For our sixth instalment of Life Online, Tek lintowe has supplied an 11 minute mix of slurred, other worldly blends to act as a sonic display of his musical practice. Lintowe’s music exists within a dream, hazy and muddy, half forgotten.
Tek lintowe [@tek.lintowe] has joined #CO
<CO>
Where did you grow up and where are you based now?
<Tek lintowe>
In and around Phoenix, Arizona, and right now I’m in Rhode Island.
<CO>
How have these environments influenced your art?
<Tek lintowe>
I’m not sure. I don’t really try to make stuff that’s directly connected to what’s around me – I like fantasy and I think my music is mostly influenced by other media. I’m sure my surroundings play a part in it even if it’s in ways I don’t understand. A lot of times experiences from the past are what influence my music – houses I’ve lived in, people I used to talk to and the vibe of different periods and specific events. After a while everything bad or unimportant about those times is forgotten and what is remembered becomes a stronger, more exciting version instead and it feels kind of unreal.
Like when you smell a candle or a certain perfume, something that was around a lot when you were a kid and it all comes back to you at once and you get a weird head rush.
Most of what I make is trying to recreate a feeling like that in an exaggerated, almost humorous way.
<CO>
How did you get into making music?
<Tek lintowe>
I liked playing piano as a kid and I had drums for a while too. When I was 12, I pirated FL and would put stuff into the playlist with no rhyme or reason. I wasn’t even really into music like that at the time but I thought the program was cool and I liked arranging things so I kept going with it, then around the same time I heard the album Rifts by OPN, and I was like I have to learn how to do this for real. That was the first album I had really listened to, period – I can’t even remember how I knew about it but it was extremely impactful and engrained a certain music taste into me.
<CO>
Can you name some artists whose work has had a big influence on you?
<Tek lintowe>
James Ferraro, Drake, White Goblin, Aidan Swank, i.v., Prefab Sprout, Girls’ Generation
<CO>
Who are you listening to at the moment?
<Tek lintowe>
A friend showed me Hal Hartley who makes soundtracks which are all pretty hard. He’s the only artist I’ve been listening to steadily for a bit. Reese Youngn also.
<CO>
Your music has an almost futuristic/medieval/video game inspired sound to it - what has driven the sound of your recent releases such as “Pleasant Surprise” and “The World”?
<Tek lintowe>
I’m glad that’s the impression it gives – I like high fantasy, so it can definitely be medieval sometimes. The soundfont stuff just gradually became what I leaned towards liking to use as time went on. Simpler sounding VST instruments to me are more playful and fun, and can leave more room for imagination. Sometimes they can just make the melody go harder too. Especially flutes, piano, harp, violin.
<CO>
How does creating art help you?
<Tek lintowe>
I can get into it in a way that I can’t with much else. Weirdly it’s like a compulsion, like I feel like I should always be doing it, so I’ve gotten used to it, and days where I work on something end up feeling more normal than days where I don’t. It helps me stay level headed.
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