Kutiman interview – “My wife told me the other day that we evolve in a spiral”
Israel’s multi-disciplinary maestro on new EP ‘Dense’
Kutiman first came to the attention of the world with a genuinely jaw dropping YouTube clip that took clips of countless tutorial videos and looped and layered them into one irresistibly funky piece of music. Absolute genius.
But that’s the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his talent. He’s extended the ‘Thru-You’ series of clips but pulled off similar tricks in cities all over the world, combining the efforts of disparate musicians operating there. He’s also, shock, horror, made a heap of great records, the latest of which, six tracker Dense, is inspired by Burial and the Rhythm & Sound label as well as some dark personal times he was going through. He kindly volunteered to answer a few questions plucked from the Juno Daily virtual biscuit tin and tells us more….
Hello and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Before we start, can you tell us where you are as you answer these, what you’ve been doing today so far and what have you got planned for later today?
Thank you for having me. Right now I’m in my living room in Herzliya, Israel. I finally got a day off from working and just had a relaxing day with my family.
Tell us about your earliest musical memories. What music were you exposed to at home from parents and siblings? What were your first musical loves and when did you start making music yourself?
I come from an academic house as both my parents are professors for biology and climatology, so growing up there wasn’t an artistic spirit and mindset in the house. No one was really into music, I mean obviously they like music, but let’s say no one told me about Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles or Bob Marley (not to mention Sun Ra😊). It was mainly Israeli radio of the 80’s and it wasn’t very interesting…
My first musical memory was when I was six years old. We moved into a new house and we had a neighbour that played the piano. I think I fell under a spell, I just wanted to go over and see him play. It was magic, and soon after I started taking piano lessons. Then when I was maybe eight years old, I heard Mory Kante’s ‘Yeke Yeke’ on the radio. I went crazy… That was probably the first time I heard groove in my life. I was hoping that they would play it again on the radio (when thinking about it today, it’s crazy to think you had to wait until maybe they would play the song you like on the radio).
Your move to Tel Aviv as a teenager to study jazz is cited as being pivotal in your development – what about that time has stayed with you as you’ve gotten older?
Coming from a small village with not a lot of culture and when the internet wasn’t a thing yet, moving to Tel Aviv really changed my life. I didn’t know a lot about music apart from my Rage Against the Machine, Michael Jackson and Metallica cassettes, and although they are still really good I couldn’t even imagine how wonderful and crazy and deep music can be. The jazz school actually didn’t really teach me a lot, I was never good with institutions and never understood how the hell to play jazz… not to mention that I had to hide the fact that I liked Rage Against the Machine so all the jazz heads wouldn’t eat me alive. It wasn’t my kind of school nor kind of jazz, but later on I met people who are still my best friends to this day, that opened my eyes and ears to all the amazing music I really like. It was like listening to music for the first time all over again.
Do you see any patterns of development in your sound as you’ve continued your journey? Or are you too close to the subject to analyse?
I’m not sure if I can see that… My wife told me the other day that we evolve in a spiral and I loved this idea. We keep growing and evolving while going back and forth in a circle… if that makes sense…
This EP was, according to your quote, created when you were having a dark time in your life, and were listening to dark sounds as a result. Tell us about how that changed your sound and your recording set up too.
I was always drawn to the darker kind of music rather than the happy sunshine kind. Of course, I like happy music too, but I think that in general, for some reason, I like it more when art makes me cry then smile. I also always liked electronic music (preferably dark!). I think Plastikman was the first artist to influence me, but I never actually created electronic music until my good friend and musical mentor Sabbo (Nenor) gave me a Russian drum synth to play with and that inspired me to start shopping 🙂 Not a lot of stuff, but a Volca drum machine, a few fxs and maybe another synth… I connected it all to a vintage Soundcraft that I found in a warehouse, set it all down on the floor and played with it for hours… such a fun way to create music after years of recording instruments one after the other… Everything is playing together, you turn some knobs and magic happens… I’m really looking forward to doing more of that!
Six tracks – a lot of people would have knocked another couple out and called it an album. Was it the case that those six tracks just hung together? Do you think EPs give you a freedom to take a different direction rather than the more landmark statements of albums – or do you not even think about that?
I don’t really think about that… There are so many things I want to do and learn and try… Usually my projects are impulsive blitzes of creativity, I just get obsessed with a new toy, technique or genre and dive into it until something or someone wakes me up, or I just had enough of it. Usually that’s when the project is over (for better or for worse) and I move on to something new.
Where would you take us if we had 24 hours to spend in Tel Aviv?
I haven’t lived in Tel Aviv for many years now… I live in a near-by suburb and I’m 41 with a child, so if you’re looking to party I’m not your man 🙂 But I can show you the beach and take you to eat something nice, and maybe walk around a cool neighbourhood, and when night falls I’ll go home but I’ll hand you over to one of my vampire friends to take good care of you 🙂
You’re obviously well known for your Thru You series on YouTube. Do you think artists should get stuck into new technology and bend it to their will, or do you have sympathy with musicians who prefer to stick to music?
I just want art to make me feel something, preferably cry or laugh (I don’t really want you to make me angry), and I don’t really care how you do it… it’s a cliché but it’s true, and over the years I realise it more and more. I don’t care if you do it with AI or with a banjo, if it hits my heart, I like it.
And what’s next? Any gigs, video projects, recordings, remixes, life saving operations or similar in the pipeline?
Well, I can say one thing and, in an hour, discover something new and leave everything and do that, but I do have kind of a free jazz album ready, it just needs a mix. I’ve got a few collaborations, some local and some international, coming out hopefully soon, and I’ve got an EP with Dekel in the same spirit as my album Open, nice songs that will hopefully make you smile or cry! Other than that I look forward to discovering something new that will keep me up at night…
Ben Willmott
Pre-order the vinyl of Kutiman’s ‘Dense’ EP, released on May 26, here