Matthieu Combetteg was born in 1985. Brought up in a house where Pierre Henry was listened to. He studied the piano from the age of 14 with Paul Crapie, then with Pascal gallet in 2003 at th CRD Montreuil.

Since 2007, he has followed Alain Margoni’s counterpoint course as he followed Gino Favotti’s electroacoustic composition course at the CMA XXeme between 2003 and 2008, and, with Denis Dufour at the CRR paris since 2007. Since 2005, he has composed acousmatics works (played among others at CMA centre/bizet, Radio-France Multiphonies INA/GRM, festival futura, Crest…) “mixtes” (for ensemble ecce) and one acousmatic work on a Herve Guibert text for educational visit about AIDS (created at the Gallerie Agathe Gaillard). He collaborated with Carolin Cheauveau for the creation of Hanock Levin’s Cabaret “que d’espoir” (staged by F. Pierson) and directed tapes for divers artists, photographers, sculptors such as Joao Torres or Alexandra Kawiak (exibition “come as you are not” galerie frederic Lacroix, Paris) or educational visit for students. His trajectory is ponctuated by meetings which influences his work (François Bayle, Christian Zanesi, Rainer Boech…) and guided his research on various subjects : Language, perception of time, the musical project… Nourished by his reading of Adorno, Schaeffer, Albera, Chion, Bayle… he remains on a quest for a “total sonore” and is confident in the future of acousmatic carried by new generations of creators.

1/ How would you describe acousmatic ?

Acousmatic is, in the first place the science of listening. This notion which was updated in the middle of the 20th century under the impulse of J. Peignot, and then P. Schaeffer, comes from Pythagoras. He is the one who taught his students (so called the “acoustics”) hidden behind a curtain. His aim was to have them concentrated only on his words, exactly as we are when listening to the radio. This way he used forced him to express himself more clearly as he couldn’t be helped by his gesture. Thanks to musical research, led at the time by P. Schaeffer at the G.R.M. (which belongs to the french national radio/television) this notion which was brought to a new life become obvious for the perceptive analyzing of recorded sounds. Therefore, acousmatic listening is listening to the sound without detecting the source. We make our music ‘concretely’ without prior scores, we directly intervene on the final result, the one which is offered to the listener. It is a kind of gymnastics between the do and the listening. We record sounds sequences which we mix on a editing table, like used on film making. Then we project them in concert (performance) using an acousmonium. The acousmonium is a device created at the GRM : a loud speakers orchestra surrounding the audience with close or far sources which allow each interpreter to bring to life our music in space and gave it matter during a living performance.

2/ How did you discover acousma ?

I started learning piano when I was 14 years old. As I was homeschooled I was very quickly dragged down to musical media as a way to express myself. I study in Paris in a Conservatoire, till I got my degree. I started learning acoustic composition four years later in a small Conservatoire in Paris. To get there what you had to do was to explain what you thought about this music. At that time, all I knew was merely child’s memories, such as old P.Henry’s vinyls that my father used to lie about at home. I knew that we could use editing but nothing more. I must admit that my first year was real shock. I did not understand much. I was far from imagine that this new approach would totaly turn upside down my musical vision which I had discovered earlier and which I thought was unshakeable and could not be questioned. The rot had already set in ! The history of acoustic being so strongly linked to musical research and objectivity of phenomenology that progressively I was taken away from what made me like playing the piano. I had discovered something which talked to me much more : making, ideas , research, imaginary. I was not very regular during the first two years , as if I needed time to digest it all. After a very strange tryout, using A. Artaud’s voice (which did not seem to meet enthusiasm with my fellow students) I composed my first piece in one go. Something had finally… I followed that way, still learning piano until I had to make a choice. I did not have really the nerves and courage to undergo instrumental examinations ; huge programs to prepare, competition between pianists. Nothing pleasant coming out of this as I was very anxious and nervous knowing I had to perform on stage before a jury. The piano examinations I attended to were all dramas with very few exceptions.

3/ When did you started to listen to music differently ?

In my studies what seems to me difficult was to control my listening as I had to separate the cause from the effect. My ear trained according to the classical “conservatoire” standards had been taught for notes dictations and tones recognition. The notion of ‘reduced listening’, which P. Schaeffer’s basic theory is just at the opposite. If we want to listen we have to leave aside the technical means to concentrate on music architecture, its patterns, tones , combinations of tones.. I remember well the first performance I listened to with this ‘reduced listening’ . It was a concert and Bach was performed. I closed my eyes and clearly felt trajectory lines. Lines which crossed themselves, which are attracted to a same point . LInes which moves away from us, which comes back from far away . All this psycho-acoustic, “perceptive matter” I find much more interesting and universal for me than analyzing modulations, each modulation, or each chords than the more passive method which I do not denigrate by the way.

4/ How do you compose ?

As for composing, everyone has his recipe. Mine comes from my last teacher at the Paris Conservatoire : D. Dufour. At the beginning it was very instinctive and nowadays it is more like an architect or a scenograph. I work on projects. Let it be an order or a personal project, my first concern is to know what to say, how to say it , to whom, in which setting, with what materials etc… which leads me to gather informations on various subjects. As soon as the project is part of myself, becomes familiar, obvious to me whether there is an aim or not the realisation is rather quick. Instinct is part of this phase. driven by the subject, I shape sounds, I re-use them differently to this aim, to the obvious coherence of the project. As far as estheticism is concerned, my first works were very abstract and evasive. I exclusively used at that time synthetic or electronic materials. For the last 3 years my music has been progressively charged with many movies influences. I am very interested in editing, in sound coming from acoustic, in moods, situations or imaginary. Working on projects is a method which suits me very well, allowing me to restrain my imagination and to go to forms where I would never go by myself.

5/ What are you working on at the moment ?

I am working on several project at the moment. The first one is a personal one, which is adapting a tale which stood out in my childhood. My work here is purely illustrative and is for youngsters. The second one is about this notion of Project, in collaboration with performers , artists, and videasts. I work as well with a young searcher, Justine Martini, on 2 projects. The first one is a “mise en ondes”, a realisation for the radio of her searches about radio theatre in the thirties. She is the first one to work on this subject and on particular writers. She is very enthusiastic about her searches and the subject is very attractive to me. The second one is a writing project on a drama research on how to use the sound in a living performance. Until now I had always work alone, but work with others is a rather new and very exciting experience.

You can listen some of Matthieu songs here

The 3rd edition of the Visionsonic Festival presents a wide panorama of concerts and audiovisual performances that explore the relationships between sound and image. This “new live cinema” and these sound/video performances will be showed of 17 October to 7 November 2010 in many cities of France.

13.10.2010 VisionSonic in “La Cantine” (Paris)
Round-table conference about “The digital tools for the construction of audiovisual and technological performances” with Dominique Moulon (professor in digital creation and critic of art & médias), Agnès Le Foulgoc (coordinator of “Centre de Ressources Art Sensitif” in Mains d’Œuvres), Luke Bennett & Baris Hasselbach (collectif “Transforma” of Berlin), Yro & Robin Kobrynski (festival Visionsonic) and others distinguished guests.

15>17.10.2010 Visionsonic in “la Générale en Manufacture” (Sèvres)
LE PLACARD HEADPHONE FESTIVAL – 40h non stop music. Start: 15 Oct. 20h to 17 Oct. 12h.
more info

22-23.10.2010 VisionSonic in “Mains D’oeuvres” (Saint Ouen)

22.10
FRANK BRETSCHNEIDER (de, Raster Noton)
BADER MOTOR (fr, Musique Pour Les Plantes Des Dieux)
PRINCESSE ROTATIVE (fr)
PIERCE WARNECKE (usa)
MARTIJN VAN BOVEN (nl)
JUBAL BROWN (ca)
DE UN VASTISIMO MAR (fr, it, arg)

23.10
KOUDLAM (fr, Pan European)
INCITE/ (de, Hands)
ERROR (let)
TZII (be, v-atak)
THE SUPER USERS (au)
HP PROCESS (fr)

more info

28>30.10.2010 Visionsonic in Créteil

28.10
ABSTRACT BIRD (it)
INSIDE THE BLACK BOX (fr)

29.10
LA 4L INFERNALE (fr)
ABSTRACT BIRD (it)

IDUUN (fr)
UDOSSON/MREDIT (de)
MICROFILM (fr)
ELECTRICAL LIVE CINEMA – Rko & Strom Varx (fr)

30.10
ASYNTHOME – Yro & Transforma (fr, de)
SATI (fr)
ULTRAVIOLET (fr)
FORMOL – Nohista & Gene Mark (fr)

29>30.10
LA MACHINE – Jesse Lucas
CATHODIQUE-MOI ! – Groupe Composite

more info

3>5.11.2010 Visionsonic in “L’imprimerie 168″ (Paris 19)

3-5.11
ACTIVE CREATIVE DESIGN (fr/tw). interactive installation
4.11
KOONDA HOLAA (cz/usa)
ERIK MINKINNEN (fr)

5.11
KONSTRUKT BIG BAND (fr)
METALKING (fr)
NADA / SCORPÊNE HORRIBLE (fr)

more info

6-7.11.2010 Visionsonic in “Centre FGO Barbara” (Paris 18)

6.11
TRANSFORMER DI ROBOTER (de)
MACRO STATIC – Yann Leguay & Jêrome Fino (be, fr)
KAMERA OBSCURA (fr)
XX+XY – Luma (it)
SITT(fr)

7.11
L’ODYSSÉE DE RICK LE CUBE par SATI (spectacle jeune public)
+ Live SURPRISES

more info

http://facebook.com/andreajamesr
http://twitter.com/andreajamesr

1) Quando hai iniziato a fare il DJ?
A dicembre saranno due anni. Stefania Seoni una mia carissima amica mi chiese di affiancarla una volta al mese al Cuore.

2) All’inizio è stato difficile oppure è venuto tutto semplicemente?
Beh suonare è più facile di quanto sembri, la cosa più difficile è essere presi sul serio. A me probabilmente è venuta in aiuto una buona dose di fortuna.

3) Ti ricordi la prima volta che ti hanno chiamato?
Eccome. I miei amici mi prendevano in giro perchè sopra il mio nome c’era scritto “Special Guest”. E’ stato un ottimo trampolino di lancio.

4) Molti amici mi dicono che le feste di compleanno sono un buon inizio, tu cosa pensi?
Ne ho fatta solo una in vita mia e anche recentemente, è stato più un divertissement che altro, e una scusa per suonare in una location fighissima.

5) I dj di oggi a livello internazionale come sono visti? Sono troppo commerciali ?
A un certo punto un DJ deve capire cosa vuole fare della propria vita: decidere di voler essere pubblicati molto spesso vuol dire anche arrivare a dei compromessi con il pubblico. Poi c’è chi mantiene comunque una propria linea e chi invece diventa proprio una popstar (vedi David Guetta).

6) Come riesce un dj a dare il proprio stile e farsi riconoscere?
Un DJ carismatico non ha bisogno di nulla per farsi riconoscere, la gente se lo ricorda. Stando comunque su una sorta di palcoscenico si tende sempre a costruirsi un po’ di personaggio, ma alla fine conta la musica.

7) Il dj si deve anche reinterpretare Vj oppure rimangono due figure separate?
Fare bene entrambe equivarrebbe ad avere quattro mani. Certo, con i nuovi CDJ si potrebbe anche, ma fare un DJset più un VJset di un paio d’ore diventerebbe abbastanza massacrante.

8.) Il tuo disco preferito è rimasto sempre lo stesso oppure negli anni è cambiato?
Mi innamoro facilmente di musica nuova, ma nel mio cuore resta sempre “The boy with the arab strap” dei Belle&Sebastian. E il “Best Of” di Simon&Garfunkel con cui sono cresciuto.

9) La tua top 5 list preferita?
Domanda crudele…..
Ready for the floor (LA Riots rmx) – Hot Chip
Down Down Down (Digitalism rmx) – The Presets
Elvis – These New Puritans
Never miss a beat (Cut Copy rmx) – Kaiser Chiefs
Roisin Murphy (lei in generale!)

10) In quale locale non suoneresti mai e perché?
C’è una serata da cui me ne sono andato sbattendo la porta e alla quale non tornerei nemmeno sotto tortura. Non farò nomi, a differenza dei suddetti ho una professionalità a cui tengo!

When did you realize that you wanted to work with music? How was the first step?
I always wrote (still do) poems. I would read them at spoken word open mics like the nuyorican poets cafe here in new york. So it was an organic transition into beats and melodies.

It’s fucked up it’s your last success, as i read it was on air on BBC radio in Uk. But it could be intresting telling us about your first song. Did you write it alone or with someone?
I write all the lyrics myself and most of the melodies with the exception of 1 or 2 songs. The first song I wrote was “Monkey Arms”. Again it was a poem turned into a rap. My freind Adam Joseph put a beat to it.

When it was your first exibition on a stage, and where it was?

It was in NYC. There was an open mic competition. I won the first round and then lost the second to a liplip syncing clown.

We have to tell to our readers that you are not only a singer but also an artist. How your art influenced your music? There is a connection between those two elements or not?

Yes there is a connection because most if not all of my songs and paintings are biographical. Its just a different way to express myself creatively. The message is still the same though.

What about your future plans? What are you going to do? Exibitions? Concert?
Fuck Yea! I have an art exhibtion Sunday October 25 in NYC titled “Happy Nomad”. It is a collection of work that i have made while traveling and living abroad. I will be showing paintings, drawings and photos. I am also currently working with Dj/producer Sean B on a follow up ep titled “Virgin Shuffle”. It will contain 3 new Black Peter Group songs; “Pope Sex”, “Virgin Shuffle” and “Dirty Bunny”. No date set yet but will post updates on gioblackpeter.blogspot.com

Paint images taken from: gioblackpeter.blogspot.com

The figures just don’t figure. As Radiohead sang on their album “Hail to the Thief”: 2 + 2 = “5”. While the year 2008 is around the corner, the fans’ pockets for the new year have already dried up. The schedules are rich and juicy, the knees are trembling while waiting for the gates to be opened, the hearts pounding, the chins up high, and there are plenty of spider-webs in the wallets of the youngsters (and not), who just love the huge crowds and live music.

Let’s just put some names out there: Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Smashing Pumpkins, Mars Volta, Iron Maiden, Subsonica, Zucchero, Tokio Hotel (I have put them here only because of their followers, who, after the sold-out concert in Milan, are undoubtedly many…or at least for this season!). Group hugs, unison choruses and riveting silences: magic is guaranteed and that’s a fact! The stadiums and smaller facilities will completely boil over, but how much is this all going to cost? I courageously enter the labyrinth of “ticketone.it”, being very careful not to look at the wrong date or the wrong sector or to click the wrong type of delivery, which are the reasons that most often cause me my usual anxiety. Firstly I look for the availability, which would seem a bit premature, but even though I’m six months early, this already is a victory. Parterre, numbered seats, not-numbered seats, the figures just scroll and the cabala dances : the Smashing Pumpkins (February) charge between 34,50 and 46 euros; the “Boss” (June) keeps us still guessing but statistically speaking we’re around the 70 euros; The Cure (March) charge 57.50 euros; Radiohead (June) between 30 and 60 euros; the Gods of Metal have a special three-day package for ‘only’ 86 euros; our Italian Zucchero charges between 28,80 and 46 euros and also his ‘amico’ Antonello Venditti remains between 28 and 51,75 euros; please, give a warm applause for Subsonica who charge a standard 20 euros for all their concerts against the 31 euros of Tokio Hotel (who!?).
(… CONTINUE )

( Full text inside POSI+TIVE MAGAZINE 01 )

Text by Marina Muolo
conti non tornano, 2+2=”5″ suonavano i Radiohead in “Hail to the Thief”, mentre il 2008 arriva tra un mese, le tasche dei fans per il nuovo anno sono già vuote. Ricchi e succosi i calendari, tremanti le ginocchia in attesa delle aperture dei cancelli, palpitanti i cuori, i nasi già all’insù, abbondanti le ragnatele nei portafogli di giovincelli e non, innamorati delle folle oceaniche e della musica suonata dal vivo. Facciamo un po’ di nomi sparsi: Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Smashing Pumpkins, Mars Volta, Iron Maiden, Subsonica, Zucchero, Tokio Hotel (li cito per dovere del seguito che, dopo il sold out di Milano, è indubbio…almeno per questa stagione!). Abbracci collettivi, cori all’unisono e silenzi emozionati, la magia è garantita e su questo non ci piove, gli stadi traboccano e i palazzetti pure, ma quanto ci costa? Mi inoltro nel dedalo di ticketone e stando bene attenta a non finire nella data sbagliata, nel settore sbagliato o a cliccare il tipo di consegna sbagliato che mi creerà le solite ansie, cerco innanzitutto la disponibilità che pare assurdo, ma già sei mesi prima, è un reale traguardo. Parterre, anelli numerati, non numerati, scorrono le cifre e danza la cabala: da 34,50 a 46,00 euro per gli Smashing Pumpkins (Febbraio), per il Boss (Giugno) ci tengono sulle spine per una settimana, ma statisticamente stiamo sui 70 euro, 57,50 per i Cure (Marzo), dai 30 ai 60 euro per i Radiohead (Giugno), 86 euro il pacchetto speciale per i tre giorni del Gods of Metal, da 28,80 a 46 euro per Zucchero, anche il compagno Venditti spara dai 28 ai 51,75 euro, un applauso sincero agli amici Subsonica, con un 20 euro standard per i loro concerti, contro i 31 dei Tokio Hotel (chi?). ( Continua )

( Il testo completo sul primo numero di POSI+TIVE MAGAZINE 01 )

Il mercato musicale ingrana nuovamente marcia, dopo il periodo di assestamento che caratterizza ogni inizio d’anno. Da “indie-pendent” quale sono, ho filtrato un po’ di informazioni e scelto le maggiori novità di cui si è parlato nell’ultimo periodo.
Probabilmente uno degli album più attesi è quello d’esordio del duo canadese Crystal Castles, in uscita il 18 Marzo, a cui hanno dato nuova linfa alle sonorità 8-bit, conferendole un’attitudine punk alle tracce rendendole ferocemente aggressive.

Fenomeni dell’ 8-bit, anche gli Atari, due giovani napoletani che dopo numerosi live in giro per l’Italia ed essere stati inseriti in “Repetition Bowie”, compilation-tributo a David Bowie, hanno portato a termine il loro album d’esordio “Sexy Games For Happy Families”. Sicuramente meno aggressivi dei Crystal Castles ma non meno accattivanti, grazie alla commistione tra chiptunes, new wave e groove dance.
Una gradita sorpresa è stato anche “Dancegum”, secondo album per gli Useless Wooden Toys. Se è vero che i Crookers bastano ed avanzano, è anche vero che loro sono meglio: giocano con big beat, hip-hop e beats electro raggiungendo un risultato molto ben curato. Merito anche di Roberto Baldi, già collaboratore di Jovanotti, Carmen Consoli, Meg, Stefano “Stylophonic” Fontana ed altri, che ha curato la post produzione ed il mastering.
Non meno atteso “Beat Pyramid”, controverso esordio in long playing per gli inglesi These New Puritans. Ossessionati dalla numerologia e dalla matematica, l’album si chiude in sé stesso manifestando un ermetismo filosofico. La tracklist assume le forme di un codice, i testi sono pieni di frasi ripetute a cui viene data vita dalla voce di Jack Barnett, l’atmosfera quasi mistica tradisce una certa vena oscura ed alienante. La linea melodica è ridotta ai minimi termini, i riff stridono e graffiano. Il risultato è che non ci sono mezzi termini: o li si ama o li si odia. Il merito è quello di essersi allontanati dall’hype nu rave ed aver prodotto un ottimo disco electro-rock che guarda al futuro. Una cosa che non hanno fatto i The Whip, preferendo restare sul terreno battuto dai Klaxons e producendo “X Marks Destination”, album d’esordio di stampo punk funk danzereccio, previsto per l’ultima settimana di Marzo. I più abili sono stati sicuramente quei fenomi dei Does It Offend You, Yeah? che hanno ben pensato di farsi riconoscere come gli eredi dei Klaxons, strizzare l’occhio ai dancefloors con uno stile robot-rock, collaborare con Rich Costey (Interpol, Muse, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, My Chemical Romance, Nine Inch Nails etc…) e finire la registrazione di “You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into”, album di debutto in uscita a metà Marzo.
Più eclettici e meno concentrati su un solo tipo di sonorità, i The Glimmers non hanno ancora dichiarato la data d’uscita di “The Glimmers Are Gee Gee Fazi”, album d’esordio attesissimo e che al momento viene distribuito solo durante i loro show.
Un alone di mistero circonda anche sulla Global Underground compilation, arrivata al numero 34, che Felix Da Housecat ha curato scegliendo come nuova tappa Milano. La release è prevista per Maggio e tutto ciò che fino ad ora è trapelato che le tracce selezionate sono vecchie e nuove, tra cui spiccano Zoot Woman, Motor, Model500, Thomas Bangalter, Chymera ed il remix di Angello per “Jack U”, pezzo che ha visto la collaborazione tra Felix e P. Diddy.
E per finire, la nuova reginetta del pop elettronico made in Sweden. Da semplice corista, Lykke Li ha saputo attirare su di sé i riflettori ed entrare nelle grazie del profilico e talentuoso produttore Björn Yttling. Da questo ne è venuto fuori “Youth Novels”, un album personale nel vero senso della parola. Il titolo è esplicativo, dentro c’è il racconto della vita di Lykke Li. Dai primi amori, alle incertezze e le paure che caratterizzano l’adolescenza. Un diario intimo e personale che ha deciso di condividere con tutti. L’esperienza con Annie e Robyn insegna che è un successo annunciato, confermando l’importanza che gli artisti svedesi stanno conquistando piano piano.

The figures just don’t figure. As Radiohead sang on their album “Hail to the Thief”: 2 + 2 = “5”. While the year 2008 is around the corner, the fans’ pockets for the new year have already dried up. The schedules are rich and juicy, the knees are trembling while waiting for the gates to be opened, the hearts pounding, the chins up high, and there are plenty of spider-webs in the wallets of the youngsters (and not), who just love the huge crowds and live music. Let’s just put some names out there: Radiohead, Bruce Springsteen, Smashing Pumpkins, Mars Volta, Iron Maiden, Subsonica, Zucchero, Tokio Hotel (I have put them here only because of their followers, who, after the sold-out concert in Milan, are undoubtedly many…or at least for this season!). Group hugs, unison choruses and riveting silences: magic is guaranteed and that’s a fact! The stadiums and smaller facilities will completely boil over, but how much is this all going to cost? I courageously enter the labyrinth of “ticketone.it”, being very careful not to look at the wrong date or the wrong sector or to click the wrong type of delivery, which are the reasons that most often cause me my usual anxiety. Firstly I look for the availability, which would seem a bit premature, but even though I’m six months early, this already is a victory. Parterre, numbered seats, not-numbered seats, the figures just scroll and the cabala dances : the Smashing Pumpkins (February) charge between 34,50 and 46 euros; the “Boss” (June) keeps us still guessing but statistically speaking we’re around the 70 euros; The Cure (March) charge 57.50 euros; Radiohead (June) between 30 and 60 euros; the Gods of Metal have a special three-day package for ‘only’ 86 euros; our Italian Zucchero charges between 28,80 and 46 euros and also his ‘amico’ Antonello Venditti remains between 28 and 51,75 euros; please, give a warm applause for Subsonica who charge a standard 20 euros for all their concerts against the 31 euros of Tokio Hotel (who!?).
(… CONTINUE )

( Full text inside POSI+TIVE MAGAZINE 01 )