NAW-struck

>> Prodigal homeboy Neil Wiernik revisits a more IDM-friendly Montreal

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

When Montrealer Neil Wiernik bolted for T.O. back in ’95, all smug and bitter and shit, we rolled our eyes as he announced that his nascent taste for minimal techno would be better appreciated there. Oh, how we snickered-right, Neil, cold, abstract thinktronix are the wave of the future.

Now, seven years later, we’re eating humble pie. IDM has blown up-note the success of Mutek and the FCMM. For his part, Wiernik has established a Toronto collective called Clonk, booked countless glitchno jams (including shows by Rechenzentrum and Monolake), and released music under his name and the NAW tag (look out for releases on A/S Systems and Noise Factory), with a third persona, Dropfile, on the way. The Mirror played catch-up with Wiernik, over the phone from T.O., as he prepares for his return to Montreal.

Mirror: Since you left, the minimalist techno you do has seen a huge rise in popularity, particularly here in Montreal with our Mutek and FCMM. Did you see this coming?
Neil Wiernik: Part of the reason I left for Toronto was because at the time, there was a larger electronic community here, more energy and openness to electronic exploration. Mostly because by ’95, the rave thing in Montreal was more or less dead, because the cops had killed it. Also, Toronto is closer to Detroit, where electronic dance music in North America-techno, house and electro-were born. The music exploded here in Toronto, and I felt that my music was very art-based and wanted to continue to explore it, but not on a level where I’m showing it to the same five people each time. I took it out of the galleries and threw it into much more accessible circles.

M: I want to differentiate between Neil Wiernik, NAW and Dropfile-
NW: Neil Wiernik is the stuff I’ve been doing since the mid-’80s, my more experimental, less rhythmically-based, electro-acoustic material. The radio art stuff I used to do in Montreal was the origin of that. What I do now under my name is less academic, but still rooted there. NAW is basically my interpretation of dancefloor-friendly music. So it’s four-four, molding experimental music into a more accessible form that can speak to a larger group of people, adding dub reggae, minimal techno and clicky-glitchy sounds. Now, Dropfile, that takes both of those forms and imposes hip hop and abstract jazz influences on them. I basically take the NW stuff, slow it down to 20 BPM and add a hip hop beat. Nobody’s heard it yet, really-it’s still being worked on.

Outward bound

M: I should tell you what my frustration with a lot of glitchno and IDM is. The approach is microscopic as opposed to macroscopic. As fascinating as an extreme close-up can be, too often it becomes too inward-looking, self-reflexive, about itself. There are artists pointing it back outwards, so that it speaks of the world around it, but not very many. I feel comfortable telling you this because of your older, radio-art work with the Crystal Methodists, which was very critical and rather politicized.
NW: I feel that self-reflexivity is found in any kind of independent music. That’s why I got bored with punk rock. A lot of audio art talks about itself as well, math rock too-all this stuff makes reference to itself and doesn’t talk outside of the box, so to speak. The way I try to deal with that is by making obvious references to other musical styles that are outside of the form, bringing them in. I use a lot of clips and cuts from dub reggae records, jazz, classical and even new age, believe it or not. I edit them in such a way that they become rhythmic artifacts of sound. I agree, a lot of artists sample from other techno records. They’ll listen to a techno record, say, “That’s what I want to do,” and six months later, they’re an exact copy. That’s just dangerous.

M: Speaking of outwards, you’ll be doing something at the Om festival before hitting Montreal. How do I put this in a polite, circumspect way-what’s with this hippie faggot nonsense?
NW: Om is an interesting thing. It’s non-profit, the same idea as Burning Man but in Canada. They want to create a temporary autonomous zone. In the past, it’s been very hippie-rave-oriented, but things have changed in recent years. They’re much more open, and they’re drawing on darker and more left-of-centre sounds. In the past, it was all trance, which is very much the opposite of what I do. This year, they’ve gone so far as to invite Clonk, the collective I’ve founded, to curate a three-day stage. :

With DJs Sarcastic and Kidstatik at Bluedog on Thursday, June 27, 10pm, $2