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An Interview with Karloz M. of Manufactura
Posted: Sunday, February 10, 2008
By: Matthew Johnson
Assistant Editor

From misplaced accusations of fascism and misogyny to a Florida club altercation that generated all manner of Internet rumors, Manufactura creator Karloz M. is one of the most controversial figures in the modern rhythmic noise scene. If parts of his reputation can be disputed, however, his talent cannot. For going on 10 years now, Manufactura has been behind some of the most creative, genre-pushing explorations of power noise, ranging from the straightforward club-killers of his debut, Regression, to the gritty and atmospheric moods of Precognitive Dissonance, to the more lyrically-driven EBM crossovers of Presence: Into the Here and Now and We're Set Silently on Fire, not to mention a spoken word album and a melancholy IDM side project.

Manufactura's music is intertwined with violence, but unlike the militaristic imagery of many of his fellow artists, Karloz M. explores violence from an intensely personal level that no doubt adds to the controversy. By dealing with the uglier side of human nature from such a close perspective, there's something inherently more confrontational about his music. You can't dance to a Manufactura track and then forget about it; it's more disturbing than your typical four-on-the-floor beat laced with war movie samples. There's a lot more to Manufactura than aggression, though, and on M.'s latest CD, a collection of remixes and collaborations, some of the most chilling moments are the quietest. ReGen recently had had the chance to sit down with M. to get the straight story on the remixes, the rumors, and the source of Manufactura's all-pervading violence.

Let's start by talking about your new album, In the Company of Wolves. Can you describe it a little for people who haven't heard it yet? How would you say it differs from your earlier stuff?

M.: I don't really consider it an album. People have been making fun of it not really being an 'EP,' because it's got 13 tracks, but most of my releases are usually long, and I kind of wanted to have the same concept, but as a remix CD. It's got a couple of new tracks, some tracks with friends and different bands, a cover, and some re-workings and remixes of old tracks. It's kind of something that fans and DJs have been asking for for a long time, requesting remixes and stuff, but I never liked the idea. I always liked original work. I always assumed if I ever did it, I would be hands-on, me working on it as opposed to just doling out tracks for somebody else to remix, so that's what ended up happening. I just ended up re-working a lot of stuff, taking tidbits from them and making it happen, and then putting it on a CD for fans, DJs, and people that support the music.

You did a cover of Swans' 'God Damn the Sun' with The Operative. How did that come about, and how did you pick that particular song?

M.: Well, I'm a huge Swans fan, and so is Shane from The Operative. We'd have barbecues at my house or hang out at his house, and we'd always end up throwing on some Swans music and comparing different tracks. One night in particular, we were really drunk, and I put that album on, and when the track came on we just decided we should work on that. I was already in the process of a remix album, and there were other things we were thinking about, but that one stuck. It connected very well to him as well as to me, so it was very natural and very easy to work with.

How does your artistic process change when you're doing a collaborative track, as opposed to just working on your own stuff in the studio?

M.: I have to take into consideration what the other artist may want to have as far as production quality and their take on things, whereas when I work on my own stuff I'm just really out to please myself. I want to make sure that the other artist is satisfied with what they're doing and that they're happy with the mix. I want something that is identifiable as a collaboration; sure, the majority of the sounds could be Manufactura-esque, but it should incorporate something of both artists.

Were you surprised by any of the remixes you got back?

M.: Yeah, I was actually thrown back a bit. My two favorite ones were the ones done by I:Scintilla with Destroid and the C/A/T version of 'The Betrayal.' The I:Scintilla one got me the most. It's a track that was originally written in 2003, and funnily enough, Daniel Myer of Haujobb (and Destroid) was supposed to do the original vocals on that, but we got too drunk and he never ended up in the studio, although he did provide a bunch of bits and pieces for the track. I ended up doing the vocals for it, but I was never really satisfied with trying to get the emotion through. The track itself became very popular with certain crowds, and I guess it's a favorite for some people, but I always thought that if I could, why not do it again? I had worked with I:Scintilla on some remixes for them, and I really liked Brittany's vocals, so I decided to see if they could do something with it. Sure enough, I think they did a great job on that. The vocals now seem a little bit closer to the original idea of where the emotion is for that track, so that's the one that really blew me away.

It's an interesting track, because the imagery of the lyrics is very violent, but the emotion is less angry than mournful.

M.: The original lyrics are actually a poem that a friend of mine wrote in late 2002. I really liked the poem when she sent it to me, and I asked whether or not we could work on it as a collaboration piece. I added my own wording and composition and turned it into a song. It got me into some trouble, because that particular album, the Precognitive album, back then people saw it as a misogynistic album, very anti-women, particularly for that track and for 'Stoned to Death,' which has a sample that sounds like a woman in some kind of dangerous situation, asking for help.

That's Kate Bush, right?

M.: That's right! It's from a short film that she made. I'm a huge fan of her work; she delves into different aspects of dreams that are almost reality and vice-versa. The ideas and concepts of violence in that album...yes, it's my album, but all of those concepts of violence were ideas generated by women. It plays on the fact that in certain aspects, women can be just as volatile as any man, perhaps a little more poetically, whereas a guy is a little more brutal about it.

Speaking of the violent and self-destructive themes that are present in a lot of your music, does that reflect your perception of the world, or is it something you do on a personal level for catharsis?

M.: Both, but mostly I think it's the reality of human nature. As civilized and educated as we are, and as far as we've come as a species, the underlying theme to getting to where we are and where we're going is violence, not just in war, not just in social aspects or religion, but in everyday life. The majority of violent crimes are committed by people in the family or friends or business acquaintances. When it all goes sour, violence usually gets thrown back in. We may not see it as prevalent in certain cultures, but in reality it's everywhere, from a tribe in the Amazon to a small neighborhood in Sweden. Violence is human nature. It's part of who we are. As dirty as everyone wants to make it out to be, we write songs about it, and poems, and the great philosophers have talked about it. It's just a natural thing, a part of humanity.

A few years ago you put out a spoken-word album, Reflections of a Sick and Twisted Mind, that dealt with some pretty controversial imagery; 'A Romance with Insanity' seems to deal at least allegorically with child molestation and child-murder. What made you deal with those topics in such a graphic way, and how did people respond to it?

M.: How that album came out is that I was putting up a bunch of rants and poetry and general thoughts that would come into my head online, and a lot of fans suggested the idea of me putting it to music. They said they'd want to purchase it and be interested in having something like that, so I decided to do just that. I took a bunch of writing that I had done that I thought would fit a general theme. That particular track I wrote when I was maybe 17 or 18 years old, and it was basically a short story. I guess you could say it was kind of influenced by a bit of Poe and a bit of Lovecraft, as far as the horrific aspects, but the storyline itself is kind of a play on how we're being fed, how we're being treated as children, and how it makes us numb at the end of it, and sometimes almost crazy, just living with that, knowing that we're being fed nothing but bullshit. Sometimes that bullshit tends to be war, anger, gas prices, and yeah, it makes people a little crazy.

Broken Fabiola is your more IDM and ambient side project. You've signed with Sistinas Music for that, and you have a new release coming out this year. Is that the plan?

M.: That is the plan. It was supposed to come out late last year, but the label had gone through some issues and internal problems, and they had to postpone it until this year. We're now working on the tracks that were originally written for that, and some of them are going to be touched up a little bit. The release is plotted for spring or summer.

On your Manufactura albums, you're incorporating more and more of the slower, moodier stuff that was originally associated with Broken Fabiola. What are the main things that distinguish one project from the other?

M.: The main thing is the outlook. There's mellower stuff in Manufactura, but it's still very much tied in with anger and maybe depression and oppression. It's not necessarily romantic; it's not as light as the Broken Fabiola material. Broken Fabiola tends more toward dreamscapes and romanticized visions, whereas Manufactura is just the darker side.

So Manufactura is heavy and oppressive, even when it's slow?

M.: People have said that in Manufactura there's a bit of sadness, but it's not the same kind of sadness you'd get from an IDM piece. In an IDM piece, it's more of a melancholy. Manufactura is more of a regression into sadness and anger.

Given the fact that so much of your music incorporates violent themes and images, and considering that you were in a club altercation in Florida a few years ago that had rumors spreading all over the Internet, have you noticed that your fans perceive you and your music differently?

M.: Yes and no. In large part, when that happened I'd already been somewhat established and so many things had already been said. Some Italian and French artists and DJs thought that I was a fascist because of the first album. How they got that, I have no clue. The second album was supposed to be very misogynistic and anti-woman, and that's something that still goes around. It doesn't really bother me. What happened was basically uncontrolled anger by a bunch of people, and I got caught in the middle of that. It's nothing uncommon. I've heard from other bands both in the States and outside of the States that have gotten into similar altercations. Realistically, people might expect certain things from my performances or from my own personality based on what they've heard or read or think they might know.

It also proves the point that runs through a lot of your music, the theme that violence isn't something that happens somewhere else; it really is something that's always bubbling under the surface with everyone everywhere.

M.: Correct. And apparently what had happened there is that somebody got killed a week before there, in a similar situation, and Tampa has been known to have a lot of problems with violence in the scene and in the outskirts of the scene.

So there was already an undercurrent of tension there.

M.: Exactly. And it's Florida. It's the south. It's always there. Florida is out there. I lived there for a while, so I know exactly how it is. Tensions run high. There's a lot of male egos that have to look good in front of girls, so they need to do whatever they need to do. I was at the right place at the wrong time.

In the past, you've been somewhat outspoken about the problems in the industrial scene today. What do you think are the biggest factors that are holding the scene back?

M.: To me, the thing is that right now it's kind of a stagnant situation. Back in the day, even just as far back as a few years ago, there were more bands out there that were really trying to develop a sound all to themselves. Of course, all musicians are inspired by other musicians and other works, and that's a natural process, but it seems to me that there's really only a handful of projects that are still working with the original sound that they have established. Then there are other bands that, either as an homage or because they're just really influenced by that sound, have taken on that sound and ran with it as opposed to developing anything else. But I get criticized for that as well, you know? People think I'm still stuck doing one thing, but in reality, the one thing in common with all my albums is that they're all really different. They're almost compilations of different sounds and ideas. There are a lot of other artists that seem to be stuck, and that could be the reason why the scene hasn't really developed much. But I don't know; I'm thinking we're at the edge of that. The scene has been around for a long time, probably close to 30 years now, or over that, depending on what you consider 'industrial music,' and there is always a stagnant moment and then a rebirth, a new sound that will bring forth a whole new generation of music.

Besides your own project, what acts do you see spearheading that rebirth?

M.: I don't know if I consider my own stuff as a rebirth or anything. What I'm trying to do is more of a personal thing. I develop my own sound and whatever it is I want to work with, but it's more for personal taste and what I want to hear. As far as other bands out there trying to develop stuff, one of my favorite acts right now goes by two different names: Skitoma, which is Theo Harper, who also goes by the name Victo Ecret. He worked on In the Company of Wolves, and I like his stuff because he's adding something different. He's blending dub and some drum 'n' bass with darker aspects of industrial music. It's almost as if The Klinik decided to do a bit of hip-hop experimentation, kind of like what Techno Animal was doing, but in a completely different sense. It's more streetwise, and I like that aspect of it. Then, of course, The Operative is really touching into something, blending more funk-based sounds with the noisier aspects of rhythmic industrial music, and now he's adding in more of that classic Detroit electro style. Yeah, it's been done before, but not the way these artists are doing it. There's a plethora of artists out there that are really doing cool stuff that unfortunately doesn't appeal to labels—they don't know how to sell it, they don't know how to pitch it, and they don't know how to support it—but these artists are still continuing because people like it. They like this fresh style, this fresh take on something that they've never heard before.

It's been a while since you've done a full tour. Are you planning on touring for In the Company of Wolves?

M.: I've already done two shows since it came out, and I'm going to do a third one in L.A. soon. Right now, my concern is more working in the studio. I'm working on a double album, and that's taking a lot of my time and energy. I like touring. I like going out there and sharing the music. Some of the music is meant to be heard in a live ambiance; it gives the audience a completely different take on what they think they're hearing. They think they're hearing something in their headphones or on their little stereo or in the car, but a live setting changes aspects of the music completely. As much as we can, we try to do a lot of stuff live to change the sound from the recording. But for now, I'm kind of satisfied just doing a few shows here and there. There have been a lot of problems going on tour; you don't have the same promoters and the same venues. As music changes and the times come and go in different scenes and different cities and different countries, it affects the people booking the shows and the reliability of the promotion, so that kind of takes a lot of the fun out of touring. Plus you're pretty much living on the road, and it's not easy. I do see a tour in the future, but not any time soon. The next time I go out on an actual tour, as opposed to a few gigs here and there, I want to have something completely different. Usually, every tour I've done has had something different, something that the audience hadn't experienced, whether it's musically or visually, so I'm thinking the next time I do something like that it's going to be a lot more enjoyable, so that fans that have been waiting a long time to see another show, or people who have never seen a show, will be happy and excited about seeing something different.

Can you give us any details about the double album you're working on?

M.: Right now I don't want to give up the name yet, but it's a double album, it's going to be on Crunch Pod, and it's going to be a 10-year celebration of sorts. I started working on this music that's now known as Manufactura in 1998, so it's going to be about 10 years by the time the album comes out. The first CD is going to be completely new aspects, new sounds, and the second will be more of a combination of what you've heard on In the Company of Wolves, but it'll all be myself, remixing, re-editing and giving new life to some of my favorites, mostly from the first and second albums, which are pretty hard to get nowadays. Some people are selling used copies for $40.00 online, and that just boggles my mind, especially now when so many things can be downloaded. But yeah, the double album will be a mixture of old and new, mostly new, because I can't do the same thing over and over. I mean, I can, but I just don't want to. It'll hopefully be out before the end of the year, but I'm not exactly sure when. I'm taking my time with it, because I want it to be right.

Did you have anything else you wanted to share with your fans or with our readers?

M.: I just want to thank the fans and the DJs for their support. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for them, and they've been with me for 10 years, some of them, and other people have just gravitated to the scene and the music. It's still fun to introduce a new sound to people who have never heard something like that before, and through that they discover other artists, so I always want to send out thanks to people who support that kind of music and have an open mind about music, as opposed to wanting more of the same, and that's usually the core of the fans; they expect the unexpected.