www.playgroundmag.net Navigating Oval PlayPortrait 02 What does the creative mind behind Oval’s music look like? And what is that person like? Last winter, with the snow still covering the streets, we travelled to Berlin to spend a few days in the company of Markus Popp, one of the most brilliant minds in electronic music of the past twenty years, a revolutionary with an impressive CV, a body of work released on labels such as Thrill Jockey and Mille Plateaux, and such interesting achievements as the popularisation of the glitch technique and the union of the styles of digital music and post-rock. In this second PlayPortrait chapter we talk to Popp about his music and his ideas on sound, he shares some private moments with us (listening to music with Jan St. Werner, his partner in Microstoria, playing video games, walking in the park), and we follow him on his long working days, composing, rehearsing and playing live. A peek in the kitchen of an elusive creator who is key in present experimental music.