For Knobulism’s first Performing Artist Spotlight, I’m excited to introduce you to Mother Dessicant, a killer electronic musician crafting evocative, emotional, and otherworldly soundscapes, purely for revenge! With an upcoming show that promises to be as immersive as her music, now is the perfect time to dive into her creative process.
Catch Mother Dessicant live: 8:30 PM Saturday September 7th, in the Slate Room at Knobcon 2024.
Her music is simultaneously beautiful, sparkling, moody, and mysterious, enveloping you in waves of sound. As you read through this article, I highly recommend heading to Mother Dessicant’s Bandcamp page to listen along. Join me as I explore the origins, influences, and gear that shape her unique sound.
Who is Mother Dessicant?
Knobulism: How’d you get into making music? Can you share a bit of the Mother Dessicant origin story?
Mother Dessicant: Oh gosh, I’ve been making music my whole life! I was playing percussion as a small child at my hippie parents’ music circles. I learned the doumbek from my mom’s bellydancing friends, and as an adult I was in a few bands, I DJed some large local events, Tracker/Cracktro scene stuff, really playing music has been central to my whole life!
Knobulism: How would you describe your sound to a friend ignorant of genres and bands?
Mother Dessicant: No genres!? Hmm… Everyone, absolutely everyone, has a rich inner world. Places, names, events, and lore that takes place in our brains and generally drives prolific creative types – you have one too! When I make music I’m always inspired by a part of mine. It’s music of a place and time in a fantasy that I hope others will enjoy, like a Dungeons and Dragons sort of guided adventure but with drum machines.
Knobulism: Have any people, artists, or moments been particularly influential for Mother Dessicant?
Mother Dessicant: There’s so many I could name. Boris, Fennesz, Apparat and Zero 7 deeply affected me when I was dedicating myself to really listening to music. Really though the moment that clicked it for me, that musical moment dragon I’ll be chasing my whole life, is playing Area 5 in the game Rez for the Sega Dreamcast. It blends beats, narrative, vibes, cyberpunk horror, and musing on the meaning of life in a way I’d never encountered before. I knew at that exact moment I wanted to be a musician just to make stuff like that.
(Note: I was unfamiliar with this game so I found a video, this is some pretty mind bending stuff. View Rez – Area 5)
Getting into modular
Knobulism: What got you hooked on modular synths?
Mother Dessicant: Spite! I had a frenemy in the noise music scene 7 years ago who said my noise music was “talentless.” I heard that this person bought a Mother32 but couldn’t quite figure it out and would just obviously fumble with it at their local noise sets. I sold some own band gear to get my own and I puzzled out everything on it from how the patch bay worked to how subtractive synthesis works, just while trying to show this guy up. 7 years on, it’s been the most fun quest for revenge I could imagine!
” the raw electric reality of modular is so unpredictable …
Knobulism: Why do you play live on modular synths when things can go off the rails?
Mother Dessicant: Odd answer, but because it feels like playing Jazz. Jazz is a conversation, if you’ve heard that before, and because the raw electric reality of modular is so unpredictable, it can feel like the band I’m conducting has a mind of its own. I hear musically what the machine wants to do, I tell it musically where I want it to go, and the result is somewhere in the middle.
Knobulism: What did you screw up when you first began performing live with modular synths?
Mother Dessicant: I brought a Behringer Neutron with a Janko keyboard just to show it off at my first ever synth meet. I got there, plugged it in, no power. The power at the venue was too dirty for an off the shelf Neutron to even turn on. I drove home then back, over ninety minutes of driving, and brought the 60HP modular drum machine I should have brought in the first place. I bought a portable power conditioner later that evening so that would never happen again!
Gear and Setup
Knobulism: Give us a quick rundown of your current live synth setup?
Mother Dessicant: I’m at the point where I’m making smaller, purposeful live rigs for each show depending on what I’m doing. The “stand on a balcony and shred a DVINA to techno” box is not the “Playing all genres on a modular on the Las Vegas art walk” box. Here at Knobcon, I’m traveling a long way so I brought a DB-01 for jamming on and an Octatrack to hold all the noises that wouldn’t fit in my carry-on case. It’s like a briefcase for noises.
Knobulism: Can you share a modulargrid link?
Mother Dessicant: This was my live edm improv rig shortly after taking my gate sequencing off the board and into a midi device. I’m quite proud of it, it felt like it could make any EDM you could name.
View Mother Dessicant’s live rig on Modular Grid
Knobulism: How do you get your gear from point A to B?
Mother Dessicant: Carefully. Stressed and carefully.
Knobulism: How long does it usually take you to set up at venues?
Mother Dessicant: It depends on the setup, but if I’m bringing my own table and speakers I’d say it takes thirty to forty minutes if I’m in no particular hurry and talking to bystanders or event staff.
Knobulism: Is there a module that influenced the way you perform?
Mother Dessicant: The Mother32. The first, still running for me, and somewhere in the back of my mind I compare everything else to it. It’s a Jack of all trades and I really think that people who prefer the DFAM are missing something advanced but essential about how good the Mother32 is at everything because of its patch bay. Patch it up, that’s the point.
Knobulism: Is there one tiny piece of your setup that seems minor but is a total game-changer for you?
Mother Dessicant: $15 amp stand. They’re meant to hold and angle-up heavy blocks of equipment and you can pop any eurorack on these things to get a vertical, visually-appealing, playable setup from any case you put on it.
(Note: Not sure if this is the same stand, but it looks pretty good. Folding A-Frame Guitar Stand)
Preparation and Practice
Knobulism: How do you prep for a show? How much time do you usually put in, and what’s your practice routine like?
Mother Dessicant: Hours and hours and hours oh my gosh. I will generally freeze all synth purchases so I don’t get distracted and spend my weekends and sleepless nights building out song ideas, practicing tricky transitions, and creating “reset” protocols to bail out and get back to something listenable if the signals get too crazy. It’s all practiced skills you want as a DJ too.
Knobulism: How crucial is practice and rehearsal for nailing a live modular set?
Mother Dessicant: It’s very essential. I speak about this a lot in my guide: Designing Your Modular Synthesizer. Don’t change your instrument around every practice session. Practice and learn it like a guitar, oboe, drums really any other instrument. That familiarity and home-grown skill is what matters when something you planned out goes sideways or a module starts screaming for no reason. Familiarity with your instrument is the difference between that sounding like a mistake or the sickest bass drop of the night.
Knobulism: Have you ever encountered unexpected issues during a live show? How did you handle them?
Mother Dessicant: All the time. I’ll troubleshoot it as best I’m able, and end the song if I need to power-cycle. It pays to have an end of chain reverb live so you can have this big wash of your last cymbal playing while you power-cycle real quick and do something different once it starts back up. Again having those “panic” presets and knowing how to get back them is essential for live electronic performance. The show must go on!
Performance Techniques
Knobulism: What secret live performance technique are you willing to declassify?
Mother Dessicant: If you’re playing for a very long time and want to reuse a preset just a few hours after you used it, play it again at a dramatically different speed and nobody will notice.
Knobulism: How do you keep your sets fresh and the crowd captivated?
Mother Dessicant: By not over sequencing. 64 steps is almost too many to manage. What matters in keeping patches and live loops fresh is live-tweaking its timbral qualities and adding flams to gate patterns, not having 512 steps all sequenced out in non-repeating ways. Leave that game for Autechre, you don’t need that headache.
” little catastrophes like getting unplugged are part of the appeal …
Knobulism: Ever had something go sideways during a live show? How’d you deal with it?
Mother Dessicant: Someone tripped over the city power cable and unplugged me! The crowd was really understanding, I just shrugged, walked over, plugged it back in, and with the next bass drum we were all back in the groove. The crowd was even more into it after they saw something so purely chaotic. I think there’s a little bit of a “watching NASCAR for the crashes” aspect for modular EDM audiences. They’re not here to see a perfect show, they wanna see something real and little catastrophes like getting unplugged are part of the appeal. Just try to keep it rolling no matter what and you’ll be fine.
Final words and advice
Knobulism: What’s the one rookie mistake folks should avoid when starting out?
Mother Dessicant: Buying a bunch of modules all at once. Start with a semi-modular and branch out learning each module as you go.
Knobulism: What sage advice can you pass down to the new kids?
Mother Dessicant: Designing Your Modular Synthesizer is currently available and free!
Knobulism: Any last words or shout-outs for our readers?
Mother Dessicant: Shout out to Frankie Knuckles, Mark Mothersbaugh, and Wendy Carlos. Thanks for literally everything.
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If you’ve enjoyed getting to know Mother Dessicant as much as I, you can dive deeper into her world by checking out her music on YouTube and Bandcamp. Supporting independent artists helps keep their creativity alive, so buy and album, listen to it and share her unique sound with others.
