by Stina Isabel Gavrilin
The 127th instalment of Beats From The Vault is nearly upon us, more international than ever! As we're joining forces with the Brooklyn-born record label Ohm Resistance to celebrate an incredible 25 years of its existence on this planet, it's time for another interrogation. Headlining the event is, of course, the beating heart of the label himself - Kurt Gluck - who will be merging his projects PRCA and Submerged for a very special one night only performance. We couldn't just let him go about his business until then of course, here's a fresh interview!
What are your sources of inspiration when you get the impulse to create?
This is a really interesting question, because I create out of habit at this point. I love to make things – I cook, grow, write, make music, build businesses – it is just part of who I am and what gives me pleasure to exist in the world. My goal is to always create far more than I consume. That's because it gives me control over my life experience. I am no jellyfish, floating along where the currents take me.
So beyond the fact that creation is a necessary element of my daily life, the things that inspire me musically, tend to be (sadly) anger, rejection, loss, oppression – elements of life that I cannot control or eliminate, I need to make music in order to gain balance when these elements enter into my world. When I create out of love, it always seems gauche and saccharine.
It has taken me a while to understand myself and that since I choose hard battles in life, the darkness that I encounter, I've been given an outlet to channel it properly, instead of losing my self or taking it too far into the danger zone.
What comes first, the sounds or the themes and ideas behind them?
I definitely hear music at this point in a self-generated fashion near constantly, and want to attach an idea to it right away. In fact, they run sort of parallel, where I write themes I wish to work on, titles or images or a story, and then can start matching these concepts with the music I hear.
How much has the life and culture of Estonia influenced you creatively?
Everywhere a person goes leaves its mark. Estonia has certainly influenced me to some degree, but it has been a difficult transition for me ultimately. Relationships and world events have much more sway over my music than environments do, and I went from a very joyous, bold, forward looking creative period, to the album FURY, when the war started here. I am not optimistic at all about the future here at this point.
Your recording studio Helikombinaat in Saaremaa has been in action for a whole year now, what are some of the most notable things that these walls have witnessed during that time?
Recreating a vocal sample from Beherit's “Drawing Down The Moon” was like working on the reconstruction of Notre Dame, and I'm quite proud to have done that with Marko, as well as hosting him to record on my synthesizer bank and with his own electronic instruments. We used the reverb stairwell in Helikombinaat to our full advantage.
We mixed some of Evestus' Post Hate Teen Depression deluxe album there, was a very interesting project with many many parts to each track. We've done an audio book by Maie Ojasaar, and hosted the Saaremaagia podcast by Liis Ingalt – who is our first and most beloved client. The Estonian band KOLL tracked their debut album in Helikombinaat most recently as well. And there is a fantastic rapper in Saaremaa, Nähtamatu, who has been recording there.
I've written an entire album for Submerged, and finished a PRCA record that has been dormant since 2019.
Sadly, I'll be moving on from the space, as again, my future view is not so optimistic in life, and I am minimizing my existence going forwards; however the space is not lost and will be taken on by the band Quress, so I'm happy to have built something that will continue onwards here in Estonia.
Looking back on the 25 years of your record label Ohm Resistance, is there anything you wish you had done differently?
Everything! I had no idea what I was doing when I started, the label has had some great periods, and some rough periods. If there's any advice I'd give my younger self, it would be to stay more consistent, pick a more singular path, and only do business as business, rather than friendship. However, I prize authenticity above all else for Ohm Resistance, so my path has been exactly whatever, wherever, and however I have been feeling personally. It's my life's work, so of course it is full of regret and wishes for things to have been done better/differently, but I'm proud I've managed to maintain its vision for this long.
What does the future hold for the label?
Like a butterfly, we are metamorphosizing into OHM INFINITE – a much more structured adventure. We will be only releasing seasonally (4 times a year), and only releasing critical and necessary musical works. I love my dear Ohm Resistance, but in the world of digital music, I really believe it would be more beneficial to do LESS, and really make each release something special, rather than just an endless stream of “content”. So we will complete an entire rebranding within the year, after our last 25 Years Anniversary shows.
Now, dude... I keep reading up about all these different bands and projects of yours and the rabbit hole just never seems to end! Could you gift us with a comprehensive list of every project that you’ve led or been directly involved in...
Ave Satanas, why would you do this to me!?
Let's see how close I can get without looking at Discogs.
Submerged is my main identity and what I make all music under, that is 100% my direction.
Zerfallmensch is my noise group with -haZMat-. We've been recording BRAP style since 1998, and have played live together twice. It's such extreme noise that it only happens once every 15 years!
Method of Defiance I started with Bill Laswell in 2004, out of the album “The Only Way To Go Is Down”. Bill took it over and started playing a little more funky, groovy than made sense for me to be in it. I am neither funky nor groovy. I am razors and hatred with sugar dumped on them.
The Blood of Heroes is a studio band I have done with Enduser, Justin K. Broadrick, and Dr. Israel.
Gator Bait Ten is another studio band that I've been the bassist for, in a rhythm section with Ted Parsons.
You Will Choose Fire is a 2-piece band I did with guitarist Lacey Wood when I lived in Portland. It was VERY Portland.
PRCA is an industrial techno story project, which blends elements of tradecraft within electronic music. It definitely blurs the lines between reality and creativity, as it tends to become active in periods where my life is infiltrated by foreign actors without my best interests in mind.
Your upcoming performance at Beats From The Vault will be combining the projects Submerged and PRCA. Where did the idea come from? Is the resurrection of PRCA exclusive to this show or are you planning to keep it going a little longer?
PRCA always seems to show up whenever I'm in a crisis transition period, and at the peak of my paranoia. PRCA is just one of those things where, whenever there's negative actors, people that have infiltrated my life and then abandoned me – this project always pops up during those periods.
PRCA is really inspiring to me, and it will most likely evolve into my main project going forwards for a while. Submerged has had a gorgeous 25 year run, and while I have been trying to make an album, that is very much my roots, drum n bass, neurofunk, called “Prosperity” for many years, recent events in my life derailed that entirely, so I will remain in the depths of darkness, disgust, and horror until I can find my personal stability again. PRCA will be around for that – and the new album release will support this path. “The Dark Web is Inside Us” began in Berlin in 2019, and sat on my computer for many many years, and I recently went back to it and finished it – no shock that it makes sense to release it now. We wrote a 33 minute track about assassinating Vladimir Putin back then – if not now, then when, to put this energy into the world?
The way I live my life and my art, it is 100% realness. I'm not painting a picture, or trying to portray the darkness, or look some type of way to impress anyone. This is no act. This is my existence that I am reporting about, for better or for worse. People like to pretend like their work is just a stage or just a game or an act they are putting on, but that's why often artists come and go, because their works are false. For better or worse, until someone takes me out, I remain; and I report from the depths of the actual human condition.
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