Stephan Mathieu, the forest child
- Is life an inspiration to make music or is music inspiration to live?
>The first option in my case< - What would you do if there wouldn’t be music, starting with tomorrow?
>Gardening< - …and what if you had to produce in a different music genre? What would that be?
>Being a clavichordist< - The beauty of silence or the chaos of noises?
>Both please< - What’s your favourite album ever?
>I have no favourite album, too many I like too much. Also, I like a lot of music that was recorded before (http://www.bitsteam.de/wp/?p=159) there were albums.< - …and your favourite album cover?
>One of my favourite ones remains The Beatles’ white one by Richard Hamilton< (click on the picture for a larger version)
- Is there some music you like – but ashamed to admit it?
>I’m not ashamed for liking something. If I like something I’ll most likely tell.< - If you could be a rock star, who would you be?
>I don’t want to be a rock star. If I had to transform into one, let it be Ringo Starr.< - Do you have a role model?
>No< - Who would you like to meet the most?
>The fairy who asks me 3 wishes< - What are your favourite movies?
>One classic that comes to my mind is Antonionis ‘Zabriskie Point’, a recent one I love is the documentary ‘L’Enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot’< - If you had to direct your own movie, how would it look like?
>Right now I’d like to make a documentary about a certain area of my hometown, the valley between Saarbrücken and the border to France. Long stills with voice overs from interviews of people who live there.< - What’s your favourite food?
>Sticky rice with japanese seaweed condiments, onion and brown sugar, pasta, some regional things made by my mother< - Is there a band/music genre you can’t stand listening to?
>I find pearls in every genre, it’s a mission< - What’s your (original) profession?
>I live as a musician since 20 years, before that I was cutting hair< - What’s your next plan music-wise?
>I’m currently constructing a large mobile from optical lenses, mirrors,metal and acrylic discs for the ‘Constellations‘ project with my partner Caro
Mikalef. This summer I’m going to finish recordings for my ‘Virginals‘ project and it seems like my CDs ‘The Sad Mac’ and ‘Radioland’ will be re-released on vinyl later this year.< - Which language would you like to speak most and why?
>Spanish< - How would you describe yourself in 5 words?
>Shy, honest, optimist, forest child< - What are your vices?
>Vintage audio equipment, vinyl and 78s, tobacco< - What is the most unusual comment anyone has ever made about you?
>«You are my Paul Newman»< - The best moment in your life?
>Life is a good moment< - What does beauty mean to you?
>Everything and nothing< - What would you do today if the world would end tomorrow?
>Meet up with the people I love and have a great time< - Which places you love the most?
>The quiet ones< - Who’s your favourite superhero and why?
>Wondergirl (I like her hair and outfit)<
What’s your favourite flavour?
>Espresso<- Three things you could never get rid of?
>As much as I like some things, I’m not very much attached to them. When it’s time to let go, I’ll do.< - Your three favourite websites?
>One I visit quiet frequently is Rootstrata’s Rootblog< - What’s your favourite picture about yourself? (click for larger image)
>With my daughter Eva-Lucy, shot by my friend Akira Rabelais (http://www.akirarabelais.com) back in 2003<
What’s your most favourite picture you made?
>It’s a private one<- What is the question you always would have liked to be asked but nobody ever did?
>Hmm, thought about this for a while. What comes to my mind is a quotation< - >«This is a good question, I don’t want to ruin it with an answer.» (John Cage. Silence)<
Stephan Mathieu
Stephan Mathieu, born October 11.1967, is a musician and sound artist based in Saarbrücken, Germany.
He’s working in the field of digital art, mainly as a self taught composer and performer of his own music. He creates audio installations, works as a hobbyist photographer and graphic designer, and taught Digital Arts and Theory at the HBKSaar University of Art and Design in Saarbrücken and as a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Arts in Göteborg, the Bauhaus University Weimar and the Merz-Akademie in Stuttgart.
During the last decade his music has been released on 18 CDs, both solo and in collaboration with Douglas Benford, Taylor Deupree, Ekkehard Ehlers, John Hudak, Janek Schaefer and Akira Rabelais on some of the finest electronic music labels worldwide.
His sound is largely based on early instruments, environmental sound and obsolete media which are recorded and transformed by means of experimental microphony, re-editing techniques and software processes involving spectral analysis and convolution, and has been compared to the landscape paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and the work of Colorfield artists Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Ellsworth Kelly.
He has performed his music live around the world, on festivals like Mutek Montreal, Sonar Barcelona, Frequenzen Hz Frankfurt, the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival in Rotterdam, Fylkingen 40! Stockholm and Atlantic Waves London, in some great venues like Lampo Chicago, Phill Niblocks Experimental Intermedia New York, at Radialsystem V and Volksbühne Berlin, but also in historical monuments like the Aula Palatina in Trier or the Völklinger Hütte ironworks.
Since 1998 he created various audio installations for galleries and museums, a glass-blowing factory, a 17th century garden, Berlin Mitte, a 19th century steel plant, parks, an arrangement of 30 Peugeots, a late antique throne hall and other places.
He is a collector of 78rpm records from the 1910s and 20s, the era of acoustic and early electronic audio recording. He loves the way they transport sound.
For even more information and some music check out his webiste or visit Wikipedia (they also got an impressive discography there, thumbs up!)
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