Miwon (aka Hendrik Kroez) just released his third album “Jigsawtooth” on our beloved n5MD label. It’s a long-awaited follow up to his A to B music journey (via City Centre Offices). His latest album marries motorik techno infused rhythms with soaring pop ambient melodies. It’s also a near kraut/kosmische approach, cinematic and truthful to it’s destiny of making us devoted listeners. For me it sounds like home anywhere I go. It’s a warm solar system filled up with memories and future discoveries. Melodic messages go backwards and forth, Miwon is stacking all variables into one place and witnessing how we respond to feelings.
As I’m at home, in my sunlit corner of a desk, I write to you all the interesting things we catched in a glimpse of time: from being genrefree to a Tribe Called Quest and from social conventions to dynamic perfectionism. There, we said it all.
It was an honor for giveitaspinGR. For this, I would like to thank n5MD and we’ve decided to celebrate with 2 CD giveaways for you, readers out there. All you have to do, is respond with a comment below in Disqus/Facebook or comment on this article on our fb page about your favorite track taken from Jigsawtooth or any music blabber that will ignite our communication! The contest will be live throughout all of May and winners will be announced, after randomly picked. Once you lucky two get the CDs send us a picture for our instagram if you like! If you are too shy for all this, you can always send a message via mail, however it would be nice to see your opinions and music appreciation to artists, on this humble website. It also keeps us running the motors of giveitaspinGR.
Jigsawtooth, your 3rd album came out on n5MD just a few days ago. It’s a comeback after some time! What happened since the “A to B” era? We’ve missed flying in your wanderlust.
Life happened – other things and events became more important than finishing new Miwon tracks. I’ve become a father of two boys, got a degree in sound engineering, started to work for a music software company and spent more time on side projects. But I’m really happy that the Miwon story continues!
Does your new album (as a whole) carry any residual meaning? It gives me the utopia of fresh breathing around my surroundings at any point. A clear and steady vision of free formed feelings. (It really matches the urban life of Thessaloniki walking down the port or visiting my family in the countryside).
It’s abstract music after all, so it would feel wrong to glue a deeper meaning or message on it. On a personal level my tracks certainly have something to do with the opposites “urban” and “rural” – I appreciate living and working in the city, but grew up in the countryside.
I love also playing electronic music on my sets or show on Paranoise Radio, however when it
comes to life and this website my moto is “Be genrefull”. Do you agree?
I’d even like to say “Be genrefree”, at least in terms of making my own stuff. Genres certainly
catalise the emergence of new music (and catalog record collections) but also have something
restrictive: When I’m like “Let’s make a straight and bouncing techno track” it never works. I listen to almost all kinds of music, electronic stuff is maybe 30% of it. I love the idea that electronic music has the ability to connect many musics – Indie, classical, Jazz but also South American, Oriental, African, Indian music…
Any favorite releases from last year?
2016 was a horrible year, but there was a lot of excellent music. My favorite release has to be a fan affair: A Tribe Called Quest – We got it from here.
Where is the music industry heading in terms of independent labels?
As long as there are curious and open-minded listeners there’ll always be independent labels, musicians and magazines – and vice versa, too.
How long did it take for you to make your last album, was it a “one-go” concept? What are your intimate triggers.
My third one obviously took a long time. For me, each track is an organic entity that wants to be nursed, so it’s about getting them together in a way that makes sense as a 45 minutes’ narration. My idea was to follow up on the familiar Miwon sound and capture a larger variety of moods.
Have you ever visited Greece? I think there is room for a live set in the future.
I’ve never been there and I’m sure that I’ve missed something – I’m definitely ready for Greece! If you know a nice place to play please let me know ?.
Can we mix musical aesthetics with social convention?
These two are automatically linked to some degree – in the form of listening habits, shaped by the scales and tonal systems we grow up with.
How far should we take music as a form of a “thinkable” or not process. Are there many levels to “listening”?
Listening can have many levels – cerebral, physical, structural, psychological, historical, technical, emotional… – but it’s also a very direct sense: Music can get at you / bore you within seconds, so we should just let it happen.
Name some things you also enjoy in life as much as making (or playing?) music?
Of course there are other things I enjoy as much as making music, but there’s actually nothing like it (except for cooking?).
I need a book and beverage to go with your album spinning in my living room / or I could go out at an electronic hub and listen to “Miwon” lining up with…?
… probably my VJ friends telematique and u-matic, who’ve made a nice clip for their personal favourite on my album, Cool Your Jets (also on my website – www.miwon.de).
I really love the energy in your visuals and soundscapes. Feelings multiply into dynamic moments. Are you a perfectionist of most things?
As a producer I’m definitely a perfectionist. New pieces must pass several filters before releasing them: Are the sounds interesting? Does the structure work from beginning to end? What about the frequency spectrum and, most important, the emotional one? Does the track feel like a part of myself?
Your projects evolve on a disparate collection of genres. Do all of your side projects (Feedbackorchester , Cushion Caroms) work as a colorful umbrella of well organized sound art to relate in a different personal space in your heart?
My side projects compensate for my solo project in a way. Producing as Miwon is fun because I’m the boss of many sound generators, but I rather get inspired by human musicians – not only by listening to records, but by playing together with them. These are the kicks that got me into making music as a teenager and playing in bands, and I don’t want to miss that.
Where do you go on from here? I for sure will have your album on repeat to grasp on every
second. It’s a musical Spring.
I look forward to presenting my new tracks live and start collecting ideas for my next comeback.
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