ag - for openers, what's the status of luasa raelon?

dr - luasa raelon is going strong. the next three releases are in various stages of development (story, textures, general track ideas...). i haven't started doing any recording yet but am going to start as soon as i finish a couple other things with my other projects and be able to devote my time and energy to a new luasa raelon release. i have enough ideas for the next couple years, now it's only a matter of getting down to realizing them. in any case there are four unreleased albums out there so i am not in any hurry, along with the fact season of the witch hasn't been out for that long and i am trying to keep from flooding the market with material. i now look at luasa raelon as my flagship project and want to make sure every release has something new to offer the listener.

ag - ah, awesome, i was under the impression that luasa might've been ditched due to the (seemingly) increased focus on envenomist. just where did the name luasa raelon come from?

dr - no. i just have had more requests for envenomist material lately so (i) have been concentrating on that project.

things also go in cycles for me. when I am feeling burnt on one of the projects, i work on another one. keeps things fresh for me and keeps me active. the pendulum is swinging back to luasa raelon now. i did generate material for the live shows last summer and fall but haven't gotten around to recording it.

as for the name. i made it up. i had been using another name but on doing an internet search, found that it was being used and decided to make one up. i was going for a lost/fantastic city-sounding name akin to some lovecraftian locale or a mysterious place like nan matol.

ag - and here i was convinced that there was no way anyone could come up with the name luasa raelon on their own.

dr - HA!

ag - envenomist seems to have started around the same time frame as luasa's poison city. that cd, in particular, seems to share some common ground with your work as envenomist. what spawned the decision to start envenomist in the first place?

dr - well, the decision to start envenomist kinda evolved over several months. i was getting tired of the electribe synth I had been using forever, prompting me to acquire a few new synthesizers. at the same time, i had been on tour with hive mind, been introduced to the work of maurizio bianchi, and become really obsessed with the intrinsic action 2 disc. having a few new (for me) analog synths to work with combined with my interest in the above artists pretty much brought about envenomist, which did start around the same time as i began work on "the poison city" so there is a lot of common ground there. ideas from doing the envenomist material bled over into luasa raelon. i have a specific sound in mind for envenomist, but it happens where my projects will converge like that, i will bring an idea from something to another thing. i do try to keep them separate with each having their own identity but as it is all me, things overlap, especially if i am working on different things at the same time.

ag - m.b. is great, for sure.

dr - totally.

ag - i definitely get where you're coming from in terms of having a unique sound in mind for envenomist. it seems to have less of a dark vibe that luasa'd been leaning towards in later releases, and more of a colder sound to it. the name of your gameboy disc "delving glacial" couldn't be more appropriate. as far as drone goes, it's great. it reminds me a bit of some of anla courtis' work, primarily "albúmina blues".

dr - thanks. yeah, the envenomist sound is aiming to be more cold and ambient. things move slower and are more static. i want the sound to convey the effects of an altered state of consciousness where reality seems to slow down.

ag - overall, it seems like you've moved away from the more noise-based sounds (avarice, detonator...), was that a conscious decision or a natural evolution for you as a musician?

dr - well, when I first started doing noise, i was pretty much listening to merzbow and wanting to do something harsh. as things progressed and i delved deeper into the whole noise scene, i gravitated to the darker things more so than the harsh noise that had originally attracted me. the vision of what i want to do with luasa raelon became more clear to me and over time, i have worked to refine this vision. so, it has been a mixture of evolution and conscious decision and this continues. i try to keep the sound of luasa raelon developing with new textures and new forms like for instance the use of beats and rhythms on "season of the witch", and the new synths.

ag - in terms of the darker sounds that appealed to you, were there any artists in particular that you heard that kind of steered you towards that direction?

dr - gruntsplatter, brighter death now, vedisni, lull, ruhr hunter, yen pox, inade, sator absentia, that triage disc, and melek-tha were all pretty early on in my exposure to the dark ambient and death industrial genres. also started listening to a lot of black metal at about the same time.

ag - very nice, troum would fit in there nicely, too.

dr - yeah. i heard troum later on with the release on desolation house. i know there are a few artists that i didn't list that i heard later on like lustmord and megaptera.

ag - i'm completely ignorant of black metal (outside of burzum, but everyone knows about burzum), any recommendations?

dr - xasthur, leviathan, early emperor, darkthrone, bathory, early mayhem, celtic frost, manes, satyricon, and marduk are good bands to start with i think along with burzum.

ag - brittle foundries, which i'm the least familiar with, seems to have stopped right around when envenomist began. what was your particular direction with that project and are you planning any further releases under the name?

dr - brittle foundries was what i considered my more academic project. i was using more organic sounds, working in the way i do when i am part of an improv ensemble, and doing some experimentation. there is one more release coming out on chondritic sound but i haven't done anything further for the project as named. i have been recording material in the same vein though and am going to release it under my own name (david reed) pretty soon. it just seems to take forever. i had planned on doing this over a year ago and actually recorded some material but it wasn't working for me and i scrapped the tracks and then it took me a year to get back to working on things. i know it's all confusing but i wanted to do material under my own name. that is the academic thing to do. heh.

ag - ha, this is true. nothing says artistic credibility like using your own name. well, it either says that or that you're a guy with an acoustic guitar, but so far it's worked for keith rowe and most of japan.

since you touched on ensembles, is starlight fleecing your first recorded group effort?

dr - no. there are a few other things out there. i have performed works by rocco di pietro, some of which has been recorded and released with more on the way. i have been part of his performing ensemble for a few years. check di pietro editions for more info. there is also an older cdr by the avant collective out there. the avant collective was the first thing i was involved with (it is also how i met rocco) where i used a sampler and we did a bunch of different things like free improv, game theory pieces, working from member's original scores, and doing original film scores. i learned a ton from being a part of this and it really helped me in doing my solo work. it played a huge part in my development. i actually started doing solo work as a side project to the ensemble. i would have people ask me all the time what exactly i was doing on stage cause i was hunkered down over a couple boxes as opposed to an instrument and thought i would do something on my own. i also had ideas that weren't fitting with the group's aesthetic. things rapidly avalanched from there as i became more and more consumed with recording/producing noise.

starlight fleecing is a pretty good example of how i work with other people in an improvisational context. i have done performances quite frequently in a variety of groups but the recorded output has been real slim.

ag - i'll have to look out for that avant collective disc, it sounds really interesting.

dr - it is pretty old and i think i have gotten a lot better since then but it is a document of that time with the group. interesting aside: we went in to a friend's studio on and off for a weekend recording a ton of improvisations then a couple members went through and took what they liked the best and made the final release. well, a little later we actually learned what we had done as an improv and would play them as pieces. weird times.

ag - who are the other members of starlight fleecing and how did that project come together?

dr - larry marotta on guitar and ryan jewell on percussion. basically ryan asked larry and i if we would like to get together and jam and see what happened. one evening larry and i went over to ryan's and we recorded what is on the disc. i had worked with larry in several groups before this. ryan has come out and been real active in columbus recently, the guy is a monster. we are planning on playing out more here and there.

ag - when you decide that your spur of the moment music is worth using as more concrete material, that has to be a positive sign. there must've been some good chemistry.

dr - yeah. there is always the possibility of failure when you get together and do an improv. session. it is so rewarding when it works out. i think for it to work, everyone needs to actively listen, work to make things a cohesive whole, and allow enough space to let everyone else involved be able to add to the music. larry and i have played together in numerous projects over the years so we both had an idea of what the other would be doing and ryan is just so great that it fell together.

ag - in regards to columbus, are there any locals that you think might be on the verge of making larger names for themselves? or at the very least, are they any artists that we should be more aware of?

dr - there are a bunch of projects and bands going on in columbus right now. the scene keeps growing. tom derwent, ryan, and matt griggs (sp?) have all made their presence known in the past year and just killed consistently. mark of sword heaven and his fiancé, jen, have an awesome project called face place. aaron quinn is studying jazz guitar but also does amazing noise work. it's so great being able to interact with all these people and have a rotating line-up for shows.

ag - very cool. there's only a few names there that i recognize, aaron quinn's awesome. does he still play with realicide at all? i'll have to keep a look out of for mark and jen's project. i haven't really heard much out of sword heaven in awhile.

dr - aaron is still working with realicide. he is real busy with school fall through spring with jazz and then over the summer goes total noise. sword heaven are pretty active. they play a ton in the area and have a few releases in the pipeline, including the new 7" on bloodlust!.

ag - i really need to pay closer attention to bloodlust!'s activity, they put out a ton of great stuff, yet i can never remember to check up on them.

dr - mark (solotroff) releases so much great stuff on a monthly basis, it is hard to keep up. the man is on fire. he is a totally great guy and (has) been involved in the scene FOREVER.

ag - are there any upcoming releases planned on snip-snip?

dr - yes. a release by teeth collection and a david reed release are forthcoming. keep an eye out for those two and more in the future.

ag - hmm, i've never heard of teeth collection before, who's behind that?

dr - matt reis. there is a myspace page for it. the guy is from dayton, ohio and also runs the epicene sound label.

ag - now i don't have a complete discography of snip-snip's to go off of, but it seems like in the early stages of it you put out cassettes, but now it seems you deal predominately with the cd-r format. do you see yourself going back to tapes or even branching out into vinyl in the future?

dr - i have given serious thought to doing vinyl and/or tapes. i am planning on co-releasing a couple lp's in the near future but it is still up in the air for snip-snip-only releases. i think it will happen eventually, although it will take some time to get around to doing. vinyl sells well in the noise community and there is a pressing-plant here in columbus and both of those factors are real incentives in doing an lp. the cassette-culture in noise seems to be pretty strong and i might do some cassettes. basically the only thing stopping me now is the fact that my dubbing deck has broken and i need to get a new one.

ag - ha, that sounds like it would be a bit of problem.

i think that about does it for me. i just wanted to say thanks again for taking the time to talk to me, and i look forward to hearing more from you and your label!

dr - cool. you are welcome.