Gold Chains, the rapper from San Francisco, plays TJ's next week. He spoke to Matthew Blythe about technology and sleaze

When Gold Chains supported Kid 606 in Clwb Ifor Bach earlier this year the first sound to come from his microphone via his laptop was a disembodied sigh.

Probably just dusting off the vocal chords, says the rapper, aka Topher LaFata, but the splice of man and machine was the perfect start to a set by an artist who has taken e-technology music to new ground.

He touches on electronica, rap, industrial, hip hop and punk rock and raps. "I generally rap about what I know about," he said, which was mainly audio gear which he's been into since he was 13; he's now 29.

"I may have been spending more time away from my computer," he joked. "But really it's me maturing as a song-writer and I don't want to keep writing about the same stuff."

On his latest, third release for Pias Recordings, The Game, he takes a more Quentin Tarantino like slant with hard-faced, suit wearing women tooting guns and much attitude. All done in the most mature taste, of course.

Musically, his zeal for a constantly changing universe of sounds is matched in music that is impossible to pin down and genuinely experimental. Like Gold Chains on one track, and you might hate him on the next.

On The Game his voice is barely undoctored with effects in feats of simultaneous rapping and dial twiddling he somehow manages to pull off live. Like early house music, every beat, sound and vocal is manipulated and therein lies the narrative in Gold Chains. Many artists turn sound on its head with electronics but few have such an in-depth knowledge of the technology and the ability to programme it.

In the studio Gold Chains uses Logic systems, which he loves, but live he uses only his own self-programmed software installed on laptop computers.

"I wrote it max/msp," he said. "It enables me to do my live stuff anyway I want. "If I am doing a more ambient type set or something then it would definitely influence the way it sounds just because of the performance tools built in are whatever I programmed; nasty distortion and stuff."

"I don't want to do just rap tracks, or just this or just that. I'm going to try and keep it mixed up otherwise it becomes kind of boring," he said. "Being into so many different types of music can work against you but sometimes people appreciate it, which is cool."

Gold Chains fans are generally music fans, particularly electronic music, rather than dedicated follows of hip hop.

"I have no idea what they think of me," he said. "They probably hate it."

The Game is drawn from Gold Chains' forthcoming debut album which will probably have more styles on one disk than most labels have in their entire catalogue.

Gold Chains' live performances are often solo affairs with the rapper and microphone setting his laptops in motion before the vocals begin, then returning to the machines to manipulate his voice.

"I generally prefer to have other people playing with me but a lot of times it is too expensive to get them around the world," he said. "I will have one or two girls with me doing back up vocals with me, which'll be nice.

"It's not about sex, it's more about backup vocals. I don't want to do the whole sex-girl crap. I just think it's been done way too much. I have a lot of respect for women so I could never ask any of my friends to get up on stage and be some sort of hoochy mama."

Very little of the tour and set has been planned. A man of spontaneity, he works out what to play as a gig progresses, something he says will have to change a bit with backing singers in tow.

"Nothing is really planned. I generally don't plan out a tour. I don't even have a set list. Except, I should probably kind of start making set lists to make it easy on everybody (on the girls and stuff) so they know what's going on."

A man of extremes (he's on Kid606's Pias Recordings label after all), his current work is looking like it'll be more audio-pleasant with fewer 'nasty distortions' he has made a point of using in the past.

"I think it will be pretty pleasant with the girls and stuff. Maybe I will get into the clubby noise type stuff if I get a chance to (laughs) but we'll just see how it goes."

Gold Chains plays TJ's, Newport on Saturday, November 23, with Kit Clayton in support. Tickets are £6. For more information dial 01633 216608.