“Then there’s the thing I talked about before about creating music that is its own entity, that exists outside of myself to some extent. It’s like putting a chemical reaction in motion and watching what takes place. So the approach changed from putting personal expression first to discovering things about sound. Now I consciously work with very basic building blocks of sound.”
“I also try and avoid the “here’s my drum machine, here’s my drum loop with my kick and hi-hat and here’s my synth sound, and here’s my atmospheric pad sound, and now I’m arranging my song” type of approach. I try to really steer clear of that way of producing dance music. I start with very simple components and the structure is all about how they can morph over time in this gradual sense.”
Imo, a more interesting read than the music itself. I pretty much always find that though, reading reviews, descriptions/situations. Enjoy the stories and discussion much more.
Really interesting read! Big fan of Nancarrow and its always interesting to see whose been inspired by him, another interesting one is A.G Cook who said he has a big Nancarrow influence. Henry Cow are also one of my favourite bands so crazy jealous of anyone who has got to work with Fred Frith.
Fantastic read! Super interesting stuff (in a very geeky way), and I liked the interview style, really well done… Might be interesting to try sampling some of the avant garde tracks linked in the article, too.
There’s a recording on a new(?) site called Echio of Rrose breaking down the track “Spore” from their new album and answering questions: https://www.echio.co/artist/rrose.
The track breakdown lasts maybe 20-30 minutes, it’s actually a pretty simple track in a technical sense, but I found it inspiring to see how simple the session was and learn more about their working method. The Q&A has some pretty interesting questions in too.
It costs $20 for enough tokens to watch the session, which I thought was worthwhile. You’ll have enough token spare change left over to get this Luke Slater one too, which I’ve not watched yet: https://www.echio.co/video/PJic1O9K8RuyWaT6mbXb. TBH I am happy to support these kinds of endeavours and hopefully help make artist’s careers sustainable!
Yes, this is a great breakdown! I watched it live and asked one of the questions. Rrose is fantastic and it was interesting to learn that this track was created just with paulstretch and stock Ableton plugins & samples – yet another reminder that it’s the artist, not the gear, that makes great music.
Oh nice! Would have been fun to join live and ask questions but I couldn’t make it. Glad it was posted for replay. These kinds of sessions can be a mixed bag I find, but this one was really enlightening and inspiring.
The Luke Slater one (which is 300 credits so a good way to use up the left over after buying Rrose assuming you bought 2000) seems pretty good so far too, I’m half way through. Again he’s talking about simplicity/restrictions but from a slightly different angle.
I’ve picked up a few really inspiring things I want to try from both videos, maybe quite simple stuff but I find sometimes you need reminding to keep it simple, so I really recommend them to techno heads!
I wanted to let you know about an upcoming five-evening online workshop that I will be leading in November (18-20 + 24-25) 2025 via the excellently curated CAMP platform (www.campfr.com).
Space is limited to 20 participants, and there are only 8 left, so if you are interested, please do sign up! I’ve included the description below. Soon, I will be revealing the list of pieces and composers that we will be covering.
Thank you, as always, for your dedicated ears
With love,
Seth / Rrose
November 18, 2025
Alien Ears, Alien Voices with Rrose
In this workshop, Seth Horvitz (aka Rrose) will lead us in an exploration of “listening with alien ears”. Each two-hour session will feature 2-3 compositions (varying in length from 13-50 minutes) selected by Rrose to elucidate the influences and ideas that have guided their expanded vision of what “techno” can be.
First, we will learn about each composer and the specific techniques, philosophy, and historical context that gave shape to the work. Then, inspired by the Buddhist notion of “beginner’s mind,” we will forget what we know and listen with eyes closed, as if we are aliens from a soundless world, experiencing music for the first time. This two-pronged approach will develop our ability to listen in a way that is simultaneously informed and naive. The final day will follow the same format, but will be devoted solely to Rrose’s music.
For each spotlighted composition, we’ll ask the question: how do one or more of these concepts apply?
-Parallel, paradoxical states of being
-Smooth movement between discrete and continuous sound
-Microtonality
-Emergence
The “alien voices” aspect of the course relates to an essential thread in Rrose’s music: the feeling of voices emerging, even when there are no literal voices present…
Interesting read, that article. I do understand where he is coming from.
Yet… I feel like the avantgarde music / experimental world and the “ghetto music” sides of techno can be married in a way which can still feel authentic, its not necessarily only “here are my simple elements brewing in a pot, manifesting the music” or “gutter tracks forever, EQ why, turn up the bass cut the treble”. Its obvious he has chosen the avantgarde, for now… Would be interesting to see Rrose, Jeff Mills and a Traxman collab…
