Have you ever wondered exactly what Music is? Where does it come from, who defines it and what does it mean to us? Well I have and decided to devote a whole two hours every Wednesday morning (my local time) to explore these wandering wonderments. Heaven help my poor listeners!
https://www.3mdr.com/shows/the-big-note/
Getting to know Jason – an Interview.
For the last Big Note episode (#76) for 2024, on 3MDR 97.1 FM, I speak with Jason Lim, a Glasgow based musician and technologist who works between the worlds of traditional musical instruments/composition/production and experimental electronics.
With a work history as a multi-instrumentalist composer and studio musician, he now designs his own range of hardware and software instruments which are used by creators in studios, on stages and in art galleries around the world… He generously shared his time with me to talk about his musical journey and we play some music he suggests for the episode as well as discussing said choices! I have split the interview into 5 parts which can be found (along with their transcripts) below.
The big question here is: Would you pass “The Igorr Test”?
The playlist for this interview is as follows:
* Jason Lim – IL3_PERFORMANCE from Instruō Compilation 1 [2023] – Instruō on Bandcamp
* Miles Davis – Freddie Freeloader from Kind of Blue [1959] Columbia
* Igorrr – Tendon from Nostril [2010] – Igorr on Bandcamp
* Gigantic Ant – Supergyro from Gigantic Ant [2015] – Gigantic Ant on Bandcamp
* Junction Pool – Bah Humburg (Instrumental Cover, arranged & performed by Jason Lim) – watch here
* Whourkr – Maximum Speed Limit Monotone Snare Audition [2012] – Whourkr on Bandcamp
In Part One of our chat I start by playing one of Jason’s recent live performances and Jason tells me of his younger years at School, taking up Violin before progressing to other instruments. The transcript can be found here
In Part Two of our chat, Jason talks further about his musical education and shares his first musical choice with us – “Freddy Freeloader” by Miles Davis from Kind of Blue. The transcript can be found here
In Part Three of our chat, Jason challenges us to “The Igorr Test” and speaks more about that and his other listening choices as well as sharing one of those fortunate “gear score” moments you often hear about but don’t think will ever happen to you! The transcript can be found here
In Part Four of our conversation, we listen to Jason’s 5th musical choice and the concept of “Noise music” in general. He then chats about his formal education at Berkley in electronic music, music synthesis and his discovery of Eurorack and the subsequent journey from that into making Eurorack instruments himself. The transcript can be found here
The final part (Five) of Jason & my conversation never made it on air as I ran out of time. It is a fairly nerdy affair, discussing Eurorack modules, electronic instrument concepts and design. It really is mainly Jason and I talking about modular stuff and the Eurorack modules that Jason and his team think up and make into a reality at their workshop in Glasgow. So a very nerdy talk that may only be of interest to people who use these electronic instruments, these Eurorack modules to create music. But you never know if you listen on, you might become interested yourself and go down that particular rabbit hole. So please don’t say I didn’t warn you! The transcript can be found here