Readers of Godsend should no doubt have heard my countless words of praise for this exceptional modern composer whose raw, evocative sound manipulations are easily more interesting than better-known peers like the Hafler Trio. PBKs electronic sculpturings are organic in feel, both natural and synthetic, creating entirely new universes, with each track distinctive and personal. -GODSEND MAGAZINE That review I did for PBKs Shadows Of Prophecy/In His Throes CD back in 1995 should pretty well sum up my feelings on the sound collages of composer Phillip B. Klingler. As PBK, he has made quite a name for himself through the years with an array of excellent releases on all formats, including recent works on labels like ND, RRR, and Realization. In addition to his solo work, hes also busy working on collaborations with a dizzying array of other sound artists and musicians like Jarboe, Chris & Cosey, AMK, Hands To, Mark Spybey, Deaf Lions, Brian Ladd, and jazz saxophonist Rob Backus. PBK was interviewed for Godsend in July 1996.
G-Todd Zachritz PBK-Philip Klingler
G-Describe how your composing process today differs from your early cassette days?
PBK-I think over the years Ive become more lost in music and I feel I know less about it now than I did then! Im very interested in chance as it relates to composing musical structures, but in 1987-88 everything I did was by chance since I was just beginning to discover the actual process of putting sounds together. Now I have to more deliberately avoid cliche and that requires a method of foiling my learned sensibilities so I can get back to working through instinct. Sometimes I start by just throwing sonic pigments onto the canvas at random to see how they collide! When it works it can be quite startling, but just as often it may not work and I have to start over.
G-After having several CD releases, are you interested in releasing any of your earlier work on that medium (CD)?
PBK-Absolutely. In fact, my new CD, SYSTEM-MUSIC-END, features collaborations with Hands To from 1988/89. Id been trying to get those tracks released for the past several years and Im really pleased that RRR gave me the opportunity to do so. Other works from that period are also worthy of more exposure, DIE BRUCKE is a compelling example. Another example would be the tracks which make up THE MUSIC OF HER SLEEP from 1990. This suite appeared very briefly and in limited quantities on Vidna Obmanas label and its some of my best ambient work...
G-Youve been quite active in collaboration, with many different styles of artists, from Vidna Obmana to Hands To to AMK to Jarboe, etc. Please discuss these or how did they originate?
PBK-The scope of musicians Ive been honored to work with is very wide indeed! Whether were speaking of the abstract electronics of Asmus Tietchens, or the Dadaistic hi-jinks of AMK, or the marvelous pop constructions of Jarboe, I guess Im drawn to artists who, like myself, tend to plant their visions in rocky soil. Ive been very lucky to have been able to work with artists I sincerely admire. The incredible aspect of collaborating is how much of an intellectual pursuit it is since it really requires you to think quite carefully how you might overcome certain aesthetic problems. You come out the other side knowing more about yourself!
G-In your own words, describe your music/sound.
PBK-I think my restless nature belies any solid description of an identifiable PBK style, much as that defeats any marketing scheme that I could set up to help sell my work. I once set up a guideline for composing music and it followed like this: Expression in its essential form is the goal. Accessability means less than nothing. Building new rules and configurations (compositional structures) is the challenge. Out of those ideas I began to think about chance and chaos and how they related to my own work. Glen Thrasher of Lowlife Magazine described my music as assault ambience and I rather like that description because it suggests that within the ambience set up by my musical structures there is a kind of tension, or conflict, that makes it more compelling.
G-Your thoughts on the current experimental scene. Do you feel the success of the more accessible electronic artists (chiefly the ambient techno and industrial rock genres) has helped or hindered the more underground/experimental artists?
PBK-I dont really think that what they are doing is that different from my own stuff, in fact, I use much of the same gear that they use, i.e. analog and digital synthesizers, samplers, sequencers, etc. Yet my work is labeled noise, theirs electronic. I think if a person likes to listen to Aphex Twin or Autechre they should find something interesting about PBK but Im not denying the obvious differences in our approach. Ill admit, I feel misunderstood at times, but I really believe that an artists work does belong exclusively to the time-frame in which it was made, so it stands to reason that there must be some correlation between what Im doing and the music out there being made by others. My work will probably never catch on in a big way, but ambient techno and industrial genres certainly havent hindered my chance for being heard, if anything theyve helped it! Theyve probably opened up a few ears to discovering the more complex music out there. So, I embrace it now where, a few years ago, I might have been more critical.
G-What other contemporary artists/musicians do you enjoy or appreciate?
PBK-Anthony Braxton is very important, combining improvisation and compositional theory in ways never dreamed of. Very complex thinker, Braxton. He states his ideas so eloquently, and with such gentle authority, one cant help but feel moved. I still listen to Coltrane quite a bit as well. I return to Can time and again, for their incredible experimental breadth. I listen to Van Morrison constantly! I just find his music very human and incredibly soulful. Im still crazy about the Swans. I saw them last year in Detroit and its amazing to hear their sounds combine into swirling vapor while that lone human voice trails in the distance... Download is a very interesting project, I think. I have high hopes for this group. Autechre seem to be very adventurous, at least what Ive heard. Chris and Cosey have just released one of the best theyve ever done, IN CONTINUUM. Superb! Im always thrilled by Hands To, AMK, Asmus, etc; people that Ive had long associations with and we share a lot of our experiences together through our music and correspondence.
G-Your work evokes distinct mental imagery...Is this intentional? Any interest in film soundwork?
PBK-I dont deliberately set out to create pictures with my work. Having a background in visual arts, Im sure, has affected my approach. When I first began I was definitely interested in translating visual images into sound. The fact that those images were abstract led me into the area of sound I now work in. Over the years, however, my interest in this has diminished. Im finding that music in many ways has much more possibilities for abstract expression. Would I like to do soundtrack work? Sure, but at what cost? I mean, think about Coil and the Hellraiser film- great music, not used in the movie. How could I expect my ideas to go over?
G-Does it bother you if/when your work is referred to as noise?
PBK-That doesnt bother me a great deal. My only problem is that it may separate me from a group of possible listeners who wouldnt be so shy of my music if only it wasnt noise. Then again, it may work in my favor since I know there are a lot of noise-heads out there! I actually dont hear my sound structures as noise, probably because I always hear compositions (even pop music) as total amalgams of their individual components. Everything sounds noisy to me and noise sounds musical! I am cautious about the term because just as free jazz became a catchword to be suspicious of, as if free, abstract expression was an excuse for untalented musicians to get one over on the listening public, noise may have similar connotations.
G-Future plans & closing comments.
PBK-Ill continue collaborating and working on solo projects. I will work on a track with Chris and Cosey for their next CORE CD project. Im also working with Jarboe. I have an ambitious free-jazz project brewing with Blowhole and the Post-Prandials from New York. My LIFE-SENSE REVOKED project will be forthcoming as a CD release on the Italian label, Lunhare. I want to thank all of my supporters out there... Thanks and take care.
PBK discography:
Die Brucke CS,Asesino CS,A Noise Supreme CS,Verfall CS(with Hands To), MelachoirCS(with Hands To), Monument Of Empty Colours CS(with Vidna Obmana), Depression And Ideal CS(with Vidna Obmana), Thrill Pictures CS, Narcosis CS, The Music Of Her Sleep CS, Domineer CS, Domineer/Asesino/Retro 3LP boxset, Macrophage/The Toil And The Reap CD, Five Manifestoes CD(with Asmus Tietchens), Shadows Of Prophecy/In His Throes CD, Life-Sense Revoked CS/CD, Listening To The World Vibrate CS, System-Music-End CD(with Hands To/AMK), Headmix CS (1997) For a catalog of available PBK releases, send a SASE to: PBK PO BOX 7786 Flint, MI 48507-0786 USA