I've been a fan of Here We Go Magic and your solo records. When I was sent your new record, it was by Art Feynman. Why did you decide to go with that moniker for this record?
The name popped into my head. It's a funny play on fine art. Also, I was obsessed with Richard Feynman, the theoretical physicist. His whole character was pretty funny. He was a scientist, but also this bongo-playing ladies' man and part-time artist. To me, the music seems like that '60s version of sci-fi, or something. Also, it's probably a nod to [producer/musician] Arthur Russell, to some degree. It was a way of reinventing myself, as well as thinking in terms of a character rather than myself. That can be liberating.
Is it freeing to not have to be Luke Temple, or Here We Go Magic?
If you create a little narrative for a character, it gives you more freedom in ways that you wouldn't normally allow yourself. Writing as Luke Temple, there's pressure I put on myself to be as personal as I can in sharing my story. If I think in terms of another character, it frees me from that. In the end, I'm expressing the same thing; but sometimes it's easier if it becomes less subjective and more objective. I had just made a Luke Temple record [A Hand Through the Cellar Door] that was the most deeply personal record I've made. This was a way of cleansing my palate and getting back into more of a humorist thing. I don't really think about this very in-depth. It's a way of sometimes tricking myself into going into new territory. Luke Temple could be anything I want it to be, and Here We Go Magic could be anything as well. I'm pretty mercurial, and creating a new moniker was a way of fitting this other side of myself into a little package that made sense, rather than confusing the situation even more.
Did it start with the concept, or did you write a bunch of music and think, "Oh, this would be fun to package in a certain way?"
Yeah, it started with the music. I did it mostly on 4-track. That's my go to for demoing. I guess I was in a liminal state; demoing ideas before I was going to go into a studio and record it "properly." It had such a vibe on its own that I decided it would probably be better if I decided that was going to be the record. I was doing a lot with pitch-shifting my vocal and it seemed a new character was emerging, so then the name came after.
Can you tell me a little bit more about what gear you used to make the record? You talked about a 4-track. Which machine were you using? A Tascam Portastudio?
Yeah, the 424mkIII. It was the last series of cassette 4-tracks that Tascam made. It's my favorite, because it has four individual outs. I do a loop between the 4-track and Pro Tools; I can record on the 4-track, and then I can dump those individually out into four tracks on Pro Tools and get a mix together. Then I dump it back to 2-tracks, to have the stereo back on the 4-track, and then I have two tracks to do more overdubs. I can keep doing that.
So you were tracking, dubbing it into Pro Tools, doing a submix of those tracks to stereo, spitting that back onto two tracks, and then continuing that process?
Yeah, correct. I would usually start with a groove. Another aspect of what Art Feynman is that I didn't come to it with songs. I would usually start with a bass line or groove. I'd record that for seven minutes, and then I'd put it into Pro Tools and edit it together to get a loose outline of a song. Then I'd go from there and dump it back into the 4-track.
So why not do it in Pro Tools?
It's a sonic thing; the 4-track has a sound. The grain and the presence of it has a different quality than recording into Pro Tools. The pitch wheel is a big thing. I suppose you could do that in the computer. If I had Ableton [Live] I could do more varispeed [processing]. But I don't have that capability in my Pro Tools rig. I was doing a lot with the pitch wheel.
Did you limit the palette of instruments that you used on it? I hear some synths, and some drum machine.
There's actually no drum machine.
Oh, really?
Yeah. Those are all played drums. I would do some looping. I would record the drums – usually at slow speed and speed them up. It really tightened them up and gave them that "drum machine" sound, but it's all played. I'm glad people think it's a drum machine.
Did you put some limitations on yourself in terms of track counts, or did you go wild and use the 4-track for the sound?
