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Penta was the first night act I really
enjoyed. His debut album Pentafiles was acclaimed world-wield
as one of the most original and psychedelic albums released
in 2002, and as many other people I was very influenced by
it. Nikita has his own style, building a concise atmosphere
with melodies over a tenebrous beat. Now he's very busy with
his own label and is about to release his second album, but
still took the time to talk with an old fan.
fullonline: Who is "Penta", where you are from
and what is your musical background?
Penta: I am Nikita Tselovalnikov and I am originally from
St. Petersburg, Russia. I have immigrated to San Francisco
Bay Area in California 14 Years ago, and currently have most
of my stuff in the heart of Silicon Valley in the city of
San Jose. In the summers though I hangout in Europe - mostly
in Lisbon and Berlin. I started making music when I was eleven
years old. It was a year after that I decided to study piano
in a Rimsky-Korsakov music school. First, it was Rock-n-Roll
with my St. Petersburg school mates, then Industrial, Punk,
Noise with various friends in San José. I even had
a real band where I sang and played Rhythm guitar. We played
in clubs like Cactus and Berkeley Square. I was introduced
to electronic music in 1992 and started going to rave parties
in 1993. I made a first electronic track on my Yamaha PSR
500 Semi-Toy Keyboard in that year as well. Then, in 1995
I stopped with raves, since most of them were busted in San
Francisco. It was disappointment after disappointment, so
I was mostly involved with my bands, Negatif Attention, Pahoviy
Strubetz and Eva Braun to name a few.
Yours truly as a lead singer in a
punk- death rock band Negatif Attention. Concert in Cactus
Club, San Jose, 1995.
On August 16 1997, however, I had to be
reintroduced to electronic music with a trip to International
House of Pancakes restaurant in downtown San Francisco where
some mysterious band, called X-Dream, from some cool futuristic
British label, Blue Room, was playing. The experience was
so much unlike all the raves that I have been to in the past
that it changed my life. Everything was different and alien-like,
the people, the deco, the music... I went to Holland after
that for a half a year as an exchange student, where I went
to some Goa parties as well. It is when I came back to San
Francisco in 1998, though, when my Goa life-style really kicked
off. I began going to parties regularly, got to know some
people, started buying equipment. My first piece of gear was
Kurzweil 2500 S, since it was the machine that could do everything.
Then Marcus from X-Dream made everyone buy the Waldorf Microwave,
and I was among the people who bought it to make killer bass.
Although, killer bass was much harder to make than I thought.
My friends and I started to throw parties, our Russian collective
was called Red Tribe. We held our first party in 2000, where
I was spinning records (pictured). The party was using red
lights instead of black lights and everything was pretty much
communism-inspired. It was a lot of fun and something different
from the fluoro parties. Of course, we were making ultraviolet
parties too. We introduced America to Parasense and to NOS
backdrops.
The first finished Penta track was written
in December 2000, so the birth of Penta is officially around
that time, although I have made a lot of unfinished compositions
years before. At that time I had to write 7 tracks in a month
to make a set for friends at the New Years party. The first
tracks were ‘Santa Claus’, Terra “I”,
‘Kiska’, ‘Blue Christmas’, ‘Frankenstein’,
‘Boris’, ‘Uncle Sam’. My first release
was ‘Zeynep’ on Spectral Concepts. The label owner,
Jeremiah, picked this track after my first official live set
on April 20th, 2001 at the Parasense party we were throwing.
After that party I started playing as Penta a lot around San
Francisco, going to my first gig “outside” gig
in Seattle in September. After I making it to Brazilian festival
of Ypy Poty in 2002 (by the way, absolutely mind-blowing festival)
and getting to know the good people at Good Mood, things started
to happen internationally. Goa Gil also contributed to my
promotion with my tracks in his sets and “Divine Dozens”.
My first album “Pentafiles” was realeased on Spectral
Concepts in 2003.
Me (before I was Penta) spinning records
at the Redtribe party in 2000. Is that guy in the background
eating an apple?
fullonline: Are you married and/or have kids?
Penta: I am not married, and I think kids will have to wait
for several years. I am just not home anymore.
fullonline: Can you keep a comfortable lifestyle working
only as a psychedelic artist or a second job is needed?
Penta: As of right now, my music supports me. I cannot say
things are going excellent, since a lot of bookings get cancelled,
and, overall, life is unpredictable, but it is enough to survive.
I am hoping for things to stabilize very soon. My goal is
to play fewer gigs for more money, otherwise, I have to play
all the time and there is no time to rest or to make music.
fullonline: What is on your CD Player right now? (what are
you listening to right now?)
Penta: I actually don´t have a CD player. I have one
in my Laptop, but I don´t listen to music in my Laptop.
When I have a chance to listen to music, I listen to Electrolux
releases, Bossa Nova and Café Del Mar. I don´t
listen to trance that much at home, only if I have to DJ other
people´s music, which happens not so often any more,
since I have so much of my own music and promoters do not
allow me to play extended sets, as the parties frequently
get shut down early. I can play an 8 hour Penta set easily,
however I very much enjoy playing other people´s music
as well, there is just never enough time!
fullonline: Which one of your own music do you like the most?
Does it have a special meaning to you?
Penta: I always like the latest track the most. Out of all-time
favourites, I still play Neurotic Call, Disgusting Little
Creatures, sometimes I put Zeynep. XML is also nice track
to brake the 148 BPM Vertigo of my recent music. I like Fear
very much.
fullonline: What other music style do you listen to?
Penta: Already discussed. Ambient, Elektro, Bossa Nova.
Playing an ambient set at Isladance
Festival near Paraty, Brazil in November 2004
fullonline: What Psytrance Artists would you like to work
with?
Penta: I think working with Zik Matutero, Ghreg on Earth,
Savage Scream would be very interesting. I also would like
to make a track with Zolod and Miguel Nexus. Working with
Ocelot and Sector 7G was a lot of fun. For me these artists
along with many others are close in spirit and each is a master
of some technique that I would like to learn.
fullonline: Is there any equipment you think can help you
produce better music?
Penta: For me Reaktor and Logic is the winning combination.
I think the programmers at Emagic and Native Instruments have
influenced my music a lot, and I am eternally thankful. I
have also purchased their Software, ha-ha.
fullonline: Do you prefer to play at parties at any specific
time?
Penta: I enjoy playing dawn sets, somewhere from 5-8 in the
morning, depending on the region. For me this is the most
psychedelic time. I also enjoy playing at night, around 3,
when it is dark and scary.
fullonline: How do you choose the samples of your tracks?
What is your favorite one?
Penta: I choose samples less for content and more for how
it works with the arrangement. I frequently sample television,
so I get unexpected results. I sample commercials. I do not
like to sample movies that much, since a lot of people choose
the same samples. This happened with ‘Pentafiles’.
My favourite sample is from the ‘Fear’ track –
“The only way to overcome your fear is to face it”
and from ‘Disgusting Creatures’.
fullonline: Your debut album "Pentafiles" is completely
sold out, and today it's recognized as an important "modern
influence" on the ever growing "Dark side of the
psy". Talk about the process of creation of this masterpiece.
Penta: The album was planned as a super dark album, but it
came out much more morning-sounding. I guess, I was not evil
enough. Half of the tracks were written before the summer
of 2002, and the other half, like ‘Time Warp’
‘Collaboration’ and ‘Every Machine’
was made around New Year of 2003. The idea was to share some
sounds and effects between tracks to make the album sound
as a whole. Some people actually found that repetitive, but
they didn’t get what I was trying to achieve. It took
a lot of remixing to get it sound right, as I didn’t
know many things back then. I never liked the track ‘Lost
in Space’until people actually made me like it. There
were only 2000 copies printed, and I am considering a re-release,
if there is enough interest.
fullonline: What are your future releases, and what are the
labels you're currently working with?
Penta: The most recent release was Fear on DejaVu records,
besides that I am going to release “Looking Great”
on Vertigo Records soon. I have been making my album, so there
are not many releases on compilations lately. However, In
June I made several new tracks, so we will hear them soon.
fullonline: You now got your own label AuraQuake, can you
give us infos, links, scheduled releases?
Penta: The AuraQuake label is created to release my new Album,
‘Funraiser’, and in the future I am planning releases
by other artists, if everything goes good. Let’s see
where it’s going to take us. There is a Website at www.auraquake.com.
fullonline: How your new album "Funraiser" is gonna
be? We are all anxious for news about this release! Please
tell us about it, does it have many SAMPLES??? (How was the
process of creation, took too much time, in what studio it
was produced, who mastered, etc...)
Penta: The new album is a little bit darker and faster than
‘Pentafiles’, however there is a 140 BPM Intro
track in it, which sounds kind of weirdly-progressive. I am
constantly trying to evolve the sound, although this album
is closer to ‘Pentafiles’ than my last releases.
There are more melodies, at least. Some tunes were made completely
with a Laptop Mouse and Headphones on the road, and had to
be remixed later in my Moselle Dr. Studio in San Jose. I am
sure, there is going to be surprises in this release. The
tracks are tested on dance floors worldwide and work pretty
well. Last time I played in Portugal, the stage literarily
caught fire during one of the tracks: pretty evil stuff. Son
Kite was hired to do the mastering, and I am happy with what
they did.
Moselle Dr. Studio in San Jose, California
fullonline: What do you think about
people sharing music through mp3 instead of buying it?
Penta: I think I completely gave up on this subject, - it’s
part of the evolution of the industry, we have to learn to
live with it. Sure, it’s more difficult to make many
out of releases, - the tracks nowadays are sold anywhere from
200 or even less to 700 dollars by artists of my calibre (which
is completely ridiculous considering the time required to
produce one), but it is easier to get attention of listeners
through the internet. You can practically become famous overnight.
MP3s are a very good way for beginning artists to get exposure
and for established artists to stay in the news.
fullonline: How do you make your Live Acts? What equipment
do you use in your Live Acts?
Penta: I make a pretty standard Live Act
– in a sense that I run tracks from Logic, put Loops
and play Effects with a keyboard, however, I am dreaming of
playing with two Laptops and two sound cards, - this way you
can play completely live, as you can open songs in their original
files and tweak the parameters for each individual part. It
is a little bit difficult for my music, since it is all in
Audio files, but still possible to do a lot of stuff, like
turn on and off different parts, put on delays, flangers and
other FX on leads, Hi Hats, etc. I am also considering Ableton
Live, but in order to make music completely live on stage
with it, you have to be super concentrated, and that’s
impossible with all the party people asking for lighters,
passing spliffs, drinking my beer while I am playing. I prefer
to make as much eye contact as possible instead of staring
at the screen. For me, the interaction with the audience is
more important than tweaking Cutoff Filters.
fullonline: You prefer to play
a DJ set or a Live Act? Why?
Penta: It depends: there are days when I
like to play Live more, - since it looks more mysterious,
like people wondering what is going to come out of my laptop.
Sometimes I prefer DJ sets, because they give me more flexibility,
and I can control the action on the dance floor better. Most
of the time I like my DJ sets more, since they are longer
and always different, but people want to see Live sets.
fullonline: In your DJ sets you
usually play tracks from which other artists?
Penta: I play a lot of friends music – Ocelot, Ghreg
on Earth, Dejan, Azax Syndrom, Matutero, Neuromotor, Nommos,
Fungus Funk, Derango, Bug Funk, Para Halu, Sektor 7G, Parus,
Metallaxis, Terminator. Usually whatever people give me. I
never search for music and rarely ask somebody to records
me CDs.
fullonline: You think decoration is important?
What makes a good party?
Penta: I think Decoration is 70 percent
of the party, than 30 percent of the rest. People are very
important. One of the best parties I have been to was amazingly
decorated, with great people and so-so music. The atmosphere
is what important, not big name DJs, although their aura adds
to the atmosphere. People produce adrenaline anticipating
a favourite act and that’s good. Adrenaline is good.
fullonline: You're investing time, money
and working a lot to make a better psytrance scene, and I
want to thank you for that. What do you think people should
do to make a better scene? Any visions about the future?
Penta: I think party organizers should pay
more attention to Decoration of the parties. Sometimes even
the best music cannot make the party if it’s poorly
decorated. People should also dress more psychedelic, this
adds to the atmosphere of a carnival. Just like the old times,
I guess. Nowadays I see to many people dressed in sports shirts
and baseball caps, - that’s hardly psychedelic. People
need to be educated through better organized parties. I hope
the future will bring bigger, more quality scenes around the
globe. This way, it’s going to be possible for more
artists to make a living out of the party scene, creating
better experiences for everyone. I also hope the scene doesn’t
go too commercial in its mentality.
fullonline: What is your favorite psychoactive
molecule?
Penta: I prefer moderate alcohol consumption.
Too much of it can be devastating for your performance as
was proven a couple of times that I am not proud of deep in
the past. I don’t need psychoactives to get into psychedelic
mode, I am naturally high.
fullonline: We all know that all kind of
weird stuff happen at psychedelic gatherings. Can you tell
us something different/funny that you saw or happened to you
in a party?
Penta: I guess the funniest and scariest
thing was the episode I mentioned earlier, when the stage
caught fire during the last track of my Live set in Portugal
in 2004 – the track was so intense, I probably put it
too loud, that the electricity of the stage freaked out and
started sparking, igniting the stage. That looked very dramatic,
I was very happy. Once I knocked down a monitor speaker on
the DJ set up, trying to spin it on its stick. The music stopped,
one thousand people were looking at me in awe. It was funny,
I guess…
fullonline: Any last comment, message and/or
promotional link?
Penta: Thank you for good questions. Thanks
everybody for supporting my project over the years. Special
thanks to Catia and my parents. Thanks MOE - http://www.mistressofevil.com/,
Sector 7G - http://www.thumpradio.com/sector/ for all your
inspiration. My own promotional link is www.pentafiles.com.
This is my artist Website, you can find more info on Penta,
tour schedule, pictures, news, etc.
fullonline: Thank you!
Respect!
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by nikita tselovalnikov. copyright 2005. all rights reserved.