fullonline: Who is "Shulman", where are you from and what is your musical background?

Shulman: Shulman is a multi cross genre electronic music project, with emphasis on the more mystical, spiritual and psychedelic side of electronic music. It is led by me (Yaniv) and mainly co-produced with Omri Harpaz, but there are many other contributors to it. As for myself, I'm from Israel, and my musical background includes drumming, piano, and years of musical production in many genres, such as dance, psy-trance, hip hop, psybient, rock, and more.

fullonline: Are you married and/or have kids?

Shulman: I'm not married yet though I have a deep and meaningful love in my life. I'm quite sure I want kids sometime in the future, but I don't know exactly when. What I really want for now is to focus on my music and that will be the natural direction for my life in the near future I believe.

fullonline: How Aleph Zero Records was born?

Shulman: Aleph Zero was initially created to release only my music. It happened as a direct consequence of the horrible experience I had with the label which released my debut album, "Soundscapes and Modern Tales", Shaffel Records. They lied to me relentlessly about everything. And did absolutely nothing but hurt my release in every possible way they could. The most important thing for me is honesty, and since I was so hurt and didn't know who I can trust in this business, I decided that I'm not taking any more chances with other. And with that notion Aleph Zero was born. After a short while I had a chat with Shahar Bar Yitzhak A.K.A. DJ Shahar (the founder of isratrance.com) and we decided that he will join me and we will develop Aleph Zero as a label that puts honesty, integrity, and professionalism at the top of the list. Shahar is an amazing person and a good friend and these days he finalizes his master degree in Indian culture studies. Also, I have great respect for him on the business side of things, since he is a very honest guy (even if it doesn't always serve him good) and we seem to share a lot of high standards of working and approach towards doing things. Also we pay on time and never bullshit and if something goes wrong we say so at once and try to resolve things through honesty and cooperation. I'm sure that every artist or business that ever worked with us will tell you the same.

I think that what makes Aleph Zero so special is the non compromising approach towards the quality of music we release and the attention to every small detail in producing our products. We could have already released 15 albums by now based on the amount of material we receive for consideration. But we tend to filter most of it and keep only those that we feel stand in our standards of musical production, those special tracks or artists that have a real musical story to tell, and stand out from the rest of the crowd in terms of freshness and musical creativity. Also we invest much more in the production and promotion of our products. Sleeves, posters and stickers are a standard for each release and we spare no expense when it comes to promotion.

fullonline: All Aleph Zero releases are out of stock at Saikosounds, Psyshop and Trance Shop, reflecting the quality of these releases. Is there any possibility of re-releasing these masterpieces again?

Shulman: In my eyes the high quality of our releases guarantees that sales will be good and continuous. We aim to release only music that has long life span and that will offer real musical value to our costumers. The situation you described is an anomaly and restocks were already sent to shops you mentioned. All of our releases are still under print and are available in most online shops like www.psyshop.com, www.saikosounds.com, and www.cdbaby.com to name a few, or through our website www.aleph-zero.info. In addition our releases are available for digital download at all leading retailers such as iTunes, Napster, and MSN Music, among many other online retailers as well.

fullonline: Can you keep a comfortable lifestyle working only as a psychedelic artist and label owner or a second job is needed? How is your work at Aleph Zero Records?

Shulman: Unfortunately the answer to this question is no. The label doesn't cover financially the time and effort we put into it, and I guess it is a matter of passion more than a business affair. As for my music, even that it sells relatively much more than the average release in the downtempo electronic music scene it's still not anywhere enough to make a living of. Luckily my day job also revolves around music as I run my own mastering studio which is very successful. Between doing mastering and running the label it's hard for me to find time to compose new music but I try to do it whenever I can find some spare time.

fullonline: Which one of your own music do you like the most? Does it have a special meaning to you?

Shulman: My favorite released track is Random Lifelines from "In Search of a Meaningful Moment". There are some very magical moments in there, at least for me. In a way it does represent a slight shift in my musical composition and my musical aspirations, as these days I tend to work more on the abstract side of the musical spectrum.

fullonline: What other music style do you listen to?

Shulman: I like to listen to many different kinds of music. Though I mostly enjoy modern piano compositions, Jazz, Ethnic (World), and the more exotic electronic music, with or without vocals. I'm a heavy music consumer and I listen to a LOT of music so I can't really give a complete list but as a few examples of stuff that I listen to at the moment are:

Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto
Apparat
Claude Debussy
Eric Satie
Fognode
Ishvara
John Coltrane
Wayne Shorter
Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Murcof
Radiohead
Studio Pankow
U. Srinivas
Vengo (Movie Soundrack)

And much more...

fullonline: What is on your CD Player right now?

Shulman: Bill Evans - Paris Concert Edition II.

fullonline: What Psytrance or Chill artists would you like to work with?

Shulman: On the top of my list will have to be Matt Hillier (Ishq, Ishavara, Elve, and more). I absolutely love his music and I think he is definitely one of the most magical musicians in the whole world. We already started a collaboration project which was slightly slowed down recently due to busy time schedules of him and me. I hope that we will find some time soon to continue this project since the little stuff that already took shape is completely magical!

Apart from that there are so many other musicians I would like to work with such as:

Atom Heart, Bluetech, Midival Punditz, Robert Rich, and many many more...

fullonline: Is there any equipment you think can help you to produce better music?

Shulman: I would definitely want to buy the Eventide Orville effect processor, although at the moment it is too expensive for me to afford Maybe in the future it will happen, and it will make me a very happy producer!

fullonline: Do you prefer to play at parties at any specific time?

Shulman: It kind of depends on the type of party or stage where I play. If it's an electronic music event, or chill space, than I will be happy to play peak hours, the exact time depends on the event. If it's a trance festival and I play main stage, like often happens, then I would like best to close the festival. A rule of thumb is that I would like to play to as many people as possible at the event. The connection to the audience is very important to me when performing, and the more people that are in the show the more I can feel it in a way.

fullonline: You have just released the third Shulman album Random Thoughts) and it's been a bit more than two years has past since the last gem was released. How would you describe the new album and how does it differ compared to the previous two that's been released?

Shulman: The new album which is entitled "Random Thoughts" was released worldwide on February 20 2006, is not a typical Shulman album in a sense that all the tracks on it weren't written especially for it or for any other specific project, unlike what we usually do. Therefore, we consider this album to be more like an artist compilation in some aspects more than an artist album. Since the tracks contained in this album were made in different musical periods and with different musical goals, the end result as a whole is a very diverse album representing a large array of musical styles and elements. It contains musical elements from many traditional cultures such as Sufi, Turkish, Egyptian, and Irish to more modern electronic music such as IDM, Psychill, ambient, atmospheric D&B;, and "normal" modern music such as Rock and Jazz. Also there are collaborations on this album with many talented musicians, some of them are world famous like Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Steve Shehan, Bluetech, Sub6, Amir Gvirtzman, Entheogenic, Ori Beanstock and many other less famous but very talented musicians such as Yinon Yahel, Matan Chapnitzky, Lee Triffon and others. I think this album is very different than what you may call a classic "Shulman" album. We thought it is a nice idea to offer our fans these tracks as it does represent another side and slightly different aspect of our musical work. Also I believe this artist compilation album is a suitable platform to release these tracks and finally have them out there in the ocean of musical creation. We hope the listeners will enjoy it.

fullonline: Are you working on another album?

Shulman: At the moment I'm working on a few albums in parallel. The main project is the next Shulman album which is about 60% ready and I expect to release it towards the end of 2006.

Also in the works is a collaboration album with Ishq. Release date for that is unknown yet... It will happen when it will happen.

And the last project taking shape is a full ambient album by Shulman. There are a few tracks in the pipe, however release date is unknown yet.

You can checkout my website or join my mailing list at www.shulman.info for updates and news.

fullonline: People on Techno and Drum'n'Bass also like chill songs... Do you think that chill and down tempo music has a wider range of listeners than Psytrance? Is it good?

Shulman: Absolutely! Non dance oriented electronic music can appeal to a much wider and varied range of listeners. I think that the biggest problem with psytrance and techno for example is that the music is produced (usually) with a single objective in mind � making people dance. I strongly believe that any music that is created within such a narrow scope is very limited in its basis. For example, western dance music tends to stick to the simplest pattern possible at the 4/4 time signature in about 99.99% of the time. While it's OK for the dance floor for home listening I find it ridiculously boring beyond words. For me, the whole concept of listening oriented electronic music is that it's free from such limitations, allowing the composer take the listener on a journey to any plane of the musical world imaginable. Naturally, being more varied I believe this music can appeal to a larger audience.

fullonline: What do you think and feel about the chill scene. Lately I've seen a lot of complains about parties without a Chill space or Chill spaces with poor quality equipment. Please comment that.

Shulman: Usually promoters are OK and treat us with respect like every other artist performing. But, sometimes promoters are treating the non trance artists in a degrading and non respectful way. Personally, I try to avoid working with such promoters. I think that the growing demand of the global crowd for diversity and high quality music will force the promoters to larger more varied stages. and will raise the status of the electronic artists to the "level" of the dance music artists.

fullonline: What are Shulman's and Aleph Zero Records' next releases?

Shulman: Shulman doesn't have any releases scheduled for the near future, except for those which I mentioned above. As for aleph zero, our next release will be an album by Swedish downtempo artist Omnimotion, titled Dream Wide Awake. It is a very special album with a lot of vocals and very strong atmosphere. Part 2 of Natural Born Chillers is heavily under construction as well. Also under work, but there's still no definite release dates are albums by Hibernation (aka Seb Taylor/Kaya Project/Shakta/Angel Tears etc.), which will surprise people, I hope. And Vataff Project- a very special artist we've signed. There are many other projects, but it's too early to talk about them.

fullonline: What do you think about people sharing music through mp3 instead of buying it?

Shulman: I think that sharing hurts all involved in the scene. People have to realize that artists invest a whole lot of time in writing the music for an album. After the writing stage is finished, the label (which is sometimes also the artist) invest a lot of money and time in producing the release. Artists are pretty much like any other human being on this planet and have to pay rent and eat food etc'. if they don't get some sort of financial support from their fans and from the people that enjoy their music they will be forced to stop making music (or do very little) and support themselves financially doing something else. This is a simple fact of life and it's even much more important in such a small and alternative scene as the one we are part of. In short, if you like music and want more of it happening support the artists you like and buy their music. I promise you it's not greediness but a very much needed support from the fans. With that said, I think that sharing for previewing purposes is not SO bad provided that you buy the releases that you really like, and supporting those artists.

fullonline: How do you make your Live Acts? What equipment do you use in your Live Acts?

Shulman: Shulman live is currently played by 4-6 people, depending on the availability of the players involved and the promoters budget. All the tracks played live have been rearranged for the live show. The show's full setup is performed by a drummer who plays a full set of acoustic drums, an electric bass player, a keyboard player, a wind instruments player or a singer, and us (Omri and Yaniv). The outcome is just fantastic and is very different from any live show of any electronic group that I'm aware of today. The show also features a few unreleased tracks which will be released on our next album (due out in the last quarter of 2006). If you have a chance make sure you catch us perform since it's something really special and unique! Also I'm very happy as how this show turned out as it advances the whole concept of electronic music further out of its traditional boundaries and it gives the audience a real musical concert. Personally I'm tired of watching someone plays with his laptop's mouse and calling it a show, and the whole concept of electronic music performances needs a serious makeover, which is what we aim to do. I hope to upload to our website www.shulman.info some audio recordings and short video clips to it soon.

fullonline: Do you prefer to play a DJ set or a Live Act? Why?

Shulman: I much more prefer to play a live show over DJ'ing. It's much more fun to perform your own music than putting other people's music. to be honest Dj'ing is a bit boring for me but I understand that can also be a way of musically expressing yourself, which is always a good thing.

fullonline: In your DJ sets do you usually play tracks from which other artists?

Shulman: I hardly play DJ sets, but when I do I tend to play mainly other artists music. What I chose to play may vary depending on my mood, my musical preferences at that period in time, the crowd, and many other variables. I'm afraid I cant give any specific names as my DJ set may include anything I find interesting.

fullonline: What makes a good party? You think decoration is important?

Shulman: I think that the most important ingredient in making a good party is the people that attend it, followed of course by the music. The combination of good people and good music usually sets the vibe of the whole event. location and deco etc' is needed to transform a good party to an excellent one� and for me is just the bonus parts needed for taking the event one step further.

fullonline: How long does it take for you to make a new track, from the ideas and inspirations to the "Chill Out"? Any hint for a person who is starting making chill tracks?

Shulman: For me there is no usual time frame for making a track. It may vary from 4 hours ("Aion" from Soundscapes and Modern Tales was written in 4 hours) and up to five years!! ("Look Honey it's the Vitties!!!" from Random Thoughts). The rest of the tracks were written in weeks, months, and a year or two. It happens to me a lot that I neglect a track in the middle on to find out after a while that it has really good potential. Also it's very common for me to add or replace synth parts with acoustic elements after the track is already considered done. So I guess you can say my tracks are never really finished until they are released thus taking a final complete form.

fullonline: You're an active member of Isratrance, any fan can learn a lot about your opinions making a little search there. What do you think about that forum? You see it as a communication channel with your fans or you use it to learn more about the scene and have fun?

Shulman: The isratrance forum is a very special and unique place mainly because it's probably the only musical forum on earth where such a high level of communication and cooperation between fans and artists is achieved. Of course it has it's advantages and disadvantages like any other thing in life but in any case I consider it to be a very unique and blessed phenomenon. Personally for me and since I'm very short in spare time lately I lowered my active involvement in the isratrance forum and today I use it mainly for catching up on new releases or see what else is new in our scene.

fullonline: Any last comment, message and/or promotional link?

Shulman: Thanks to all the fans and promoters that supports us! Without your support writing new music would have been very rare for us and we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all this support! Also many thanks to my loving family and girlfriend who are willing to accept all my weirdness

Thank you!

Links:
www.shulman.info
www.aleph-zero.info

fullonline: Thank you!
Respect!