BT
Emotional Technology
(Nettwerk America)
For the past
decade, Brian Transeau, better known to the dance music world as BT, has been
responsible for many wonderful and amazing tracks, including “Blue Skies”,
“Flaming June, and “Embrace The Future”, plus a list of numerous others.
In the beginning, BT embraced classical composers such as Debussy,
Chopin, and Bach, as his heroes and has molded himself into their modern day
equivalent. Although the tools of the trade may have advanced, the desire
to create a piece of art remains. And
for this gifted musician, the dream continues to the amazement of few and
gratitude of many.
From his
studio while preparing for an upcoming tour to support the release of his latest
album Emotional Technology, Brian Transeau, better known as BT, took a few
moments to discuss the album, his philosophies on music and production, and what
has driven him to maintain a long career in the dance music culture.
What
first drew you to dance music since you were mainly into classical music when
you were younger?
Really the
first thing, the very first thing, was early breakdancing music and culture.
I’ll never forget seeing and hearing early breakdancing music and
breakdancing itself. And just
realizing that, you know, that it represented this sort of infinite tonal
palette from which my heroes that were composers as a child would have loved to
have drawn from. And it just really
drew me into it. I never forget
listening to Kraftwerk and reading about them and realizing that they built half
of the instruments that were making these mad bleeps and bloops.
So I was like, “God, I so wanna do that, man.”
With
Emotional Technology, where did you get the title from?
The title
actually came from a fan. It’s
the first time I’ve ever done anything like that. The ironic thing is that in making a list of titles, I had
titles that had both of those words in it, but never together.
I always make a list of like ten titles and we had a t-shirt design
contest and one of the people that designed a t-shirt wrote Emotional Technology
on it. And I was like, “Oh my
god, that’s it.” It was those
two words.
Up to
Emotional Technology, how would you describe the progression of your sound from
Ima and ECSM to now? How do you
think it has changed or grown?
I think my
productions have gotten more creative. I think that I’ve grown in a more song-orientated
direction. And actually something
that I’ve really missed, but it wasn’t until…I needed to make this album
that I made. And it wasn’t until
being done with this record that I realized that I really want to do some
tracks. And I haven’t dome that
for a long time. But I think my
projects have grown very much in a song-orientated and detailed
production-orientated direction. And
I’d like to think that all of the music I’ve done has a lot of integrity and
it’s really important music to me. It’s
awesome, you know, it’s like keeping journals.
It’s so, when you think about it,…I was nineteen years old when I
made most of the music on Ima. And
I did it in my bedroom with four pieces of equipment and without a record deal. And I didn’t think anybody would give a shit, and it runs
out I was wrong. I feel really
blessed that I’ve been able to do this for a living, you know what I mean?
It’s awesome to be able to look at the records in that way and realize
that. And the funny thing
too,…this is a cool conversation. That
being limited at the time when I did, you know, a record like Ima, it allowed me
a certain degree of possibilities that only having limitations with the
equipment you work with allowed. And
it’s so funny, because now I meet people at shows or around and they’ll say,
“Dude, I’m trying to get gear”, and, “I’m trying to make tracks,”
and, “I’ve got a copy of Reason” and, “I wanna buy some keyboards and
stuff.” And it’s like, “Hang
on a second man.” It’s like
so,…(laughs) you get to being really philosophical. Because, not just making music, but living is still about
being content with where you’re at, you know.
I think so many people race through their lives thinking, “When I get
this”, “When I get to this point”, When I get this girl”, and I’ve had
this happen in my career, “When this happens and I’m going to be happy.”
And you realize that living, as making music is, it’s really about the
process. There’s never a moment
of arrival. So, I encourage people
that read this that are out there going, “Fuck, I’ve only got a copy of
Reason and a USB keyboard” to know that people have made significant art with
limited things, and that’s a good thing.
Following
the break-in at your studio that occurred while you were working on tracks for
this album, has anything been found?
No, it hasn’t.
and it’s funny, I kind of vacillate between thinking one of two
things,…that either the people who stole the stuff didn’t know what they
were taking and they just took it and formatted my hard drives and sold the
computers. Or that, because, if
they knew hat they were taking, that stuff will definitely surface at some
point. You know, whether it’s on
P2P stuff or file-sharing servers or whatever.
That stuff will show up at some point if people knew what they were
taking. You know, when someone
kicks you in the balls, you can either bend over,…(laughs) or you can rub your
balls and hope they feel better later. (laughs)
I chose to do the latter, you know what I mean?
That was a really tough thing man, but it was also, it was necessary at
the time for where I was at. And it
would have been a very record. And
stuff happens for reasons.
Was any of what ended up on the
record from around that period? Did
you have any of these tracks already?
Absolutely
man, and I had to redo them. And
the ones that survived that transition like,…I fought for a lot of those
tracks to exist. Like “Dark Heart
Dawning”, which is one of my favorite pieces of music I’ve ever done. Especially on a lyrical level, I’m so proud for finally
saying. You know, because it’s
about things that you’re not really supposed to talk about. And to crystallize it into something like that, and for my
friends to be so moved by it saying, “I can’t believe you’re writing about
your childhood like…honestly.” So
there’s things like that song and “Animals”, where “the only constant is
change”,…”Somnambulist” was on there.
Do you find it hard writing
lyrics? For instance, the word
“cyclical” stuck out when I was listening to the track “Circles”.
That word is hard enough to say and you used it in verse.
(laughs)
That’s funny, because my friend Shawn was like…he said the same
thing, except he said it about “convolving” in “Circles”.
He said, “I can’t believe you found a way to use convolving in a
song.” I don’t know.
Honestly, it’s kind of from reading too much.
I’m always looking for ways to, because a lot of the poetry that I like
is very wordy, sort of loquacious-type stuff.
And I love when poets or songwriters are able to work a word into a song.
Not for the sake of using the word, but because it’s the appropriate
word to use and they put their finger right on the very word.
The guys I really look up to, you know, are able to…the English
language is such a beautiful and powerful language and I’m always so impressed
with people that have a real command of it.
Not just in terms of being articulate and outspoken, but in terms of
actual vocabulary. I think it’s
like being a musician and having studied a lot and being able to pull out from
your sort of bag of tricks when appropriate the right thing at the right time.
Another thing I wanted to ask you
about was Bill Hamel (Sunkissed/Teknology).
I know he worked with you on this album.
Bill’s a
badass!
How has it been helping others? Since I know you have always been one to reach out and help
other people that are on their way up with touring and talking to people about
dance music and dance culture. Do
you ever feel overwhelmed, like there are so many people wanting to pick your
brain?
Yeah, I do
feel overwhelmed a lot. Yeah I
do,…absolutely. But the up-side
of that is…you know, what I find really weird is like, I’ll get the
strangest messages sometimes. And
it’s so funny too, because everybody always talks about, you know, like
harping upon one person saying a negative thing.
I get probably two or three thousand instant messages a day being like,
“Dude, your record’s the shit!” or, “I saw this show, it was the
shit!” But once in a while, I’ll get a guy that will instant
message me and be like, “You’re a punk dude.
You’re a sellout.”, you know, “You worked with N’Sync…blah,
blah, blah.” And then I’ll say,
Hey lsten man…”, taking the N’Sync thing as an example since this happened
a couple of days ago. I said,
“Hey, working with those guys, Justin and J.C., who have become really good
friends of mine, was a great lesson in judgment for me and you ought to take a
lesson from that too. Because I
thought the exact same thing that you thought.
In that, here are two cheesy, homogenized, corporate, boy band fodder,
blah blah blah, call it what you will, wank, right?
And I meet these guys and I realize, wow, these are two really talented
guys and they’re trapped in this cheesy, homogenized, corporate structure.
And they want to break of that. Fuck,
I’m all for the punk rock, let’s break out of the mold sort of shit!
And that’s why I worked with them, you know?”
And then the guy will be like, “Uh, what kind of drum machine do you
use?” (laughs) It’s like, if
oyu hate me so much, why are you asking me production tips?
Yeah, he didn’t really care, he
just wanted some help.
Yeah, it’s
like they want to kick you in the balls and then pick your brain!
And I’m like,…it cracks me up actually.
All of that stuff aside, and which is a very small part of the people
that contact me, I’m so lucky to give opportunities to a bunch of people, you
know, that I may not have gotten.
Well let’s talk about movies. You’ve done a few scores now, composed for a few films, is
any of Emotional Technology going to find its way into a film?
I’d like to
think yes man. I mean, I’d love
to see a song like, you know, “Animals” or “Dark Heart Dawning” end up
in a film where the only constant is change, you know? Something like really moving and epic would mean a lot to me
if it showed up in a cool film. Yeah,
I’d love that.
Have you
finished any films recently or worked on any?
I’m working
on one right now, I’m working on a movie with Charlize Theron and Christina
Ricci called The Monster. It’s a
really dark film. It’s a really,
really amazing film. But it’s
very dark and it makes it really hard to work on, honestly.
Because I’m so identified with the subject matter of this movie.
When you identify with the protagonist of the film, it makes it really
difficult to participate in.
What’s
in the future? What’s next?
Next is
getting ready for this tour man! And
getting geared up to,…I’ve been working on some plug-ins over the last year
with a friend that we’ve coded for the Mac.
And I’ve actually developed a plug-in so that I can do live, sample
accurate, stutter edits. So I’m
going to take this plug-in out on tour and it’s going to be pretty fucking
crazy! I’ll be able to sing into
my laptop on stage and capture lines and do live stutter edits to them using my
hands. I’m going to use these
things that are kind of like d-beam controllers and it’s going to look like
gestural dancing. I’m going to be
able to control the stutters with my hands.
For someone who is starting out,
say with two turntables, a mixer, and a couple of records, what should be their
starting point?
The first
thing you’ve got to learn is to beat-mix. But I really encourage people to start looking at some of the
programs you can use as a means of DJ’ing.
Because you can do so much cooler stuff off of a laptop.
So I would encourage people that are on two turntables and a mixer to
check out things like Live and Tracker, because they are really exciting.
But that kind of would be my advice, you know.
A great thing to know how to do is beat-mix.
If you’re going to DJ, you’re going to need to know how to beat-mix
and just practice your beat-mixes. Then
it’s a matter of putting together some good tapes and getting someone to give
you a chance. Something that really
impresses me personally, but this so not essential to do if you’re a house DJ
or play breaks or whatever, but I think it is the coolest damn thing in the
world when someone that doesn’t play hip hop can scratch.
I just think it’s so badass. That’s
what I think is really, really dope about what Bad Boy Bill does.
And really clever too with the printing the records at the same speed so
he can do hip hop tricks and stuff. He’s
a badass man! I think it’s really
about finding your own niche more so than anything.
And that can mean a million different things.
Just think outside the box, think about what’s been done before with
two turntables and a mixer, and try to do something new.
Alright man, I appreciate your
time.