Electronica queens Artificial and DJ Toupee will be accessorising their kaftans with leg warmers for their Sydney Festival appearance at Hyde Park Barracks. D-Compression warmed up with Artificial – also known as Nicole Skeltys of B(if)tek.
Nicole would you describe yourself as an anarchist or just dabbling in some sophisticated subversion?
I think dabbling in, possibly not that sophisticated but well meaning, subversion – are you referring to the WINK Awards?
Yes – B(if)tek’s WINK Awards were held for the second year in 2002 – what prompted you to establish the WINK awards?
A couple of years ago, when Kate [fellow B(if)tek director] and I were still with the Sony label, we were getting quite depressed about what we saw happening in the mainstream music industry and the kind of people getting recognition for creating what was basically really commercial-type music. When you also look at things more generally you realise pretty quickly that the people getting rewarded are the ones not taking too many risks. So we decided that we wanted to do something positive about it instead of just sitting around bitching – that we’d support and encourage people to do subversive things with their art.
Because we’re electronic musicians we decided we’d set up some awards for our sub-culture, which is people who do electronic music but also people who use electronica to get their message across – for example people who are using web pages or the net and people who are doing video and multi-media. So we came up with a bunch of categories of awards and $2000 and we gave that to the best use of electronic media or art to subvert dominant values!
This year we got hundreds of entries and about 50 percent of the entries were from overseas, so we’re very pleased to see that people are taking what we are trying to do seriously but at the same time there’s a bit of piss-take – it’s an excuse to have a party as much as anything else.
How do you feel that your love of subversion is reflected in the music of Biftek?
I think that we’ve tried to present some positive images of chicks and come across as smart and playful rather than bimbo-sexy. Unfortunately, when you look at the images of women in pop over the last few years, they seem to be getting worse rather than better! The use of pure electronic music is also in a way a bit subversive because it’s anti-popstar – it’s really about sound, that’s what we want people to get into rather than any commodified pop-idol.
So you don’t think Britney’s taken her inspiration from you?
(laughs)Maybe one day she’ll see the light!
Nicole, we’ve seen two releases from B(if)tek over the years, Sub-Vocal Theme Park and 2020 – what does the future hold for B(if)tek?
Kate and I are currently working on a third album and it’s going to be a bit of a return to the first album – more of a dark, ambient, chilled-out exploration but there’s also going to be a bit of electro in their well so it won’t all be atmospherics, there’ll be a bit of bopping happening! We’ll release that this year and tour around May hopefully.
You’re also producing music as a solo artist with the Artificial project – are you working concurrently on Artificial and B(if)tek material?
I tend to oscillate between the two – an Artificial album and then work with B(if)tek. In terms of doing another solo project as Artificial I’ve started writing a few tunes – I’m thinking of putting out a country and western album!
Wow! Where does the country and western inspiration come from?
I like it as a genre because it’s maudlin and self-pitying (laughs). It’s kind of melancholy but direct as well – it’s a no-nonsense genre! It’s also got the very strong tunes and there’s some really interesting stuff happening on the fringes of that – there’s combinations of gothic and country, dark ambient country and that’s the direction I want to head in.
It’s not really Dolly Parton then?
Much respect to Dolly, but I’d say not.
Nicole, your latest Artificial release is Libraries Are Fun – this includes tracks that were previously only available on the Stoner Classix series, what’s the background behind Stoner Classix?
I’ve always been a vinyl junkie and I wanted to do a bit of a tribute to the concept albums of the 70s which had that psychedelic artwork and were just exploring different ideas so I felt that it would be nice to pay a bit of a tribute to that and also a tribute to the 70s political underground comics that were around at that time. Creative Vibes are still selling Stoner Classix so definitely worth tracking them down – I’m sure they’ll be worth a fortune one day!
Where are you drawing your influences from these days?
Anything from German minimalism, to dark ambient, to Tibetan spiritual music!
Are you into Science Fiction?
Not really, but there is that sort of a retro-futurist aesthetic that we were trying to develop for a while there – trying to be a little “kubrickesque”. It’s sort of a nostalgia for the future – a fantasy future.
Nicole you’ll be appearing at the Sydney festival with DJ Toupee, what can people look forward to from that experience?
Well when Miss DJ Toupee and I get together we tend to wear kaftans, we tend to give away 70s kitsch prizes to people who are willing to do embarrassing things and the music is funky-acid with a bit of electro thrown in – it’s a lot of fun! The last time I played in Brisbane I managed to get the whole audience up to do a bit of an aerobics work out!
So it’s bring your leg-warmers?
Yes! It’s a golden opportunity for people to come along, have a good time and work off a bit of fat!
You can experience Nicole Skeltys performing as Artificial with DJ Toupee on Tuesday 14 January at the Hyde Park Barracks as part of the Sydney Festival. Check out their
website for more details.
