Dutch artist Palmbomen’s music is a vintage-synth-enhanced conglomerate of Italo disco and ‘60s pop that might conjure up visions of Vietnamese rainforests or the Amazon. That is, if you’re not too distracted by his reactive lighting rigs, programmed to accompany his live sets. Speaking of his sound, the glitchy and lo-fi tunes kind of remind us of fellow chillwaver Neon Indian.Halfway through his first US tour, he’s currently down at SXSW, and performed last night at Karma Lounge, as well as this afternoon at Beauty Bar. In between sets, he took some time to answer our questions. If you missed him at the festival, this is one up-and-comer worth checking out.The Creators Project: Can you tell us who you are and how you got into music?
Palmbomen: Hi! I’m Kai Hugo. I’ve been into music as long as I can remember, and I have been intrigued by synthesizers since I was really young. I got crazy about some ‘60s/’70s/’80s records and endlessly tried to recreate the atmospheres with synthesizers and [emulate] the rough production techniques they used back then. Later, I got involved in setting up NON Records with BEAR, who is still the driving force and owner [behind the label]. That was one and a half years ago. A year ago, I created Palmbomen and I just recently moved my studio from Amsterdam to Berlin to be able to focus totally on Palmbomen.Your stage name translates roughly to ‘palm trees’, is all your music beachy and upbeat?
Palmbomen translates to palm trees in Dutch. I guess, because of the absolute absence of palm trees in Holland, they represent somewhat of a small detail of utopia over there. The name inspired me when seeing fake palm trees in Dutch public tropical swimming pools, hopelessly trying to create something of a feeling that is not ours. Maybe that’s something you can hear in my music too, the voyage towards something you only see in your visions of something better—always venturing towards this image, but finding the most interesting things on the way.Would you describe your music as chillwave?
Since chillwave is considered pop music with a rougher production than usual, you can categorize a lot of music under it. Also mine, I guess. I don’t know what it really means though.How do you create the sounds you use and what kind of instruments/equipment do you utilize?
I sequence using computers. The rest is analog outboard, ‘60s preamps and analog synths, drums, tape delays, vintage EQ’s etc. The synths I use the most are my ARP 2600, Korg MS-20, Roland Jupiter 4, and my modular synth setup.We hear you like to use vintage synths… is there any particular reason?
Well, for me the only reason to choose analog synths during production is you can hear that the synth has a sound of its own, and does things error-wise that a human couldn’t possibly make up or rationalize—only then does it become interesting. Until now I have used these older synths on all my tracks without losing interest or missing functionality.What exactly is your ‘lightening rig’? Do you always incorporate visuals into your live sets?
Light is the best way to emphasize my music visually right now. At NON Records we think that is something to build upon. Visuals projected on a screen are great, but right now we haven’t been able to find the right purposes yet. We are children of a visual world, and our attention spans and concentration have limits, taking away our brain/energy too fast. Light is good because it doesn’t project an image [necessarily], but still holds the element of time. That way, the music remains the main focus but is still emphasized by something visual and ‘grand’.What kind of programs/software do you use?
MAX/MSP, Ableton Live, Word, iTunes, Quicktime, Finder, Chrome. But for the lights I wrote a program in Max MSP that controls the lights the same way I can control a synthesizer. This made it really easy to synchronize the lights into my set. I actually compose them the same way I compose music.You’re currently on your first US tour and performing at SXSW this week. Do you like playing in festival environments?
Festivals are great! but I don’t like playing during the day because of the light. Still, there is always a kind of energy and excitement in the air that I enjoy. And some catering is great, too.Have you heard any exceptional up-and-comers this week that we should know about?
Well… You should definitely check out the upcoming EP’s on NON Records. NON Rec is currently preparing to enter this world as a very diverse record label radiating a very original sound through various styles. 2011 and 2012 are very important to us and our releases. Checkout NON Artists Renkas, BEAR, Kristine, and MARIUS. They will all see their debut releases later this year and I’m very excited about that.Your debut EP Moon Children came out last summer, is there a release date for your upcoming full-length album?
No official date yet, but it will see the light later this year…Besides making music and visuals under the name Palmbomen, are you working on any other projects?
I am producing some records together with BEAR, and I am working on several remixes right now for some big U.S. names. Palmbomen is my main project for now.Check out Palmbomen’s mixtape made exclusively for VICE (Netherlands), and watch a preview of his documentary below.Photograph courtesy of Nick Lapien.
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Palmbomen: Hi! I’m Kai Hugo. I’ve been into music as long as I can remember, and I have been intrigued by synthesizers since I was really young. I got crazy about some ‘60s/’70s/’80s records and endlessly tried to recreate the atmospheres with synthesizers and [emulate] the rough production techniques they used back then. Later, I got involved in setting up NON Records with BEAR, who is still the driving force and owner [behind the label]. That was one and a half years ago. A year ago, I created Palmbomen and I just recently moved my studio from Amsterdam to Berlin to be able to focus totally on Palmbomen.Your stage name translates roughly to ‘palm trees’, is all your music beachy and upbeat?
Palmbomen translates to palm trees in Dutch. I guess, because of the absolute absence of palm trees in Holland, they represent somewhat of a small detail of utopia over there. The name inspired me when seeing fake palm trees in Dutch public tropical swimming pools, hopelessly trying to create something of a feeling that is not ours. Maybe that’s something you can hear in my music too, the voyage towards something you only see in your visions of something better—always venturing towards this image, but finding the most interesting things on the way.Would you describe your music as chillwave?
Since chillwave is considered pop music with a rougher production than usual, you can categorize a lot of music under it. Also mine, I guess. I don’t know what it really means though.
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I sequence using computers. The rest is analog outboard, ‘60s preamps and analog synths, drums, tape delays, vintage EQ’s etc. The synths I use the most are my ARP 2600, Korg MS-20, Roland Jupiter 4, and my modular synth setup.We hear you like to use vintage synths… is there any particular reason?
Well, for me the only reason to choose analog synths during production is you can hear that the synth has a sound of its own, and does things error-wise that a human couldn’t possibly make up or rationalize—only then does it become interesting. Until now I have used these older synths on all my tracks without losing interest or missing functionality.What exactly is your ‘lightening rig’? Do you always incorporate visuals into your live sets?
Light is the best way to emphasize my music visually right now. At NON Records we think that is something to build upon. Visuals projected on a screen are great, but right now we haven’t been able to find the right purposes yet. We are children of a visual world, and our attention spans and concentration have limits, taking away our brain/energy too fast. Light is good because it doesn’t project an image [necessarily], but still holds the element of time. That way, the music remains the main focus but is still emphasized by something visual and ‘grand’.What kind of programs/software do you use?
MAX/MSP, Ableton Live, Word, iTunes, Quicktime, Finder, Chrome. But for the lights I wrote a program in Max MSP that controls the lights the same way I can control a synthesizer. This made it really easy to synchronize the lights into my set. I actually compose them the same way I compose music.
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Festivals are great! but I don’t like playing during the day because of the light. Still, there is always a kind of energy and excitement in the air that I enjoy. And some catering is great, too.Have you heard any exceptional up-and-comers this week that we should know about?
Well… You should definitely check out the upcoming EP’s on NON Records. NON Rec is currently preparing to enter this world as a very diverse record label radiating a very original sound through various styles. 2011 and 2012 are very important to us and our releases. Checkout NON Artists Renkas, BEAR, Kristine, and MARIUS. They will all see their debut releases later this year and I’m very excited about that.Your debut EP Moon Children came out last summer, is there a release date for your upcoming full-length album?
No official date yet, but it will see the light later this year…Besides making music and visuals under the name Palmbomen, are you working on any other projects?
I am producing some records together with BEAR, and I am working on several remixes right now for some big U.S. names. Palmbomen is my main project for now.Check out Palmbomen’s mixtape made exclusively for VICE (Netherlands), and watch a preview of his documentary below.Photograph courtesy of Nick Lapien.