Mik Musik special podcast
Published September, 2012
by Easterndaze
Mik Musik – Dark Late Summer Mix by Easterndaze on Mixcloud
The usual – nobody wanted to release our music, so we did it ourselves. It was the early nineties. Internet was in its beginnings here and it was damn slow, nobody knew MP3s. Record stores were going strong, people were writing letters by hand – a completely different era. Mik was founded and established by the band Mołr Drammaz, and I am still the boss since the beginning. I perceive Mik as my biggest art-project, crossing all possible styles, branches and dominions of art. It happened to be so succesful, that pretty quickly we started to release some artists from beyond the strict Mołr Drammaz circles. I remember Sebastian Buczek was the first „such“ artist and he remained the most legendary one.
So far we have released nobody-knows-how-many releases of very various kind.
Mik Musik was hibernating for many reasons since 2008, but this year I felt a great urge and need to restart it, against all odds. It seems working well again.
Can you speak about your new sonic direction?
It is still too early to say. But definitely I would like to have some more „serious“ music here. Somehow it was always serious, but looking back I see some of the past releases as kind of a specific cabaret, hahah. Yes, definitely a certain sense of humour remains, it is essential, but we go for another level. And of course my – our – skills and abilities are different now. The equipment is constantly developing, and this of course has an influence on music. Times are different also. I’ve always liked constant change.
Which projects are worth to watch out for on Mik Musik?
All of them – past, present and future. Some are one time shots, some have existed since ages, all are connected and different. And the palette is growing, horizons are spreading – so please check out all of them and choose what you like best.
One of my plans is to make a special series of secret recordings by secret artists, with some famous and infamous names untold and hidden, but also with completely unknown or debuting artists, solo or in duos, groups. In this series, the music will be important, not the fact who made it and how he or she is famous, hyped, cherished, admired. It also gives freedom to some artists to make music they can’t in their regular projects, or what their contracts don’t agree, I hope with more craziness involved. Somehow this series was launched with RSS B0YS album, nobody knows who they are.
Is there something like a Mik Musik sound?
I don’t think so, I fight with homogenity, I like total diversity. If there is something in common among the artists and their approach it is an idea and particular energy. But I can immediately tell when listening to something – if it’s Mik or not. This is a very subtle feeling, but I know it well.
Recently as I can see it, the sound is getting darker, but not in a depressive sense. It comes more from refusing the gloss in production, embracing rawness much more than before and in a more direct way. Probably it touches on different parts of the brain. Hard to tell, but I know, that all recent, new releases sound differently than prior 2008. And I like it. But as I’ve said above – it is too early to judge such things. Please ask me in two or three years.
How do you find your artists?
I don’t look for them, first of all. Mik is a micro label by friends for friends, especially now in such hard times economically speaking. I can work really effectively only with people I know well. But I am sensitive to all the demos I get from time to time. For sure in the new guise of Mik there will be a lot of space for new friends. I am open. There are some projects for connecting some particular people, especially in the aforementioned „secret“ series, but that’s another case. Maybe I will comission some works. And again – what is Mik enough and what is not is a very subtle thing, probably between my taste and the subconsciousness.
What are your future plans?
Some new releases, of course. But in general, the plan is to fight for the right of material releases. I use downloadable files, but I don’t like them. I was growing up as a kid on a strong cult of all the physical releases with the smell of a proper cover, in the eighties it was all SO material. These times are gone, but I still see a place for hard copies, of course, they should be shown and produced, materialised in a new ways, in smaller amounts, with greater care, as pieces of art. The importance of good covers, packaging and the visual, touchable part is growing.
I designed gazillions of covers in my life and I have some new ideas how to step further with all of that. Internet releases are in, but I will not focus on it.Besides „normal“ records, albums etc, I have some plans for books, and exhibitions, installations, workshops, actions – all of that too. Hyperactivity was always the mark of Mik Musik and now it will be exactly the same.
Can you tell us about the podcast?
I just took some tracks to build a kind of a story. I used some recently released things to make a visit card of Mik as it is now, but I also used some works in progress, some unreleased or forgotten stuff, some upcoming material. Some are short snippets, samples, some overlay another making unusual connections, some are mixed or slightly remixed.
I wanted to create a different experience for the listener than if somebody played some records he already owns, showing new paths, putting some light into dark corners. Teasing. This is also something good for the end of summer, and rather something for the night, with some cicadas and birds working in the background. I think it can be a nice movie soundtrack. Hey, all you directors out there!