1.2.4.2
I'm interested in a discourse about music: a discourse which works with icons and signifier, generated in this closed-circuit musical discourse. And I also want to infiltrate the status of these icons. What happens when I name a track 'Love To Love You, Baby'? A few journalists make a connection with the bass sound, which appears to them to be sampled from the Morroder original. The Truth is that no sample was taken from this source. But the important things is that people imagine a plexus of coherence. Ultimately I try develop this procedure and I think that this is one of the most interesting moments about sampling as cultural practice.
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jan/1.2.4.4
I'm interested in a discourse about music: a discourse which works with icons and signifier, generated in this closed-circuit musical discourse. And I also want to infiltrate the status of these icons. What happens when I name a track 'Love To Love You, Baby'? A few journalists make a connection with the bass sound, which appears to them to be sampled from the Morroder original. The Truth is that no sample was taken from this source. But the important things is that people imagine a plexus of coherence. Ultimately I try develop this procedure and I think that this is one of the most interesting moments about sampling as cultural practice.
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11v/1.2.3
Is immanence the centre of sublimation/transcendence for you then and decoration a distraction from that goal? Why do you use ornament then? (If minimalism is at all an appropriate concept to apply to your music, this seems appropriate as I think of your music as being simultaneously maximal and concerned with an essence of something.)
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11v/1.2.4
Would you say then that your focus - your intended audience - is a conscious decision, that you want your Farben/Gramm music to be specifically heard and enjoyed by a club audience? If so, why that audience? For instance a 5 hour trance piece is probably pretty short for LaMonte Young...
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Jan/3.1
The Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records album was based on a conceptional idea. So it stands more in the tradition of electronic music: there is on one hand the concept (see above), on the other hand there is the specific production idea. I tried to produce the music without normal sequencing. The track arrangement is organised by moving the loop position of every triggered sample. Each track has more or less 8 layers of triggered samples so, for instance, a chord change is created by the shift of a triggered loop. This technique refers to a specific control tool of the hardware sampler ASR10 (the technical metaphor!) Textstar is more like a popalbum. Of course, it's not pop-music, but the approach is not conceptual: there's no consistent production-ethos, it's more like a resume of my permanent work.
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11v/1.2.4.3
I agree with you, although I find it interesting that if Kraftwerk are viewed as the fathers of techno (I'm not sure whether you'd agree with this?) this myth was an inversion or at least negation of their attitude which grounds so much of their music and concepts in the modernism before the Third Reich and the holocaust.
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jan/1.4
Generating hypnotic repetition is the main interest while I'm producing. And it also describes my production situation. the addition of single layers on a basic loop is the main working process. Therefore I'm confronted with a basic loop for hours and days and during those hours good working loops become hypnotic, start to glimmer. The result is a softened surface area which allows a wider expanse of interpretations and associations. Hmm, I guess this sounds really hippie-esque, but trust me, my studio is more or less drug-free.
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jan/1.5
Yes, in a way. What I mean with transcendence is this significant moment of glimmering when tones and melodies are losing their determination in a musical context. During this moment you have the impression that music is only a body experience and nothing else. Of course this is an illusion, but nevertheless you think you're getting lost, reaching a positive moment of pathos and untrashy truth, what I call transcendence.
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Jan/2.1.1.1
(Sorry, you are right. I forgot that in English it's mordernism and postmodernism... not mordernity. In German it's the opposite: moderne and modernismus.) Yes, exactly. Soul music is still able to claim a paradigm of 'contemporary innovation', but it is also a genre of the past. It's a genre - like techno as well - which celebrates modernity (!) (urban life, etc. ). The parameters, which say what is modern and contemporary, changed, but this paradigma is still contained in these genres.
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jan/2.1
On one hand it's the sound of these recordings which really fascinates me. I think it's the golden era of sound production. I'm really into organ sounds. No other instrument is able to create that kind of warmth and intimacy, always on a thin line moreover to cheesiness. In this period they presented bizarrely the background for a highly political scenario, which 'black music' definitely was in the 70's. I'm also always interested in music which is criticised as body music. Particularly in this area the recording techniques and arrangements are often quite subversive. On the other hand I like the reception of soul and funk. No other genre from the past, besides jazz, was able to instil a constant coolness and freshness. Short samples embedded in a hip-hop production, doesn't negate the claim of modernity >.
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jan/2.1.1
Hip hop/r'n'b removed pop music, but they still perpetuate the paradigms of innovation and urbanity (r'n'b became hip). I think its astonishing to reach this goal with sample-sources of the past, embedded in new rhythmic patterns. One of the main paradigms of soul and funk was this celebration of a modern age (btw: maybe understanding 'modernity' > is a translation problem: I meant to use modernity as a non-sociological, non-philosophical term, maybe modern age is the right word) and maybe this constant is recognisable, without the flavour of overtaken ideals. I guess it's the last genre which still believes in modernity (as a sociological term), the last musical genre before postmodernity.
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11v/2.2
They're a rich sonic and conceptual source, but what is your interest in the music's political engagement? Do you feel it possible to undertake that kind of engagement today in your own music? La Nouvelle Pauvrete has a political implication and the Farben releases carried a particular set of images - I read something about them a while back on the web, but can't find the article again. There is a fascination somehow with engagement, but you appear to approach it in a tangential way, could you say something about this relationship between politics and your music?
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11v/2.2.1
It can - imo - through association with texts, via the metadata applied to music, through the stated intents of the music - Chicago Underground Trio's latest release (Slon) is a stated anti-war record. The success of such ventures is another question!
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Jan/2.2.2
Concerning the example of the RAF images, it's on a visual level. Pure sound can't convey political information, it needs explanation or comment by the author (track-title, etc.), you called it metadata. But I try to avoid authorial comment, because I'm afraid of preaching. So ultimately my sound is inevitably not political. I don't want to lead the listener to a specific conclusion. My goal is to create a process of association without 'guidance'.
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Jan/2.2.3
Herbert seems to follow a specific political goal. His strategy is to fill up pure sound with a political-connotation. This connotation only works with your so-called metadata. But the sound itself is not political, only the discourse about it. And here is the confusion: political claims can't be carried by sound. Every effort is senseless. What is the importance of knowing that a sound is based on turning a page of a book by Chomsky? does Huntington sound different? I guess that it is easier and more efficient to communicate a poltical claim by writing it on the cover.
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jan/2.2
Of course my music isn't political. That's the old question: can music be political, even when the genre refuses words >? I think that the paradigm of functionalised music, especially in the 70's, can be read also as a political claim. Is disco only escapism? Maybe the producers followed specific strategies based on previously aesthetic decisions and turned to something political and anti-establishment. But I'm not asking this question. I'm interested in the aesthetic mutation of political claims. Something like the infiltration of signs, which transport the equivalent of a political code. I've released a series of farben-eps which were showing the more unkown members of the RAF (Red Army Faction) on the sleeve. Of course installing formerly political signs into icons of pop is not a political procedure >. If I argued differently, my claim would turn into unbearable pedagogy (herbert's sampling of reading chomsky!) I'm interested in creating a thicket of signs and icons, but this thicket shouldn't combine the sources in a specific goal >, so it is'nt political. It perhaps allows the opportunity of political interpretation, depending upon the individual reception.
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jan/2.3
No, I will not. As I said, I try to avoid something like an authorship and guidance of an associating process. My statement about a possible political interpretation refers to my work with the RAF images. Images can convey a political statement, they can have a political connotation. but these connotations are confused, they are not following an exact goal.
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11v/1.3
Is this in all your projects or just Gramm? Are Gramm/Farben composed more with a dancefloor in mind than your other projects?
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11v/1.2.1
Standstill is right, but perhaps suspension would be a good description also: events suspended in the air, occurring and not occurring?
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11v/1.2.2
Ornament was a dirty word to many (e.g. Adolf Loos, Mies van der Rohe). It sounds like it's problematic to you as well.
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11v/3.1
You've partially anticipated my next question - I wanted to ask what you saw as the differences and similarities between Loop-Finding-Jazz-Records and Textstar?
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11v/1.2.4.1
When you refer to a social context, do you mean to 'keep your feet on the ground', to remain connected to the corporeal, rather than just the intellectual?
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11v/1.2.4.2
What is the value or interest to you of (re)establishing this coherence?
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11v/1.2.4.4
This seems to accord with your observation about valuable loops, but here I'm less sure I understand your meaning - I'd appreciate it if you could expand upon this a little further?
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11v/1.4.1
Heh heh. Apart from drugs, repetition really is a route I guess to altered states (whirling dervishes, chanting om, etc).
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11v/1.4
Could you talk about the focus upon hypnotic repetition?
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11v/1.5
Am I right in concluding that your goal beyond the goal of cognitive interaction is transcendence? If so, would this be a form of (positive) sublimation?
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11v/2.1
In interviews you've indicated an interest in 70s soul and funk, with short samples from those musics particularly audible on Textstar. What causes this interest?
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11v/2.1.1
I understand the allure, also of the subtlety of communication achieved out of context, but I don't understand what you mean by the claim of modernity here, please could you explain a little further?
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11v/2.1.1.1
Do you mean soul and funk's modernity as the creation of original material without sampling and reorganisation of existing elements?
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11v/2.1.1.1
Ah - you wrote 'modernity' and I read 'Modernism' ! So you mean the modernity of soul and funk as a celebration of contemporary innovation?
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jan/2.1.1.1
Yes this the point. But on a metalevel it says also that this genre and era still believed in modernism, they still believed in the project of modernism.
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11v/2.2.2
It isn't, but you're saying it is an investigation into the 'aesthetic mutation of political claims' - do you mean this on a musical or a visual level?
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11v/2.3
I won't quote you on this at all, but I would be interested if you would give an example of a possible interpretation of these signs?
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