To Bloom In Heaven
(astralwerks 6151, 12")
Freaky Chakra (a.k.a. 24-year-old visionary Daum Bentley) burst out of the San Francisco underground after a chance introduction to Exist Dance head Mike Kandel (a.k.a. Tranquility Bass), through mutual friend Miguel Fierro (a.k.a. Single Cell Orchestra). Kandel liked Bentley's demo, and in the summer of 1993, Exist released the phenomenal "Halucifuge/Trancendental Funk Bump" single. This first taste of the Freaky Chakra style, a wicked combo of shifting electronic timbres and varied rhythms, earned wide praise and left DJs around the globe craving more. Bentley obliged with the March Of The Tangent EP, a deconstructuin of tracks from his debut LP, Lowdown Motivator. Although he is notoriously wary of discussing his art with the press, Freaky Chakra consented to align with NET via a colorful fax exchange.
Kurt B. Reighley: You've said that you love dancefloor music and the DJ aesthetic. What qualities of dance music - as opposed to other genres - do you like specifically?
Freaky Chakra: With the incorporation of using the break, way back in the disco days. I think a really cool way of approaching arrangement was born, creating songs that allow a DJ to merge the music. With dance music, a whole school of thought, based on making music that is interchangeable, has come about. That's pretty cool. A new form of music, basically. Although there's a fine line between interchangeable and formulaic.
KBR: Do you enjoy going out to clubs? Are you a social person?
FC: I've been going to dance clubs since I was 17. Back when clubs used to play a total variety of stuff: Industrial, new wave, hip house, death rock. Then along came the rave scene (at least in San Francisco) and the rest is a blur. As for being social, it depends on what day it is. I think that the club scene is filled with people that are hardly social, and a lot of people who have a hard time socializing outside of the scene. It's like a whole different , unspecified set of social rules. Example: How many people do you see in a club, and the only conversation you have is "Hey, what's up?" But it's all cool.
KBR: What qualities do you feel distinguish the West Coast sound and scene from the rest of the world?
FC: People like to say there isn't one, but if you're talking electronic dance stuff, then it tends to have a funkier, spacier flava. I think that all musicians are just channeling what they are exposed to, to a degree. California is a funkier, spacier state of mind. We're the official hippie capitol: we've got the best buds, the best women, everything. "The west is the best," said Jim Morrison. That says it all.
KBR: Has the way you listened to music and sounds in general (traffic, household appliances, what have you...) evolved since you began writing and recording your own tracks?
FC: Yes, I find great satisfaction and inner peace whilst I listen to my refrigerator radiate harmonies. KBR: Were you fascinated with manipulating sound even before you began working with synthesizers and computers?
FC: I think my first sound manipulation was whin I was eight or so. I would take my earphone from my little tape deck and crank the volume up and stick it in my mouth. This would allow me to sound like a robot as I moved my mouth around. I know I was no Richard James making synths from scrap metal, but I was having fun.
KBR: The way you construct and deconstruct your tracks on Lowdown Motivator and the March Of The Tangent Prone EP suggests a fascination with structures, how things work in juxtaposition, and how a series of sounds can evolve organically. Could you explain how this reflects the way you write and record.
FC: I tend to work in a tangentially inspired fashion, a method that stems from my exceptionally short attention span. I usually intend to keep things simple, but I often want to go to a few different places in a short time span. I'm sure a lot of DJs don't like to mix some of my music because I do all the stuff that they want to do with a couple of records. Also, I've heard that sometimes it's hard to mix. They just need to practice more. (Ha ha)
KBR: What attracted you to collaborate with Toni Halliday and Michael Kandel on "Budded On Earth To Bloom In Heaven?" Do you enjoy collaboration with people outside the electronic music scene?
FC: The only people I've collaborated with in the writing process are Jon Drukman (Bass Kittens) and Mike Kandel (ExistDance), who are very electronic. It's an important thing to share a vision with someone else. It can keep your ego in check and the results can be highly unpredictable. With "Budded On Earth..." I wrote the track, sent it to Mike, and he sent me various guitar licks. In turn, I stuck the guitar on the track and sent that to Toni Halliday in London. I basically told her she could do whatever she wanted to it. And that's what you get, a three-way lateral collaboration.
KBR: Is it true you're approaching Ween about remixing a track? Does this fit into a specific aesthetic you have about who you want remixing your work, or is it just an inspired experiment?
FC: To date I haven't yet approached them. But I feel that they have a highly developed concept of the intricate relationship between music and food. Pure genius.
KBR: Do you think people who enjoy music need or want all the categories imposed on it for marketing/promotional purposes? Do you think the techno scene is more, less or equally susceptible to these sort of pitfalls?
FC: I hope that someday A&R people will be able to form a multi-syllabic category for each new variation on electronic music. We will go down to record stores and use a sentient computer system to access all of the 2,000 alphabetical acronyms there are to describe electronic music. The computer will be directly connected to the record labels, so it can receive the new adjective of the month. Maybe.
KBR: You've said you don't like the hype aspect of the music business, discussing your own work. Can you think of alternate ways you would like to give Freaky Chakra fans insight into your aesthetics?
FC: I will be doing live sequencing soon, most likely it will be along side Single Cell Orchestra, in a sort of "Battle Of The Techno Guys." It's gonna be great kids! I'm also close to getting a modem, so I can get on the Net.
KBR: Are you involved in any artistic projects that fall outside the realm of Freaky Chakra?
FC: I have a side project called Dope Factor that I'm shopping around. It's reminiscent of the "Trancendental Funk Bump" style.
KBR: Do you think of yourself as a spiritual person?
FC: I try to read up on various Eastern philosophies but I think that nothing can compare to just meeting new people and making spiritual connection through conversation. I also think that more people are becoming aware of the effects of dancing with large groups of people to pounding rhythms. Although some people like to dis the aesthetics of his presentation, I think Terrence McKenna's speech on the Alien Dreamtime CD is pretty inspiring.