In May of 2020, with the pandemic lock-down in full-swing, I was looking for an outlet to do something creative while I was in lockdown. I had played with a few preliminary “podcast” episodes for A&H, but realized that live-streaming seemed a better outlet for me. This was the birth of the Architects and Heroes Livestream show concept. Out first guest was Single Cell Orchestra, aka Miguel Fierro
Miguel Fierro – Single Cell Orchestra
Links for Single Cell Orchestra :
We’ve got more of our archived shows coming up, and we’ll be posting them up here soon. We include transcripts of all of our shows, which are auto-generated, so if there’s an issue with typos or spelling, please drop us a line and let us know.
Transcript of the show:
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Welcome to the architects and heroes podcast, video edition we are clearly in a quarantine situation here um I am DJ Stephen R., Stephen Ruiz of Zygote, and we’ve got single cell orchestra in the building!
What’s going on Miguel, how are you sir?
Single Cell Orchestra – I’m good man I’m good thank you, excellent! (Points at mask he is wearing with a smile on it) I’m smiling like this underneath this mask!
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – (Points at his mask as well) I saw this on the ‘gram , the “Born and Raised” (brand) ‘I love you don’t touch me’ face mask, and I was like bro that’s got to be the most Venice Beach thing I’ve ever purchased probably, but I’m a big fan of “Born and Raised,” they’re they’re a great streetwear brand, and they have some rad stuff. I figure you know if you’ve got to quarantine, you know, you might as well…
So I’m doing things a little bit differently for the podcast I haven’t dropped one of these in a very long time and i’m i’m very excited um Miguel to have you here and uh and on the uh and on on the podcast but we’re also doing this live streaming thing so this is all brand new so um you know for those who are out there experiencing this live stream right now on the socials please hit me up let me know what you think um we’re gonna be trying to do this uh on a weekly basis so as we move forward into this kind of brave new world of you know post coronavirus pandemic lockdown um we’re gonna be doing more of these live streams and using the content for the podcast so get all of that out of the way Miguel what is going on with single cell orchestra tell me a little bit about what you’ve been up to man.
Single Cell Orchestra – Well um i’ve been writing and releasing a lot of music uh Imean i’ve always kind of been writing a lot of music but lately i’ve been releasing more of it I started my record label Celldom, C-E-L-L-D-O-M, last year late last year, November-ish, and I started re-releasing some of my old stuff like the Asphadel album that I put out in the 90s uh and then an album called still transmitting um and then Ijust put out another album uh back in march uh called remember the future and now i’m getting ready to put out another ep uh you know imminently you know maybe even potentially even like later tonight um oh okay right on it’s down a release schedule just trying to trying to you know keep uh releasing as much music as I as Ican and staying in the loop of it you know I mean I feel a little bit these days like music that Iwrite isn’t done until it’s released you know what i mean that’s like the final like phase of its life it has to actually go out yeah
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Well and it’s such a it’s such a radically different environment too for artists that um are you know who have traditionally like you have um over the years you know had a record label to be at the helm of dealing with all the promotional consideration to deal with all of the marketing to deal with the physical distribution of product I mean you know i’ve i’ve known you for some time now right and in different in different uh different cities and in different um uh phases of your career and um and by the way I just want to say from what i’ve heard so far of the the most recent material that you’ve put out you’re putting out some of your best work today and I think some of this is really really incredible work so congratulations on on that Imean it’s it’s fantastic man um and you know can you talk talk to me a little bit about you know where how kind of your transition going into this sort of jet from being you know strictly a producer to now being a a producer in a label head and kind of running your own label and figuring out sort of the the path to get to where you want to be as an artist.
Single Cell Orchestra – Well I mean I just feel like you know these days it’s just you might as well you know um you know put out your own stuff and I’ve never really been a big fan of sending things off to people and hoping that they like it uh and I know that the stuff that i’m making is is good it should be out there I feel I believe it is uh so uh yeah so Ifeel like yeah i’m just gonna go ahead. So yeah so I just feel like at some point I realized it’s I might as well just, you know, amble into this and see how it works because you learn a lot when you start putting your own music out. Also, you know, you can you you can really control what it is that you put out I mean you don’t have to be like oh let’s do this and let’s go according to your schedule.
You can go according to your own schedule you can release you know you know every month if you want to you can release every week you know you can it’s just it’s all about what how you want to do it so yeah so it’s you know I mean it’s a weird time you know to be an artist period but I figure the most important thing is that i’m able to get the music out to people who want to hear it the people who enjoy the music that I make and and also you know just feel like i’m you know there’s nothing worse than the feeling of having like a hard drive full of unreleased music that is just sitting around and becoming less and less relevant so so at least you can put it out and it’s part of the conversation or it’s at least it’s part of you know people’s lives as it’s experiencing now because also music is written based on the times that we’re living in you know it’s you know music is you know it’s not just I mean you can put out things and they’ll still feel relevant sometimes people project their own stuff onto whatever it is that they listen to but you know uh which is fine but uh you know this music in particular the newest EP that i’m putting out this was mostly written in this last month you know of quarantine period last you know like pretty much since the beginning of it so or I guess so last two months so yeah um so it’s really fresh and I feel like it’s definitely got the feeling of where i’m feeling you know in terms of all this junk.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – You know yeah yeah I I you know from from what I heard of the the the uh the EP it it has kind of a darker tone it feels it feels a little darker it feels a little um you know but it still somehow manages to have this really lush beautiful um almost uplifting sense to it as well maybe you want to talk a little bit about the new the new ep the storm inside and and talk about your process and kind of how you arrive to the material that you’re you’re about to release
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah I mean the the first track Imean you know the title track storm inside I basically started writing that in the very first week of quarantine um and we had a big storm you know uh right right then and it just seemed like really kind of a fitting title because Ifeel like what quarantine has done for a lot of people is it’s basically you know we’re set we have so much time right now with ourselves and with you know left with our own thoughts and left with our own feelings about life it’s kind of like an opportunity to like solve your problems emotionally and spiritually in a in a kind of in a in a weird little box you know um and you can you know so you can all those things that you know I feel like I’ve told myself oh I never have time to do that well now I kind of have a lot of time to do some of that stuff um so uh you know I feel like even no matter what’s going on you know whatever’s going on out there I feel like I guess the idea of the storm inside is that it’s just like you know it also all this stuff also brings up a lot of emotional stuff for people too and of course there’s just just like it’s crazy out there now we also need to now we’re also able to focus on the crazy in here you know and and the emotional stuff in here because I mean I mean it’s becoming a new normal now but it’s still you know having an emotional effect I think on people I think you know uh so I mean just it’s bizarre times we’re living in now you know uh I wish I could just sort of go oh it’s cool it’s like the future man you know you’re walking down the street with a mask on and it’s dangerous but I’m sick of it you know I’m sick of it now
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah I don’t think I don’t think anybody um I don’t think anybody necessarily wants of this future um but it’s really funny because of all the people that I know that I’ve I’ve met um creatively and as uh in my in my you know daytime career doing consulting I don’t think there’s any ones group of people other than sort of like ravers and punk rockers that are like yeah whatever we’re just going to keep on plowing through this Imean people that have experience and kind of the fringe right which um Iwas thinking about uh you know how how you and I met when this is when you Daum uh Jon Williams from man-made what’s up john um how you know all you guys were in Texas when I was in college when I saw you play at some undergrounds there and uh you know the the experience I think being in um you know being in the in the underground rave scene uh kind of I think prepares a lot of people for maybe fringy situations like we’re experiencing right now um and you know to circle that back into the record itself it feels a lot of a lot of what I could hear in there I mean it’s definitely it’s got a darker tone but at the same time I think it was it’s really interesting to hear you talk about how um how how you’re you’re taking this idea of like hey we’re engaging in this type of experience meaning more of an internal you know almost a buddhist way of looking at this experience and kind of working on yourself can you maybe talk a little bit about you know the records that the record itself um the storm inside the and kind of you know what you are are hoping to do um in terms of um you know getting getting that message across to people that are listening to your music
Single Cell Orchestra – Well hopefully it comes through I mean you know it’s like uh it’s definitely more emotional more emotional in a particular kind of way record you know um you know so Imean you know I guess people are going to kind of have the experience that they have with it so I hope that they find it to be you know emotionally satisfying I mean it’s definitely a more emotional you know it’s a particular kind of emotion it’s not like upbeat or you know it’s not like yeah party music it’s definitely but it is dance music still some of it I mean you know the first two tracks on it are very dj friendly uh in their own kind of deep dark way you know so um and i’m also i’m also you know kind of embracing more hardware in this album that’s kind of in this in this ep that’s kind of the other thing to talk about I guess is that you know i’ve kind of kind of been on a hardware you know sort of uh obsession over the last year or two you know Imean just kind of getting back into buying hardware and using hardware and playing live with hardware and everything um nothing against software or iOS i still use iOS and still use software and everything but uh you know there’s this there’s more of that kind of strength under there I mean those those those beats are you know kind of have been have an undergirding of you know electron drum machine so it’s kind of fun it just Imean their their stuff is dope Imean you know I’ve been using their I have the Digitone I love that thing you know it’s just so sick and I got the model samples and whatever they’re just great they’re great machines they really just liven up your mix and you know it’s it’s neat to merge those with with software production because it’s you know there’s just a little kind of open the world to you I guess you know that’s
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah and that’s really fantastic that you kind of have come full circle on a lot of this because you know when I when Ifirst saw you play out live um you know you were you were a strictly hardware and then moving into you know more the uh the software realm of things and then even further into um doing things in sort of this ios environment so ipads and and being able to you know being able to do it that way um can you talk maybe a little bit about about your setup and kind of what your what your workflow is right now uh working on on on the material
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah I mean you know because I’m you know I went through phases of you know for like a couple years of really just doing ios production you know I’ve got I kind of discovered that early on I actually got my first ipad because i was just going to use it to make loops to throw into logic and I just ended up liking making music with the ipad so much that I was like this is so much more fun so i just sort of stuck with that so now i’m using them both you know i mean you know now that i’ve i’m integrating hardware with with with ios and you know occasionally i’ll use some logic stuff but I mostly at this point it’s hardware in ios and actually i’m capturing you know the the uh the the hardware stuff uh in you know into the computer and then i’m spitting it out into the ipad and sequencing it with I use nano studio too you know is it’s does it there’s certain things that it doesn’t have that you know like I know you know nerds out there or whatever you know oh it doesn’t have you know strict audio like you can just totally throw in audio like uh but you can you can sample it pretty easily I mean i’m old school you know I mean I spent two thousand dollars on an emacs two sampler in like 92 or one or something like that you know with two megabytes two megabytes of sampling sample time you know and then you just made it work you know so yeah so for me to have it’s like an embarrassment of riches with the current gear situation now and software and everything so you know the important thing though is that is that you know that you’re able to find a way to whatever people’s process is is to find a way to get tracks going and you know get things going that they that they want to hear that they like I mean that’s the whole point of me making music for me is you get a chance to make the music that you want to hear you know just out there well now I’m making it great so you know so that’s a cool thing but but yes so i’m sequencing mostly with nano studio getting all the stuff in there um that the newest nano studio you know it’s you’re able to use you know all kinds of other apps along with it so there’s there’s a million great apps out there right now I mean it’s you know it’s a lot of fun so but you do nee it does really help though to have that that you know like that that strength of having hardware drum machines involved and hardware samples and things that Imean the Digitone everything that comes out Digitone is amazing it’s a beautiful instrument I recommend that to anybody out there if you want to get a unique sound that’s luxurious and evocative it’s just amazing I mean yeah that’s you know Ican’t sing its praises enough that track metal waves on the new ep that’s mostly Digitone actually and then uh you know a couple other things but uh yeah so.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah, so how it you know when you’re when you’re if you’re doing most of your sequencing in a digital environment in the iOS environment you’re doing sequences on the hardware and you’re pulling those into nano studio ?
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah yeah i’m pulling I’m pulling that in so I capture I have an Alesis uh eye dock that I capture things into and then you just cut them you know you just you know you just like it like a sampler like you just cut a sampler I also I also am going to start using Overbridge more which is you know a way for the Digitone to talk to the computer but you can so you can use the Digitone as uh as like a plug-in in your in logic or you can just put you know shovel in straight audio i’m just gonna do straight audio for now because you know so much of it is just capturing it for me and stuff and that’s actually great because it goes over usb it’s like perfect it’s brilliant you know so yeah Imean these days it’s like it’s sick you know it’s like the the stuff that you can do Imean if you if you have like a decent computer and like I could do I could do a whole career with just just the computer and Digitone that’s it I mean it’s just like it’s disgusting sounds good man it sounds good yeah it’s
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Like it’s such a radically different production environment and you know I’ve had this conversation with different different producers in the past about you know whether or not the ease of use of the iOS environment has somehow uh lowered lowered the the production standard because you can do so much stuff with it and there’s just so many sort of out-of-the-box like groove boxes and things that are just let you press a couple of buttons and you know it legitimately sounds like better than a lot of the idm or the edm stuff that’s at these big uh these big festivals or whatever it’s just like it’s a very it’s a very meta it’s a very meta time that we live in especially considering the you know uh environment but what’s your what’s your take on that?
Single Cell Orchestra – Well on iOS I just feel Ifeel like with iOS it’s um you know the what’s with the beauty of iOS for me is that you can take your studio with you anywhere you go you know Imean like before quarantine uh I was just taken out to the cafe you know working at the cafe or at the gym just putting it up on the platform while i’m while i’m doing like cardio or something which I need to do um we all do my friend yeah I know i’m wearing a corn ton in this it’s getting ridiculous my house smells like chorizo and fear but um uh this is the name of my new band by the way chorizo and fear.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah is that part of that whole uh latin death metal uh contingency yeah I was gonna working on a like a like a Latin death metal bank called uh Chili Con Carnage it’s gonna be good.
Single Cell Orchestra – But back to ios uh yeah I guess you were asking me there’s an um of the box about ios that is to be avoided for sure you know but the nice thing about ios is that is it um they built a platform for ios uh that is much more uh because everything is so uniform with with apple and with ios um you’re not going to get that like if you try to do you know music with some kind of android pad I mean now I think it’s better but for a long time it was just the developers weren’t going there because this the platform wasn’t really uh it was always it was like every device that you would get would be running like a different operating system so you have to have people everybody with ios is kind of sort of always on the same thing or at least you know similar you know you know so depending on what their their things can run so and every and things are generally pretty backwards compatible it seems like in terms of just being able to like use a new app with an old not all of them but you know and some of them they really chug but you know so I guess my point is is that um is that uh uh it’s it just ended up being like an environment that’s that’s really diverse and really fun where all the developers went there and made all kind of I mean there’s all kinds of really odd apps you know they’re like really interest it’s really there’s like a lot of novelty involved so it’s like you know as a musician you’re always like you know coming from the old school with hardware Iwas like oh that that thing does something interesting how much does that cost oh five hundred dollars okay well i don’t know yeah yeah now you can get something that costs like three bucks and also like whoa that’s like what is that sound in your thing that’s this stupid three dollar app that’s dope the beauty of iOS not to drone on about this but the beauty of iOS is that almost every app that they make renders to wave so so you just have to figure out your bpm that you’re working in and then just start rendering things to wave and then you can just drop them there’s a lot of utility programs you can use to copy and paste things and you can just get a really diverse sound palette into into what you’re doing and uh I don’t know I just find it to be fun Imean the fact that it’s in its own weird way with that with that interface it you know just the fact that you can move your hand across things and all that kind of stuff it just feels to me a lot more like a musical instrument than a computer ever did you know but having said that you know there’s a lot of great stuff that you can do with computers that’s also great too so you know it’s just it’s how it’s whatever your process is yeah it’s
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – I think it’s just really a process right I mean and it’s it’s really funny because I do think that there’s a certain level of like you know things have have kind of evolved really quickly and you know coming back to your material and what you’ve you have released a lot of material over the past year right and and it’s really it’s been really cool to see that because I know there was a a chunk of time in there you know say you know two years on you know it had been some time before you had some releases and um you know and and kind of navigating that water so i’m really glad that you got to the point where you have this sort of consistent output of material that you’re doing and I wonder if you could just kind of take me you know take me into the the for the last let’s say this one that’s coming out and two releases before on the seldom label once you once you got that up and running maybe you could talk a little bit about those releases kind of your ideas behind it and also uh which I think some people here may or may not know that you have been um performing out loud you’ve been doing live some live shows so maybe if we could talk about sort of some of your recent live appearances and then also talk about the last few releases that you had uh maybe starting with the full length that you put out, or you can you know take the take the driver’s seat and decide which one you’re gonna talk about first.
Single Cell Orchestra – We’ll talk about the albums first and stuff um you know uh I know it’s I’ve been sort of not putting out music you know for a long time except for like a couple things here and there I put things out every I put a few eps out on on John druckmann’s label, Pretension.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Bass Kittens!
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Have you heard the thing uh that he did with uh with mark pistol? The PDF project yeah it’s dope! So good right.
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah he’s been doing a bunch of stuff actually uh he’s he’s got a thing with Jack Dangers, the JD’s, which I also have a remix of one of their tracks coming out a track called kitty litter it’s gonna be on a little ep thing I think they’re going to put out that’s awesome of remixes of uh yeah it’s totally cool man so much fun working on that um so it should be pretty sick uh but um yeah so but yeah I kind of sort of you know i’ve been writing the thing is I never stopped writing so I just I kind of just stopped releasing so I just always kept writing and writing and writing and writing and writing and I still have a ton more music that I haven’t released I still have a whole bunch of electro that I need to release and techno and a bunch of ambient Imean I got a whole bunch of stuff that’s one of the reasons why I started the labels because like i can just kind of keep doing this and keep doing this. Still Transmitting was the kind of sort of the like I realized I had enough music a in the particular area which is this down tempo area that I kind of sort of you know spent a lot of time in I kind of realized I like enough enough for like two albums really you know uh so still transmitting was the first one that I put out of that stuff and uh and I and I sort of sort of chose that first because it seemed to be more on the melodic side of things it seemed to kind of work together as a piece a lot of the other pieces a lot of the tracks were kind of more slightly eclectic or they weren’t strictly as like melody based and so that’s all the stuff that came out on remember the future so it’s sort of like remember the future is a little more eclectic it’s almost even gets a little sort of you know out there a couple times almost like borderline idm I guess you know but uh but still transmitting is sort of more of a you know what I guess you would call like a classic single cell orchestra album in terms of just every track has a you know very clear melodic framework to it um so the the new stuff and I and I and I’m really trying to like get out as much music as I can right now because I have so much of it that at some point you kind of just have to start getting it all out because you really want to feel like every release is a fresh new experience Imean they will be for other people because they haven’t heard the music right but you know for me it’s like you know something like the storm inside is really exciting because these are I mean these are tracks that like Ii’m to release it probably in the next hours and it’s i’m still finishing it you know so it’s like that that’s the fun of having your own like label thing is that you don’t have to spend like a you know you it can be so fresh you know that it’s like it’s right it’s out right now so that’s it takes you that’s what i’m trying to get to is up to the minute and having a label is sort of like my own personal diary with my you know people who appreciate my music you know so it’s like okay this is what’s going on if you if you’re into what I do well this is what i’m thinking right now this is how i’m feeling right now and this is what I think you know people would would appreciate and enjoy so um now with the live stuff uh you know i’ve been kind of hooked up with this FOFN crew without in Pomona and they they they’re like totally do they do these like ridiculous live barbecues and they asked me to perform uh last year for their 420 party actually and uh I hadn’t actually done like a proper live I mean i’ve done a couple Idid a show with Jonah you know a few years ago Jonah Sharp space time continuum I did it Idid a couple of shows you know some of them were Idid one it was an iOS show which is okay I wasn’t really crazy with the results of that uh the live show with Jonah was really fun uh but now Ifeel like uh you know now I feel like i’ve kind of come into my own as a live again you know where it’s like you know i’m i’m bringing out boxes and just banging it it’s fun you know yeah I know the uh the party that you played for the team, you came to one.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah, the party that you guys played at the lash the MutoId party was so dope so no man the In fact when when this goes onto the websIte I’ll just have another vIdeo rIght down there of your lIve performance that you dId there because that was just so It was just you know It just It took me back to a lot of the hardware shows that I’d seen you In play especIally when you were doIng the Single Cell vs. Freak Chakra thIng you know that was that was Insane, It was so good. The show wIth the Lash sIncerely was one of my top shows that I’d seen you know all year like really really really solId and and just as a sIde note the MutoId guys are rad, it’s a great party.
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah that was a fun show man that was just like hardware and you know just nuttIness I mean you know I brought, like you know at that poInt I had the fucking, DigItone I have a Roland TR8 I have a sorry I’m swearIng…
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – It’s okay as it turns out as It turns out the FCC does not control this so you can say what you’d like!
Single Cell Orchestra – Because it’s a great machine it’s so fat it’s so fat you know and then yeah you know a bunch of you know got the model samples In there that thIng was surprIsIngly sturdy man just sounded so good In there like a lot of these you know bIg bIg DR sounds so yeah it’s just it’s just fun man it’s like
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – I’m sure it’s been great for you to get back out and kInd of play agaInst you and I thInk that like you know In terms of of your your musIc career here’s the thIng here’s the thIng about you whIch I’ve always found very very InterestIng Is that you have a lot of passIon for anythIng that you do creatIvely whether it’s you know doIng your comedy doIng your musIc doIng your actIng you have you have this really well-rounded and I’ve In dIfferent IntervIews that I’ve had wIth dIfferent artIsts I brIng this questIon up only because it’s it’s so much about kInd of what my process looks like rIght like I have creatIve schIzophrenIa like one day Iwant to spend tIme just drawIng and sketchIng and doIng you know abstract lIne drawIngs some days Iwant to sIt down you know and and dust off my old corona typewrIter and just type and wrIte a bunch of stuff and and and wrIte and do that some days I want to sIt down and make musIc or DJ it’s just I have a lot of dIfferent kInd of hats that I wear creatIvely and I know that that’s somethIng that you’ve done as well you know In addItIon to beIng prolIfIc as you know especIally In the past say year and a half two years you’ve been really prolIfIc about gettIng out wrItIng musIc releasIng musIc playIng shows thIngs like that I know you also are are heavIly Involved In comedy and actIng and I thought maybe we could talk about that just a lIttle bIt.
Single Cell Orchestra – Sure well In the In the In the In the 90s In the late 90s Igot really burnt on playIng raves and stuff Igot really burnt on the whole thIng and just you know you just feel like there’s some somethIng deeper and you know that you need and so Igot Into actIng Istarted studyIng wIth this wIth this guy Rob Reese who’s really great method actIng teacher now I study wIth hIs daughter Amy Reese she’s really great you know MeIsner and scene study and yeah so but I notIced It all and then and then In the nIght and then In Igot Into comedy rIght after 9 . that kInd of was like this sort of that’s a great tIme to get Into comedy well It was like a reactIon It was like a reactIon it’s like you know you know all these thIngs are just sort of like psychIc reactIons IthInk you know what Imean like you know and comedy was like okay well we’re stIll gonna try to have a good lIfe even though this crap just happened yeah you know that’s been one of the weIrd thIngs about about about about the the covId world we’re lIvIng In nowIs It it’s a lot harder to get out and do some of those thIngs but people are doIng them people are stIll doIng It and I’m stIll doIng somethIng I am you know but but but but the thIng Is Ido fInd that they all feed each other you know Ido fInd that that you know I don’t know they all kInd of help me they’re all thIngs that sort of strangely help each other you know yeah you know wIth actIng it’s like you know you’re you know the Idea Is to be able to be In touch wIth what’s goIng on wIth you enough to be able to to brIng that to a role or to not brIng It to a role whatever you know how whatever It Is but you need to know the truth and IfInd that some of that stuff really sort of helps me wIth some of the melodIc elements of my work you know just knowIng what my personal drama Is helps me sort of dramatIze It In the musIc you know and you know it’s Imean they’re all kInd of Imean you know they all kInd of you know comedy Is rhythmIc you know what Imean there’s all kInds of ways you know that thIngs feed each other you know so it’s like even there’s a relatIonshIp wIth tImIng sometImes I’ll do a stand-up show and then all Iwant to do later on that nIght Is just wrIte beats that’s It you know what Imean I don’t know it’s just kInd of like you know, at some poInt I realIzed that it’s just better to embrace them all rather than to choose one because what’s the poInt yeah yeah somebody’s gonna lIsten to my musIc and be like I wonder If this I hope this guy doesn’t do comedy you know like
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – You and I have had this conversatIon before but If you start to to dIg Into you know scratch the surface a lIttle bIt on some of the other people that are In a lot of them are now Los Angeles based but Kenny LarkIn you know warp records staple and and and just sort of IntellIgent techno god and azImuth was one of my favorIte records from the artIfIcIal IntellIgence serIes and you know it’s funny because Kenny LarkIn got Into comedy as well and it’s just really InterestIng to me about and I don’t know If it’s comedy specIfIcally but but to thInk about you know creatIve process rIght you know for me they’re all kInd of lInks In a chaIn rIght and Ido thInk they’re IthInk there are a lot of artIsts that are like I do this partIcular thIng and that’s what Ido and I don’t do anythIng else but Ido thInk there there are more and more people that are creatIves that are kInd of they do they they express themselves In dIfferent mediums, because it’s the bar to get Into those medIs Is a lot lower rIght so Ican sIt down and edIt vIdeo clIps I can take you know Ican take Ican take my phone and shoot some stuff and put It In premIere and start edItIng thIngs and you know what you were sayIng about the embarrassment of rIches Imean I had you know tons and tons of studIo gear In my place back In the bay area and Iwas talkIng to a buddy of mIne the other day I saId like I’ve got a couple of apps on my iphone that actually do do a better job of of you know makIng musIc than all of that gear In that studIo. I just thInk the bar Is a lIttle bIt lower but I do thInk havIng this splIt mInd Is at least for me one kInd of feeds Into the other. WrItIng feeds Into visuals, visuals feed Into audIo rIght and realIstIcally like the dIfference between whether or not I’m makIng beats or whether I’m makIng a wrItIng or whether I’m edItIng you know vIdeo stuff it’s just one wIndow Is open on my laptop
Single Cell Orchestra – I mean yeah It can defInItely be like that I mean you know Imean IthInk probably my fIrst love really Is musIc you know I mean IthInk that that’s really the thIng that Is like you know desert Island you know Imean you know that’s that’s like my I mean Ican be perfectly I’ve been pretty happy Imean not happy but that’s been one of the posItIves of quarantIne Is that I’ve been able to really get so much musIc wrItten and recorded and spend so much tIme wIth It you know but yeah Imean it’s you know Imean even just you know just just lIfe I mean you know just just you’re just lIvIng your lIfe Is enough to brIng to a creatIve you know thIng that it’s like that’s you know so yeah it’s It all kInd of feeds It it’s you know they all feed each other and and there’s no reason to not do one of them there’s no reason to be like oh I’m you know I mean unless unless one of them you know Is so you know unless you’re like tourIng or somethIng I don’t know yeah Ifeel like tourIng all the tIme yeah okay but you know so at this poInt you know I’m lIvIng In Los Angeles lIvIng my lIfe you know so so Imean It mIght change though my you know who knows change Imean you know it’s at some poInt you know dIfferent thIngs be asked of you you know but I’ve and I also just wanted to throw I mentIoned the FOFN guys it’s oh what’s up yeah what’s up you guys they they they do this great party on Pomona Iwant to talk about for a second It defInItely has been like a really fun thIng they do basIcally like a barbecue every few months and and people come out and DJ or play lIve and I just want to say you know gIve a shout out to Marcel and VIncent and Dave and the and the guys and Brock out there because it’s a it’s kInd of a it’s been a really good testIng ground for for new materIal also for gettIng comfortable wIth gear you know because you know that’s kInd of the whole fun of this whole thIng Is just like you get comfortable wIth It then you can get out and start playIng It lIve and you know it’s just you know so I just want to gIve a shout out because Ido feel like that’s been a real Important part of where thIngs have been for me In the last year Is Is gettIng back to hardware because you know hardware Is like it’s just so much fun man Imean you know sometImes you can forget about the fun element and musIc and just be like oh Igotta do this or Igotta do this composItIon but Igotta fIgure out this track or whatever but you know sometImes it’s just about bangIng some techno out In the mIddle of nowhere you know
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Didn’t you guys do a a live set together?
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah, Marcel and I dId do we a couple lIve sets together actually yeah they were they were fun yeah yeah you guys record them yeah yeah yeah I’ve got I’ve got them I’ve got them recorded .
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Oh man I would love to I’d love to get my hands on this yeah yeah yeah I’ll I’ll send hIm to you yeah yeah I mean it’s just you know we just.
Single Cell Orchestra – One tIme we played and we just totally blew hIs system out oh they had to like stand like waIt like someone saId dude I thInk the thIng’s on fIre you know it’s pretty funny but you know so but yeah yeah yeah yeah he’s a he’s a good dude that whole crew there they’re good guys you know you know it’s always good to have fellow comrades In this whole creatIve electronIc musIc game because you know that was one of my favorIte thIngs about the early 90s In San FrancIsco you know Imean you know I had a lot of cool people who Iwas around and stuff obviously Jonah was a bIg guy, Jonah Sharp of SpacetIme ContInuum I stIll communIcate wIth Jonah and stuff and you know we’re you know he’s he’s stayed a good frIend and an InspIratIon I mean he’s he’s an amazIng producer Imean he’s just amazIng amazIng artIst amazIng talent you know one of my favorite artists and people you know so.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Yeah that’s awesome yeah and I know you know speakIng of that that sanford says that the old school San Francisco crew I know that Daum Bentley aka Freaky Chakra, where people express their feelings yo, you know what I’m saying so so you know you had a IthInk a a remix could you okay so let me know In fact the freaky chakra release that came out on Ken Gibson adjunct audIo yeah and as you had mentioned they were they’re they’re distrIbuted by compact whIch that’s that’s rad man I’ve been a big fan of Ken’s stuff too for a long tIme eIght frozen modules and you know appendIx shuffle and and all all of that man all of his body of work is great but maybe you talk a lIttle bit about the the the remIx that you did for for the Freaky Chakra release on adjunct audIo
Single Cell Orchestra – Yeah yeah, sure, yeah yeah you know Daum and I have had a working relationshIp forever you know and he asked me to do a remIx of this track I actually did the remIx of that track like I don’t know two years ago you know so it took a whIle to get out so it’s but thankfully you know IthInk you know it was like you know there’s somethIng to be saId about makIng musIc that is not In the typIcal flow or sound of where you know thIngs are rIght now because if you make it if you just make it sound a lIttle out there and a lIttle futuristIc it’s gonna sound good three years from now it’s just gonna sound good so you know it was yeah IdId an electro remIx and I’m stIll makIng electro you know I’m stIll doIng that and so yeah so you know Daum asked me I’m goIng to have hIm do a remix of mIne or somethIng at some poInt but I don’t know he’s like he’s like you know you’re goIng to master it you know I’m like yeah and IthInk he’s I thInk he feels like IthInk he wants it to be monster better than I master you know he’s like he’s like who’s goIng to master it I don’t know so but yeah he uses he uses Twerk that guy you know oh yeah audIble oddItIes yeah that’s great that’s great I’ve been masterIng.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – You brought him (Twerk) up man I I was just thinking about him I follow hIm on Instagram and I see a bunch of his a bunch of his posts about thIngs that he’s he’s workIng on and I don’t know the full story but I know that he you know he’s In Colorado now he got marrIed he moved to Colorado and I know that he’s been doIng a lot of masterIng yeah he was good I mean he was a great musIcIan I mean he was like you know to work wIth fantastIc producer are you kidding me stuff was dope you know yeah oh man oh okay I could go on I could go on about his stuff for ages man so maybe maybe sorry maybe I’ll try to get hIm on here get hIm on the on the podcast sInce we’re all Indoors you know you know sIde note you know he was also a really rad graffItI-wrIter yeah Twerk was a graffItI-wrIter back In the day so this is what I love about the relatIonshIps theSan Francisco relatIonshIps and I I was havIng a conversatIon wIth Greg KawkIns, I thInk you know Greg and Casey but you know we were talkIng about sort of the the fIrst run and we moved out to the Bay Area In like 2000 rIght and I thInk you know what really attracted me to come out toSan Francisco In the Bay Area was like you and Daum Bentley (Freaky Chakra) Single Cell Orchestra, SpacetIme ContInuum, the Hardkiss Brothers, this whole group of people that pretty much epItomIzed you know the rave scene, Wicked, Jeno and Garth, you know god there’s just there’s a ton there’s a ton that I could go through and I wrote this kInd of pretty sprawlIng pIece about you know the the rave scene InSan Francisco In the 90s that came out yeah I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m refreshIng that content rIght now because I don’t know that was on Questlove’s websIte on okayplayer.com but it was okay future whIch is the electronIc musIc I guess channel of Questlove’s thIng and I frankly hadn’t run across it you know and they haven’t updated that site In a long tIme so but anyway long story short I was goIng through and I was like you know this was the maIn reason I came out toSan Francisco In the fIrst place Imean Igot a job durIng the dot-com boom workIng for Elon Musk’s fIrst company that was like you know that was like rIght out of college I left Texas, you know after college at SMU and an came rIght out started that job and then ImmedIately started to dIg into the scene and when I came out this was like early early odds like so so that fIrst wave of stuff like wIth the hard kiss guys that stuff was kInd of wIndIng down a lIttle bit you know oh man who else was it astral matrIx yeah I remember and yeah yeah there was just a ton and then you know Jon WillIams Manmade Media.
Single Cell Orchestra – San Francisco was ridiculous. It was like it was like yeah you could just sit seven mIle radIus of electronIc musIc producers and stuff and DJs, too many DJs really, I mean for for a seven by seven town like yo bro bro you know ease down on the he’s down on the brakes this is a Quinceañera you know what I’m saying
Stephen R. (of Zygote) –
The list goes on: Asphodel Records, Kid606, Blectum from Blechdom. I mean, and then the thIng is these are all kInd of splInter scenes because I feel like I came into San Francisco just as sort of like the the whole rave the like the 90s rave thIng had kInd of peaked and was was morphIng into somethIng else and was becomIng it was goIng out more to the clubs it was becomIng more of this lounge house thIng I know 111 Minna was doIng some stuff yeah and then oh God Silent Records let’s talk about the ambIent stuff Silent Records you know I mean just just a treasure trove of stuff that that I you know I was really excIted about when I fIrst moved out there and then when I started doIng the under the radar partIes it was just like it was like a totally different scene because there were these wave of kids that were kind of like kInd of freshly out of college I guess you had like Christopher Willits and and Kit Clayton was a was a kind of a part of that scene too of like the left laptop techno guys it was like Twerk, Safety Scissors Sutekh, who now goes by Rrose, right you know just this whole big conglomeratIon of different people doing different thIngs but IthInk at Its core you know it’s it kind of evolved along the same lInes as as the technology In some way because I thInk Twerk and Sutekh, and KId606 were kInd of that fIrst wave of people that would show up on stages or show up at clubs wIth laptops rIght laptops and and I remember I remember I remember Kid606 opened up for the Melvins and and came on and his stuff was really like almost like gabber breakcore it was very IDM and he’s done good stuff.
Single Cell Orchestra – I really like his stuff. His name’s also Miguel.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – I know and he’s also In Los Angeles now so okay it’s a sIde note yeah they were doIng a bunch of partIes for a long tIme called Perpetual Dawn some like Berlin style rave thIng I don’t know I’m too old to rave at this stage of the game.
Single Cell Orchestra – I’m not too old to rave, but I am too old to go to like a like a a rave where they’re playIng crappy musIc I’ve actually been to I’ve actually been goIng to some stuff downtown, you know some d there’s been some decent shows there’s a space down In on like seventh downtown IthInk it is it’s like where they have like you know you see some some fun people like I saw PlaId you know yeah I saw Goldie there me beat you know yeah but bunch of people it’s been that’s been pretty fun I mean you know I mean you know sometImes you feel these days if you show up at a rave you just look like you’re there to pIck up one of your kIds or somethIng you know mean I don’t know you’ve seen Rick Rick you know it’s like so but but I’m not above playIng and actually I just played a played a rave out In out In Orlando a couple months ago and that was all about wIth a Future Sound it breaks people, this guys Glenn Morgan brought me out it was fun man it was fun it was just you know just went out there and played a bunch of my electro and stuff and because they’re really into electro In FlorIda you know oh yeah yeah so you know there and breaks and stuff like that so yeah so that was fun. Really fun show so I’d like to be doIng more of that I actually you know that was that was just rIght before all this you know nonsense all this nonsense
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – So man we’re hittIng the 50-minute mark here Miguel and I just wanted to say thank you so much for doIng this and I really apprecIate you comIng on and and doIng the lIve stream agaIn this is a whole new experIence for me so we’ll see how it goes but I want to thank you for comIng on for doIng the lIve stream is there is there any place that we can poInt users to fInd your stuff so they can they can get into the the latest and greatest work that you’re doIng as Single Cell Orchestra
Single Cell Orchestra – Well I have a Bandcamp that you people can check out I’m gettIng a websIte buIlt, yeah you know so we get all pIctures you know my websIte I have a Bandcamp Single Cell Orchestra you know and actually rIght now just throw this out there, the “Remember the Future” album out, and I’ve been leavIng that up as free or pay what you want so if people want to check to check stuff out that that one’s goIng to be up there for a whIle I’m just leavIng it up as just like a free or pay what you want, because you know sort of it was from the begInnIng of quarantIne and I fIgure maybe I’ll probably thInk I’m just goIng to leave it like that untIl the at least the end of quarantIne you know yeah like like a sort of a thIng you know maybe a marker for me that okay you know now now Ican stop giving a hoot about people agaIn no I’m kidding all rIght I care about everybody so much I’m always carIng about it.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – Well I’ll tell you what I’m gonna you know I’m gonna have this on the ArchItects and Heroes website, whIch is architectsandheroes.net so I’m gonna have this up on the Architects and Heroes websIte as a page I’ll have lInks to your Bandcamp page I’ll have lInks to your yeah Spotify and apple too all those places so we’ll have we’ll have lInks goIng out to all relevant medIa connectIons and In the meantIme this wIll be re-broadcast as a podcast over the next few days so when that happens we’ll actually have some snIppets of musIc from the new record. Thank you so much I really apprecIate it and thank you for those people that have checked out the lIve stream today really apprecIate that and stay tune because this is also goIng to be podcast.
Single Cell Orchestra – Thank you Stephen, it’s been fun man it’s fun so it’s good to see anyways you know I mean yeah always, we’ll have to we’ll have to hang post quarantine.
Stephen R. (of Zygote) – All right, thanks to everybody checking this out and we wIll see you next time thanks guys.
architectsandheroes.net 