Published by Alessandro Violante on August 19, 2016
Today we present to FLUX readers an exclusive interview to LAURAPALMER, a new dark techno / techno industrial Tying Tiffany‘s project whose first self-titled EP, released this year by Mecanica Records, we have particularly appreciated . This interview has been made during her live performance in Grotta Rossa Spazio Autogestito in Rimini.
Hi Tiff, how do you feel, do you feel enthusiastic about this live performance? It’s a pleasure to have a talk with you.
Yes, I am, and I’m curious to see how the party will be.
Can you talk to us about LAURAPALMER’s genesis?
I had been trying for years to develop this kind of project, centered on techno industrial music, as I’ve grown up with it back in the days playing it during my dj sets. My desire is to give concreteness to this passion. Before this, I hadn’t time to do it due to my several responsibilities with my main project, Tying Tiffany.
What about people and musical critics feedback?
It’s been very good. The EP was well received by everyone, and even if critics are an aspect of music business I hate, and I don’t care about being liked by them, I can’t ignore them and I have to think about it. Anyway, my project has been appreciated by whoever already was in love with Tying Tiffany, even if we’re talking about two entirely different projects, even if linked by a fil rouge.
Besides those presented into the promo notes presented by the label, what are your musical influences?
I could quote you thousands of projects, as I’ve always followed the whole electronic music scene, from IDM to techno, from powernoise to noise. Naming some of them wouldn’t clarify anything. I like to find the many facets of electronic music, because it’s a medium that allows you to express yourself in a fluid form unlike analogic music. If I should name someone, I would say Plastikman, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Move D, Hands Productions roster and, in particular, Monolith…
Have you listened to his recent album?
Yes, wonderful, I liked it a lot.
LAURAPALMER before LAURAPALMER: what had you been doing before the beginning of this project and before Tying Tiffany was born?
We have to go back to my early days. You know, I’ve always made music since I was a child and I was fourteen years old. I become passionate about music and I created projects that, obviously, never produced releases. It was all about passion. I’ve begun playing bass guitar, then moving to computer music, and from there to Virtual Instruments and so on. It’s difficult to talk about a “before” and an “after”, as my memory is always linked to myself making something music related, being it dj sets or releases. I’ve worked with audio montage too, and also with documentaries.
Do you feel you’re linked in some way with techno(and its subgenres)-based subscultures?
Sure. Let’s considere where I’ll play tonight, I’ve always followed techno music in raves, I’ve always experienced community centers, self-managed locations, and so on…I’ve always been linked to a philosophy and to a particular lifestyle. It’s not only about music, it’s a way of being.
This should have been the next answer, but you’ve already answered me…
You know, when talking about punk, often it’s said that it isn’t only about aesthetics and dresscode, it would totally diminish its value. Just as punk music it’s a way to protest, even electronic music could be used in the same way, according to its expressions. This doesn’t happen when it is associated with trendy music for a certain kind of people who only want to get drunk and to use drugs. I see it differently, and that’s the reason why, to me, industrial influences techno music in a different way as it gives it something dirty, rough and “true”. It’s a form of protest.
Several people, among which we include us, asked themselves about LAURAPALMER’s status some months after the released of the EP. Are you working at something new?
I’m working at something new even if I always have few time, as I have other projects. Anyway, I’ve already made something but I can’t tell you precisely how long the recording process will last. Surely, shortly a new EP will be released.
Will it be released by Mecanica Records?
Who could know it? Anyway, I’ll always keep on collaborating with this label.
LAURAPALMER live @ Grotta Rossa
The monicker chosen for this project has surely been influenced by the tv series. What linkages exist between it and your music?
I’ve always been a huge David Lynch‘s fan. he has been a strong influence. I could say that it’s a sort of “theft”, as his visionary and oniric world helped me to canalize several aspects of my music. Laura Palmer’s character perfectly represents what I would transmit, a character that has in herself something ill, twisted, hidden, dark. but exposed with a halo of light. She represents the opposites I would transmit. I think my EP is the perfect soundtrack for that character.
Maybe in the new season…
It would be a dream, I would perfectly know how to do it.
In your opinion, is this new season interesting? What do you think about it?
I haven’t seen it so I can’t judge it. I’ll be able to give my opinion when I’ll see it.
As far as for live performances? Have you planned something?
I’ve just started a collaboration with R7, agency which has organized Grotta Rossa’s live performance and that at Copacabana Palm Beach (that would have been taken place the day after this interview was recorded). From September on, there will be other gigs, and in the meanwhile I’ve started to work with a French-English agency. When summer season ends, there will be other gigs.
Are you able to live only making music or not?
It’s not easy to do it, in particular recently, in the last years the discographic market has totally changed. There are aspects that should be evaluated if you want to work with this passion. I do it with difficulty only because I don’t have particular needs, I feel good with what I have. Obviously, I have to make also other works, linked to what I do, such as, for example, audio editing, web, etc…but I only work as a freelance.
Going back to 2012, would you appreciate if one of your songs would be featured in a videogame soundtrack? Back in the day, it happened with Fifa 2012.
Definitely. I hope it happens again, anything linked with videogames work is well accepted.
And would you like to make a live performances within a museum space?
Yes, definitely.
Our last question is the following: do you think that, in 2016, webzines have still a role in music world in years in which music can be very easily listened to by means of streaming services?
Nowadays, webzines are better than physical newspapers, as they represent a meeting point of certain musical scenes rather than just being archives of reviews. They give us the chance to connect people sharing the same interests, such as in industrial or techno scenes. Nowadays, reviews aren’t so relevant: until ten years ago it was different, now everything has changed. Users pay more attention, they don’t need to listen to journalists or reviewers points of view. They listen music by means of streaming and they acquire their idea of it. What lacks is a professionality that, at the contrary, is more recognizable outside of the country, as in Germany, England and France. Often, in Italy reviewers and journalists are more concerned about gossip and rumours, about outlines instead of substance, Newspapers have lost their credibility. As a reader, I want to know what an album has transmitted to you, what you’ve gained from it, not a list of song titles. Emotion behind music has been partially lost.
Thanks for the time you’ve dedicated to us. If you want to, greet our readers and who came to see you live tonight.
Well, i thank everyone who follows me and gives me the chance to move and to keep on doing what I do with the same passion. I do it to share what I do with other persons who love the same world, the music world, as well as I do.