TALWST
BY: S.C.
SATURDAY, THE FOURTEENTH OF JANUARY, 2012. SIX THIRTY-THREE.
TALWST, the artist formerly known as Curtis Santiago, is an enthralling multi-disciplinary talent hailing from Toronto, Canada, the city currently known as music‘s Mecca. As an accomplished aesthetic artist and emerging musical sensation, TALWST infuses the scene with a level of artistry reminiscent of The Renaissance. His latest single, produced by fellow Canadian extraordinare, Illangelo, invokes the spirit of John Lennon‘s lifelong peace campaign by calling for a proverbial ceasefire to be heard around the world.
S.C.: I‘d like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to get better acquainted with you here at DOC which actually leads to my first question, how do you prefer to be addressed on and off stage?
TALWST: TALWST, pronounced tall waist.
S.C.: TALWST it is. As you know, this month at DOC is dedicated to global peace. Your current single, Peace Tonight, vividly illustrates the issues that take precedence in the music industry and popular culture today. Do you believe that these material factors are in direct competition with the pursuit of peace?
TALWST: Yeah, absolutely I do. I feel like the images that we are constantly bombarded with in popular culture merely serve to lead us futher astray from the original knowledge and original way we as humans are supposed to interact with each other. More and more I feel like there‘s a plan in place to turn us into sheep that no longer feel the need to uprise or speak with action. I know there‘s a change and an awakening happening and as humans we will contradict ourselves. I know I will contradict myself in the art that I make and the music that I make but my intent is just to seek more, to question more.
S.C.: Well put. I‘m not sure if many people are aware but in addition to music, you are quite an accomplished visual artist. Does your art inspire your music or are they each individual endeavors?
TALWST: Each individual endeavors inspired by life. My inspiration more and more everyday is the life that I‘m living and that everyone else is living. Some days I sit on the street corner and watch all these people and I‘m like, "How is my music and what I‘m doing relevant to them?" They all have their own story, their own life; their own circle of energy. And that‘s what inspires me. I almost want to glimpse into what they‘re doing and reflect that rather than have them look at my art. [pauses] They are also similar, I feel like they are essentially the same thing, the painting and the music, because it‘s all frequencies. The way our eyes vibrate when we look at certain colors, the way our bodies resonate when we hear certain sounds..
S.C.: Yes, indeed. Life is waves. Being a mixed media artist, you move fluidly between disciplines. What do you make of the blurring of genres in the arts? Is this a good or bad thing?
TALWST: Well its good because the legends have always had multiple skills. The minute I try to say, "Okay I‘m just going to do music", I‘m limiting myself. I understand now the idea of projects and timing but I believe that I have time to do all the things that I want to do if I‘m organized with it.
S.C.: Is this a return to a Renaissance man ideal?
TALWST: Absolutely. I started a few years ago calling it, I‘m a hipster-ssance man. I don‘t think the word hipster is a dirty term because of the origin. Of hip-star, like a hip cat; someone who is knowledgeable of the trends and understands how to let people free up themselves by introducing them to ideas that allow them to either wild out or reflect. Renaissance is the ideal; that [time] period for me is the ideal.
S.C.: I just recently learned one person‘s interpretation of the term hipster and it was explained to me as someone who counters popular culture intentionally, but that counter within itself becomes the new it thing. Do you agree with that? How do you define hipster?
TALWST: I think they‘re just ahead of the trend. They‘re ahead of that wave so they‘re just on it and as it washes past them, what gets washed off gets stuck to the group.
S.C.: Wow, so that kind of flows into my next question.. up until recently, we were considered to be in the Information Age where everything is known but nothing is quite understood. Now many social critics claim that we are entering the Conceptual Age where pattern recognizers and brand makers reign supreme. Do you think the public‘s awareness of the patterns that previously went unnoticed has contributed to the diminished shelf life of music?
TALWST: No, because I know that Outkast is still eating off of the Hey Ya record. I know that Bob Marley‘s family is still making tons of dough and selling tons of records based on the patterns that he recognized. Those who truly stand out will have a long shelf life, forever. You can‘t fuck with that. We‘re exposed to so much more now, but it wasn‘t like 10 years ago all those artists didn‘t exist, the amount of artists has always been the same we just have the opportunity to see more of them. There will be those that will always be hot because they recognize the cycles, they use the cycles, but then add to it to create a twist, a new cycle that the next generation will pick up on. Like how A$AP Rocky picked up on what Bone Thugs and Harmony did and added to that cycle and that‘s not going to be the last.
S.C.: But are the artists that are setting the trends and recognizing patterns truly the ones that are at the top and saturating mainstream media or is it mainly the ones that are thrust there for whatever reason?
TALWST: I don‘t necessarily think that the ones who recognize the cycles saturate the top because when you‘re ahead of the curve like that not everybody‘s going to get what you‘re doing. So your numbers maybe a little smaller, you know? You may not be at the top, but you're going to stay close to it for a long time versus *descending whistle* drop down. I look at Kanye for example; his ability to stay at the top isn‘t a one person effort, he‘s surrounded by a series of trendsetters. The saturation at the top, I think, speaking solely in music, comes from old school major labels and putting the money up to repeat one message.
S.C.: That‘s actually one thing that I criticize popular music for, the fact that it takes 96 people to put out one track. On the same token, I revere collaboration and I think that its something more or less of the past because now it‘s more like, "I record my verse here, you record yours over there, someone mixes it together and we never really had any contact.." But when its being sold to you as one artist that does everything.. how do you weigh in on that?
TALWST: I think that‘s the history of art. Its like Michelangelo would have done some work in his studio but he also would have left and there would have been people still painting in the final ideas.
S.C.: You think?
TALWST: Oh yeah.
S.C.: See, I don‘t have enough background in the area to say.
TALWST: And I know of major artists in New York who dream up their concept but then send it to China to have it manufactured, printed or created. For example, Prince can‘t mix and master his shit so he has to bring in other people to do it. I feel like its just an extension to create the strongest project possible. If you‘re going for a super polished kind of vibe, then it takes many hands.
S.C.: I agree. I don‘t think there‘s anything wrong with many hands, just with the way that its marketed as the superhuman, the artist that does it all. Sure when it comes to mixing and mastering, they‘ll give credit where credit is do, but when it comes to the main functions that people can comprehend like songwriting and producing, its often attributed to one person when that‘s really not the case. Doesn‘t that discourage the true artists when they‘re not given credit for their craft?
TALWST: I think as an artist you should have an understanding of humanity. We want to believe in things above ourselves so when we look at someone for adoration we want to believe that they can do all the things that we can‘t. The public wants to buy into that so its given to them.
S.C.: So when can we expect your highly anticipated EP, Alien Tentacle Sex?
TALWST: The music is all recorded and now we‘re working on the body of art. Its going to come with 5 images so those who purchase the EP get an encoded print on an encoded digital file. We‘re aiming for no later than my birthday, February 14th.
S.C.: I can't wait. Final question of the night. Fill in the blank, 2012 will be the year of ___________________.
TALWST: The Canadian.
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