Almost exactly two years ago, when blizzards were hitting hard in Brooklyn, New York, songwriter/producer Alan Astor conceived of E4RTH. Feeling the isolating weight of his city buried under so much snow, Alan took refuge in his apartment and wiled away the hours by the warm glow of the digital nature scenes of BBC’s Blue Planet HD series. With the sound off and his favorite radio station — Hot 97 — subbing in as the soundtrack, E4RTH was born.
Since then, recording with “whoever is around” — be they friends, strangers, people Alan is newly introduced to — E4RTH is globally-minded in its creative vision while musically informed by the KLF and Die Antwoord’s counter-culture pop.
Having just debuted a new video for ICE4GE (below) and a cheeky tribute to 12/21 in the form of a cover of R.E.M.’s, It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (also below), Alan takes one last look back at 2012 before stepping headlong into 2013.
___
Describe 2012 in one sentence.
No one knows what the future holds.
Best moment by far.
This moment, or any of them really.
Favorite record this year?
Felix Baumgarten (ba-dum-chssh!)
What song proved to be the biggest earworm?
Usher’s Climax.
What artist did something pretty cool this year that deserves a special nod?
Snoop Lion became himself.
Fess up: Like Christmas, love Christmas, or hate Christmas?
Oh — are they doing that again this year?
Where will you be on Christmas morning?
In red wool footed pajamas, my knees pressed against the hardwood floor with eager hands shuffling presents under the tree to find that one special gift that I know my mother or father (or whomever) would never have forgotten lest they find their beloved child in tears on the living room floor with dreams shattered like the cheap plastic Christmas lights stepped on by the boots of a willful someone carrying freshly chopped wood/cake/festive drink with alcohol across the house at a frenetic holiday pace… JK.
What’s on the top of your Christmas wishlist?
Can you believe we still don’t have a Teenage Engineering OP-1??
If you were to cover a Christmas song, which would it be?
Mike Oldfield ‘s Peace On Earth.
Remember Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? Which vocalist’s part would you sing or which instrumentalist would you sub-in for if a 2012 remake was proposed?
Phil Collins, poorly.
Musical goals for 2013?
Write songs in our dreams, wake up refreshed.
___
E4RTH’s debut EP “Free Your Mind And The Cash Will Follow” will be released in early 2013. “>The debut single It’s Where We Live (with mixes) is available on Soundcloud as a free download.
