Remember all the good accidents in history? The microwave oven, Penicillins, even post-its. Happy accidents make good inventions, they say. And that goes the same for Joon Guillen or Modulogeek. He says, “When something good happens in my music, it seems to always come from something I did spontaneously, or it was some happy accident.”

Hi Joon, how are you?
Hello, I’m good!

Would you say you’ve been always a musically-inclined person?
I guess so. I started playing guitar and drums at a relatively young age, and was listening to music earlier than that. I pretty much liked everything I heard on the radio—top 40 hits, old songs, some rock or new wave band my older cousins were into.

What are your favorite bands now?
You should believe me when I say Phil Collins was, actually still is, one of my favorite artists! My current (and long time) faves are: Ben Folds / Ben Folds Five, Death Cab for Cutie, Sufjan Stevens, Jon Brion, Aimee Mann.

Tell us how your relationship with the monome began.
It was a dark and stormy night… well maybe it wasn’t, but I was just getting myself into this thing called electronic music. I had a computer but nothing else. I can play guitar by pressing on frets, striking strings, but how do I play a computer? So I got myself a midi controller, just some knobs and faders, but I soon found it lacking. The knobs turned into pads, pads turned into more pads, until finally I found this monome device with more buttons that I know what to do with them. It wasn’t an instant attraction, but gradually I realized it is the closest I could get to “expressing myself” into the software.

Are you a fan of old school video games?
I have been playing video/computer games since the Atari 2600! Now still an active PS3 and PC gamer. I have so many fond memories of those old console games.

What computer games did you play when you were a kid?
I’d rather not get started—I would ramble on forever!

Did you like going to arcades?
I wasn’t much of an arcade person. I always played my games at home.

A Shortcut to Mushrooms vs. Modulogeek. What makes one better than the other?
At least one person has listened to Modulogeek? (Laughs) ASTM was just a vanity project. I never really bothered showing the work to anyone other than my close friends, and it’s so damn slow to write songs—I get about 1 song done every 8 months on average. And, worst of all, you can hear me sing badly, and with bad lyrics.

Tell us about your equipment. Aside from the monome, what devices do you use to create your music?
I have an Akai LPD-8 that has drum pads (for when I want a more organic feel to beats) and knobs, and an Audio 4 DJ USB audio interface. It’s the software that does the brunt of the work: Ableton Live and a shit ton of VST instruments and effects, and apps for the monome made by the kind monome community folks.

There are some people who think electronic music can sometimes be alienating; synthesized beats can be disconcerting at times. Do you think people will become more receptive to it as time goes by though?
Oh yeah, I get alienated all the time! (Laughs) To be honest, I really don’t know anything about electronic music…

I think, at its best, electronic music has the ability to produce new sounds at the fundamental level AND borrow sounds and make them new…And yet even behind all that technology it can still move the listener emotionally. I really am quite new to the genre so I don’t feel like I can comment on electronic music in general but, if I may guess, I think we will see more groups blurring the distinction between electronica and other traditional (meaning rock, pop, etc.) forms of music.

Fill in the blanks: Modulogeek is ___________. Modulogeek’s music is for _______________.
Modulogeek is in need of a memory upgrade. Modulogeek’s music is for humans and robots alike.

Introduction by Reena Mesias
Interview by Evan Tan
Photos by Bobby Benedicto and Shine Reyes

For the full story, grab a copy of STATUS August 2011 issue

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