So we email people these questions and they can either answer rapid-fire or get deep with it… we love dvdv because she wrote us thoughtful little novels for so many of these questions, giving us her thoughts on intimacy, decentralized listenership, and how the pandemic might’ve inspired a song via premonition… in 2018. Although, we DO wish she’d drop her weird-ass reading list… we won’t judge!… Dive in and learn more about the Berlin-based artist here!
- If you could have any superpower, but it had to be related to music, what would it be? Actually I feel quite happy about how my ideas come out and how music feels that comes out of me, but a superpower in marketing would be amazing. I think I would like to have the superpower of making my songs (and the ones of my friends) randomly appear on worldwide radio stations, channels and TV, without them being able to do anything >:)
- What is the most personal or meaningful song or piece you have created, and why does it hold such significance to you? Each of my songs have a different level of intimacy and most of them are deeply personal- I think it is not possible for me to put these on a scale. It can be family intimacy or relationship intimacy or friendship intimacy, self love intimacy, object intimacy, outside world/political perspective intimacy, technology intimacy ,haha idk how else to articulate this. Often I take over an empathic role and dive into other bodies and feel what they feel. And sometimes I express what is bubbling up out of me (sometimes mixed with the feelings of other humans, sometimes only my own)… There are extreme examples of that though, like the death of a close family member, but I don’t like to dive into this in this interview. Maybe on my album “What is the opposite of ambivalence” it would be “00023 ghosts”. It is about the feeling of being hunted down by your own thoughts and future and past fears that are not letting you breathe properly — not like a panic attack, but more like a luring thing that seems to come closer and louder wanting to be approached. Even though I am quite capable of sensing things in rooms that are not visible (and btw these things are often not scary, just existing on some other levels), in this song I took the term “ghosts” and described all the hunting thoughts of me and other people that had been sitting and haunting me in my head, when I wrote and composed it back in 2016. But then again the most heartful and tearing track would have been 00043 mountains, which I was recording with Warren Wolfe in the middle of an intense breakup, while I was in NYC. Warren (amazing composer, producer and singer btw) asked me if I would like to work on a song on that day and we took it how it was. We lost the master sadly, the violins were added later by Warren’s friend Jack Bandarenko. It feels like a very raw recorded piece but holds a really special place in my heart. Back then in NYC my friends even took me upstate to film a low budget music video for it. I was in a devastating state but them being around and encouraging me taught me not to give up. I love them.
- What new web3 tools are you experimenting with and what do you enjoy most about it? Currently I like the web2&3 tool Tellie a lot, just the UX design is so pleasing that it is fun for me to recreate and improve my page. Also having the possibility to unlock content with tokens is amazing to me. Besides that I am trying to dive more into manifold.xyz and decent.xyz, Cam Murdoch gave us a little tutorial on Manifold and I cannot wait for new tracks to release to try it :) Oh and I am currently trying to find various XR web3 tools for something specific, if there is anything interesting you know of, lmk.
- How do you see web3 technologies shaping the future of the music industry? Uff, there is a loooooot to say and I will probably just get to the edge of it. I kind of see web3 as a big hope for art and its culture. I feel hope for ownership ( I cannot say this enough, because generally we are losing a lot of ownership rights in technology and move fast forward and deeper into the painful feudalism dynamic of capitalism), hope for creativity`s dignity, hope for emotional intelligence, hope for decentralised music listenership, hope for music creations outside the scarcity mindset of the current music industry. With decentralised listenership I mean: Letting diversity of music blossom and giving less power to the few major label focused artists. Let the world be overwhelmed with the insane diversity of music and arts and the quantity of it. Let the listeners dive into the chaos of talents. Also there is a really good example for me of how web3 can change the quality and passion of musicians and it is the music video of Haleek Maul called “Verified” and this is only the beginning. If musicians do not have to strive for very high viewing rates anymore, just for receiving streaming money and from ads, their direction of focus might change for the better — we will probably see more truly authentic and powerful pieces. Abundance has a whole spectrum of colours. I hope I didn’t miss the actual question.To summarise: If enough humans on this planet give it hope, respect and love, the web3 technology can shape the music world for the better quality-wise, efficiency-wise, communication-wise, authenticity-wise (is this a word?), industry-wise
- Where are you located & what’s the best meal in your city?I am located in Berlin and the best meal in my city is the “Fateh” of my roommate Kanaan. An arabic chickpea dish with lots of garlic and lots of tahini and yoghurt O______O and sometimes roasted cashews or seeds on top
- What book are you reading currently?Mostly reading a lot of books at the same time. But these books are a little bit weird so I might hold myself back from mentioning them :D (Maybe one day)
- In your opinion, what’s the best way to roll out a song or album? After all the millions of sentences of advice on how to do it I slowly feel like I don’t know any more at all. The algorithm rapidly changes and the way roll-out strategies work are ageing off really fast. Currently TikTok is probably a great tool but I hate the fast paced information and it gives me a slight panic inside. Maybe all that matters is authenticity and finding a way of finding the right people who connect to that authenticity. Instead of flushing information to strangers and people who don’t care about your music or your genre and person at all. BUT I have no idea how to do that! Haha, that is why I would need a marketing superpower. Last thing I can say don’t market like U2, haha
- What’s the craziest or most unexpected thing that’s inspired a song?Hmmmmmm, there was something strange actually with a collaboration track with Poly Armour, called “Overheaded”. I wrote the lyrics in 2018, and we released it in 2020, and it felt like it was a little prophetic of how humans will feel inside the pandemic. It was inspired by Poly Armour catching the flu, while we were performing in Warsaw, Poland haha. I recorded it in Warsaw the next day after our performance.
- What advice would you give someone entering into web3? Let yourself be completely overwhelmed, dive into the chaos, intently skim through information. Do not care about the details yet. Expose yourself to the good, bad, neutral, chaotic, structured and critical –sides. But, after some time, note down things that stick with you. I think with the huge amount of information, it is important to receive an overall feeling first. See if it resonates with you, if it could align with you. Do not get blended by money, community, etc. Will it be a gateway that you can see your music and yourself in, and the people that support you? Maybe another thing that could help is diving into several Web3 communities, and see if their dynamic works and aligns with yours. I recommend the Loser Club, Future Surf and of course Underground Violet Rave (UVR), because I have found good friends there. Oh and TuningInNFTs and Wakanomy could also be a good starting point. I think most importantly is the question: Are you ready to make new friends? :)
- Projects of yours we should know about?
- Upcoming 14 track album with producer Poly Armour releasing hopefully this year and we are planning some of the tracks to be on web3 🙂
- Currently planning on a music video for “Distance” (released on Catalog.works) and Angels (unreleased)
- And there are endless more tracks with Poly Armour because they continue happening by themselves and we do not know anymore where to put them.
- A remix compilation of my last album “What is the opposite of ambivalence” with 13 tracks is releasing soon — more of a web2 project
I have some web3 ideas that I am working on, but I cannot explain them yet. Stick with me, but only if you really connect with me ;)
