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ALEJANDRA
& AERON
M U S I C
How did happened your meeting ?
We met in Toronto, Canada on the front steps of a student house.
What does Lucky Kitchen means ? From which
impulse was born the label ?
C’est un nom qui véhicule des émotions profondes de l’intimité,
la maison, et aussi de la Superstition. Nous voulions au départ
réaliser des CDr d’enregistrement d’espaces, de lieux afin d’offrir
aux gens des petits morceaux de nos vies.
Is there a kinf of family spirit within the label ? How does the
meeting with the artists work ?
There is a family spirit of course. But we mostly communicate with
everyone through email, so it is a little bit sad too. We met each
artist in a different way. Some are old friends from high school
like Todd Carter. Some are new friends we met traveling, like Alexander
Rishaug. And some are email friends like Stephan Mathieu, Asuna,
and Toshiya Tsunoda.
Do you think that your collaboration, your
relation has confirmed your artistic reflexion ?
Yes but no. We have to let many things go when we release a cd by
another artist. We have to trust them.
Your “approach” is rather original. On
did Softl, you surprise the movement of the Scottish phantoms ?
how do the ideas come you ? Do you need to stimulate your imaginary
to create ?
We made an installation in scotland of an english garden. We put
audio monsters in the garden. We did research on scotch monsters
online, and found that many of them make sounds. Then, we had to
recreate some sounds. The stimulation we need is hard work, travel,
research, and luck.
The topic of childhood is very present
in your work (visual and sound). Do you think it brings a greater
sincerity and also more frankness, of freshness in your work ?
This depends on who is listening! We prefer lightness to artificial
darkness. There is alot of overly serious work out there, and it
becomes comical, like a characature of itself. So, we just allow
our lighter impulse to come to the surface, we dont hide it. We
also risk alot like this, and are often criticized because we are
not just depressive and dark.
G
R A P H I S M
You did study the fine arts !? How did
music become your main interest (favorite activity/hobby) ?
Yes. by studying some artists who made sounds like duchamp, cage
and fluxus. After that is was just by luck, people liked our sounds
more than our drawings. Now we are moving back into the fine art
world: we have 3 commissions next year to make sound installations.
Is your "plastic" step similar with your
musical creativity ?
yes. but because our ideas in sound come from plastic arts, they
are not so original in plastic arts !!!
The graphism of the label is splendid.
It evokes atmospheres of childhood, soft savours of the past…
Some of your discs look like tales for children, some others contain
games ? Can we say that the hot line of the label is located here
? According to you, can we reconcile Nostalgie and modernity ?
Yes. But we are never modern, we are contemporary. Modern is an
ugly gray facade. But lovely, simple images also have to do with
the history of non western art, such as islamic drawing, japanese
prints and manga. These do not necessarily evoke childhood, but
they are often considered more feminine than western art.
the choice of materials seems very significant
to you… Do you limit yourself in this research ?
We love searching for materials. We spend alot of time looking for
paper, etc. this is a kind of responsibility for the object which
we produce. We are limited by only two things : time and money.
Which graphic works of other labels influence
you ?
Soft and Bronbron use the same printer we also sometimes use : Extrapool
in Nijmegen, NL. So, we are all working together. Staalplaat does
well, but we dont agree with their serious, dark, industrial aesthetic.
We prefer japanese labels, especially the CDr labels. Asuna made
a series of tapes called organ leaf with handmade packages, each
one totally simple and delicate, green thick paper with a tiny cut
out paper inthe shape of a piece of plant.
O
T H E R
 You
do live in a small village located Spain ? Is “quietude” necessary
to your concentration and reflexions ?
We used to live in Logrono, the capital of La Rioja, the smallest
province of spain. It has a population of 70,000 people. But we
also stayed in Viana, Navarra, population 5,000. But we moved to
Barcelona last january, and we are very happy here. The funny thing
about spanish villages: they are NOT QUIET at all, we had to move
to the big city to get some peace and quiet !! Spain is a very noisy
place. We like a low volume of background noise.
your cultures are rather different (American/European).
What is the apport of each one in the well equation of Alejandra
& Aeron ?
We had problems in the beginning, but we have worked them out one
by one. We can see the good and bad in each. We try to learn from
each other. For example, Aeron is cooking spanish food, and Alejandra
is concerned about how bad the fire codes are in Barcelona !
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