//TENSE//
I’ve been in love with //TENSE// ever since the first time I heard them via the Tommyboy video for “Turn It Off”.
//TENSE// – Turn It Off from tommy boy on Vimeo.
//TENSE// is the amplified echos of the screaming souls anchored to the almost forgotten WaxTrax! realm. Prophecies channeled through the minds, voices, and bodies of three Texans- Robert, Mariana, and Jake- are made manifest with synthesizers, shouts, and drum machines. While forewarning us of the approaching Apocalypse, //TENSE// kindly offer us this message with the distraction and opiate of the dance floor.
//TENSE// have a new LP available on Desire that I recommend you acquire quickly before they’re all gone.
Order here.
Not really sure what I could possibly ask such messengers, I pose these questions:
1) You just released an album on Desire records. How long did it take to produce all this material?
The lp ‘Memory’ on Desire is actually about a year old now. If I remember correctly it took me about a solid year of working on tracks before I picked the 10 that made it onto the album. I have so many other tracks from that period in time, it’s ridiculous. In hindsight there are a few things I would change on the lp, but in general I am really really stoked to see it FINALLY come out on vinyl. I love wax and can’t wait to hear it on my decks!!
2) I read somewhere that your music is the soundtrack to the approaching end times. How to you forsee the world coming to an end. Do you think you would survive? If so, how? What would your music sound like in the post apocalypse?
I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘if’, more a matter of ‘when’ human beings will destroy the earth. Nothing was made to withstand the pollution and awful things that we do to this earth. Would I want to live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland? No, not particularly. I appreciate what I do have and enjoy the short amount of time we have in this world. Life is pretty good over all. If I did survive I hope I could be a mutant brainless zombie eating other idiots for survival. Haha. My music already sounds like the post-apocalypse Patricia!!
3) What’s your favorite piece of gear and why?
I really enjoy my Ensoniq Mirage…it’s just such a funny little piece of gear. I can’t remember the last time I had held a floppy disk until I bought this a few months ago! My Korg Poly 61-M holds a lot of special memories to me, that’s where //TENSE// got started. That and a Oberheim DX drum machine, which I sold and regret…sigh.
4) What’s Houston like? How does a band like //TENSE// come from there? Is there a good scene for EBM in Houston or are you a weird anomaly?
Houston is hot as fuck and swampy. There is a negative energy in this city that never seems to go away completely. It is what has given me the motivation to play out of town and hopefully move out of here soon. Good EBM scene? No. There is a pretty big goth/electro scene, but I’m not really a part of that at all. It’s more in the Metropolis Records/VNV Nation vein and I am not particularly fond of that sound. That being said I do have some really good friends here that I love a lot and that are creating some really good electronic music.
5) What’s next for //TENSE//? Any plans to tour?
Next for //TENSE//? Hmmm….FALL TOUR 2010. 10″ re-release of the Disaro cd-r on Desire…a split 12″ on Mannequin Records in December (hopefully with White Car)…and I am producing and working on the Kunst Fascion record as well. That is my wonderful partner Mariana’s original musical outlet that we are resurrecting this year. You can hear a track on the ‘Texas Love Triangle’ mix here: http://www.viceland.com/music/2010/05/tommy-boys-texas-love-triangle-mix/ !!!!
TOMMY BOY’S TEXAS LOVE TRIANGLE COMP
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fucking awesome
they’re from houston! one point for us!