Ever since he dropped his Dark Rift debut two summers ago, Travis Egedy (a.k.a. Pictureplane, that dude on the right with the devious grin) has been the poster child of an electronic art-punk movement that’s as visually stunning as it is aurally otherworldly. Tapping into mix of DIY psychedelia and classic rave fundamentals, Egedy music is headphone candy for sure, but as Pictureplane’s numerous remixes and mixtapes have proven, the boy can pack in some serious bounce. For his latest album, Egedy enlisted the help of label mate and friend Jupiter Keyes—percussionist, guitarist and general all-purpose noisemaker in LA’s HEALTH—to inject a little more juice into his lo-fi sound. Thee Physical is the fruit of their collective labor, and moving swiftly up the charts on our 2011 Best Of board on the power of sexjams like “Black Nails,” “Trancegender” and “Real Is A Feeling,” a title track to the club night he throws at his studio/home/utopia Rhinoceropolis.

We wanted to know more about how Egedy and Keyes brewed up this evil concoction, which you can stream in its entirety here, but rather than jump on a quick call or pop over for a cup of sugar and some light banter, ChinaShop jumped face first into an epic Skype three-way with Egedy and his producing partner. What transpired was a 45-minute interview— featuring questions provided by Keyes—that will most definitely not win any awards for excellence in journalism, but might make you pee in your pants a little. Check it out after the jump

How did you guys first get to know each other? There’s a major similarity between the bands in that the music you make is inextricably linked to the visual art you produce. They’re kinda one in the same.

Jupiter: We played at Monkey Mania, which is a little venue similar to Rhinoceropolis where Travis now lives and works and does his art. He came to the show and at some point we played a show later at Rhino.

Travis: It must have been like two years later or something.

Jupiter: You gave us some of your music and we were like, “Holy shit, this is fucking awesome.” We just fell in love with it.

Travis: I’m glad you guys listened to it. I’m sure there are so many times when a random person gives you a CD and you just never listen to it or it gets lost.

Jupiter: As soon as we heard that shit we were like, “We gotta get on this. This guy is making some really cool stuff.”

What about the partnership for this album?

Travis: It was just an idea at first. I’ve always recorded and done all of my albums the exact same way, and it’s really limited because my equipment is really old and janky. We really wanted to make this record sound as good as possible, so my manager and Lovepump United—which is also HEALTH’s label—were like, “Why don’t you try working with Jupiter? He’s starting out as a music producer.” We didn’t know what was gonna happen or what it was gonna sound like, but we gave it a go and it turned out being really, really awesome.

Jupiter: Travis’ sound is super lo-fi. It’s awesome and it works beautifully for him, but sometimes when homemade stuff gets put on a bunch of different stereos, it doesn’t translate as well. That’s what Lovepump was really looking for; trying to get Travis’ music to the point where when it’s played at the club, it jumps out as much as possible. I gotta be honest, I was a little hesitant, not because I didn’t want to take on the project, but just because I love Pictureplane’s music so much that I really wanted to do it justice.

Travis: I was nervous too, honestly. I’m a little stubborn and the production aspect of my music is really important to me, but like I said, my equipment is really limited and I knew that it could sound better. It is really lo-fi music, and it’s not lo-fi as a fashion statement. It’s lo-fi because it really is lo-fi. (Laughs)

Okay, enough with my boring questions.

Travis: Where did you get your questions from, Jupiter?

Jupiter: A lot of different sources. Some of them are serious, some of them are completely ridiculous. They’re all over the map. So go to random.org and there’s a little number generator. Type in 1 to 29 and then hit “generate number” and we’ll see what random number we get.

Travis: I got 11.

I got 11.

Jupiter: Really? That is not random. Well, this is one of the more serious ones. “In your career as an artist or musician—or even a human being—who has been the most influential in informing who you are?

Travis: There’s been a few. I know that throughout making this record, I was reading a lot of essays by Genesis P-Orridge and looking back at the history of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle and the concepts that they were working with throughout the ’80s and early ’90s. The idea that their central theme was de-conditioning the self from all the thought pollution; cleaning the self of the evils of the status quo and finding your true inner self and just how magical that is.

Jupiter: I can definitely hear that on the album and in your aesthetic in general. I think that’s a driving force.

Travis: The visual language they used. The borrowing from cult-based imagery and symbols that are charged with a specific meaning. Their work within chaos, magic and the occult. It’s such a fascinating history. Throbbing Gristle, man.There’s no equivalent to that band. What they did really shattered a lot of boundaries. I’ve always been interested in artists and philosophers that push things forward and break down walls. Genesis is sort of like a post-human in the sense that he’s just beyond what most people even think of as normal. He’s a pure human, it’s amazing.

Jupiter: Okay, Travis. Hit generate and see what we get next.

Travis: I got 2.

Jupiter: “How do you feel about the collaboration between Korn and Skrillex and what does it mean for the future of music?”

Travis: Oh sweet, this is a good question. You know, I was really into dubstep when I first heard it around 2008, when it was really new in North America, and the crazy wobble brostep thing hadn’t taken over yet. Skrillex is sort of the embodiment of that whole scene now. I don’t know. The thing with Korn…that song is so next-level terrible that it’s kinda interesting. It’s a sound that’s extremely heavy. I wouldn’t want to listen to it, but I like it because it’s new. I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but anything new you can’t really hate on it because at least they’re trying to do something fresh. Skrillex is huge. He’s bigger than Korn right now. Maybe they’ll go on stadium tours together and play insane brostep.

Did you say brostep?

Jupiter/Travis: Brostep.

Wow.

Travis: It’s an actual thing, man. I live in Colorado and it’s huge here. These bros from the mountains—snowboarder guys on their longboards—cruise up to the dubstep show with their beanies and their pooka shells and just fist pump all night. It’s insane.

Jupiter: All right, hit generate.

Travis: We’re gonna do 29 questions?

Jupiter: No, we’re gonna do this until we get bored.

Travis: I got 4.

Jupiter: Okay. “If you could have sex with any animal—land, sea or air—which animal would it be and why?”

Travis: I remember being on tour with HEALTH. I think we were in Boston and we were eating clam chowder…

I don’t like where this is going.

Travis: John asked me that question because he was gonna tweet about it. I remember saying a baby seal because they’re so cute.

Jupiter: They are adorable. Especially the Arctic seals that have the really nice white fur.

And they have really big eyes.

Jupiter: But I’m gonna flip it on you real quick. Here’s the second part of the question. “If you could be fucked by any animal, which would it be and why?” See, before you were fucking the animal. Now you’re being fucked by it. This is different.

Travis: It is. I would want something gentle. I don’t know, man. Maybe a dog or something? (Laughs) Some kind of cute dog. Like a little Pomeranian.

It would be over quickly.

Jupiter: (Makes barking noises)

Travis: It’s easier to think about fucking an animal.

Jupiter: See, that’s the twist.

Travis: Have you ever seen the videos of families at Sea World that are swimming with the dolphins and the dolphins just start humping them?

Jupiter: Yeah, dolphins are extremely sexual creatures. They’re one of the few that we know of that have sex for pleasure.

Travis: I wouldn’t mind doin’ it with a dolphin.

That would be magical.

Travis: Mind sex. Okay, I generated 6.

Jupiter: “Would you characterize yourself as a happy person, and do you have any advice on how to be or stay happy?”

Travis: More so than a happy person I’m an optimistic person. I can see the positive side to a lot of things and that can lead to being happy. I’m not like a bubblegum happy person all the time. I’m kinda stoic sometimes, but yeah, it’s like a secret of the universe, really. Being positive and giving love to people, you see those things in return. Creating positive spaces and being aware of other people and their feelings. Okay, I got 4.

Jupiter: 4 again? I guess that means we ask Rich. “If you could have sex with any animal.”

This is me fucking the animal, correct?

Jupiter: Yes, but you know what’s coming up next.

Yeah. I’d say maybe something with big ears so I could hold on. Like an elephant.

Travis: Elephant sex? Wow.

Jupiter: Yeah, you could just crawl up in there.

I wouldn’t want to turn that around for the other part of this question.

Jupiter: So where are you going to go next?

Maybe a three-toed sloth? You probably wouldn’t feel it happening it would be so slow.

Jupiter: But they’ve got some crazy claws.

True.

Jupiter: Just throw some big oven mitts on there. Okay, next.

Travis: 7.

Jupiter: Travis, I had donuts this morning so that inspired this question. “What is your favorite and/or least favorite donut?”

Travis: I’m really not a donut guy. I wouldn’t say I hate them. I’m just not a sweets kinda guy. I remember when I was in art school there was a donut and coffee place and their dumpster would just be full of donuts every day. So before school I would just get a box and get all these dumpster donuts and hand ’em out to people. Not even saying they were from the dumpster. Just free donuts.

Jupiter: Alright, next!

Travis: 10.

Jupiter: “Any tours planned in the near future?”

Travis: Yes, there’s two. Starting on July 20th, I think, I’m touring the East Coast and a little bit of the Midwest with Teengirl Fantasy and Gatekeeper. I think it’s gonna be a legendary tour in the sense that we’re very like-minded bands doing contemporary electronic music.

Jupiter: What’s touring life like for Pictureplane?

Travis: I remember on the HEALTH tour, you guys would call me Captain Experience. Being on tour is sort of every band’s dream, and I don’t forget that when I’m out on the road. I love meeting people, I love seeing new places and gaining experience from different situations. With touring, there’s a good element of chaos even though it can be regimented and planned out, I like to shake that up and see how much fun I can have. Generate again?

Jupiter: Generate!

Travis: Okay, 20.

Jupiter: Alright, this is good. I talked to you, Travis, about my theory on how a person’s first concert is formative in how they develop later in life. “What was your first significant musical concert—and assuming that my theory is valid—how did your first concert effect you?”

Travis: My first concert was a big festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico when I was in 7th grade called Edgefest and the headliners were Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock. That was like ’97 when they were really hot shit. I had the best time ever. I felt really old, I smoked some weed, Limp Bizkit totally killed it. It was great.

Jupiter: If we take a look at your musical career there are certainly some hybrid rap music things going on. (Laughs)

Travis: I don’t know how hugely influential Limp Bizkit was to me, but I was into the rap/rock thing for a little while. I loved Rage Against The Machine. I loved heavy music.

Jupiter: Despite what brostep is going to do to the aesthetic landscape, you can’t get away from the fact that it feels good to finally have some heavy music back.

Okay, let’s do one more.

Travis: 14.

Jupiter: This is kinda a three-part question. The first half of it is this. “What, in your mind, makes something artistically valid and what role do you feel authenticity plays in that?”

Travis: Wow. It might change for different people, but art is something intuitive. In the art world, we live in such a weird, post-post-modern reality where everything is legitimate and everything is valid. I’ll flip this cup upside-down and that’s my art piece. That was always really attractive to me because it can be about style. But there’s a point where you gotta be able to know what’s good and sift through the bullshit. There’s a lot of bullshit art out there, but at the same time, who’s to say what’s valid? One person’s terrible, inauthentic piece of art could be full of meaning to someone else. I know that a lot of stuff I do will get questioned as being valid or legitimate, and I can’t tell someone what to think, but I guess if you know that it’s honest in your heart and in your mind, then it’s all that really matters.

Jupiter: I guess ultimately it’s in the eyes of the beholder.

Travis: There’s also an art to bullshitting.

I think we can all agree that Rebecca Black’s “Friday” isn’t art.

Travis: (Laughs) That’s why that video really took off. It’s really unaware of itself. When it was made, she wasn’t making some sort of ironic joke.

Jupiter: I would disagree. If we talk about what’s in the eyes of the beholder, when it’s reframed to so many people, it can be seen as a piece of art. Even though it was unintentional art, it still functions as a source of inspiration for a lot of people. It forces you to think about the world in a different way. That video is really intense.

I think you just hit it on the head. I think art can be defined as anything that serves as a legitimate source of inspiration for someone.

Travis: Definitely.

Jupiter: That brings me to the second part of the question. You get one million dollars a week for the rest of your life, but the catch is you have to have eyes on your butt. Would you do it?

Travis: You’d have to change your whole lifestyle, man. How would you sit down? You’d need to not wear pants.

Jupiter: (Silence)

Travis: I don’t think I would do it. That sounds terrible, but with all that money, maybe you could have a surgery.

You’d have a new appreciation for the inside of a toilet bowl.

Travis: Definitely.

Interview by Rich Thomas. Photos by Jono Ryan.
Pictureplane / Teengirl Fantasy Tour Dates
7.20 Boston, MA @ Great Scott
7.21 Philadelphia, PA @ Voyeur
7.22 New York, NY @ TBD
7.23 Brooklyn, NY @ 285 Kent
7.24 Baltimore, MD @ Club Hippo
7.25 Washington, DC @ Subterranean A
7.26 PITTSBURGH, PA @ Belvedere’s
7.27 Cleveland, OH @ B-Side
7.28 Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
7.29 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
7.30 Columbus, OH @ Double Happiness
7.31 Buffalo, NY @ Mohawk
8.20 Long Island City, NY @ MoMA PS1