Listen: Ice Cream Mission To Mars ‘S/T’ LP

Will MacLean‘s Ice Cream Mission to Mars project put out it’s self-titled debut today on the artist’s Toy Moon label, and to celebrate the event we tossed the Chicago-based analogue synth player a few questions about his new record. In the interview Will discusses in detail the different vintage devices used in the creation of the LP, as well as touching on his long standing interest in synthesizers, how he came to work with David Baker in Variety Lights, and more! In addition, you can stream the album in it’s entirety right here!

LET: Hi Will, before we talk about specific tracks on Ice Cream Mission To Mars, can you tell us about some of the analogue gear you used to make the new record: synthesizers, drum machine, effects, etc., and do you play all the instruments, or are you joined by other musicians. In addition, was the album self-recorded at a home studio, and what can you tell us about how it was recorded? I’m assuming recorded to tape…or not?

WM: Most of the album was recorded around 1997-2001, with a couple more recent tracks. I had a much bigger collection of synths back then, because things were much cheaper. On the album, you’ll hear Minimoog, a rev 2 Prophet 5, and two Oberheims – an OB8 and a Matrix 6. I play all the instruments. It was mostly recorded at home on a computer, but some tracks were done when I worked for a pro audio company with some great gear, and were recorded on what back then was high-end digital tape. In general, I’d program some drums on an SR-16 and record those, then pick a synth to use on the track and play/tweak sounds as they fit in the track. Each track explores on the sounds that a single synth is capable of.

LET: The songs on the new record touch on several different musical genres, making it difficult to classify them as a whole, but making it an interesting task to try and identity some of the directions in which they move. I’m curious how instrumentation and technique affect the way we hear these tracks. For instance, “Blast Off!” and “Dr. Evermore and the Forevertron” seem rhythmically driven in a techno direction. Is that something you wanted to explore, and does it relate in any way to your instrument and technique choices?

WM: I love all sorts of music, and when you do things over a number of years, your head is in different places each time. Both “Blast Off!” and “…Forevertron” were around the same time. I was listening to a lot of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher then, and watching a lot of cartoons. One day, I realized the Powerpuff Girls theme would fit well on a Squarepusher album. So that particular juxtaposition was what I was exploring. “Blast Off!” is all Minimoog, so it’s all about rumbling bass and searing leads. “…Forevertron” is all rev 2 Prophet 5, so it focuses on strange chords and polymod.

LET: Continuing in a similar vein as the previous question, then, “Sci Fi Cafe” and “Orange, Orange World” have more of a rock feel, like some retro-future cut you might find on a strange psych or funk record from the 70’s. In particular, the drums on those tracks, and the bass on “Orange, Orange World” seems looser, rock oriented beats, not the “four-on-the-floor” you might find in techno or electronic music. What can you tell us about those tracks?

WM: “Sci Fi Café” and “Orange, Orange World” are older tracks. “Sci Fi…” is all Oberheim OB8, and uses a lot of sync sweeps, because I thought it was strange that an analog sweep should sound so digitized – the steps in it sound almost like an overdose of autotune. But it made me wanna try and do something vaguely like eary 70s acid rock, which it didn’t really end up sounding like. “Orange, Orange World” is a bit of a nod to Brian Eno’s Green World. It’s a Minimoog with bass guitar, and was definitely trying to go for a Devo-ish, new wave thing. It just seemed like it would be fun to try.

LET: Several weeks back in our post about the track “BrickStix“, you informed us that your nephew invented BrickStix®, which are reusable Lego stickers, and you described the cut as an “audio billboard flashing along the highway”. Similarly, “loopteeloo” and “Blast Off!” seem to have compositional structures akin to a commercial jingle, or old video game music, where repetition is foregrounded to a sense of progression. To me, that’s interesting in a lot of ways, and I’m curious about your thoughts on those tracks…

WM: “Blast Off!” I see as the start of the journey. “loopteeloo” is definitely jingle, made originally for these tee-ties my Sister-in-Law Amy and niece Lily invented (http://www.loopteeloo.com/). The whole family keeps putting stuff out there, and I am proud of them!

I saw “Sci Fi Café” as an audio billboard, too. Like all long-lost diners along highways. Videogame music runs deep in your mind when you’ve played alot, and some of those old theme songs got in my head as much as Jimi Hendrix.Videogame themes are as great as any music, if they grab your imagination. Just like AM radio to one generation, videogames are part of culture for another.

LET: Sonically, “Vortex to…” might be the most singular track on the record, with it’s swirling orchestrals that seem to hover and present a doorway, or window into something. What can you tell me about the creation of this track?

WM: Many layers of OB8. I was trying to make something very immersive – if sound were water, filling your ears and covering your head right up to the brim and spilling over and into your mind and out of your mind, and reemerging. And I imagined a vortex might feel a bit like that, if they turned out to be real.

LET: I don’t want to forget about “Sleeping Dream Monsters“. Everything seems to come together on this track. Sonically, many of the elements touched on previously, again present themselves with a sort of knowing confidence, and there is a feeling of arrival. Your thoughts…

WM: “Sleeping Dream Monsters” is all the rev 2 Prophet 5. A slow build of layer on layer on layer, like when you are dreaming that you are dreaming you are dreaming. But you’re never really sure where you are, even when you wake up.

LET: You’ve mentioned that you think of the new album as an “imaginary road trip to Mars”. Aside from the sonics, now, can you elaborate on some of the thematics present on the new record?

WM: It comes from the cover art. The thought of going to Mars made me think of all the things along the road I’ve visited on trips – a lot of them survivors from long ago, when people drove more and flew less, so they don’t make enough money anymore to keep it repaired, and they decay. Like old synths – they sound beautiful, but fall apart. The OB8 and Prophet were like that – kept breaking down, and I had to sell them, because I couldn’t keep fixing them.

The cover is a piece by my friend Vivienne Marie, and she does some work for film and TV. She told me it nearly wound up in a show coming soon called “Mind Games”, with Christian Slater. I’m very glad my wife Emily got it first, because in many ways it made the album come together.

LET: I’m curious, when did you become interested in analogue synthesizers, and how did the interest start? What was the first synthesizer you ever owned? Do you have a favorite? Were there musicians or bands that might have fueled your interest in the beginning?

WM: It probably started growing up on PBS, watching Dr. Who with John Pertwee, and In Search Of with Leonard Nimoy. Those themes have very beautiful synth parts, which haunted me for years. The first I played was a Moog Sonic 5 rusting away in a closet in the school music dept, but the first I owned was a Sequential Pro One, which I sold off when I bought the Prophet 5. I have a modified, duophonic Minimoog, which is my fave. Synth sounds I’ve dug include Stereolab, Wendy Carlos, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Ladytron, Belbury Poly, Aphex Twin – but there’s way many more.

LET: How did you meet David Baker of Mercury Rev, and begin working with him on his Variety Lights Project?

WM: We met at Simon’s, a bar with one of the best-stocked jukeboxes in Chicago. We started talking about music, and it sounded like a cool thing to make some sounds together. I was a huge fan of the early Mercury Rev albums, and he was one of my favorite parts of their sound, so it was really fantastic to get the chance to work with him.

LET: Are you currently collaborating with any other musicians, involved in any other musical projects, or do you see yourself working solo for now?

WM: I’ve recently finished some very cool tracks with my friend Stephen Kent of The End Springs. The sound is somewhere between Tangerine Dream and early Floyd. We’re working on a release for them at the moment.

LET: Finally Will, are there future plans for Ice Cream Mission To Mars that you can share? Are you currently creating any new tracks? A live component to the project?

WM: I’m hoping to get Vivienne to direct a video, and am working on some new tracks, trying to see what a TR-909 and Oberheim Mini Sequencer driving the Minimoog can do. I would love to play live, and hopefully that will work out soon.

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