Phonotactic

get off your ass and make your own cocktail

By Angela Anderson

When I think about keyboard music production I get a pang of nostalgia, and the Sanyo keyboard I had when I was 10 comes to my mind.

 
And I have no doubt my parents remember the pure enjoyment they felt hearing the simple beat-sample play repeatedly while I “mixed” in various sounds and noises the different keys made in random order.

 
Byron Mueller, a.k.a. Phonotactic, started out making music pretty much the same way (only different, because my musical career and my interest in my keyboard lasted approximately three months before I neatly tucked it into a closet, only to give it away, covered in dust, to a cousin years later).

 “I’ve always been a keyboard player, I started making beats with my M1Corgan Workstation,” Mueller explains. “It was really limited though.”

 Unlike myself, Mueller expanded his musical production career into something truly artistic and, I dare say, genius.
Currently he performs live p.a. (performance art), a technique in which the artist uses pre-recorded material played from a sequencer — in Mueller’s case, on a laptop — and the artist affects the resulting sound using a variety of computer manipulation techniques or live instruments to enhance and complete the music.

 Mueller chooses to add other sounds to his pre-recorded beats via keyboard, guitar, drum kit, or sometimes a live vocalist.

 A live p.a. show is unique because the artist has the advantage of tried and true beats, as well as the ability to use the audience’s reaction to guide his set, much like a rock musician or a DJ might.

 And, also unlike my 1990 three-month long music endeavour, Mueller’s live p.a. show is relaxing, impressionable, and overall enjoyable.

 Mueller is a born-and-raised Calgarian who got started in profession production, post the all-in-one keyboard days, in 1999.

 “Finally the software got to where it needed to be, so I decided to start getting into production on my own,” he remembers.
Before 1999 Mueller played keyboard with Strugglah, a raggae/soca band, which would explain the Rastafarian lyrics by Iwango Jahfire, featured in Chant Aloud.

 “It was fun playing with Strugglah, as was it with all the other bands I’ve played with but I divested in playing with bands full time about a year and a half ago,” Mueller says.

 It appears that was a wise decision; Mueller has travelled the country on his most recent CD release tour, the Use Your Talent (If You Can) tour.

 The realm of Phonotactic’s musical landscape spans the terrain of down-tempo, drum ‘n’ bass, dub and deep house.
His inspiration comes from overseas, from places like Germany, where electronic music production is huge.

 “Going and watching these guys work is amazing,” he says about the Montreal Music Technology Festival, where he met electronic music producers from Spain and Germany.

 Meeting many like-minded people made Mueller realize he was not alone after all, something he previously was uncertain of coming from Calgary, where the professional electronic music production scene is comprised of a handful of people.

 “The place was full of guys who do what I do now, and they were all saying, ‘silly Canadian, we’ve been doing this for years!’” Mueller remembers, laughing.

 He recently played at the Calgary Jazz Festival, as well as many local venues.

 He has become involved with Electronic Music Calgary, an organization that promotes the success of electronic musicians (not to be confused with DJs, EMC consists of a collective of people who make electronic music, not play it).
Mueller’s choice software for production is Ableton Live, less complex than well-known Protools or Logic Audio, but it has its advantages.

 “Ableton lets you use it in real time, its like the next wave of MPT 2000 which is the tool of choice for hip-hop producers like DJ Shadow,” Mueller proclaims.

 Whatever its advantages, it definitely works well, as Use Your Talent proves.

 One of my personal favourites is track two, “Listen to the 808,” featuring Andrea Revel. It’s a dubbed-out, down-tempo tune, perfect for chilling out after work.

 “Everything I try to do, I try to create a mellow mood, and hopefully make you want to kick back with some buddies and listen and make cocktails.”

 Well, Byron, I say you’ve done it. Mix me up a cocktail and let’s make a toast to our old keyboard players, gone, but not forgotten.

 While a date in October in Calgary has yet to be confirmed, keep checking his website for the listing at www.phototactic.com.