#clicks_cuts

[dubtek]

An Interview with Electric Birds

Around the year 2002, a respected friend made me a CD-R copy of an LP called Strata Frames by Electric Birds. He gave it to me as a gift, and ever since that moment, I have remarked that it is truly one of the most unique, original and multi-dimensional pieces of music that I have ever perceived. 

In return, I have gifted this album to many friends over the years. If I spot an Electric Birds albums during a visit to a record store, I am sure to purchase it and gift it to one of the many friends of mine that appreciate music.  Mike Martinez, the human behind the musical brilliance of albums such as “Strata Frames” and “Gradations”  was sonically active with his moniker of Electric Birds between the years of 2000 to 2004. 

I recently found Mike though a world wide web of hashtags, social media posts, and sent him a friendly message of appreciation. He was kind enough to respond and agreed to my request to take an interview for my Dubtek blog!

The Interview:

Adam: It has been about 15 years since an official music release from you as Electric Birds. Have you been working with and or creating any sound/music during this time?

Electric Birds: Not really. I have a bunch of instruments and music things that I mess around with sometimes but have not been inspired to create any music for a while. In the last 15 years I have opened and ran an indoor skateboard park in Seattle called Inner Space (which has since closed) and also filmed and edited a few full length skate videos. I now work at a skate shop in Seattle called 35th North and am currently starting a hat brand called Birds of the North.

Adam: Being a big fan of your music and admiring the shear creative brilliance of your work (especially your LP Strata Frames), can you tell me a little bit about the process of music production that you employed during the creation of Strata Frames? This can include how you went about creating your sound palette to some of the software you used during the process.

Electric Birds: I used a lot of different software, some of which I can't remember... I was always grabbing sounds from all over the place, whether it was musical instruments or random found sounds, and stretching and tweaking them to get the type of sound I wanted. I mostly would do live mixes of tracks, playing with different plugins and effects live. This gave it a much more organic feel to me and tracks would develop more based on feeling, atmosphere and spontaneity. I used Ableton Live a lot, and also Reason and Max, as well as other sound fx plugins and modules that I can't remember.

Adam: Did you choose the way Strata Frames was split up and sequenced for its vinyl release, or was that the labels choice?

Electric Birds: I chose the tracks and sequencing.

Adam: Also, can you tell me a little about what inspired the creation of Strata Frames, and where the title comes from?

Electric Birds: It was all about an atmospheric vibe that I was really into at the time and the way I was composing these tracks using a bunch of different loops and sound modules to create tracks... I was very inspired by artists on the Chain Reaction label, like Vladislav Delay and Monolake, and other sort of dubby minimal electronic music. I was also very inspired by visual artists like Rothko and Clyfford Still, and minimal graphic design, and I think it all sort of came together.

Adam: I remember seeing you perform live in Santa Cruz California. If I remember correctly, you were also using some proprietary software. Can you tell me about the software you used, and are you still into creating and collaborating on the creation of music production related software?

Electric Birds: I used Ableton live quite a bit and also some friends had made a live video mixer called Seed, which we used quite a bit, and a couple other custom live mixing things made from Max, made by some friends. It was a great time living in SF back then, we had a lot of friends doing really cool things with software and music, like Matmos, Kit Clayton, Jon Santos and this whole scene of kids. And so we all helped each other and I learned a lot from them, because I was never that great with super technical stuff.

Adam: Looking back on your catalog, how would you describe the differences between your 4 LP’s?

Electric Birds: I think the earlier LPs used more musical instruments and it progressed to more electronic sound design into the later albums.

Adam: Do you still listen to electronic music? If so, can you share with me some releases and or artists that you feel are producing in a unique and or inspiring way today?

Electric Birds: Yes I am always listening to music. I've been discovering a lot of stuff on YouTube actually, and been listening to a lot of "simpsonwave" stuff... Haha, it's fun and really simple. There's a series I liked called "Trappin in Japan"...

Adam: Have you consider releasing any new(er) music as Electric Birds? If so, would you use platforms such as BandCamp?

Electric Birds: I've thought about it but my mind is just not there. I haven't felt that confidence and inspiration to make anything that I feel is worthwhile so far. There has been talk of reissuing some of the ebirds stuff by a certain label. Nothing concrete yet though.

Adam: To this day, I play people your albums (especially Strata Frames) and everyone across the spectrum remark how forward thinking it sounds. They are astounded when I tell them it was released in 2001. With this in mind, when you were producing “Strata Frames” did you consider it in the context of the then “new” minimal electronic and “Clicks and Cuts” paradigm, or did you intentionally set out to carve your own sonic niche?

Electric Birds: I was definitely influenced by what was going on at the time with Chain Reaction, Mille Plateaux and Warp records. It was an awesome time when everything was so new and all this electronic music was so unique. The early 2000s electronic scene felt so punk rock to me, which is why I think I was so drawn to it. At the same time I wanted to create something definitely my own, with a sort of warm organic feel to it, within the cold atmospheric cuts.

Adam: When you were you releasing your music, how did you make the jump from labels such as Deluxe to U-Cover and Mille Plateaux?

Electric Birds: I started releasing it myself with Deluxe, which was me and my wife's label that we started. Again coming from a punk rock d.i.y. ethic... Then other labels started to become interested and it just evolved from there. I was also working at a record store in Berkeley called Mod Lang at the time and got to know a lot of other labels and European artists through there. Working at that record store, which specialized in European imports and lots of avant-garde stuff really opened up my musical universe, and turned me onto labels like U-cover and Mille Plateaux.

Adam: Lastly, would you ever consider releasing new music under your Electric Birds  moniker and or doing some remixes of artists?

Electric Birds: Again, probably not at this time, but you never know. We'll see what the future holds... For now, I've been playing music with my kids and showing them different things with live instruments and electronic beats and stuff. We're trying to start a family band :)

Adam: Thank you very much Mike for your time. Also, thank you for creating such sublime music, that for many people stands as a touchstone of deep introspective listening, and a glimpse of what is socially possible with imaginative ingenuity.