song: axel f (c64 vs gameboy remix)
firestarter
by mikrosopht




what is your given name/artist aka(s), and associated record labels, colors, friends, enemies, high scores, and school awards.
First Thomas Last Margolf aka firestARTer, associated with micromusic, retinascan and audiolith. i never made good highscores, except whe i used sprite-cheats or unlimited lives :) except for world-champion at microprose soccer ;)
how did you pick your music name firestARTer and if peoples dont capitolize the letters are they commiting treason ? is firestARTer music fine ART or ARSON ?
in my past when i started to do music on my own, i had to find a name of course, i used to be Xenon, but later i found out that there was a xenon in the commodore scene already, so i renamed to firestARTer without any special reason. the big-letter ART is just like a mark, cause now they are also more people named firestarter.. and for some reason i think also i do some kind of art with the way i do music
did you know xenon is a "noble" or "inert" gas present in the atmosphere to a small extent? was your first computer a c64 ? &is that the first you wrote music on and when !?
i know that xenon is some kind of element but i didn't know what exactly for
xenon is used in incandescent lighting, and is greek for stranger. do you talk to strangers ?
my first (play) computer was a phillips Videopac G7000, and the first real computer was a commodore PLus4. i think in the states it was called commodore 264. i talk to everybody. i couldn't affort a Commodore64 when it was in it's most popular times, so i only had the cheap version. i didn't do really music with it at these times
how old were you then, are you, and will you be ?
i think i was 10-12 or so, don't know really, i am 27 right now and i am going to get 83 probably
looking at your gigs list you've played a fair amount of live chipstyle shows and the 1-Up Tour is coming next month.. whats the best part about playing out and what makes it different from other kinds of music and music instruments ?
i like the shows if people like them and it's always different and you never know how it will be with that kind of music. a good indicator is, when people are talking while the gig. A bad thing with playing gigs is that i am always really nervous before. and i am also very stressed the week before, when i arrange the last things...i always want to finish a new track for a gig...that brings me into time trouble..i don't want every gig to be the same, so i do some kind of improvisation all the time and don't only play my programm
are most of the people at the shows ready for your style of music or surprised
most of the time (as far as i can see it myself), people like what i do. but i also had bad gigs, where i saw the club was going empty. while i played..and the exit was next to my stage, so i could see everybody going..hehe...
sonsofbitches.
haha. they didn't understand it
throughout the years i see micromusic events listed, tell me what that community/site has been for you
for me it's the main point of my work. with micromusic, i started to get more motivated doing my music-work. i found people who liked it...
i know you won one of the earliest micromusic competitions with your mario remix (which is one of my favorite songs really) tell me about that time and writing that please thanks
oh, i remember this very good. the mario compo was the first micromusic compo and happened some weeks after they started. the rule was, to use only original samples from super mario land/world or better the given samples ( from the gameboy game ) and i used a tracker and a sample manipulating programm to do this, so i pushed the samples through the effects and filters to make them sound fatter and made the song in like 2 days then i won the compo!
yeah, hooray ! wasnt it also listed as by klangblaster ? i was confused for a time
but till today i still think, i was the only one who uploaded a remix for the compo, hehe
lol
yep. the 2nd compo was the bedroom remix-compo ( this i know joined some people) i won it with my bedroom activities track. but it looked bad, if the same guy wins 2 compos in a row. so they asked me if i would use another name for that
lol! i see. anyway yeah that one, its all sexy and shit. you play it for many girlfriends and get it on while warping to world 8 ?
so i choosed klangbastler. hehe. more funny is that i play it live aswell and do the womans voice myself :) the cmen made a really nice 8-bit animation for my bedroom track
i always thought it was your voice,, the "unh i need.. " right ? or what does it say..
to come back to the klangbastler thing, shame on micromusic, they didn't change the id3 tag of the sonf. so there was still firestARTer in it and i had to explain to several people on micromusic how it comes, my name is in it, hehe. i had some nice storys for that. haha, no the voice was just also a provided sample for the compo. and to be honest, i also don't know really what she says. i need you. i need to. i think i need you fit's the best.
re:name(s), hopefully now this can straighten things out, but i doubt it.. enooze isnt exactly good for that.. but much love to ||MM|| for their music archives.. yep very "fucky". what style do you most associate your tracks with
haha. you mean in microstyle?
yessir
i used all styles yet, as far as i can see. in general it's hard for me to explain people a style of the music i do, like explaining to friends what kind of music i do
yeah what do you normally say to someone who doesnt know anything about it
if i say electro, which it is in general then they say, 'oh , you do techno' and thats absolutely not what i do. it's hard to tell and i say i use old computers and child toys to make electro-pop-music. i think thats the best explanation for normal people..everything else they probably wouldn't understand. drx from bodenstandig is using 'computer volksmusik' for that, which means like computer-folk-music, but then people still wouldn't know.
yep.. do you listen to much 80s electronic music ? or primarily newer stuff
i listen to all kind of music. i like 80 electro very much as it is often still very childish experimental. i liked acid house alot when it came to germany
have you taken acid before in a house
nope. at this time, i was 13 or so and there was a tv-channel who showed acid house videos after midnight
wow cool. did you record them or stay up
i wasn't allowed to watch them , as i was too young for this time
right
but i had a small tv in my room and watched them anyway
rebel
i would say it's my first subcultural contact ;)
that sounds very official.. was it exciting for you
probably that was also alot of infuence for me. it was very exciting. there is one nice story that i had this track form the videos in my ear for more than 10 years but i didn't know what it was, and one day i played in brussels and lektrogirl DJ'd. and the last track, she played was exactly this track
cool, what is it ?
bizarre inc - playing with knives. it was really the track i searched for years for
that drives me crazy lol
she gave me the record :)
awesome. sweet
yyeah
do you collect vinyl or game carts or any type of analog format ?
vinyl alot. i got tons of atari 2600 game carts, it's not that i am enthusiastic collecting them
do you still play retro systems often & which
i don't play often. we do sometimes retro evenings and then i unpack my consoles
atari, and also the commodore as i got still alot of games for it. i am collecting commodore computers but only the homecomputers
any particular reason ?
only the C116 missing
one of each model ?
ya, i think commodore was very special for my past. i never really stopped using them. yep, one ( or more) of each
so which console wins when its c64 vs gameboy anyway ?!? or is it an endless battle
haha. there is no battle these days...they are harmonizing really good :) for example for live i use an optimized commodore64 and 2 gameboys, conneted via a self-made converter whith which i can syncronize both. so i got this nice TB303 clone on the C64 and lsdj on the gameboys running all syncronized with the box.
do you program this stuff or ? i mean the combination
i change the filters of the commodore(303) with added knobs on the commodores case. i just developed and programmed the converter-box which also acts as the master-clock. what type of work do you do during the day when youre not having an enooze interview :)
i am system operator
is that in Wuppertal ?
taking care of the companys network and coomputers. nope, it's in duesseldorf (city of kraftwerk)
is that why you work there ? they employ you, or did they move away
haha. i think they are still in duessledorf, but thats not the reason i work there. it's 20 minutes away from wuppertal and so very practical. i didn't even been at the house of the kling-klang studio. yet. but i will probably do when the people for the 1-up tour are here. some 'sightseeing' the krafterk studio, hehe.
do you drive or bus or train or skateboard to work
i use the train most of the time. and doing some gameboy tracking while driving
do kraftwerk use the train ever or just the autobahn? that sounds dangerous man. are you a daredevil
haha, i think they used bikes. they are bike-fanatic as i know. ok, explain me a daredevil.
daredevil = tempt fate, risk your life in an activity, go blind and wear a red underwear suit throw nunchucks,, evil knievel was a daredevil. he has a gameboy color game with cheat codes.. to unlock grand finale mode: enter LEVELS as a password
my connection to kraftwerk is probably not like with other electronic musicians who say, that they inspired them most. i can't even say that they inspired me at all. i got very late into kraftwerk, like 3 years ago or so
were you avoiding them on the street
but now i got nearly all record of them, cause they are so good!! i wouldn't talk to them
do you have a mouth
:o
sorry, i cant tell from here. are your ascii expressions anatomically correct
i think so. i don't get the point right now..probably of my lack of english knowledge
im just being crazy really.. your native language is german right ? should we try that (i know no german but could try to use a translator website)
haha that would be funny :) yeah, german is fine
so wie tue ich jetzt? kšnnte ich innen auf Hamburgerstra§e (thats, in der Sie nach rechts? arbeiten), passen ? Sie mšgen Hamburger viel?
haha. yep, thats where i work and hamburg is one of my favourites towns. i am there very often and got some friends there. also the emusic scene there is quite nice
you're, die gehen, Englisch zu sprechen. O.K.. reisen Sie hŠufig? und was Ÿber au§erhalb Deutschlands, Europa oder die Masse? sind Sie zu Pluto gewesen? bin ich jedes mšgliches sinnvoll an allen seiend
haha, so babelfish german is more confusing
ich bin ein Ausfall. keine thats nicht was ich bedeutete. mich zu sagen, bedeuteten, da§ ich ein Verlierer bin. ich verlor.
oh better talk english :)
potremmo provare alcuni altri forse? potreste provare ad indovinare quale im usando?
i am alot travveling for concerts and combine all with a nice weekend at the destination town with the people who organize that. i like that alot to join them beside the gigs
houdt u ster van oorlogen? c3po kent heel wat talen, zodat ive hoorde
je conviens que le potage est un froid de peu, peut-tre nous devrions presque commander une deuxime portion des prochains hes de temps de serveur !
oh ok, netherlands :) thats what i am learning right now :) i hate wars!!!!
werkelijk? geen shite!
yep, my girlfriend lives in the netherlands. so it's going to be my 2nd language :)
aardig zij ?
lets talk english again please :) my dutch is very basic
ok english now (traurig droevig). so what other plans does firestarter have you'd like to mention ? or his real_world hamburger street soldier antialiased image
i will release the 'wuppertal EP ' next, and in some months i am going to make a concept gameboy album. It'll be like a teenie magazine about stars with a photo-love story. we made nice pictures with the gameboy-camera for the story, in brussels. and then i do for every picture a short track which will be on a 3" CD in the magazine, and in the magazine they will be micromsuic people featured but also like in a normal teenie magazine.
you & your lady or ?
my lady, Lo-Bat, Hyperkut, sylvester stallone-clone and me. a nice story. and i do the magazine as a 'thank you'to all of them
cool ! haha,.. how do you feel about teenage fangirls stalking you senseless
hehe..i love the groupies !!!!!!!
any last words to the enooze readers
hmm last words for the readers:
Keep it real and peace for all! Make love no war!!!!!!!
firestarter website