A look in the janitor's closet

An Interview with Vancouver's Midi Janitor, Jonathan Orr

Vancouver-based Jonathan Orr has produced three albums under the Midi Janitor moniker, including the newly released Holy To Dogs. I sat down with Orr to talk about his exemplary new album and his influences.

BTS: Working with found instruments is a large part of your process. How does that work?

Midi Janitor: It’s quite practical really. When I first started to think about making music, I found a midi controller beside a dumpster near where I live.

Instead of collecting a room full of vintage synths that take time to learn and patch properly, a simple set up allowed me to make music between feeding the kid and walking the dog. I could throw my laptop down and get started when it felt like the right time.

On this latest record I work with sampler packs from CDs that came with early samplers and can now be found on archive.org for anyone to use.  The samples are often recorded way too loud, but still sound incredible. You can hear the room in them.

Early rave music and Detroit techno was made by people who couldn’t afford to set up a giant rehearsal room and full bands. So something simple like a Roland TB-303 was a way for those communities to have a voice and create music.

A lot of electronic music really lost that. It can be all about craftsmanship and expertise and proficiency and acquisition today. An obsession with gear leads to polished and clean electronic music. I find this music doesn’t have any grit in it.  I consciously decided I would record using only 8 tracks. Infinite choice is paralysing for me.

BTS: How does this release differ from previous releases Bulk Order and Camp Peace?  

Midi Janitor: When I started making music I loved using samples of old library music and flute recordings. Flutes sound incredible when you detune them and pitch shift them and slow them down. I would write song melodies and chords by playing a sample. On this release I took an approach much more like early rave music, and used samples of synths and drums.

BTS: What are some of your influences?

Midi Janitor: Future Sound of London’s ISDN was a big influence on this album. It’s so big, dark and dystopian. It’s recorded loud with this huge bottom end. They use the most bizarre noises, such as random seagull sounds. Inspired by FSOL’s just throw everything in there approach, I grabbed lots of sound effects from archive.org for this record.

I listen to a lot of early industrial music such as Nocturnal Emissions and zoviet*france because it has urgency and immediacy. It’s dark, things are slightly out of time and you can hear the room. It’s as if you can sense them recording in some squat in London after coming back from a protest. 

You don't necessarily hear it directly in my music, but this attitude and ability to bring the listener to a specific place is a big inspiration for me.

Here’s a playlist Midi Janitor developed with a few more influences.

BTS: Why release your music on cassette?

Midi Janitor: Cassettes were what I had growing up. I can still remember the sound of tape cases in my bag, and the physicality of it. I love how a cassette can fit in the palm of my hand. So much of the music I love is on cassette. (I now have a collection of some of my favourites.)

Cassettes were so accessible. Artists made these things with only two tape decks and added hand-drawn paper covers.  

I also love the way tapes sound. Everything is rounded out and muffled a bit and boomy.  Tapes  have that warp and bend. While nothing can beat vinyl’s audio quality, for my music in particular, tapes have that element of change to them.

I think about something as powerfully influential as William Basinski’s disintegration loops. When he made that he went back and recorded it as the tapes broke down. I like how tapes change over time as people listen to them again and again. So you make this perfect thing and the music changes as they change. I love that.

BTS: Do you think you’d ever release this album on vinyl?  

Midi Janitor: I am working on it, as I am getting a lot of encouragement. I’d also really love to do a 7-inch.

BTS: Any final thoughts?

Midi Janitor: It’s hard to make a living as an artist, harder than it’s ever been, but it’s easier to make art than it’s ever been. So striking a balance between these two — that’s where I’ve found some immense joy.

Go make something! 

Holy To Dogs is currently available on bandcamp and will be out on streaming services June 21. Interview edited for brevity and clarity.