Chilly Gonzales discusses "trolling" his audience and more in his Telekom Electronic Beats podcast

Telekom Electronic Beats has offered another edition of its renowned podcast, following an audience with Richie Hawtin. This time round, Grammy-winning pianist and fellow Canadian Chilly Gonzales is in the hot seat.

Titled ‘Between entertainment and provocation’, host Gesine Kühne delves deep into Gonzales’s formative years as well as his ‘Gonzervatory’ project, a residential music performance workshop for contest winners.

The Cologne-based piano mastermind discusses learning the piano aged three and practicing for several hours a day in his early teenage years, making a conscious decision to hide away in his basement away from other kids his age.

When the conversation turns to politics, Gonzales speaks about the reasoning behind him not being overtly political and outspoken in interviews or on social media, but argues that he does explore politics in a more low-key way.

“Politics are everywhere, in every choice you make,” he says, explaining his own decisions like keeping his ticket prices lower in order to make them available for people from all walks of life.

Gonzales also mentions the concept of “trolling” his audience, which he does by exaggerating his bad qualities on stage, like his “sense of entitlement to my success,” as well as the dual roles of being an artist and entertainer.

The podcast also touches on how the nature of how streaming is changing the way we listen to music. Gonzales discusses how to exist as an artist in this era and how to react to changing technological developments, citing Kanye’s real-time alterations of ‘The Life of Pablo’ as an example of this.

Listen to the exchange in its entirety below.

Check out the podcast here.