So, Alan, you've just completed your 20th cantaudio work Uh-huh And it's based on Metal Machine Music, Lou Reed's infamous 1975 work That's right Can you tell me a bit about what you think of that piece of music To be honest, I've never been able to listen to it right through Which is interesting Yeah, the idea of it is very good Is that what the cantaudio series as about for you then? What? Those fantastic pieces of music whose actual listenability lets them down? It's more just trying to understand those tracks by dismantling them and slowing them down. It's definitely more about constructing than carving Did you know Lou Reed's middle name was Allen? Yes When did you first hear him? Secondary school in 1982- I was 14, someone brought in Sister Ray and was allowed to play it at the end of Mrs Scott's music class And you thought? It was very exciting - partly because of who was playing it. One girl was allowed to bring in a record. Maybe Gail brought in Temptation by New Order and then Graeme Ainslie thought he was being smart by bringing in the 17-minute long Sister Ray. He had all these weird records - Killing Joke, Bunnymen, Doors and Joy Division at a time when the school was either listening to Rush, Pink Floyd or The Exploited. Just one of those 'never heard anything like it' moments Do you think MMM was a serious piece of work? The more I think about it, as Lou says, it was under the influence serious, which is OK. But I see what he was getting at - it's very aggressive like a lot of his work Aggressive? I think a lot of his work is obviously about knifing, slitting, bruising, cutting down, shooting - either as the perpetrator or victim. Listen to the me, me, me section Tell me about the 16-minute cut-up epic indensity… Good word isn't it? Yes - what do you mean by it? Exactly what it says Which is? It's unlistenable yet the brain is engaged, drawn in as it's own slow processing speed is exposed It's about 1000 tiny snippets of music? It's 912. It's a tribute to Oswald I suppose And is there a thread? A thread? Does anything link all the snippets? Next question Isn't it astounding that you can recognize a whole track by a split second? Maybe even a whole philosophy or era or love affair can be represented by a split second All those un-courteous Reed interviews. Does he have the right to be so rude? The intent? No, of course he does There's a moment when you speed up his voice from the 60s to 80s and it gets deeper... John Peel's voice did the same And the title MANICHE, being an anagram of machine, and the clips from MAN MACHINE, there's always a lot of puns in the cantaudio works It's not such a huge leap from Man Machine to Metal Machine Music. Warhol to Chelsea FC, Bill Grundy to LIFE'S SHORT TOO. At least they could be interesting new jumps And the indication of domestic violence and the removal of children from mothers… It's all in Berlin And in real life? Of course In your life? What kind of question is that? Some say that the whole cantaudio series is one big self-portrait? In what way? Well, there's references to incidents and periods that are perhaps in your own biography I'm here to talk about the sounds With cantaudio you're interested firstly in music that goes nowhere near 'dance' and secondly in 'avant garde' pieces that are somehow crossovers I think any crossover is crucial Do you think Stockhausen or Joy Division or Lennon with Revolution 9 or The End or Gloomy Sunday were intended to cross over? Don't know Which artists do you admire? Next question What is the Jam section about? It's almost shocking to hear the 'voice of a generation' singing just la, la, la, fa, fa, do, do He's not the only one. You can't preach all the time. Maybe that's what Lou was after A time out? A space in which to divert away from the words - it's very simple. It's a Good Diversion You've scripted this interview haven't you?v What do you think? What if I change the script here? I think you just did How does it feel to have the goalposts uprooted? Isn't that what cantaudio is about? About? Why does it have to be about something? You've invested so many hours in it since first hearing Stockhausen and feeling frustrated that it wasn't what you expected. Did you feel the same when you first heard MMM? Loss of control, let down? Absolutely. But viola, organ, bass over Kraftwerk, seguing into Lou Reed talking about choosing from over 500 songs and then straight into Roger Philips on domestic violence - that's what cantaudio is about, regaining control over the artists' intent. Or unintent BACK