INDAMIXWORLDWIDE.COM - The Disco to House Music Daily Update - ANANDA PROJECT: SOUTHERN COMFORT INN...

ANANDA PROJECT:

SOUTHERN COMFORT INN…

Not that many artists have that gift of makin’ yo’self home when confronted to their pieces of work. Atlanta-based composer/producer, Chris Brann is no doubt one of’em, adding his name to a handful of people such as Joe Claussell, José Padilla, Kevin Yost, Larry Heard and Manuel Göttsching, on the heels of those sublime aural landscapes he manages to draw while blending elements of soul, experimental electronica over a myriad of different rhythms givin’ birth to sophisticated beats. Fire Flowers is the title of his newly released album under the Ananda Project banner. Suggestive enuff to tickle our curiosity… Yours too? Follow the guide!

Yoaw Chris. Wassup my man? Quite an eternity without seing each other. Last time was in your Atlanta hometown where I spent a few days with Karl Injex and you drove me to the airport on my way to NYC…

Hey Frederic!

No heard neither for some time of your aside projects such as P’Taah and Wamdue Project. How come then? Is it because you’ve decided to focus on Ananda Project?

It's been tough for me for some reason. I've been working on new Wamdue material for the past 4 years, and it looks like it's finally coming together. The new album will be out next year… Also look for a new P'taah album next year featuring heavily the sax work of Kebbi Williams.

Any news from your former partners – Chris C & Udoh – back in your Wamdue Kids time?

Both Deep C ( Chris Clark) and Chris Udoh are in Philly... I got them working on mixes to some new Wamdue Kids material… We're all pretty excited about it.

There’s always been a touch of depth, for much in the specific atmospherism which characterises your compositions as far as Ananda Project is concerned. Do you have an idea of where it’s coming from?

I'd like to think that there is a definitely style to the way that harmonies and chords are approached with the Ananda 'sound'. I guess I've always had a certain inclination to certain ways of approaching the keyboard, and the Ananda Project style is a way for me to put that kind of harmonic colour into house/dance music.

It’s often said how the (geographical) environment may have influences on the process of doin’ music… One reaction?

I belive that. I like going to the mountains or the beach. I frequently ride my motorcycle through the mountains and 'soak in the vibration'....The same is true when flying airplanes... I like hanging out around the clouds for inspiration.

As a visitor coming for the very first time to Atlanta back then, I’ve felt some specific atmosphere where I could feel some reminiscence of the so called deep South if you understand what I mean. Is this the fruit of my imagination of something you also can feel? And if so (the latest) is this something which has somehow affected the way you create music?

Hmmm... Personally I think that the culture of the Deep South is sort of a romanticized and sentimental picture of the past. I don't really gravitate toward it, I guess because my parents weren't from the South. In fact, my father grew up in France, so I had more in common with French culture!

But more to the point, I think being in Atlanta has influenced me to make music that does draw from some of the elements of Southern Soul... albeit, with a bunch of other things mixed in.

Keeping on as far as the city is concerned, the local scene is quite active and diversed with quite well known people doin’ R&B and hip hop as well. One explanation?

Well, I remember people coming here in the early-90's, talking about how Atlanta is the next 'MoTown'. It was because of people like L.A. and Babyface, Dallas Austin, Jermaine DuPree, etc... that really set up the industry here. Then I think the neo-soul community grew up around that and became the alternative to what they saw the mainstream guys doing. Unfortunately, house music is pretty dead here now. I remember we had a vibrant scene hear for soulful house music in the early to mid-90's. A lot of that had to do with the influx of people from the North (NYC,Philly,DC, Baltimore,Chicago) going to school here. Now everything is commericial rap music. It's a little bland if you ask me.

What about local activists such as Justin & Kemit, vet percussionnist Sundiata O.M. who’s got a house there, Kai Alce or Sweat parties promoter Calvin Morgan to name but a few?

There's a bunch of great talent in Atlanta. It's just unfortunate that no one in the city really knows about it.

Are you in touch with each other??? Exchanging feelings, ideas?

I'm not really in contact with anyone in this city (except for the few people that I work with). There's only a handful of people who get the core of this music here. You can tell, I'm slightly bitter about it.

You’ve never been seen DJing unlike most of your pairs. One specific reason? Have you never seen this as a disadvantage on a scene – the clubs – where a big majority of the people are spinning?

I DJ on occasions. I'd like to more now, but it's not what fuels me. When I DJ, it's all my own mixes mostly. So it's basically a performance... So might as well just bring a couple singers and percussionist, etc.

A few words about you if you don’t mind, beginning with WHO is Chris Brann?

I'm just really into music… On a personal level. I'm not a star, I'm not in it for glamour, or ego. I just want to make good records that touch people. That's about it......

Those really into music know how it is firmly related with pictures, either suggesting them or being the result of them. What d’you have in mind when putting shapes to your ideas?

I guess for me, it's kind of a test. If I get a very strong visual impression while working on a track or song, it's good. Sometimes I don't have any visual impression… Maybe other people will though, so it's not for me to judge this.

Let’s restart from the beginning. Your first contact with music? When did you think this would be it?

I remember from a very early age hearing 'spirituals'... Something that would be played at an African American Church for instance. I was always very affected by hearing it. I didn't know why. My true passion was always becoming a professional pilot. But then I got really into music and the airplanes got pushed into the background, at about the age of 13.

I remember talking to my music teacher in high school. He asked what my plans were once I left school. I told him that I was going to write songs and work on demos and shop them to labels. He laughed and said I needed to think about a 'real' job.

Your very first instrument?

I first got a really cheap guitar. I wanted to play like Andy Summers from the Police. It sounded like crap, so I moved to synths… where it's easy to sound good.

The starting point of a song?

For me, it's always the chord progression, then build everything around it. Basslines, beat, melodies, always come after the chords.

Any compositions you’ve never achieve to complete?

I've got tons of unfinished ideas. They're just sketches... or studies.

Your heroes/models? References in terms of production?

Ryuichi Sakamoto. He does anything he wants and pulls it off with his unique imprint. He is someone who has a very clear sense of his own vibration in relation to the composition of his harmony. You can spot it from a mile away.

Steve Reich. I love his harmonic sense. It's very cosmic to me. I feel like some of his music is coming from a sort of crystal intelligence. I'ts not quite human, more angelic, but yet the rhythms and pulses he uses are very human, much like the bloodstream and heart beat.

Keith Jarrett. I could spend the rest of my life just listening to his recordings and nothing else. There is so much density and dimension in everything he plays. It's very nourishing.

Kate Bush. She's one of my all time favourite 'electronic' producers. The work she did with the Farilight is sublime. It was a time when the soul of the digital instrument was very up front.

Although not living on a desert Island, Atlanta remains far from being as active as cities likes NYC, Chicago, Detroit or London in the music front. Is this something which you’ve lived like an advantage somehow? I mean, did you feel like you had to have some distance in order to maintain a certain quality of life and protect yourself from a sort of contextual pressure like Kevin Yost for instance, living in the very depth of Pennsylvania?

Yup, I like being away from everything, in my 'cocoon'. I don't like to be under pressure to fit in or compete with what is the flavour of the moment. I like to taste different sounds from around the world... See what's going on in what markets. But, I have to have a lot of 'me' time, to be very clear about what I'm trying to say and do with music. So Atlanta is nice for that.

Looks like you pretty much come up with a full album before thinking of the singles to be taken out of it as opposed to many other people droppin’ singles then thinkin’ bout gathering them into a whole package… Right or wrong?

Yes, right. It's always about the album. The key songs or singles, are like the frame work. But you have to have songs that will make the whole thing work and connect. I'm into the artform of the album. I guess it's a vanishing art in this day and age.

Let’s talk about this new album of yours… Does it come into what has to be taken into a whole history (yours)?

I think it's definitely a part of my journey. Sometimes I think I should have made it more commercial sounding. You know, a little less introspective, but it is my 'statement'. However, it is just one shade of the full spectrum of what I'm working on.

Now a few things requiring your thoughts if you don’t mind, like... Georgia in my mind!

I love that song. Hoagy Carmichael.

America…

... Needs education. So ignorant people will stop electing ignorant leaders.

House music…

is like the 'mother' music to me. It can be whatever you want it to be.

DJ’s…

I don't know much about DJ's anymore. I like DJ's who are FEARLESS.

Remixes…

A good song is still a good song no matter how its remixed.....HOPEFULLY.

Technology…

Don't let it use you. Learn how to use IT.