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Cygnus Interview ™/ Text / The Cut / Photography / Courtesy of the Artist 13th August 2008 Where do you live and what was it like growing up there? I just turned 23 years old and I’ve lived in Dallas, Texas my whole life. Winters are blistering, summers melt your face off. You have to go pretty far to find something fun to do. I used to frequent this joint called Video Quest. It was basically the afterschool hangout if you were into video games. It was a progressive place. I was 12 years old when arcades started dying around here. All the good titles started hitting the home systems and then there were less people going to the arcades. That was a bummer because arcades brought together a lot of cool people. How did you get into making music? The first music I ever made was on my dad’s old IBM in one of the first versions of Cakewalk. I basically just sat there and banged out a bunch of noises from that software sampler and held my cassette recorder up to the speaker. Then I went to go listen to it in my bedroom where I’d rap to it. I was supposed to be practicing the piano really. How is your music progressing at the moment? Since I did the Alkaine Virtuarachnid album in 2006 my style has slowed down quite a bit. There were a lot of songs on that album where I felt an urge to impress somebody. Now I’m just making music to satisfy myself, creating situations I’d like to be in. My music identifies me in a way I can’t really express with words. It’s the soundtrack to a lot of visual ideas that I’ve got in my head. I could listen to some songs I’ve made for hours and they’re only 3 minutes long. Who are your non-musical idols? My friend James had an interesting look on his face the other day while scooting across a bench and I wrote a whole song about it. Lots of songs I did this summer were parodies on peoples’ facial expressions and their reactions to certain mundane events, like a squirrel eating an acorn. I find some of the most simple shit just completely hilarious and inspiring. Stuff that I don’t think is honest, I really can’t enjoy. It’s transparent, like watching saran wrap unfold. What will your community in Texas be like in the future? It will hopefully be more open to young people. Nowadays no one really cares about young kids in Texas. If you’re a teenager living in Dallas you are left to yourself to make your own fun. This creates an environment where kids are doing all sorts of wild, insane creative things and getting in trouble for it. It was less bad when I was growing up but now it’s awful. If I observe truly what’s going on around here and where it’s going then, yeah, they would all better off by just leaving if they can and going to Austin or New Mexico. Do you have a group of friends that you hang out with? My girlfriend brings me out to salsa clubs all the time. She’s pretty much the only person I hang out with regularly now. A couple of friends asked me the other day if that affects my productivity and I was just like, ‘If I thought that having a serious relationship with her would affect my musical productivity, I would not be dating her.’ And they said ‘Oh.’ What do you do on the weekends? Salsa Clubs and home parties. There was a period of time when I was a teenager that I was real into lan parties and video gaming but I don’t get up to that much nowadays. I have been avoiding downtown Dallas for a while because not long ago I saw a guy get knocked out for reasons unbeknownst. It scared the shit out of me cause I’m a huge pacifist. I mean this guy just was hitting him even after he got knocked out. Maybe I should move or something. Who really inspires you? To me it’s the potency at which someone says something and how much you recognise the subject matter of what they are saying. The first time I heard Autechre, I hadn’t heard anything like it before but I felt I knew exactly what it was about. When I see Mamorou Oshii films I’m always like, ‘Exactly. That is exactly what I was thinking about. God.’ That stuff is just so potent. It’s like something you’ve dreamed about before, but when you see it, it ain’t deja vu, it’s like next-level deja vu. It’s not a repeat. I have had the same collection of music since about 1995. I’m always asked, ‘Hey, do you listen to much of that micro minimal dub house rave?’ and I’m like, ‘What’s micro minimal dub house rave?’ and they’ll have the nerve to look confused. I have no idea what is going on right now with any popular music scene. www.myspace.com/cygnusmusic		Issue Two Aug 2008 Reggie Yates Interview Road To 2012 : Olympics Special Road To Carnival Fashion Freedom At A Price Red Hot Interview Nash Money Sneakers Micachu Interview Natty Interview Life In The Marine Corps Parents Meet The Teenagers Young Londoners Meet The Cast Of Adulthood Cyko Logic Interview Fred Butler : Prop Stylist Interview Immortal Technique Review Made In Queens Victor Timofeev : Artist Interview Ricky Powell Interview Twizzle Interview Flywear Feature Top Girl Film Feature Queen Of Nations Not Without My Sister Sky's The Limit Career's Advice Issue One March 2008 Bashy Interview The Cool Kids Lady Lykes Grimes New School Rowdy Superstar Interview The Sound Of Reason Slash Interview Hoxton Vs Hampstead Fashion Young Designers Lucinda Chua Interview Will Kay Interview The Brothers Size Chris Lambert Duane Henry Drug Trafficking Feature Does My Bum Look Big in This Life After Prison Whats Upsetting Our Children MP Julia Goldsworthy Autechre Live In London Hardcore Is More Than Music Media Box Paddington Development Trust The Cut On Myspace