Article title:   Capsula Exclusive Interview First posted:   Sat 03 Jun 2006 Description:   Interviewer: John @ DaTuanJie Interviewee: Yosi Shamay/Capsula Date: Jun 2006 Capsula is Yosi Shamay , born in 1978 and living in Kfar Saba, Israel. He began his music production with the age of 16 (1995) using Scream Tracker 3 followed by Impulse Tracker. This exclusive interview took place over the Internet around June 2006. Article text: John: Hi Yosi, thanks for doing the interview with us. We think this would really help us to introduce your music to our Chinese readers. Also its a great chance for us to have an insight into Capsula and the man behind the music. Please feel free to answer or elaborate on any of these questions. 1. Can you tell us about your musical background and how you got into electronic music and started Capsula? Well, I always loved music of all kinds. I started playing the guitar when I was 14 and also had a band in high school. I think my first favorite electronic music was from Prodigy after I saw them live in Tel Aviv. They inspired me to create electronic music. I started with samplers and wave edit program to mix different beats and sound and I totally loved it. That・s how it all began. After some time I heard Goa Vibes collection and that・s how I got into the psychedelic vibe of electronic music and trance. 2. Where does the name Capsula came from? Capsula is a small capsule, it represents the ability to capture the essence of something .it could be an idea , a vision or a certain chemical but either way it is enCAPSULAted. It came up to me while studying chemistry in university, I thought about how its possible to encapsulate anything from chemicals to ideas or even music. 3. How would you like to define your music, would you categorize it under any known styles ? It can be called in many names: Psy-chillout , psybient, etc, but for me is twisted vibes. Its everything twisted and psychedelic that・s not in the pattern of trance dancing music. So it could have any bpm as long as its twisted. 4. What are your tools of production, which software or hardware do you use and recommend? Mostly softwares: Cubase + VST, Acid Pro 4, Reaktor 5, Cool Edit Pro (for wav editor and I love the effects), Reason and many more. Monitors: Dynaudio Keyboard: Axiom 25 5. What are your favorite tunes at the moment? What other music style do you listen to? From Trance: Penta, Electrypnose, U-recken Chill: Magical Joureny 2 I always love Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, REM-automatic for the people. 6. How long does it take for you to make a new track, from the ideas and inspirations to the "Chill Out"? Any hint for a person who is tarting making chill tracks? It・s a good question because actually it changes all the time. For some pieces I was in a very chilled state and very relaxed and in others (Laugh of the Goblin for example) I was very hype and couldn't sit for long. For me a track could be created in 2 ways. Either I hear it in my mind first and then translate it to reality or I play with sounds and beats just for fun until I hit something that sounds cool. The second way is more like jamming and usually I do it in a good mood and then happy songs come out. 7. Which one of your own music do you like the most and why? Hard to choose really but I would say that 2 early tracks I am very satisfied with are: World Of Information and I Know that I Know. WOI was probably my first track I wrote as capsula and I put a lot of energy into it to make it flow like I wanted to. I want it to be active chill with not so low BPM and I was lost in it while making it. After listening to it as a whole track I loved it and decided to do more in this style and that・s how I continue with more capsula tracks. 8. Israel is very well known for its high energy full-on psychedelic trance releases, are there more artists producing ambient, chill out style of tracks now? Its true trance is full with Israel artists and today some chill producers are starting to show themselves, I think the most known Israeli project is Shulman. Also Kukan-Dub-Lagan is very productive. Some trance producers are doing chill tracks like. 9. Your first album 'Synthesis of Reality' was released in 2005 and took part in several compilations before it. Are you planning on more releases in the near future or currently involved in other projects? A few month after the album release I had 2 releases on promotion compilation: Freeze magazine Chillout issue and Patchuli Sexy lounge compilation. Also a track on Magical Journey 2 called 'Dice Man' which was inspired by the book of the same name. I am now working on new tracks for compilations and begin the work on a new album. I also collaborate with a couple from Russia called Koan we are doing a track together which is a bit oriental. 10. Do you think your style has evolved since you first started producing music? I think that it has changed from more dub oriented chill to various psy-chill styles but I still try to do non-repetitive patterns. Im trying to improve the sound constantly and working on how to express more without speech samples that I used a lot previously. I personally love speech samples. 11. What does the word "psychedelic" mean to you? To me it means the connection of things that are not usually connected in the normal sense. In the music sense is the kind of language you use without words. Its twisted sounds and layers that provokes a feeling that you can't define . 12. What are the inspirations or influences to your music and mind? So many many movies, books, music, dreams, people, internet, science, chemistry, chemicals, etc. To name a few: Carlos Castaneda, Alan Watts, Terrence&Dennis Mckenna, Lucid dreaming, Shpongle, OTT, and many more. 13. You've traveled to many different countries, what is the most memorable impression from your trips? Australia & New Zealand have been a sweet spot for me after all traveling. Combination of great people , atmosphere and views. 14. What do you enjoy the most other than making music? Traveling, Reading, Surfing, Snowboarding, Nature Partying. 15. Who is your favorite artist and which artist inspire you most? Favorite Asia artist if any? I would say the most inspirational is Simon Posford who made me start in the first place. But I'd say Future Sound of London is in the same level. Asian - Makyo. 16. Any advice to the readers out there that are inspired to produce their own music? If you are a beginner try to do something that sounds familiar. First get professional with the equipment and softwares. After u reach a decent sound level than you can be creative and create your own style. 17. Are you single? Do you think relationship get in your way with what you are doing and how u deal with it? I am in a relationship, I have a girlfriend for 2 years. At first she didn't like that I work on music late late nights and on weekends but she supported me a lot and encourages me. 18. How do you descript your living style as a chillout artist? Chillout artist is defiantly not a full time job. I am a chemist and I'm doing MSc in Clinical Pharmacology and I also teach chemistry in a college. I enjoy making music in my free time and I hope I can find better routine for me to create new music. I am also working on a live show. 19. Do you know much about China, Hong Kong and Taiwan and the trance scene at these places? What would you like to say to our Chinese readers out there? I know that there is a growing scene in Hong Kong but I haven't heard about the rest of the Asian countries (except Japan) and their scene. I am sure that some people are exposed to the music through the internet and it・s a good base for a scene. I would really like to get involve in that area. I would like to know better the scene and the Asian taste. I would like to use more Asian instruments like I did in my track "Out There Somewhere". John: Thank you for your time! Yosi: Your welcome and Thank you for the interest! Related Website: Capsula Artist Profile http://www.ajana-records.com/artist-pages/capsula.htm Ajana Records http://www.ajana-records.com Releases http://www.saikosounds.com/english/show_artist.asp?artist_id=5273 This article was originally published on: Site: DaTuanJie.com - Chinese Psy Trance & Ambient Chill Out Portal URL: http://www.datuanjie.com/tchinese/modules/articles/article.php?id=29