Comf (AKA Jazz Kane) is a Pōneke based electronic artist - delving deep into his own experiences and thoughts through maximalist, textural production and raw, vulnerable vocals. His latest undertaking is his biggest yet - 3 EPs, each to be released in the months of September, October and November. This suite is called the ‘Texture Tapes’, due to their themes being Water, Clay, and Ceramic respectively. We chatted to Jazz about this project, his label, and more.

How did the idea form for this project? 3 EPs is quite an undertaking!

I’ve always been invested in creating music that is based around a concept or has some underlying intention, it really grounds me in what I’m doing and what I want to convey, and helps give me a sense of purpose and drive. A frequent collaborator of mine, multi-media artist Alice West, got invested in creating ceramics, and I found myself a little mesmerised by the process as a whole. All the different sounds and elemental changes that are required in order for this process to succeed really left me thinking about what it would sound like to integrate these kinds of sounds and changes into a more musical context. What would these textures sound like if sonically represented? From then on, it had to be water, clay, and ceramic, leading to the start of The Texture Tapes!

You must have some crazy time management skills in order to make this happen - any tips?

This project has definitely been time consuming and mentally pretty consuming as well, I try to make sure I give myself a decent break right when I start getting those feelings of exhaustion. The worst thing I manage to do is sit in front of the same phrase of a song for hours and it really kicks you when you’re down hanging onto that desperation to get something finished. I’ve been working on these EPs for about 2 years now, and Process was really the first part of this release, I feel like it’s super important to give yourself deadlines to give you a sense of structure and purpose to your work, but not let them rule you or feel guilty when you don’t meet them. If your art is worth waiting for, people will wait for it.

How did your musical journey start?

I used to be a big fan of all things indie bands and guitar pedals and freaky effects, and I think to some extent this still manifests itself in my work, albeit in a different form. I stopped playing in bands around 2015, after a few members from an old group Groozy left for international adventures, but I never stopped making music. In 2017 I was prompted by a sonic arts assignment to actually start recording these songs, and 6 months later I stripped the whole EP of guitars, reworked a bunch of things, and released my debut EP July 2018.

How did you find working with all the featured artists on these EPs?

Honestly this has been one of the most incredibly rewarding parts of this entire process. I have had so many amazing artists work with me over these releases, and it’s been fundamental to how I make music to really dig into how local artists I love do it as well. It’s also been a really interesting experience to have artists like Ilena and Japes come into the fold and contribute vocals and production for the EPs, I kind of forget that these are really the first tracks that I didn’t produce almost entirely on my own so it was nice to lose a bit of that control and loosen up the reins a bit. It opened me up to a real diversity of soundscapes that I now feel much more comfortable engaging with.

Tell me about your label Dust Supply!

Dust Supply was launched at the same time as I released my first EP, and it’s something I’ve been running with long-time friend and collaborator Belphegor, who also happens to be one of a few who are up and ready to provide feedback on my 3am mixes. I really loved the things we were making back then, but we both felt that there wasn’t really anything in the NZ sphere that was catering to the kinds of music we were making. I mean the first EP conceptually was about the devolution of a relationship, told through the slow deterioration and distortion of the tracks, it wasn’t an easy sell. But I wanted to take risks, and I still do, so 3 years later we’re still making music and now have a number of artists under our wing now including Kiidotcom, Earl Green and Chris CK. Our main goal is to provide a sustainable platform for artists who slip through the cracks of routine genre but who are making incredible music and want support with distributing, promoting it, releasing it, or otherwise.

There are some pretty interesting visuals associated with this project - many of which you produced pretty much by yourself. Where did the ideas for these come from?

This is really the first batch of releases of mine that I have really started to develop and cultivate what Comf visuals look like by myself. It’s been super entertaining and a nice reprise from music to get into making visuals through premiere and photoshop, but I am consumed by the idea of making something out of nothing. I love turning the simplest things into music or visuals but they’re distorted beyond the point of their normal sound or look to create a twisted sense of normalcy. The most simple things if utilised well can be really effective, and I really enjoy the challenge of turning something that would seem completely inappropriate for a musical or visual context (ie the sound of a man sneezing, or a video of me sleeping on my couch) and finding ways to make them work.

You probably don’t want to be thinking about this right now, but what’s next for Comf?

Once all these EP’s are out I’m going to be putting the majority of my efforts into doing a bunch of live shows. I’ve got the official Texture Tapes Live set at Meanwhile Gallery with Japes and Valentina coming up on the 6th November, and also doing a couple of little shows before playing Twisted Frequencies at the end of the year. I will still be leaving some time for making more music, and I can’t give too much away but I’m going to be doing a few production bits and pieces which I’m very excited to get started on once the Texture Tapes are all released!

Thanks for chatting to us! Have you got anything you’d like to plug?

Thanks for having me! It’s been lovely to work with you on the releases for Water! Clay is out Friday 29th November, it’s the second of the two tapes and it’s a real exploration into the state of change, and the transitional process from water to ceramic.

Also you can find tickets to the Gig at Meanwhile Gallery in Pōneke here: https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/gig/77011/Comf-Texture-Tapes-Live-Feat-Japes-Hybrid-Rose-Knifedge-Visuals.utr

Comf is a truly original artist complete with his own sound, which is especially impressive considering he is so early in his career - we can’t wait to hear what Comf releases next! We were lucky to direct one of the music videos for his ‘Water’ EP, which you can check out here:

Socials:

https://www.facebook.com/COMFIBOY

https://www.instagram.com/thoroughlyuseless/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hRfsi1NRe2v8t2q7BBWhV

https://soundcloud.com/comfiboy

https://twitter.com/iamcomf

https://www.comf.bandcamp.com