Jaiden Macintosh interviewed by WTC
Rare interview from prolific Michigan netlabel noisemaker.
First of all, could you provide a brief introduction to yourself and your music?
I'm Jaiden Macintosh, also known under different aliases and projects (query, noisehz, Rainbow Sparkle Dog Fantasy). I am an experimental electronic musician and multidisciplinary artist from Michigan who records and works under many different genres and styles, which include noise, glitch, ambient, IDM, and so on.
Awesome! How did you start out making music? Did you have any initial goals or major influences?
When I was an iPad kid growing up, I got my hands on GarageBand around 2013-14. Around the time I was listening to Daft Punk, which was my first exposure to electronic music. I made a lot of shitty house tracks with it with silly lyrics, and unfortunately I do not have those tracks anymore, which is a huge bummer. Eventually I lost interest up until I discovered Aphex Twin's music from asking someone who was playing one of his tracks inside of a Roblox game sometime around late 2016. It lead me into a rabbit hole of Aphex Twin, and many electronic music greats. It eventually influenced me to want to create music, despite not having the electronic equipment to do so. Around 2019 I started fiddling around with a software called Cakewalk, which I used up until sometime in 2024, and the rest is history.
You mentioned the fact that you have various aliases and projects earlier on - would you be able to explain some of these? Are these for exploring different types of genres?
Usually I use aliases and projects to categorize music for whatever alias I think fits for a specific name, mainly because I feel like putting every release under a single name would make it harder to digest for the outside listener. query is my IDM/glitch project, which started as a successor to my previous alias Q#. Shreyansanatha is my drone/noise/ambient project, which I do plan on eventually working on a 3rd LP under the name. Rainbow Sparkle Dog Fantasy is sort of a experimental grind/noise/metal project that explores themes of gender identity, self discovery, and being part of the furry fandom.
I've noticed you've released a multitude of albums, EPs, singles and whatnot on various labels (including your own) according to your discography pages online - why produce so much material? Are you a workholic? Do you enjoy the process of making experimental music?
I just really dig making music, as well as being part of communities around something I'm passionate about. The reason why I release so much is mainly due to how I make and then release impulsively, feeling like I need to release something right away. I try to steer away from this habit of mine now, but back then EPs and singles were more common than now.
As I just mentioned, you own several labels such as Telephax Commerce Server (as far as I know?) - could you provide some insight into these? Are these just platforms to share music by you and/or your friends, or are there any other reasons?
Usually my labels are for certain gimmicks (Petrov for example, which is written in Cyrillic) but Telephax Commerce Server is sort of my main serious label at the moment, and I want to curate the label much more seriously than my other label projects. Telephax sort of has an aesthetic going on with internet underground IDM/glitch/experimental electronic music, but I do branch out to other things once every while or so. Petrov is mostly an anything-goes media and file dumping ground.
As you mentioned before, you've explored a range of different musical genres (noise, glitch, metal etc) within your projects. Do you feel that it's necessary for you to keep pushing your music forward or to explore new ideas?
I do plan on exploring more ideas, such as having more eclectic ranges of sounds within my releases, rather than each release under different aliases have a single style to them through all the tracks. I ultimately want the listener to have some sort of experience with listening to my works, and I think compiling all the styles I am capable of and can do, will enhance the experiences with engaging with the work.
What sort of experiences are you wanting the listener to have in your music?
Usually I tend to have different sets of experiences drawn out in various releases in my discography, I'd like the listener to feel some kind of vibe, or if it's some eclectic release with tracks of different styles sprinkled onto them, I'd like to have the listener have some sort of adventure with listening to the works.
You have a number of releases on physical media alongside your digital output (most notably a recent Recycled tape on RRRecords!) - what is the appeal of physical releases for you, especially in this era of streaming services? Why make limited releases?
I think physical media is great, and I love the concept of pouring your soul onto limited physical objects with music included, because I like having certain people being able to own something in their hand, rather than something that's just sitting on a hard drive. I also like physical releases as opposed to digital, since I get to own a physical copy forever. In the age of streaming services and AI, I have become very somewhat radicalized into archiving literally anything that comes to mind, but primarily music.
This may sound pretentious or silly, but do you consider yourself a part of any scene/ movement? Alongside you, there appears to be internet based artists making similar music such as Silver Dove and Ken Estes, alongside many, many others. Do you think there is an underground "scene" of experimental musicians online?
I suppose, although I've been kind of working towards being independent myself. There definitely is a scene of experimental musicians that exist online, and I'm definitely part of it to some extent.
Whilst making your music, do you tend to improvise a lot or are you more concerned about structure? Do you see yourself as a perfectionist?
When making my own music, I usually just think of an idea in my head and try to replicate it in a DAW, regardless if I achieve the goal of making it sound like what I thought of. Sometimes I'll improvise something, like playing notes with a synth like what I did with The Winter Falls Throughout the Land under the Shreyansanatha alias, and edit/mix it later on.
Thanks for your time and your answers to my questions. Do you have any upcoming releases in the pipeline or any advice to share with others?
I plan on performing for Zest Fest 2026, September this year. One piece of advice I can give is don't be afraid of trying out newer things. It's best to try something new (like submitting something to a label, or being booked to a venue) than not trying to get yourself there at all.