Robert Thies & Damjan Krajacic Interview - The Final on Vinyl Podcast

Robert Thies & Damjan Krajacic gave a good overview of their music and background, and we discussed their latest release, Blue Landscapes V: Forever the Sea.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

Transcript

Speaker 0:14

Hello everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast. And today we have two gentlemen here who have released Blue Landscapes 5, Forever the Sea, their latest album that was released on August 22nd , Robert Thies & Damjan Krajacic. I I know I just brutalized that last name. I'm so sorry. That's all right.

Speaker 2 0:39

Thank you.

Speaker 0:41

Well, um I guess the first question I have was uh how you gentlemen met and how you got to this point. Um this is the fifth volume of the series that you've released, and be very interested to know more about that.

Speaker 1 1:01

Okay, well uh Domion and I met Yeah, sure. Uh Damien and I met back around 2003 or 4. Um we actually met through my ex-wife. Uh both Damion and my ex were students of the same uh teacher back at uh Whittier College, where they both miraculously attended because my ex came from Hungary and Damion came from Croatia, and somehow they met each other in Los Angeles. So um I met Damjan through her, and we uh were getting together and and we decided to start playing some music together. And uh uh aside from just uh playing whatever uh excited us at the time, we decided to start improvising. And after doing this for some time, Damien said, you know, maybe we should think about recording some of this stuff. And so our first album uh of Blue Landscapes came out in 2012, and uh so we've been uh continuing this journey uh with this music uh since then. And due to uh life's challenges and distractions, it takes us about three or four years to put out an album, but um it it's well worth the wait, we think. We enjoy the process, and uh so now as you mentioned, we just released our fifth album and we're quite excited about it.

Speaker 2:31

It should be excellent album. Um very relaxing. And uh, you know, I I think one thing that people should take it uh a good look at when it comes to this type of music is to look at the artwork and really take a a good look at that and also to focus in on the track titles. And and this is all linked uh prolifically, I believe, in this type of music and in yours, of course, um, because it's instrumental. Do you agree that all those points are very important or do you feel you have different points to make about that?

Speaker 1 3:15

Go ahead, Daniel.

Speaker 2 3:19

Yeah, I mean titles are very um important, but the way the music was created was music first, for the most part. And we felt that music inspired the titles almost rather than the other way around. Um and you know, to to add to that, yes, the music is inspired by the need for contemplation and peace and meditation and um uh just slowing things down. So so naturally that correlates to to being in nature and and being you know spiritually uplifted by the nature's gifts and um and serenity. So so I think it it works both ways and to some degree. Um but the way like ro to add to what Robert said previously, the way we got together and started making this music, through the process of of making it, we started slowing things down. And because Robert comes from classical and I come from more from jazz, you know, we we like to play a lot of notes. Um and there's more notes in that music inherently. However, blue landscapes is almost stripped down to the to the you know to the bare essentials of music making in in a sense where where we focus on the space between the notes as much as the notes themselves, and we we let that silence and that space really um give the listener a chance to to contemplate and to to draw from within. Um so yeah, nature nature is there and and it definitely um you know the music inspires those titles and those luscious landscapes that that are present in both our artwork and and the names of our of the songs that we put out. Robert, do you want to add?

Speaker 1 5:23

No, I think um I think you said it quite uh beautifully. Uh so yeah. There you go.

Speaker 5:31

Well, thank you. So um growing up, I'm sure you you both started early uh with your musicianship and um just wondering when that all started for you. Well, what are some of the influences that you came across over the years that pushed you in the direction you went in?

Speaker 1 5:55

Uh okay, I'll I'll start. Um as Dominion pointed out, I was trained early on as a classical pianist, and that's really been my main pursuit uh in in my life still is. Uh I I play concerts and concerte with orchestras, et cetera, et cetera. But while I was um uh studying this music, I also always had an interest in improvisation and other kinds of music. Um so you're asking what might have been some inspirations with regard to blue landscapes. I there are a couple record labels that I was really attached to or and still am. Uh and the Wyndham Hill label had a big influence on me, I think. And the ECM label, uh Manfred Isher's label, the European classical and jazz uh musicians and and music that that come on that label have always been a huge influence on me as well. So I imagine Blue Landscapes has some influences of of the classical composers that I I study. I I I can't say for sure. Uh I can't listen to a track and say, oh, that's definitely coming from so-and-so. Um, but I'm sure that training has permeated uh what comes out in in the improvisations of blue landscapes. And uh so yeah, what about you, Damian?

Speaker 2 7:29

Yeah, well it you know, for me, uh, you know, my my father was a classical guitar player, so the music was kind of around the house since early age. I I he tried to teach me classical guitar. I didn't really have enough patience at at that age, I guess, or or wasn't drawn to it at at the at an early age to start uh playing guitar, but I was always drawn to the sound of the the instrument and um some of the compositions that he was playing. And later when I started picking up the instrument, um and I I picked up the classical guitar first actually as a like in the young teens, um started playing that I actually got into a band as a bass player. So I I I started playing electric bass quite extensively, went through my grunt phase in the 90s, um liked funk, like all you know, bands like that, and and um really got into college as a bass player. So Rob mentioned that that his ex-wife and and myself met in uh in college, and we were together in the in the jazz ensemble and I was playing bass. Um now who happened to teach that ensemble was a Cuban uh well Cuban heritage um uh flute player whose father is one of the you know legends of of uh Cuban flute from from Cuba. Um and and the first time I heard that instrument played in such a way where where rhythm and you know its percussive qualities are really coming you know forward more than more than the melodic and harmonic side of the flute playing. I was just attracted to the instrument so much that I picked it up at that at that point. So I started playing the flute like crazy and took lessons from him. Eventually that led into um a master's uh in afro-lap and cute flute performance. So that's kind of where I where I ended up in terms of formal education. But um to try to answer your question, how did that all you know lead to blue landscapes? Is um I always had um a love for space and the strength in expression when you don't play too many notes, that sometimes goes to Miles, um, and the way he would play and the way he would just play one note and you would melt. And and I love that kind of approach to music when it's not about how much you say, but how deep you go. And um, you know, besides that kind of expression in jazz, I was always attracted to uh Japanese Shakuhachi flute playing, Native American flute playing. And and all those uh stylistic expressions value um spiritual, expressive, deep kind of uh connection with the instrument. And I think that's what kind of I carried two blue landscapes to some degree or drew from uh when playing blue landscapes melodies and music. So it kind of all comes together as a collaboration as well, of course, because of Robert's influences and the the way he plays it, the way um you know his his sensibilities are we kind of found that sound at some point um during improvising and just playing together.

Speaker 11:13

Oh that was not a very detailed explanation. Thank you. Appreciate that. So what what what kind of uh music did you listen to growing up? Was it types of music that you're playing now that you were influenced by as far as you know with the flute and all these different instruments, or um was it similar to Roberts?

Speaker 2 11:42

I would say it it's probably not too similar to Roberts, but of course I I listened to some classical music, I listened to a lot of jazz. Um I like I mentioned before, I was very much into grunge and pro jam and nirvana and and some funk alternative, red hot chellet peppers, all that kind of stuff, which um you know is a very 90s teenage uh kind of music uh growing up in Croatia at least. Um at the same time, you know, we started listening to Patantini. Um this is where Robert and I would probably um overlap. Um and then getting into college, a lot more jazz, a lot more uh Afro-Cuban um and Brazilian music. That's I still listen to all of that. Um yeah, so that's that's my side of the story, Robert?

Speaker 1 12:39

Yeah, well I uh besides classical music, um I listen to a lot of European jazz and and world music, and uh I'm influenced probably by uh some soundtracks and you know music for film, I think is a a beautiful uh place to inhabit as well. So yeah, it all comes it all comes together to form who you are and and the music you feel you want to express. And I think that's one of the things that makes Damien and me a unique team because of our different influences. Uh I guess my sensibility is is mostly as as a classical musician, but Damien being mostly a a jazz musician, I think it we converged into something unique. His his approach to the to the flute is not a typical uh classical fluteist approach, and I think that's what one of the main reasons that makes our music sound like something special. And I also want to credit Damien's use of the bass flute as one of the leading instruments in our sound. I think that's that's an instrument that not a lot of flutists would necessarily gravitate towards, but I think it's become a big part of the blue landscape sound.

Speaker 14:03

I see. So you sound like you're both very busy men um outside of music.

Speaker 1 14:13

Well, yeah, I mean, being a musician requires uh versatility and open-mindedness as to how you make a living. And Damion I took a more responsible approach because he has a family and and uh a couple of children to raise. So uh yeah, Damien uh is a web designer during the day and a musician by night, I guess.

Speaker 2 14:40

Yeah, and and my kids imp impose some some new music on me all the time, so so I guess I get exposed to a few things that I n would not normally listen to, but it it it all kind of feeds into um you know, you take a little bit from everything, I guess, that you listen to. Um the good and and uh the you know, whether you like it or not, you can always learn from music.

Speaker 15:10

Yeah, I agree. And I I I imagine a lot of what goes on in the creative process, you're you're pulling you know from the ether, you know, the subliminal suggestions, all the different things that you've heard come into play, I imagine, right?

Speaker 2 15:28

That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 15:31

Yeah, there's a couple uh earlier pieces on, I mean, one on this album and one on an earlier album that had sort of a French quality to them, and I improvised these melodies that were basically in three fours, so it was a waltz. And so in the titles I paid homage to that influence and gave them French titles to basically a nod uh both to the listener and and uh that that this music was probably influenced by Eric Sati, for example. Um and there was there's another improvisation on our second album I listened back to, and I'm like I listened to the the progression I'm doing during this improvisation, and I realized this sounds familiar to me. What am what am I and then I realized I'm I'm giving a nod to an obscure film score of Mark Isham, probably from the early 80s, a film I hadn't even seen, but it was music that uh I had heard on uh a CD of his called Film Music that was released on the Winnham Hill label. So somehow that seeped into my uh improvisation. It wasn't a conscious thing, it just it happened. So I think these things are inevitable. Uh we just try not to uh do it too often and try not to steal from from the best before us. But Stravinsky said, you know, great composers steal, so maybe we gotta listen to him.

Speaker 17:10

Yeah, he's not a bad person to listen to, right? That's right. I do have uh another question. Uh it's probably inconsequential, really, but I'm just curious. Um why are all the titles in lower lower caps? Now I've seen this come across my desk many times over the years. Is there a specific reason for that, or is it just because that's the way it happened?

Speaker 1 17:38

That's a good question because yeah, we we have not done that in the we have not done that in the past albums. Um we we always followed the rules of capitalization with with our previous albums. And for something, for some reason with this album, when coming back to one of your first questions about the titles and the music and the fact that the music inspired the titles, as we listened back to the music we improvised uh for what became this fifth album, uh so many of the tracks to me drew up the imagery of the sea and moving water. And I felt like the whole CD in this case, the the whole album uh sort of followed a narrative, and so I I think that might have inspired the E. Cummings uh approach to capitalization and just that each of these pieces is uh are part of a larger sentence or a larger paragraph. And I think that's kind of what urged me to to attempt the lowercase letter for the titles on this.

Speaker 18:51

I see. Okay. Well, gentlemen, I sincerely appreciate your time and your music. And um hopefully four years down the road we'll be doing this again. Really appreciate your time, please. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Bye bye. Okay, take care.