Saturation Mix 002: otherseas
MEMCO:
Good evening.
otherseas:
Good evening.
MEMCO:
How long have you been making music?
otherseas:
For six years, since 2018. I started on GarageBand on my parents' computer. I wanted to make music for an RPG I was making on RPG Maker at the time, and I used a lot of loops that they had on there. I wasn't really making music and I didn't know what I was doing, but I wanted to be better at it.
MEMCO:
What did it sound like?
otherseas:
It sounded like stock music. Like music that you get for free on some kind of website, or like music that plays in an ad.
MEMCO:
What were you listening to then?
otherseas:
I wasn't really listening to electronic music. It was more like German rock from the 70s, I think, and like ambient music. The band Faust was a big thing for me at the time.
MEMCO:
How has your approach to music changed?
otherseas:
I started listening to Aphex Twin, and then I started liking every type of music. And then I started having the idea that there wasn't any type of music that was bad, and there was only music that was boring.
I would say that a lot to myself. But I don't know if I still believe it. I think maybe that is a little bit true, and maybe it's good to approach that type of thing with the idea that there's no music that's bad. But there probably is some music that's bad.
MEMCO:
What makes a piece of music boring?
otherseas:
When it doesn't tell a story. A lot of really boring music is just filler that's meant to be played between other types of music, when you're not paying attention to it. And if you're not supposed to be paying attention to it, it can never do anything. It can never tell a story.
MEMCO:
Was there an artist, or a song, or an album that made you want to start making music?
otherseas:
That's a good question. Maybe Hard Normal Daddy by Squarepusher. That might have been the one. I just wanted to keep making music all the time.
MEMCO:
How do you think that the way we interact with technology has changed the way we interact with music?
otherseas:
It's made it so much better, actually. Music was like a really rigid thing. Now it's a billion different things. There are so many things we can’t do without it. So far, I've never seen technology be a detriment to music. It just makes it so every person can make any type of music possible.
MEMCO:
Do you think that being in Ann Arbor has influenced what you make?
otherseas:
Ann Arbor is a nice place with a lot of very nice people. But I think that the only thing that's influenced what I make is being on the internet. I haven’t found much here.
MEMCO:
Your mix. It made me want to dance and also chill.
otherseas:
Thanks.
MEMCO:
What were you thinking of when you made it?
otherseas:
I was thinking of trance music from the 90s and how I liked it. And then I ran out of songs. So I thought that I should just play some music that wasn't anything like that at all.
The most interesting mixes to me are the ones that juxtapose a lot of things, which isn't really something that you can do as an actual DJ. You can kind of only do it when you're posting your mixes to SoundCloud or something like that, like this weird simile of what DJing should be. So I like the opportunity to do that.
Then I think I kind of just evolved into ambient, which is pretty much how I think every DJ set should be.
MEMCO:
Listening to ambient music online is so much different than hearing it in person.
otherseas:
Yeah. It's something special that you can really replicate anywhere.
MEMCO:
What was your last dream that you remember?
otherseas:
That's a good question. I think I dreamt about, well, it's kind of embarrassing. I dreamt about the DLC for the game Elden Ring because I was playing it so much.
Sometimes you play a game so much that it comes into your subconscious like that. It's kind of scary. So that's unfortunate.
I wish I had a cooler answer.
MEMCO:
Does Elden Ring have good music?
otherseas:
No, it's mostly orchestral. It's like, you know, a lady singing over a violin.
MEMCO:
What are your dreams for the future?
otherseas:
I don't really know. I've kind of just been doing this because I've had fun making music.
When I stop having fun, I think it will stop. But right now, that's just me. I don't know, I want to perfect some kind of sound.
And I think I'm a long way from doing that. It's something that I can't even put into words what I want it to be. I think it's something that I have to discover.
But I'm just having fun and playing mostly.
MEMCO:
How do you know when a sound has been perfected?
otherseas:
When it touches people's souls, maybe. I really don't know. I think once I listen to all the tracks that I make, I like all of them, and when I listen to them in a year and I still like them. Then it's perfect.
MEMCO:
otherseas. What are the seas?
otherseas:
Like, you know, the big ones. The ocean. All the oceans. That's where fish live.
And it's where giant machines are. So that's why I like it. I wish it was my real name.
I can't think of a better one. And I've used it for so long that I don't know what I want to do. It's as good as anybody's name.
MEMCO:
Who is your music for?
otherseas:
I want for my music to be for something that's not human, but still has emotions. A robot that doesn't know it's a robot — it’s still kind though, or sentimental. That's what it's for.
MEMCO:
Do you have an internet comfort space?
otherseas:
I like finding music on Bandcamp a lot. It's a great place to find atmospheres, landscapes of sound that you haven't really seen before.
The thing that makes the internet a little special is that you can be anonymous on it. And because you have to be anonymous, you have to create another thing that isn't you, to represent yourself, which is really interesting. I think that's where all the spontaneity that we get out of it comes from. And that's what pushes the envelope in terms of musical creativity.
That's something that's very special to me. And it's something that I can't really replicate in real life. So that's pretty comforting.
MEMCO:
Is there anything you haven't said that you want to say?
otherseas:
Um, I don't know. I haven't said so much stuff. But I don't think there's anything I want to say.
Tracklist:
hironori nagatsuma - Utökad kropp
migu - Binding Mirrors
tzusing - 1976
Kikiyama - BGM_014
Shakespear’s Sister - Black Sky (Dub Extravaganza Part 2)
Kensuke Ushio - China
DJ Metatron - U’ll Be The King Of The Stars
Burial - Raver
FSOM - Melodia
Future Beat Alliance - Mode 3
Digitalism - Idealistic
Aphex Twin - Soundlab20
ZULI - Trigger Finger
L.S.G. - Netherworld
CJ Bollard - Carmague
Point Blank - Meng’s Theme
Tashio Ishi - Satoshi Nakamoto
AFX - Serge Fenix Rendered 2
Lokey - Refusal of the Call
Snowdome - Murdoch Most Foul
Autechre - Flutter
Playboi Carti - New Tank
Penguin Villa - Acrophobia
CLONING - Squirters Suite no. 1
Kiduske - The Other Day We Thought Of Our Friends
Lanark Artefax - All That Is Solid Melts Into Air
Daisuke Tanabe - your tube
otherseas - unreleased song 1
Early Spring out August 16
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