Lovers of electronic music had a reason to punch the air with joy — the god of euphoric melancholy, often described as the missing link between Steve Reich and Radiohead, Apparat [Sascha Ring] was here in the city. The Capital was treated to richly textured, emotional electronica and heavy sci-fi soul.
As part of ‘Germany and India 2011-2012: Infinite Opportunities’, this tour concert was an effort to promote inter-cultural music exchange. The ensemble, who performed at Blue Frog, included Sascha Ring [vocals, guitar, and noises], Nackt [piano, guitar, bass], Ben Lauber [rhodes, keyboards], Jörg Wähner [drums & percussion] and Christoph Hamann [violin]. Millennium Post caught up with Apparat. Here are excerpts:
How has this trip to India and the Indian crowd been?
This is the first time that I am playing in India! We have played pretty much around the world but it’s quite special to be able to play here. So far I have played in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai and the experience has been amazing. I’m aware that electronic music has found a niche following with urban audiences in India. I hope to introduce my freshest sounds which have lately been interactive forms of music, such as techno and electro, keeping an eye on the laptop screen and another on the dance floor — watching electronica fans lose themselves to the experience.
What did you performing in Delhi?
We played a lot of the last album but also a few older hits. It’s not easy to play every song I made because we play everything live and there are only five or six people on stage. Some of my older songs have 60 instrument tracks and stripping down only works with the strongest ideas. These shows will actually be among our last ones. We already played more than a 100 and from December we’ll take a quite long break.
You have said that you are ‘more interested in designing sounds than beats.’ How would you describe these sounds to be?
When I started making music 15 years ago, electronic instruments were the easiest way of archiving what I wanted to do. I think during the years, I just discovered other ways of expressing myself. I grew up with techno, real instruments were not an option, and I just slowly discovered my love for acoustic sounds during the last 10 years.
Do you see contemporary electronic music becoming a phenomena?
It generally depends on what kind of music your audience prefers. If you ask me what electronic music means to me, I do not fit into a particular genre. It does not have to be electronic or acoustic to please my fans so I can do whatever I want to and it feels good. I think these days you can push the boundries in electronic music. I feel we are at a good position in the electronic music phase right now.
What are the next projects?
I made music for a theatre piece, War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I have spent the last months to record and edit it and it’s going to be a record pretty soon [I’ve never told this to anyone so you heard it here first]. Then I’ll go back to the studio with Modeselektor [an EDM band from Berlin].