There's also kind of a parallel trend between, forgive the terms, 'mainstream' and 'underground' hip hop, to take influence from other areas of electronic music. An obvious example is Missy's "Get UR Freak On", which is essentially Drum & Bass meets Bhangra. Are you feeling Timbaland's shit?

Sayid: He's dope. He's like my favourite producer. The "Indecent Proposal" and the "Tweak" single's phat. Really incredible tracks, man. He's inspiring a lot of people, Dre as well. There's a lot of inspiration out there from people more on a pop level, and people who are a little bit more underground. The pop guys, those guys do listen to a lot of other music and get inspiration from other stuff.

Do you think the gap between what is perceived as underground and mainstream is closing?

Sayid: Nah. I think there's always going to be 'popular' music, and then music that's not as popular but just, you know, great music.
Beans: It's a matter of dough, really. Whoever has the most dough. You're hearing people more because they have more dough. People that you don't hear much, don't have as much dough. It's a matter of money really; a matter of dough.
Sayid: He's right. So much, so much stuff is dependent on money.

The name Anti Pop Consortium - has it become something of an albatross around your neck as far as people misunderstanding your intention and where the group is coming from is concerned, or does it still resound to you?

Beans: I'm sure for some people it has, but for us Anti Pop was just a description of what the music was and wasn't. 'What kind of music is it?'. It's not exactly pop-pop, you know? It wasn't like, 'we're Anti Pop because we hate this, this and this'. We'd be putting ourselves in a cubbyhole - we'd be contrasting everything that we've been doing and that we've tried to achieve, you know? If we came at it like that. Cause we'd be limiting ourselves, and our music has never been about that.
Sayid: It's a kind of an American thing too, in a lot of ways. America is about 'boooom!' So you need something that's gonna be 'boooom!' And the name Anti Pop is 'boooom!', know what I mean? It's got that, so it's a nice description of what we do.

It's a name that hits you in the face straight away.

Sayid: Right, right. You have to have that impact.

Your original credo of -

Beans: "Disturb The Equilibrium"?

Yeah. Has that taken on a different meaning, a different edge as time goes on, and in view of recent events?

Beans: Yeah, you grow up, and our listeners grow with us. I think the term is still equivalent though. In terms of you know, we're not antagonistic, but at the same time once we've progressed as a group, that statement still stands because we are continuing to grow. I think that it's a term that kind of equivilates that progression.
Sayid: Well, he feels it does, I feel like it doesn't. But that's how it is. I have my opinion, he has his opinion, so that's how it always works. But it's cool, you know?

It seems that one of the healthy things about being in Anti Pop is the willingness to accommodate different perspectives, rather than trade on the 'last-gang-in-town' myth of the group.

Beans: Totally.
Sayid: Exactly, exactly. Because it translates to the readers, you know what I mean? Like, 'oh well Beans feels like this, Priest feels like this, Sayid feels like this.' But that's how everybody is, when you're sitting around with people, and they don't agree with one another all the time. It wouldn't make too much sense.

Sayid, you and Priest have a background in film, does this feed back into the music as an inspiration or source of ideas? In musical terms I thought I caught little hints of some of John Carpenter's film scores, such as "Halloween" and "Assault on Precinct 13" in the new album.

Sayid: Okay! Wow.
Beans: I wouldn't say John Carpenter like, directly. No, not in that sense. We were talking about it yesterday: we come from an art background, so the way that visual art is somewhat of an influence to us is that we try to make the music enhancing and visceral. We try to, not so much as listening to a soundtrack specifically and saying 'this is a sound for us'. It's more like, you know, we all went to art schools, we all have a complete reference to the arts.
Sayid: It's just part of how we came up.

So you have an inclusive view.

Beans: Yeah, an inclusive view of music. That's how art pertains to us, just using our individual experience to enhance our music. Art is part of our background.
Sayid: It comes out, that's part of our records.

You are by your own admission attempting to stretch hip hop, push the boundaries further. Have you found much resistance from within the hip hop community?

Sayid: Either people feel it, or don't really feel it. There was a time when there was more resistance. I think people's minds are much more open, whether it's a thug cat, or whether it's a cat who's more on some 'art techno' vibe, you know what I mean? And you can never judge who checks your music, because you'll always be wrong. So you just have to bring the heat because a cat who may live in the projects may have Anti Pop. And it happens, you know, with cats who live in areas where you don't think they'll have the joint. So it's impossible to judge, and that's exactly the thing that happens with us. People think the APC is only checked by these type of people. But, we're from New York, and a lot of cats are checking for us in other situations also.

Speaking of New York, how has 9/11 impacted on the group?

Beans: Well, that's like another thing we all have different views on. It didn't really affect me because I wasn't there. Nobody I knew got hurt, so it doesn't really hit me like that, you know. After it happened I still flew planes and shit, it didn't really affect me to be honest.

Where were you when it happened?

Beans: We were in Berlin at the time. And um, we touched on it on like, "Conspiracy Of Myth" on "Arrhythmia". But I mean, mainly Priest and Sayid touched on it.
Sayid: I personally feel like it had a really big effect on me. It scared the hell out of me, worst thing that's ever happened, uhm, psychological damage. You know what I'm saying? It was like, 'wow man, yo, hectic, will it happen again?'. I didn't fly out! Last time these guys went I didn't go! They all think I'm crazy! I was like: 'Yo I'm out, I'm moving to Miami!'
Beans: As said, we were in Berlin on September 11, but we got trapped in Belfast and had to stay in Amsterdam. That's how it affected me, it was inconvenient! Sayid: But in all seriousness a lot of people lost their mom and dad, a lot of kids running around without parents, a lot of trauma.

New York has always been THE place, but now from what I've heard that's changed.

Beans: It's starting to slowly come back, people are starting to go out a little bit, you know. But it's going to have a lasting effect for a long time.

Do you think it's going to have much effect on the hip hop community specifically?

Sayid: Nah. The music industry is like, too much money, too much dough, a billion-dollar industry, you know? Wow, BILLION dollar!

Do you agree with El-P's point that hip hop will be forced to become more honest in the aftermath of 9/11?

Sayid: I don't know if I have that much faith in a lot of people. I would rather just build the world that I live in and try to like, battle the beast myself. Because you still have to deal with mega-million-dollar labels and try to get your stuff played to get people to hear it. So, as opposed to like, waiting for the season to change, I already got my coat on, you know. I already got my gloves on.

There seems to be a lot of big money crossover between hip hop and rock taking place right now, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park on the X-Ecutioners album. What's your opinion on that?

Beans: Let's move on.

I think we're agreed on that (laughs). Have you got any collaborations coming up soon?

Beans: Yeah, we've got a couple of things, MF Doom. Priest and myself are working with the jazz pianist Matthew Shipp. We're doing a jazz album. Priest has "Sonics For The Youth" dropping on Warp, and he's got another solo album which is going to be called "Traum" [German, meaning 'Dream']. My solo album's going to be called "Tomorrow Right Now", also on Warp. Sayid's working on his thing, and the thing with MF Doom.

Any plans to play in the UK soon?

Sayid: Yeah, we'll be over here in April for a little tour, which'll be cool. It's nice to be out here, and be away from America for a minute, it's just cool. Because, you know, the thing with London is, there's no arrogance as far as like: 'we're from America, we're in London'. London cats are just as critical. We have a lot of respect, they have a lot of respect. They've always really kind of brought us under and stuff, so it's like a mutual type of vibe. But it's a good relationship because we've been doing projects out here for a little minute, so it feels good, you know what I mean? You talk about groups who like, really have a relationship with the UK, you really got to (include) Anti Pop: we have a nice relationship with cats over here.
Beans: Since '97. Well, I guess '98 because that's when "Disorientation" dropped. Sayid: So we were like, forming as a group even as we were coming out here. Like family in a way. You keep coming over and seeing people. So it's cool. It's dope, man.

Saying my goodbyes I departed, leaving the Soap Scum Killers to chow down on the recently delivered plates of food set before them, because even neo-electro hip hop cyborgs like APC need nourishment. Here's some unsubliminal advice: buy 'Arrhythmia' now.