New Manes album, “Teeth, Toes And Other Trinkets” is only few steps away. Meanwhile Tor-Helge Skei shares his thoughts about this past year. Have a nice reading (and listening to two previews of the upcoming album which can be found below)
How would you summarize this past year on artistic and personal level?
Hyper-active, chaotic, turbulent… both related to music and personal life… musically it’s been a very busy year, starting with the Manii album, then a very hectic period with Lethe, and then the re-animation of Manes… personal life is generally fucked because of disease and conditions, so i won’t speak much about that… let the music do the talking…
What album you listened to most often this year (not necessarily released in 2013)?
Hmm, don’t know about albums, as I’m quite impulsive and changes music preferences all the time… but I’ve been listening a lot to Shpongle, Blut Aus Nord, Archive, Triptykon, Flying Lotus,Bbrothomstates, .. I ‘use’ different music for different purposes, different moods, so it all depends on what state of mind I’m in.. Burzum, Edit, Black Heart Procession, Portishead, Billie Holiday, Chopin, Darkthrone (4-track period), and I usually want to listen to something i haven’t heard in a long time, to refresh my memory, so to speak, so it’s seldom the same album too often… I just discovered Dälek!! why haven’t I heard them before??
What was the best cultural experience not related to music?
You mean, that I experienced? Not much is really happening in my life… so, just small things… finally got a new dog again, a german shepherd… getting a visit from Anna was interesting… hmm… sorry, my mind is blank… for real…
And best trip? Most beautiful or magic place you visited this year?
Eh, haven’t been outside Trøndelag for years… for me, a long journey is going to the grocery store and buy some food… or visiting Sargatanas… My magic place is my home (studio)..
What was your greatest disappointment of 2013?
Can’t think of much I want to ‘share with the world’. Sorry… I never plan or think ahead much or hope anything, so I don’t get that many disappointments either.
Did you learn anyting particular this year?
A lot! I’ve done tons of new programming stuff, like weird Vst plugins that make sounds that I can use and/or sample, and recently I’ve started to think about a software tool for live and jam/improv sessions. We’ll see… I made some javascript stuff for web automation, registered a new web domain, learned basic php… a lot of new inspiration, new musical impulses. Hopefully some of that new input will materialize into something concrete next year. Cross-contamination is cool!
Plans, hopes, expectations for 2014?
I’m quite excited about the forthcoming releases of the Lethe and Manii albums, I’m curious to see how people react to them… And we have recently started talking more about some live shows… Soon… And both Manes, Manii and Lethe have begun working on new material. So there’s a lot of stuff in the pipeline.
Santa Sangre 