nada aïko
nada aïko
composer, singer, keyboardist, producer… member of duo Aiko Aiko
Vienna
musical background
I grew up in a very musical family. My grandmother used to sing for and with me every day. When I was a little baby, she would sit in front of the house, singing to me, and a neighbour walked by and said: "if this girl isn't going to be a singer, I don't know what…"
I started making music when I was about 13, when I was already able to play and compose songs on my piano and play for friends.
I took piano lessons for 4 years when I was about 10-14, then 2 years electric guitar, which I didn't really enjoyed as much, my fingers are just too small and I never had the discipline to work through that.
No singing lessons, no diplomas!
I listen to a lot of different styles. At the moment, I'd say my favourite band is Coil. Some would categorise them as industrial but that doesn't go far enough. To me, their music is inspiring, resonating, soothing,...
I love a lot of different styles in music. What I always come back to is psychedelic, repetitive, melancholic, spacious music and sounds. It very much depends on my own energy level and mood (and whether I want to reinforce it or relieve it), as well as the weather, the time of year. I always love to listen to the music of women - whether strong ones with fierce voices and heavy beats, like Peaches, Cobrah, PJ Harvey, or the beautifully fragile ones like Stina Nordenstam, and of course all the brilliant in-betweeners like Suzanne Vega or maybe Karin Dreijer - I just sense a pretty different approach to making music and implementing sounds and frequencies in women than in men (no judging, though!), and I like it.
I remember a "Sade" tape from my mother that I liked listening to as a child. I still love her voice, she's the smoothest operator of all. Also Beatles on vinyl that I loved jumping around to in the living room (hello/goodbye and we can work it out) as a child. After that came the boy band phase, then Brit pop (edp. Radiohead, Blur), Grunge (so, basically Nirvana in my case…) and other indie and alternative music as a teenager.
From about 16 or 17, I started listening to electronic music more. Drum and Bass first, Techno, trip hop and other down tempo electronica - Massive Attack and Portishead of course... That was also the time when I started producing music in Fruity Loops and Reason. And a fun little software called "Hammerhead" - lots of fun!
I also always loved rock music from the 60s and 70s, and Krautrock and psychedelic music kind of stayed with me until now.
I also have a heart for mainstream pop and dance pop, especially pop stars that write their own songs, e.g. Sia, whose voice I knew from Zero 7... Some songs just get in your ears and in your body and you want to dance or conquer the world. ;)
Recently: all the above + Fatima Al Qadiri, The Knife, Savages, Jehnny Beth, Cobrah, Cosey Fanny Tutti and Chris Carter, FKA Twigs, PJ Harvey, Depeche Mode, Terry Riley, Bohren and the Club of Gore, Nick Cave, Anohni, etc. etc.
from idea to creation
• What is your Methodology? Creative process?
I usually either start by playing around on a keyboard - some synth sounds or samples that inspire me or piano - or start with a vocal melody, sometimes recorded on the go on my smartphone. My creative process mostly consists of experimenting with harmonies, sounds, adjustments. Then following my instincts when progressing to melodies, arrangements, composition,...
• Do you have rituals?
I get up at 7, have my morning coffee and cigarette, make breakfast for my daughter, comb her hair, get her dressed. Go to work, after that get her from kindergarten, go to playground, sometimes go hiking in the forests in and around Vienna, go home and make dinner, play some more, bring her to bed, then do what I like or must the next 2 hours, then watch Star Trek and sleep in 😜
Oh, musicwise? Maybe sampling sounds is a ritual, not a regular one though.
• Gear used (can be paper & pen, daw etc but explain why you use it)
A lot of pen and paper actually. I have quite a lot of notebooks in which I draw and write my lyrics. If I don't have one with me, I write ideas on my phone, and also use it to record vocal ideas on the go.
I record my own vocals at home (with a Neumann KMS 105, and a Sennheiser Microphone for less bright vocal sound) and I enjoy the endless possibilities of sounds, programming synths and effects to manipulate those sounds, arranging them in Ableton Live, also sometimes Propellerheads Reason (especially for the sampler and synths). It's a good alternative if you can't afford analogue stuff ;)
I also use the Korg Kaoss Pad and I recently got a Yamaha Reface CS that I enjoy a lot.
more about you.
• Instrument(s) (you play or would love to or in love with)
I play piano, keys in general, but also bass and a bit guitar. Main instrument is my voice (I also play samplers with it). I love old analogue synths like the Korg Ms Series, Roland Juno,... I also like Casio 80s sounds and love all self built stuff, whether synths or other sound machines.
• Your vision of the « music industry »
Oh my, there is so many details about that… More fan-driven, more musician/art-based, less about fast money, more music, less business, more appreciation of depth,...
• Hobbies
Drawing, collages, dancing, sewing.
• Other things
Nature, psychology,
fresh news?
Some Aiko Aiko songs are already finished or in the making, but I think this time we will see for another way of releasing than a full album / LP.
future
• Collaborations?
I am always up for collaborations, recently I thought it would be lovely to sing in some kind of vocal ensemble.
At the moment, I really don't do much except for working at work and at home ;)
• How do you imagine the music in future?
I imagine devices in our head that we can control with our brains. As well as stuff like brain-to-midi so we could make music without a computer mouse, keyboard et al and have our hands free for… e.g. drinking coffee.
what to reply to ?a child who would like to do the same than you?
Learn to play some instruments well enough to write your own music (I was never too disciplined…). Go outside, get inspired, stay open, be experimental, but don't do anything if you don't feel it.
• What did you learn on your own life creating, learning, composing, playing… music.
I'm pretty much an autodidact in controlling DAWs and programming synths. Singing - I never had lessons, only my grandma and family, as mentioned above.
At my mother's place for Christmas 🎄
