Peter Van Hoesen is one of that characters in the electronic scene that spells an aura of mistery and dissolution trough its content. Here we have a very nice conversations between his ideas and his approach to the sound. Enjoy ! We are Ready for Blackdance and you ?
Has been a while why you visited us, if it was quite intense for both of us, crowd and your music, why you take so long to come back ? don’t you think is better to make the connection alive into the soul of the music ?
I agree with you, it has been a long time. Planning a tour outside of Europe is not an easy thing to set up for me, and it requires the right amount of opportunities on both sides. It also needs to fit within my calendar, as I do not try to do more than four international tours per year. Usually that is Asia twice, once Australia and then South America. I guess it needed some time to work out this tour but I am very happy that it finally is taking place.
How was your approach into music , what was your background before techno ?
When I was young I was fortunate enough to be exposed to many different styles of music. I think that is a very important aspect of my musical life later on, this exposure to different genres. So my answer to your question would be that my background was very varied, but when I first was exposed to electronic music I knew that I had found my musical home. It’s where I feel the most comfortable. It’s also a genre which is very much alive in the technological sense, as it is partially driven by innovation on the side of software and hardware. So new opportunities and posibilities are opening up all the time in that sense. I find that very interesting.
Who or what was your inspiration when you first come into building your own sound ? I mean , what was your idea of making things different in the scene and maybe describe what you like to do that is important when talking about sound arquitecture? we feel that is a mix of dub , house and extremely psychedelic driving profound and experimental techno. so people that will hear you for first time hear your philosophy about your sound !
My approach to dance music is both physical and mental. It is imnportant to me to make sure there is enough drive and groove in my music, as it is dance music after all. But the mental aspect, the psychedelical aspect, is equally important. Music has the power to stimulate the mind in very deep ways. This is what I want to tap into when presenting my music live.
you are a artist that prefers to talk with music , whats your opinion about the scene being drive by more superficial visualistic things than some years ago putting the sound behind . new generations are affected or you think is same always inside in different cycles outside ?
You answered the question yourself: I think the most important thing is the music. All the rest is just background noise.
in this context , new artists that want to innovate gets affected by algorithms , we analyze you prefer to do the opposite and have a exclusive approach of your content as a product, is this not the hard way to get a broader audience into your releases and ideas ?
It might be a more difficult way, but it is my way. I do not feel comfortable pumping content into these social media platforms, as it only helps them to become even bigger than they already are. My music and my content is my own, and I prefer to keep full control over that myself. It is true that it might be a longer and more difficult road to travel, but I have no problem with that.
what aside proyects different to dancefloor music are you into can you name a few ? like your surround setups , maybe art installations in the last few years ?
The last surround project I did was in collaboration with Sony Japan. Together with their engineers I developed a spatial sound composition for their 360 Reality Audio System. I performed this in Tokyo at the end of 2019. It is my ambition to develop this further, and to extend the collaboration with Sony Japan. The project was highly stimulating on various levels: composing the piece using the proprietary Sony software, then working together with Japanese engineers, and finally performing it live in Tokyo.
what is sendai ?
It is the collaborative experimental music project of Yves de Mey and myself. We collaborate when we feel like, trying to challenge each other with unconventional compositions.
recommend us your favorite 3 books ?
th I’Ching, the Penguin History of the World by JM Robers, JG Ballard Complete Short Stories.
que es el groove para tí ? puedes describirlo metafóricamente ? -describe it as an ancient tibetan priest-
Groove is what happens in between the sounds. It’s timing, either on or off the grid. Mostly off, I think.
do you have any “positive go” and “key signals” to understand a crowd ? what you see what makes you feel like : it’s there ! let’s go for it ?
I can’t really say there are key signals. It’s more of an overal energy which is there or not. It really is very difficult to describe in words to be honest.
what memories from the colombian community and musical society comes to your mind ?
After the first two visits I can only say one thing, and that is that their is so much music in the Colombian community’s hearts and minds. During all the shows I played here I noticed people dancing and absorbing the music with incredible enthousiasm and understanding. That level of understanding is not always easy to find elsewhere. Colombians understand The Dance.
Nos vemos en el Blackdance!
