ALPINE UNIVERSE CREATES A FUTURISTIC KICKSTARTER

8 years ago Beats and Music no Responses

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HOLOGRAPHIC MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT NEEDS FUNDING

In a futuristic dystopian city, an oppressive regime known as The Order has maintained control over the citizens of Sanctum by making them fearful of the outside world. Now the status quo is threatened by a group of radicals lead by the mysterious figure known as “Alpine”. As Alpine plays one last show to rally his supporters, the rebels take a final stand against the Order and the Uprising begins.

The journey to make a video for Uprising began several years ago. ALPINE UNIVERSE wanted to make a video that created a complex, futuristic setting for his music. The concept is to play his song on a holographic DJ rig in front of an ecstatic crowd while it’s intercut with awesome Matrix-style action scenes. At the time it was an ambitious, expensive, and ridiculous idea. But now Alpine Universe is on the brink of making it happen together with his co-conspirators.

Check out the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1735319009/step-into-the-alpine-universe

SHORT Q&A WITH ALPINE UNIVERSE

Tell us more about your latest release.

“Awakening” poses as the sequel to my first EP “Gaïa”, introducing the character of Alpine and representing his birth and early childhood. In a world where the dangerous and powerful elements of nature are clashing with our modern civilizations, Alpine will learn to tame these energies and use them for a greater good.

The song “I Am Alpine” features the voice of a 9 year-old opera singer named Nathalie Shtangrud; it then builds up and transitions into the fast and high-energy song “Awakening” showcasing a touch of tribal-electro. “Harvest the Fire” reveals even more about the kid, the challenges he has to face to contain and use the energy he has received as a gift. We can also hear Alpine’s own vocals. Finally “Serak” refers to a ridge of ice on the surface of a glacier, about to drop, standing as the perfect title to close the EP with a bang, it leaves us hanging and wanting more. Serak is available as a free download on my Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/alpineuniverse ) go get it!

Could you describe the lay-out of your live set-up?

Absolutely! Let’s get geeky, I’m going to walk you through my rig. Here’s a picture of it:

As you may know, I am not a DJ in the traditional sense of the term since I play instruments during my live set and most of my playlist consists of original tracks. The heart of my performance lies in a custom set-up that I built over the years.

The centerpiece is a macbook pro running Ableton Live controlled by an APC 40. I am using a custom script that allows me to have CDJ-style controls and visual feedback directly on the APC. I don’t want to ever have to look at my computer during a concert: I feel like it puts a distance, literally a screen, between the audience and me and kills the energy.

I use a Saffire Pro 24 sound interface to manage my inputs and outputs.

On my left side are the melodic instruments: A Roland SH1 synthesizer with an infrared D-Beam providing control on effects and wobbles with the motion of my hands. Very cool during a show!

Then I have my Roland electronic accordion: that one is the true attention grabber. It outputs both midi and audio. The midi signals drive synths in Ableton and the pressure I put on the bellow gives me expressive controls.

You can see a pressure sensitive pedal at my feet. I use it to loop instruments, trigger clips in ableton and add effects to my accordion like an electric guitar pedal.

On my right side is the drum section: here again, everything is electronic. I trigger VSTs and real drum samples inside Albeton. Some drums are pitched (like a xylophone) while others are purely percussive.

If you could go back 25 years in music history, or forward 50 years in music future, which one would you pick and why?

Without hesitation, I chose the future. Throughout history, technology and craftsmanship have always been the driving forces behind new music genres. When the Piano was invented, it inspired the romantic era with composers like Beethoven, skip to the next century, amplified sound and overdrived signals defined rock music; later, sampling and computers allowed producers to take prerecorded bits of sound from the past and recycle it into new genres such as hip-hop and house. Today, I have a full symphonic orchestra at my fingertips with a simple computer! How incredible is that?

I cannot wait to see (and hear) what the future holds and where the music is going, but I know for sure that it will be linked in all ways possible with technological advances. To me the ultimate music machine will be a device capable of accurately translating thoughts and body motions into music. I’ve seen promising prototypes but we’re not quite there yet.

Serak, is the only track available as a FREE DOWNLOAD from Alpine Universe’s

Soundcloud page: www.soundcloud.com/alpineuniverse