The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ricardo Jimenez Gómez of Pylar and Orthodox
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: Ricardo Jimenez Gómez of Pylar and Orthodox
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Metal as a style has given me countless moments of satisfaction and happiness since it crossed my life almost 30 years ago. In each of my projects as a musician, my goal is to give back to the style some of that fun. To do this, I try to expand its language and expand its limits, with the aim of taking metal to unexplored regions, what I call speculative metal.
Describe your first musical memory.
I have two early memories, though I don’t know which came first: seeing my father sit in the dark at the living room watching a Pink Floyd show, or hearing my father humming Beatles songs over the radio while he was shaving.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Working with Billy Anderson and having him appreciate and enjoy my playing and compositions.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I’ve never had to put anything on the line at that level as a musician. I have always acted with personal enjoyment as the main objective.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Progression is a western concept that refers to linear time and that there is always a place to reach. I prefer to see the matter in such a way that artistic manifestations are portals or thresholds and that if you always open or pass through the same ones, the enjoyment decreases.
Walking through a familiar place where you feel good is nice, but for me nothing beats the feeling of stepping into the unknown: following the distant sounds of the white whale’s hunt described by Melville, imagining what those insane sounds described by Lovecraft sound like, trying to perceive the electromagnetic crackles described by Reza Negarestani in the Cyclonopedia, trying to mix the sound of Manowar with Black Flag…
How do you define success?
Penetrate the dark dreamlike complexities of time to search for the abyssal sediments of the meaning matter.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Jaws, the movie, when I was a boy. Since then I have thalassophobia.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Music created only with synthesizers.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Opening cracks in our minds.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Visit Gobekli-Tepe.
http://pylar.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/PPYLARR
http://www.instagram.com/pylar_the_band
https://www.facebook.com/orthodoxband/
http://orthodoxband.bandcamp.com/
http://humointernacional.com
http://www.instagram.com/humointl
