The Sound of Apskaft is a collective of DIY avant-garde artists from all over the world, founded in 2007 by Jonas Lind. I started to cooperate with them in 2009 and have been the group leader from 2011 to 2013. We made great collective records, some video clips, and a great project: a new soundtrack for Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
This first part of an interview from APSKAFTERS #1 explains well what went on in the collective.
Hox: Hi Jonas, despite it’s quite banal I must start with a clichè: can you tell us what pushed you to create The Sound of Apskaft? When you started this project did you imagine it could last so long?
Jonas: Well, if memory serves – and I must warn you that I have a terrible memory – it happened shortly after Apskaft itself was created. There were very few of us back then, maybe 15 people, and we had this vague and unstructured idea of making cover versions of songs we picked out for each other. Me and a couple of friends had been talking about this even before Apskaft existed, but we weren’t that serious about it. But the cover project started to happen, and I thought that since it happened within this group, we may as well start a label to go with the group, where we could release this cover album. So I founded The Sound Of Apskaft – an obvious reference to The Sound Of Music you may think, but I actually stole the name from an album by a Swedish band called The Mopeds, “The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Mopeds”. That’s why it says “the hills are alive with The Sound Of Apskaft” in the logo. Anyway, I thought this would be a one-off thing, but the cover project was so much fun that we decided to make the first “Apskaft Presents” album shortly after that. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Hox: So you had a kind of collective approach to music since from the start? I say that because you play in many bands, and push for various artists’ records, seems like you find yourself better if you make music with a lot of people…
Jonas: Yeah, there was a sense of collectiveness (if that’s even a word) from the beginning. You know, at first there were only three of us, friends from an old chat room. All of us made music under various monikers, and we created Apskaft as a forum for discussing our own personal music projects with each other. What we didn’t count on was that other DIYers would join the group – we thought no one else would be interested in what we did. We were wrong.
I still prefer to make music on my own, or in small combos, but every one-man band (and I have sooo many of them) needs an audience, needs feedback. And what better audience could you wish for than other DIYers? People who understand what it’s like to come up with songs whilst in the shower and record them in the bedroom?
BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN SOUNDTRACK
Youtube playlist with the full movie.
SPECIAL ISSUE OF APSKAFTERS
ABOUT THE MAKING OF POTEMKIN SOUNDTRACK
- Team World Map – to get a sight of where musicians involved in this project come from. Mostly Europeans, this time.
- Movie Structure – Chapters and scenes with timings.
- Management and Taxonomy – All the theoretical work to define and assign parts before starting with restoration, soundtrack, and video authoring.
- Movie restoration – Techniques, issues, software.
- Soundtrack Details – Authors explain how they created their part:
- Tech specs, strategy, anecdotes.
- Final Master – Video authoring process to assemble and create the ultimate reel.
- The Album – Apskaft soundtrack release.
- Credits and Links – Self-explanatory.
APSKAFTERS
