Interview: The Creatrix
Number 16 is a collection of otherworldly emanations gathered by The Creatrix following the release of her debut cassette, Approaching an Abandoned Helm, on No-Tech (no-tech.bandcamp.com/releases) and her live appearance at Surface Tension with Kerridge in February. The Creatrix manifests from the neural circuitry of one Fanciulla Gentile, a queer multidisciplinary/sound artist based in San Francisco. Bio-technological connection to the divine matriarch Genetrix available here: https://soundcloud.com/fanciullagentile
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ST: Your work is littered with references and allusions to science fiction and speculative futures.
TC: Yes, the references and allusions are my attempt in creating a multi-dimensional experience for a listener. I think all good sci-fi has this intention in mind whether it’s a paperback, film, or visual artwork, a powerful piece speaks to all the senses.
ST: What would your idea of a utopian future look like?
TC: I find the big-scale inevitabilities to be quite beautiful & comforting. I’m talking about death, destruction, regeneration, etc on a cosmic level. The social construct of a moral universe relies on the binary of good and bad, the cycle of everything is feared. So shedding that lens has made this idea of utopia so much simpler for me. Utopia as I understand it on a human scale cannot be an evolved concept without first acknowledging the damage that has already been done because of anti-black & anti-life ideologies. Especially as an artist who makes electronic music very much influenced by Detroit & Chicago, centering blackness is pivotal to imagining a utopia. The first time I listened to Inner City’s Paradise album I was just forever changed. That record is so crucial to my development as a politicized techno-head which may sound funny to some but the themes are so powerful. There’s a manifesto by Kevin Saunderson in the first track:
"We as people in the world today Should come together And help one another We should build our nation Free from inner city decay”
He repeats it a few times over this dreamy synth line and a house beat that’s cold as steel that teases, coming in and out.
ST: Where have you been pulling sonic inspiration from of late?
TC: I’ve been keeping my ear to the queer industrial/ballroom/club music DJs and producers as of late. So much incredible stuff coming from all over the world but it really feels like a coalition. It reminds me that I can and should always seek to create outside a palatable trajectory. And also, that genre boxes are super silly and need to be worked out of artistic consciousness. I love going dancing to Club Chai and New World Dysorder for example because I’ll always hear the DJs playing their own edits and mixing so many styles of music together and it’s not a stretch, it all makes sense. Besides that, I’ve been spending a lot of quality alone time with the Gas box set.
ST: What influenced you to begin creating music? What sets The Creatrix apart from earlier iterations of your practice?
TC: Big parties and loud music have always been a big part of my life since childhood. I suppose that is where my appreciation stems from. I went through some different ways of making music up until I got my first drum machine and then it clicked what I needed to be doing. I collaborated a lot with people. I’m still in a duo named Felidae with my sonic partner Sharmi Basu. The Creatrix is the first thing I’ve ever performed on my own. And it’s the first iteration of a more intentional techno/dance style of writing where as before it was fully about the experimental and improvisational approach. I still improvise quite a bit when I perform solo and try to stretch my understanding of what dance music is by trying to make soundscapes that are as visceral as they are sensual.
ST: Tell us how you went about putting this mix together.
TC: I suppose I wanted to create some kind of audio diorama of my brain. So these are all tracks I’ve been listening to a lot. I would describe them as having a hypnotic and piercing quality that has worked itself into my brain. Since I spend a lot of time alone mostly immersed in music it shapes my way of thinking, without a doubt. Also, I know and admire some of these artists so they’re a part of my brain in that sense.
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