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New releases at www.theemoths.co.uk (click on the SuperLimited button)

Interview With Alex Botten-Clark from Thee Moths

 From here - 

http://strawberryanarchy.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-alex-botten-clark-from.html

 

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Interview With Alex Botten-Clark from Thee Moths

I have known Alex for years since back when I was 14 and got into my first band with him. He's always done music and now you can hear his latest album "Data Magic Analogue Wonder" Things have changed a lot since the days of thrashing acoustic guitars of Magnetic North Pole (the band we were in together)

This album has some very relaxing parts that take you on a little journey, I like listening to it while I'm making things since it is mostly instrumental apart from track 9 which sounds like a non intrusive monk chant, it doesn't distract me with words and instead puts me in a zone of concentration and relaxation and I like all the strange electronic noises and ambient sounds, It could be played while walking around a magical garden like in Alice in Wonderland because it sounds so organic. You should give it a listen. I also asked Alex some questions....

You can listen to the whole record here completely free - which is also where people can buy it for a total bargain of £2 (or, if you want the physical version) you can buy it from here



"Alex, was just going to ask you about your inspiration for this album and also could you explain how your music has developed over the years since now it is more electronic? "
The change was very gradual. I'd always done solo things over the years using the drum machines on cheap keyboards, but it was playing a weekend's worth of shows with LA's Lucky Dragons that really changed the way I thought about making music. Out went the guitar and songs, in came a Powerbook (later replaced with a MacBook). I like how portable and versatile laptops can be. These days the two I use live are pretty much just doing some light effects processing, but the options for more are always there. Even with a huge case of equipment I'm still hauling less around than I did when I was playing in guitar bands.

"Who is Will and Dani who you mention the album is dedicated to? "

Dani and Will are a band called Celer. They are married. Dani died suddenly last year. She is a friend that I miss. The the first two tracks on the album are named for Dani and Will.

"I would also like to know your thoughts on free music and why you have personally decided to let people listen for free."

I produce a LOT of music these days, often going only a couple of weeks between releases. Most of it now gets released as part of the ongoing SuperLimited project -where I put out records in tiny runs (anything from 1 to 20 copies) - but some are put up for free on the web. I'd rather 3000 people download something for free than 5 people buy a CD leaving me with boxes of unsold product under my bed. Many small indies would only do a run of 500 CDs and they would often not sell out. I'd get paid with a percentage of the pressing that I'd often just give away. Nowadays I can put something out, have it cost nothing to manufacture, and have many thousands of people hear it. I make no more money than I did, but I make no less.

The Super Limited stuff is totally different - once it's sold out that's it, I don't put the music up for sale online as mp3s....I guess I see the whole thing as an art project

"and one last thing, if people buy a hard copy "Limited to 50 copies in hand numbered and stickered arigato paks." what does "arigato" packs mean?"

Click here to see an Arigato Pak - they're card sleeves designed and manufactured by Stumptown Printers in Portland, Oregon. They are easily printed on, and far nicer than plastic cases.

Alex has many talents you should visit his personal website to check out his amazing art which should really have a whole new post all of it's own that I will do at some point, gig posters and listen to the many bands and music he has made including Magnetic North Pole.

Surround Sound Cymbals

Double 3" CDR

5 copies

Coming very soon

New 3" cd coming soon

Next up, new lathe cut flexi 7", limited to a ridiculous 10 copies, in hand painted sleeves and accompanied by a 3" CDr in a linocut printed insert. This one can be played at 45 or 33 depending how you feel!

Probably going to be about £8

....and a whole new EP as well! - http://www.archive.org/details/CampanasParaLosAmigosYMsicosem103

New release - http://www.archive.org/details/mpr015

Coming soon -

http://theemoths.bandcamp.com/album/data-magic-analogue-wonder

Buy as a hi-bitrate Wav/mp3/whateveryoulike

Norman Records say nice things

http://www.normanrecords.com/records/115213

This record left our Ant feeling happy.

This kicks off with a load of bells twinkling about and then it gets fun with some cool rhythmic shit happening and weird melodies all with a playful and charming quality. Lots of stuttering drum machines and analogue sounds. It's certainly out there on its own. I know nothing at all about these guys other than they whip up some sweet and strange electronics complete with drones and rich textures. Ltd edition of 50 hand numbered copies.

 Have a free AWESOME mix

Powdered Wigs - Intro
Pop-Off Tuesday - Un-Worldly
Judee Sill - Jesus was a Cross Maker
Bobby Birdman - Victory at Sea (E*Rock mix)
Sweet Potatoes - First Song
Midlake - Roscoe
To Tired - An Old Video of an Old Hector
Final Fantasy - This is the Dream of Emma and Cam
Endless Endless Endless - Oscillate
McGazz - Mourning Sickness
Arthur Russell - That's Us/Wild Combination
Swirlies - Swan
Kites - Peace Trials
Billy Connelly - The Bridge Over the River Tay part 1
Fennesz - Transit
Aphex Twin - Girl/Boy Song
Billy Connelly - The Bridge Over the River Tay part 2
Revolver - Get Around Town
Simon and Garfunkel - A Poem on the Underground Wall (demo)
Thee Moths - In The Dawn They Call the Rising Sun (Version)
Stephen Merritt - Shall We Sing a Duet?
Mystery Artist - Mystery Track
Lucky Dragons - Triforce Theme
Billy Connelly - The Bridge Over the River Tay part 3
Disastronaut - Untitled
Eric's Trip - Untitled early demo
Eric Vallely - Lo-fi Birthday Edit
Javelin - Oh Centra
Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
Adam Buxton - Ratatouille
Javelin - STD Fury
The Handsome Family - If The World Should End in Flames

http://www.mediafire.com/?mmnymjjwqow

http://twitter.com/theugs/status/11046355595

In Memorium Underground Scene

So, Farewell then UGS
A site on the
Web

You were around
For almost 10
Years but
Not quite

'You do not have permission to view this forum'
Yes, that was your catchphrase

Now no-one will be able to view you

E.J. Thribb (17 1/2 posts)

http://www.last.fm/music/Thee+Moths/Data+Magic+Analogue+Wonder+%28MP3+version%29

Buy the new Thee Moths album

Buy a t-shirt, or even a tote bag

http://www.mcgazz.co.uk/moths/superlimited.html

Get down to the George Tavern tonight. It's in London somewhere, probably Whitechapel.....anyway, I'm going to be taking part in the launch gig for the new Visions of Trees EP. Free entry, and inexpensive records and shirts.

SuperLimited

CDRs, vinyl, art. Mega short runs

http://www.archive.org/details/50Examplesem091

 

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=256910162433&ref=nf

Been making a mixcast for Dead Pilot Records.

So, there are a load of other places you can get info about Thee Moths from, and they are -

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/pages/Thee-Moths/47602832523?ref=ts
http://www.theemoths.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/theemothsband
http://www.virb.com/theemoths

You can download a lot of stuff from those sites, and if you want to get a real look at what the last 10 years have brought then you should click here

I'll try and post a little more regularly from now on.

So what's happened in the (almost) decade since I last posted on here? A lot - here's the easy version of what Thee Moths have been doing....

What happened when Thee Moths met the 00's - a decade in albums

 

I started the 00's as a member of Magnetic North Pole but when that band broke up the band that I'd be 'in' for the next decade came together.

Thee Moths started out as a five piece band featuring 3 guitarists, it was noisy, it was loud, it lasted 2 rehearsals before I called time on it. The next version was a trio, featuring the same drummer and a bassist called Kat (not the one I later married). That version actually gigged, playing two shows at the end of 2000, before breaking up as well.

It was only when I started working with my then girlfriend, Dominique, that Thee Moths proper started. The first album was titled 'The Need' and was 13 tracks of fuzz pop with girl/boy vocals. It was very influenced by The Microphones and Eric's Trip and marked the only time the genre 'Tiny Pop' was used to describe anything, ever. Released as a tape on S.O.U.L. and a CDR (in a run of 100) on our own Tiny Pop label, it featured tape hiss, clanking drums, and distant vocals. On reflection it's a nice enough record, but sounds nothing like what was coming later. (listen and download here - http://virb.com/theemoths/audio/albums/35260)

2003 marked the release of the follow-up, a 12" vinyl album, featuring two 'movements' spread over it's two sides. Far more ambitious than 'The Need' it was, again, inspired somewhat by The Microphones. This time I'd been reading about the forthcoming 'Mount Eerie' album, a kind of concept record that was supposed to feature choral vocals and numerous parts. Recorded in 2002 during two weeks during a visit to the UK from Dominique, we put together what we imagined 'Mount Eerie' would sound like if we did it. We put on hugely multitracked choral vocals, acoustic pop, string sections, drum machines, loops, samples, and everything else we could think of.
Stolenwine records of Manchester liked it enough to release as a 12" and CD and the NME liked it enough to give it 7 out of 10 and describe it as 'lo-fi magic'. I think it sold about 5 copies. (listen and download here - http://virb.com/theemoths/audio/albums/35252)

'Sand In Our Pockets' wasn't an album at all, but a 4 song EP that was released on Total Gaylord Records, a US label with no idea of how terrible their name was (it didn't stop them putting out stuff by The Pippettes later though). Initially it was going to be released by Maladjusted, a label run by Kat Burke from Alaska, but that ended up not happening so Total Gaylord stepped in. It came out in 2004, after being recorded in 2003. It was the last record to feature Dominique as we'd broken up by the time it was released. It's four songs of almost folky pop, and you can hear it here - http://virb.com/theemoths/audio/albums/35257

In 2004 I ended up playing a handful of shows with Lucky Dragons, YACHT, and Bobby Birdman which completely changed the way I thought about making music. They were using laptops and I rushed out to grab a second hand Powerbook almost right away. 'Nature', released on Banazan Records, was the result. It meandered across 70 something minutes of field recordings, slight pop songs, fractured beats, and mangled samples. It got a lot of reviews, mostly favourable (though some people absolutely hated it), and was the first thing that I had available on iTunes when it was released in 2005. And, yes, that was a real laptop that I painted on for the cover! You can buy it here - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/nature/id144784592

'Glytchvölk Musique Concrète' came out around the same time as 'Nature' on Pet Piranha records, and was intended as an introduction to the band. It featured a load of tracks that had come out on other things, plus six new tracks tacked on the end. Plan B magazine thought it was good, and I ended up with a lot of copies in a drawer. You can buy it here - http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id212873796 and listen to it streaming here - http://www.last.fm/music/Thee+Moths/Glytchv%C3%B6lk+Musique+Concr%C3%A8te

2007 marked the first Thee Moths album not to appear in a physical format when I put 'Sparrows and More Sparrows' up as a free download. The nearest I ever came to making a pop record as Thee Moths, 'Sparrows...' is ten tracks mixing the laptop constructed backing tracks with the layered vocals of earlier records. Heard by more people than any of the other records (downloaded a LOT from both www.theemoths.co.uk and http://www.archive.org/details/SparrowsAndMoreSparrows. Around the same time I also put out a couple of mini-lps, 'Thirty Three and a Third' (on Beat is Murder), and 'Soft Heartbeat, or Gentle Clicking'. 4000 people downloaded the former, and 8000 the latter, probably because they were free)

'Cave Cave Cave' also came out on Beat is Murder, and was also a free download in 2008. Put together in the space of 24 hours just to see if I could do it, 'Cave Cave Cave' is a mosaic of samples, loops, beats and song fragments, and ended up getting downloaded about 3000 times from BiM and god knows how many from theemoths.co.uk. People seemed to like it, though I decided to stop doing Thee Moths shortly after it was released.


In 2009 I started recording as Thee Moths again, and released a series of stupidly limited 3" CDrs, alongside a few free things online. You can read about those (and buy them if you like) here - http://www.mcgazz.co.uk/moths/superlimited.html

There have been loads of other releases alongside these 'main' ones, nearly 70 last time I counted in fact, you can find a lot of them online at archive.org these days.

2010 sees the release of 'Data Magic Analogue Wonder', the 6th 'proper' Thee Moths album which will be released as an actual physical thing on Dead Pilot Records - I'm rather excited about it to be honest.

See you again in ten years when we look back at the first 20 years of Thee Moths :)