Semibreve: Roly Porter

Previously being known for his work under the guise of Vex'd with Jamie Teasdale (on Planet Mu), Roly Porter has since debuted an experimental and sensually immersive solo album 'Aftertime' on Subtext. Whilst the duo's dancefloor productions were more identifiable with an emerging dubstep sound, Porter's own work takes on an often epic and emotive stance on moving between drone, electronica, techno and classical elements with an oddly dystopic feel.

This week, he'll be joining a line-up of several experimental sound artists at Portugal's Semibreve Festival for four days of installations, workshops, and live performances. On from the 2-6 October in its second year, the festival will aim to bring together digital art and electronic music through international artists as well as locals and students.

WHAT's...
...the best thing about where you're from?
The support of my friends and other artists and the feeling of complete freedom, both in my personal life and in my music.

...preferable, analogue or digital?
As long as it sounds good I really don't care. But analog.

... your favourite sound at the moment?
My life is very noisy at the moment - I am craving quiet. I need to take a day off and find a mountain, or a cave.

...your favourite website?
The internet is a bit like TV for me in that I end up wasting hours of my time reading or watching total shit like a zombie. I am quite impatient and the internet definitely makes that worse. It is a problem for music as I hardly give anything a chance. Just skimming through things on youtube or spotify is such a shit way to listen to tunes, without investing time and energy into something I end up not bonding with it. I don't have a strong opinion on whether downloading music is a bad thing, I only know that I only really love music once I have bought it on vinyl and listened to it the whole way through - if it's any good obviously.

...your favourite label?
Er... Subtext. Really. Some very exciting stuff coming up.

...your worst vice?
Watching The X Factor. It fills me with rage and I love it.

...are you listening to now?
I've been uncharacteristically busy recently so when I'm not listening to my own music I need something totally different. No noise! The late string quartets by Beethoven, particularly 14 and 15. I hadn't paid them much attention until recently when another Subtext artist pointed them out to me and they are perfect, which is unusual.

How would you describe your work?
I really try not to because hopefully there are no suitable genre definitions for it and I genuinely try to do something different each time. Obviously there are things that stay the same - noise, bass, ambient etc but nothing I have ever done falls cleanly into those categories, they are just elements.

What do you expect from Semibreve Festival? What about it stands out to you compared to so many festivals out there?
Not sure yet, I will tell you afterwards, but the line-up and the venue look excellent. I wish I could stay for the whole event.