urbansmarts once again throws the satellite navigator on the floor, and travels where our feet take us. and they position us in front of two ladies, who make music that folks enjoy to call electronica. and if you are moaning about the lacking of relevance to your backpack existence, then note that Kevin Blechdom is touring with Anticon. So read on to find out what they got to say about confusion, the electronica circles, coffee, grrrls and much more.

Tell us something about Blectum From Blechdom. Who are you? What sound do you make?

Kevin Blechdom: I am Kevin Blechdom from Blectum From Blechdom. I play computers, sing songs, play a banjo and keyboards. And this is my friend...
Blevin Blechdom: Blevin Blechdom from Blectum From Blechdom. I use samplers and a computer and sing. Also other stuff but that's most of it. And when we put it together, then it becomes Blectum From Blechdom.

You're both from Oakland, CA. I think that Oakland is the best place in the USA for electronic music and its development. But what's your opinion on Oakland? Also, how does the label Tigerbeat6 and its artists diverge from other electronica-scenes?

KB: I think that Tigerbeat6 has a 'we don't care' attitude. Although we do care a lot. But I think we don't give a shit about what certain labels or artists seem to try. A lot of electronic music wants to be slick or smooth, groovy or funky. Or like 'shake-the-booties-on-the-dancefloor-with the ectasy-raver-kids' or 'pick-up-chicks'. We are more like 'let's just-make-some-fucked-up music' and listen to it. It doesn't matter how it's put together.
BB: When we first started playing together it was hard to play shows. We couldn't really play in techno clubs and we couldn't really play in rock'n'roll clubs, cause our sound was too rock'n'roll for electronic clubs and too techno for rock clubs. And for art galleries it was too pop. It seems that all those locations became a little bit more open-minded in the last couple of years. The techno clubs are more open to something that might sound like rock, or has somebody singing in it. The rock'n'roll clubs are more accepting electronic music. It started to open up like that in the states. Most of the Tigerbeat6 people come from a mixed background. Lesser for example did all sorts of more band related projects before he started to do electronic music. And that's something that a lot of the people on the label share. Not many artists on the label come from a purely electronic background.

How is the musical scene in Oakland? Is there interaction between the people of different scenes, like the hip hop and electronica scene?

KB: San Francisco, Oakland the Bay Area has a lot of musicians. We started out more in the dance music scene. But after a couple of years we were playing together and hanging out with Kit Clayton [owner and founder of the electronic label Orthlorng Musork] and sort of minimal techno-artists like Sutekh and Safety Scissors. Even Matmos were all in Oakland. Then Kid606 moved to San Francisco and open up Tigerbeat6. Then we began to work with Tigerbeat6 instead of other labels. And that's when we met Lesser. Gold Chains started at the same time playing more gigs. Recently, we discovered Anticon living in Oakland...
BB: Passage called us!
KB: Yeah, our phone number was on our CD that we released called "De Snaunted Haus". So Passage from Restiform Bodies called us anonymously with some terrible British accent and left a message and we thought it was someone from London. We ended up going to this bar together and we had a good time with him. Afterwards we met the rest of the Anticons. We did some shows together that we called "Soundclashs" where Tigerbeat6-acts and Anticon-acts were performing. We tried to mix the crowd because the two audiences are very separated in Oakland. People that go to Tigerbeat6 shows don't usually go to Anticon-shows.
BB: And we got an entirely different third audience. I don't think anyone came to just see a Tigerbeat6-artist or an Anticon-act. It seemed to be a whole different audience instead of merging the two.
KB: That made sense. I've done a few concerts with Anticon playing as one of their producers for Sole, Restiform Bodies and Passage. As Kevin Blectum I am going on tour with Anticon for a month up May. We've been working on records together and also other stuff. There will be more exchange in the future.

Sounds great!

BB: (laughs) We see them on the coffee-shop all the time...
KB: Oh yeah, we forgot why?!
BB: why? plays a song with us. why? From cLOUDDEAD. We had a show with Electric Birds, Lesser and cLOUDDEAD - that was fun!
KB: We do a Dat Politics-cover song [they will be playing 14th of May in the Frohegg/St. Gallen - the interviewer] and we have why? from Anticon pretending he's the chef singing about pies and we get to beat him up with a rolling pen...
BB: A poison pie!
KB: And we feed him 'cause he's cheating on us...
BB: He's cooking with both of us when we think that we're the only cooking personnel he has.
KB: Bastard! We force-feed him pie and he falls to the ground and he's stressed out like a cook...
BB: And then he gets up and starts singing again...
KB: It's a real cultural clash because the backing track is Dat Politics from France but it's us performing it live with Anticon.
BB: And I played violin on a why?-track. But I don't know what that band is called because it's him and his brother. I don't know if that's coming out but they forced me out of violin retirement.
KB: why? Dose and Jel live two blocks away from me and they walk in front of my house to get coffee and I wave down at them....

So in Oakland you are all as caffeine addicted as I am?

KB: Absolutely!
BB: Yeah! Weak watery American coffee - we love it!

What disturbs you the most in the electronic scene? What would you change about it?

KB: I really hate boring music and boring people! And I hate the male dominated part of the technology. When we were first starting out people wouldn't even approach, wouldn't even be interested in having a technical conversation about computers or music with us. There was repeatedly some serious sexism going on: for example the sound guy didn't treat us as real musicians which was pretty lame. It was like 'We're not idiots like you think we are'. It's nicer now; people treat us with a lot more respect on that part. What else is bad about electronic music? There's so much...
BB: You can't live off it.
KB: Yeah, more money! And I think there should be more musical theatre in electronic music.

Like Cex is doing it?

KB: I haven't seen a show lately but the time when I did see it - two years ago - it was pretty entertaining. I haven't seen him for awhile.

The article in the Wire magazine that I've read about him reminds me of your show. Do you have a message in your lyrics for the audience?

KB: I think our main intention is to confuse ourselves in front of people. That then might be confusing to the audience as well. I feel the best when I'm challenged on stage and confused about whether I am doing the right thing or the wrong thing; confused about where it's going, what's happening and why we are doing this. The message is that we don't know what the hell is going on. We try to express that in our music.
BB: We open up our hearts.
KB: We try to relate a similar experience to the audience by saying 'We're just as confused as everybody else.' So let's be confused together and party!
BB: (laughs) It's confusing and you can dance to it! Just be yourself!
KB: Or be someone else! (laughs).

Still some think that electronic music isn't equal to other music like rock, hip hop when it comes to live shows. Like that it is boring to watch.

KB: A lot of the electronic music has been made more for parties and in the past. Where people are dancing, talking to each other and having a good time. But we prefer to perfom a live show where people are watching the performance, to play our music like DJs.
BB: If we are playing live, it's more interesting for us to do something live on stage, like singing or playing. When we try to keep it interesting for ourselves on stage that it becomes more interesting for the audience too. Because they can see us doing something or at least interacting with each other. Electronic music performances have that thing, that cliché about 'em: that you get a person starring at the laptop-screen, or sitting up their sequencers and pressing go and stuff like that. But that changed in the last couple of years.
KB: It is also about personality. There was a lot of techno music where the musicians tried to take out any personality or any color and tried to make it anonymous. Kind of 'the machine is making the music'. We're more about putting our personalities into the music.
BB: Personality overload!

There are also bands in other genres who confuse their audience, Fantômas (featuring members of Melvins, Mr. Bungle, Slayer), for example, or cLOUDDEAD. Is confusion a new trend?

KB: I think it has always been there, with all art. Some of the most talented artists which I can really get with their point are causing some effect on people. They have always been intense personalities that are not accepted widely by society, not understood by themselves or the people around them. But that's just the way it is. The most talented people are confusing or troubled. But some people have a lot of mental ways, yet they can't express themselves and that must really suck. Because it lightens the way of the mental trauma (both laughing). It's a lot of being messed up in your brain. I think good music comes from messed-up people!
BB: Yeah, but we still wanna have happy lives. We still aspire to live happy lives.
KB: Our goal is to become healthy, stable human beings. (laughing)
BB: We're not quite there...

One of the effects that I get in setting up shows is to break down aggression. Another aspect is to meet and work with interesting people that I wouldn't have the chance to if I wouldn't do anything like that....

KB: Absolutely, it's like therapeutic.
BB: It's like a compulsion to do this thing. I get frustrated if I can't get music done. It's definitely something that I wanna do and what happens after isn't as important, like if it comes out or not. It's nice if it comes out, but making it is what counts.
KB: Do you think that it's the process that really counts, not the final result?
BB: No, the process and making something that comes out finally, that 'doing that' is the important part for me.
KB: So the process is for you what's satisfying...
BB: Yeah...
KB: But, the fact that people can listen to your process and result is also satisfying.
BB: Yeah, that's good.
KB: It's like building up tension and releasing tension.
BB: We definitely look for people, for example meeting Anticon. Kristin [Kevin] has this idea about a theater group - like you're going and meet around everybody up, and travel around and do this project together. It's like...
KB: Just characters all working together. Stimulation!
BB: Yeah, like a boot chain going around and around...
KB: Eating itself.

I've read in several magazines declaring Fantômas to be the new-avant-garde of rock, declaring Cannibal Ox and Anticon to be the new-avant-garde of hip hop, declaring Kid606, Blectum From Blechdom, Lesser to be the new avant-garde of electronica. What do you think about it?

KB: I like fucked up music and if that is what avant-garde means, then go for it. If it is truly honest and truly fucked up, I just think it's great, regardless of what genre or what kind of music it is. I also like stuff that isn't definable and stuff that I usually don't know what it is. It's music and it sounds like other stuff that you've heard before, but it's put together totally new and fresh, and it is exciting. And anything that makes me want to make music is exciting. If I hear a great record, I am like 'I gotta make some music!' This is inspiring me. Also at times that falls into the avant-garde category.
BB: Sometimes avant-garde seems to be equivalent to some kind of an academic thing, which I don't think it is. I guess it's unavoidable that it gets absorbed to a new set of rules if you make something new. Rules like 'you should do like this'. I hope that we can avoid getting ruled into that for as long as we can. You don't really want to become the next set of rules. I guess that's kind of inevitable for music but we're still working within a lot of sets of rules from other things.
KB: When other people follow your avant-garde then it becomes a genre.

Punkrock or hip hop nowadays has sets of rules and clichés. Do you want to avoid that electronic music is going to be for an intellectual audience?

KB: I think Electronic music it is challenging. It does make people think. If they don't wanna think, they just wanna get drunk and dance. But they probably won't like our show. That does not mean we're intellectual. It's just whether they can handle listening to something that they haven't heard before.
BB: I don't think it is anti-intellectual but it is against that sort of stagnation that sometimes happens in an academic setting. That's what I would rather not have. I don't think we're anti-intellectual for sure.
KB: There are some intellectuals that think we're stupid.

Really? What sort of intellectuals?

KB:I think there's a lot. There's a whole scene of musicians who think that. We sing a song called "Bad music" with the phrase "There's bad music everywhere". And they think: 'Oh, they make bad music.' But we ask the question who marks that boundary between bad and good music. Some artists wake up in the morning and they say to themselves: 'I wanna make really good music.' So they ask themselves what's good music. And they answer: 'Ok, to make good music, I have to do this, this and this.' And they go through this set of rules. But for us, we wake up with the thought that we are going insane! But we like good music and we make music and this is what's all about. We don't care if it's good music. And we think that the people who are trying to make good music are stupid.

You want to make music because you don't what to get insane? Is that what pops in your mind when you're waking up early?