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We are more than proud to finally announce CTG's Artist of the Year 2005, Xerxes aka. Klaus Lunde!! Better late than never, he now has granted by highest trophy CTG can offer and for a good reasons. Except impressive positions and popularity on CTG charts, he released an album, The Mirror Formula. Due the fact its limited edition and therefore a forthcoming rarity, you should get your copy of it right now. Visit also in Xerxes Music for further information of the past or read earlier CTG interview if you're interested about what has happened this far. This interview concentrates to the present and future.
CTG: Welcome to CTG interview room, Xerxes!! How did you feel when first time heard about this award??
xerxes: when i found out i was getting the artist of the year award i was obviously very proud. knowing how many excellent musicians you find on CTG, its a real honor to be chosen to receive it. specially since ambient perhaps isn't the genre getting most attention on the site. I hope this will inspire others to keep believing in their own style and not care too much about what everyone else thinks 
CTG: Hehe, I think its you who brought ambient and other moody music more into frame in CTG. You took it into next level here and show how impressive atmosphere's are built by few elements... Actually it was taken even higher, all the way to a commercial album, The Mirror Formula. Tell me about it, the process, the release on 5th April 2006. It must have been a spot on, man??
xerxes: thank you for those kind words! the making of the mirror formula was a very long and difficult process. for the first time i actually felt some pressure to deliver. a lot of people was expecting my debut album, and it was delayed several times due to me not being happy with the result. i started working on it early 2004.. at the time i was not so focused on making the songs or the album, but rather definig the style and sound of it. i made a lot of music that never made it outside my harddrive. this style and sound experimentation went on for about a year.
i also spent a lot of time learning how to create better dynamics in my music, as i thought this was severely lacking in previous productions. the actual songs you find on the album was done over a our to five months span. i had collected and designed all the sounds i wanted to use and organized them well in instrument folders. all sequencing was done in renoise (ofcourse). when i had all songs completed and it was ready to release i decided to make it available for free and not a commercial album. there are several reasons for this, but the main one is that i didnt feel ready to enter that market yet. hence i released it on hellven, and premiered it on di.fm the same day it was released. looking back at everything i think it was a wise choice to do it like that. the album has gotten massive attention all over the world, and people in the ambient music business now know who i am so with my next album, i will for sure take it to the next level.
however, as most of you know, there is also a CD release of this album. cardamar (the boss of di.fm chillout) asked me if his label could make a limited edition CD of it, and i agreed to that as long as i didnt have to remove the free version from my site. and this was all good. i took the entire production into a professional studio and had the entire album mixed and mastered. that was about 80 hours of work. i didnt do all this by myself ofcourse, but had a sound engineer do all the mixing for me. and i am very happy with the result. in addition, i produced a 12 minute long bonus track for the CD version called "the mirror formula".. kinda weird having the title track as a bonus track.. but oh well hehe. all in all, i am happy with how everything turned out.
CTG: Oh, all those difficulties you ment sound so familiar. Quite comfortable to hear even you have something like that.... But I read between the lines (and from the lines too) that there's something new coming on. What sort of project it is, a new album??
xerxes: at the time the new album is still being shaped in form, and not as actual songs. however, i have a lot of other things going on.. i am licencing away at least two new tunes to record labels in the ambient / psytrance genre (that are for compilation CDs). also i am shortly doing a live gig in norway alongside an amazing drummer and a just as good guitarist. that will be quite exciting. so in other words, i am not rushing the new album at all. taking my sweet time, and feeling no pressure to achieve great things. i think i found my style, and i am quite comfortable with it.
CTG: Xerxes live sounds really something!! That atmosphere expressed in stage would be an experience. What sort of job you take care on stage, keyboards or DJ:ing ?
xerxes: i'll play some keyboards. but mostly i will use ableton live to control the different parts of what i will present, and leave most of the actual live things to the two other chaps.
CTG: So it seems to be a inspiring combination of both and yet something more. You seem to enjoy live sets, hows the audience ? What kind of reception you expect to have?
xerxes:i havent done very many live sets yet.. but people really seem to like it. usually they are quite surprised that electronic music can sound so.. uhm.. not electronic but so far i have always made it a point to bring along one or two accoustic musicians.. as i feel it is neccessary to survive in a crowd not known to electronic music.
if i am to play a pure electronica party, then my laptop would do as they have other expectations of how live should sound. they want to be presented something special musicially, while people at rock concerts are focused both on what is going on on-stage and the music itself. but yes, playing live is great.. and something i want to do a lot more of in the future.
CTG: I've now asked almost all questions I had on my mind and therefore, almost satisfied my curious mind The one question left is the one you answered 'no' about two years ago.....Have you find that miss right yet??
xerxes:hehe saving the worst questions for last i see it's a very difficult one to answer you know? so.. well, perhaps you'll find the answer in my next song called "inhale". that should
leave you with a bit of mystery.
CTG:
I know its very difficult question, sometimes you don't know whether he/she is right one for you until end of life....but I'm quite a romantic fool afterall, that's why asked Is there anything you like to speak before we close this interview ? Something immortal ?
xerxes:i would like to say a few thanks..
thank you to the CTG staff for choosing me as artist of the year. i doubt it was desvered, but i'll take it anyways a massive thanks to my closest friends who supported me while i was going nuts over making "the mirror formula". a huge hug to my class at idefagskolen.. you have been wonderful and such an inspriation to me. thank you cardamar for making the limited edition CD thanks to ultimae records for hosting some of the most inspirational artist in the ambient genre. and thanks to my family ofcourse, who means the world to me. thanks to thomas larsen at lydvisjon.. he mixed and mastered my album. without him, it would not be possible with the CD release.. that should be about it.. and randor ofcourse, thank you for taking time out to talk to me. it's been a real pleasure!
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