by Anka Zielińska
The Boston and London resident and House of Reptile founder Angel Attack aka Rapha Campos managed to create difficult-to-resist cinematic soundscapes with his experimental and industrial debut album "Divine Practicalities". The release is a complex affair that relies on an unorthodox method. Broken beats and distortions en masse are accompanied by downtempo, hip Hop, EBM and techno structures with unsettling voices of IV Horsemen or HIV+. Reviewers called it “Musical madness, but also insanely good”.
TB: When did your journey with music begin?
AA: From very early when I was around 15 I fell in love with electronic music, Prodigy really changed me. When I was 17 my friends took me to a massive 2000-capacity gay club playing house, that was my first experience with the underground scene. I fell in love with it immediately. That was the seed that pushed me to play music. From age 18 to 24, around 2000, Il was a regular at the all-year rave scene in and around São Paulo. With some friends, we set up raves in the south and central Brazil. My favourite :/2experience at that time was being the after-hours resident DJ. Between five in the morning and midday, all the other clubs in town were shut and everyone was keen on keeping going. So we had a mix of crazy lovely kids, music freaks, and stqwzthe queer community, all together. It is where I found my friends. That really changed and formed me. But there is more to it.
I became a father very early in life. I cannot talk about this album and my journey without mentioning my kids because they're an integral part of the whole thing. Their presence shifted me to a more sustainable career path as a creative director and designer. I stopped djing full-time, took a step back from music and moved to London. I was still going out and played a couple of gigs for fun. I even bought some instruments to fool around with. But I couldn’t give my full focus and heart to making music. I just didn’t have much free time. There was not a single day throughout those 18 years that I didn’t think about it. Something inside was itching me to go back to this feeling that can never repeat itself anywhere else other than you being together and connected with people through sound. This feeling is home.
TB: Your love for music is your drive in life and is currently a big part of it. You are running your own label House of Reptile Records, where you gather extraordinary artists. Just recently you released your debut album “Divine Practicalities”. How did it come to that after this huge gap you are so strongly back on track and also have the capacity to elevate others around?
AA: Well, I really thought about it for 18 years. I always wanted to come back, but I always had the thought as a DJ and a producer that I have so much more to express through my music. I never really went all the way into creating something and then putting it out there. It is all related to being a father and also my career as a creative director. I am working with people full of unique solutions and energy. Dealing with them is what gave me my kick, it is what gets me excited- sharing ideas and having that interaction with filmmakers and designers and writers. People who can make things happen. Having that experience, professional experience, and so many talented and passionate people around it lifts your spirit.
David Bowie is my hero as far as having a concept and then executing that to its absolute minimum detail. The cover of his last album “Blackstar”, the concept, each track name and the music videos. It is extremely powerful. He is dying.
That started with Ziggy. Bowie’s approach was basically: “I am going to write about this super rockstar because I want to become this rockstar”. And he becomes that rockstar. There are no other artists in terms of having a solid idea and following through with it like him.
Being exposed to all that you start to wonder what can you create. Can I come up with an idea, a platform where I can give other artists a chance to express their feelings, their emotions, and their art? That's when the label came to play in 2019.
The name itself - the reptile part is about the reptilian brain. How can we find new ways to avoid activating becoming animals, the flights or flights? How can we improve ourselves as humans? “House of” goes back to New York in the 80s and the house & ball scene, places that were home to the outcasts, giving them a safe space to be themselves. That is the core I am looking for in a club culture.
TB: How did this idea evolve from starting a label, and having fantastic collaborators, to finally releasing your own music and releasing your debut album?
AA: I did question myself throughout. I still have my day job and need to be there for my children and time is limited, so I need to be really smart with it. Am I too old? Or is it better to do something later in your life when you are sure of the quality of your effort than throw yourself into something you might destroy because you have no relevant experience? It is for sure good to know how to manage your time and effectively work. I was determined.
One thing led to another. You need to follow the energy whenever that is. I couldn't have done it alone.
Malte Gruhl is the artistic director for the label. He's based in Berlin. He's the guy behind all the identity of the label, the logo, the typeface, etc. He does all the artwork for the Instinct Series. The cover for the first EP “Dance dance otherwise we are lost” he hand-made out of 13,000 plastic beads and then took a photo of it. The flyer for the label night in Dream Baby Dream in Berlin he made out of club clothes in a vacuum-sealed bag with the party info printed on it. It is insane.
He’s a true craftsman and an important creative partner. For him, it is a passion project where he can do whatever he wants. He has carte blanche. He was the first one to really give it a boost and help me with the label.
The other person who is also integral to all of this is Andrzej (Polanski), obviously. I always thought he had great taste in music through his sets in London. so I just walked up to him on one occasion. By that time I had created the tracks for the label’s first EP “Dance dance otherwise we are lost” and I invited him for a remix along with Filmmaker. By walking through the remix with Andrzej we really connected. I really like his taste. I feel at home when we are discussing music because the chemistry is there. I asked him to be Artist & Repertoire for the label, he agreed and shortly after we started to build a roster.
So the three of us are what is driving the label.
On the production side, I was still rusty, I needed to work on it and really find my sound.
The first EP on the label was really like a research and development thing. I am not sure of some tracks when I look back at them. But for instance “Orbits of Happiness” is when I first touched the nerve of who Angel Attack is. I started sending “Orbits of Happiness” to people on SoundCloud. No one knows you, so it takes a while. The very first person to reply and play it was IV Horseman whose music I always loved. This was the first time someone responded to my track and played it on a podcast.
Finally having that relationship with different artists allowed me to make a couple of remixes for them. I did one for Noform, one for Fairground of Tears, and another for Polanski. I'm using those remixes as a laboratory for finding my own sound within my head. I really started working on my own tracks. There are seven original tracks on the album and two remixes, but out of those seven… there are probably around 30 that I've started with, maybe 15 that I finished, and only they made the cut. It took two years to get there. Some tracks took months “Forgotten” took four hours from start to finish. Piece by piece, the album started to come together. I wanted it to reflect me so it goes into all sorts of different places. I am happy with where I got to.
TB: What's coming next for the label and for you?
AA: The album is out and it is really great to see the feedback. I've already started to work on new material to be released on different labels.
For the House of Reptile, we have releases planned all the way through the next year, with the main one being volume two of “Sublime Creatures”. I think the first VA put our name and sound out there. This is us. So we need to go one step better with the second one.
TB: You recently moved from London to Boston? How was transforming from the global scene to the local one?AAAA
AA: It was scary, but it was also very exciting. Building an image and starting to play and build a new network.. We are the new frontiers. Let's explore East Coast, US.
I did my homework and researched the team from Infra Boston. I knew they were the only ones throwing underground electronic music parties. There's no one else. Everything else is like really mainstream clubs. But every Tuesday, every Thursday and every Saturday there's something going on. It’s small. It's like true underground. It’s like my Brazil years in the early 2000s. They are super welcoming. I was received with open arms. Brvtalist and I just played for Infra last week and the energy in the room was palpable. The perfect sign-off to this story, for now.
Label: House Of Reptile
Artist: Angel Attack
Title: Divine Practicalities
Remixers: Univac, Blind Delon
Format: LP
Release Formats: 2x12“, Digital
Release Date: December 6th, 2022
Cat. No. HOFRISLP01
Distribution: EPM
Domain: www.houseofreptile.bandcamp.com