Monday 3 November 2014

Message From The Cave: An Interview With Marcel Thee



An aspiring songwriter, Marcel Thee seeks to strike all boundaries between ear-fondling and adventurous musical sphere. Ranging from the critically acclaimed-crowd favourite Sajama Cut, of which he is the primary creative force, the transcendental-congregational "fuzz-folk" under his own name and into the noetic-novelty seeking attempts such as Roman Catholic Skulls and Strange Mountain, efforts of which staple himself as one of the most prominent figure within Indonesian music scene. When he's not busy poppin' out, Marcel juggles between professional music journalism and fatherhood.

On a frivolous move, I, whose penchant for attention seeking needs to be satisfied, decided to snatch some of his invaluable free time to do a little chit chat.

So here it goes:

Questions are in bold format.



I used to be a rockist but somewhere in 2005, I discovered “Am I Evil” from Diamond Head. The song abridged a precipice that was previously unfordable to “Dazed and Confused” hence I’m able to appreciate every song in Led Zeppelin’s catalogue and go on to an ability to appreciate most popular songs (Read: Non-rockist songs). What song(s) that makes you able to appreciate the beauty of popular music on the first place?

 I don't know if I'd ever seen music as being either rockist, as you said, and non-rock. The first band whose full catalogue I was into was The Beatles, and they pretty much laid the groundwork for popular music, or 'pop' as a genre. I fell for Berlin, for instance, at the same time I fell for Faith No More when I was 9 or so, and it's been pretty much the same ever since. There's never been much of a separation, though as I grew older I recognized that the music I enjoyed the most were not particularly the most popular ones. I've been figuratively blind towards any kind of popular music since the late 90s though, and only recognize a pop hit when it is very big like Ricky Martin or something – if he's still alive. The Black Eyed Keys maybe? I know absolutely nothing about local pop music. I do subscribe to the belief that the more popular and populist your music is, the less challenging and hence, valuable, it is. That's a pretty logical take.
 
In my opinion, “Is this It” hinted that there was a killer scene going on and it’s gonna be big. What album that makes you feel the same way? Be it from the 80s, 90s or 00s.
 
Well, “Nevermind” was one for the 90s, obviously. I was too young in the early 80s too recognize a scene. I guess “Is This It” for the 00s - though I didn't recognize it as a scene starter because I was a little older then and saw it as a great record in and of itself and nothing more. I was never into the other garage rockers of that era. Locally, “JKT SKRG” is certainly one I experienced up close and very much appreciate. 

Speaking of Strange Mountain. Sometimes I think that one can stroke the album title and change it to whatever suits him/her. For example: I scratched the “Shadow of the Metropolis” title on the tape and altered it into “Ghost of Her Shadow” or “Beneath the Willow Trees, The Ghosts are Feasting and She Went Away” and the songs (errr…..sounds) still made some sense. What do you think about that? Are you aware of that “risk”? Do you even consider that it is some kind of “risk” or are you ok with that?

 I don't really understand what you mean, but if we're talking about interpretations, than that's absolutely great. Certainly much better for listeners to draw their own meanings into it than expect some sort of explanation from songwriters. As for my music, you can pretty much do that to any music I make, not just SM stuff.

I read an interview between Boards of Canada and The Guardian. One of the band’s remarks was: “(Tomorrow's Harvest) it's loaded with patterns and messages. There are various tricks embedded throughout the whole body of this album, so it'll be interesting to see whether people pick up on these things.” Are there such patterns or “mechanical/quantitative fact” of any sort in Strange Mountain records?

Nothing particularly eventful, but SM is certainly loaded with layers of unorthodox and processed sounds. There are a lot of early SM songs that have my daughter's voice, piano “playing” in it. And most of the field recordings were done at or around my home, hence the distant traffic humming and such. I think Sajama Cut's “Apologia” had a lot of hidden sounds, though difficult to hear because of the sad production.

Pardon this pompous question but is there a “correct” way to listen to Strange Mountain or Roman Catholic Skulls? I mean, I played some albums like 6-7 times and most of the time I fell asleep before the album came to the end. (I also read somewhere that Awan Garnida or Bembi Gusti said that “a good album is the one that puts one to sleep”.)
 
No, there's not. It should be the same way you listen to any of your favorite music. I do understand that for many, it is still considered music that is a little weird or, god forbid, “experimental”. But it's just music filled with emotions to me – Like all of my other bands. It's pretty simple – or “pop” - just delivered with a very particular mood that is heavy on the remembrance aspect.


Suppose that Jokowi is able to bring this country forward (and that includes promoting the “ekonomi kreatif”-thingy), musicians will be running out of ammo in their arsenal to criticize the government hence, there are some sort of risks that “ill-favored” or irrelevant songs will be more frequently published or on the contrary, the “abstract-yet-free to interpret” kind of music will be abundantly written. What do you think about that?

 
Protest music is fine but it's not something that interests me – certainly if it involves local politics. I guess I'm apathetic, but for health reasons. I'd rather not know than go insane. It's a middle-class survival thing. I can't go to a protest in my daddy's sedan, you know. The small concerns spoken in music ring truer to me, far more than some folk strumming and lyrics about toppling the government. 

Joko Anwar once said that: “Seni itu cair”, hence the saying “air seni”. Futhermore, he deducted that (roughly translated) “an artisan has to choose to put oneself, be it on the commercial side or the “to-hell-with-commercialization-this-is-my-art” side, can’t be both”. What do you think about that? Do you share that view? 

Sure. Obviously most self-subscribed “indie” bands are eager to reach some sort of stature while retaining their cool. You can't really have that without looking like a desperate tool. Certainly not here. Their efforts are embarrassing and obvious. Just sell out; the underground does not need you.


Speaking about music journalism, most of your articles brought out the good in an album but with hinted criticism. For example: On your article about The Slave, you wrote: “Bandung band The Slave are not aiming to re-contextualize rock music; nothing on their debut album “Remorse” will reinvent the rock’n’roll wheel” and ““Remorse” may borrow liberally from the classic rock library a little too eagerly” which I assumed as hinted criticism. And furthermore: “the songs are catchy and solid enough – two important ingredients whose impacts are maximized through its fittingly compressed production” and “that does not mean they can’t knock some heads off while at it” which I assumed as the good side of The Slave’s attempt. My questions are:

How do you manage to reach such balance in your writing? Is that your own policy?

Yes, pretty much. Not too many bands here can be filed under “Undeniably awesome” but I am absolutely a supporter of anyone who wills to be unique and good, so I am always looking at, firstly: the effort, and then the result. I rarely touch any band that I don't like at all, except if they are utterly terrible and can be used as an example of what not to do.
  
I was into Marina and The Diamond’s Electra Heart. Is there any “mainstream” act that you find interesting, I mean, plenty of wellness of an album or song to be heralded?

 
I like Disney soundtracks – that's pretty mainstream. If you mean “mainstream” mainstream, then probably not. Sometimes I listen to The Strokes in the car and Nirvana still when I'm with my kid; does that count? I've been listening to that last Cloud Nothings record a bit, which I enjoy.


What is the most exciting song to be played on stage, be it for “Marcel Thee” or Sajama Cut?
 
Oh, Sajama Cut is much easier to execute emotionally, so it's probably that. I like to be in a team, so that always wins. I have a new band of sorts that are rhythmically quiet powerful, so I'm looking forward to that too.


The hardest song to be performed on stage, be it for its delicate structure or efforts taken to replace the additional instruments (or studio trickery, if any)?
 

Pretty much half of the new record will be a challenge to play, though we will definitely break it into its essence. “Hong Kong Cinema” and “Street Haunts” are also something we've tried in rehearsal but just never had the conviction to play live yet. 


I deemed that the demise of Semak Belukar is due to their attempt to live up what they say. I believe that you are an artist who “practices what he preaches”. For example, you are practicing monogamy hence the lyric “maybe we’re just not ready yet to have less than four wives” on “Fin”. My question is: Is there any song in your catalogue that doesn’t suit your way of thinking? How do you feel when you play it?
 

Well, “Alibi” is one where the lyrics in the literal sense are complete fiction, but the emotion is real. So it's a bit odd when people come up to me – which is nice, but has happen one too many times – and think that I fell in love with someone who fell in love with someone else. That is funny but odd. But most of the songs are from my perspective, which makes it easier to get into night after night.
 

Regardless of Less Afraid and Janji Joni, suppose that you can bring your discography to a certain point of time. What films that you think should put any of your songs in their soundtrack? What song(s) on what film(s)?
 

I think most of Manimal would have worked in an upbeat comedy or sad dramedy. I can't think of any particular local films, sorry. What's a good one? (I don't know either-me).



Taking close attention to Universal Music version of The Osaka Journal’s sleeve, there is some kind of numerical pattern (date?) written after each songs’ title. It’s been almost 10 years and I still don’t know what they mean. Care to explain?

 

Oh, well those are just birthdays of significant people in my life. I think my father, mother, and now-wife is there.



Some bands wrote poor lyrics in english and I won’t name them. Have you ever been sought after by lyricists from other bands for consultation when it comes to lyric writing in english?
 
Hmm, I think I have actually, but lately it has been mostly young music writers. Lots of emails from them. But lyrics...I can't recall any in particular, but it has ranged from really bad alternative posers to pretty good friend bands. 

This is a petty question: Will you re-release apologia?



Yes, definitely. We get a lot of requests from various labels to do this, but it doesn't feel like the right time yet. And this and next year will be a busy one so I don't see it happening anytime soon. Maybe 2016? It almost happened last year but I said no - Would have been too much in a year since we are also re-releasing Osaka.

 

Another petty question: What music do you feed to Anio? Or what music is she into at this period?


She listens to a lot of Strange Mountain, because I do a lot of the recording for that in my home studio/ home office/ her nap room. She's into Nirvana Unplugged and some Coldplay and some Interpol. That's what she likes and that's fine.


Christmas or Easter. Which one you prefer?


Christmas is fun, because there's a lot of get together. Gathering is what life is all about.


 Last petty question: Do you know Tina Yuzuki? If you don’t, google her and thank me later. But if you do/did, kindly ignore this question.


She's a fine lady.