YANN: Positive. Very positive. People seem to be digging it a lot. I've never seen Iszoloscope appearing on playlists as often or mentioned as often online in various forums or blogs since the release of The Audient Void. Also, turn-outs at live shows have been noticeably better overall and the crowd response has been just nuts.

INQ: You were working really hard on this release right up to the deadline. Are you that much of a perfectionist or was it procrastination?

YANN: Nah, that deadline was way tighter than what I'm used to; I didn't really have the luxury of procrastinating. So I'll take the perfectionist option.

INQ: TAV is a really intense album. What kind of mindset are you in when you write?

YANN: I don't see it so much as a mindset anymore. As time goes by, I see it more as research, or a questioning. Like putting ideas in order in my mind... ideas that can't really be articulated into words. I work with sounds until they resonate with an abstract idea or feeling that's going through me at that very moment. It can take me a lot of time to do that, but sometimes it all strangely comes perfectly into place. It often takes me a stupid amount of discipline to be able to assemble a track or even an album together. But the harder I work, the easier it seems to be getting.

INQ: What kind of gear/software are you using these days?

YANN: I work exclusively with software right now. Namely, Native Instruments' Reaktor 4, Sony's ACID 4, Steinberg's Wavelab 4, Mackie's Tracktion, rgc:audio's z3ta+ and a stupid amount of VST plug-ins. I'd like to get some hardware synths back in the mix for fun again too but I'm brutally underpowered right now and it's definitely not my priority as my gear's falling apart. Even my mixer's dying. On top of that, on special occasions, I am required to kick my sound card for it to work properly. But then again, I blew my entire budget this year touring. I had 4 fun but financially disastrous tours in a row (Mostly due to a mix of bad luck and bad management moves on my part) and now, I'm back in college for another couple of months. So until I'm done with that and paying my touring debts, I'll be working with just my banged up computer home studio setup... which is just fine really, I got all I need and I've worked in even worse conditions before.

INQ: What is more important, the soundscapes or the percussion?

YANN: Neither, it's finding a way to blend them appropriately with each other that is.

INQ: At one point Les Gorges Des Limbes was a side project of yours. What made you want to turn it into an album under the Iszoloscope name?

YANN: I was frustrated that no label that I dealt with was interested by that side project. They all had their reasons and it was clear that it had nothing to do with the quality of the work. But I think that part of the problem came with the fact that I presented it as a side-project of Iszoloscope. I feel like that title had a negative impact on the project's reputation... as if it was the "Iszolocrumbs". At the time, there was a definite difference between Iszoloscope and Les Gorges des Limbes... mainly that we were 2 working on Iszoloscope and that Les Gorges des Limbes was my solo stuff. But now that I have been doing Iszoloscope solo for over 4 years, that notion faded. I didn't want that album to stay on my shelf because I was still really happy with it, even 4 years later. I found a compromise with Ant-Zen and released it as a limited edition Iszoloscope album.

INQ: What are you hoping to achieve with the next Iszoloscope album?

YANN: I don't know yet, I haven't started working on it. I'm still digesting "The Audient Void". I have no idea what direction I'll take from there at this point. I don't want to rush too much into things, or say something and then change my mind.

INQ: There has been quite a proliferation of power noise acts in the last few years. Which ones stand out, and why?

YANN: I don't know if I agree with you about that. Sure, the genre is not as marginalised now as it was a few years back. And there has been plenty more home grown rhythmic noise projects out there. Yet not a lot have had the luxury of having any recognition. A lot of them, admittedly, are obviously just for fun and don't really have any substance or quality backing them up. But only a few of the new and interesting projects that pop up here and there get some attention. It's nowhere as close to how explosive it was, say from 1998 'till 2001. I honestly hate the other part of the question because it is so subjective and personal. By record sales and play time in clubs versus what I think stands out, there is a massive gap. What I am looking for when I listen to music is usually a palpable form of intensity, a particular flow of energy that is unique to a track. Also, sometimes, I love to be surprised with new or unusual sounds and structures. When all these elements are properly combined - to my standard, it's clear that we have a classic.

INQ: How was Maschinenfest?

YANN: Fuckin' awesome times 10 plus the square root of holycrap in a can made out of ninja stars!

INQ: You've been playing Iszoloscope shows all over the world. What were your favourite trips?

YANN: I love every trip! If I wouldn't love them that much, with all the trouble that comes with it, I would've never leave my house. All my trips to Europe are particularly memorable, especially in the UK. I also usually have stupid amount of fun every time I'm in the USA. And I'll never forget my stay in Australia. But on top of all that was my all too short trip to Japan that tickles my insides just thinking about it!

INQ: I still have a couple of early demos from back when you were still with Frank. You also weren't Iszoloscope back then; you had a different name that started with A. Do you think those demos are worth more on EBay or as blackmail material?

YANN: Hahaha! OMG! You still have all that crap? Total blackmail material!!! Hahaha! Yeah, for all the readers, know that Victor was one of the very few original DJs who had copies of our first demos back in the days when he was busy at being the totally awesome head DJ at "Le Bistro", our good ol' crusty weekly industrial stronghold in Hull, Quebec from the late nineties until around 2002!

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Thanks Yann, for the interview, for the compliments, and for flipping me on the dance floor at last night's Terrorfakt/Adam X show!
Interviewed Dec. 14, 2005, by Victor Couwenbergh.

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