Vector Lovers: The Interview

By Conan the Destroyhhher



Martin Wheeler, the man behind the moniker of Vector Lovers has an uncanny ability to talk to synths and computers in full co-operation in order to make the most beautiful electronic music known to man (or machine).


A self confessed nerd, he has been inspired by and compared to Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode. He has put his touch towards remixes with the likes of Ladytron, My Robot Friend and Tracy Thorn (of Everything But The Girl).


In fact, he contributed production in 2006 with Tracy Thorn's album "Out of the Woods"


I have a lovely chat with Vector Lovers and the man behind the myth and a man who could do without Television unlike the rest of us.

Tell us what new projects that you're currently working on at the moment?




I've just released the DR1 Dr Drone synth and am now looking porting it to Mac. The VST version has been getting great user feedback (I got a text message from The Black Dog saying they loved it so much they wanted to re-record their entire album with it)! I don't know where to begin at the moment though... if anyone can give a hand converting from PC to Mac, I'd appreciate the help.


The Dr Drone demo is at: http://www.drdrone.com


Music-wise there's a new 12” (ping-pong) on Soma Records out Sept 23rd and I'm releasing another single in October, on my own label, IWARI. 'Kissing Princess Leia' is a nerd-romantic synth-pop homage to Star Wars icon, Carrie Fisher... I always wanted to be Han Solo when I was growing up in the 70s - the track is pure wish fulfilment. There's a preview up on: www.myspace.com/vectorlovers.I'm also working on a fourth Vector Lovers album for Soma records.Further into the future I plan to publish a comic/graphic novel which I recently started drafting, called Spectrum Boy.


Where did the name "Vector Lovers" originate?

Previously I was recording under the name 'balloon' (which I found was also used by a US rock-band). I couldn't think of anything that fitted and woke in the early hours one morning with the words VECTOR LOVERS floating in my head. I liked the combination of the mathematical and the romantic meanings of the words, and their structural similarity (both sharing the letters O,V,E,R) and that was it. I guess it was just a case of sleeping on a problem.



Your thoughts on the state of music today?

Technology has revolutionized the production and distribution of music. The major labels were caught napping and are fighting to keep their slice of cake – the position they took for granted before free mass-communication crashed the party. Suddenly, anybody can make music and publish it to a worldwide audience at little or no cost and the field has been well and truly leveled.


From a producer's perspective, the ease of making and releasing a track is causing a massive oversupply of music to an already saturated market. Digital downloads never sell out like records used to - the supply will keep growing, just as is happening with the printing of paper money, causing it to lose its value over time. I can see a future where people are no longer prepared to pay for their music. We are going through a shift in the paradigm now.

You're also a family man I see, has it had any effect as to how you operate or make music?



Its made it more difficult. My wife and I seldom get a break as we have no-one to help look after the children. Our daughter was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (an autistic spectrum disorder) and its been a struggle to find any support in Berlin. I envy people who sit about tweaking knobs in a studio all day long. Its hard for me to find time to play around with sounds and ideas. I spend most evenings recording, which isn't good for my social life. I'll spend three weeks at home every night with headphones on, and then find myself suddenly playing in a club to hundreds of people... It comes as a bit of a shock to the system. Family life and the life of a DJ/producer aren't easy to balance really, but my children are beautiful and funny and make me laugh and cry so that's the way it is.


So how many tracks have you composed for film and television, and is any of your music on any popular commercials or campaigns?



BMW used Tokyo Glitterati for their Series 3 ad campaign in the UK, and Orange used 'Kissed You By The Fountain' for an ad in Romania. I know my tracks turn up as background music on various TV programs, but I couldn't tell you which. I don't have a TV actually.

Earlier this year I composed a soundtrack specially for 'a day in the life of a coal miner', an amazing piece of previously unseen film shot around 1907 and taken from the British Film Institute archive. It was screened at the BFI Southbank earlier this year and is now awaiting digital release from the BFI. I'll keep you posted when it becomes available.



"So back to the question about the state of music: as you know, we among the many others out there started our audio blog for people to find and discover new artists and new genres that many mainstream publications would not touch, and it's somewhat of an emerging trend (if you could call it that) in todays web with Hype machine and other reputable audio blogs....so what are your thoughts about mp3 blogs? The beginning of something great or the ruin of the music industry forever?"



The music industry is already 'ruined' because the unique service it once provided (publishing and distributing music) has now become ubiquitous, available to anyone. The balance of power has totally changed now - Broadcasting was once done by an elite few to the masses. Now it is done by everyone to everyone else. MP3 blogs are just part of that change and are better representations of what people feel about music than reviews in a magazine or PR from a record company.

I've noticed that you've done some remixes for Ladytron, Tracey Thorn and My Robot Friend: Our readers are interested to know as to how do you approach remixing?


I don't have any standard method – aside from getting the samples synched to tempo, for which I use Ableton Live. Every track is different and a lot depends on what is expected from the original artist and the label. I don't usually go in for radically altering the original or taking a single sample for the basis of a completely different track. I generally try to keep the elements that make a track special and try to complement and reinforce them. With the Tracey Thorn track ('Easy') the music was actually an old composition of mine, which I'd sent to Tracey via email. She returned it with her vocals on, and then I finished the production and sent the whole thing back via FTP. We didn't even meet each other face to face until over a year later, long after it was released!.. Maybe that was a good thing, as I don't really have a studio as such... more a room full of junk.



So you're now based in Berlin, just two things we want to know: How long ago did you make the move to Berlin, and what's catching your ear from Berlin's music scene at the moment?



Moved here in August 2006 and really love the city, the laid back lifestyle, the creative vibe. People associate Berlin with the minimal, industrial techno of clubs like Tresor (now reopened), but I guess if you want to hear a true innovator from Berlin, you should check out Einsturzende Neubauten... The band started out in the post-punk wastelands of 1981, outlived the Berlin Wall and are still recording and touring. I saw them on stage using a pneumatic drill and huge sheets of steel... beats a nerd with a laptop any day.


What can people expect from the Vector Lovers experience in terms of DJ sets or live performance shows?

Erm, a nerd behind a laptop, with a few extra gadgets (Speak & Spell, circuit bent Casio etc)

I was once billed as “The Jimmi Hendrix of Synthesizers”, which is frankly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.


Where can our readers get their hands on some Vector Love releases?


www.somarecords.com

www.iwari.com

www.beatport.com



Hey well thank you for speaking to us Martin exclusively for Nerdy Frames here in Auckland, New Zealand. Any wise parting words for our readers out there?

Never attempt to heat a sealed tin of sweetcorn in a hot oven.

And with that we thank you!