Culture KultürLe 23/10/2010

interview du groupe espagnol Culture Kultür, réalisée par e-mail, suite à la sortie de leur nouvel album Spirit





LAM : May you introduce yourself as a member of Culture Kultur?

Culture Kultür : I'm Salva Maine, frontman of Culture Kultür since 1999

LAM : A word for your fans about the long time you took between Reborn and Spirit.

Culture Kultür :

Life problems, day job, sons (in the case of Josua)... All that made us delay so much. Besides, we took very seriously the production of this disc. We used new equipment, gave much more attention to the lyrics and the voice, and delegated the mastering phase to an external studio.

All the songs came across cycle after cycle of improvement until they reached a state satisfactory for us. Drum Machine, one of the first songs, suffered modifications until few weeks before the release.

LAM : What had you in mind when you decided to create this new album?

Culture Kultür :

We hadn't a previous exact idea of what we wanted to do. Follow the path of Reborn was somehow natural, but I did have the intention of making it sound better and clearer. Also to use sharper synth lines was my intention.

LAM : When did you start the creation process (since 2006 or just a couple of months ago)? Did you use the same recipe?

Culture Kultür :

We started back in 2006! But this time a different work scheme than in our other works. We always completed each song at a time, until finishing the last one. This time we made all the songs in phases: we composed all the songs, then recorded all the vocals, then mixed them and finally mastered the hole dics. We kept all the songs 'open' until every one had completed the current phase. That allowed me to get the right mood for the vocals, changing details years after the first idea.

LAM : Did you put a goal in this new album? Did you want to use some new technical stuff?

Culture Kultür :

Yes, as I said, I wanted to improve the vocals a lot, and to achieve that we used a different preamp. Also in the mastering (developed in Dark Dreams Factory, Barcelona) tube compressors were used to obtain a clearer sound, and I think that the final result is very good.

LAM : Where did you record this album?

Culture Kultür :

At Josua's home studio, in his house basement in Malaga. In fact this kind of music is more 'programmed' than 'recorded', as all the music and production is made with computers, the process is very evolutionary. We modify the songs after we consider them finished, and that process may take 50 or more versions.

LAM : A special remembrance about the recording time?

Culture Kultür :

To share some personal problems occurred during this time, which has united us more as friends.

LAM : May you tell us a word about some tracks :

- Blind Man

Culture Kultür :

In Spain we have a saying: 'the worst blind is the one that doesn't want to see'. Everyone becomes blind to something sometimes.

LAM : About Drum machine

Culture Kultür : Music is what makes our hearts beat.

LAM : About Never Again

Culture Kultür :

One day I was talking about our song Forever with Albert Code, a friend and the main scene promoter in Spain. I told them joking that one day we would make a song named the opposite. That's how the idea of this song started.

LAM : Why did you choose to make a cover of Love will tear us apart?

Culture Kultür :

After a long pause in work, I wanted to do a cover to 'warm up'. Distortiongirl, our live keyboardist (and my couple) suggested this song because it hadn't many electronic versions. When we started to work on it we realized that we could make a version quite different to the original, but keeping the spirit of Joy Division and our own style at the same time.

LAM : Who made the artwork of Spirit?

Culture Kultür :

Ricardo Marichal, a spanish designer living in the Canary Island. He worked for Caustic Record in the past, and I was impacted by the quality of his work. I told him the name of the album and also the ideas behind it, its different meanings: ghost, angel, demon, God, inner strength... The cover he sent seemed to us very original and evocative, so we accepted it immediately. He did a great job!

LAM : A special word you would like to add about your new album?

Culture Kultür :

It employed a lot of work but returned a lot of satisfaction. I hope the listeners may enjoy it as well and regarding the feedback received so far it is mission accomplished.

LAM :

To end our interview we have a special question: I you had to choose between eternal life and to be ubiquitous, what would you choose?

Culture Kultür :

To be ubiquitous! In that case we could do for example a concert to all our fans at the same time! Besides, eternity would probably be boring in the end.