Alex Matheu
The cover of "Fusion"
Clint, Tom, Mark, Jennifer, Victoria and Darrin
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Alex Matheu - Parallel Format
The story of Alex Matheu the musician began in the 80-ies with innocent dabbling in sequencing and composition on a Commodore Amiga. From there things went to the Module and Tracker based scene, to techno and early electro. A couple of years later, after picking up some studio gear - Negative Format was born. With the success of last years "Cipher Method" and the slowly unfolding "Parallel Project" I couldn't refuse the opportunity given to ask Alex a couple of questions.
Starting off in the past, last years Negative Format album - "Cipher Method" and the EP "Static" were well received by most scene zines (including Moving Hands). What would you say characterises the theme of these release?
- Cipher Method, deals with many topics from human emotion, to our grasp on technology, to how we absorb and digest events, how the media portrays these events, mental illness, and corporate scandal. Cipher Method carries a dual intention. Encryption is the theme of the disc, but people also have to work to define what each song means to them, which in a dual role fits nicely, as they decrypt my messages in each track and fit them to their situations. While I could list out exactly what each track means, and how it was written to fit my situations, it makes it more exciting to hear what each track means to everyone else.
Negative Format also participated on the first release of the "U-Turn" series - "An Exploration Into Trance", do you think that the thin and fuzzy boundaries of the scene are fading?
- I hope so, personally I love electronic music, all forms of it, and I like hearing hybrids of different styles. Vocals lend themselves well to most styles, and the components of the styles are becoming interchangeable. It is good to hear more and more artists experimenting and crossing the boundaries, it is also good to see more fans open their mind and accept other elements into their music.
Currently, most of the work with music is bestowed on "the Parallel Project" which began in 2001 as a side project, or "parallel" to Negative Format. The first finished song was "Parallax" and since then there have been a few compilation appearances and some remix work for the project which up until now has not released any material on its own, an album, "Fusion", is nearing completion, set to be released on Sector 9 Studios in May. What in your view is the biggest and most important difference between the Parallel Project and Negative Format?
- The biggest difference between Parallel Project and Negative Format are the vocalists, I will be solely the composer, programmer and arranger. I have recruited a wide assortment of vocalists to sing over quite diverse pieces of music. Negative Format has changed slowly over the years, but each album usually stays within the boundaries of Negative Format (i.e. each track sounds like a Negative Format track), with Parallel Project I have explored different music styling, and the added collaboration of the different vocalists really set this release apart from Negative Format. The name Parallel, or now Parallel Project, comes from what it is, not exactly a side project, because I am focusing 50/50 on Parallel Project and Negative Format and devoting equal amounts of time to each. As for the name "Fusion", it indicates the coming together of my music with all of the vocalists.
And it's an impressive list of guest vocals that Alex have in store for the coming release; Mark Jackson of VNV Nation, Sandrine Gouriou of Seize, from Claire Voyant Victoria Lloyd has agreed to lend her voice, Courtney Bangert from God Module and the list continues. And that's after some artists have declined due to time constraints. We briefly talk about the possibility of live dates, not an easy thing to arrange given all the guest vocals, but that doesn't seem to completely rule out a few live dates. There are also some loose plans for a DJ tour, something that more and more artists seem to be doing right now.
To wrap things up where we began; what's up for Negative Format when work with the Parallel Project album debut is over?
- As soon as I have wrapped up "Fusion", and it goes to the pressing plant, I will begin working on the next Negative Format release. We will be looking at a Fourth Quarter 2004 release. As for tours, I have been avoiding them while working in the studio at present, but I do have a tentative show in Budapest at the beginning of June.
/Fredric Düring
List of guest vocals:
Courtney Bangert - God Module
Daniel Myer - Haujobb
Darrin Huss - Psyche
Greg Wygonik - Cut.Rate.Box
Jennifer Parkin - Ayria
Kristy Venrick - the Azoic
Mark Jackson - VNV Nation
Rashree "Devi" Matson
Ned Kirby - Stromkern
Salvador Maine - Culture Kultur
Sandrine Gouriou - Seize
Tom Shear - Assemblage 23
Victoria Lloyd - Claire Voyant
Discography
Negative Format:
As Negative Format:
"Pathologic Syndrome" May 1997
"Result of a New Culture" November 1998
"Distant Pulses" May 2000
"Static EP" July 2002
"Cipher Method" February 2003
As Parallel/the Parallel Project:
"Fusion" Out May 2004
http://www.negativeformat.com
http://www.parallelproject.com
http://www.sector9studios.com
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