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REVIEWS
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Interview with Yaniv Shulman (Shulman)
Author: Radoslaw Bialek
Date: 20th of January 2008
01. I am very impressed by your work on your last album - "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" - so first of all I want to deliver my congratulations to you and Omri and also I want to say simply: thank you, thank you and thank you. Congratulations, because you are so close to Shpongle level of sounds creation that I have never imagine before that someone could be. Thank you, because you have mastered a new path in psychedelic chillout music - path of romanticism - and carried it by the sounds not only to my mind. There are many examples that I can give you why I'm thinking that, but one example is especially important for me. The second track on your new album - "Transmissions in Bloom" - and especially the moment at 1:50 when the guitar comes in; it's a complete definition of love in music without saying the word "love"... My first question is simple, but I would like you to answer me with detail. How it is to create music, and when have you believed in your life that you can create something special, not just music that anyone can make, but music with its own vision?
First we would like to thank you so much for the kind and wonderful words. We are very moved by your warm feedback to our music and it means a lot to us! We really try to create music that has an emotional effect on the listener; therefore, I think that describing our music as "romantic" in its essence is a very clever and accurate observation. As for myself, I have always been fascinated with music and had the constant urge to create and experiment with it. As far as I can remember myself, I had music spinning in my head, things I heard and things I made up. I always had a feeling that someday I will be able to create something special and of high musical quality. As much as I love and happy with the new album, I think and believe that I still have a very long way to go in my musical exploration and studies and I have touched only the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploiting my potential, and I hope I will have the blessing of the source of life to continue in my journey.
02. Besides love (a term in which I sum up all of positive emotions), the second important thing on this album is the future and The Future Sound of London. I am fascinating by track number five - "After Silence" - it's in my opinion a fusion of visions by the music of Matt Hillier and FSOL's "Lifeforms". Also track number four - "One Step Closer" - deliver us some futuristic sounds similar to FSOL's "ISDN" and the last track - "Eternal Bliss Of The Grateful Souls" - has got some sound structures that are similar to FSOL's work on "Dead Cities". Two questions: you have collaborated with Matt Hillier on "Midnight Soul Dive" compilation (on a track called "Mother Nature"), is there any chance that we'll see the dream team collaboration by Shulman project and Hillier on one, absolutely new album? Second one about FSOL: The Future Sound Of London is listed on your official website as one of your inspirations, tell me more about FSOL's music from your point of view and describe how did you discover this project and how can you describe their albums or the whole musical path till they had gone into Amorphous Androgynous?
I absolutely love Matt's music and I think he is definitely one of the most magical musicians in the world. We already started a collaboration project which is meant to be released as a complete album. Our collaboration is slowed down due to busy time schedules of us both. I hope that we will find some time soon to continue this project since the little stuff that already took shape is completely magical!
About FSOL. What's there to say that haven't been said before? For me they are one of the best if not THE best electronic music group. I spent so much time listening to their albums and I had so many magical and deep psychedelic moments with their music. Their sound design and compositional skills are almost too good to be true especially if you consider it was all done way before the days of the powerful computers, advanced sequencers and DSP plug-ins. I had many moments when I was practically lost in space listening to their music while in bed at night or walking outdoors.
03. What is music in your opinion? Collection of sounds, drug for the mind? Do you have your own metaphor or simple description? How can you see sounds now and in the time when you was a child?
That's a very tough question. Music is probably the most abstract and amorphous form of art. Music has the power to create and shift emotions in people in a strange way as if it has a direct connection to our souls. Try watching a movie without the soundtrack and you'll notice that in many cases you lose your ability to recognize the atmosphere of the scene, or the scene has much less effect. In the pure sense music is a collection of sounds, the spaces between them and a tempo. But I think our mind has special receptors-like mechanism intended for music, which give the whole thing a very special effect on our mind and soul. Music has the ability to appeal to some sense of aesthetics and beauty that is somewhere within us, like watching a beautiful landscape. It is probably one of the greatest mysteries of our world and mind and I'm not sure it will ever be explained fully.
04. Let's go deeper - what is the psychedelic music?
I don't really have an exact definition to what is psychedelic music, but the best short description I can find for it is that psychedelic music is a branch in music that makes your mind "dance" instead or in addition to your body. Although it is very hard to define I can easily recognize it when I hear it. It's usually electronic but not always. It's usually very meditative and monotonous but not always. It's always very visual, expansive and has some twist to it. It will always make you feel weird; looking on the world from the outside and in some cases will reveal itself in strange magical patterns. Like many other things in our world, 99% of the music described as psychedelic or that get released under the psychedelic umbrella is in my eyes far from being psychedelic at all.
05. How do you see your Shulman project with Omri Harpaz - can you say that your artistic work is "music" or "psychedelic music"?
I think our music is made of both approaches to music. It has its psychedelic moments for sure. But it also has some more traditional and emotional musical themes and motifs. I think this combination between both worlds is one of the most important things in what defines our music and makes it special.
06. Your work is definitely on the higher level of production skills. From the technical point of view, which of your compositions makes you especially proud?
From a technical point of view we're happy with many of our tracks, but if we have to pick one I think it is "Zero Degrees" from the album "Random Thoughts". That track has some serious processing work put into it and the amount of details in it is staggering, yet it all works beautifully together as a complete composition with each element having its clear place and space in the mix.
07. Could you tell me how many hours can you spend on doing one thing in the studio? Let's also take an example from your new album: how many hours have you spent on creating the main melody on track number one (I mean that melody played on organ that start at 6:46)?
It may take us a lot of time to complete a single element or a part in a track until we're completely satisfied with it, up to days or weeks in extreme cases. The first version of "Retroscape" did not have a melody in the end. Some time after the first version of "Retroscape" was completed we decided it will be a good idea to add a melodic part to the end of the track. The theme of the melody came to me while I was jogging. When I got back home I went to the studio and wrote the rough idea so I will not forget it, and a few days later we started working on it. Unfortunately we had some missing files so we couldn't edit the singing in the end. We had to write the melody above the singing as it was. It is made of two melodic lines interwoven to form a two voice melodic harmony. Later on when the singing returns, one voice of the melody stops to make room for the singing melody, keeping the structure of two voices. We initially wrote it as a three voices melody but decided it works better in two voices. It took us probably overall a total of 2-3 days just to compose that part.
08. Can you give me an example of arrangement elements that are on "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" that was done by you and examples of elements done by Omri?
I don't really recall. We are both pretty much involved in all aspects of music composition and production.
09. How many times you have finished this album and decided then to work more on it? When you two finally decided that "this is it"?
We have decided only once it was finished. That was when we felt the mastering is complete. Until then we have worked on this album constantly improving and fixing things. For example, the opening track on the album - "Retroscape" - is actually the first track composed after "In Search Of A Meaningful Moment" was completed. In fact, we think "Retroscape"'s first version was completed before "In Search Of A Meaningful Moment" was released! But this track was edited from time to time and we think it turned out to be one of the last tracks to be finished on the album! With that said, not all of the tracks were edited repeatedly, some were just left as they were originally written. To be honest we don't really care how long it took to produce, much more important to us is the quality of the music and the story it tells.
10. How often you two are disagree when creating music in the studio?
Sometimes it happens but it's always solved instantly and in good sense. I don't have a problem hitting the delete button on something I've done and so does Omri in case there's something we don't agree about.
11. Why is the last track - "Eternal Bliss Of The Grateful Souls" - so short? This is one of the only two bad things in this album in my opinion.
The fact that you feel this track is so short is a good example of how length is relative and subjective. This track is 5 minutes long, which is longer than most songs on the radio for example. We don't feel it's short and we feel it is good as it is. Perhaps you feel it is short since the other tracks on the album are much longer?
12. Probably it's the truth... Let's go to the next one. Yaniv, is your music more an effect of talent or work? What do you think about it in relation to yourself and to music done by other artists you love?
Talent determines how fast you will develop and how far you can go in your exploration. Actual products and results are only achieved by hard work. There is no doubt that both talent and work are almost completely useless on their own without the other and I believe that all the artists including myself have to have talent, and do some real work to make their music happen. No exceptions.
13. Shulman's music is a synonym to melody. Can you mention some of the melodies that you can describe as the best melodies you have ever heard? Give me some examples of your favourites.
I think that the most amazing melodies are the ones delivered from classical Indian masters like Hariprasad Chaurasia, U. Shrinivas, Ravi Shankar, and others. The reason is that Indian music is mainly monophonic music that is based entirely on a very long melody. Since they dealt so long with writing melodic music they have perfected this art to unbelievable levels of perfection. It is not uncommon to find 30 minutes long pieces made of a single melody that doesn't bore you for a minute, a truly remarkable achievement. I also really like the melodic works of Bach, who used the melodic theme repeatedly in his inventions, symphonies and fugues. His melodic works are the most sophisticated pattern-based music that was ever created. Apart from the above, I like many, many other things as well, but I think these are good enough examples.
14. You're well-known for your live acts. Personally, I haven't seen yet any of your performances, so can you tell me, how it looks from your side of the stage and describe, your preparation before doing a live show?
Our live show is really special because it is a unique combination of electronic sequencers and acoustic instruments. At the moment it includes two computers, drums, electric bass, keyboards, electric guitar, and hopefully in the near future we will be joined by a wind player. Those who are interested can watch a video clip of the live show and download a live recording here: www.shulman.info/shulmanlive.htm. The only problem with this setup is that the costs of flying and hosting five people are too expensive for most promoters outside of Israel. I really hope that the whole band will get a chance to play in big festivals over the world, I'm sure people will enjoy it immensely. Because of that, when we're invited to events outside of Israel, we usually play a "live" laptop set, since it usually involved in flying just one or two people.
There are many preparations for the live shows. At first we prepare special versions of the tracks, which is a very difficult and time consuming work. We aim at editing the tracks in much more upbeat and groovy ways, utilizing new ideas, while retaining their original atmosphere. That is not an easy job at all in musical terms. After we have the live versions ready, we work together with the rest of the band on interpreting, arranging and adapting the computerized tracks to live instruments. At this stage there are usually many changes to make in the tracks, since we come up with many new ideas in the rehearsals (once a week routine, and at least 3 rehearsals a week in the 2-3 weeks before a show). At the day of the show there's a lot of work to do. Picking up everyone from their homes and carrying a lot of gear, setting up the stage, doing balance and sound check etc. It is a lot of work, but overall it is a very rewarding process and we're having a lot of fun performing.
15. Is there any chance that you will release a live CD, or maybe a DVD from the performance?
We are currently working on a Live Shulman album that will feature special live edits to familiar tracks. Hopefully it will be released in 6-8 months from now. We have considered producing a live DVD, but at the moment the chances of it actually happening are quite low... Perhaps in the future we will have more time and budget for making a live DVD happen.
16. Let's go back to the past time. Describe the moment when you and Omri have decided to work together on Shulman project.
It was a gradual process that happened over time. Before anything else we are really good friends and as such we spend a lot of time together. So in the beginning Omri joined me in the studio occasionally for fun and as more time passed we got more and more into doing things together.
17. Do you have a specific plan when arranging music or it's all born from chaos?
Most of the time it is planned, not to the finest detail but we usually have some sort of concept or a goal we would like to achieve when producing. However, we had some magical things that took shape out of nowhere or by mistake. If it's good we'll keep it!
18. What is the percentage of your own composed sounds, comparing to the samples from other sources that you use in your musical landscapes?
In the past, especially in the first two albums we have used quite a bit of samples. Especially for parts that cannot be synthesized, like singing, acoustic instruments etc. That said, we have usually tweaked these samples and created something completely new from them! Today we hardly use samples at all, and when we are composing new stuff we usually record real players, singers and program most of our sounds and beats. Overall I don't see anything wrong with using samples as long as it's done in good taste and in unobvious ways. Samples can be fun and very inspiring to work with and are just another tool in the tool box of the modern musician.
19. Do you think that you're good enough so that you can create anything in the world of psy-sounds? For example, if someone asks you: please create your vision of "winter at midnight", do you think your skills and perceptions are good enough that you can express this on music?
Not at all. I think I'm pretty much far from that. I am able to do some of the things you might ask for but definitely not everything. However I do aspire to reach that level of musicianship.
20. What about psychedelic dance music? Did you ever consider releasing psytrance remixes of your music done by you or other artists?
Actually I did not so long ago. I thought it will be great to maybe create some sort of low BPM (120-135) tribal trance set of remixes to our work... I think it will be a great thing on the dance floor adding some musical richness and breaking the mold of what's being usually played currently on the dance floors. If I'll find time I might make it happen.
21. Let's say I'm the devil and I want to buy your talent for 1,000,000,000 Euro... The question is really serious. What's the price for your talent?
Good 1! I already gave up a career in high tech for my musical journey. So I already made the important decision that music is more important for me than wealth. However 1,000,000,000 Euros is a shit load of money and it sounds very tempting... (smile)
22. The psychedelic side of chillout music is still in its diapers. What do you think about its future? How this palette of sounds will evolve when it matures? More eclectic? More mainstream? Weirder?
I think that like most things in this life the borders and segmentation will fade and influences from many genres will leak into and outside the psychill genre. I know it happens in our music and I'm sure that will be the overall scenario. But where exactly it will go only time will tell.
23. If you had a time machine - to what year would you travel and what would you change in your music and in your entire life?
I would probably go back to my childhood and start learning music seriously at a much earlier age. That is probably one of the only things I regret in my life.
24. Who do you want to be at the age of 50?
Who I am now just smarter, more educated, better pianist and a better composer.
25. Now let's play a game called "who or what you like more". I will let you choose between two things and ask you to tell me why you chose one over the other.
Let's start with: Astral Projection or MFG?
MFG. I never was a big Astral fan.
26. Goa or psytrance?
Goa. More musical and hearty. But to be honest I find them both a bit boring for home listening at this stage in life.
27. Ambient or classical music?
Both.
28. The Future Sound Of London or Orbital?
The Future Sound Of London. Orbital is pale (in comparision with FSOL).
29. FSOL's "Lifeforms" or "Dead Cities"?
"Dead Cities"... a bit more varied and advanced though both are excellent!
30. Astral Projection's "Dancing Galaxy" or "Trust In Trance" (third chapter)?
I don't really remember the content of these albums, sorry.
31. MFG's "New Kind Of World" or "Project Genesis"?
Don't remember...
32. Infected Mushroom's "Classical Mushroom" or "B.P. Empire"?
Unfortunately I don't know well Infected's albums so I can't choose any.
33. Hallucinogen's "Twisted" or "The Lone Deranger"?
"Twisted". Simply because it was released first. Both are awesome in my opinion.
34. Aleph Zero's "Natural Born Chillers" or "Midnight Soul Dive"?
Depends on the mood. I love them both equally.
35. Ambient landscapes by The Mystery Of The Yeti or The Infinity Project?
The Infinity Project, a landmark album which I listened to maybe 1,000 times already. Absolutely brilliant!
36. Ishvara or Elve?
Ishavara, more colorful and visual.
37. We reached the end... I must ask you now about your future releases - what will be your next project?
As I said earlier, we are currently working on a Live Shulman album, which will feature special live edits to familiar tracks. After the live album I want to dedicate my time to create an album based and inspired by modern piano works by Rachmaninov, Ravel, Satie, Debussy and others. And maybe Ishq and I will find some time to continue our album... that will be great!
38. Please give us a message especially to your fans now.
We want to thank all the fans and promoters who support us. It's very much appreciated and keeps us going, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We hope people will enjoy "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" as much as we enjoyed working on it. Please check out our website: www.shulman.info, and our MySpace page: www.myspace.com/yanivshulman for more info, samples and downloads. To get updated in the future pleases join our mailing list here: www.shulman.info/maillist.htm. We love you all! Thank you!
Author: Radoslaw Bialek
Date: 20th of January 2008
01. I am very impressed by your work on your last album - "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" - so first of all I want to deliver my congratulations to you and Omri and also I want to say simply: thank you, thank you and thank you. Congratulations, because you are so close to Shpongle level of sounds creation that I have never imagine before that someone could be. Thank you, because you have mastered a new path in psychedelic chillout music - path of romanticism - and carried it by the sounds not only to my mind. There are many examples that I can give you why I'm thinking that, but one example is especially important for me. The second track on your new album - "Transmissions in Bloom" - and especially the moment at 1:50 when the guitar comes in; it's a complete definition of love in music without saying the word "love"... My first question is simple, but I would like you to answer me with detail. How it is to create music, and when have you believed in your life that you can create something special, not just music that anyone can make, but music with its own vision?
First we would like to thank you so much for the kind and wonderful words. We are very moved by your warm feedback to our music and it means a lot to us! We really try to create music that has an emotional effect on the listener; therefore, I think that describing our music as "romantic" in its essence is a very clever and accurate observation. As for myself, I have always been fascinated with music and had the constant urge to create and experiment with it. As far as I can remember myself, I had music spinning in my head, things I heard and things I made up. I always had a feeling that someday I will be able to create something special and of high musical quality. As much as I love and happy with the new album, I think and believe that I still have a very long way to go in my musical exploration and studies and I have touched only the tip of the iceberg in terms of exploiting my potential, and I hope I will have the blessing of the source of life to continue in my journey.
02. Besides love (a term in which I sum up all of positive emotions), the second important thing on this album is the future and The Future Sound of London. I am fascinating by track number five - "After Silence" - it's in my opinion a fusion of visions by the music of Matt Hillier and FSOL's "Lifeforms". Also track number four - "One Step Closer" - deliver us some futuristic sounds similar to FSOL's "ISDN" and the last track - "Eternal Bliss Of The Grateful Souls" - has got some sound structures that are similar to FSOL's work on "Dead Cities". Two questions: you have collaborated with Matt Hillier on "Midnight Soul Dive" compilation (on a track called "Mother Nature"), is there any chance that we'll see the dream team collaboration by Shulman project and Hillier on one, absolutely new album? Second one about FSOL: The Future Sound Of London is listed on your official website as one of your inspirations, tell me more about FSOL's music from your point of view and describe how did you discover this project and how can you describe their albums or the whole musical path till they had gone into Amorphous Androgynous?
I absolutely love Matt's music and I think he is definitely one of the most magical musicians in the world. We already started a collaboration project which is meant to be released as a complete album. Our collaboration is slowed down due to busy time schedules of us both. I hope that we will find some time soon to continue this project since the little stuff that already took shape is completely magical!
About FSOL. What's there to say that haven't been said before? For me they are one of the best if not THE best electronic music group. I spent so much time listening to their albums and I had so many magical and deep psychedelic moments with their music. Their sound design and compositional skills are almost too good to be true especially if you consider it was all done way before the days of the powerful computers, advanced sequencers and DSP plug-ins. I had many moments when I was practically lost in space listening to their music while in bed at night or walking outdoors.
03. What is music in your opinion? Collection of sounds, drug for the mind? Do you have your own metaphor or simple description? How can you see sounds now and in the time when you was a child?
That's a very tough question. Music is probably the most abstract and amorphous form of art. Music has the power to create and shift emotions in people in a strange way as if it has a direct connection to our souls. Try watching a movie without the soundtrack and you'll notice that in many cases you lose your ability to recognize the atmosphere of the scene, or the scene has much less effect. In the pure sense music is a collection of sounds, the spaces between them and a tempo. But I think our mind has special receptors-like mechanism intended for music, which give the whole thing a very special effect on our mind and soul. Music has the ability to appeal to some sense of aesthetics and beauty that is somewhere within us, like watching a beautiful landscape. It is probably one of the greatest mysteries of our world and mind and I'm not sure it will ever be explained fully.
04. Let's go deeper - what is the psychedelic music?
I don't really have an exact definition to what is psychedelic music, but the best short description I can find for it is that psychedelic music is a branch in music that makes your mind "dance" instead or in addition to your body. Although it is very hard to define I can easily recognize it when I hear it. It's usually electronic but not always. It's usually very meditative and monotonous but not always. It's always very visual, expansive and has some twist to it. It will always make you feel weird; looking on the world from the outside and in some cases will reveal itself in strange magical patterns. Like many other things in our world, 99% of the music described as psychedelic or that get released under the psychedelic umbrella is in my eyes far from being psychedelic at all.
05. How do you see your Shulman project with Omri Harpaz - can you say that your artistic work is "music" or "psychedelic music"?
I think our music is made of both approaches to music. It has its psychedelic moments for sure. But it also has some more traditional and emotional musical themes and motifs. I think this combination between both worlds is one of the most important things in what defines our music and makes it special.
06. Your work is definitely on the higher level of production skills. From the technical point of view, which of your compositions makes you especially proud?
From a technical point of view we're happy with many of our tracks, but if we have to pick one I think it is "Zero Degrees" from the album "Random Thoughts". That track has some serious processing work put into it and the amount of details in it is staggering, yet it all works beautifully together as a complete composition with each element having its clear place and space in the mix.
07. Could you tell me how many hours can you spend on doing one thing in the studio? Let's also take an example from your new album: how many hours have you spent on creating the main melody on track number one (I mean that melody played on organ that start at 6:46)?
It may take us a lot of time to complete a single element or a part in a track until we're completely satisfied with it, up to days or weeks in extreme cases. The first version of "Retroscape" did not have a melody in the end. Some time after the first version of "Retroscape" was completed we decided it will be a good idea to add a melodic part to the end of the track. The theme of the melody came to me while I was jogging. When I got back home I went to the studio and wrote the rough idea so I will not forget it, and a few days later we started working on it. Unfortunately we had some missing files so we couldn't edit the singing in the end. We had to write the melody above the singing as it was. It is made of two melodic lines interwoven to form a two voice melodic harmony. Later on when the singing returns, one voice of the melody stops to make room for the singing melody, keeping the structure of two voices. We initially wrote it as a three voices melody but decided it works better in two voices. It took us probably overall a total of 2-3 days just to compose that part.
08. Can you give me an example of arrangement elements that are on "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" that was done by you and examples of elements done by Omri?
I don't really recall. We are both pretty much involved in all aspects of music composition and production.
09. How many times you have finished this album and decided then to work more on it? When you two finally decided that "this is it"?
We have decided only once it was finished. That was when we felt the mastering is complete. Until then we have worked on this album constantly improving and fixing things. For example, the opening track on the album - "Retroscape" - is actually the first track composed after "In Search Of A Meaningful Moment" was completed. In fact, we think "Retroscape"'s first version was completed before "In Search Of A Meaningful Moment" was released! But this track was edited from time to time and we think it turned out to be one of the last tracks to be finished on the album! With that said, not all of the tracks were edited repeatedly, some were just left as they were originally written. To be honest we don't really care how long it took to produce, much more important to us is the quality of the music and the story it tells.
10. How often you two are disagree when creating music in the studio?
Sometimes it happens but it's always solved instantly and in good sense. I don't have a problem hitting the delete button on something I've done and so does Omri in case there's something we don't agree about.
11. Why is the last track - "Eternal Bliss Of The Grateful Souls" - so short? This is one of the only two bad things in this album in my opinion.
The fact that you feel this track is so short is a good example of how length is relative and subjective. This track is 5 minutes long, which is longer than most songs on the radio for example. We don't feel it's short and we feel it is good as it is. Perhaps you feel it is short since the other tracks on the album are much longer?
12. Probably it's the truth... Let's go to the next one. Yaniv, is your music more an effect of talent or work? What do you think about it in relation to yourself and to music done by other artists you love?
Talent determines how fast you will develop and how far you can go in your exploration. Actual products and results are only achieved by hard work. There is no doubt that both talent and work are almost completely useless on their own without the other and I believe that all the artists including myself have to have talent, and do some real work to make their music happen. No exceptions.
13. Shulman's music is a synonym to melody. Can you mention some of the melodies that you can describe as the best melodies you have ever heard? Give me some examples of your favourites.
I think that the most amazing melodies are the ones delivered from classical Indian masters like Hariprasad Chaurasia, U. Shrinivas, Ravi Shankar, and others. The reason is that Indian music is mainly monophonic music that is based entirely on a very long melody. Since they dealt so long with writing melodic music they have perfected this art to unbelievable levels of perfection. It is not uncommon to find 30 minutes long pieces made of a single melody that doesn't bore you for a minute, a truly remarkable achievement. I also really like the melodic works of Bach, who used the melodic theme repeatedly in his inventions, symphonies and fugues. His melodic works are the most sophisticated pattern-based music that was ever created. Apart from the above, I like many, many other things as well, but I think these are good enough examples.
14. You're well-known for your live acts. Personally, I haven't seen yet any of your performances, so can you tell me, how it looks from your side of the stage and describe, your preparation before doing a live show?
Our live show is really special because it is a unique combination of electronic sequencers and acoustic instruments. At the moment it includes two computers, drums, electric bass, keyboards, electric guitar, and hopefully in the near future we will be joined by a wind player. Those who are interested can watch a video clip of the live show and download a live recording here: www.shulman.info/shulmanlive.htm. The only problem with this setup is that the costs of flying and hosting five people are too expensive for most promoters outside of Israel. I really hope that the whole band will get a chance to play in big festivals over the world, I'm sure people will enjoy it immensely. Because of that, when we're invited to events outside of Israel, we usually play a "live" laptop set, since it usually involved in flying just one or two people.
There are many preparations for the live shows. At first we prepare special versions of the tracks, which is a very difficult and time consuming work. We aim at editing the tracks in much more upbeat and groovy ways, utilizing new ideas, while retaining their original atmosphere. That is not an easy job at all in musical terms. After we have the live versions ready, we work together with the rest of the band on interpreting, arranging and adapting the computerized tracks to live instruments. At this stage there are usually many changes to make in the tracks, since we come up with many new ideas in the rehearsals (once a week routine, and at least 3 rehearsals a week in the 2-3 weeks before a show). At the day of the show there's a lot of work to do. Picking up everyone from their homes and carrying a lot of gear, setting up the stage, doing balance and sound check etc. It is a lot of work, but overall it is a very rewarding process and we're having a lot of fun performing.
15. Is there any chance that you will release a live CD, or maybe a DVD from the performance?
We are currently working on a Live Shulman album that will feature special live edits to familiar tracks. Hopefully it will be released in 6-8 months from now. We have considered producing a live DVD, but at the moment the chances of it actually happening are quite low... Perhaps in the future we will have more time and budget for making a live DVD happen.
16. Let's go back to the past time. Describe the moment when you and Omri have decided to work together on Shulman project.
It was a gradual process that happened over time. Before anything else we are really good friends and as such we spend a lot of time together. So in the beginning Omri joined me in the studio occasionally for fun and as more time passed we got more and more into doing things together.
17. Do you have a specific plan when arranging music or it's all born from chaos?
Most of the time it is planned, not to the finest detail but we usually have some sort of concept or a goal we would like to achieve when producing. However, we had some magical things that took shape out of nowhere or by mistake. If it's good we'll keep it!
18. What is the percentage of your own composed sounds, comparing to the samples from other sources that you use in your musical landscapes?
In the past, especially in the first two albums we have used quite a bit of samples. Especially for parts that cannot be synthesized, like singing, acoustic instruments etc. That said, we have usually tweaked these samples and created something completely new from them! Today we hardly use samples at all, and when we are composing new stuff we usually record real players, singers and program most of our sounds and beats. Overall I don't see anything wrong with using samples as long as it's done in good taste and in unobvious ways. Samples can be fun and very inspiring to work with and are just another tool in the tool box of the modern musician.
19. Do you think that you're good enough so that you can create anything in the world of psy-sounds? For example, if someone asks you: please create your vision of "winter at midnight", do you think your skills and perceptions are good enough that you can express this on music?
Not at all. I think I'm pretty much far from that. I am able to do some of the things you might ask for but definitely not everything. However I do aspire to reach that level of musicianship.
20. What about psychedelic dance music? Did you ever consider releasing psytrance remixes of your music done by you or other artists?
Actually I did not so long ago. I thought it will be great to maybe create some sort of low BPM (120-135) tribal trance set of remixes to our work... I think it will be a great thing on the dance floor adding some musical richness and breaking the mold of what's being usually played currently on the dance floors. If I'll find time I might make it happen.
21. Let's say I'm the devil and I want to buy your talent for 1,000,000,000 Euro... The question is really serious. What's the price for your talent?
Good 1! I already gave up a career in high tech for my musical journey. So I already made the important decision that music is more important for me than wealth. However 1,000,000,000 Euros is a shit load of money and it sounds very tempting... (smile)
22. The psychedelic side of chillout music is still in its diapers. What do you think about its future? How this palette of sounds will evolve when it matures? More eclectic? More mainstream? Weirder?
I think that like most things in this life the borders and segmentation will fade and influences from many genres will leak into and outside the psychill genre. I know it happens in our music and I'm sure that will be the overall scenario. But where exactly it will go only time will tell.
23. If you had a time machine - to what year would you travel and what would you change in your music and in your entire life?
I would probably go back to my childhood and start learning music seriously at a much earlier age. That is probably one of the only things I regret in my life.
24. Who do you want to be at the age of 50?
Who I am now just smarter, more educated, better pianist and a better composer.
25. Now let's play a game called "who or what you like more". I will let you choose between two things and ask you to tell me why you chose one over the other.
Let's start with: Astral Projection or MFG?
MFG. I never was a big Astral fan.
26. Goa or psytrance?
Goa. More musical and hearty. But to be honest I find them both a bit boring for home listening at this stage in life.
27. Ambient or classical music?
Both.
28. The Future Sound Of London or Orbital?
The Future Sound Of London. Orbital is pale (in comparision with FSOL).
29. FSOL's "Lifeforms" or "Dead Cities"?
"Dead Cities"... a bit more varied and advanced though both are excellent!
30. Astral Projection's "Dancing Galaxy" or "Trust In Trance" (third chapter)?
I don't really remember the content of these albums, sorry.
31. MFG's "New Kind Of World" or "Project Genesis"?
Don't remember...
32. Infected Mushroom's "Classical Mushroom" or "B.P. Empire"?
Unfortunately I don't know well Infected's albums so I can't choose any.
33. Hallucinogen's "Twisted" or "The Lone Deranger"?
"Twisted". Simply because it was released first. Both are awesome in my opinion.
34. Aleph Zero's "Natural Born Chillers" or "Midnight Soul Dive"?
Depends on the mood. I love them both equally.
35. Ambient landscapes by The Mystery Of The Yeti or The Infinity Project?
The Infinity Project, a landmark album which I listened to maybe 1,000 times already. Absolutely brilliant!
36. Ishvara or Elve?
Ishavara, more colorful and visual.
37. We reached the end... I must ask you now about your future releases - what will be your next project?
As I said earlier, we are currently working on a Live Shulman album, which will feature special live edits to familiar tracks. After the live album I want to dedicate my time to create an album based and inspired by modern piano works by Rachmaninov, Ravel, Satie, Debussy and others. And maybe Ishq and I will find some time to continue our album... that will be great!
38. Please give us a message especially to your fans now.
We want to thank all the fans and promoters who support us. It's very much appreciated and keeps us going, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We hope people will enjoy "Endless Rhythms Of The Beatless Heart" as much as we enjoyed working on it. Please check out our website: www.shulman.info, and our MySpace page: www.myspace.com/yanivshulman for more info, samples and downloads. To get updated in the future pleases join our mailing list here: www.shulman.info/maillist.htm. We love you all! Thank you!
