Pitchfork wanted to call him, but he has no phone. Luckily, for that man with no phone who describes himself as someone not up-to-date with just about anything, his music sounds surprisingly nu. Dayve Hawk is the camera-shy man behind the wistful yet at times catchy Memory Tapes (AND behind Memory Cassette AND Weird Tapes, AND formerly from a band called Hail Social), who's remixes and original tracks are lauded by everyone and their brother. From the dreamy, escapist stuff like ‘Asleep At the Party’ to the more danceable ‘Bicycle’ from his just-released debut album Seek Magic, Hawk’s new turn has resulted in some critically acclaimed and lovably escapist tunes, direct from a secret location in rural New Jersey.

Photographs for EVB by David Kimelman

Stef Smith: You don’t have a phone, you don't know how to drive, you say you are not up-to-date, don’t know much about computers, don’t know how people discover new bands: how ironic is it that you became an internet and blog sensation?

Dayve Hawk: Well, on one hand it is, but in another way I think it makes sense that this is the only way I could possibly have been discovered. It certainly wasn't going to happen by me going to parties and meeting people!

SS: For a while no one knew who was behind your no less than three different monikers (Memory Tapes, Memory Cassette, Weird Tapes). Are great artists genderless and ambiguous or is there something else at work here?

DH: I do prefer art to be ambiguous. I know some people admire celebrity and charisma, but for me it's like when you recognize an actor and it takes you out of the story in a movie. At this point I'm tired of my "mystery" being a talking point so I'm trying to be more open but I can't change my basic personality.

SS: You didn't want to do a shoot for this interview. Are you shy or nurturing your enigma?

DH: I don't want to be an enigma… I feel genuinely uncomfortable with the performance aspects of being a musician: pictures, videos, shows. I've realized that you end up attracting more attention to yourself by avoiding it but I'm still trying to find a balance with what I'm comfortable with.

SS: There is this story, I don’t know if you’ve heard it, about this Black Devil album called Disco Club, which was or wasn’t by Joachim Sherylee and Junior Claristidge, and which was or wasn’t made in 1978 and “happened” to be discovered twenty years later, and it was or wasn’t a hoax by two French producers. Are these stories of ambiguity and mysteriousness what you like to see?

DH: No, that's more like novelty PR stuff. I mean it's fun, and I'm sure it was a cool framework to create an album in but what I like is genuine ambiguity. I don't like a "story", I like not being able to explain something properly... like trying to tell someone your dream.

SS: Are you going to tour Memory Tapes? Does touring appeal to you at all? You could at least cross the river and do a show in New York.

DH: I am considering it. It doesn't appeal to me because I get incredibly nervous but would like to overcome that. Possibly after the winter.

SS: You’ve got a lot of people being positive about your work on the web though. Doesn’t that inspire confidence, or does that make the prospect of a live show even more nerve wracking?

DH: Honestly it has more to do with me feeling that performance is inherently artificial. I know some people love attention and love to connect with other people so for them it's probably more real than making a record, but for me it's the other way around: my emotions are tied up in the fantasy. Bringing it down to earth makes it kind of boring and I lose interest.

SS: You’ve talked about transition anxiety from the listeners when, under one name, you explore different styles. Is that a result of the reaction to your second Hail Social album?

DH: In part, and generally just how people react to other artists. I've always said that The Beatles or David Bowie could never exist now. People don't have the attention span to allow artists to develop. When "listening" to music means scanning a streaming track what we're talking about is really just stylistic recognition…. I feel like people want to know where they stand on things immediately, so they assign it some sub-sub-sub-genre that they either love or hate and file it away. That first impression then becomes like a filter that everything after goes through.
SS: You recorded two of the your EP's songs when you were 18. Do you regret not bringing them out then? You would’ve been a true pioneer!

DH: Well I didn't really know how to then! I'm slow on the uptake with these sorts of things so will probably always seem a bit behind the curve.

SS: You make your remixes without listening to the original song. How?! Why?

DH: Well I just look through the parts they send me, find a starting point and build from that. I do it to keep it interesting for myself and hopefully others. I'm not the guy to go to if you want a "club-ready" single.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll (Weird Tapes Version)

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Yeasayer - Ambling Alp (Memory Tapes Version)

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Grum - Heartbeats (Weird Tapes Remix)

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[download all three mixes]

SS: Pre-listening to the song doesn’t automatically mean it is a club-ready remix though. Do you want the song to be more your own than a collaboration? Would it pollute your own sound?

DH: Oh, I don't mean to imply that it does... I just meant I don't have any real goals when I do a remix. I don't think I take it very seriously.

SS: You mentioned how labels ask you to do a remix and then reject it, knowing it’ll be on blogs anyway. Is that the labels being a bitch or is that their way of adapting to the changes in the way music is being distributed?

DH: I have no idea. I imagine it's very hard to be a record label these days... but when you talk to most labels you spend a lot of time talking about them protecting themselves from risk. I think the point of a label should be to TAKE risks on artists they believe in. Anyone spending time making records instead of working at a paying job is taking a risk, but no one protects them. I still think artists are at the bottom of the pile.

SS: I read that you’re a fan of Ziggy Stardust. Why Ziggy?

DH: I didn't have MTV or a stereo growing up, all I had was a Fisher-Price turntable. I used to steal LPs from my friends' parents, mostly based on covers and titles, so Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars caught my eye. When I listened to it I flipped. It was a musical epiphany moment for me. I've become a huge fan of all the Bowie records but Ziggy was the first I heard so just holds a special place for me.

SS: Bowie’s back catalog is huge! Which album is not as heralded as Ziggy but you feel should be?

DH: Well I really love Diamond Dogs. It's a real patchwork kind of record... you can tell his ideas were going in a bunch of different directions: there's stuff from the unrealized 1984 musical, the beginnings of the soul stuff he'd do next, remnants of Ziggy... and it doesn't really work. I really like those sort of records though. I like half-baked ideas because they seem more natural sometimes.

SS: I read an interview with Morrissey way back when who said that when Ziggy Stardust came out, there was this massive outrage, and he said that people have forgotten how serious it all was. Between the make-up, the outfits, the extra-terrestrial references, the glam - how was that so sincere, and is that missing from music nowadays?

DH: I really don't know what the difference is from then to now, or if there really even is one. It does feel like it gets harder and harder to believe in anything, and in turn harder and harder to reach out to people. I think when people create a persona now they just act. With Ziggy it seemed like an act through which the real Bowie could communicate his sort of superficial but genuine emotions: "I could fall asleep at night as a rock n' roll star".
SS: Your musical references run deep. What are some of the people you think are due for re-emergence?

DH: I always wish The Cocteau Twins were more respected. To me they deserve the sort of worship that My Bloody Valentine or Pixies get. I'd like to see a resurgence of doo-wop but can't imagine people could do it without irony. Irony is killing music.

SS: How is irony killing music?

DH: I just mean people are so self-aware and culturally aware that it gets to a point where everything you do is sort of ironic. I guess really the irony is a response to overwhelming cynicism. Everyone has too much information and they seem to use it defensively. You would think that artists are trying to trick listeners based on the way so many people react to a new song.

SS: Tell us about your new album Seek Magic.

DH: I wanted to make a record that was very dynamic, tracks that seemed like they had a sort of architecture to them. I also wanted it to not work as a specific type of album: it could be a "dance around your room" thing or a "fall-asleep with headphones" thing, but not completely either.

Memory Tapes - Bicycle

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Memory Tapes - Green Knight

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SS: Your music has a bit of an escapist, dreamy quality to it. Does that reflect you as a person? More so than Hail Social?

DH: Hail Social was like a bad relationship I should have left much earlier and that doesn't reflect me as a person at all. Everyone who knows me and has heard what I'm doing now has reacted by saying that Memory Tapes reminds them of me in ways that Hail Social never did. I'm sure the dreamy aspect is a big part of it. I'm a space-case for sure.

SS: What sort of escapist dreams and fantasies do you harbor?

DH: I really just think about sex and music, but I'd like a farm where I could make a lot of noise and the cops wouldn't show up. That'd be my escape

SS: For a lot of people old-school raves were their escapism. Did you ever go to any?

DH: No, there was nothing like that around here - too rural. I feel like I would have loved it though. Drugs and loud music are some of my favorite things.