The Obelisk Questionnaire: Xtian Pandtle of Sorge
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Xtian Pandtle of Sorge
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Sound creators and live experience curators. Some of us happen to be musicians. All of us have long been fascinated by sound/emotions and we started Sorge as an interpersonal project, so being able to play shows and record actual songs has been an experience we’re all thankful for. When you get down to it, some of us were sad a few years ago and also liked large amps.
Describe your first musical memory.
I personally come from young, X’er parents and I was born in the early ’90s, so grunge and other alt rock stuff was always playing in my house. Something off of In Utero was dubbed “the run around” song in my young life, as I would just go nuts running in a circle to it. Live music speaking, first concert was the Beach Boys, one of the few shows that Brian Wilson played with them during that time, which I was WAY too young to properly appreciate. Youth is wasted on the young.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Playing live shows is always incredible, but tbh, its all so stimulating that everything runs together in my head. So I’m going to demure and say it’s a tie between hitting the peak of a particularly great warehouse rave and crying during Tony Levin’s solo version of the “Moonchild” theme a few years ago.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Every load-in, my belief that everyone, at base, has a good heart is put to the test.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Personal development for the artists and, ideally, for their audience as well. Music is an alchemy, combining different sorts of phenomena into a cohesive whole which transcends the sum of its parts. As such, there’s a feedback loop between personal intentionality and artistic output. One motivates the other and vice versa, meaning that music is a microcosm in which we can explore the inner tensions that lay below our everyday, personal existences. I think that’s pretty cool.
How do you define success?
Loosing >$1k annually on artistic projects. Jk, success is a lie fed to us by an exploitative industry now in its dying days. Just do your thing and enjoy your time.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The slow but steady deterioration of communal relationships coupled with a rise of professional nihilism during my brief time on this earth. I also grew up on the early internet, so lots of “can’t unsee.” That being said, my perspective is that it’s better to stare into the abyss than to pretend that there is no abyss, so I’m thankful for everything I’ve seen/experienced.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
We’re all really interested in multimedia and weird instrumentation, so creating some music videos and atmospheric interludes which correspond is something we’re all interested in.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Demonstrate the radical care that is at the basis of all our experiences (i.e. sorge).
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
ELDEN RING ELDEN RING ELDEN RING ELDEN RING (x9000)
https://www.facebook.com/sorgedc
https://sorgedc.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/sorgedc
