Before I Realized I was Lost, I Had been Found by Raccoons: NARF Interviewed

I first stumbled onto NARF (North American Raccoon Federation) quite by accident a couple months ago. I was the voice crying into the e-wilderness and a voice that responded to mine was John Constantinides’. My interest into their music only gathered steam as I listened and corresponded with him. Above and beyond the attempt of their music to bridge a plethora of styles that have their idiosyncratic natures, they bring a higher educational perspective into their creative setting. I find it refreshing to converse with artists (or people for that matter) that have a wider view of what they are doing or creating. Not that higher education does this necessarily, because, to be frank, a lot of people stop using their capacity for thought after they go through school, if they even used it while attending. But some people do use their minds to think about what they are doing, and with this analysis help perpetuate and shape what they do.

Forest Bees Scare Me

-We actually have fans that only like us because of our name and have never discussed or even acknowledged our music, which I think is pretty awesome.-

NARF is currently John Constantinides and Mark Zadel. These are all John’s responses.

Your concepts of what you guys do?

Both Mark and I (the two founding members of narf) are drummers, and have been in various bands (seperately) since we were in high school, in the early 1990s. Mark was very much a metalhead, and played in several bands of that type, usually with his brother who is a bassist. While I loved metal as well, I was also into funk, blues, reggae and hip hop, and my drum style reflected this. I was in a blues band, and then a jump-swing band in the late 1990s. From 2003 until very recently, I was in a rock band.

Whatever style of music we played or listened to, the common ground that Mark and I shared was that we liked music that had a interesting groove, whether it be death metal or hip hop.

In 2000 Mark and I started to discover some easily accessible music production programs, like Fruity Loops, Rebirth and finally Reason. Mark is a computer scientist in addition to a musician, so he’s always intrigued by what’s happening ‘behind the scenes’ in programs, how they are built, how sounds are produced and how all the devices do what they do. I was interested in these programs mainly because they represented an easy way to create original music. I had been listening to a lot of hip hop and electronic music at the time, so I was inspired to make some stuff.

Initially, we were just thrilled to produce various sounds/beats and work with samples. It was a fun outlet for our creative ideas that was unhindered by gear, rehearsal spaces, or other band members.

-This collaboration eventually refined itself and created Narf as we delved deeper into the electronic music world.-

We never sought to replicate or fit into a particular style, which was part of why the experience was so fun and liberating. As we progressed, however, we noticed that our tracks were heavy on the drums and bass, and their intricacy always lay in the rhythm. Beyond the fact that we have a good sensibility when it comes to drums and rhythmic structure, seeing two drummers struggling to program chords and melodies would probably give one further insight to our sound. Fortunately for us there are entire genres of music that are carried by drums and bass.

How does what you studied integrate itself into the music you create?

I studied ethnomusicology, so in general, ideas like what makes a musical piece, how is music received by an audience, what is its social role, etc, all inform my approach. Those concepts come in handy when deciding how long a track should be, when do we decide it is ‘done’ or finalized, what context or format will it be presented in, what genre it reflects and what it says about our view in relation to the reaction of the listener. For example, Mark and I have always included elements of humour in our tracks, expressed through odd breakdowns, incongruous samples, or generally bizarre arrangements. In that way, we play with audience expectation. So even without academic training, we were thinking about how our songs interact with the listener. My degree just gave added depth to that intuition. Also, since I studied Jamaican sound systems, I learned about a lot of production techniques that emerged from reggae and dub music, which inform our sound on a technical level.

Mark’s education in music technology is a great asset for understanding why things behave the way they do in the realm of electronic music production. Understanding how effects work on sound, how interfaces do their thing, what audio programs do, etc. greatly expands our craft. Computer music is kind of the opposite configuration of live instrument music. With computers, quite literally, the universe of sound is at your fingertips. You can theoretically make any sound you want, arrange it in any way, and put any effects you want on it. The power and scope is tremendous, but its all funneled through your keyboard or mouse, its all behind the ‘glass case’ of your screen. It’s also so expansive that you have to artificially limit yourself and give some sort of structure and meaning to what you’re doing if you’re going to make music that connects with people. With live instruments, there are only so many sounds that can be produced, and originality often comes from pushing those limits, as well as the subtle interaction between human performers. So it’s just a different dynamic. With computers, they can play anything you want, in anyway you want, for an indefinite amount of time. The trick is to communicate with them and give them your ideas, because you can’t hit them, pluck them or turn their knobs directly. It’s just you, your fingertips, and your brain. Mark’s education deals precisely with this issue -developing new ways to connect people with computers and hardware for the purpose of musical expression.

-We’re not purists. Narf is always open to new and interesting ways of creating sound.-

Could you tell me more about Jamaican sound systems. Is that actual audio equipment or a way of approaching music?

It’s actually both. The expression ’sound system’ in the Jamaican sense refers to the equipment used to play records as well as the people that operate it (deejays,technicians, etc.). In addition, a sound system will present recorded music in a unique context which incorporates specific manipulations of the records (stopping, rewinding, starting again, dropping out the bass) alongside vocal performances such as toasting (saluting people, places or things) rapping/rhyming, singing and general interaction with the crowd (such as introducing songs or artists). The approach to playing recorded music in the Jamaican sound system context is all about presenting popular songs in original ways through things like special versions (remixes), sound manipulation techniques and constant connection with the audience through the vocal performance.

Have you moved beyond what you went to school for, or do you try to follow and build on what you learned?

Personally, my education was not focused on music composition or performance. It was a social science approach, so it basically just enriched my understanding of music in general as a human activity. It simply gives me more of an understanding of the surrounding human elements involved in music. If I were to build on what I learned it would come into play for things like live shows, audience participation and things like our message and image. So far, we’ve mainly been concentrating on just producing tracks, although we’re starting to branch out and think about live shows and getting into the ’scene.’

Mark’s education is more relevant to the actual technical aspects of what we do, which would be important in the live setting as well since he deals with human-machine interfaces. Building on what we’ve learned will most likely happen in a concrete fashion once we develop a performance, since neither of us studied production or composition - that’s all self taught.

Dirty Berlin

Are those the only songs you have, currently posted on your websites?

The songs on our websites are not the only ones we have produced, but they are the only ones we care to share with the public at this point.

What/whom else is in your collective? What have you done with said collective?

Narf is actually very fluid. It’s essentially composed of Mark and I and our various side collaborations and projects. I am currently working with a video artist by the name of Micheline Durocher doing soundtracks. I’m also collaborating with Doug Bishop a.k.a. E150, in an attempt to develop a live club-style performance. People get connected to and through us in many ways. If someone hears that one of use is doing something interesting, friends and acquaintances often ask if they can join in, jam, contribute, etc. Depending on what combinations of people are involved, the names might change, for example a lot of my solo stuff goes under Smoked Meat Fax Machine and the stuff I’m doing with E150 goes under the name Natural Twenties. When I tried out some experimental noise performance with a friend from my rock band, we called ourselves Les Tristes Tropiques. So far, Narf’s only permanent members are Mark and I, but its a very inclusive thing, anyone can contact us and work on whatever. Also, they can actually hire our services if they need something specific, like a soundtrack or remix or instrumental track for MCs for example. If these side projects actually end up becoming something concrete, we’ll probably include them all under ‘narf productions’ or something like that and put them on the website. Right now, everything is in the developmental stage.

What is your purpose and when are your next shows?

Our purpose is twofold:

1) Produce and perform original music.
2) Provide audio services for people or companies that need them, such as sound design, editing, soundtrack production, mastering, etc.

Live shows are something that we are currently attempting to develop. We have no dates set at the moment. When we do, you can bet we’ll update the site.

I looked at some of your thesis, could you tell me what impact do you wish it to have?

1. To contribute to the understanding of a musical style/culture that is underrepresented in academic literature and often misunderstood, yet gaining visibility in today’s popular culture.

2. To illustrate how the sound system performance influences the production of music in the studio, i.e. the ways in which the features and approaches of the sound system affect how Jamaican music is created.

3. To demonstrate the links between techniques used in the production and performance of Jamaican music and other styles such as hip hop.

4. To understand how artists, audience, identity and culture articulate in a live context.

Did you set out doing your thesis because it was an assignment or something else? Why Reggae?

It wasn’t assigned to me. I chose to write my thesis on this topic because I was personally interested in the music and culture as a whole, and felt that there was a wealth of information to be uncovered which was captivating, relevant and current. Also, I absolutely love reggae and especially dub music, and it was fun to simply learn more about it.

You must have a sense of humor, as evidenced by the quote from what must be a fictitious character from the North Austrian Rutabaga Farmers on your website?

We certainly do have a sense of humour, and have always sought to express it in our creative endeavours. I guess that previous sentence wasn’t that funny, but you get what I mean.

The Rutabaga Farmers thing was a jab at the fact that there are countless organizations whose name is abbreviated with the acronym NARF, and we found that kind of funny. Seriously, look it up.
NARF Google search

Also, why NARF (North American Raccoon Federation) for your artistic endeavors?

That name was taken from an old article on theonion.com, one of my favourite websites; something about the raccoons of North America meeting up at a conference to discuss the state of garbage cans and what not. It’s a long and ridiculous sounding name for two guys that make music on their computers. NARF is a short and memorable moniker as well.

-euphoreador-

as always, email me with your thoughts and suggestions joshhinck at gmail dot com

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