To my surprise local electronic artist Tim Koch has never been interviewed by Adelaide street press despite having released more recordings than most local musicians. For his latest album 'Islandtones' Koch has received support from the unlikely source of Belgium label U-Cover. Thankfully Inertia are providing support here. As Koch points out, "Otherwise it just wouldn't have come into Australia at all." Considering that 'Islandtones' is one of the finest ambient albums ever recorded in this country that would have been a great loss. This highlights the lack of support the style receives in Australia and Koch has had to live with this problem throughout his career. "You take it to a point. You can play live, get some airplay on Triple J and then what do you do from there?" he asks. "There's not the interest in live performance of that kind of music. You're always a little bit disgruntled because you don't know how to push it. If you're in a more conventional guitar band there's so many more avenues in terms of live gigs and promotion. It's easier to promote a band of four or five people whereas it's a bit faceless with techno or electronica." At least Koch is philosophical about the problem: "In an industry based around image and all of that kind of shit it's a bit difficult," he says.

Finding support for his music is surprisingly easier in Europe and Koch explains the advantages of IT in the industry. "Just becoming friends with them through the internet," Koch explains. "Because I had the Europe trip last year I sort of hooked up with them. We sat down and did the artwork and mastered it from the home of the guy who runs the label. That was in Antwerp, Belgium. I sort of had the trip cued up and I asked if we could hook up so that I'd have more control over the whole relationship. Usually it's a case of sending some mails off to someone overseas and that's about it."

Koch is thankful that he got the chance from the Australia Council to promote his art overseas. "I just got money to showcase really, which is just a matter of taking a huge stack of CDs over to Europe for press, print mags, radio interviews and stuff." He respects the need for important organizations like the Council. "Australia Council just pump money into things like that. Especially if you're in a genre like electronica you've got more of an angle 'cause you're under-represented if you live in Australia."

Koch comments on the popularity of pieces like Vakohai because of the use of female vocal tracks. "Triple J have played that track with Jenni Lush from Suvome a few times," he says appreciatively. "People have picked up on that, probably because it's got an underlying beat and a female vocal. I did three or four remixes for an EP they were putting out. It's still in the works I think. That was kind of a byproduct from that. I still had the vocal and it just fitted exactly with an existing track. That happens sometimes. I had to chop it up a bit but in terms of pitch it just fitted exactly."

Koch will go anywhere to obtain sounds needed for his work. From his European trip he collected a wealth of samples used on 'Isalndtones.' "Cuzbowla has some Metro sounds," he admits. "On the French Metro there are some really strange sounds. You think about the warning sounds you hear on Australian trains and it was really bizarre hearing different sounds in different countries so I just chucked in and manipulated different sounds that I found in different countries in Europe." Koch smiles as he explains that inclusion of pipe music at the end of the album. "It was literally a recording on a Sunday morning in San Sebastian in Spain," he says. "I don't know what it was. There were these three guys just walking around for hours from six in the morning and continuously playing that loop. It was just bizarre so I thought I'd grab it."

Speaking of bizarre, there is a challenge for some artists to make their music accessible. Especially with live performance there is a need to entertain and some artists go to extremes to do this. Koch points out that overseas the attitude to live Electronic performance is not as restrictive. "It's different seeing gigs in Europe because they don't seem to care as much. They don't seem to care: all they care about is what they're hearing. They don't care that it's just a guy with two laptops; whereas in Australia the emphasis is more on having a guy or a girl standing up there with instruments. There's far more emphasis here on the performance aspect."

Some artists like Aphex Twin entertain with bizarre performances in Doll Houses and other curious alternatives. "That's an angle that people use, which is good in a way. They're making an effort to make what they're doing live a bit more enjoyable," Koch enthuses. Speaking of Aphex Twin, Koch is used to the comparisons with his own music. "Everything gets compared to him," he explains. "More than anyone else he set the direction. People stopped labeling everything as techno."

With his own music he understands the connections with this electronic luminary. "That's the most obvious comparison. I've got no problem with it at all. If that's the first thing that springs to peoples' minds then that's good. You've got to pay your respect to what he's done." To Koch's chagrin there are plenty of knockers who aren't prepared to give the genre a chance. He states that terms like Intelligent Dance Music don't help matters by alienating people in the first place. But he has no tolerance for anyone claiming that Aphex Twin or the genre have little to no creativity. "People say, "Anyone could have done what he did,"" he complains. "But that's the point. No one else did do it."

That's not entirely true: Koch has also managed to create his own works of brilliant originality and there's plenty more to come in the future if 'Islandtones' is anything to go by.

Anthony Paxton

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