Das is TIMARA: the future of electronica

Like two ninjas in the night, trigger happy Reviewer Dan Romano and the talented Raja Das infiltrate the electronic music and the NRA. Enjoy.

DGR: What exactly do you do at Oberlin?

RD: I get over the fact that I'm wasting a lot of time.

DGR: Besides that?

RD: I waste a lot of time.

DGR: Doing what?

RD: Wishing I could do more music. By trying to learn new ways to make music, but not actually doing as much as I would like to do.

DGR: What type of music?

RD: Electronica [Laughs]. Well, not always electronica, just new modern music. I'm very influenced by popularized forms, but I don't want to be a rock star.

DGR: Why not?

RD: 'Cause they seem rather like idiots, with their philosophies on life, their attitudes and how conceived their demeanor is. They try to act a lot more above average than they really are.

DGR: What exactly got you into music?

RD: I started piano at three and took lessons till I was 18. I didn't really have a choice. It was my main outlet of expression. I have problems communicating verbally, and music was easier for me.

DGR: How did you get into electronic music?

RD: Beating. I heard lots of electronic music through the records I spun and got more and more interested. I guess I started out because of Chris Yap and John Paul Vincossi giving me tapes, or just playing tapes when I was around. From there, whenever I heard electronic music, not just dance music, I would become intrigued.

DGR: Can you explain your transformation as a deejay? What was the first genre of music you worked with and what do you spin now?

RD: I went from Miami breakbeat type stuff to hard techno to jungle. Now I spin techno, jungle, and trip-hop just 'cause I like diversity. Which actually is a problem for me. Some people can't take diversity within a set.

DGR: Do you feel that deejays are welcome on this campus? Let me rephrase that. Do you think deejays and electronic musicians are accepted as musicians here on this campus?

RD: Well, no. The mainstream musician on this campus, which would be your average Conservatory student, is normally inclined to like more traditional music. People try and give electronic music credit. I kind of just accept that they don't like it, that this place is particularly secluded and that those particular people may never get into it. It just makes me practice more so that I can be strong and confident in my music. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I accept the fact that they are that way and we are just at Oberlin.

DGR: Say for some bizarre reason you decided to get a zip code tattooed on your forehead, what zip code would it be?

RD: R - A - J - A - D - A - S.

DGR: Okay. Do you think that monkeys in any way will implement change in the future?

RD: I think they already have.

DGR: Want to explain that one?

RD: Well, we come from monkeys or we import our monkeys. And we learn so much from their behavior. Or maybe they are not so much like us, but we choose to see them as so much like us, so when we study them scientifically we make that connection. So in fact the scientists help the monkeys to implement more of a change than they would naturally.

DGR: Do you think that this is consistent with the increased value and sales of "Sock Monkeys" on etoy.com?

RD: Well, I don't know what "Sock Monkeys" are.

DGR: Would you allow your first- born to commit to the NRA?

RD: Like right away? When it's born?

DGR: Yes.

RD: I suppose if it had a voice and opinion on the matter tending towards supporting the NRA, then I guess I would be like yeah, go for it son or daughter [Laughs].

DGR: You recently produced a CD. Want to say a little about that?

RD: Well, it's not for sale. I thought that I would just give it to friends and they would give it to friends, and so on. Eventually everybody in the world would have it. [Laughs] They would say we got it for free and it's good.

DGR: Do you intend to make your music your profession?

RD: I couldn't be happy doing anything else.

DGR: So are you are going to start submitting music to record labels?

RD: I already have, but I can't wait for that to pan out. I think I will put out my own release on my own label or a friend's label and then distribute through the usual distributors.

DGR: When I contacted you about setting up an interview, you said that you wanted to be incognito. What did you mean?

RD: I want to be known for my music, not my face. I guess it stems from my childhood ambitions, which became part of my adult ambitions. I wanted to be a ninja. Get in, get out. Infiltrate.