after 6 prolific years as umrijeti za strojem, ½, split personalities and many other aliases, ivan antunović, europe’s biggest „one man scene“, decides to cut all schizophrenic activities and merge all his projects into a new identity, under name of iv/an. this interview is conducted only few hours before his final concert as ½, to be held on a flexipunk party in belgrade. let’s hear the final thoughts of this conceptual synth kamikaze, soon to be resurrected in fresh guise!
in this interview, i’d like to address all your aliases which will come to an end with your fusion into iv/an. so, first of all, can you tell me how many personalities am i talking to? can you give us a brief walkthrough for the peculiarities of these personalities?
i am a split personality (so am i). a walkthrough may not be that brief though, it’s been years now and somehow the music speaks on behalf of these peculiarities. everything else is pleasant episodes - exploring, adapting, re-interpreting and to some extent even exploiting self. time to move on now. not much is changing musically, but more like coming to terms with as a whole. i guess, i’m finally growing up... or am i?
one aspect of your work i find to be in common with all your projects since narrow, is your will to speak up for the oppressed. some examples that come to mind are refugees in current crisis, pakistani women who fell victim to acid atacks, sexual minorities, victims of emotional violence inside a relationship, workers who spend their lives as cogs in a machine etc. what’s more interesting is you neither belong, nor are you connected to the oppressed you give your artistic voice to. what drives you to taking such impersonal, altruistic angle?
hearing and reading about certain issues, one cannot ignore and avoid feeling utterly sad about. a song is a form of reaction – a message reaching others in addressing certain issues, pointing to injustice and abuse. expressing concern is the point – sadly, a song cannot change the situation entirely or instantly, at times it may sound conformist and patronising even, but it’s a righteous emotional response – the knowledge of, and a comment against, the world that sadly hasn’t made progress or learned lessons from all the violence and destruction... on contrary, the sense of paranoia that still plagues the world is as frightening as ever. a song in that context shouldn’t be underestimated.
can there be a full unity of personal and activist in one’s work? does one aspect always compromize the other?
maybe so, yes. there is a “personal is political” stand but there is a certain trap to fall into just the same, because individual views in a song sometimes may seem exaggerated, no matter how objective or politically correct.
music is only one half of a half. the other half is design and, altogether wrapped in your concepts and written manifestos, a half becomes a whole. so, a typical question [please take it literally] – would you rather go blind or go deaf?
neither.
your music would probably reach far more people if effort you put in producing physical releases was redirected into digital music distribution. i believe i know why you insist on physical releases and obsolete formats like cdr and minidisc, but it would be nice to hear your personal statement on that matter...?
digital is practical, i value it as a piece of information. for that i am grateful to digital. but regarding digital as format, while it is not occupying the actual physical space, collecting countless music data on the computer or external drive is rather pointless than practical – the sound deserves its own identity and i don’t necessarily mean in terms of “product”. “physical format” speaks for itself as such – i relate to it.
few years back, there was a phase when you were putting out almost exclusively covers and remixes of yours and others’ songs. i know that ‘ponavljanje je majka učenja’ but being a fan of your work, starvation for new songs drove me to frustration. :) mute records’ recycling of classics in new packaging came to mind... i was wondering was this repetition your conscious attempt to spread and embed your music as far as possible, or was it a natural moment of reflection before taking a step to new album?
definitely there’s a moment of fun and see where it takes me. other people’s songs are like a catalyst or a challenge – either i re-interpret them in my own way or they inspire me to create my very own, new work. but i agree, there is also frustration when you end up in a magic circle recording covers for covers’ sake. then it’s time to tell myself to stop.
some songs that you re-interpreted went all the way back to narrow, your old bedroom experimental band. the final narrow’s song top of the pops was your least favourite, but perhaps it made sense to end narrow’s work by forcing it into dead end with a redundant synth pop song about the nonsense of success. that odd track got a whole new life later, so i hope the end of ½ is not the end of all your songs so far? will you play ½, umrijeti za strojem and split personalities’ songs in the future as iv/an at all?
narrow’s version of “top of the pops” turned out to be a rushed affair for no particular reason. i loved the potential of that particular song but in the end i wanted something from it so desperately that it ended sounding forced, so i learned to hate it tremendously. as the very last single release by narrow, it may have made the point as you suggest - but in the end, it was just an unfinished song which became defined more properly for the split personalities’ mini/album some years later and finally i am happy how it turned out. i am even happier with the amazing remix of it, kindly provided by soft riot.
whether i will play these songs in the future as iv/an, there’s definitely flexible manoeuvring space for that – it’s a vast collection of songs to choose from, so on occasion i might add some of them to the playlist...
on your 0.5 label and in your small doses fanzine, we find a very diverse list of artists. for me, the connection between them is your voice as a curator - but i wonder, is there some key by which you cover artists as different as, say, miro župa and his name is alive?
while the choice of what i present in the fanzine or on the very label may be a bit random, it is what personally interests me, the work of people i identify with on a certain level. in that respect, a chance to establish communication with other creative people, among them miro župa and his name is alive, makes me feel very very happy. and honoured.
when describing your music, i often say minimal synth - but use both words as adverbs, not as a genre tag. in countless hours of our talk, we almost never mentioned minimal synth scene, even though your projects are probably most recognized inside that very scene. so i wonder, within which stylistic / musical / historic coordinates you perceive yourself and your music?
while the aspect of minimalism will always be a key element and inform whatever i will be doing musically, it’s getting a bit distanced from minimalism per se. it still fits into a certain mood (if not the mould) regarding such scene, because other people involved and making something remotely similar also tend to incorporate textures that enrich minimalism with a personal touch, which is a great thing, because it adds to a variety of talent. ‘minimal synth’ in itself still sounds fun and one can never miss with it, but at the same time you hear it’s caught up in its own cliches these days...
in case that this really remains the final interview of your previous aliases, the last question is – which ever question you wanted to answer but nobody asked you!?
only time will tell. i sound like enya now, don’t i?
editor’s note – here’s a brief list of ivan’s aliases thus far, that i am aware of:
i. [as a member of narrow, mekanismo va morir, neither nor]
umrijeti za strojem
½
split personalities
kimberly clarke
valter horvat
the fall guy
dissident
iv/an
plus some others that are closely kept secrets... ;)
in this interview, i’d like to address all your aliases which will come to an end with your fusion into iv/an. so, first of all, can you tell me how many personalities am i talking to? can you give us a brief walkthrough for the peculiarities of these personalities?
i am a split personality (so am i). a walkthrough may not be that brief though, it’s been years now and somehow the music speaks on behalf of these peculiarities. everything else is pleasant episodes - exploring, adapting, re-interpreting and to some extent even exploiting self. time to move on now. not much is changing musically, but more like coming to terms with as a whole. i guess, i’m finally growing up... or am i?
hearing and reading about certain issues, one cannot ignore and avoid feeling utterly sad about. a song is a form of reaction – a message reaching others in addressing certain issues, pointing to injustice and abuse. expressing concern is the point – sadly, a song cannot change the situation entirely or instantly, at times it may sound conformist and patronising even, but it’s a righteous emotional response – the knowledge of, and a comment against, the world that sadly hasn’t made progress or learned lessons from all the violence and destruction... on contrary, the sense of paranoia that still plagues the world is as frightening as ever. a song in that context shouldn’t be underestimated.
can there be a full unity of personal and activist in one’s work? does one aspect always compromize the other?
maybe so, yes. there is a “personal is political” stand but there is a certain trap to fall into just the same, because individual views in a song sometimes may seem exaggerated, no matter how objective or politically correct.
music is only one half of a half. the other half is design and, altogether wrapped in your concepts and written manifestos, a half becomes a whole. so, a typical question [please take it literally] – would you rather go blind or go deaf?
neither.
your music would probably reach far more people if effort you put in producing physical releases was redirected into digital music distribution. i believe i know why you insist on physical releases and obsolete formats like cdr and minidisc, but it would be nice to hear your personal statement on that matter...?
digital is practical, i value it as a piece of information. for that i am grateful to digital. but regarding digital as format, while it is not occupying the actual physical space, collecting countless music data on the computer or external drive is rather pointless than practical – the sound deserves its own identity and i don’t necessarily mean in terms of “product”. “physical format” speaks for itself as such – i relate to it.
few years back, there was a phase when you were putting out almost exclusively covers and remixes of yours and others’ songs. i know that ‘ponavljanje je majka učenja’ but being a fan of your work, starvation for new songs drove me to frustration. :) mute records’ recycling of classics in new packaging came to mind... i was wondering was this repetition your conscious attempt to spread and embed your music as far as possible, or was it a natural moment of reflection before taking a step to new album?
definitely there’s a moment of fun and see where it takes me. other people’s songs are like a catalyst or a challenge – either i re-interpret them in my own way or they inspire me to create my very own, new work. but i agree, there is also frustration when you end up in a magic circle recording covers for covers’ sake. then it’s time to tell myself to stop.
some songs that you re-interpreted went all the way back to narrow, your old bedroom experimental band. the final narrow’s song top of the pops was your least favourite, but perhaps it made sense to end narrow’s work by forcing it into dead end with a redundant synth pop song about the nonsense of success. that odd track got a whole new life later, so i hope the end of ½ is not the end of all your songs so far? will you play ½, umrijeti za strojem and split personalities’ songs in the future as iv/an at all?
narrow’s version of “top of the pops” turned out to be a rushed affair for no particular reason. i loved the potential of that particular song but in the end i wanted something from it so desperately that it ended sounding forced, so i learned to hate it tremendously. as the very last single release by narrow, it may have made the point as you suggest - but in the end, it was just an unfinished song which became defined more properly for the split personalities’ mini/album some years later and finally i am happy how it turned out. i am even happier with the amazing remix of it, kindly provided by soft riot.
whether i will play these songs in the future as iv/an, there’s definitely flexible manoeuvring space for that – it’s a vast collection of songs to choose from, so on occasion i might add some of them to the playlist...
while the choice of what i present in the fanzine or on the very label may be a bit random, it is what personally interests me, the work of people i identify with on a certain level. in that respect, a chance to establish communication with other creative people, among them miro župa and his name is alive, makes me feel very very happy. and honoured.
when describing your music, i often say minimal synth - but use both words as adverbs, not as a genre tag. in countless hours of our talk, we almost never mentioned minimal synth scene, even though your projects are probably most recognized inside that very scene. so i wonder, within which stylistic / musical / historic coordinates you perceive yourself and your music?
while the aspect of minimalism will always be a key element and inform whatever i will be doing musically, it’s getting a bit distanced from minimalism per se. it still fits into a certain mood (if not the mould) regarding such scene, because other people involved and making something remotely similar also tend to incorporate textures that enrich minimalism with a personal touch, which is a great thing, because it adds to a variety of talent. ‘minimal synth’ in itself still sounds fun and one can never miss with it, but at the same time you hear it’s caught up in its own cliches these days...
in case that this really remains the final interview of your previous aliases, the last question is – which ever question you wanted to answer but nobody asked you!?
only time will tell. i sound like enya now, don’t i?
editor’s note – here’s a brief list of ivan’s aliases thus far, that i am aware of:
i. [as a member of narrow, mekanismo va morir, neither nor]
umrijeti za strojem
½
split personalities
kimberly clarke
valter horvat
the fall guy
dissident
iv/an
plus some others that are closely kept secrets... ;)
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