Bomb 20 a.k.a David Skiba has been developing his unique form of hip-hop
noise & cut up audio since his debut 'Field Manual' album appeared on the
Digital Hardcore label. More recent projects have seen remixes for the Mille
Plateux label, and production work with leftfield rapper Gonzales - self
titled 'king of
the Berlin underground'. With new Bomb 20 material ready to go, Free Radical
Sounds caught up with Bomb 20 to discuss, music, labels & new releases.
FRS - I read a few DHR articles in music magazines where Alec Empire talked
about how you approached them & demanded a platform for your musical &
political
stance. Did DHR give you the opportunity to do that?
BOMB - DHR opened my music up to a relatively big audience... so they
definitely gave me a platform..
FRS - Have you always produced extreme sounding music or is Bomb 20 a
development from previous styles of music you've been involved in?
BOMB - I have undergone a huge development, of course my musical taste
changed over the years, at least for the music that I make , and also the
means
for producing the music changed massively. Nowadays through modern plug-ins
/ virtual sampler / synthesisers I have possibilities I would have never
thought of a few years ago. In the early production phase I only had a few
dozen or so samples. Now I have uncountable samples and sounds. Also now
everything can be modulated to create anything I want to. In the beginning I
had very limited resources with which to realise my visions and was happy
with everything that came out
it all sounded, kind of decent. Now I have problems getting everything
together
properly cause there's so much shit. Technically and mentally.
FRS - I found it quite refreshing to read your manifesto in the Field Manual
CD.
I wonder why more supposedly radical musical artists don't include anything
of the sort with their releases - perhaps they think people can't be
bothered to read anymore.
BOMB - I don't know, but I would think it´d be pretty odd if everyone
included a manifesto.. so its good that not many people write manifesto´s
and most that do are pretty corny. I won't write another one in my new Bomb
20
album, I just wrote it because the album was called "Field Manual ".
FRS - I guess that in the electronic area of music, DHR & related artists
are pretty unique in that there is a definite attitude / political stance.
BOMB - I don't think they're unique, but I think DHR are the only ones who
explicitly define themselves as "political". Since the hip hop scene
developed into some kind of Hillary Clinton fan club I guess there aren't
that many people left doing innovative and "revolutionary" music.
FRS - The cut ups you've done on some of your releases create a
kind of third way or new message, out of the original words & remind me a
lot of William Burroughs. Are you at all influenced by his stuff ?
BOMB -To be honest I wasn't really influenced by him. I just saw that nobody
ever did something like I planned and did it... I mean similar in the way I
did it with the new movie-trailer samples and rap shit mixed together.
FRS - What's your view on the whole sampling / copyright issue - is anything
up for grabs?
BOMB - Ethically I don't give a fuck. Judicially it's a problem.
FRS - What's the score with Chilly Gonzales, I read that you & Patric C did
some production work on his recent album. Was it just paid production
work, or are you into what he's doing.
BOMB - I just worked on some tracks with Paul and Gonzales and he asked me
if he could use two tracks for his new album. However we want to release our
stuff
on our own album.
FRS - Do you have a name for this project? Is the music similar to Bomb 20?
BOMB - It doesn't have too much to do with the "Bomb20 sound" most people
know from my first album. I don't use any distortion for example, because I
didn't want to produce everything with a "lo-fi / trash" or "hardcore"
touch. I think my sound is much more versatile than that and with my new
Bomb20 album I'm heading to a "higher" production level too... audio -
quality wise at least.
FRS - There seems to be a strong hip-hop undercurrent in a lot of your
music. Are there specific hip hop acts or other artists that have
influenced you?
BOMB - I now listen to a lot of really commercial hip hop. For some reason I
think its far cooler than most of the underground productions. I listen to a
lot
of Mop, Lox, or stuff like Hood, Beenie Siegel, but of course I also like
"underground " stuff like Company Flow, Dilated Peoples and more of what
heads would call "real hip hop".. whatever that shit may be. I don't listen
too much electronic music at all, some people think that I listen to
breakcore all day but I guess its fair to inform everybody that I absolutely
don't listen to breakcore or noise or totally experimental art-collage
spheric shit. I listen to Xzibit. Right now I'm listening to Xzibit... yes
the new album. And I like CNN and all this simple shit..
FRS - What's the general underground scene like in Germany at the moment -
are many people into the kind of music that you're producing? In the UK the
underground / alternative events tend to be a kind of crossover between
alive gig & club, or they're bar based - ie the music takes a bit of a
backseat in terms of volume and people talk more.
BOMB - Underground is what people make up. What is underground? Who is
underground? I'm not the person to answer that. Pretty much "arty" shit
going on here,
like "experimental music". I can't really dig that softer (or harder)
experimental electronic shit too much, its pretty boring most of the time.
Most of the
times its this Uah Ahh, he's twiddling the knobs again type-of-acts where
people just watch.
I find most of this stuff rather boring. Hip hop in Berlin is currently
exploding. Def
Jam has opened a European office in Berlin and all the kids are
listening to German hip hop. Its really terrible too, really scary, Germans
rapping, 50 years late - who would have thought this?
FRS - Do you have plans to do any live shows at the moment? I heard that you
have a visual / film show that goes with your set.
BOMB - Yes, I have a nice video - VJ show with my live show. I mix
together
footage from the news and shit, so its not too boring watching me behind my
equipment. People like to watch TV.
FRS - What are the general plans for Bomb 20 at the moment - ie future
releases / albums / new projects?
BOMB - I'll release this album with Paul and Gonzales, then finish my own
2nd
album - I'm currently working on that very hard, and I'm also working on
the Puppetmastaz album - that's a puppet show with rapping puppets.
Myself, Patric Catani and Nitro do the Audiochocolate label together, we´ll
release an compilation and an album soon. I'm DJing with Puppetmastaz and
we have a regular Audiochocolate club event in Berlin.
FRS - Can you tell me a bit more about the rapping puppets?
BOMB - Puppetmastaz is a puppet show with a bunch of rapping puppets who do
some theatre shit and rap on tracks in between. You can take a look at them
at: puppetmastaz.com we´re currently working on an album with them too.
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