c0rrid0rs

c0rrid0rs

Who are you?

c0rrid0rs

Why did you choose this pseudonym?

c0rrid0rs is a mask like all other masks. She is an ethereal thoroughfare - a modality of transportation, and a looking-glass that shades life with a hue of tragic nostalgia. c0rrid0rs is an angel being swept forward into the future by forces beyond her control, blind to anything beyond the present as she smiles upon the trajectory of each and every self-effacing instance before her.

The zeroes increase Google search efficiency.

Why do you make music and what does it mean for you?

“Only as an aesthetic product can the world be justified to all eternity” (Nietzsche).

“Beauty offers to us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we would like to stretch out over the whole of time” (Camus).

In the making of music, in the disalienation of labour and the disalienation of life, we can find peace (momentarily). The final creation that securely enlightens us is always elusive, and in the moment of the generation of art we are haunted by the ambivalent knowledge that any experience of the sublime is immediately followed by its own destruction.

Talking about the compositions of your songs: how and where they born?

c0rrid0rs tracks are born of long observation of ceilings in the early hours of the morning, of wistful searching through seductive fields of maize, of the call to prayer echoing through contesting mountain-tops, and of a rage that has realised its own impotence.

Cover EP "h0ly waters//bjry me"

How would you define your sound?

The sound of waking up late on a Sunday morning and dancing late into the evening through sun-kissed hills, learning of the mystery that can be awakened in the mundane, and laughing and rejoicing at the fact of still being alive.

What genres and artists influenced your music the most? Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowadays and who are you listening to the most?

In terms of the direct influences of the genre of my music, then I would say without hesitation Shlohmo, followed by Evenings and Holy Other. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Flying Lotus and minimalist composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich. I spend a lot of time listening to John Zorn’s music. His most accessible project is probably The Dreamers, which I would describe as xylophone-driven surf infused with ecstatic klezmer leitmotifs.

You come from UK. What do you think about the music coming from your country and how do you see yourself in relation to them?

I think it’s hard to talk about the whole of the UK music scene, and I wouldn’t say my knowledge of it is in any way comprehensive anyway. If you like my music you should check out Swallows Fly Low on Soundcloud, who is producing some excellent music. I would definitely consider him a contemporary of myself. I come from Glossop, spent much of my teenage years aimlessly wandering around Manchester and am now living in Dalston, London. I’d like to think you can somehow see this in my music.

How much does the live element matter in your music?

I don’t play live. I would love to, but c0rrid0rs is essentially digital composition. I don’t really see how c0rrid0rs live could be anything other than pressing play on an iPod.

If you could pick an artist or a band to play with on a stage, who would you choose?

I would play rhythm guitar with Pentangle in the early seventies. I think they are my favourite band, absolutely held together by Bert Jansch’s guitar playing. Without him, all jangling guitar pop would be unthinkable. Unfortunately, he is dead, so I will play guitar with him when I am dead.

What do you think about the music industry nowadays?

I think we have to go back to Adorno: capitalism progressively hollows out all that is worthwhile in music in making it saleable and fungible, in assimilating it into a commodity form based on the unquestioned rule of exchange-value. But, we have to move away from thinking about this in terms of rigid binaries. We can never really make ourselves truly autonomous of the culture industry, but the internet makes some really exciting things possible. I own a laptop, a cheap keyboard, an entry level midi controller, and a lot of illegally downloaded software. Twenty years ago, the music I made would’ve been impossible without thousands of pounds worth of studio equipment.

What is the message that you'd like to express to the people who listen to your music?

Sleep, play, lust, and declare yourself as useless a bezdelnik as possible.

What is your favourite book and movie?

I don’t read as much as I should. I have a phobia of fiction. Having said that, I’ve just started reading Nabokov’s Lolita, and am really enjoying it. Favourites are tough questions, but Tarkovsky’s Stalker is an incredible film, as is Zhang Yimou’s Hero.

How and where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

In ten years the vapour that controls c0rrid0rs will have been alive for three decades. Maybe it will be rotting away at the centre of the earth, communicating by weekly telegram. It will hopefully still be making music, even if perennially unsuccessful.