1 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Ephemeral is a production of I Heart three D audio 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: for full exposure. Listen with that phones what It is 3 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,400 Speaker 1: said that every artist has their patron Orpheus had the 4 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: mused Calliope. Mozart had Emperor Joseph the Second Too many 5 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:37,880 Speaker 1: nos just developed Underground had Andy Warhol. But for many creators, 6 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 1: the only opportunity to share their art with the world 7 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,519 Speaker 1: is to do everything with themselves. Self produce, self release, 8 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: self distribute. Today we bring you the stories of three 9 00:00:51,159 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: musicians not propelled by any commission, only their drive to create. 10 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: This also marks the return of our friend Matt Worth, 11 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: a proprietor of Revenge RVNG International, which sought these artists, 12 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,240 Speaker 1: sound tracked their music down years after the initial release, 13 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: and reintroduced it to the world up first. Michelle Mercure, 14 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: I'm Michelle Mercure. I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and I 15 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: make electronic music, among other things. I grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. 16 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: Always loved music and was very interested in all of 17 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: the ways that you could manipulate sound. I was listening 18 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: to people who were experimenting with samplers at the time. 19 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, conren Schnitzler craft work, John Cage, 20 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: and the residents of the Residents seven thirty coach for 21 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 1: some of the Easton Harris I moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 22 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: for a relationship when I was like I don't know eighteen. 23 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,000 Speaker 1: The people that I was meeting and the people that 24 00:02:11,040 --> 00:02:15,400 Speaker 1: I was associating with were more theater people, visual artists 25 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:20,240 Speaker 1: and poets, not so much musicians. I think that really 26 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: colored where I went musically, merging music and art. Music 27 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: and art. Back in nineteen eight one or so, I 28 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: started writing isn't quite the right word. So I started 29 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: experimenting with found sounds tape recorders, and then started using 30 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: synthesizers and making art out of sound. There was an 31 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: experimental theater company in Harrisburg called the Commonwealth Stage Company. 32 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,800 Speaker 1: They were doing a very experimental version of Beckett's Waiting 33 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:01,919 Speaker 1: for God, Oh nothing to be Done. I'm beginning to 34 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: come around to that opinion, and they asked me to 35 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: create the music, which was more like a sound environment. 36 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: That was my first foray into scoring and creating environments, 37 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: and doing that one show was monumental in my creative development. 38 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: From Michelle, A new piece of music can originate in 39 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:32,800 Speaker 1: many different places. Sometimes it starts as an experiment, and 40 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: sometimes I have an idea in my mind. I had 41 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: a reel to reel that I use a lot of 42 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: times for a foundation, making tape loops, making a rhythm, 43 00:03:43,560 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: taking dialog from a crazy television show, Batman, the News, 44 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: the Bus of the Future, some of the religious programming 45 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: at the time. I would layer them, put them through filters, 46 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,680 Speaker 1: mangling and playing it back akwards, playing at a different speed, 47 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:10,000 Speaker 1: and then wanting to add more musicality your career coming 48 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: to your career coming. I was very into seeing what 49 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: I could do with minimal equipment and also cheap equipment, 50 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: very low fi. At one time I had one of 51 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: those realistic synthesizers. It was a radio shack. That's geody. 52 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: They'll tell you where there's a radio shaxpol but it 53 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: was designed by mog. I had little Casio rhythm maker, 54 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: the electro Harmonics micro synth. I ran my guitar through, 55 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: or ran other things through. Then I became kind of 56 00:04:55,080 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: a gear freak. Yeah, if you look at pictures of 57 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: Michelle from the eighties, she's invariably buried behind towering racks 58 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: of keyboards, effects students, mixers, and electronic odds and ends. 59 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: I see you have your computer linked to the telephone line. 60 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: Can you tell us how you did that? She would 61 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: combine these elements by recording herself on tape cassette like 62 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: a one woman orchestra, overdubbing as she went. I had 63 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: two set recorders and a small little mixer. I would 64 00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: record onto one cassette, bounce everything, and record the next 65 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: track onto the other cassette. And I bounced back and forth, 66 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: adding tracks as I went. And then if itig got 67 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:48,919 Speaker 1: two noisy, I'd know I had to stop because of 68 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: the noise floor. Your first couple of releases were done 69 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: like that. In Michelle self released her first tape. The 70 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: first tape was called Rouge and Mint. I find some 71 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:10,640 Speaker 1: of it to be a bit cringe worthy right now, 72 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,400 Speaker 1: but you know, it's where I was at the time. 73 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:17,560 Speaker 1: We can often be our own harshest critics. The wonderful 74 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:20,240 Speaker 1: thing I think about the early work is that there 75 00:06:20,360 --> 00:06:23,720 Speaker 1: was no self censoring. Everything was I'm just gonna play 76 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:25,919 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna see what happens, and I'm just gonna 77 00:06:26,120 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: put it all out there. At first, when I put 78 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: that tape out It was really just because I wanted 79 00:06:32,760 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 1: to meet more people who were doing the kind of 80 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: work that I was doing. I felt like I was 81 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: on a little island in Harrisburg. There was a magazine 82 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,839 Speaker 1: at the time called Option. People would send their music 83 00:06:49,880 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: in to be reviewed. At the end of each review, 84 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:56,080 Speaker 1: they would put a person's address, putting the address in 85 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: the center of the envelope and the return address in 86 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: the upper left hand corner. If the review interested you, 87 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,720 Speaker 1: you could contact them and you could buy their tape 88 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: or seefl trade tapes. I'm writing to you because I 89 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: know you'll understand. So I thought, well, let me try this. Yeah, 90 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: let me just try this, Kathy and put it on 91 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: and I put it in. Remember to put your return 92 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,680 Speaker 1: address and ZIP code on the letter. It got a 93 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: good review, which surprised me but pleased me. Oh boy, 94 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: thank you. Then I decided to do another one another. 95 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: The second one was a Cast of Shadows, and then 96 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:55,200 Speaker 1: Dreams Without Dreamers, and tried to put something out every year, 97 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,360 Speaker 1: made anywhere from at the most two copies and at 98 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: the least fifty. I think her first cassette she maybe 99 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: even made less. It was always a very small release 100 00:08:16,800 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: by about the third tape. I started using a computer 101 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: and recording. MIDI media is a digital language. Since an 102 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: audio device is used to communicate using computer language, the 103 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: composer is telling the computer what kind of sounds he wants. 104 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: That allowed me to play a lot of stuff live. 105 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: The computer can help manipulate this melody in many ways. 106 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: Because I could have some MIDI stuff going, I could 107 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: do some tape loops, and I could play as well. 108 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: I at the time was very introverted. I wanted to perform, 109 00:08:55,600 --> 00:09:01,400 Speaker 1: but I was also very nervous because I had racks 110 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,719 Speaker 1: of stuff and a lot of gear. I ended up 111 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: performing with my back to the audience. One thing that 112 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:10,920 Speaker 1: I used to do I would drape very thick, clear 113 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: plastic so that the audience could sort of see me, 114 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: but not exactly, and then as I would play, I 115 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: would cut out pieces of the plastic to reveal what 116 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: was happening inside. One of the reasons that I didn't 117 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: do a lot of live performances is because back then, 118 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: at least my system wasn't super stable. You could be 119 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: playing and it's all going well, and then all of 120 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:43,880 Speaker 1: a sudden. Even though her shows were limited and the 121 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: distribution for herself release cassettes was narrow. Michelle's music began 122 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 1: to garner attention. Six I got a grant from Pennsylvania 123 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:56,079 Speaker 1: Council in the Arts and the Painted Bride Arts Center 124 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:59,200 Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia to put out my first vinyl, which 125 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:11,080 Speaker 1: was I Chant, I right right. I. In that progression 126 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:16,880 Speaker 1: from the first cassette to eye Chant, my gear grew exponentially. 127 00:10:17,880 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: They Roland you know, sixty was really my baby at 128 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:24,760 Speaker 1: the time. I love that since the Insnic Mirage was 129 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: my sampler. It's an a bit sampler, so easy to use. 130 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: I love that sampler. But I felt that it was 131 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: important to have not just all Roland stuff, not just 132 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:40,720 Speaker 1: all Cord stuff, not just all Yamaha, because their architecture 133 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: is different, so the depths of their sounds are different. 134 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,520 Speaker 1: It's a little like when you're making a stew. You 135 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: want all these different tastes so that what you're making 136 00:10:52,400 --> 00:11:04,199 Speaker 1: tastes complex. I Michelle self released dream Play. I went 137 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: back to cassette. I started working with a great fretless 138 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 1: bass player. Just love the emotion that a good fretless 139 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: bass player can bring to music. Every time I worked 140 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: with somebody new, my playing sort of changes. I don't 141 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 1: do it consciously, but I find myself writing music that 142 00:11:30,679 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: will be enhanced by their playing. I started using more piano, 143 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: and I started using more organic instruments along with the 144 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: electronic stuff. After that, I started just doing a lot 145 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: of work for film, for television, for theater. I did 146 00:11:56,520 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: some dance scores. In the mid nineties, scored a film 147 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: called Shades of Black. My partner and I we started 148 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,560 Speaker 1: a film company I produced with her and Chad Taylor. 149 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: The film Home stars Marsha gay Harden. There are moments 150 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: frozen Underglass here in my Mind two thousand and eight 151 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: that came out. I also did the music for that. 152 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:25,080 Speaker 1: Really proud of and heal the cracks and crazes and 153 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: imperfections in my love until I have made it perfect, 154 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:40,160 Speaker 1: maybe even just a part of me. One thing that 155 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,520 Speaker 1: seems to make Michelle such a prolific composer is her 156 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:48,560 Speaker 1: practical approach to the creative process. When I get into 157 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:51,800 Speaker 1: that space, I lose all sense of time. When it's 158 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: really productive, it just feels so good. It's like church. 159 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: But sometimes I would just spin my wheels. You're trying 160 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: to find a sound, and there's so many options you 161 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:10,360 Speaker 1: can get lost in all the variations that a piece 162 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:15,000 Speaker 1: could be. For me, I put limitations on myself. If 163 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,120 Speaker 1: I find that I'm going down that rabbit hole, well 164 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: I'll give myself a time limit, or I'll give myself 165 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: an assignment. Those can be really good habits, especially for 166 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: a creative person. I like to work with a palette 167 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 1: of sounds. Make something out of this instead of the 168 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: wide open field, which sometimes becomes a log jam in 169 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: my mind. You can add other things for color and 170 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:45,079 Speaker 1: a little bit of icing on the cake, but as 171 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: far as your main ingredients, it's good to have a foundation. 172 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: It could be simply using an instrument that you've never 173 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,240 Speaker 1: used before, or like my first instrument is guitar, and 174 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: I play guitar completely differently than I would play keyboards, 175 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:04,000 Speaker 1: so you get a whole different kind of musicality that way. 176 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: Sometimes you can be your own worst enemy. You get 177 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: stuck on what's got to be good. As soon as 178 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: you get into that mindset, you stopped playing, you stop 179 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: having fun. It's okay to make mistakes. It's good to 180 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:23,560 Speaker 1: make mistakes. Matt Worth first encountered Michelle's work when an 181 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: album cover caught his eye. I was introduced to Michelle 182 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: ma Cure's music through eye Chant, one of these records 183 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 1: with an incredible cover Michelle wearing a hat disguising her facade, 184 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: and then on the back of picture of her face 185 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: and she's holding an eyeball in her mouth. It's pretty 186 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 1: hard to pass up a record that has those elements. 187 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: Several years later, my buddies Pete swans And and Jed 188 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 1: Binderman wanted to start a new record label, and that 189 00:15:04,760 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: was the first release that we democratically decided on reissuing. 190 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm I'm, I'm proud that labeled an imprint of Revenge 191 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: called Freedom to Spend was one of several entities with 192 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 1: a new interest in the Shell's back catalog. About three 193 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,200 Speaker 1: years ago, labels all over the world started contacting me 194 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: to re release eye Chant, and I really had no 195 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: clue why. I didn't know that people were starting to 196 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:41,240 Speaker 1: listen to all of this old music, and way back 197 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,320 Speaker 1: when in the eighties, I wasn't sure if anybody was listening. 198 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: I honestly don't know what sparked it, but it was 199 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,760 Speaker 1: one summer I would get a pin and then I 200 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:55,880 Speaker 1: would see, that's weird, somebody wants to re release I Chant. 201 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: About three weeks later, I would get an email, or 202 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,720 Speaker 1: I would get a Facebook message, or I would get 203 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,080 Speaker 1: a Twitter thing as somebody else is asking about it. 204 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: And then Revenge contacted me, and I was like, okay, 205 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: let's talk because I listened to people who are on 206 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 1: the label and they just put out great music. So 207 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,280 Speaker 1: I felt like I was going to be in a 208 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: really good company. With a reimagined cover and liner notes, 209 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: I Chant was reissued and its entirety thirty year after 210 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: the original release. The reaction to the rerelease of I 211 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: Chant was very good. These re releases are meant to 212 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:46,840 Speaker 1: be small runs, they're not meant to just go on 213 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: and on and on. But actually it's sold out very quickly. 214 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: And they made another pressing and that's sold out very quickly. 215 00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: And even before that came out, they were talking to 216 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:04,680 Speaker 1: me about Beside Herself. We naturally gravitated towards her other 217 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: music and asked her if we could compile the music 218 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: of her self released cassettes. They said, we would like 219 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:17,400 Speaker 1: to do an anthology of like all your work, can 220 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: you just put everything together? I thought to myself, I 221 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 1: don't even know where everything is, but I had the 222 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:29,040 Speaker 1: four tapes. I had actually one of each, and then 223 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: I had some dats, and I had bits and pieces 224 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: of things, and then they'd put it together. Assembling the 225 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,560 Speaker 1: collection that would become beside herself posed a series of 226 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:51,800 Speaker 1: technical challenges. A lot of these cassettes were recorded on 227 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:56,760 Speaker 1: consumer grade four track, like a task am, so the 228 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: master tape became usually a consumer grade cassette. Michelle would 229 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:09,159 Speaker 1: use that to duplicate the cassettes. So this master was 230 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 1: being worn over and over and over again, and that's 231 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: what we had to work with. There are some places 232 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: that we just could not work out the warble, and 233 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: it's very much there. Some people will inevitably ask like, well, 234 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,639 Speaker 1: why would you put that on vinyl if it was 235 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:32,320 Speaker 1: clearly intended for tape. That's a really good question. What 236 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: is the value of re contextualizing this music that maybe 237 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: wasn't intended for the format, be it vinyl, streaming, c 238 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: D whatever. The drive for us is translating more to 239 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,919 Speaker 1: the experience than the physical medium. So there's the story. 240 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: There are the winer notes, there are the photos, there 241 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: are the posters. All the ephemeral value collected into this 242 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:01,880 Speaker 1: greater sum, and that for us justifies what would otherwise 243 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 1: have been an extravagant decision by Michelle to press a 244 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: thousand or two thousand double LPs in the eighties. Matt 245 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: and his team curated Beside Herself as a non linear 246 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:19,080 Speaker 1: journey through one decade of Michelle's self released work. I 247 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: let the guys from Revenge put the collection together, and 248 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: then they said, well, we like this batch. What do 249 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,159 Speaker 1: you think? And I'm really glad that I did it 250 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,679 Speaker 1: that way, because there were pieces that I might not 251 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,439 Speaker 1: have included on this. I don't listen back to my 252 00:19:34,440 --> 00:19:38,959 Speaker 1: own music very often, and I feel like I would 253 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: probably censor too much. Some of the music was done 254 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: in the very early eighties, and then some of the 255 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: music was done in the early nineties, so the quality 256 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: got so much better, and also my musicality got more intricate. 257 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,360 Speaker 1: I see the value in how they curated it, and 258 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:19,480 Speaker 1: I'm very pleased with the pieces that they've chosen. The 259 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:23,119 Speaker 1: exposure from these new releases has altered the trajectory of 260 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:29,359 Speaker 1: Michelle's career. Last year, for the first time in thirty years, 261 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:45,200 Speaker 1: I started performing again. It's really all Matt from Revengeance false. 262 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: He said, you know, you really should play live. People 263 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: would really like to hear you play. And I was like, 264 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:53,359 Speaker 1: oh my god, I haven't played live in thirty years. 265 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,640 Speaker 1: But he put that bug in my head. I thought, Okay, well, 266 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,679 Speaker 1: let me take some time to figure out how I 267 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: would do it, because I wasn't really writing music with 268 00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:07,240 Speaker 1: live performance in mind. But I took a series of 269 00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,760 Speaker 1: months and I put the music together in a kind 270 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,120 Speaker 1: of show form, and then I got okay, well, maybe 271 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: I can do this. It was a huge leap of faith. 272 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:19,960 Speaker 1: Really played a very small show in Lancaster, where I live, 273 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: then played my very first show in New York at Roulette, 274 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,959 Speaker 1: and I did a series of shows all over the world, 275 00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: and the rest is history. I really like playing live 276 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,480 Speaker 1: much more now than I did back thirty years ago. 277 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,800 Speaker 1: My equipment is much more stable, so I could really 278 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: get into playing and not worry about whether or not 279 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 1: something was going to go wrong. While working with Revenge, 280 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 1: Michelle has also devised some new plans for the future. 281 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: Since Beside Herself came out, there's a real genuine response 282 00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: to activating that older music and showcasing her new music. 283 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:08,320 Speaker 1: I've played about the old music, and about seventy of 284 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:12,880 Speaker 1: it was current work that hasn't been released yet. I've 285 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: been writing this music for a long time. I just 286 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: kind of keep hoarding it. It's got a concept. It 287 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: has to do with spying during the Cold War. Tell 288 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: types are dead. All we can do now is wait 289 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: the history of the late fifties, sixties, in the seventies, 290 00:22:34,840 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: that time of space rockets and spying. I've changed a lot. 291 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:53,240 Speaker 1: My way of working is different, and I think my 292 00:22:53,280 --> 00:23:00,159 Speaker 1: work is different completely, but the music still feels like me. Ye. 293 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: Back around the time Michelle was getting started on her 294 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: second self release, another tape based artist appeared on the 295 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 1: l a scene introducing the world to a woman of mr. 296 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: How do you like to introduce spread woman if someone's 297 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 1: never heard of her? I wouldn't just play the music. 298 00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: I mean, I think the music says everything. The music 299 00:23:56,640 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: and the character came together and they evolved over a 300 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: long period of time. I'm Anna Hommler. I'm a vocalist 301 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,880 Speaker 1: who evolved from being a performance artist, who evolved from 302 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: being a visual artist. I studied performance art for many 303 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: years with Rachel Rosenthal, and my backgrounds actually an anthropology 304 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 1: that evolution from visual artist singer began suddenly in a 305 00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: form akin to an epiphany. I was driving through Chapangan 306 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: Canyon for the first time, and I just spontaneously started 307 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 1: singing these chants. They weren't in English, but the chance 308 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,439 Speaker 1: seemed very familiar to me, and I recorded them in 309 00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:01,120 Speaker 1: a little cassette player I had with me. These little 310 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: song fragments would come when I was doing dishes. They 311 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:08,120 Speaker 1: were just with me all the time, like sonic wallpaper. 312 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: I taped over whatever cassettes I had and just collected 313 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: them like a good anthropologist. So I had drawers and 314 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: drawers of cassettes with song fragments. The bread Woman language 315 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: had no etymology to it. It was its own free 316 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: form experience, like suddenly she was speaking in tongues. I 317 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,199 Speaker 1: think of it like Hawaiian. You know, twelve letters in 318 00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:46,880 Speaker 1: the alphabet, just a very simple melodic language. I can't 319 00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 1: write it down. I couldn't give you directions to the airport, 320 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 1: but I could describe the flight. I couldn't order pizza, 321 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: but I could describe feeling. We have levels of consciousness, 322 00:26:06,320 --> 00:26:10,199 Speaker 1: We have levels of awareness and levels of being that 323 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:15,879 Speaker 1: are more subtle than just our third dimensional bodies. I 324 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,200 Speaker 1: think if you're in tune with that you find all 325 00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: these different fluctuations within yourself. So for me, the language 326 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: came not from somewhere else, but it came from inside me. 327 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:36,120 Speaker 1: I didn't construct a language. I found a language. Though. 328 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:39,320 Speaker 1: She was taken with inspiration, and I wasn't really sure 329 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: what to do with these songs fragments until she met 330 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:51,120 Speaker 1: composer Steve Mosher. When I met Steve Moser, I played 331 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:58,000 Speaker 1: the fragments for him and he selected the ones that 332 00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:02,400 Speaker 1: he wanted to work with. He was teaching at Fullerton 333 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: College and we would work in the school's studio there 334 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 1: on holidays, so like fourth or July, everyone would be 335 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:16,159 Speaker 1: doing fireworks, we would be working on bread Woman. He 336 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:21,439 Speaker 1: would find background sounds, stretch them out, and arrange the 337 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: chance in an electronic environment. He gave her more presents, 338 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: made her less raw, like she was a jewel. He 339 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,520 Speaker 1: put her in a setting, and I was always annoyed 340 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: with me because I was singing between notes. At that time, 341 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: I didn't think of myself as a singer. I was 342 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: a visual and performance artist. I didn't even know what 343 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: notes were or where they were. So he was a 344 00:27:50,359 --> 00:27:56,800 Speaker 1: great education for me. The music is very minimal produced 345 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: with synthesizer, drum machine, and Anna's vocals, sometimes alone, sometimes doubled. 346 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: It feels ancient and future at the same time, both 347 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:14,600 Speaker 1: alienating and also super attractive. One of those frightening performances 348 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:20,080 Speaker 1: that you gravitate towards. To me, they conjure up different environments, 349 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:29,800 Speaker 1: their atmospheres. Yeah, for Anna, it soon became clear that 350 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:36,040 Speaker 1: alongside the language and music a character was forming, there 351 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: were a lot of different elements that were happening at 352 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: the same time, and eventually I could see that they 353 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: all belonged together. It was like there was a spirit 354 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,880 Speaker 1: or there was a being, and she just needed a body, 355 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 1: and her body was bread. I was looking for a 356 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: bread woman, but I couldn't locate her in Western culture. 357 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:08,400 Speaker 1: Through research, I found corn maidens, I found demeter, I 358 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: found a lot of different myths, but I didn't find 359 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: a bread woman per se. And then I happened to 360 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: read a book called Symposium of the Whole, which was 361 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: kind of anthropoetics, and in it there was an article 362 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: about Alta ringa, the Aboriginal concept of the dreaming. In 363 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 1: the dreaming, ancestors live and the stories and the songs live. 364 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: I thought, oh, bred woman she's in the realm of ancestors, 365 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:49,880 Speaker 1: stories and songs. Then I felt at peace with her. 366 00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: I understood what she was and where she was. I 367 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:59,840 Speaker 1: imagine she's the first and the last of an ancient race, 368 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: and she's an observer of human events who lives in 369 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: the center of the earth. There's no time in her world. 370 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:17,520 Speaker 1: She's timeless and eternal. In the mid eighties, Anna started 371 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:23,960 Speaker 1: performing live as bread Woman. When there's a performance, it's 372 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: more three dimensional, of course, and then you're inviting people 373 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 1: into that realm. We always start the bread Woman performance 374 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:37,320 Speaker 1: outside under a tree with her head covered like she's sleeping, 375 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: and then the very slow revealing of her face. And 376 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,960 Speaker 1: bread Woman's face is made of bread. In the beginning, 377 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: it was bread, but bread gets hard after about three days. 378 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: So bread Woman has had several masks, different puff tacks, 379 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: paper machee to look like bread. And I used to 380 00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: wear like a kind of grandma dress, and it makes 381 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: bread Woman look like a peasant. She wore these masks 382 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: of bread and this garb out in public places in 383 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,720 Speaker 1: l A, performing more or less like a statue. I 384 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: didn't move that much. I would communicate with hand gestures, 385 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 1: and I had flower sifters, so the ground would become 386 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:34,000 Speaker 1: white like snow. Quite a site, I'm sure for anyone 387 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 1: that was walking by. A lot of times people are 388 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: kind of dazed during a dream state, but usually they 389 00:31:55,160 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: get into the mood of it. They go to a 390 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,440 Speaker 1: different place than like three D reality, do you know, 391 00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: Like that's my goal to move people. The world is 392 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 1: built on resonance, frequencies, vibration, sound waves. It's all about 393 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: what you resonate with, what nourishes you. And that's what 394 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 1: I've always thought about the Bread music in the Bread 395 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,240 Speaker 1: language is that it's very authentic and it's very nourishing, 396 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: and that's why people connect to it. It's not from 397 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 1: your left brain, it's from your intuition. The recorded collaboration 398 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: with Steve Mosher was ready for release. Eventually we had 399 00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:53,960 Speaker 1: five songs that we released on cassette, and a self 400 00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:58,880 Speaker 1: manufactured those cassettes and then sent them through a small 401 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:02,720 Speaker 1: distribution service. This is pretty common for a lot of 402 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 1: underground artists at the time, but you're probably not producing 403 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:12,400 Speaker 1: more than two hundred cassettes. The network was to other musicians, certainly, 404 00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:16,920 Speaker 1: and then if you were lucky, a magazine or two 405 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: would write about it. One outlet for the bread Woman cassette. 406 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 1: This high performance magazine. High Performance was the bedrock of 407 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:33,360 Speaker 1: performance art. I believe it's the collector's item. Now. There 408 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:39,360 Speaker 1: were critical reviews. Performance artists would write articles. A couple 409 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:44,200 Speaker 1: of times they did series of sound works by performance artists, 410 00:33:44,920 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 1: and we were on the second series. Radio play at 411 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:54,080 Speaker 1: that time in l A was more experimental. I can 412 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 1: tell we're live on the air here at casey RM, 413 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: Santa Monica. So we were played on case R job 414 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:04,640 Speaker 1: you kpf K Listens KPFK Listener sponsored Parcific, the radio 415 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 1: for all of southern California, Angela. I mean we were 416 00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:20,160 Speaker 1: part of a subculture. Yeah. Bred Woman marked the beginning 417 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,240 Speaker 1: of Anna's music career, which opened a whole new world 418 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:29,239 Speaker 1: for her creativity. In nine I went to Europe with 419 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:33,880 Speaker 1: David Moss and a project called Direct Sound, which was 420 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,200 Speaker 1: four or five vocalists and we just used our voices. 421 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 1: And I'm always singing in bread language. I mean, I 422 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: don't sing in English. As I toured Europe, I would 423 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:53,440 Speaker 1: meet people. When Germany there was one project called Sugar 424 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:59,120 Speaker 1: Connection with Frank Salty and Axel Auto. We would be 425 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 1: installation all three tables in the center of the room, 426 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: the three of us with electronics and toys, and we 427 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: have a release on No Man's Land called Sugar Connection 428 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:29,880 Speaker 1: Plays Alien Cakes Good. Then I worked with Garrett Wegman, 429 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:38,080 Speaker 1: a Belgian violinist and producer. It was called Macaronic Signs 430 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: and that guy, mutual friend was starting a label called Lowlands, 431 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:48,399 Speaker 1: which became this huge label in Antwerp, and we were 432 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:55,319 Speaker 1: one of his first releases, Undated Guy. And then we 433 00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:59,320 Speaker 1: played at the Victi Festival and they released a CD 434 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 1: of our lives performance called corn Devache Accords to the Cow. 435 00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,280 Speaker 1: In two thousand and eleven, I worked with Sylvia Hallett 436 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,920 Speaker 1: in London and we did a project called Bread and 437 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: Shed because I'm bread woman and Sylvia built a shed, 438 00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: so her partner called her shed Woman. Meanwhile, I've worked 439 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: for many years with a kind of mad English producer 440 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:41,800 Speaker 1: called Pylon King, and our project is the Voices of Pawn. 441 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:50,200 Speaker 1: Every release is really different. There's some that are really 442 00:36:50,320 --> 00:37:01,560 Speaker 1: high tag, there's some low tech. I mean, we recorded 443 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: one in a trash dune in a forest. And in 444 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,400 Speaker 1: March is a release called Lose a sul Blue Light. 445 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:25,680 Speaker 1: This is shamanic and crazy. The liner notes say it's 446 00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:35,320 Speaker 1: like a Gumby adventure in outer space. So since bread Woman, 447 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: I've worked on a lot of different projects with great people, 448 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:45,880 Speaker 1: but none of the labels have the stature of revenge. 449 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: Thirty years after the bread Woman cassette was released, Matt 450 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 1: came across a copy at an art show my friend 451 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 1: Justin Luke at his gallery called a B a Use, 452 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:05,640 Speaker 1: a full fledged recreation installation of Ken Montgomery's East Village 453 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:10,799 Speaker 1: record store Generation Records. The bread Woman tape was on 454 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:15,280 Speaker 1: the wall and I distinctly remember gravitating toward it because 455 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:18,120 Speaker 1: there is a picture of a woman with a loaf 456 00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:22,360 Speaker 1: of bread on her head on the cover. Musically it 457 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:26,080 Speaker 1: reflected a lot of what I was digging into in 458 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:30,000 Speaker 1: terms of minimal synthesizer music, and then the vocals were 459 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:40,719 Speaker 1: just undeniable, such a huge force in those recordings. So 460 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: I emailed Anna. He sent me an email, Oh, I 461 00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:46,919 Speaker 1: really loved bread Woman, And then maybe two emails later 462 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:49,799 Speaker 1: he said, oh, I have a label, would you be 463 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: interested in having bread Woman reached a new audience. It 464 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,919 Speaker 1: wasn't like she just walked away from music. She had 465 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:01,399 Speaker 1: another three decades of playing music between the bread Woman 466 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:04,879 Speaker 1: cassette and when the collection came out, But she had 467 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:09,240 Speaker 1: hung up the bread mask, so to speak, bread Woman. 468 00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,880 Speaker 1: After she was the cassette, she went to sleep for 469 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: thirty five years, and then Revenge woke her up. Matt 470 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,279 Speaker 1: and Company put together a collection of Anna's material that 471 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: included the entire bread Woman tape and more. The title 472 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,400 Speaker 1: is bread Woman and Other Tales. It's a compilation of 473 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: the work I did with Steve Mosher. The other Tales 474 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 1: came from another project Steve and I did called a 475 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:46,680 Speaker 1: Liquium and See. It was an underwater sound poem about 476 00:39:46,719 --> 00:39:54,800 Speaker 1: the disillusion of language and the stages of alchemy. Revenge 477 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:59,840 Speaker 1: released bread Woman and Other Tales three decades after the 478 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:05,719 Speaker 1: original cassette. It was super cool to see the music activated, 479 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: of course, but then because there is a renewed interest 480 00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:14,080 Speaker 1: in the character, we got to see bred Woman in 481 00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:27,720 Speaker 1: the flesh, in the dough on stages. Touring with bred 482 00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:32,640 Speaker 1: Woman has been a real learning experience these days, there's 483 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:37,040 Speaker 1: a dancer being bred Woman. I'm on stage, but I'm 484 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: the soundtrack. Now I'm singing. I'm actually a very shy person, 485 00:40:45,040 --> 00:40:47,480 Speaker 1: and to take the mask off and just being me, 486 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 1: Anna Hommler singing. It was a huge deal for me 487 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:58,200 Speaker 1: across the board and a music is having a moment 488 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:02,760 Speaker 1: right now. I finally releasing my songs into the world, 489 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,279 Speaker 1: and that's so thrilling for me. I guess you would 490 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 1: say my back catalog is finally seeing the light. Bread 491 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:18,279 Speaker 1: Woman was thirty five years later, right and los Azul 492 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,120 Speaker 1: was recorded in two thousand and eight. Last year, a 493 00:41:22,239 --> 00:41:26,919 Speaker 1: Swiss label put out very ambient Things of Mine. Then 494 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,239 Speaker 1: Knock on Wood, the voices of Kuan will be releasing 495 00:41:30,360 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: something which is called Who I Used to Be. All 496 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,800 Speaker 1: these things have taken years to come out. That seems 497 00:41:38,840 --> 00:41:46,200 Speaker 1: to be my fate. A lot has come to me 498 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,080 Speaker 1: because of Bred Woman, and there's so much that could 499 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 1: happen with her. I would love to do a children's story. 500 00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:56,600 Speaker 1: I love to animate her. I'm so grateful to Matt 501 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:08,480 Speaker 1: and Revenge. I really am. It was disasise. It was 502 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:22,720 Speaker 1: it was. It was in the way Michelle and Anna's 503 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:27,359 Speaker 1: cannons were reactivated with archival releases. Revenge was to set 504 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:31,040 Speaker 1: their sights on an artist whose music, like the creator herself, 505 00:42:31,640 --> 00:42:48,320 Speaker 1: seemed to exist outside of time. I'm Paulina and the 506 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: Strong transplanea consort. I'm a reggae master feature, I do 507 00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:59,000 Speaker 1: some spiritual counseling, and I'm a voracious reader. I listen 508 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:03,880 Speaker 1: auto that kind of thing because I'm totally blind. The 509 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:06,239 Speaker 1: other thing you need to know about Paula is that 510 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:11,120 Speaker 1: she cohabitates with two iguanas. Of course, I had my animals, 511 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 1: which I'm sure you've heard of. Little Solstice is a 512 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:20,360 Speaker 1: saclora Newbilla Newbilla common name Cuban rock iguana. Then I 513 00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:24,960 Speaker 1: have missed hus. She's an Australian blue tone. I carry 514 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: her around like a baby so style, like, oh, this 515 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:34,840 Speaker 1: woman is carrying me around me. It's embarrassing. And I 516 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,560 Speaker 1: look at my animals as dinosaurs. I tell her the 517 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: big dinosaurs were her ancestors. The species have just shrieked 518 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 1: over time. They really love dinosaurs, baby dinosaurs. Paula grew 519 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:58,080 Speaker 1: up in Alabama and moved to California in the late sixties. 520 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:03,160 Speaker 1: She set than this apartment in the Tenderloin district that 521 00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: she lives into this very day. By the mid seventies, 522 00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,880 Speaker 1: on terrestrial radio in San Francisco, there were some seminal 523 00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:13,760 Speaker 1: radio shows like Hearts of Space music from the Hearts 524 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:18,279 Speaker 1: of Space, playing free form, largely instrumental music, will be 525 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:21,319 Speaker 1: hearing selections from some great albums from the early days 526 00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:26,080 Speaker 1: of electronics space music. She really found this solace beamed 527 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:35,120 Speaker 1: to her from the radio airwaves. I always listened to 528 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:38,200 Speaker 1: a lot of classical music, and then I listened to 529 00:44:38,239 --> 00:44:45,120 Speaker 1: a lot of Claus Schultz, Can Dream Dream and Angela Brian. 530 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:49,000 Speaker 1: You know, you could listen to all of those things 531 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:52,040 Speaker 1: and they could be present time or they could be 532 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 1: five back. Of the music itself is timeless, Carl. Even 533 00:44:59,760 --> 00:45:05,279 Speaker 1: his early work like Earl, was always timeless. Do you 534 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 1: have classical training or some sort of formal musical training. No, 535 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: all just by ear and by touch. Yeah, you know, 536 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:17,879 Speaker 1: I just listened to a lot and I like pretty stuff, yes, 537 00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:22,359 Speaker 1: but I'd like to range through experimental stuff a lot, 538 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:30,399 Speaker 1: even environmental landscapes through town. She became super obsessed with 539 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:35,640 Speaker 1: making her own version of that music, became a total gearhead, 540 00:45:36,080 --> 00:45:40,920 Speaker 1: collecting wild synthesizers in her apartment and set up a 541 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 1: pretty legitimate studio. I really fell in love with creativity 542 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: when I was able to get to synthesize. I'm not 543 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:54,279 Speaker 1: an acoustive. I don't want to piano or harp, but 544 00:45:54,400 --> 00:45:59,600 Speaker 1: give me the electronic machinery any day. When did you 545 00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:03,040 Speaker 1: first come in contact with your first synthesizer? Oh god, 546 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:06,799 Speaker 1: um end of the seventies, early eighties, and it was 547 00:46:06,840 --> 00:46:10,920 Speaker 1: just like love it, yes, yes, oh yes, the prophet Tien. 548 00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:20,120 Speaker 1: It was my first love. All the programmability in it, 549 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,439 Speaker 1: it's not much compared to now, but then I thought 550 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:29,400 Speaker 1: it was incredible and then came to be at seven. 551 00:46:30,400 --> 00:46:33,880 Speaker 1: It's that terriers. They took a program and create sounds 552 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:40,760 Speaker 1: from way forms. And I had an emulator, so you kids, 553 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:44,719 Speaker 1: sample was telling Jane sex and think he's five and 554 00:46:44,760 --> 00:46:51,560 Speaker 1: a quarter disks, But it was just another component, you know, 555 00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:57,279 Speaker 1: another way to do things. The perfect machine to me 556 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:01,040 Speaker 1: would be digital, but it would combine ree element in 557 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:06,640 Speaker 1: one box with a speech program that would tell me everything. 558 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:10,080 Speaker 1: A sharp attack, so things that were in the display, 559 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:11,799 Speaker 1: I could punch your button in and tell me what 560 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,560 Speaker 1: it said. And the slower decay. All of that would 561 00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:20,080 Speaker 1: be the green machine, not like you would do on 562 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,640 Speaker 1: a computer with what do you guys use garage band? 563 00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 1: If I've heard of that. All kind of software like that, 564 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:30,920 Speaker 1: that's what seemed boring has held to me. I make 565 00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:34,279 Speaker 1: sequencers and effects units and all that work for me 566 00:47:34,719 --> 00:47:38,280 Speaker 1: and make them part of a composition, making it create 567 00:47:38,320 --> 00:47:43,640 Speaker 1: inter rules, making its play creative parts. A marriage between 568 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:49,919 Speaker 1: the humans and the machinery. Because you give the machine light, 569 00:47:51,960 --> 00:47:58,200 Speaker 1: the creativity to translate visual into audience, to evolve sounds 570 00:47:58,239 --> 00:48:03,360 Speaker 1: that you never even heard it out before. The creative 571 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:07,359 Speaker 1: building blocks of these pieces seems simply to flow through Paul. 572 00:48:08,760 --> 00:48:12,799 Speaker 1: Sometimes it starts with just a stamp, and sometimes it's 573 00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:16,000 Speaker 1: just something I want to translate into sounds that in 574 00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:20,880 Speaker 1: my head, A concept of thought, an image and idea. 575 00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,320 Speaker 1: This in my head? Now, how did I get that? Intense? 576 00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:27,880 Speaker 1: And I'll keep playing with things until I get it 577 00:48:27,920 --> 00:48:34,600 Speaker 1: to come alive. Let's say something simple. I create the 578 00:48:34,680 --> 00:48:43,040 Speaker 1: sound of water. There's a piece called rain on ancient Keys. 579 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:48,120 Speaker 1: I've created the drops of water on the the ex 580 00:48:50,480 --> 00:48:53,960 Speaker 1: just by playing around with the waveforms and everything until 581 00:48:53,960 --> 00:49:00,920 Speaker 1: I got exactly what I wanted. Of an engineer, I'm 582 00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:03,319 Speaker 1: not gonna tell you I did this with this way 583 00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:05,560 Speaker 1: form where this carrier or something like that that was 584 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,399 Speaker 1: DC access on mind with. I know what these things are. 585 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:14,120 Speaker 1: But when I start creating something. I don't know what 586 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:19,600 Speaker 1: they are. I just make it happen. You can sample, 587 00:49:20,400 --> 00:49:23,719 Speaker 1: and sampling has its place, but the challenge and the 588 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:28,720 Speaker 1: creativity is to manipulate all of that and create something 589 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:32,640 Speaker 1: totally new or that you have in your head. Son, 590 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:41,360 Speaker 1: it be part of you. In the early eighties, Pulla 591 00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:45,319 Speaker 1: began to commit her music to tape. Way back then. 592 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:51,640 Speaker 1: It was at Porter Studio Fortras and I hate tape, No, 593 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,279 Speaker 1: thank you. You'd have to overdub so much. You play 594 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,400 Speaker 1: it back and it wasn't quite what you wanted, and 595 00:49:57,440 --> 00:50:00,800 Speaker 1: you gotta remember, I can't see all the meters. Uh. 596 00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:03,440 Speaker 1: It was such a chore. That was the part I 597 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:07,800 Speaker 1: never liked, really, especially as I've evolved over the years. 598 00:50:08,160 --> 00:50:11,200 Speaker 1: I don't like to record track by track. I hate that. 599 00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:13,919 Speaker 1: I want to do it all at once, have all 600 00:50:13,920 --> 00:50:21,000 Speaker 1: the sounds working together at the same time. I record 601 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:24,880 Speaker 1: as I'm working, and when I finally have tweaked everything 602 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:27,799 Speaker 1: to get the setup that I want, I don't know 603 00:50:28,040 --> 00:50:30,560 Speaker 1: what my fingers are going to do, what they're going 604 00:50:30,640 --> 00:50:34,680 Speaker 1: to play on the keyboard. I didn't do it. If 605 00:50:34,719 --> 00:50:38,480 Speaker 1: it feels right, my dress record whatever comes out of 606 00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:41,680 Speaker 1: me and the machine it just recorded in that moment 607 00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 1: in time. I don't remember what I play. I don't practice, 608 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:53,400 Speaker 1: I couldn't replay anything. I just sit and create. The 609 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:55,960 Speaker 1: truth of it is. I wonder how much of it 610 00:50:56,040 --> 00:51:01,680 Speaker 1: is channeling. When you're in that creative space, time just 611 00:51:01,719 --> 00:51:06,759 Speaker 1: sort of stands still. I don't get tired, and it's 612 00:51:06,760 --> 00:51:12,760 Speaker 1: the morning before you know it. Like Michelle, like Anna, 613 00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:18,080 Speaker 1: she also self manufactured her first albums and had a 614 00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:22,520 Speaker 1: little help with distribution. I'm a creator, a composer. I'm 615 00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:26,120 Speaker 1: not a business person. If somebody wasn't putting it out there, 616 00:51:26,120 --> 00:51:30,600 Speaker 1: it probably would never get there. Paula's debut record came 617 00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:37,719 Speaker 1: out in the first thing was the Transpora Consort album. 618 00:51:37,760 --> 00:51:43,120 Speaker 1: It was vinyl. Years later, it would be that album 619 00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:48,920 Speaker 1: cover that would catch Matt's attention. Her first album has 620 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:54,319 Speaker 1: this surrealistic kind of measure. It's eyeball floating in this 621 00:51:54,520 --> 00:52:01,839 Speaker 1: cloud globe with this rainbow prism surrounding it. The back 622 00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:06,359 Speaker 1: cover features an abstract picture of Paula looking or not 623 00:52:06,480 --> 00:52:13,120 Speaker 1: looking wistfully into some sort of distance. That quality of 624 00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:17,960 Speaker 1: timelessness that Paula admires is reflected in this title, trans 625 00:52:18,040 --> 00:52:24,200 Speaker 1: Millennial Consort. It means companion to time, like a consort 626 00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:30,520 Speaker 1: male or female. Trans millennia, meaning it's been all millennia. 627 00:52:32,040 --> 00:52:36,520 Speaker 1: It's what I really am. I feel out of place 628 00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:39,920 Speaker 1: in the modern world. I live more in the past 629 00:52:39,960 --> 00:52:43,959 Speaker 1: than in the far future than an actual modern present time, 630 00:52:45,400 --> 00:52:47,719 Speaker 1: even though I like my conveniences onthing held to mean 631 00:52:47,719 --> 00:52:54,040 Speaker 1: the electricity and water. Okay, that's fine. She then manufactured 632 00:52:54,040 --> 00:52:56,800 Speaker 1: a run of cassettes at the end of the eighties. 633 00:52:58,400 --> 00:53:13,080 Speaker 1: There's a Japanese questions aquatic realms, a lot of pieces 634 00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:21,120 Speaker 1: on their underwater pieces, some music, some strictly underwater duds, 635 00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:28,040 Speaker 1: and every sound on their every one of them was 636 00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:31,120 Speaker 1: done on the prophet. I don't know how I got 637 00:53:31,160 --> 00:53:33,879 Speaker 1: them out there, but I love where they came out. 638 00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,920 Speaker 1: And then there was a Moorish Project, which was a 639 00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:54,520 Speaker 1: melding of Spanish and Arabian influence. And then there was 640 00:53:54,600 --> 00:54:04,760 Speaker 1: Airport's Visions which was spacey kind of stuff m h. 641 00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:08,840 Speaker 1: And there was Plot zero that was another vinyl that 642 00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:21,200 Speaker 1: was a mine trip without chemicals and Spectrum Spectra was 643 00:54:22,000 --> 00:54:26,080 Speaker 1: related to the Vampire Legends in kind of a dark sound. 644 00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:38,840 Speaker 1: The four cassettes we just went to flea markets. Is 645 00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:40,840 Speaker 1: that kind of thing and set up a table and 646 00:54:41,160 --> 00:54:43,560 Speaker 1: a boom box and played my music and people bought 647 00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:54,080 Speaker 1: it as long as it lasted for a lot of people, 648 00:54:54,440 --> 00:54:58,400 Speaker 1: myself included the spirit and Paula's music speaks to something 649 00:54:58,480 --> 00:55:04,840 Speaker 1: deep trans center. It's fludy how you can listen to 650 00:55:04,880 --> 00:55:07,440 Speaker 1: a piece of music regardless of what project that was in, 651 00:55:08,200 --> 00:55:11,680 Speaker 1: and the different interpretations that you can get over time. 652 00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:18,279 Speaker 1: There is a piece called ice Chips, and it's like 653 00:55:18,440 --> 00:55:22,120 Speaker 1: what I envisioned if you wouldn't be chipping away in 654 00:55:22,200 --> 00:55:26,480 Speaker 1: a block of ice with an apt the chips falling 655 00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:29,440 Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. The friend told me when 656 00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:31,920 Speaker 1: he listened to that he could feel it in his chest. 657 00:55:39,520 --> 00:55:46,080 Speaker 1: The frequencies, the sounds and the mood and everything that 658 00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:52,560 Speaker 1: you create. It's a language, like the God are the 659 00:55:52,640 --> 00:55:59,520 Speaker 1: all all these frequencies are in language. You can feel 660 00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:04,040 Speaker 1: them and your body and they affect heally and it 661 00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:25,200 Speaker 1: affects the emotion. This is just me positing something here, 662 00:56:25,239 --> 00:56:27,160 Speaker 1: but maybe that's sort of why you know it when 663 00:56:27,160 --> 00:56:31,120 Speaker 1: you hear it. Yes, that's a perfect statement. Yes you 664 00:56:31,280 --> 00:56:38,160 Speaker 1: got it. Yes, Yes, what were you up to between 665 00:56:38,920 --> 00:56:43,719 Speaker 1: a lot of drama? I have read that you know 666 00:56:44,000 --> 00:56:48,880 Speaker 1: like you sold your synthesizers. I think, right, yeah, I 667 00:56:48,920 --> 00:56:51,359 Speaker 1: have to imagine that that. I mean, that was unfortunate 668 00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,319 Speaker 1: for you, certainly unfortunate for your audience as well. It 669 00:56:54,360 --> 00:57:04,879 Speaker 1: comes down to survival. In those intervening years, Paula's music 670 00:57:04,920 --> 00:57:08,240 Speaker 1: maintained a following, even as physical copies of her work 671 00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:13,439 Speaker 1: became incredibly rare. There was a fan base out there, 672 00:57:13,880 --> 00:57:16,960 Speaker 1: kind of like a cult of Paula, even though those 673 00:57:17,000 --> 00:57:22,000 Speaker 1: albums are completely impossible to find. Paula also didn't save 674 00:57:22,040 --> 00:57:26,280 Speaker 1: any masters. All of them were gone. I mean, we 675 00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:31,240 Speaker 1: told them all. Matt took it upon himself to get 676 00:57:31,240 --> 00:57:37,600 Speaker 1: this music back into the light. I first reached out 677 00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:42,640 Speaker 1: to Paula years and years ago. She does not use computers. 678 00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:45,640 Speaker 1: I'm not a computer person at all. No social media 679 00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:49,960 Speaker 1: this w I can't even remember who gave me her number, 680 00:57:50,200 --> 00:57:57,240 Speaker 1: but that's how I had to find her. I started calling, 681 00:57:57,880 --> 00:58:02,560 Speaker 1: sometimes getting her automated voicemail. This is Reverend Paula energy 682 00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:06,880 Speaker 1: healing spiritual counselor and Ricky Master Chick, which also doubled 683 00:58:06,880 --> 00:58:12,120 Speaker 1: as her raiky practice outgoing message. I specialize in distance 684 00:58:12,200 --> 00:58:17,560 Speaker 1: healing spiritual counseling with the spice of coming sin, and 685 00:58:17,760 --> 00:58:22,160 Speaker 1: I strive to teach people to be their own highest authority. 686 00:58:22,520 --> 00:58:25,520 Speaker 1: She invites you to her world of healing, which was 687 00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,240 Speaker 1: already a beagon for me to go further. You earn 688 00:58:28,400 --> 00:58:32,480 Speaker 1: charge of your freedom and your life, and you are 689 00:58:32,560 --> 00:58:39,440 Speaker 1: connected to the God of your heart. Thank you, answered 690 00:58:39,480 --> 00:58:44,320 Speaker 1: the phone, Paula. Yes, well, this is not not who. 691 00:58:47,160 --> 00:58:50,200 Speaker 1: We started talking from that on and he wanted to 692 00:58:50,440 --> 00:58:55,360 Speaker 1: do as a compilation. That's how we connected. She was 693 00:58:55,560 --> 00:59:00,640 Speaker 1: reluctant about revisiting that music, but the roll of getting 694 00:59:00,640 --> 00:59:02,680 Speaker 1: to speak with her was good enough for me at 695 00:59:02,720 --> 00:59:08,600 Speaker 1: the time. We just became phone friends. That's decent, that's good. 696 00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:13,600 Speaker 1: He's honest. There was kind of a dip in communication 697 00:59:13,720 --> 00:59:18,880 Speaker 1: for a good two years. I just remember walking home 698 00:59:19,080 --> 00:59:21,520 Speaker 1: one day and her music coming back to me in 699 00:59:21,520 --> 00:59:25,160 Speaker 1: this great wave, calling her and just being like, Paula, 700 00:59:25,280 --> 00:59:27,280 Speaker 1: it's Matt. We haven't talked for a while, but we 701 00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:32,000 Speaker 1: really really should revisit that music. She was like, let's 702 00:59:32,040 --> 00:59:35,840 Speaker 1: do this. I'm so ready right now. Timing was right, 703 00:59:35,920 --> 00:59:39,800 Speaker 1: she was in the same headplace. Thus began that process 704 00:59:39,880 --> 00:59:44,440 Speaker 1: of going through her archives. How did you feel about 705 00:59:44,520 --> 00:59:48,800 Speaker 1: putting this music back out I'm feel good about it. 706 00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:58,960 Speaker 1: I really did. Transmillennium music, a compilation of Paula's full 707 00:59:58,960 --> 01:00:06,720 Speaker 1: discography was released by Rift Again. We wanted to re 708 01:00:06,880 --> 01:00:11,520 Speaker 1: contextualize her entire story by spanning all of her music 709 01:00:11,680 --> 01:00:15,040 Speaker 1: and by creating the narrative in the liner notes and 710 01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,720 Speaker 1: the photos and the artwork. So that was a collection 711 01:00:18,800 --> 01:00:23,400 Speaker 1: of her three albums that she commercially released that actually 712 01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:28,160 Speaker 1: ended up on vinyl, and then the four cassettes. Even 713 01:00:28,160 --> 01:00:31,439 Speaker 1: though there are a lot of Paula purists out there, 714 01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:36,440 Speaker 1: we just felt that there was a need for kind 715 01:00:36,440 --> 01:00:42,720 Speaker 1: of like a primer of Paula's music. Like Michelle and 716 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:47,760 Speaker 1: Anna Revengers involvement shifted Paula's path as an artist. She 717 01:00:47,800 --> 01:00:50,800 Speaker 1: started to recognize more and more that there was an 718 01:00:50,840 --> 01:00:55,200 Speaker 1: audience for her music, and she does not want that 719 01:00:55,280 --> 01:00:58,680 Speaker 1: to be the only body of music representing her creativity. 720 01:00:59,560 --> 01:01:02,120 Speaker 1: She really wants to focus on making new music, not 721 01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:06,720 Speaker 1: dwell on the past. The Revenge released coincided with an 722 01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:10,520 Speaker 1: important development. For the first time in the New Millennium, 723 01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:24,320 Speaker 1: Pauline Anna Strong had synthesizers again had recently got the 724 01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:27,200 Speaker 1: core of Cross and the Novations. It's the beginning of 725 01:01:27,400 --> 01:01:30,600 Speaker 1: him redoing the compilation. Then it got me in the mood, 726 01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:33,720 Speaker 1: and because we got these pieces of equipment for me, 727 01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:46,080 Speaker 1: I wanted to do music again. The new album will 728 01:01:46,160 --> 01:01:50,000 Speaker 1: be out, I think in February, Angel Tears in Sunlight. 729 01:01:51,240 --> 01:01:53,440 Speaker 1: I didn't come up with the title until it was 730 01:01:53,480 --> 01:01:56,600 Speaker 1: all done, until I listened to all my pieces together. 731 01:02:05,000 --> 01:02:10,479 Speaker 1: There's a piece on the new album tropical Rainforest, but's 732 01:02:10,480 --> 01:02:13,960 Speaker 1: go like wind, it's got like some water, it's got 733 01:02:14,240 --> 01:02:19,440 Speaker 1: birds at just twisted sounds. Until I got exactly this 734 01:02:19,520 --> 01:02:23,600 Speaker 1: whole montage of what the rainforest should be in my interpretation. 735 01:02:28,720 --> 01:02:39,040 Speaker 1: H m hm. With this totally new album, this is 736 01:02:39,080 --> 01:02:44,480 Speaker 1: a new need. I haven't dramatically changed, but it's become 737 01:02:44,560 --> 01:03:04,040 Speaker 1: more sophisticated Noway, it's like I'm in another phase of life. 738 01:03:06,800 --> 01:03:08,560 Speaker 1: Was there maybe also a way that it felt like 739 01:03:09,360 --> 01:03:12,680 Speaker 1: like coming home, reconnecting with with this medium that you 740 01:03:13,320 --> 01:03:18,320 Speaker 1: lost or hadn't hadn't been with in a long time. Yes, Yes, 741 01:03:19,720 --> 01:03:21,560 Speaker 1: And I know I've got a lot more to do. 742 01:03:22,920 --> 01:03:26,160 Speaker 1: My life is my music, and it's a brand new life. 743 01:03:26,200 --> 01:03:28,040 Speaker 1: That's why I've got to live to be well over 744 01:03:28,080 --> 01:03:42,920 Speaker 1: a hundred. I've got so much more to do. I 745 01:03:42,960 --> 01:03:46,000 Speaker 1: don't know what the next music project will be, but 746 01:03:46,080 --> 01:03:48,720 Speaker 1: I'm going to be working on it. I don't know 747 01:03:48,760 --> 01:03:51,320 Speaker 1: why I say this, but I think in a way, 748 01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:55,080 Speaker 1: there's going to come a time when Little Solstice will 749 01:03:55,120 --> 01:04:02,880 Speaker 1: influence a lot of it. At least one project. Imagination 750 01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:06,200 Speaker 1: is the key to all this kind of stuff, and 751 01:04:06,360 --> 01:04:12,160 Speaker 1: one saying seeds on another and another and another. I 752 01:04:12,280 --> 01:04:15,840 Speaker 1: just want my mind, my soul to take me into 753 01:04:15,880 --> 01:04:21,240 Speaker 1: what I need to get those things into reality. That's 754 01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:33,080 Speaker 1: why I say this is an endless project. Angel Tears 755 01:04:33,120 --> 01:04:39,280 Speaker 1: in Sunlight debuted on the Revenge label in February. Unfortunately, 756 01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:44,480 Speaker 1: her first work in thirty years was released posthumously. Paula 757 01:04:44,480 --> 01:04:47,560 Speaker 1: passed away last fall, about a month after we talked 758 01:04:48,880 --> 01:04:52,720 Speaker 1: for Matt her ever growing network of fans and countless 759 01:04:52,720 --> 01:04:56,240 Speaker 1: souls that her light touched. It has been a devastating blow. 760 01:04:57,920 --> 01:05:01,520 Speaker 1: The Iguanas Little Solstice and ms Huff are safe in 761 01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:07,080 Speaker 1: being cared for. Through her music, Paula's spirit lives on 762 01:05:07,960 --> 01:05:41,240 Speaker 1: a companion across time and space. Ephemeral is written and 763 01:05:41,280 --> 01:05:45,840 Speaker 1: assembled by Alexander Williams and produced by Any Reese, Matt Frederick, 764 01:05:46,080 --> 01:05:50,360 Speaker 1: and Tristi McNeil. With additional mixing from Josh Thing and 765 01:05:50,440 --> 01:05:54,720 Speaker 1: special thanks this episode to Matthew Michaels, Alexis Birth Alone, 766 01:05:55,200 --> 01:06:00,440 Speaker 1: Daniel Goodman, Sama, Joe Concilia and met Worth. Find all 767 01:06:00,440 --> 01:06:05,960 Speaker 1: this magnificent music from Michelle Mercure, AA Hammler, Pauline Anastrong 768 01:06:06,600 --> 01:06:10,160 Speaker 1: and the rest of the Revenge catalog online that I 769 01:06:10,280 --> 01:06:13,840 Speaker 1: get r v G dot com and hear more from 770 01:06:13,920 --> 01:06:43,920 Speaker 1: us over at ephemeral dot Show. Next time on it 771 01:06:44,040 --> 01:06:47,080 Speaker 1: was just in a plane sleeve, inside a plane cardboard sleeve. 772 01:06:47,960 --> 01:06:51,040 Speaker 1: It looked like something that was home produced. Well, it 773 01:06:51,120 --> 01:06:53,440 Speaker 1: says on it is musical memories of Camper and Avin. 774 01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:56,120 Speaker 1: Part one is on the front side and part two 775 01:06:56,160 --> 01:06:59,000 Speaker 1: is listening on the back. And then it's a simple 776 01:06:59,080 --> 01:07:03,640 Speaker 1: recording service. Why Amanda, Wisconsin. If I saw a record 777 01:07:03,760 --> 01:07:07,680 Speaker 1: like that anywhere, I would snatch it immediately, like, well, 778 01:07:07,720 --> 01:07:17,200 Speaker 1: what is this? Support Ephemeral by recommending an episode, leaving 779 01:07:17,200 --> 01:07:20,439 Speaker 1: a review, or dropping us a line at Ephemeral Show. 780 01:07:21,240 --> 01:07:23,960 Speaker 1: The more podcast from my Heart Radio, visit the I 781 01:07:24,080 --> 01:07:27,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 782 01:07:27,880 --> 01:07:33,480 Speaker 1: your favorite shows and learn more at Ephemeral dot Show.