ortland label Strange Attractors Audio House has become one of the most dazzling comets streaking across psychedelia’s firmament. With releases by Acid Mothers Temple offshoot Tsurubami, SubArachnoid Space, Kinski, Vocokesh, and Cul De Sac in its catalog, SAAH casts its net far and wide in its quest for extraordinary sounds. Beginning operations in 2000, SAAH has become a potent source of freewheeling space rock that specializes in songs long enough to enable college-radio DJs to get their fungus buzz on, but SAAH honcho Chris Scofield is open-minded enough to champion Steffen Basho-Junghans and Harris Newman’s transcendent drones and exploratory folkadelia. Scofield—like most heads of small indie imprints—is a zealot with more passion than funds. But he’s also at least 33.3-percent more perceptive and articulate than other label bosses, as the interview below demonstrates.

What prompted you to start Strange Attractors?

Chris Scofield: I hosted a radio program for seven-plus years called Strange Attractors on KAOS Olympia Community Radio. My experiences at the station, both as an on-air programmer and one year serving as Music Director, opened up a whole new world for me—not only because I had unlimited access to an entire universe of every type of music imaginable, but the station itself educated me on the political economy of music and the ghastly industry that propels it. Supporting independent and challenging music became an insatiable thirst of mine, and I slowly began to scheme how I could apply my excitement for exposing new music on-air to my own outlet of documentation. Strange Attractors Audio House became the name for the record label, and it was officially born on Halloween 2000 with the debut release by the Lowdown.

What are Strange Attractors' guiding principles? Obviously, you champion psychedelic music, but it's a certain kind of psychedelia, one that seems untainted by kitsch or slavish imitation to established models. What are the essential qualities you seek in the albums you release?

CS: Strange Attractors is a term used in physical science, namely chaos theory. To summarize, basically a Strange Attractor is the name of a pattern that erupts from chaos—order from disorder. Applying that conceptually with parallels to challenging music appeals to me (the Strange Attractors Audio House logo is an actual example of a Strange Attractor!). I try to document music that I feel experiments with sound, structure and approach, but with honesty... from the heart, more so than the mind. I'm turned on by bands and artists that experiment with sound, but [who do so] with a directness and purity—“soul first, technique later,” as [legendary psych-folk guitarist] Robbie Basho has said. I do champion and love psychedelic music most certainly, because I am fascinated with how inebriating sound can be. But I champion all forms of music that push the envelope, tweak the sonic landscape, and do so from the heart. Through all of this, Strange Attractors seeks to find sonic-and-soul parallels between (as an example from my roster) an acoustic experimental/folk artist like Steffen Basho-Junghans and an improvised band drenched in effects like Surface of Eceyon.

Is it tough to maintain the label in the current economic climate? Do you think downloading is hurting small indies like SAAH? How is your business doing?

CS: It is tough, and even tougher when music such as the particular type I peddle doesn't have broad commercial appeal. Luckily, I didn't form the label with any delusions of grandeur! The label survives because there seems to be enough folks out there who are as turned on by the artists as I am. We had our biggest year in 2003 as far as volume of releases, and 2004 is on par to be just as busy. So we are hanging in there and stumbling ever forward.

MP3s and the Internet are a godsend for indies, a ray of hope that your music actually has a chance to be heard! Classically, this has been the biggest struggle for independents, because battling the multinational corporate labels for radio airplay or placement/instore play/listening posts in stores is a losing one—marketing money controls all of that. MP3s are a very important tool of exposure for the indies; they actually provide an opportunity for absolutely anyone to hear an artist, where commercial radio and a lot of college stations are not viable. Downloading available music from a small specialist indie creates a positive impact because those who are grabbing MP3s—unbridled music fanatics/record collectors, most likely—will ultimately, if they like what they hear, want the actual artifact to hold in their hands. Downloading certainly affects mainstream artists because so many “fans” don't regard artwork and information as a necessary aspect of the music—they are just consuming, and will move on to the next trend. Downloading is hurting record stores the most, and in that regard, we all lose. So support your local independent record shop!

You release vinyl as well as CDs, right? How does vinyl sell now?

CS: I've had one vinyl release so far, the 2xLP version of Kinski's Airs Above Your Station (Sub Pop issued the CD). I pressed up 1000 copies and they are basically all gone now. I love vinyl to death; the double-LP gatefold is truly the ultimate format. Vinyl sells okay, but only to the tried and true who value quality sound and art representation over the convenience of CDs. Because of the costs, it is not feasible for a label my size to release both formats—it has to be one or the other, unfortunately. I admire labels like Time-Lag or Eclipse who are doing vinyl-only releases with emphasis on the quality of the vinyl and jacket artwork.

Do SAAH releases come about through aggressive A&R work on your part or mainly from you going through demos? Both? Have any faded psych icons approached you to put out their stuff? I want names!

CS: I've been very lucky and tremendously fortunate that most of the bands I work with have fallen into my lap, in one way or the other. There are some that I have been turned onto because of demos and a couple I have sought out, but most have either approached me or have just come my way somehow.

Yeah, I've been contacted by a “faded” psych icon: Malcolm Mooney, original vocalist for Can! I got a phone call from him out of the blue one day and it just knocked me on my ass! I mean, “Yoo Doo Right” is a timeless classic! He has some projects he is working on right now, but I ended up turning him down as I had too much on my plate at the time and wasn't moved enough by what he was offering. Which made me feel weird, because I idolize Can. And [I’ve had] some light talks with [Swedish trance rockers] Trad Gras och Stenar that really hasn't led anywhere yet.

Your thoughts on the current state of psychedelia? Healthy? In decline? A new golden age? Do you feel like SAAH is part of the “New Weird America” scene The Wire documented in a cover story last fall?

CS: Psychedelia is alive and well, and I hear it burbling incessantly out of the avant-rock scene, the experimental electronic scene, folk, jazz; to me it feels like reinvention is rampant, but very underground. Bands like Bardo Pond, Kinski, Acid Mothers Temple, and Ghost seem to be the most prominent, but that is few and far between. Labels like Eclipse, Kranky, Drag City, Time-Lag, Holy Mountain, Locust, Jeweled Antler and Emperor Jones are important catalysts for keeping the freak flag flyin'.

A Strange Attractors release was listed as one of the “New Weird America” key releases—Cul de Sac's Death of the Sun. Guitarist Glenn Jones performed solo at the festival (look for a release in the not too distant future), so technically I suppose, yes, SAAH is included. I like to think SAAH is part of the extended family, Cul De Sac or otherwise. I adore that whole “scene,” and find that the label prescribes to the particular attitude and outlook of the American avant-psych/folk scene.

Psychedelic musicians often possess an interest in the occult. Do any of these leanings play a role in SAAH?

CS: Not overtly. I've never been a D&D fan or Aleister Crowley follower or anything like that. Mysticism may have an effect... the Surface Of Eceyon folks certainly have a healthy appetite for fantasy, but in a whimsical sense. I guess I have a subtle fascination, but nothing obsessive; no séances or rituals were performed in the making of a Strange Attractors record!

Do you have any idea who your audience is? Are the kids interested in this music that demands long attention spans and a willingness to surrender to the idea of songs without words or tight structures?

CS: Kids by and large are not into extended sonic excursions with little or no vocals. In most cases it is an acquired taste. We really are the MTV generation, a tune can't be too long or complex or people will lose interest. The majority of folks—and I'm talking about indie rockers as well as mainstreamers—just don't want to have to think about or engage too much in their musical entertainment. Music is very social, and sometimes I fear it is the social aspect that wins out over actual music appreciation. My audience is spread about, many people from Europe and the East Coast, for whatever reason. These are people with a strong appreciation for unorthodox, challenging, trippy music, people who are bored with the norm, who like music to be a little strange, and to alter their perceptions. My people! And many are very dedicated. I can relate to my audience, for I am a slathering, hapless music fanatic/collector fascinated by ethereal, unusual sounds as well.

What plans to do you have for 2004?

CS: It will be another busy year for Strange Attractors. February 3 will see a release by underground modern psych legends Vocokesh, titled The Tenth Corner; April 6 a 2xCD by Steffen Basho-Junghans titled 7 Books; May will see an improvised ambient CD by Kinski. Sometime in 2004 I will be releasing a 2xCD by Cul De Sac and Damo Suzuki of Can, which collects the best moments of the 2002/2003 tours the two did as collaborators. Also look for new albums by Paik, SubArachnoid Space, [Cul De Sac guitarist] Glenn Jones, a reissue of Cul De Sac's debut ECIM, and a reissue of Six Organs of Admittance's The Manifestation.

What album—besides Cul De Sac's ECIM—would you most want to reissue, and why?

CS: It's hard to say what I would like to reissue most because it seems so much already has been reissued, and many more keep coming out on a slew of labels that keep me ecstatic. It's equally hard to name just one! Not sure if this applies, because albums do exist on the French label Spalax (so perhaps a licensing agreement?), but I would love to reissue domestically anything by Popol Vuh. The fantastic Werner Herzog soundtracks Nosferatu, Aguirre, and Coeur de Verre, or Letzte Tage - Letzte Nachte. I worship that band, so basically anything would do! Also, there is an amazing psychedelic Turkish artist named Erkin Koray who made some absolutely mesmerizing music in the early ‘70s that I would be blown away to unleash yet again on an unsuspecting public. Oh, and then there is the wonderful out-of-print album by Kawabata Makoto, Inui 1.



Chris Scofield’s top 10 albums [in no particular order]: “[The] below melted my synapses equally yet differently, and permanently changed my perceptions on what you can do with music and genre.”

1. Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
2. Slint, Spiderland
3. Popol Vuh, Letzte Tage - Letzte Nachte
4. Pink Floyd, Meddle
5. Can, Tago Mago
6. John Fahey, America
7. Sun Ra, Space Is The Place OST
8. Loren MazzaCane Connors, Moonyean
9. Tangerine Dream, Atem
10. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, F#A#Infinity

www.strange-attractors.com