| Interrupting
my train of thought |
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I’ve been in a kind of electronic music crisis,” says Mike Dykehouse, ruminating on his changes in musical styles for his new album, Midrange, which will be released by Ghostly International on May 5. So far, Dykehouse has been known for his more IDM/electronic recordings on Planet Mu. “There’s just so many people doing that now,” he says. “[It’s] like an IDM ghetto. I just don’t hear that many things any more that just have a stomach-punch feel to it...not that my music does. “I got into electronic music, first and foremost, because I didn’t have band members and I wanted to create some sort of thing. But then, I started hearing some people that I still think are really innovative; things like the whole Reflex/Aphex [Twin]/Warp Records, because they were pushing goal posts around and I thought it was genuinely—this is a horrible term to use—psychedelic, and gesturing towards the Other in some way, in the same way...of the more experimental rock bands. I just was looking for something new, so I just started emulating that for a while. With
his cover of Wire’s “Map Ref. 41’N 93’W”
on last year’s Ghostly Records compilation and the latest
record, Dykehouse has gone in a more straightforward pop direction,
with a dreamier,shoegazer bent. Dykehouse recorded the new album with a microphone, a computer, and a guitar-effects pod. “I wanted to do my approximation of what a band would sound like, even though it’s real simple and rinky-dink,” he says. “I did not want to have techno-y drums.” Eventually assembling a band out of fellow Encore Records employees and a CD filled with backing tracks, Dykehouse and crew ventured down to this year’s South By Southwest Festival in Austin to perform in one of the showcases. The results wsere mixed, mainly due to technical problems (the CD went skippy-skippy), and even he describes the reaction as “hit-or-miss.” Also, someone in charge of publicity took it upon themselves to list the band’s name as “D***house.” When recounting that, he just laughs and says, “I took it as a honor.” Still, the live incident demonstrates Dykehouse’s preference for something going a little wrong and a little off. “If it all sounds perfectly right, people might want to shoot themselves in boredom,” he says. “A perfect show for me would make people think that either I’m totally inept or totally in control and know what I’m doing. I’d rather seen someone just fail miserably with heart, with a little bit of the soul and messiness with life.” Looking forward, he guards any optimism for his album: “I don’t have any false hopes for this record. It’ll be a small indie record that doesn’t sell.” He wants his next material to “deal with a little bit more of the emotions, and make it just a little bit more clouded...obscure.” Well, not totally obscure. “Maybe a happy medium...a Midrange,” he says, with such a laugh. A2P Mike
Dykehouse will be at the Magic Stick in Detroit on April 30 with
Tamion 12 Inch, Esmae, and the Paris ‘68 DJs. Locally, he’ll
be at the Blind Pig on Saturday, May 8.
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