MSK

photo by Rus Anson - www.rusanson.com 

Antonio Musco ( aka MSK ) is an eclectic italian artist. Born in Sicily, Italy and he traveled across the Europe before moving to San Francisco in 2010.

San Francisco inspired the 6 tracks of the EP ( MadeinSF ), a blend of electronic , downtempo, funk and  world music.

-So, let's start with name , MSK. Why did you choose this and what does it mean for you?

My last name is Musco, so when I started to produce electronic music back in 2003 i needed a name. Just took the consonants of my last name, changed the C with a K (sounds more exotic, isn't it?) also because a famous cruise ship company. Then i figured that MSK is already used worldwide by graffiti crews, soccer teams, frequency shifting, Moscow time, etc so i wanted to stick with MSK but I added .fm to make it unique. Also because of my love for the radio. That's MSK.fm

- But who are you?

Antonino Musco, a simple human being that loves music and seeks harmony in this existence. I was born and raised in Sicily, Italy but traveled a lot and lived in different countries, trying to learn as much as I can and to keep my mind deep and interested.

-And if i ask you why do you make music and what does it mean to you?

Music is something that i need, at least I need to be around music every day. Music feeds me, its food for my soul. Making or listening to music is a serious thing, you can compare to a nine-to-five job but with longer, sometimes endless, shifts.

bandcamp page

-Let's talk about the birth of your new EP “Made in SF”.

I was on production hiatus for 5 years, since I published "MSK - Am I Scared?" and "Sicilian AV project - live bootleg" in August 2008. Since then I traveled a lot and lived in different places until finally settling in the Mission District in San Francisco, a place I can call home now.

Here I've set up my music studio and recorded with local artists and great musicians just visiting in town. I've learned a lot and gained much more experience in the past 5 years so these songs are, for me, a more mature approach to songwriting and production. The EP was published by Bad Panda Records in April and so far got a great feedback from the listeners. It represents my experience in the City, even the lyrics, wrote by the singers, are tuned into that.

- How would you define your sound?

I love jazz, funk, afro-american music in general and also love experimental stuffs, electronic and world music. I feel the downtempo is the best pace for this project, with a blend of acoustic and electric instruments. Also during these years I've opened and really got into hip-hop and urban sounds a lot, influence that you can find in MadeInSF mood.

-What genres and artists influenced your music the most?

My biggest influences were, are and always be Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Charles Mingus and Frank Zappa.

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

You know what, according to the music that I love and make, there is not a big scene in Italy and neither in Sicily. Catania in the nineties was great for the alternative rock scene, here in San Fran I always met some musician who tells me that he was playing in Catania during those years and was a blast. Nowadays it's different and it's also hard for me to find a gig over there. So i do my things here in SF and go to Sicily in the summer for vacations.

- Why did you choose San Francisco?

Was love at first sight. At that time I was living in Rome, came here visiting and decided to stay. This City meant a lot for me, was a big challenge to re-start from scratch in another continent but I dealt with it pretty good and after 3 years i'm still happy of my choice. I've grown professionally a lot here. 

San Fran is very progressive city, maybe the most progressive in the US, and California is just lovely, whose landscapes remind me Sicily and Italy.

Also living in here helps my radio and music job a lot, being surrounded by great musicians and artists and sharing knowledge and feeling with them easily.

-Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowadays and who are you listening to the most?

Too many to mention! Nowadays, I'm talking about the independent scene, the average quality level is higher comparing the past. I host two weekly radio shows so I'm listening a lot of new stuff every day but never get bored.

-Do you have a favorite artist and song?

Maybe Fabrizio De André - La domenica dell salme. I grew up listening De André, I've listened his records million times but still find new meanings in his lyrics. Definitely another cornerstone of my musical education.

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-How much does the live element matter in your music?

It's very important because I grew up listening to jazz and improv music. I always bring musicians, singers, MCs and other performers to my shows. A visual elements is also included: can be a live painter, a live sculptor, a mime, belly dancers, a VJ or an illustrator. I firmly believe in mixed arts and always being a promoter of multimedia performances.

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

Rage Against The Machine, period. Do you remember them? I've seen them live in Milan in 1996 and so far is the best live concert I've ever attended, these guys were on fire and the crowd too, unforgettable show!

-What do you think about the music industry nowadays? Wanna talk us about your experience with the labels? What advice would you give to all the young artists looking for a record deal?

I currently collaborate with Six Degrees records, pretty well respected world music label worldwide. It's been almost a year now and thanks to them I'm getting to see the insights of the music industry. Also working with radio helps a lot to get a sight of the industry; but honestly, what can I tell to young artists looking for a deal: don't get demotivated if the record label you sent your demo never write you back, keep pushing your band/act with music production and live shows. There is way much (never too much) music out there and for a record label is hard (impossible) to listen to all the unsolicited demos they got in the mail. Even the smallest record label gets tons of unsolicited demos in the mail, how can you blame them for not replying you? 

So just do your thing and keep getting better and better, in the studio and especially live.

- Talking about Sicilian AV Project

Sicilian AV project is an audiovisual antimafia collective started in 2005, a "serious" approach to music at least for the topics exposed. It's something started as a research/study on sicilian literature during my university years that ended up in a multimedia show describing Sicily as a metaphor - an analogy - of the entire country or maybe the entire world.

Jazz, downtempo and electronic live music played by a quintet accompanied by live illustrations thematic visuals. We recorded a self-titled debut album in 2007 and a "live bootleg" the following year, we did a number of shows in Italy (also playing at the prestigious Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival in Rome) and Slovakia but since I moved to San Francisco the project is on hold. This coming summer we are recording some new stuff with the collective to release by next fall/winter. 

-And at last an easy one: Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Beatles please!

SPECIAL INTERVIEW: FIVE FOR FIGHTING

 -Why did you choose the name Five for Fighting?
The record label wanted a band name and I'd just come from an L.A. Kings game where Marty McSorley had dropped the gloves with Bob Probert. It seemed to fit the moment.

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

I've always enjoyed writing songs. It's rewarding to see your efforts have a positive effect on people. Music can be a great healer and time capsule.

-When and where did you first learn to play?

Mom started me young at the piano as she was a piano teacher. Picked up the guitar at 15.

-Your most famous song “Superman (It's Not Easy)” is simply amazing.

What’s the story behind it?

 I wrote Superman at a time of great frustration. Music was not taking off and one night Superman just popped out. Looking back that song as a gift. I never could of imagined the impact that little tune would have.

- Talking about your traks ,what is your favourite?

Hard to pick from your kids, but if I had only one I'd go with 100 Years.

- How would you define your sound?

Piano based singer/songwriter...the productions may change a tad with the times but it's words and music with a certain worldview.

"Superman (It's not easy)" cover

-A new album is expected this year, how is it going?

Heading to NY to mix our first single!

-What genres and artists influenced your music the most?

70's singer songwriters. Beatles, Billy, Elton, Who, James Taylor, etc...

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

"100 years" cover

I live in somewhat of a music bubble. I've never paid much attention to the current musical climate, sometimes to my advantage, sometimes to my detriment. It's all about writing the best songs I can aand making sure they are messages I want to take to the stage for a decade.

 -What do you think about the music industry nowadays?

"Slice" cover

It certainly has changed since I broke in. The Major labels have shrunk, the album is dying, radio is more generic. That said, the internet platforms and home studio technology have leveled the playing field. For the music consumer, it's good times. For the music maker...new game.

-What is the message that you'd like to express to the people who

listen to your music?

Thanks

-What are your interests besides music?

 Politics and Sports is where I spend most my energy when I'm not busy being Daddy.

-You are involved in many humanitarian projects and actions (you

created the first video charity website, you played several times for

support to troops and their family, you worked with Telethon to fight

the ALS and so more). Did this experiences change your life?

 The charity work has been the most rewarding component of my career. To meet people who face unimaginable challenges and circumstance, and to watch them fight those battles, gives me constant inspiration and perspective.

-What is your favourite book and movie?

Book-Ender's Game

Movie - Godfather II

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

 Row 6 at the L.A. Kings game. That's about all I can promise.

-Beatles or Rolling Stones?

 Beatles-Paul

Five For Fighting - Superman (It's Not Easy) from Imsfortune on Vimeo.

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Bill Baird

Bill Baird

-Who are you?

Bill Baird.

-Why do you make Music and what does it mean for you?

Bob Dylan interview response:  Never stare a gift horse in the mouth.

But I'm not Bob Dylan.   Not even Bill Dylan.  So I gotta answer it my own way.

I like how you capitalized the word Music.   Seems appropriate.

I usually don't answer this question because it is a difficult one.   A quicksand question.   One might sound pretentious or, even worse, boring.

But I will be as honest with you as possible, at the risk of sounding new-agey or completely strange or saying the word 'vibration' too many times.

Everything is vibration.  Music is the most direct way to transmit vibration.    When my personal vibration resonates with the vibrations of my surroundings, I laugh or weep with joy.   I make music to transmit these moments to other people.  My personal self dissolves and I feel at peace.  It's as if I myself have dissolved into my surroundings.   This often happens when listening to music, or when I'm alone in nature, or when I'm staring into the eyes of my newborn daughter.

Whew.   I only had to say 'vibration' five times.

-Where and when did you start learn to play?

I first experimented with sound by placing my mouth over the speaker on my tv set and modulating tv theme songs by opening and closing my mouth, sort of like a no-fi talk box.   This would be around age 6.   I used to enjoy humming and feeling the vibration through my jaw.

I took guitar lessons in the 4th grade but quit when my teacher tried to teach me "Smooth Operator" , ya know, that Sade song.  She had learned it cuz she was a lounge singer at a nearby Holiday Inn.   I went to see one of her gigs.   That was really weird.

I took it up again in the 9th grade, but quit again when my teacher tried to teach me "Dust in the Wind."   I then started buying Guitar World magazine.   I started to hate guitar solos and then

-How would you describe your sound?

It changes constantly.   

Cosmic and earthly explorations of the American songbook, from tin pan alley to thrash to electronic.

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-Your Album “Career” is simply amazing. What’s the story behind it?

I recorded it in two weeks.   I was able to encapsulate a feeling I'd had inside me for a long time.   I tried to push things as far as I could in one direction.   All in the same direction.   I wanted the music to bleed a certain vibrant orange color.  I think it came out more electric blue.

I was listening to "Trout Mask Replica" and live Jimi Hendrix concerts to get inspired.   Those two went pretty far out.  They inspired me to go all the way in one direction, using a minimum number of instruments. 

The sound of that album is only possible on analog tape.   It cannot be done digitally.   Most of the distortion is the sound of overloading circuitry.   I did not use any amplifiers for the guitars.   I plugged the guitars straight into the tape machine.   

I had the feeling of that album inside of me for a long time before I could correctly articulate it.   I recorded and played everything myself, except for the drums.

It was also the first time I'd experimented with taking LSD in the studio.  I can definitely hear that in the music.   It was very creative and productive, actually.  I think it helped that I had my studio set-up completely dialed.

Being on LSD in a studio alone is pretty amazing, although a few times got inexplicably wrapped in guitar cables.

-Let’s talk about your new album “Spring Break of the Soul”?

It actually pre-dates 'Career.'   Since it's a double-album, I decided not to release it until somebody else would pay for it.   Thankfully, Pau Wau Records stepped in, so 'Spring Break of the Soul' will shortly greet the world.

The album explores an entirely different set of emotions and colors.  There is lots of cello, much of which I actually played.   It is not as intense a record.  It has lots of instrumental moments, and lots of moments with more subtlety than 'Career.'   'Career' demanded your attention.   This one has more nooks and crannies.   More weird moments.  Songs within songs.   Extremely varied instrumentation.

The album originated as an idea I had for a musical.   I wanted it to be like "Waiting for Godot" but taking place on a boat.   Stranded in the middle of the ocean, waiting for wind, waiting for motion, but nothing happens.   The characters get killed and nothing is learned.   A somewhat bleak premise.

I wrote the script while working in Big Sur at the Esalen Institute.   The theme changed due to my surroundings.   Esalen is an amazing place.    The script now sort-of makes fun of new age California rich hippies.  

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The script is included with the record.   I illustrated it with photographs and warped the text.   I wanted people to see the script as a sequences of images rather than normal text.   I think I just made it harder to read.  Oh well.

-What's your favourite artist and song?

I love too many things to name just one.

-What genres and artists did influence your music?

I like Bill Hicks, Don Van Vliet, Terry Riley, Nam June Paik, Edward Abbey, Walt Whitman, Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller, George Gershwin, Miles Davis, Les Paul, Raymond Scott.... I could go on all day.

At some point I realized that everyday matters often influence my music more than anything.   What I ate for breakfast, for example.   Whether I've showered that week.  Things like that.   How recently I've been alone in nature.  

I would consider my music part of the American songbook.

-How much the live element matters in your Music?

It used to be everything to me but I am now deconstructing my live performance, up from nothing.   I use humor, improvisation, video triggers, costumes, and other weird stuff.  

But I have not played a normal live show in a year and a half.   So I guess live performance is not that important to me.

-What do you think about Music industry nowdays?

It's in the shitter.  But real artists always find a way.   That's part of the skill it takes to be an artist.   Finding a way.

It's just strange for me that I've spent a whole lot of time cultivating a skill that has basically been deemed worthless ---> being able to create albums.   

-How about physical formats? Plans for CDs  vinyls and cassette?

There are lots more albums that will be released.   Then people will have to sift through the piles and find the jewels.   I am too close to my own music and can't tell things apart.   I edit and scrutinize but in the end no album is ever good enough.  I can't stand to hear an album after it's finished.  

My attitude at this point is... I will make as many as I can sell.   So for my last few self-released records, I made around 100 copies.   This makes it much more expensive, but so be it.   I am committed to the physical format.  I enjoy the tactile.  I like the messiness of real life.   Real life is much more interesting to me than a tumblr.   I like messiness, decay, things that break.   The internet is too clean and controlled and boring, unless it is brought into the physical world.   

Not sure if I will make cassettes again.   They are kind of annoying to produce, although it's cool to hand duplicate each one.   It represents a level of commitment bordering on insanity.

-What is the message that you'd like to express at the people Who
listen to your Music?

Messages are boring.   What I try to embody is that old phrase 'carpe diem,' ya know, live like you will be dead tomorrow.   Either go completely nuts or retreat internally in meditation or maybe do both at the same time.

-What is your favourite book and movie?

Moby Dick.
2nd favorite book is probably Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut.   For a long time it was Gertrude by Herman Hesse and Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce, but I guess I'm much less literary now.

Favorite movie is probably Days of Heaven by Terence Malick, or The Holy Mountain by Jodorowsky, depending on my mood.   It's so weird that my favorite movie stars Richard Gere.   I consider him kind of boring most of the time.   I go back and forth between Days of Heaven and Badlands actually.   

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

Older, fatter, wrinklier, happier, poorer, more critically ignored, learning the banjo, living in a cabin somewhere, designing off-the-grid dome structures, trying to finally get through writing my book and not wimping out, learning to dance.

-Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Depends on the era.   After 1972 the Rolling Stones are a joke.   I really love "Their Satanic Majesties Request" and a lot of the early singles where Brian Jones is playing weird instruments.

By the same token, anything before the Beatles started taking LSD I find pretty boring.   And the ending stuff is pretty boring too.   I love Magical Mystery Tour and Sgt Peppers and the sound of the White album, but not all the songs.

So I can't say Beatles or Stones until you get more specific.

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Mist Glider

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-Who are you?

 Mist Glider. I am from a sleepy beach town called Santa Cruz in California

-Why do you make Music and what does it mean for you?

 Aeropsia and I recently started a music collective called Sleepy Beach! 

 I am a music nerd. My friends and I geek out to songs we find on soundcloud. Music has so many different   meanings, but I make it because I like to paint pictures with sound.

-Where and when did you start learn to play?

 When I was 16 I picked up Logic and messed around with it for a year. Once I found Ableton Live I fell in love.   Never stopped making music since.

-What's your favourite artist and song?

My favorite artists are constantly changing.... At the moment, Mount Kimbie - Carbonated

-What genres and artists did influence your music?

Boards of Canada, Tycho, Shigeto, Mount Kimbie, Nine Inch Nails, Air, Massive Attack, Portishead, Bibio, Bonobo, Burial... to name a few

-How much the live element matters in your Music?

I have yet to play for an audience, but I am working on a live set :)

-What do you think about Music industry nowdays?

It is a two sided coin. There is good and bad in everything.

-What is the message that you'd like to express at the people Who listen to your Music?

Thanks so much for the support & listening to my tunes <3 i love you all.

-Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowdays?

I admire Trent Reznor a great deal. Looking forward to the new BOC album? & the new Mount Kimbie album.

-What is your favourite book and movie?

Ender's Shadow  and Deliverance (1972)

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

Hopefully I am still alive. 

-Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Beatles.

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Chelsea Wolfe

Chelsea Wolfe

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

It's really all I've ever felt at home with. I've been making music since I was a child and for some reason as I grew older I tried to deny myself music, telling myself I wasn't meant to be a performer and so on. But finally it took me over, so the music is what carries me forward and keeps me alive really.

From the distorsions and a sort of sulfurous goth of your "The Grime and the Glow" to an airy acoustic folk of the last "Unknown Rooms": what pushed you to move towards this new mood?

I feel that both albums actually vary a lot in mood. There are dark, heavy moments and there are moments of light. Some songs on Unknown Rooms were written in the same era of The Grime and the Glow and some were written just months ago; it really ranges a lot, that's why I felt it necessary to call it out as a collection of songs. 

What's your favourite artist and song?

A great moment for me was the first time I heard "Capricious Horses" by Vladimir Vysotsky - really stoic and intense and beautiful. 

Many people compare you to Soap&Skin particularly for your theatrical and intense approach to the songs: do you see yourself in this comparison? Do you know/like her music?

I have heard her music and I really like her. I don't see the comparison between our music but I wish I had written songs as good as hers when I was her age. 

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Don't you think that a kind of intimate folk can close itself? I mean, nowdays it seems to be an obligation for alternative musicians to take up a guitar and start composing music closed in their bedroom. Do you think that is still a need to express themself or just a fashion of the moment?

I personally don't follow trends or solely compose music holed up in a bedroom. I enjoy writing and recording in various spaces. I think a lot of types of music can be something very personal and intimate, folk music included. 

What genres and artists did influence your music?

It's really all over the place! Older country - Townes van Zandt, Neil Young, Hank Williams.. great singers - Selda Bagcan, Roy Orbison.. dark rock n roll like Black Sabbath or Led Zeppelin.. black metal and folk like Burzum, Gorgoroth or Wardruna. 

How much the live element matters in your Music? 

Writing and recording is my favorite part of the process, and then it has to translate to something live and more physical and spiritual, something you can feel and taste.. It's important to me for the audience to have a genuine experience so I take playing live very seriously and try to let myself go in the live setting so it becomes real emotion and I can really remember how I felt when I wrote the song. 

What do you think about Music industry nowadays?

I don't think my type of brain can wrap itself around how the music industry really works. Or maybe it doesn't want to.

What is the message that you'd like to express at the people Who listen to your Music?

I try not to interpret my songs very often for the listener because I want them to find themselves in the song; to be able to find out what it means for them. 

Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowdays, there is something that really captured your attention lately?

Sometimes, even as a musician, I forget how special it is to see a band live, and we've had the pleasure of playing with some bands this past year that I was truly impressed and inspired by, in different ways: Sunn 0))), Boris, Ai Aso, Russian Circles.. 

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Rolling Stones are more my vibe, but John Lennon has some fucking great songs.

CHELSEA WOLFE "SUNSTORM" from TERROREYES.TV on Vimeo.

Inspired and the sleep

Inspired and the Sleep- Running from Inspired and the Sleep on Vimeo.

Inspired and the Sleep

Who are you?

Max Greenhalgh or my alias, The Eyelid Kid.

I live in San Diego, CA.

My day job is working as a beach lifeguard.

I’m a part time student at an irrelevant college.

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

Music serves as a purpose and way of life.

Everything I do resolves around creating music in one way or another.

At times at exacts as an escape from anxiety and depressing realities.

Where and when did you start learn to play?

I started playing bass in middle school, took a few lessons before studying by myself.

In high school I started writing songs and playing bass in a few bands.

What’s your favourite artist and song?

Oof. tough.

Right now I’m obsessed with the Canadian pianist: Patrick Watson

His song “Bright Shiny Lights” is most definitely a favorite as of late.

What genres and artists did influence your music?

Playing bass I got quite into learning a bunch of soul and funk music.

When it comes to learning covers on bass those genres are usually the most fitting cause the basslines are so fat and the melodies are great.

Sam Cooke and Al Green are huge influences singing

As far as newer music goes, Dirty Projectors were a huge influence.

Learning Patrick Watson covers on piano has been super helpful as well.

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How much the live element matters in your Music?

It all translates back to the live show. If you’re an artist that should be a priority.

Of this album we just released, we’ll only be playing a few songs of it live cause we’ve written a bunch of new material that’s more fitting for the live setting.

What do you think about Music industry nowdays?

Making money with recorded music has plummeted except for licensing on TV, movies, etc.

This is one reason the live show is so important.

Then again the internet has opened up many opportunities for underground musicians to get heard worldwide instantly.

In all I think the truly unique and genuine music we’ll naturally expand itself when exposed online.

What is the message that you’d like to express at the people Who listen to your Music?

To accept the polarity of life as it comes.

The good with the bad. The light with the dark. The inspired with the sleep per say.

Who do you think are the most relevant musicians nowdays?

I think the artists that carry a strong defining image in their music are the ones that can communicate the most to an audience in their music. Not by a press photo or their style, but the actual image within the music itself.

Although I’m not much of a fan, Lana Del Rey is a perfect example of this. Dirty Gold makes you feel like your sipping pina coladas out of a coconut.

What is your favourite book and movie?

Favorite moive: The Big Lebowski, The favorite book (at the time): Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut

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

In ten years I hope I have found a medium of happiness and purpose in my ventures.

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Beatles hands down.

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