released October 24, 2023

Anne-F Jacques: in the building where gudinni lives there's a large rooftop with several obsolete parabolic antennas, their dishes taller than me pointing in several directions. one late afternoon when the sun was getting lower in the sky we installed 3 pairs of microphones in different spots on the rooftop. we started making sounds moving around the space, as if getting closer / moving away from an imaginary audience scattered around us, from each other, from the traffic of cars, dogs and airplanes.

Gudinni Cortina is a media artist based in México, who uses a variety of different approaches to transform space, such as live sound performances, photography, and installation. He organized and curated the UMBRAL series and is currently the Director and Curator of the ISO series, both in Mexico City.

gudinni-cortina.com

Anne-F Jacques is a tinkerer and sound artist based in Montreal. She is interested in amplification, oblique interactions between materials and construction of various contraptions and idiosyncratic systems. Her particular focus is on low technology, trivial objects and unpolished sounds.

anne-fjacques.bandcamp.com


Zhu Wenbo interviews Anne-F Jacques by mail during Dec 2023 to Feb 2024.


Z: Please introduce yourself first. How old are you now(2023)? I guess you were born in Montréal, and native language is French, right?

A: I was born in a town called Chicoutimi, 600km northeast of Montreal. Long, long winters. That was 43 years ago, and yes, my native language is french.

Z: Before playing experimental music like nowadays, did you have other music backgrounds? For example most of my friends in China, they more or less have grown from the underground rock scene. Yan Jun wrote music articles in the 1990s, and Li Weisi has been playing bass guitar in rock bands since 2005.

A: I studied (even briefly taught!) clarinet, in a more classical music context. And i very briefly played drums (badly) in some punk-noise projects in the early 2000's, none of these bands existing for long enough to have a name.

Z: You use some slow rotating self-made stuff as sound gear. Very quiet, but amplify brings magic to their sound. Is there someone who inspired you to do this?


A: Not directly... but my earliest influences in experimental music were Martin Tétreault and Magali Babin, both very active in the improvised experimental scene in Montreal when I moved here. I think I unconsciously kept the rotation from Martin and the extreme amplification of materials from Magali as I developed my set-up. 

Z: Do you think there were any different periods in your music creation? Do you think there were any important moments or chances that made you change?

A: Yes, once in a while I seem to change what i play with, which also changes how i play. I was for a long time in a duo called Minibloc, where we manipulated amplified objects, toys, etc. Then I developed my slow rotation set-up, for a moment focusing almost exclusively on rotating rocks. And lately I'm playing with many different kind of things, air blowing through coolant reservoirs, lightbulbs turning on and off, toaster filaments... I'd like to feel like I'm playing directly with forces like air, heat, electricity - and not with some mechanical system. I'm not there yet, but that's what is pushing me to change.

Z: “playing directly with forces” is really a nice idea, though difficult I guess. Normally how do you choose or select materials? Maybe you could show us an example. And do you collect many materials at home? And is there any materials or objects you always bring on performance?

A: I often choose a material because something about it intrigues me, even before I have any idea of how I will use it; then it can sit for a while in my studio until I find a use for it. Recently I found a broken piece of a composite material, fiberglass maybe, on a beach, and kept it because of its strange shape (it also has a nice color). Then I made a speaker with it. What I bring on performances changes but I seem to always have some lightbulbs with me, and a few rocks.

Z: How do you learn the knowledge of circuit modification? Such as, how do you make a slow rotating stuff? I think there are some motor you could buy on market or remove from some somewhere, but your stuff seems very slow 

A: I’m not so good with electronics, so I try to find other ways to modify the behaviour of the devices I'm using. For very slow motors, I look for some that have a mechanical gearbox (one of my favorite was a windshield wiper motor), and I also play with different ways to attach materials to these motors so that motion will be irregular, often on the verge of stopping.

Z: Another detail on technic. How do you you pick up and amply? Do you use same or different strategies on recording and live? And how do you avoid feedback?   

A: For a long time I've been using contact mics only, but now I'm using dynamic microphones and handmade magnetic pickups too. It often takes me a lot of time to find a way to amplify certain materials the way I want, and when I find it that's how I proceed both for performances and recording. These days I work with some small amplifiers that I bring with me everywhere, I don't go through the main PA anymore; that helps me deal with feedback and also means that I don't need a mixer, or even a table, I just move around the space with everything on the floor.

Z: For this kind of “no PA style”, Li Song named it as “self-amplify”, an interesting name. I’m surprised that you’re also using this way in live right now. How long has you been doing that? In the azotea actually you also used that method, but I guess to recording it will be very different to live.


A: I agree, ''self-amplify'' is a good name for it! I started doing that maybe 3-4 years ago - or to be more exact, I've been doing it for a long time but completely stopped using PA about that long ago. It makes me more free to move around and play with the space during the performance. Also, it makes it easier to play with acoustic instruments.

Z: You also did a lot of collaboration with other artists. Normally how do you start a collaboration? Maybe you could talk about your collaboration with Ryoko Akama (who might be your most collaborated with) and Gudinni Cortina (maybe a most recent one I guess?). I felt that they have some similar backgrounds, and do you have any same or different feelings when you were working with them?

A: My favorite collaborations are the ones where what is produced (a release, a performance, etc.) is just a small part of the encounter, and more time is spent discussing, sharing ideas, or talking of totally irrelevant things. So it always starts with a deep fascination with someone's work, and also just wanting to be their friend. With Ryoko, we've actually been stealing each other's ideas for a few years now: we talk about an idea (for example, use heat to control motion), we each find ways to make it happen, and then we play that together - or not. So the border between the collaboration and our solo work is not that clear, which is interesting to me. With Gudinni, everytime we are in the same geographical space we start playing constantly: touring, playing in his living room, in a backyard, with other people, just playing as much as we can. These collaborations are one of the main things that keeps me engaged with this sound practice, and helps me get rid of the question if my work is good or not - who cares, as long as some people want to make things with me?

Z: I also want to ask the way you doing mastering. I think I was fascinated to your work by your mastering, especially the mastering on tape. I really love the them, because of the sound is very closing and very enveloping. When did you start doing mastering? What kind of equipment or software do you use on mastering? And normally what will you do on the final mix sound?

A: I’ve been sharing a studio space with the same friends since about 2005, one of them is a computer technician and he has installed some very good compression and EQ plug-ins (open source) on our shared computer. So I learned by playing with that, at first I was making everything way too loud and intense, then I calmed down a bit. I love to try and make cassettes sound really good, by going back and forth between the digital and the tape master until I find a sweet spot.


Z: And please tell us about your label presses précaires. You started this label in 2020, before that you run crustacés tapes. Why did you change it? Is there any different strategies of these two labels?

A: crustacés tapes was almost more a conceptual project than a label, as it was impossible to buy a copy of the tapes - they could only be exchanged for a postcard or a gift. I was announcing the release by sending postcards. That was quite fun for a few years,  but at some point I realized that it wasn't super useful for the artists to be on a label that refused to sell their album... and postal costs started making it way too expensive. But I try to keep some of that spirit of exchange with presses précaires, even if it's a more conventional label.


Z: I found that most of the releases from presses précaires don’t have a long length. Normally 15 mins for one side. Some of them are 25 mins in total or even less than that. I also found that in the past 3 or 4 years, many experimental music cassette are very short, less than 10 mins for one side. What do you think about it? Maybe you tell us about the reasons from your side.

A: Part of the reason is laziness on my part - I duplicate all the tapes myself in real time, so it's easier if they're not too long... I think another reason is an interest for a kind of immediacy, having only one project per tape, and releasing it soon after it was recorded.


Z: I also found that you released a lot of Latin American musician’s work. How do you discovered them? To me, a Chinese audience, I think Latin America experimental music scene are very far away. I guess the reason might be the differences from culture, language, geography… but maybe also because Latin America are not in the “center view” of Chinese people. Well, it is really a shame for me to say that, because I have read some novels from South American authors, and I really enjoy listening Victor Jara, Tom Ze, Atahualpa Yupanqui, but I could still feel the culture gap..... Anyway, what do you think? I would love to hear your opinion to this topic.

A: One of my interests with presses précaires is actually to release artists mostly from other places than Europe or North America, because I feel that what gets released is just a tiny fraction of the experimental music that's being made in the world. There's actually a very active scene in Latin America, with many festivals and radio stations dedicated to sound art in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Argentina... When I started digging into that, I couldn't believe how much good stuff is being produced there, and how little we hear about it. Also, I live on the American continent, speaking a latin language - in many ways latin america is much closer to me culturally than europe, for example.


Z: Would you like to tell us your interests beside of music? I guess maybe, stamps? Post card? Handmade stuff? Or some other things?  


A: I have a canoe with a sail on it, that's my main obsession lately. Obviously now all waterways are frozen, so it's winter biking while waiting for spring.


Z: Do you have plans in 2024 and future days?

A: ….going to china maybe? I don't know yet, I have more dreams than solid plans for the moment.



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Li Weisi was invited to write a short introduction to his work. After receiving the introduction, Zhu Wenbo chatted with him on WeChat message.


Li: Introduction - a simple work. I spent an afternoon recording some movements of myself in a room. Most of it happens naturally, and a small part is intentional. Mainly using four-track cassette recorder and microphones, table, chair and ventilation systems.

Zhu: OK. Two more questions. Did you use headphones for monitoring during the recording process? Also, how did you use the four-track recorder, and did you use it for overdubs/mixing?

Li: I only used monitoring headphones, no external speakers. The four tracks were recorded at different speeds, and each track takes about 30-45 minutes. Do it at a certain speed during the final mixing.

Zhu: Interesting. Then the other two questions are, when you are overdubbing, will you listen to the previously recorded content at the same time? Just like when recording a song. Also, do you have a final overall vision or design before the entire recording begins?

Li: Yes. When recording a certain track, I will listen to all the previously recorded tracks at the same time, just like multi-tracks recording in a band. The material for each track was determined before the recording of this work, and the result was not much different from what was imagined.

Zhu: Very good, I think these are all very clear, but I would like to ask a final question that may have a more historical context. You published a series of matrix-related works in 2020. Is there any kind of continuation between this latest recording and those “matrix” recordings?

Li: No, those only determine the meta sound source and meta operation, and the final result is executed according to the operation result. This time it's more loose, only the sound source, and almost no operations involved.

Zhu: OK, I understand the meaning of the matrix. However, using the matrix method, the appearance of the final product seems to be more unknown and there are more surprises? Do you think so?

Li: That's true. It is also possible that you have to control the sound source very awkwardly. I remember that it is more unknown than the loose one.

Zhu: What’s interesting is that usually in our subconscious mind, we think “loose” is related or bound to “unknown”, but in your case it’s the opposite.

Li: Maybe my sound source is relatively simple. Just like a sound A, if no strange operations are performed, it is just such a sound. I may be used to looking at sound and operation separately.

Zhu: Yeah. In fact, it can also be understood that this is a matrix in which basically only one quadrant is changing. I will put these in the introduction later.

Li: OK


Li Weisi 李维思 is a musician active in China's underground music since 2005. He plays bass guitar in rock band Carsick Cars and Snapline, meanwhile he has more experimental music / noise / drone metal directions in groups Soviet Pop (with Li Qing), Rat 'the SPY' 51 (with Li Qing), Ghostmass (with Li Qing, Yan Jun, Yang Kuku) and his solo set (started around 2013). He uses reel-to-reel recorder, four-track cassette recorder, microphone and various objects and bass guitar, creating super quiet sound to very loud noise.

liweisi.bandcamp.com