Unravelled Brown Cassette tape Lying on a Freeway is the brainchild of Winnipeg electro-denizen Chris Friesen. The UBCLF moniker comes from the Douglas Coupland novel Microserfs. Anne Sulikowski spoke to Chris via e-mail.

Explain the Unravelled Brown Cassette tape Lying on a Freeway. UBCLF is myself and recent addition Terence. The project is almost three years old and is actually celebrating its birthday with this spring tour. Images I associate with the name is "walking down the street and you look down and periodically come across old cassettes that have been broken and are lying all unravelled on the ground."

Tell me about your music set up AND favorite piece of music gear. I basically use any instruments whether it's an "actual" one like a bass or keyboard or a non-instrument one like a walkman or toy. Best piece of gear is a toss up between my line six delay loop pedal and my boss loop station.

Describe your music writing process. I actually don't "write" music. It comes out unconsciously during a performance. It's random occurrences that happen and then it's me trying to recreate that into something else.

I see your music as very emotional even though it is mainly instrumental with no lyrics. Does your music reflect events on your daily life? What inspires the drive needed to record your songs? Music is very emotional to me. It reflects my daily life. If I have had a "stressful" day, it's going to evident in the songs. It may just be a more feedback-laden performance or it could be a more subdued performance. It depends. As for the drive, that's intangible. It's something I can't explain. It's just there. I have been obsessed with music and sound for as long as I can remember. It started with me singing myself to sleep and continuing into volunteering at CKUW (www.ckuw.ca) as an on-air programmer.

Some may see you as a noise artist. Is there such a thing as noise music? Please comment. I don't consider myself a noise artist. I consider myself to be a pop artist. Pop is, to me anything that has a melody. I can stand under air vents and if I listen long enough, the fluctuations in sound create a melody, thusly, a "pop" sound.

Are you involved in any collaborations? Please describe. Yes, I am collaborating with a variety of artists for a "remix" project of a UBCLF piece. As well, I will be collaborating with you (Anne of Worthy Records) in some fashion; that is yet to be determined. By the time this has come out I will have taken part in an event being put together by Rob Menard of The Absent Sound (who will be at Wavelength June 13 '” bookin' ed.).

Best and worst live moment. Do you find it challenging to do electronic improvisations live? The best are those moments where you are completely lost in the sound and you have no idea what's going on around you outside of the sound. The worst moments are the ones when little things bug you about the performance, like a pedal doesn't do what you wanted it to do at a particular moment '” things that most people won't pick up on. It's the "perfectionist" in me that is the worst moment. The only thing I find challenging is the price of 9-volt batteries.

On room101.net, your bio seems to be a break-up letter. Has heartache inspired your music? Yes. Heartache is a part of life, whether it's a break up or not getting a raise at work.

Please state your favorite Canadian artist. Presently I have been addicted to Aidan Baker, Low Frequency Pilot, Proximal:Distal, Building Castles Out Of Matchsticks, The Evaporators, Horribly Awfuls, Boat, Nagasaki Fondue, A Silver Mt Zion, the list goes on and on. I love the Tragically Hip too.