Fifi Rong [Interview]

Few music-related experiences are as satisfying as discovering a musician who completely spins your head around – even when you feel sure you’ve heard it all. Fifi Rong is just such a musician. Following the release of her new EP Violently Silently (reviewed on TMMP here), I caught up with Fifi Rong to discuss the creative process behind her latest release, while she dug deep into the motives behind her music…

Your new EP Violently Silently is starting to make its way out into the world. What thoughts and feelings are going through your mind right now?

I’m happy with the creative cycle, putting my thoughts and feelings and what I have become into my songs and production. Passed on to the people who are there to receive and interpret the music subjectively. What was once mine is now theirs; it’s a great feeling.

What was the underlying creative process behind Violently Silently? I understand the tracks are linked together in a very intriguing way…

I used the same set of sound elements, sampled, crafted, and re-sampled, to present a set of songs that Read more…

Posted on 09 December 2015

Lithium Dawn [Interview]

Looking back on a big year for metal, Lithium Dawn’s brand new Tearing Back The Veil I: Ascension marks them out as genuine innovators. I’ve already ranted at length about it in this review – and here, Lithium Dawn discuss the story behind the new album, their plans for 2016, and more…

You’ve managed to spice up an epic prog-metal mix with some unique flavours of your own. So, I have to open with an old cliché: Who were your influences while you were writing your new album?

Well, [the] earliest influences that informed our sound were prog rock/metal bands like Porcupine Tree, Tool, Opeth, Meshuggah, and some of the newer bands like Tesseract and Periphery. Deftones and Korn were also a big influence early on.

Our founding members, Ondrej Tvarozek and Matt Benoit, actually met on Korn’s message board back in the early 2000s. As we were making this new album though, we embraced a lot more of our experimental influences: reggae, psy-dub, and other electronic music played a big part in that, particularly artists like Ott, Shpongle, Younger Brother, John Brown’s Body, Stick Figure, and many others.

Tearing Back The Veil I: Ascension is about to be let loose into the world. What thoughts and feelings are floating around the Lithium Dawn camp right now?

We’re all just excited to have people finally Read more…

Posted on 04 December 2015

Julia Biel: MOBOs, Writing, & Memories [Interview]

One of the keys to creativity is a generous attitude. You can’t be stingy when it comes to putting something out there – you have to give it all you’ve got, holding as little back as possible. This interview reflects Julia Biel’s adoption of said attitude.

With a fantastic album (Love Letters And Other Missiles) behind her, a MOBO nomination in the present, and the MOBO Awards and an awesome remix EP on the horizon, TMMP caught up with Julia Biel to discuss writing, memories, and more…

You’ve been nominated for a MOBO Award, and you have a new remix EP out next month. Sounds like a busy time! What thoughts and feelings are going through your head right now?

It’s been a really busy year, yeah! Loads of touring abroad to lots of new places, and then the MOBO nomination and now getting to release the remix EP feels like the icing on the cake.

At the moment, I’m mainly feeling really grateful for all of it. I feel very privileged to be getting these opportunities.

While you were writing and recording Love Letters And Other Missiles, what was your creative process like? What did you have to do to make your ideas a reality?

I was writing songs at the piano late at night without really having an album in mind, but just letting the songs emerge as and when they did.

There was no pressure, no label to hurry me, no one telling me how they had to sound, just total freedom to write how and what I wanted. It was a great time as it was also the first time I was Read more…

Posted on 31 October 2015