1) First of all, please introduce yourself. How did you start sonicpieces?
sonic pieces was actually started by accident. I didn't really have the intention to start a label. I was doing radio for several years, I did a lot of interviews with artists and people who are running labels, and later on I also started to arrange concerts here in Berlin. The first one was a show with Nils Frahm and Library Tapes in early 2008. I was thinking it's
a nice idea to make a little promo 3inch CDR for the show, and so I made 77 copies (which is the year when I was born) to give away for free and wrote sonicpieces 001 on it. After that I released two more CDRs in a very limited run and with special packaging, but still without the idea to start running a label seriously. At this point my intention was
rather making nice and handmade packages for CDs.
However, Nils Frahm became a good friend of mine, and he had a solo piano album for Kning Disk and a tour with Peter Broderick coming up in spring 2009. He told me, he would like to have another record to sell on tour and was thinking about making 100 CDRs of a mini album called ''Wintermusik'', and he asked me if I could do the packaging for it. I knew ''Wintermusik'' for a while already, I've been listening to it a lot and really loved it, so I told him it's such an amazing album, we should do proper CDs. I was glad he agreed, and then I knew that I had to take the label more seriously and take more care of distribution, promotion and things like that.
2) It seems that you are releasing the music your close friends make. Please let me know your labelfs philosophy or aesthetics.
First of all, it's important to me that I really really like the music, though of course it's very nice also to work with friends and people I know. Most of the artists I'm working with are living in Berlin, so it's definitely great to be able to meet them and talk to them in person. Sometimes that makes things a bit easier I guess. Also I have to say, the releases I did
so far just mainly happened because I was meeting the people and getting to know them better. They liked the packaging I do, and so it happened that we started working together. It's also a bit like a family, since all the artists are knowing each other or even working together. I really appreciate that, and often I make new contacts through people
I know already.
However, it's not a requirement for doing a release that I already know the person or get to know him or her through someone I know. Just as well I don't want to be fixed on a certain style of music or genre. I'm just trying to be open about it, and if I really like the music, if I listen to a CD and want to press play over and over again after it's finished, then I'm also up for doing a release.
3) The greatest characteristic of sonicpieces is hand-made covers. Itfs so beautiful and I think you need careful workcplease let me know about the covers. Do you make it by yourself? How hard to make it?
Yes, I make all the covers by myself and by hand. I started with it while doing radio, since it didn't feel good to give the copies of the interviews to the people I had interviewed in plastic cases or paper sleeves, I rather wanted it to be like a present. It wasn't possible to find a suitable package in a shop, so I created my own ones. Since I often got really nice feedback from people about it, I started making more and more.
Of course it needs careful work and takes quite a long time to make them, but I'm enjoying it also. I already liked doing handicrafts when I was a child. It's kind of relaxing to me, a bit like meditation also, and I can listen to music while doing it. So it's easy to me making these covers, but you definitely have to be patient, and maybe that's not everyone's thing.
4) Currently CDs sales are getting down and down. Making characteristic and wonderful artwork is one of the ways to survive in this worldcwhat do you think about it?
I guess that's true. It makes it more worth to people to own a CD, though the music has to be good also I think. But if you only want to have the music, you can also download it. I think on one hand we are having more and more music and releases today, a total overflow of the market, and no one is really able to follow all the new releases and listen to everything. And on the other hand we are having less and less people who are willing to buy CDs. That doesn't fit together. But luckily there's still a small group of people that really appreciates to have physical records. These people are rather collectors who want something special and unique, something which is worth to collect and not everyone can have, a complete artwork. So it seems what I do just fits with the market, though I never really thought about that when I started.
5) You seem to use Japanese paper for the covers. Whatfs your impression for Japan?
I use linen for the covers of the CDs I release, which is a material that is mainly used for books. But yes, I made covers with Japanese paper also. I love Japanese papers and fabric, it's so beautiful, but not so easy to get here.
I like a lot of things coming from Japan, I love Japanese food for example, and I'm very much interested in Japan in general. I've never been there, but it's on top of the list of the places I like to visit. It seems so different from Europe and full of contrasts. I think Japan has a very beautiful landscape, amazing cities and an interesting culture. But of course all I know about it is just from what I've read or heard, so I would love to visit Japan and get a more objective view about it.
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6) Please let me know your favorite place in Berlin.
Oh, that's a hard question. I don't have one favourite place in Berlin really. It's changing so much also and scenes are moving. I'm living in Prenzlauer Berg which changed a lot during the last years, and you can find a lot of families and children here now. When I moved to Berlin more than 8 years ago, I was staying in Neukoelln for some weeks, and to me there was nothing interesting really. Now a new bar, café or gallery opens there almost every week, and also the audience there changed a lot. It's nice though, since I really like to discover new places and things as well.
Some places I really like in Berlin..
Ausland..
non-commercially run venue for experimental music, performance and art
Antje Oeklesund..
lovely gallery space, for live music also
I met Nils Frahm there for the first time, when he was opening for F.S.Blumm. I was totally blown away, and I'll never forget this evening.
Volksbuehne..
amazing theater and concert venue
Lichtblick Kino..
super nice and small cinema, 32 seats, good schedule with a lot of film series, retrospectives and documentary films
Gorki Park..
great russian place with excellent food and vodka
Prater..
best german food in town and really nice beer garden
Well, we have some nice parks here also, and in summer it's definitely worth to discover the countryside around Berlin with all the great lakes. And last but not least, I really like to visit Durton Studio where Nils is living and working. It's always good vibes there, and his studio is just simply amazing.
7) What are your current favorite 5 albums?
These 5 albums are not really new ones, but some which I like a lot and been listening to over and over again for a while or some years already..
John Convertino: Ragland
Kreng: L'autopsie phénoménale de Dieu
Collie Ryan: The Hour Is Now
Arthur Russell: Calling out of Context
Daniel Padden: Pause for the Jet
8) Whatfs your plan for the releases or any other projects in the future?
The next album is planned for october. It's by Erik Skodvin, who usually releases under the name Svarte Greiner. He is also one half of the Norwegian duo Deaf Center and is running the Miasmah label. It's actually the first album which is especially made for sonic pieces, and I'm very happy about it. Also it's different from the stuff he's usually doing,
mainly acoustic guitar and piano, so we decided to release it under his own name.
Also I'm planning to start a 7inch series in autumn this year. It's called seven pieces, and it will be exactly seven records within this series. The first one is by Simon Scott with two songs he recorded at Durton Studio last year in autumn. It's mainly Simon playing guitar and singing, and Nils is playing piano on it. The second record will be by Steven Broderick (Peter's dad) with some pieces he recorded when he was 18 years old. Side a will be the original version of a song, Peter covered for his new album, and we have some instrumental guitar pieces for the b side. I have some more ideas for the series already, and since I heard Japanese don't like vinyl that much, I think I will release it as a CD compilation in the end also, but I guess it will take quite a while ;)
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