IGORRR 'HALLELUJAH' REVIEW & INTERVIEW

For any of you who have no idea who IGORRR is, bear with me…

I never really listen to much electronic music, but if you can imagine Zappa or Patton joining into one form (for IGORRR is just one man), and focusing on a multi-genre electronic-based apocalypse, then you’re probably a fraction of the way there.

We caught up with Igorrr via the interweb to get more information from the mastermind himself:

Hello Igorrr, welcome to the Friday Frenzy on TBFM.
What first inspired you to first start making music & how old were you?
Actually, many things were inspiring me, many really different things in reality, death and black metal, electronic or experimental music, baroque music, traditional music from eastern Europe etc… And what pushed me at first to do my own music, is the fact that i didn't find anywhere the music i was looking for. I mean, I love all these genres, and the music I want to hear connect everything at the same time, like a really condensate of ideas and feelings.
That was this idea which inspired me. 
I don't remember any age or precise moment when I decided to really start music. I was always producing as far as I remember, of course not with the same material, but still, with everything I had, I was doing music.
I remember my old Yamaha synthesizer and my PlayStation 1 with the game called "music", I was spending days and days producing hundreds of useless tracks.
Mmm, actually I'm doing a bit the same thing today!

What genre would you label yourself as?
I'd call it Music.
Very personal point of view of the music.
Some people call it Baroquecore now, following my EP with the same name, that's not totally true, it was just a joke, but I like it though. There are several genre inside it's not easy to name it !
The real name would be something like : Breakcoredeathblackmetalbaroquetraditionaltriphop.

Describe your methodology/creative-process…
I don't have precise way of doing music, I think it's going a bit by itself, I get an idea, and in spite of myself, it will stay on my brain until the moment it's ready, you know like a microwave, when the little bell makes noise, it's ready.
But in fact, when I get the idea, a long work starts, I stick as much as I can to the very first idea to keep the spontaneity, and I start recording and mixing, then it takes months and months to be totally exact with what I want to get. Sometimes even years, like with the track "Grosse Barbe" from Hallelujah, it was really long work, but after all this time, I got precisely what I wanted.

Do you find it easier to work alone, or to collaborate?
Working alone is easier for me as I don't have to discuss about the choices, and also I can do a lot by myself, like composing, recording, mixing and make the mastering, so it is faster.
There are good points on both sides actually, and I’m working with bands as well, so I know a bit from the 2 sides.
Let's say, if you lead a band, it can be hard sometimes to manage with some people, but if you don't do the decisions and the important choices and you are just doing music, it can be easier. It is the case for me at least.

How do you find people usually react to your music?
The reaction is very different, but always a bit strong !
As "Igorrr" is my very personal point of view of the music, it automatically makes the music not massive and unfortunately, quite selective, so then, people who are not get used to it, usually reject what they hear and call it noise or mess. On the other side, people with who I seem to have some similarities are really enthusiastic about it, even much more than with massive music, and it makes me happy.

Did you perform under a different name before sticking with Igorrr?
I had a couple of bands with my friends, but we didn't released any serious album before I did with my project "Igorrr", and we didn't tour either, it was more like, we are trying to find ourselves and doing experiments on music to see where we are going to.
I still have a couple of side projects with different names, like Whourkr or Corpo-Mente, and I'm working with several bands like Öxxö Xööx or Vladimir Bozar 'n' ze Sheraf Orkestär, but I’m playing live only with Igorrr now.

Are there any hidden concepts behind your albums?
Not really, at least not as far as I know.
I don't see my music by "albums" but more by the tracks themselves, the "album" thing is just a compilation of track you was doing at this precise period for me.
There can be some concepts in some tracks like "Infinite Loop" where the idea was, the death metal which is going to be faster and faster, starts to be a note, and this note is the beginning of baroque music, and this baroque music is getting angry and start to become death metal, and this death metal is going faster etc… The Infinite Loop, there are some concepts like that, but not with the albums themselves.

 What other projects have you been involved with? 
As I was saying above, I’m working in several projects. Right now, it's about our first album with my duo Corpo-Mente, we are working on it for long time already, something much calmer than Igorrr, with Laure Le Prunenec, who is the singer on "Tout Petit Moineau".
We are doing as well the second album of Vladimir Bozar 'n' ze Sheraf Orkestär, and will start to work slowly on the new Öxxö Xööx.
I did also a collaboration with Bong-ra recently, 2 tracks, which will be released in Spring if everything will be fine! 

What’s next for Igorrr?
First of all, I have to shave my hamster, and after that I’ll be touring with "Hallelujah".
Also in 2103, there will be the re-release of our 2 first albums with Whourkr, they will be available on vinyl through the label Blood Music in February / March !! And there will be also my collaboration Igorrr Vs Bong-ra, and I hope our first album with my duo Corpo-Mente !

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This album, ‘Hallelujah’, is by far his best album to date, all elements of previous albums are there, but they are refined. The album starts with just a piano and a vocal line, but before long becomes a universe of glitch, breakbeat, death metal, baroque, eastern scales, orchestra, tonnes of spot-samples including a vacuum cleaner and a chicken. I shit you not.

IGORRR is a master – a master of rhythm, of texture, of humor & contrast. Oh, and the production is among the best I’ve ever heard. The difficulty of the listen does not improve with time, although it does become much more fun. I have started to feel that since I discovered IGORRR’s music, I have become cursed because nothing is comparable to this, and as such I also think the album is far too short!

Personal standout tracks; Absolute Psalm, Vegetable Soup, Scarlatti 2.0, Infinite Loop

90/100

-Ricky