It's been a few years since Andrew Hodson released The Matinee Orchestra record and I've been wondering what he's been up to. For those in the know, Andrew was the artist/producer responsible for the stunning Map Music project and more recently, The Matinee Orchestra, an album described as "sort of like Sigur Ros meeting Mum and deciding to move to England and go acoustic". Fuzznut interviewed Andrew over email and we talked about how he goes about creating music, and what the future holds.
Fuzznut: The way Matinee Orchestra was recorded seems to be very similar to Map Music; a collection of individual "field" recordings that are then assembled into songs on your computer. Is that a pretty fair assessment? If so, is this your preferred approach making music? What excites you about this process?
AH: The Matinee Orchestra music is actually written away from the computer on guitar and piano not on the computer. We record the song and then I mess with it to write new sections, add field recordings, and do loads of overdubs with a core group of people to make the songs. Sometimes they change quit a lot in this process. What excites me about this process? Well I pretty much work every day on music and I just love it and I like it when it touches you and make you feel something. Map Music was more of a concept piece and I hope to repeat the concept as a artist in the future.
Fuzznut: How much are the songs on the record planned out? Do you leave what gets recorded to the other musicians then create tunes from that? Or do you have an idea of what the songs will sound like going in?
AH: The songs are quite planned out but there is always room for new ideas from the members of The Matinee Orchestra i.e. Graham Hardy on trumpet and Matt on piano or Jo on violin. So mostly, the first part is planned, the second is to create the tunes and improve.
Fuzznut: When I read reviews for The Matinee Orchestra record, I hear it described a lot as "laptop" music. Why do you think people have latched on to this term? Surely most musicians these days create music on computers.
AH: I have no idea why this is or why it was described like this. Some people are even surprised that it is real instruments. Like I get asked "is that violin real or fake" and I'm like it's "real" cos it is but it seems such a weird question. I also get asked where I get my samples from. I actually record my own from scratch. I would never take something from some one else's record. Where's the fun in that?? It's much more fun to create something. I thought that was what I do right?
But to be honest, I think the term "laptop" album was actually in the press release that Arable Records did and most people tend to use quotes or terms from press releases.
I think I might of even written that in the press release myself (not realising that people would just copy it) and if I did, I guess what I meant was I traveled around and recorded everyone individually so it was a laptop orchestra, i.e. we did not all play in the same room but the laptop was our room.
Fuzznut: What sort of music are you listening to right now? How are you finding new music to listen to?
AH: I just produced the Cath and Phil Tylor record last year so I listen to that a lot. I though it was brill. I'm also producing Abdul Khan and the Projections, Paul Smith's (of Maximo Park fame) solo record, a band called the 1,2,3,4s, Jazzfinger and a new Matinee Orchestra record so I am listening to all these.
I listen to a lot of music. I'm really in to the LCD Soundsystem 45 minute track they did for Nike (although I hate Nike). Also check this out from the place I work. Oh, and and Ronnie Hoyte, I think this guy is cool, totally cool. Anything on the Nofi Label in Newcastle as well.
Fuzznut: Any projects coming up? Anything you'd like to plug at the moment?
AH: I think I already answered that (see above).
What next?More by The Matinee Orchestra? More features? More electronica, or experimental, or folk?