In Conversation: Stimming & David August Chat Ahead Of WYS! This Sunday

With WetYourSelf's Bank Holiday party this Easter weekend (6th April), we caught up with two of their guests, Hamburg's formidable talent, Stimming and the critically acclaimed David August (both of whom will perform live in Room One). Offering to record themselves over a Skype chat one evening, their conversation starts as standard DJ banter but it quickly becomes a thought-provoking piece as the pair discuss both the conventions of electronic music and their thoughts and motivations behind muses in production... David August: Do you sleep in pyjamas? Stimming: Come on man, now you're just taking the easy road...Let's put such questions at the end in case we don't discuss anything meaningful. Unless, do you really want to know? Because obviously I sleep naked, just as God created me. D: Don't worry, I will be a nerd throughout the interview but this is a question that is really stuck in my head. S: No, I mean that wasn't a suggestion, more like an appeal - otherwise I don't really feel like doing this. D: Ok, whatever, but I am seriously interested and I do find it amusing. Besides, you'd be revealing personal information that says something about you. Moving on then...do you believe in fate? S: Why would sleeping in my pyjamas or not say something about personality? Do I anticipate being surprised by a stranger while I sleep so dress accordingly? Does it show how much trust I put into our world? Is my blanket warm enough? Regarding fate, yes I do believe in fate but not fatalistically (such as Islam, for example), just a little voluntarily such as atheists do, so somewhere in between I guess. Fate sometimes deals you a nice hand but I think it's up to you if you want to play your cards right. I believe in God but I also believe he mostly tries to stay out of our stuff in order not to mess with our own liberty. There's this old saying "heaven helps those who help themselves" - that pretty much nails it for me.

"I am pretty sure Beethoven's jaw would drop and question marks would appear on his face if he went to an Amon Tobin concert" - David August

How do you feel about housekeeping? Does it require much effort from you or do you see it as an escape from all the noise of the world that we live in? D: Regarding house work, it does take a lot of effort for me to get round to it if I have a busy schedule laid out for the rest of the day. At times like these, I do feel it's just a waste of my time. Although, when I am in a calm phase, away from all the music, emails, travelling and so on this is the type of thing that sends you back to normality - it keeps you grounded and brings a little tranquillity back into your life. S: Reality TV shows and celebrities like Kim Kardashian have lowered our standard and expectations when it comes to entertainment and I think the same thing has happened to electronic music and its artists. Consider classical composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Bach and the way they played with timbres and took interrelation to extremes. Now consider the music of today - if I hear one Moog bass organ sound (just one, static key note that does not evolve, let's say), I find myself asking whether or not this is true music or if it is at all relevant let along if it holds any sort of longevity. Do you think this represents how we as a society are becoming less smart? Like, all we want to do now is switch off and get wasted. Or are there many people who are switched on and we just don't notice them? D: Regarding your second question, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the comparison between classical music and the music of today. We give praise to how sophisticated and cultivated the music was in the past compared to how barbaric it is today so I've come to the conclusion that at the end of the day, it's mostly the social conventions that define a musical era. To us, it seems that the music back then was almost blessed with a kind of unreachable divinity, but what we don't consider is how drastically limited they were compared to us today. What I mean  by this is, those that wanted to learn music production automatically had a broader consensus then it would be possible today - due to the many possibilities that surround creating music. Nowadays, you have a classical composer, a hobby musician and a notebook producer but back then you only had cultivated and well-educated musicians because there was simply no other way to get involved in music - production-wise. Much like today, some music was also ridiculed so the only difference is the age of conventions. I am pretty sure Beethoven's jaw would drop and question marks would appear on his face if he went to an Amon Tobin concert! Demanding and sophisticated music has always been a kind of niche. Pop(ular) music back in the day was not always the most complex - Bach's Matthew Passion was popularized by Medelssohn about 100 years later. Bach's sons, who composed pieces that were nowhere near as complex as their father's, were at some point more popular than their predecessor during his lifetime. I think complexity in general will always be a niche - no matter what genre. It requires an intense analysis and the passion behind it can't be achieved by everyone. S: Amazing answer before, not sure if I agree with conventions being the reason for it all. I think there is a difference between listening habits and 'plain' if that makes sense? But yes, that question is one that will follow you and I until the very end! And I totally didn't know that Bach's sons were more popular than he was during his lifetime. Knowledge is power.

"There is a force within me that makes me feel as though I am obliged  to make music..." - Stimming

D: What do you aim for when making music? What are the motivations and aspirations behind the process? Of course, the goal is to make good music but if you really think from the heart - what is your ultimate motive behind what you do now and how do you achieve it?  S: The most profound reason for me to make music is because I simply have to. There is a force within me that makes me feel as though I am obliged  to make music, so it's not like I really have a say in it. I would be devastated if I wasn't allowed to do it. When I take a break from producing, it doesn't take very long for me to get fidgety and bad tempered. Also, there's a very nice side-effect to making music: you make people happy. I can create empathy when listeners open their hearts. So, seeing as I don't see myself as musician amongst today's musicians but rather a musician amongst all musicians that have ever existed, I try not to look too bad in the bigger picture. When did you first realise that to be financially secure you had to perform on stage? How did you go about doing so? D: Well, I think I might have a slightly different perspective. I do not see my performances as the essential factor to survive financially. Sure, I make my living but I am in the very fortunate position that I've always had a bit of cushion so it's not like I think "shit, I'm going to need a couple of gigs next month". I wanted to go on stage because I wanted to perform my music for other people, so it's not that I am forced to play gigs to make money - at the moment. Perhaps that's a naive way to look at it though... How do you consciously deal with the shape of music? I have realized that the shape somehow means everything, from the shape of a clap to the shape of a tracks, ultimately it defines everything, don't you think? S: The shape is like the recipe - someone has does it before so we know it works. It allows you certain liberties but within a framework. A good form clarifies things by giving limitations. I always try and find the matching shape for each piece. There were times I didn't give a fuck about shapes (take Liquorice for example) but I soon realised that people in a restaurant want to know what they are ordering. Plus, the best shape right now is the container (As in, cargo containers on ships and trucks): standardized, used everywhere but still capable of transporting anything you can imagine as long as it fits within the dimensions. Just like the 4/4 bass drum groove. It's exactly why it's been so successful all around the globe. D: Hmm, containers and the shape of music. Interesting. Might have to discuss this further when we meet in London.