Re:mote Induction : Your most recent Starfish Pool release is Illusions Of Move. This is scheduled as being the first in a five part series of releases through Hymen. This first part is Chapter Blue - what is this piece about and how far ahead have you got this planned - do you know the names of the other chapters at the moment (are they also going to be colours)?

Koen: The Illusions of Move cycle is an idea that started end at the end of 1999. It all comes to colours. The first one called Blue, the colour that reflects on sadness and dark feelings. Blue reflects these feelings, so it was the right choice to start with the Chapter Blue as introducing this new cycle. The other four albums will be Chapter Red, Black, White and Yellow. Red will go around passion, Black will be heavy but soulful, White very open and minimal, and Yellow bright. That's the general idea. These releases are planned within a time-period of two years. The next one, Red, is almost finished but will be completely ready around July and released in September. Around early 2001 the Black one will be finished, and a selection of these three releases will be compiled on CD and released early 2001.

Re:mote Induction : You mention compiling the first three chapters to a CD and have mentioned that the whole series of 5 will be collected over 2 CDs. How will the "selection" of material from these releases be dealt with - is all the material from all 5 LPs going to be across the collection or is it literally only selected tracks?

Koen: So far I have in mind to select the material on the mood of the tracks. The minimal and ambient-minded on the first CD, the harder and extreme on the second CD. But of course there is some time before they will be released so it's possible that the plan will change in time.

Re:mote Induction : Every vinyl release on Hymen has a series of stamps associated with it - what input have you had on the design of these on Chapter Blue and how these are going to come together across the five parts?

Koen: The Hymen artwork is from the start one of the main concerns of Stefan - Salt the owner of Hymen/Ant-Zen. He has made a quite unique, minimal but very nice design for Hymen. It's obvious that he is, besides being the label manager, also running a well-run design company. So for that reason the title and the colour blue was my input and all artwork credit has to go to Hymen and Stefan.

For the future releases Stefan and I will see what the input will be. I'm free to give any input of any kind, but so far nothing is really worked out.

Re:mote Induction : How much planning have you done before you start a project like this - do you have an idea of how each piece is going to sound and fit in with each other piece?

Koen: There is not much time to plan for projects like these. I just start with it and it get its form at the same time I'm working it out. But it gives me some freedom to give my music some direction and it's nice to see how the evolution goes when it takes a longer time period.

Re:mote Induction : I have been listening to Illusions Of Move and Rituals For The Dying recently - both seem to have firm ideas behind their sound and their construction. How important are concepts to the work of Starfish Pool and what are the ideas that inspire your releases?

Koen: At the moment I'm finding concepts become more and more important for releasing my music. Beside the releases, I have made music for dance/theatre and new soundtracks on films like BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN and TETSUO THE IRON MAN. They are mostly made for bringing them to life, not for releasing.
Beside that I'm active on different projects with other musicians. That means that I can cover all the areas of music I will make. Starfish Pool will always be my electronic project, that rhythm will appear in, in all its aspects. Since the very start it is the manipulation of loops - the basic idea of the way I created tracks as Starfish Pool. This concept that has nothing to do with the sound but more with the way that tracks are practically made. It's my intention to keep my music changing with the years. I don't want to repeat myself so I keep myself open for new ideas and concepts. Making music is more a moment-based thing than a complete concept of how and what. The main thing is that I can stand behind the results. I do not want to make music for being popular and famous. I do not see myself as a great musician but have a natural passion for making music and hope to continue with a better release than the one before.

Re:mote Induction : Including the releases I have already mentioned you have a number of Starfish Pool releases - can you talk us through the major releases - where they were released through and how readily they are available for people to buy?

Koen: My first Starfish Pool release Chill Out And Confused - CD (KK records 1994) was an ambient-minded release that was well received in the underground press.

In 1995 I had a first cycle of 3 12"s called EP ONE, EP TWO and EP THREE (KK records) The first two where in the vein of early Panasonic and the third one was based around a brilliant pumping remix made by Dogon Soundsystem (better known as the PWOG soundengineers) Between EP TWO and THREE (subtitle OFFDAY) the second full-length CD/2LP Amplified Tones (KK records 1995) - in the same area as the first EPs - was released, but the major attention came after the Interference 1996 CD/LP (KK records) that also includes the OFFDAY remixes of Tim Freeman and Peter Koedoodt. This release was the end of my KK records contract.

The two following releases, a 12" Abstract EP Number Two on Respect Wax (in cooperation with Lowlands) and a CD Dantes Carnival on Silver USA, had a much lesser reaction and sales. The time was there to focus myself on my own label Silver Recordings. The only Starfish Pool release on Silver Recordings (1998) was a remix CD with remixes of Riou, Unit Moebius, Mark Broom and Dogon Soundsystem plus some less known artists.

In 1999 a 10" release on Conspiracy records called Rituals For The Dying was a start of a new episode. Finally I gained the skills and ideas of making the music that I had in mind. After eight releases I was completely free of any commercial impulse and could make the music that I wanted to make; no more compromise. A limited CD of 450 on my new label U-Cover Records sold out fast, and gained very nice reactions all over the world. A recent repressing of 300 is almost sold out already. At the same time I have made a full CD on Daft records called Kinetic. Instead of 4 tracks, as on the Rituals For The Dying CD, I placed over the 70 minutes 10 tracks but the result gives the same feeling of diverse moods and styles.

The Illusions Of Move cycle is again the third level in my making music as Starfish Pool. It will see me create the most tracks I have done at once in the next two years.

Re:mote Induction : You mention the setting up of your own label Silver Recordings along with the new division U-Cover and Respect Wax with Lowlands. Could you tell us what motivated you to start on this venture and give us a break down of what these three sections represent and how each of them came about (from your site I believe there is also a Silver Wax division)?

Koen: Setting up ones own label is a dream of a lot of people, but costs a lot of money and energy. I started to plan things together with Jan Van Olmen, who took the practical and financial side of the company on while I took care of the A&R. It was our intention from the start to let the label go on as it comes. No advertising, no major distribution. With the 8 full-length releases we covered all the costs, but it will take some time before all investments will be recouped. We had worked for a while on a Silver USA sub-label that was run by Paul Adams based in Toronto. Unfortunately his business went down and we have lost money there that held Silver from its natural growth.

Lowlands has been the distributor of Silver recordings from the early beginnings of the label and asked us to work out some vinyl releases. We have split the investment of the first Respect Wax release and just two more have been released. On Silver Wax also a vinyl version of the CD releases ended on one release. This year we decided that the Silver catalogue is complete. There will be no more releases on Silver Recordings or Respect Wax.

We have started a new label called U-Cover records and will have only limited releases. The first one is the Starfish Pool - Rituals For The Dying, connected to the Conspiracy 10" with the same title. The first pressing was of 450 but we have repressed another 300. The second release was Quench, limited to 550; which sold out within 3 months. Beside that we also have a 50% input in a new label that we started up with Stefan of Hymen.

Re:mote Induction : You have said that you are finishing Silver with the current 8 releases - could you talk us through each of those - who are the artists and what are each of the releases about? Many of these releases feature remixes by yourself or production or are collaborations with you - could you fill us in on your connections with each release?

Koen: Just after I started up Silver Recordings I met the two formers of Unit Moebius. It connected within a few seconds. The same night I went home with the master, a live-recording of one of the most exciting live-recordings of Unit Moebius. I have made two remixes from two tracks that can be found back on their first CD release on their own label, Bunker Records. Since then the contact with Unit Moebius kept close and very pleasant.

The second CD was the debut CD of Ra-X who had several releases out on Bunker Records. For this CD I did the production and made an extra remix on it. The third connection with Bunker was our fourth release of Rude 66. In the meantime we released the Lowground CD which is a collaboration with Mark Broom. I met him at my first Starfish Pool gig and he enjoyed this gig a lot. Later on I saw him more often at live shows and we talked about doing some tracks together. He came to Belgium for a few days in my studio and a few months later I went to London to work out some more tracks. The combination of my minimal attitude and Mark's funky influence made this CD quite unique. Mark Broom and I also made a remix of one of the tracks and the full length CD - Sounds For Freaks - is the result.

The compilation is a collection of artists where I feel connected with or who I respected. The most interesting names that I asked didn't show any interest that time so there are also some tracks on it from unknown artists who sent me their music to check out. There was a follow-up planned but the whole upcoming catalogue is deleted......

The sixth release is a collaboration between Jan Duivenvoorden of Unit Moebius and me. This release is something very special. Jan and I are very close, and have the same attitude about making music.

The seventh release was a Starfish Pool remix CD. This time I just asked those who I was sure would make a personal and good remix. The last CD on Silver is made in a very new way of working. Riou Tomita sent me sounds and breaks by email or on DAT. These I took in my computer and transformed them to tracks. The result is amazing.

Re:mote Induction : From what you have just said we can see that Lowground is a collaboration with you and Mark Broom, while Minion is with Jan Duivenvoorden and most recently Holon is with Riou Tomita. How do you work with each of these collaborators and how does that vary from working by yourself as Starfish Pool?

Koen: It's obvious that each collaboration is a sum of the two parts. But it only works when each party sticks with his own skills and influences, and when the trust and respect is on the same level. In all these years I have met several artists and a collaboration is something that happens in a natural way. If it does not work out as we expected the tracks will not be released; it's just when the result is something where we both are proud of that we decide to release it. Every time the way of working has been different but mostly we both enjoyed it and learned things by making tracks together.

Re:mote Induction : Why did you decide that Silver was complete? Why is U-Cover the replacement?

Koen: In a way it is not that the Silver catalogue was complete. 4 full-length releases were ready to release. But although we had good reactions all over the world, the sales didn't follow the expectations. There was just not enough money coming in to keep following it and I hated the idea of releasing music that had been made years ago. Anyway, before we closed that down, when we were still operating under Silver, I decided to start up a follow-up label with the right perspectives from the start.
U-Cover stands for undercover because it is my intention to do nothing or very little promotion for this label. We keep it limited and without compromise to anyone.

Re:mote Induction : You said there were 4 releases ready for Silver before you closed the catalogue - will these releases ever be released, were they finished and now lie unheard?

Koen: I'm not sure if they will ever be released. It's taken too long to work something out with them. I even lost the master DAT's in the chaos of my studio. A lot of my music that I produce doesn't come out. It's a natural selection and not something I feel pity about.

Re:mote Induction : Both U-Cover releases to date come in card sleeves - what is the idea behind this packaging and will future releases also come this way?

Koen: I hate the normal jewelbox and the artwork is sometimes the most expensive part of a production. In this way we can keep it minimal and made for a reasonable price. It's in my intention to keep this up for five releases. From then I hope to get enough money together to get a more interesting and exclusive packaging.

Re:mote Induction : You mention another new label which you are working on with Stefan Alt - can you tell us anything more about this - what its going to be called? What your first release is going to be? What the aim/theme behind this label is planned to be?

Koen: The name of the label and the project is the same; LYMPH LTD. We really hope to create a complete and unique project. The intention is to create something that is focused on music as well as video-art. As Starfish Pool I asked several musicians and acts to send me some samples from their own collections of small sounds/breaks and beats. From several artists I will use parts and recreate them and mix them as a Starfish Pool track. One track on each release (in a cycle of 8 12"), and on the B-sides, 29 locked grooves and 1 track manipulated as a short track. For Lymph One the sample contributions came from Kit Clayton, L'usine, Quench, Llips, Holon and Passarani.

Simultaneously, I'm working out Videoloops with Anne van Gils which will also provide a source for the artwork on the covers that Stefan Alt will design. At the end of the eight monthly releases there will be a CD release of mixed manipulated locked grooves and some videoloops as well. To close down this project there will be a remix CD by the artists who have contributed to this project. The vinyl will be limited to 555 copies, the CD's to 1111. The first release is planned early May 2000.

Re:mote Induction : What appeal do you see locked grooves having to the average listener? I think they are often seen as a DJ tool - do you agree with this or do you feel there is something artistically that can be said by them?

Koen: These locked grooves on Lymph have several meanings. One of them is to use them for making remixes of the tracks. That's personal and something for the acts on the Lymph project. We are also working on video-loops for the project. It's the first time that I've had the opportunity to work with someone that is focused on video work and where I feel connected. It's a long term project and I'm very excited about it. The video work will be also a part of the artwork so the total will make sense. And finally it's a DJ tool, although my locked grooves will be something that will only fit for an experimental DJ. All the grooves will sound completely different left to right. It's a fake stereo but it could give the possibility to mix one groove as two sounds. Just needs some interesting panning of the left and right on the DJ mixer.

Re:mote Induction : At this point in time do you have any plans for the next U-Cover releases?

Koen: We have some future releases/plans in mind. I'm checking out things and some good will come out for sure. I don't like to say too much in advance of what could be released.

Re:mote Induction : In our previous conversations you mentioned a project working with Llips. - tell us about Llips. and how you feel their sound and yours works together? Are all these projects enough to keep you busy - the Hymen series and Lymph series - or do you have more work planned in the next year or so? More collaborations?

Koen: Llips. is one of the strangest projects I ever heard about. They come from New York but do not want to say who they are. Their music is a weird combination of lo-fi guitars and basic electronics, sometimes filled up with vocals and spoken samples. The result is something sad but beautiful. It's a mix of Sigur Ros and Godspeed You Black Emperor, of Can and FSOL. There debut LP Unalaska & The Valley of 10.000 Smokes has just been released on the INC.US label. I have a CDR with the first demo tracks. These tracks are very abstract and minimal and from that I started to work out a Llips. versus Starfish Pool piece. The master is just finished and we start to check out where, who and what will be released of it. It's possible that the CD version will be on U-cover records. We will see. So far I'm focused on the Lymph and Hymen releases. Probably this, together with my live gigs, will be enough to complete the year 2000. The combination of my full-time job at Lowlands Distribution and the part-time role of being a father do not leave much time left over to produce more this year.

Re:mote Induction : Who are your influences and which current artists are ones that really do something for you?

Koen: My very first influences are from the late 70's. I loved Kraftwerk and the abstract work of early Pink Floyd. I have enjoyed the hard rock collection of my oldest brother and the classical collection of my father. But soon discovered the eighties with Zoviet France, Throbbing Grissle, Test Dept., Glenn Branca, Einstursende Neubauten, Cure, Sonic Youth, Can, Butthole Surfers, Big Black...In the nineties the KLF CD chill out and the first two Biosphere albums, together with a live-gig of Psychick warriors of Gia, left me convinced that this was the music I really wanted to discover. Autechre, Patrick Pulsinger, Plastikman, Aphex Twin, Kirlian, Maurizio, Squarepusher, Unit Moebius, Mike Ink, Panasonic, Jeff Mills, PWOG, Thomas Brinkmann, are a few of the names of those who could been seen as those who opened up my ears. Besides that, I have kept my interest for the more guitar-orientated music. Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sophia, Evil Superstars, Tortoise, Barkmarket, Smog, Built To Spill, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, etc... gave me the needed balance in my interests. Lately I felt for the sound of Kit Clayton, L'usine and Llips. To me those really do it.

Re:mote Induction : With all your work as Starfish Pool and Silver/U-Cover you must work with other people - from Illusions Of Move I can see that there is an involvement from Chantal Yzermans and Jonah Lybaert, also you have mentioned Jan Van Olmen as being involved with Silver and I have also spoken to Stijn Lambrecht through Silver. Could you tell us something about the involvement of these people and who else is important to your workings?

Koen: Well it's obvious that you always have to work with other people to get some results. Starfish Pool was a spin-off of the band Starfish Enterprises. From this band Steven Lambrechts has always been around Starfish Pool. At a lot of gigs he manipulated the Korg MS 10 synthesizer and together with Dimitri Daggelincks and Chantal Yzermans was active for most of the Starfish Pool live gigs. Most of the tracks I recorded and mixed myself, more because I made all recordings at my home studio and enjoyed to work many hours at night. For that reason not much has been worked out together with anybody else as Starfish Pool on recorded material.

Chantal Yzermans and I have a long-time working partnership that is mainly focused on dance choreography and sounds. We have created three parts together so far. The first one was a duo dance based on very deep and slow drones. The other two where solos and especially there we saw the opportunity to keep the concept growing. In the meantime Chantal became a part of Starfish Pool live. Her musical background on piano was more than acceptable to play on the Juno 106 synthesizer. On studio work she never became involved, except for the latest release where I used the samples that she had recorded in NY last year. And we worked out a track with a synthesizer part that is being played by Chantal.

The contribution of Jonah is something that came very naturally. He is often around here in my studio and as a 10 year old he likes to figure out things himself. He has a very open attitude when it comes to music, picking out Autechre as one of his favourites when he was six. I completely left him free to play something on my Roland Juno 106 synthesizer. In the future I'm sure he will make more contributions as I see the scape of sound more interesting than playing tunes and melodies.

For Silver/U-cover other people are involved. If Jan Van Olmen was not running the label with me, I am sure I would have given up a long time ago. My interest is focused on music, the artists, the distribution and the lay-out, but I hate to spend time on all the practical things. The complete bookkeeping and all official matters have been taken care of by Jan; he is also the one who invested money in it so it would be only fair that he gets his money back one day. We have both worked until now for free on it, just like all the other people who worked out something for Silver/U-cover.
In the beginning we made our own lay-outs but after four releases Nicolas Monbailly took care of the artwork. He operated from France and I'm very grateful for all the work he did for us. In the years I found some difficulties with the distance between us, a few weeks ago I met Anne van Gils who I believe stands closer with the ideas of what I want to create and lives in the same town as us. She is also active with video and it's been a dream for years to work out something on video too. If everything works out as I hope she will be the future designer for the Silver/U-cover and Lymph outputs. Also there is the input of Stefan Alt an extra that will help the label to survive.

The input of Stijn Lambrecht is one that I admire the most. From an early start he worked out a webpage for Silver and Starfish Pool that is looking great. He tries to keep it evolving as much as possible; he has a real focus on the Internet and he loves to explore and check things out. I'm sure he is the computer-wizard we all dream to be (and Jan Van Olmen is another one). His attitude and involvement is 100%. I have a lot of respect but that counts for the most of the people that are involved.

Also the importance of a distribution company that believes and supports the label is something that I'd like to mention. Lowlands Distribution (B) and Dutch East India (USA) have done more than their best to help the label out. The connection with Joris of Conspiracy has made him also a part of Starfish Pool. We both are not sure what role he plays but, hell, without him it would not be the same.

Re:mote Induction : You mention Starfish Enterprise; could you tell us about this and the origins of Starfish Pool, and how that is reflected in the name?

Koen: I'm not sure if the name Starfish Pool would survive my making of music. Kk Records asked me to give the ambient project of Starfish Enterprises a different name. But it should still be connected with the band name. Changing Enterprises to Pool was something that came up and was accepted by Kk-records. It could be something that I probably will end with a CD release that should be a rework of all the tracks that survived my final selection of the best tracks I've ever made. For this I will bring in an extra producer to make the final and most complete Starfish Pool album. But don't except this before 2004, because by that time Starfish Pool will been around for 10 years, so then it's time to quit with it.

Re:mote Induction : Is there an underlying philosophy in the way you approach the music industry as an artist and a label - relating to your happiness at now being free of commercial restraint with recent Starfish Pool work, and with your desire to avoid getting involved in advertising U-Cover even though one of your concerns with Silver was that it never gained the sales you hoped for?

Koen: Hard to answer this one. For sure it is something that came with the years. My attitude has always been without any ambition. It's something I need to do to make my life interesting and feel that there is something that I need to do here. But I don't need the whole fuckin' world to watch it or listen to it. Those who want can find me and talk about it with me but I will never push my label or music to anyone. There is no need for it and the more I realize how much space there is between me and any commercial interference, my music becomes better and more personal.