Kritiq.eu had a little chat with Răzvan Lazea-Postelnicu, the founder of Tauusk. We were interested on his perspective about the musical genre he is involved in. We also asked him about his point of view on how things stand in Romania.

1.Where are you from, where do you live right now?

I am from Arad, but my first years (and memories) are tied to Bran, Brașov. I lived 6 in Timișoara and for the last 3 I’ve been living in Oradea.

2.What was the first musical instrument that you took seriously?

Bass guitar– although I find myself playing it less and less, it is still the instrument I feel most comfortable with.

3.When did drone/ambiental music capture your attention and why?

As time passes by, the harder it is for me to pinpoint exactly the moment I started being interested in drone/ambient. I think I became conscious about about drone and ambiental is when I first listened to Om. After that I started to realize even during my tenure with The Bad Days Will End that I liked to lose myself in the frequencies.

After that I had a period when I listened Earth again, very attentively. I started to see the music between the notes. To appreciate the importance of acoustic pressure and space. I started to be more interested of the structure and complexity of tone rather than the structure of musical composition. When I was like 7-8 years old, I had a classical guitar. I didn’t understand why I have to struggle with scales and chords when the strings just sounded so interesting when I hit them with a pencil and left them to ring out.

As I was saying, I started to appreciate the fluctuation and degradation of sound in time. I realized that between what I considered noise and music is just a difference of perception. I started to cherish the sound itself. To lose myself „in between frequencies” as something therapeutic. To make this a ritual and feel the need to further experiment with different acoustic or electric instruments and audio equipment.

4.How would you shortly describe it to someone who never gave it a listen?

I don’t think there’s anyone who hasn’t heard drone or ambiental music. You inevitably hear it day by day. When you cross the street, watch a movie, play video-games, go to the mountain or the sea. Rather there are people who haven’t labeled or named everything they hear/listen to. Everywhere in nature there is repetition in chaos, auditory frames and slow evolution in time.

The humming of the bees, the rattling of branches in the wind, the cars on the street. They are all a form of music, if you want to percieve it that way. You just have to like it and that is entirely up to you. I would say that drone/ambiental are sound for those who need less structure and rhythm. Paraphrasing Brian Eno, I could say it is music that doesn’t need you permanent attention. It can be ignored and still be interesting. Drones accentuate the sounds itself more, while ambiental accentuates the atmosphere.

5.This genre has a more restricted fan-base, even abroad. How do things stand in Romania from your perspective?

I don’t think Romania is that much different from abroad. Better structure and organising is all there is to it. I am constantly surprised to see that what I do is listened ti in the most unexpected places.

6.Do you agree that the drone/ambiental scene has a more devoted, loyal and tight-knit community?

This is probably true for any genre that would be considered out of the ordinary. When you have such specific tastes, „the offer” will be much more limited and you will observe much more closely what happens in that scene. I donțt think drone/ambient has a more devoted community than Japanoise, Vaporwave, Lowercase.

7.Are there any memorable mistakes when it comes to your creative process or live performances? When you had to learn the hard way?

Tauusk is not typical when it comes to this. I do not have fix structures, rather themes that I vary. Automatically, I can’t miss a note, be out of tempo or a part of the song. Because they don’t exist. The songs are live recordings of a fluctuation of thoughts, with very little editing. In my opinion a live performance doesn’t need to reflect an album. It should reflect the same ideas of the album, transposed to the moment and place that I’m in right then.

The problems regarding equipment can be catastrophic for me. My biggest mistake was (and probably one I will still make) is that I am too reliant on live-looping. One wrong hit or electrical problem and my loop can stop at the climax of the song. Also stopping my stream of thoughts suddenly. In time, I did find a solution for this. When this happens I transform my mistake into something intentional. I repeatedly start and stop the loop, in a chaotic and angry manner. It reflects my frustration towards myself and my equipment when something like that happens. Life is often interrupted too exactly when you’re in the sweet-spot.

Tauusk has a double role for me: a creative instrument and exorcist. It lets me present my abstract ideas, much better than I could with words. It lets me spill my frustrations and anger. It’s therapeutic. Every technical difficulty leads to fixing another. I just have to be quick enough to identify, without ruining the live experience.

Other problems, that every musician faces, are live sound and discrepancies between the image of the band and the one of the festival/venue. I often felt that Tauusk didn’t mix with an event fit for an event and it wasn’t the promoters fault. But it’s something that needs to be addressed. This is something that led to a certain lack of activity lately.

8.What are the greatest difficulties regarding your creative process?

Repetition. i work in a very specific genre, with a small amount of variation. Yet I try to create something original as far as my capabilities let me. Sometimes I can’t escape specific tonalities and sounds regardless how hard I try, and it frustrates me. Sometimes I have ideas that I can’t frame in a sonic form because of the lack of technicalities, theoretical or practical. And I can block.

Occasionally it is hard and boring to work alone. Collaborations are much more interesting. But it’s not easy to find people who’re interested and are on the same page as you.

9.Can you tell us a little about the Mount of Artan festival? And maybe some other memorable festivals?

Mount of Artan is a free and improvised festival, organised by a group of friends. initially it was a punk festival, but in time, more and more bands appeared from the post-rock scene. The location is pretty hard to access, so the public is naturally limited. After a few years I got to know most of the people there and that is in part the charm of the whole thing. I would even go as far as to say that it’s not a festival but a group of friends that annually meet. They listen to music and share stories. My experience in Vienna was quite memorable too. I went with a very ambiental set, in a improvised location. I met a very receptive and attentive public. It had a very positive impact on the show.

10.Beside your main project Tauusk, Topographer recently appeared. Can you tell us a little bit about it and the differences between the two?

Topographer is a concept born out of Aether, from the split with Valerinne. In a way, it is an extention of Tauusk. I want to experiment more without meddling with the image of Tauusk, that has become pretty specific and solid. The main difference is the emphasis on synths. I joke about Tauusk being horror movie music, and Topographer will be sci-fi music. I didn’t really release any material with Topographer although I had to concerts already. I did release some patch documentation, and some kind of demos.

11.Can we expect an LP from Topographer?

I will record some Topographer material soon. I don’t know about the format though. Physical formats have lost their relevance lately if you’re not an audiophile. It’s also very hard to go along the lines of DIY and manage production, distribution and promotion all alone. I have collaborated with different independent labels and I’ll probably do it again. i just don’t know in what form. We’ll live to see.

12.What’s your advice for someone who wants to start a musical project in Romania?

Don’t be discouraged from the lack of reaction from the public. Continue, insist, persevere and don’t have expectations. Don’t look for rewards, recognition or approval.