Interview with compest on Kryptozoologie

_Hi! How are you? Where are you?_
I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm in my apartment in Eppershausen, listening to my dish washing machine.

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What can you tell us about your new project "compest"?_
Compest is kind of a meta-project made up of my three projects Monoid, StillStand and Conscentia Peccati. These deal with (rhythmic) Industrial, Dark Ambient and Ritual Sounds. After having dealt with these different styles seperately, I this time specifically aimed for a combined effort. In the past, I'd already released tracks under the moniker of "Conscentia Peccati vs. StillStand“, but those were also very specific intersections - in this case a mixture of ritual and ambient.

That's why the name compest consists of the initials of all individual projects: COnscientia Monoid STillstand.

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What's the meaning of „Kryptozoologie“?_
Cryptozoology is a fringe science dealing with creatures whose existence is possible or probable, but yet needs to be proven. All kinds of strange creatures which from time to time appear in the press are a part of it. A classic example would be the Yeti. Quite often, they are supposed crossbreeds or half-men, half-beast. The name really fits the album, because I chose to combine sounds I had previously seperated from each other. So they end up being crossbreeds as well.

_The album strongly conveys the feeling of an inward and spiritual journey. How would you characterise it yourself?_
It's a contrast bath to me. Elements meet and become one, only to be torn apart again. I guess that I'd rather chose ritual music when aiming for spirituality.

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Am I right in assuming that despite your stylistic candour the most important aspect was a strongly cohesive work?_
Yes, it's true. I am indeed very much album-orientated. I think that pieces of a release should fit together and form a unit. In the case of "Kryptozoologie" there is even a sister release called "Wrack", which was released on Cyber Blast Records in the USA. Similar things developed in unison, with the "Wrack" tending just slightly more to Ambient.

_If I'm well informed, integrating Ethno-Elements into your compositions has always been important to you. How come?_
Good Question. I've alwys liked Ethno. When I bought my first CD player in the mid-80s, one of the first CDs I got myselft was a release by Ofra Haza. Maybe it's because the melodies, rhythms and instruments don't yet sound as worn-out as with European Pop-music and classical music. What I absolutely can not stand, however, is Ethno-Pop, which merely uses these elements as a means of capturing your attention. In the end, nothing really happens, except for a sitar playing a melody instead of a guitar - while naturally being tuned in safe C major.

_How much of the music on "Kryptozoologie" stems from samples and how much was actually played with your own two hands?_
The Vocal Sounds are samples, obviously. Some of them were heavily modified, sometimes even using granular synthesis. Apart from that I used samples of instruments and self-programmed sounds. I hardly ever sample melodies - and on "Kryptozoologie" I even chose to play them all by hand or programm them for that matter. I really find sampled melodies to lack in flexibility, which I have with MIDI-files and instruments. This flexibility allows me to realise deep changes quickly.

_Your industrial roots of the early days don't seem to play a role any more on "Kryptozoologie". Did you maybe learn something from your noise-experiments, which you still find useful and valuable today?_
Industrial teaches you a free approach to sounds and to music in general. One questions a lot and tries to leave trodden paths. You can always use this approach when composing interesting music. And from time to time, the noise does find its way into the pieces, even though not as aggressively as with my other project Monoid. I rather use it as a means of augmentation, which masks sounds, in order to prepare things in the background or simply to avoid too long phases of sonority and calmness.

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You have always enjoyed playing live. Is that something you plan to do again with "Kryptozoologie"?_
Not really. Nowadays I focus on creatings music, because concerts take up so much time and time is scarce. But if a good opportunity came up, I guess I would definitively use it.

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You've been actively involved with music since 1994 - which changes do you witness in the scene for experimental electronics? And how much were you changed yourself by the changes in your environment?_
The most important changes were without doubt the use of computer synthesis and the introduction of the CD-R. Making music has become incredibly cheap and if you have a computer, you can buy yourself software for a mere 100 Euros and produce something which can acually be released. If you were lucky, you would get a few cables for the same amountof money in 1994. And the CD-R has clearly taken the place of the tape scene, you can realise small runs very cheaply and offer some great artwork on top. Which obviously led to the creation of a lot of very small labels and noone being able to keep up with developments. It is getting harder for the individual artist to get noticed. It might be easier to find your way into the game, but it's harder to build up a certain reputation. I also made the transition to computer synthesis, but kept all of my old instruments, which I can still use as sound sources.