Straight to the Point: Leila (Warp)
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U & I and Us & Her...
Leila Releases her third album ‘U&I’on 20th January 2012. Leila has already released three albums, a trilogy if you will.
In 2009 she started to write a body of work that felt different. Maybe it was being sober, but this one seemed to be about being more direct.
Leila first met Mt. Sims at a fancy dress party way back in 2006. Leila went as Leila. Mt. Sims dressed as a Computer Processing Unit fashioned from a cardboard box with strategically placed slits. She had admired his music since his work on Gigolo Records, she was most happy when he introduced himself and said he was a fan.
Fast-Forward to 2009, Leila decided the man who had dressed as a C.P.U was the perfect voice for this new body of work.
‘In Consideration’ was made within two hours of him arriving at her home studio, when it comes to noise she doesn’t like to waste any time.
Then came an intense period of sonic interactions. ‘Welcome To Your Life’ was particularly fun in it’s inception. Backing track pretty complete, as Leila watched Countdown Mt. Sims casually wrote a song… Leila liked it a lot.
Two visits and some acapella posting via Dropbox later ((both “Anyway” and “U&I” were done within 30 minutes of Leila receiving the acapellas), The album was complete. Leila does enjoy watching the TV a lot but is also rather prolific. Then she just needed to stitch these and some carefully chosen instrumentals from her arsenal to complete this new story.
The title was a difficult call, Celine Dion… The Pierces …The Gaga
Leila says “Fuck It”, in aesthetics she doesn’t care about the what, how or why. Both intimate and universal, personal yet detached ‘U&I’ would be the name.
The artwork is a picture taken of a very special computer crash revealing its internal architecture. Like an imaginary moment when you can look at a human being and see their organs and bones rather than the layers of veneer- Harsh but true. The album will be available as a digital download, CD and vinyl
Now, let's get Straight to the Point...
First record bought...
I genuinely can't remember...and I find it hard to lie when it comes to art/music.
Last record I listened to was ...
I had to DJ in Paris last week so I tried finding some new bits...most music is rubbish. But I did come across the Dopplereffekt record that Rephlex put out in 2007 (Calabi Yau Space) and i was struck by 2 things.
1.....How proud i am that I did a record with Rephlex. 2.......How very awesome Dopplereffekt are.
The record I pretend I don't love is ...
No such thing for me. I will always defend the music I love, if it moves me then i feel no need to "pretend". My loyalty is and will always be to emotionally moving noise (or what people call...music).
The record I always go back to…
Recorded interviews with Marcel Duchamp about art and aesthetics. Bartok romanian folk dances (El Poc played slowly is my favourite). Early Human League instrumentals. Random bits of Bernard Herrmann.
My biggest musical inspiration is...
Prince...it is hard to explain the thrill of a new Prince record circa mid 80's...you really didn't know what you would get each time.
Raymond Scott.....for having a mind for machines and a heart for melodies.
My first gigging experience was…
Dull probably. My second gig ever (with Bjork 1 month after leaving university) was wembley stadium which was rather funny/bizarre. Luckily, i am somewhat short sighted, so 50 people or 90 thousand...it's all the same to me.
My worst gigging experience was…
....most of my own gigs....... When I am on it, it's lush. When I am not, it's torture and both parties (me and the audience) are left wondering what the fuck is going on and what all the racket is.....
My best gigging experience was…
Performing the track "Storm/Nameless" on the Bjork greatest hits tour of 2003. Different every night and I had the vocals in my desk to process live.
My own gig would be a Spanish festival in Barcelona 2008 (can't remember the name). My personal monitoring system was amazing so i got to really play with sonics and noise and hear frequencies that i had never heard before. Not my best gig in terms of the audience, but i liked it........
The person I would least like to share a stage with would be…
Why would I bother to consider such a prospect? I have set up my life and career in such a way that such a notion is pointless. I simply don't do things that I don't want to do.
If I wasn’t a musician I would be a…
A horticulturalist or a doctor.......I think I could have a good a doctor or surgeon......shame I am too lazy to study or listen......... Or a music journalist.......this would be infinitely easier, the competition is weak and even lazier than me.........
Your favourite Youtube…?
This section of music is one of my favourite 3 minutes of music ever, built around a perfect loop and grows/morphs/manifests beautifully. This version is the closest to the Ansermet recordings in terms of pace and intention and the kick off bits are techno. The dancing?.....kinda of whatever, but it is funny when they all fall..........
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