For some time at the beginning of this year, Michael Potter, alias the Electric Nature, was one of the busiest artists in Atlanta, dropping an epic full-length album (Mount Analogue) and an adventurous EP (Space Face) over the course of just a couple of months. Even more impressive was the nature of the music: extended experimental drone pieces, drawn-out and densely-layered with ambient synths, psychedelic tape loops and field recordings, and peppered with scattered fragments of abstract pop, rock and folk music. But although the material was artfully conceived, it didn’t always make for the most comfortable listening. Many of his songs were fractured, frayed and otherwise blown-out beyond recognition. But even in their most extreme moments there was something spectacularly ambitious about it all, a wild sense of the grandiose that made even the most grating passages worth listening to.
After that exceptional burst of activity, however, things went quiet. Several months passed without any mention of the Electric Nature, never mind any new material surfacing. But as it turns out, Potter was as busy as ever spending several months immersing himself in a worldwide, online-based experimental collective called the Sewer Greats. When the collective released their first compilation in early June, it featured a new Electric Nature track entitled “Grvvty Pnnts” which was more direct and concise than anything he had done in the past while still remaining challenging and complex. In addition to his work on the comp, Potter also found himself collaborating with San Francisco artist and fellow Sewer Great, Matthew Sherling, in a new project called White Beard. Only in its infancy, the duo has already managed to produce a video for their first effort, “Colored Air.”
Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Potter about these new projects and developments. We also spoke at length about the collaborative process, his many influences and why he rarely performs live.
For the past few months you’ve been working with an experimental artist/musician collective called the Sewer Greats. Can you give me some background into the collective and how you got involved with it?
So the Sewer Greats is an international collective of experimental artists, musicians and videographers. All types of music and art are represented within the group. Many of us talk and/or collaborate daily over the Internet. I was first introduced to the group by Joe Moresi who runs MABA Tapes and records music as Plaens. Through him I met Michael Beaudoin, who records as Boy Mtn (amongst a multitude of other monikers) and also has a tape on MABA. Michael runs Sewage Tapes and started connecting with a lot of other experimental types through Last.fm, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc. I’m not sure of the actual history of the Sewer Greats; I was introduced in March of this year. At that point there were only about fifty members, now I think there is more than a hundred and fifty.
It’s really nice to be able to connect to so many wildly different artists from around the globe. I am constantly hearing new and fascinating music every single day, it makes me super happy.
How does the collaborative process you’ve been engaged in differ from your solo work in the Electric Nature? Do you have a preference of one over the other?
So far it’s been really great, I’ve been collabing with some folks I never would have imagined. I don’t feel any difference towards collaborations versus solo work, though. I mean, whatever I work on, I am working on it my way. My sound is going to come through on whatever it might be, and it’s nice to have two or more people injecting their various flavors into whatever project. I don’t think I have a preference to one over the other. I think the collaborative process might be a bit more exciting because, you know, it’s exciting to work with others!
You mentioned to me that you believe “Grvvty Pnnts” is a different direction for you, that it’s “somewhat of an experiment.” Could you elaborate on that thought?
Yeah well, I’ve been thinking about making some pop songs for awhile now, and I guess that was kind of an attempt at that. Pop might be too strong of a term. Drone pop maybe? I don’t know. I like the way it turned out, though I am not sure if I will do much in that direction again. I tend to gravitate towards the long drones, as you are aware. I have been working on some droney folk type stuff lately, acoustic guitar-based. That’s been really nice. I’ve got 3 or 4 “songs” that I like a lot right now, maybe I’ll release a drone folk EP or something in the near future. One thing I like a lot about “Grvvty Pnnts” is how I did the vocals. I think I’ll be injecting that into a lot of my future work.
Funny that you should call “Grvvty Pnnts” drone pop. I think that hits pretty close to the mark. I also thought that it provided a nice middle ground for listeners who might feel apprehensive about diving into your long form work. What is it about the more drawn-out drones that attracts you?
I got on the drone kick pretty early, around 14 or 15. I was listening to Sonic Youth which opened the floodgates for all types of experimental type shit to come my way. I think first it was like Bardo Pond and Windy & Carl and Azusa Plane and Roy Montgomery, but once I got into Tony Conrad and that Early Minimalism and Dream Syndicate stuff, man, that shit still blows me away. Deep, all-enveloping drones, like the first cosmic sound, forever resounding throughout the universe. The drone is so attractive to me, something to get lost in. It’s something that takes a long time. But, you know, I like songs and short pieces, too.
Let me give you a slight variation on the age-old “what are your influences” question. Who are some artists/bands that you would kill to collaborate with?
Oh fuck, well definitely Tony Conrad, as I mentioned earlier. I am really into a lot of experimental and noise types; I’d love to collab with Keiji Haino, with Bruce Russell/A Handful of Dust/the Dead C, all those NZ noise dudes, they know what it’s about… Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3, that would be nuts… uh, Manuel Gottsching, Faust, Jim O’Rourke…
What local artists are you listening to these days?
Plaens, Michael Myerz, Warning Light, Brainworlds, Treecreature, Hopi Torvald, Time Wharp, Featureless Ghost, Forgotten Light, heRobust, Back Pockets, A. Grimes… I don’t go out to many shows, so most all my listening is done on the ol’ information superhighway.
Have you ever given consideration to recruiting a more formal band to fill out the Electric Nature?
Yeah, I am talking with some folks about it right now. I am just unsure of what I want to do with a live Electric Nature. For all my recordings, I just start with a small idea and go at it. And my tracks are all based off improvisation, for the most part. So I want to keep that aspect alive in any live setting, and I’m not sure if I want it to be the standard band thing. Ideally I would like to have some drums, a synth, a bass, a guitar and a bunch of mics and samplers and pedals so I could play all the instruments and improvise sample jams. For the time being I think it will be me improvising with guitar, synth and voice-over some recorded backing tracks. I will probably try to enlist peoples from the audience to play with me with crappy keyboards that I will provide.
You rarely perform live. Is this intentional or merely happenstance? Do you see yourself performing more in the future?
It’s not so much intentional as that’s just the way it is right now. I’m pretty poor and I don’t have all the equipment I would like to give a live performance that I will be happy with. However, I do have 2 shows coming up at the end of September. One in Orlando and one in Asheville. They are both Sewer Greats showcases. Sewer Greats will be having showcases all around the United States that weekend, and I will performing both Southeast shows. I’m recruiting a small group of weirdos and musicians to help me put something together. We shall see what transpires. If these two shows turn out well, I am going to try to put together a small East Coast tour for maybe later in the fall.
Tell me more about these Sewer Great showcases. How many cities and events are we talking about?
Well besides the Orlando and Asheville shows, there are shows planned for Los Angeles and Phoenix. Still no word on whether there will be an Northeast showcase. But it’s all Sewer Greats bands/projects/whatever close to those areas that will band together and play shows during that weekend. We’ve got folks doing all types of shit, so this will be interesting to see all the varied acts and how it all fits together. I hope there are a lot of onstage collabs; I think that might turn out to be the most interesting aspect of it all.
Talk to me about White Beard. How did the project come about and where do you see it heading?
White Beard is awesome! Matthew Sherling has been a friend of mine for a few years now. He is from Georgia and recently moved to San Fransisco. When he moved, he started getting into music production and started sending me his tracks, which are really great. He records as Bewildered Hallelujah. Well, we had talked for awhile about collabing, but didn’t really know where to start. When he was visiting his mother, he recorded this short drone piece on this old organ and sent me the track. It really inspired me and I recorded a bunch of instrumentation on top of it: drums, guitars, synths and layers of vocals. I sent him all those raw tracks and he remixed it all to the track it is now. He literally worked magic on it, it sounds completely different than how it did originally. So since then we have each been recording little things and sending them back and forth to each other. We hope to have an album or at least an EP sometime in the very near future.
More Info:
Web: www.theelectricnature.blogspot.com
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Bandcamp: www.theelectricnature.bandcamp.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/theelectricnature
Twitter: www.twitter.com/thelectricnatur
