Everyone’s favourite French audiovisual super-duo, ‘Gangpol Und Mit‘ are back with a fresh new picture vinyl LP : “The Hopelessly Sad Story of the Hideous End of the World”, and a DVD on the way!
Sylvain & Guillaume, who sculpt the delicate cartoon cacophony of sounds and video, are currently busy gigging live around Europe to promote their LP ( a narrative musical project about the end of the world ). Along the way they’ve started a collaborative ‘electro-crooner original music & visuals project that features Polish and French artists using entirely material captured from the city of Budapest. Imagining some kind of melancholic Serge Gainsbourg with a pair of loop pedals programming his own cartoon tv channel gets close to the G.&M vibe (check their stunning videos and free music) . In between shooting super 8 and recording at haunted karaoke bars, they* found time to email the below >>
*Sez Sylvain :
“I made the answers so if you may mention Sylvain is talking, maybe it’s better, so that Guillaume is not involved in my stupidity 🙂 ”
What happens at a typical G.U.M gig?
We mostly wear glasses and special suits, jump everywhere, make headbanging and duck-like vocal scratches, play wiht puppets, smal keyboards or circuit-bent toys, trigger samples and use our laptops in order to produce for YOU a sonic and visual entertainment.
Episode 3 of a Gangpol Und Mit TV Show would feature what?
Death of Gangpol & Mit in lot of sadistic ways, full of sexually explicit content.
How do you share or split up your musical roles for performing and composing?
Gangpol always makes every music and Guillaumit every visual. We daily share of course lots of ideas, wishes or views when composing. Pragmatically, one of us starts from an idea, either a 30seconds melody or a short storyboard, then we share a lot until we are satisfied.
Tell us about your upcoming DVD…
We just released a new picture vinyl LP on wwilko label, which offered us this beautiful opportunity thanks to their amazing job. It is a narrative musical about the end of the world. Then we will come the DVD, maybe with close topic, including some video clips and cartoon material, but it will probably be postponed until autumn days. Meanwhile we had an inquiry from japanese label Out one disc for a cd released, and are currently working on it.
How does video relate to your musical processes?
We realize everday how music and visuals are run in our project by exactly the same concepts: composition, rhythm, samples,… We sometimes have tight a relationships between sonic and visual, sometimes it is more allusive, distant,… Both ways have their strength and limits.
Who does live audio & video well?
In most cases, VJ’s don’t have an exclusive relationship with a musician, because they’re supposed to be able to play for any kind of event. Maybe that’s why we enjoy so many graphical or VJ’s works, old weird TV programs, cartoons or anime, and many brilliant musicians, but didn’t really find a specific audio and video live we may quote here.
Some musicians are very good for graphic design, like Dat Politics, but we never saw them live with the video. Le Dernier Cri makes very wild shows, but it is more live music on a screening of their amazing animation work. Doravideo seems to be a funny drum & video project, we hope to see him live… And hope to find more in 2007.
Electronic equipment. Audiovisual busking. How is it possible ?
We just make rehearsals like a regular band. Guillaumit is doing live montage with video sampler, and I play multitracks versions of the audio,playing keyboards, vocals with effects, triggering samples…
What do u like in electronic music gear? soft/hard/wetware?
Gangpol & Mit wasn’t really intended to be an “electronic” project, but it is on these days because nobody unfortunately built an acoustic laptop yet… I tried to work once with a full mouses orchestra. I asked them to play my scores, but they never really were able to play the beats as strong as I wished them to do it…
Medicated rollerskating dentists. How appropriate is your music for them?
I really don’t know. Maybe it’s better for medicated rollerskating ducks.
What cliches of recent times would you like to put a bullet through?
Cliché n°1: There’s no difference between underground and mainstream music.
Cliché n°2: Gangpol & Mit play 8bit music.
3 websites more people should be finding music from:
http://thebrain.lautre.net – our favorite french radio show, hours of top-quality streaming
http://www.tiliqua-records.com – no fucking free mp3s, no fucking download, here is a place to BUY music in the old way.
Their reissue series is amazing work if you do care this kind of things: perfect mastering, top quality packaging… Their rare records section is a kind heaven for people who don’t smoke, drink, take drugs, or have to put some fuel in the car, and so may start an addiction with records once in a while.
http://stephanomariano.free.fr/maison.php – top quality french artist
In what ways is your music a response to the disappearance of European wildlife?
We only try to daily escape from the real world as strong as possible. We’re maybe not wild people, but the world we try to reach is surely stranger than the low-cost hotel rooms we happen to sleep in.
When are you coming to Australia?
As soon as our space ship is gonna get repaired. Get ready.
Current / Future plans?
Make a cake, release records, make a 10 minutes long piece for our lives, feed the cats, go on tour in Poland, make a DVD, have a rest, and die.
Gangpol Und Mit — Never stop!