Written Interview with Sankt Otten for FWD.DJ 2019

Listen to the mix here: https://www.fwd.dj/mix/fwd131-sankt-otten/

Where was the mix recorded and what would you like people to know about it?

I did that mix on a sunday afternoon in our studio. I thought an almost beatless ambient mix could be a good idea. So I have chosen two SANKT OTTEN tracks and built some other nice instrumental stuff around it.

Your mix takes a tour of some pretty early ambient compositions by the like of POPOL VUH & ROBERT FRIPP, alongside more recent gems - like MARTIN HEYNE and NILS FRAHM could you give us a bit of info about each piece in the mix and why you chose it.

Some of the artists we could name as an influence, others are just personal favorites.

If you get deeper into our sound it could definitely come to your mind, that ROBERT FRIPP`s drone guitar sound is a major influence for OLIVER`s guitar style. OLI plays with an Ebow on most of our tracks and this sound is one of the red lines in the SANKT OTTEN universe.

I would call ASHRA`s SUNRAIN from 1976 to of my all-time top 10 tracks. From HARALD GROSSKOPF, who was also the drummer of ASHRA, I took a track from his masterpiece SYNTHESIST (1980). Please check this awesome release, if you do not know yet.

We had the pleasure that HARALD was drumming on of the tracks on album MESSIAS MASCHINE, alongside other collaborators like JAKI LIEBEZEIT (CAN), CHRISTOPH CLOESER (BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE), ULRICH SCHNAUSS and a few more.

I have chosen MARTIN HEYNE`s CARRY, cause his album ELECTRIC INTERVALS belongs to the best vinyls I bought in the last 2 years. I love his simple, hypnotic guitar themes, who sound from time to time like a sequencer sequence.

Take us on a tour of your studio, what are your go-to bits of gear/software that you use to create your signature sound. I had the privilege of seeing you guys live @ a Denovali Swingfest several years back and saw that you did all the drumming on an actual kit as opposed to drum machines. Is this choice of hardware over software prevalent in your studio.

Our gear is a mix of softsynth and hardware. We use a PROPHET 08, ARTURIA MINIBRUTE and ROLAND JUNO 106 in our Studio. Most of that we also use live, but also a lot Softsynths, mainly the ARTURIA synth stuff.

I still got an „analog“ drum set which we use from time to time for recordings. For live drumming, I currently use a ROLAND SPD SX, which I`m playing upright.

Sankt Otten has been active for almost 20 years now with 15 releases under your belt. What are your thoughts when you re-visit an album like your first on DENOVALI 'MORGEN WIEDER LUSTIG after 10 years?

I just listened to that release a few days before and thought that it still belongs to my favorite ones. We always tried to be“ timeless“, so it is still possible to listen to older releases for me without being ashamed. This album is on the crossroads of our style which has been more Post-Rock influenced by the two release before that. On MORGEN WIEDER LUSTIG the first waves of Kraut-Rock and analog Synth found their way onto the album. Tracks like LUSTIG, LUSITIG, DEMAIN ENCORE LUSTIG with that sequenced synth line prove this. Before that album, we just worked sample-based with mainly classical samples like strings or orchestral sounds.

One thing that is instantly noticeable with your LP's (particularly the ones on DENOVALI) is the insanely beautiful cover artworks - do you use the same artist each time and how is the image chosen?

Thanks! For three releases (GOTTES SYNTHESIZER, SEQUENCER LIEBE, MESSIAS MASCHINE) we used paintings of Spanish artist SALUSTIANO. I found his work my accident on the net and immediately felt in love with it. He`s painting mainly people on solid color background's and the paintings look like old masters. Really awesome art. I contacted him, sent some of our music and he like the idea of supporting us with his art. We are very proud that we could use some if his paintings and drawing for the album artworks, and it fits so prefect to the music. Now SALTUSTIANO is a quite well-known artist. For the next 3 releases, we used photos of “water animals”. Two times a fish and for the collaboration LP with our labelmate N a black swan. This trilogy is also completed now and we are currently looking for a new concept for future releases.

You have been with Denovali for ten years now and would be considered one of the backbone duos of that label. How did that relationship start and what is it like having them as a home label?

We did it the old-fashioned way and sent a CD to DENOVALI. They really listen to the demos they get. Not many labels do that. It was always a pleasure to work with them. They never discuss with their bands about their music. They release it as their artists offer it. The only thing they interfere from time to time is the cover artwork. They always have an eye on perfect artworks. But here, we are in the same line.

What are some of your favorite releases out of Denovali's 300+ catalog? Obviously, the Bersarin Quartet's S/T epic must be near the top of the list (as it is for me also).

Not easy to say, which are our favorite ones, they have so many good releases. Yes, I would definitively say BERSARIN QUARTETT S/T and also GREG HAINES` WERE WE WERE. We toured before with both of them and had a lot of fun. If I'd talk for my colleague OLI, he would say CELESTE. I do know THOMAS of BERSARIN QUARTETT for more than 20 years now. We released both also before on the same label ELEGANZ in the 90s. That time he got his a project called JEAN-MICHEL, which was also great.

Unlike most German musicians on the label you keep all your track and album titles in your native tongue - is this an intentional aesthetic choice or just a matter of convenience?

When we started with our first EP in 1999 we got german vocals and track titles and somehow we continued with that. We always got a preference for proverbs and play on words in german. We could not have done this with our poor school English...

Your sound is often referred to as Kraut-Rock. For someone unfamiliar with that term please give us a small definition.

In the late 60s, this term was a coined by British journalists to disparage german bands (in 2nd world war the german have been called „Krauts“). But I guess none of the bands really made a complaint about it.

I do not really like this term as it collects so many different musical directions and bands which really do have nothing in common. If you compare CAN, KRAFTWERK, TANGERINE DREAM, FAUST, HARMONIA or AMON DÜÜL you will hear that.

We use synth and sounds which also have been used in 60s/70s, so that could come to mind for some journalists, to use this term for us.

What's on the Horizon for SANKT OTTEN?

We are just collecting some remixes and covers we did in the past years. We will see what we`ll do with this, maybe a free download EP. But we are mainly working on a new album. I would say 70% of it is done, but we don't want to reveal any details yet.