☟YES/NO☟: Q&A

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Thursday, 7 August 2014

LAZY INTERVIEW #25: TROPES

This is the next in YES/NO's ongoing Lazy Interview series – a set of questions, all the same every single time, sent out to various artists that YES/NO particularly digs. It may be small-time, but it's still a chance to peek behind the curtain, crack the shell, or otherwise reveal something previously unrevealed about an artist. Basically: it's a Q&A.

Here for the twenty-fifth in the series is Tropes, an American beatcrafter who salvages hip hop and rap, new and old, flipping these already existing things into things that have never existed before, resulting in abstract, often mind-bending, chill-inducing, sun-laden beats that shine as bright – if not brighter – than the original source material. In this sense, he is not dissimilar to – but distinct from – vaporwave artists: our URL punks who take anybody's music, slow it down, speed it up, chop it up, make collages in homage of music they love, inadvertently (or ad…vertently…?) creating a whole ill-defined genre at the same time. It's great.

Recently, Tropes had the pleasure of playing a set at Boiler Room NYC, as part of their collaboration with cassette-only label, Dirty Tapes, officially known in this capacity as Dirty Tapes Radio 002. 26 minutes of beats that illustrate some alternative reality – you'd better check it out (you can also watch it with your eyes).

Without further whatevers though, please prepare to meet the jolly nice and down-to-earth man behind the moniker.

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
I'm Keaton. I grew up in Iowa. I work as a graphic designer and enjoy making music.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I've always had an interest, it started with percussion as a kid and moved to melody after that. Now I find myself doing both. I really just enjoy the act of creating and sharing music.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
Soulful, slightly smoke-infused, organic, maybe circular.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
I'm not sure really, I think it can go with different moods or times of day depending on the feel of the track.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
I'm always following my ear so I get inspired by the melodies that are created by whittling away at an idea for a while. If I'm working with some samples, the majority of the time the end result will sound pretty far from the sample source, so I'm inspired by the whole process from the beginning to the end result.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
Definitely last July, visiting Brooklyn and meeting some really awesome people while getting to play some music.

What are your three favourite songs at the moment?
[omitted; hey – it's a tough choice!]

Who do you most admire in the music world?
People who are doing their thing whenever they can, without connects or an audience.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
More and more music is becoming a mixture of the past, present and interpretations of what the future is and will/can be, with fuller sound and all. I think the future of music is going to be really diverse because of our urge to partake and draw inspiration from culture, and the internet makes sharing it simple.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
I really just hope to keep doing what I've been doing. I feel blessed and I hope to keep enjoying it and hopefully play out.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Staying grounded by friends, family and the outdoors whenever possible.

Also, DO check out Tropes's Boiler Room set. Big thumbs up; double, if anything.
Check out a load of other artists answering questions in the Lazy Interview series.

← #24: BO EN #26: KERO KERO BONITO →

Tropes on • Facebook • SoundCloud • Bandcamp • Twitter • Tumblr

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

LAZY INTERVIEW #24: BO EN

← #23: HARRISON #25: TROPES →

If you ever wanted to know more about London producer Calum Bowen aka bo en, then you've come to the right place. Equally, if you've ever wanted to read some words from a guy who really seems to know exactly what he's talking about when it comes to pop music, you should look no further.

Although, when I say 'pop music' I'm not talking corporate-sponsored campaigns gifted to various singers around the world, I'm talking about the producers of pop music – those composers of incredible hooks, polishers of sound, conjurers of moods and atmospheres, often working in the background without much recognition; in short, the actual creators of pop music.

When I first stumbled across the music of bo en I was surprised, joyous and confused all at the same time: here's a guy who makes (and quite rightly so) "maximalist introverted pop" and constructs cultural bridges at the same time, singing in a mix of Japanese and English whilst taking many of his influences from Japanese music in general. What's more, he also creates videogame music, which you can check out on his other SoundCloud page. I mean, to get a better idea of his sound in general, it'd be a good idea to check out bo en's debut album Pale Machine, which was released on v cool Japanese netlabel Maltine Records – you can download it for free.

Talking about his influences, his process, Japanese music, and his philosophy of pop music as a whole, the quite interesting Mr Bowen approached my "lazy interview" questions with a refreshing sparkle, showing that his talent and vision with the music he makes as bo en go hand in hand with his thoughts on the music world as a whole. On top of this, the most basic silhouette of him as an artist – an English guy living in London with such deep ties to Japan – demonstrates a utopian internationalism made buoyant by our ever-connected digital world. I apologise for my waffle: please just make yourself a cup of tea or something and keep reading.

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
I'm Calum Bowen. I live in London. I make video game music and experimental pop music under the name 'bo en'.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I think most people create some form of art because they're unable or unwilling to express themselves directly. So, as a shy child, I imagine it was quite appealing to be able to carefully consider and control my expression in this way. However, my first decision to study music at school was kind of driven by the fact that all of my friends were doing it. So, in that way, it was kind of the result of happenstance.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
Shibuya-kei was a huge influence for me. Taking the tenets of pop music to their extreme is kind of the general approach but stylistically, I take my lead from a big nostalgia for R&B which in turn led me onto a whole lot of soul/jazz. The surface aesthetic makes references to current trends in dance music but fundamentally I'm writing neo-soulish jazz-pop tracks.

A big part of my music is an attempt to rid people of the perception that style/genre should be the basis for value judgements. So, in using different timbres and rhythms (which are mostly the varying factors that define specific genres) as freely as possible I want to encourage people to free themselves of placing value judgements on genres alone. A lot of Shibuya-kei fits into this genre-hopping theme but I mainly take my inspiration from Kiyohiko Senba's project Haniwa. It definitely inspired my approach of treating different genres/stylistic tropes as a dramaturgical toolkit – that these could be used as elements within one coherent whole rather than borders to split different songs or even artists into camps and judge them accordingly.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
I'm not sure. In a way, I think it relies on the attention of the audience quite heavily. For example, It wouldn't work well as background dinner party music. It can be pretty disruptive at times. So, I suppose some free time or place that you have to jump into the world. I don't think it particularly sits anywhere geographically or temporally.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Now that I'm writing my new album, I have new objectives but when I was writing Pale Machine, I had a clear set of rules (except I broke them a few times) which led the writing. In that way, experimentation within those rules was the main inspiration. While I draw from my own experiences lyrically and want to engage with people in a frank and open way, the more dominant factor for me is creating something musically interesting and compelling which can support my emotional opening up.

The most inspiring specific moments are almost always accidents, as cliché as it sounds. So often, when writing or producing, you get locked into the sound or direction of what you've started because you go through a process of listening to it over and over again and solidifying the contents in your mind. However, there's been times where my hands have slipped and I landed on a chord that felt great and that has led the rest of my writing. Or I might mute a track by accident and realise that, in fact, this section should be a lot more sparse. In that way, accidents help me break out of the cyclic determined writing process I usually go through.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
I think the most memorable would be the Pale Machine album launch at 2.5D in Japan last year. I've played a few more times since and it's been absolutely amazing but the first time was kind of just a big surprise. Having worked only online for a really long time and kind of putting all my eggs in one basket and hoping things would work out, I was so happy to see 2.5D fill up and everyone singing along so encouragingly. I'm kind of used to going to shows as a bit of a skeptic, waiting to be won over but it was completely the other way around at this show and in Japan in general which, while it's not particularly critical, is very comforting for a performer.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
It might not seem like these are very “at the moment” but these are the main songs that are currently inspiring my new album. I think the common thread is that these are people who are trying to make what is most interesting to them through the lens of pop. I take my definition of pop as clearly presented works of brevity and seemingly visceral pleasure. It's easy to be skeptical of pop because it is so often the product of corporations detached from direct human emotion and that much desired quality, 'authenticity'.

Fundamentally, these are people who engage creatively with accessibility and recognise that 'pop' as an approach to writing music is not analogous with the 'rounding of corners' approach that aims at being appealing to the largest amount of people.

Chakra – まだ

Steely Dan – Deacon Blues

はにわちゃん – 体育祭

Who do you most admire in the music world?
I think part of my musical identity falls on the fact that I don't have any clear musical idols. If pushed, I'd say I admire the persistence of Nakata Yasutaka's approach in an increasingly mainstream context. I admire those who make the music they want to hear and don't make any excuses for themselves.

As far as people in my immediate vicinity who inspire me and who's work I admire – Maxo's huge output and really fluid approach to harmony is very inspiring to me and Wave Racer's incredibly glossy production is particularly admirable. I absolutely love Sugar's Campaign but everyone already knows that.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
I think (and hope) the future of music will mark a shift in focus towards producers and songwriters over the (vocal) performer who currently stands symbolically in the place of everyone who makes their product possible. People seem a lot more interested in producers and producers also seem a lot more interested in pop so it's only really a matter of time, I think.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
I love the chance that bo en gives me to allow room for emotional reflection and expression in a very personal way but ultimately, I'd love to work with other singers and really push them to their limits. My voice is something I find can often restrict the way I write so I feel like I'd like to slowly move into primarily writing for other singers. Whether that'll still be 'bo en' or not, I don't know. I suppose it'd be nice to be perceived in a similar way to Yasutaka in that he's able to work with varying artists but it's always clear that he is the author of the work.

In terms of the not-so-distant future, I'm working on a short EP with two other secret people ;~) and, after that, my next album. Of course, I'm going to be working on game soundtracks as well during these periods.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
In a broad sense hobbies are the most important thing to me. To be able to maintain genuine interest and intrigue outside of music is what'll really keep me sane and enjoying my life. To be able to return to that state where you're constantly acquiring new knowledge like a child is incredibly enjoyable. Right now, my two main hobbies are gardening and web design.

Most recently, bo en released the Pale Machine: Expansion Pack 2, an extremely tactile (it's pink & fluffy, as u can see) and collectible version of his debut of the same name, without the expansion pack bit obviously. On it you'll find some lovely new songs, a couple of collaborations and some remixes by the likes of Giraffage and Seiho. Get it here (CLICK).

← #23: HARRISON #25: TROPES →

Like bo en on Facebook
Listen to bo en on SoundCloud
Follow bo en on Twitter
Check bo en's self-designed site

Like Calum Bowen on Facebook
Listen to Calum Bowen on SoundCloud
Hear more Calum Bowen on Bandcamp
Visit Calum Bowen official site
Follow Calum Bowen on Twitter

Wednesday, 19 March 2014

LAZY INTERVIEW #23: HARRISON

← #22: VULKANO #24: BO EN →

In any creative vocation there is usually a trade-off between quality and quantity. I say USUALLY because it's only the usual thing; sometimes you get both at the same time, but often you make a LOT of stuff of wildly varying quality or you make REALLY GOOD stuff, just not very much of it. Harrison seems to be one of the rare few who has to make absolutely no trade-off whatsoever. He makes a lot of music at a consistent level of (very good) quality. From edits, remixes ('Zelda Menu', anyone?) and future funk joints dripping with obscure samples, to more recent stuff that is almost wholly "original", Harrison's back catalogue already bulges with greatness.

Particularly interesting is his very recent 'Connect ✿' series, in which Harrison tries to portray the thoughts and feelings of his female friends based on conversations with them. Not only is the concept itself unique and rather sweet, but the nature and styles of sound that Harrison can explore here goes beyond the boundaries of his inaugural sounds: compare the already-classic 'Sunshine The Street Cat' with the most recent Connect, 'Charlotte', and you'll see what I mean. A summer-flavoured soulful funk mirage, and a pattering juke track with Rainbow Road flights of fancy. Totally different.

Happily! The clearly quite busy Harrison was happy to delve into a Lazy Interview exclusively for YES/NO. Actually, forget that, not exclusively, cause, well, I just asked him. That was all. EXCLUSIVE is in its meaning and its origins an ugly word. Read up.

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
My name's Harrison based out of Toronto and I'm a producer or instrumentalist.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I was super bored and was going through a "rough" time in my life. It really actually started out as a joke with a few friends and I didn't want to stop. Boar M'londe showed me how to use Reason and we actually started out as a group (HMPF). We didn't break up or anything we just didn't make music at the same time because one of us would be gaming while the other one was on his computer.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
I honestly can't answer that because I don't know. I haven't found it yet which is starting to piss me off.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Depends on the album. When it Rains was made for the Fall and Prom King was made for the spring. Anything in between I really just made so people would dance and stuff.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Females.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
My first show. It was at a tea shop that my friend's brother owned. She started this event called "wholehearted" which essentially brought artists together in the least non-pretentious way. I just remember my hands shaking so heavily and shit. The girl I was into showed up with a guy and I drank too much and all this shit. After it happened, I don't shake anymore.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?

Forever by Chris Malinchak
Loving Free by Spazzkid
California Soul by Marlana Shaw

Who do you most admire in the music world?
Definitely people who aren't giving up on the old school. The people who don't need to express their music through words and the people who aren't afraid to make happy sounding music. Onra basically.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
My opinion is really strong on that. I can't answer that without sounding like a dick so I won't.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
I don't know. Going to release an EP and an edit tape hopefully. I hope my "following" is open minded though. I'd really like it to be my best one yet.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Females.

So it's clear that Harrison likes females. An inspiration, a great importance in his life, and literally the basis of some of his newest, most different tracks, it's nice to hear an honest love appearing – for whatever reason, Harrison and females just go, like peanut butter and jam (jelly whatever). It's clear to see in his 'Connect ✿' series, how he reflects the mind-numbing boredom of a girl daydreaming at school, thinking of better things to do, the lack of direction, the somehow sunny and vague sense of worry. Even without lyrics, Harrison makes his music deliciously human, connective and energetic and at all times hopeful.

Feeling as he is "pissed off" at not finding a definitive style, well, if I may speak for a wider group of listeners, it's fine. In fact, the variety is great. We dip in here, we dip in there, we are never bored with your sound. I mean, perhaps this reflects an overstimulated generation, of which I am also a part, one that is indecisive, unsure – but why can this not be a good thing? Why can this not be a thing in itself? It might be the case that Harrison's style is one of fluid mutability, underpinned by a continual search for a "defining sound" – no exhaustive goal but the variegated journey itself – and if it is so then let it be: people clearly love him for it.

← #22: VULKANO #24: BO EN →

Like HΛRRISON on Facebook
Listen to HΛRRISON on Soundcloud
Hear more HΛRRISON on bandcamp
Follow HΛRRISON on Twitter
Check HΛRRISON on Tumblr

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

LAZY INTERVIEW #18: PSAPP

← #17: BOTANY #19: BRETON →

Since I first heard of these guys a couple of months ago (courtesy of their song 'Everything Belongs To The Sun'), I was interested in finding out more about them. An opportunity to find out more presented itself and here I am. It's an interview with London duo Psapp, they've been active for about 11 years, released 5 albums (one of which was a Japan exclusive, and one of which I'll be writing about at the end of this week), and are credited with creating the genre "toytronica" - it sounds legitimate, doesn't it? I'll go with that. In fact, Indonesian duo Bottlesmoker are pretty toytronic as well. What is toytronica? It's electronica with the additional introduction of toy instruments (children's keyboards, play-a-long guitars, GameBoys, etc) as well as homemade stuff, maybe including circuit-bending as well.

Anyway, that's enough of that. And if you don't know anything about them at all, you should have a listen to their latest single 'Wet Salt' or have a search through their extensive back catalogue. As for now, let's have a look-see at what makes them tick, eh?

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
Carim: I am Mr Psapp, aka Carim Clasmann, born in Cologne, Germany and most things I do revolve around composing, producing, mixing and mastering music. Apart from making music with Mrs Psapp I work as a sound engineer, music producer and mastering engineer.

Galia: I am Mrs Psapp AKA Galia Durant. We are mongrels from lots of places, but mainly London and Cologne. We make songs out of objects that sound good. I do a lot of drawing too.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
Carim: I think my most transformational moment was when a friend of mine lent me his Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. I was only 14 years old and all I ever wanted to do then was write and record music. It was like opening a magic box and suddenly understanding that music can be pieced together of whatever layers you want to add.

Galia: I’ve been making music since I was a teeny tiny tiddler so it was less of a conscious decision - it was inevitable.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
Galia: We use a lot of objects we find and homemade instruments in our music. We combine this with vocals, violins, toys, guitars and anything within our grasp.

Carim: Our songs are mostly not based on chords but on melodies and counterpoints, very much like classical compositions. So as all the melodies intertwine they create passing chords and harmonics. The same applies to our rhythms which are layers of individual percussion rather than a drum kit. But we are not strict about this because that would be an unnecessary limitation. As far as sound is concerned any sound emitting object is a potential instrument may it be a field recording, a log of wood or a piano. We very much enjoy experimenting and creating our own instruments as even a tiny alteration in texture can create a unique atmosphere.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
Carim: On the sofa in the library because that’s where my nice stereo is set up.

Galia: For me it’s on headphones - there is so much intricate detail in our music … and lots of different ways of listening to it.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Carim: For me it's the atmosphere in the studio and the total cut off from the world outside. Sometimes the bubble bursts by just a small distraction.

Galia: Everything. It’s hard to filter it sometimes. We tend to be inspired by each other, other people, the weather, joy, drudgery and the magic of being in the studio.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
Carim: I don't have a very good memory. Galia and I playing the keyboard, layered with a whole new set of freshly recorded sounds, together is definitely one of my favourite things in the world.

Galia: There are so many moments. One that comes to mind is a particularly prolific period when I was staying on my own in Carim’s place with no heating in midwinter, homeless and jobless with only my keyboards, cigarettes, sausages and some thick socks to comfort me. I just wrote and wrote.

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
Carim:
Moondog - "Bird's Lament"
Can - "She Brings The Rain"
Talk Talk - “Ascension Day"

Galia:
Aksak Maboul - "A Modern Lesson"
Talk Talk - "I Believe In You"
Susan Cadogan - "Hurt So Good"

Who do you most admire in the music world?
Carim: Anyone who stays true to himself. I wouldn’t know where to start singling out individual musicians.

Galia: Yep. Definitely. But as for singling out a lone person - well this is like choosing your favourite album ever - it’s just impossible! Different music for different moments, and different people for different flavours of admiration. In your opinion, what is the future of music?
Carim: I don't think many people will want to explore what is between the twelve semitones of an octave but there is definitely a lot of scope for different rhythms and sounds to spill over from what is now deemed experimental into more commercial music. Personally I am always very happy about tracks not being in 4/4.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
Carim: We want to get back into the studio soon any try out some of the ideas spooking through our heads. Usually whatever I put in comes out quite differently once Galia gets involved and vice versa. I want to try writing some songs with found sounds being more at the forefront, picking out their natural notes and adding instruments to fit them rather than starting on a guitar. Maybe also something very quiet, whispery, hardly audible vocals, leaving large spaces. I also imagine building a giant musicbox with a large rotating drum that spins and hit various objects in its path. But for Psapp we just need to sit down together and then all plans we made on our own become pointless and we’ll do what feels right at the time anyway.

Galia: Everything Carim says sounds bloody excellent… and I really want to try scoring some classical instruments. We have done this a bit in the past but I think it would be a real thrill to try out more instruments. Also we should definitely build more instruments….. put all of Carim’s DIY and soldering equipment to good use. I like accidental notes in sounds which then turn into a melody of their own - a hoover, a creaky door, a swing, a washing machine, a distant argument.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Carim: My lady, my cat Marbles, eating too much cake, a hot summer that lasts for 6 months, keeping my brain busy and feeding it with fresh new ideas.

Galia: My boy, my babies and my brain being full and in danger of bursting.

Don't they sound just lovely? Experimentation in music is what keeps it alive, for sure, otherwise we'd be in a perpetual loop of people doing pretty much the same old thing. What's clear is that Psapp, as a pair, are not only passionate about music but also about the very sounds that make up music itself. Taking objects that don't have musical connotations whatsoever and forcing them into a musical dimension, not even basing songs on chords or progressions but rather on the paths that each sound can take within a melody - both of these show a clear desire to cultivate sounds, hear singular sounds, showcasing their individual tones and textures rather than that of collective, pop-driven chords.

Some of their music has been used in TV programmes, and it's no surprise: Psapp's music bursts with an original freshness, with collections of melodies and multi-faceted percussion that conjure emotions, atmospheres, or which perfectly illustrate certain scenes of life. And it's all thanks to the outside-the-box yet technical thinking in Psapp's positive and experimental approach to making music; it certainly bodes well for the future of music, when experimentation is so much more widespread and widely accepted, with Psapp echoing the undertones of this change in the music world's dynamic well before the popular outlets began to recognise the fact.

Please stick around for what the words I will write about their latest album, What Makes Us Glow.

← #17: BOTANY #19: BRETON →

Like Psapp on Facebook
Listen to Psapp on Soundcloud
Visit Psapp's official site
Follow Psapp on Twitter
Watch Psapp on YouTube
Learn about Psapp on Wikipedia

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

LAZY INTERVIEW #17: BOTANY

← #16: SAMUEL #18: PSAPP →

At the end of last week I wrote about a really nice album. It's called Lava Diviner (Truestory) and it's by Botany and it's kinda a concept album built on the loose story of a religious cult praying for a volcano to explode. Whilst the songs worked out of context, so to speak, they most certainly worked in their intended order and I recommend having a listen. The atmosphere alone is really filmic stuff, so prepare to drift off and imagine.

Anyway. It was a really nice listen and I had fun going on the journey. There should be more concept albums. The flow is something else. I'm talking like I've never heard a concept album. But all of that aside, Botany himself was kind enough to lend his time in answering the Y/N lazy interview: lazy by name, not by nature. Please sit yourself down with a cup of tea or coffee or whatever you fancy, have a nice read of these words and enjoy.

Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do?
My name is Spencer Stephenson. I grew up in a small town in Texas called Weatherford, full of football-moms, chain restaurants, and conservative politics. I think the guitar player of White Denim is from here too. It's a place that anyone who wants to do or say anything moves out of as soon as possible. I make music as often as I can and schlep at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas. I would say I live there too, but I'm in a little bit of transient period. I don't live in LA or New York and I'm not from Detroit or Chicago. I have a life story that no one should pay attention to.

Why did you decide to start creating music?
I've been playing since I was 10 and making electronic and hip hop stuff since I was 15. I've always done it. It's a hermit-crab shell that I never outgrew.

How would you describe your sound? What makes you and your style stand out?
I would describe my sound as one that uses a hip-hop composition style to make anything that can possibly be made that way. I tend to gravitate towards themes like mysticism, wonder, fantasy, and the ancient world, anything that someone would call another person a nerd for liking.

Is there a perfect time and place for listening to your music?
That's totally up to the listener. I try to create enough of a "world" within the music itself for the listener to be able to listen to it anywhere at any time, but there are some places that are better than others. I'd recommend night time, outside.

What inspires you most when writing a song?
Usually a piece of an old record that would loop into something really interesting or pleasing to listen to. Landing on good drum sounds always pushes a song into the next dimension for me, too. If I like something I'm working on and that feeling doesn't go away then I'll finish the track.

What is your most memorable musical experience?
I opened for Panda Bear in 2011 in Dallas and it was the first time I played a big room by myself, to 500-800 people. It was really exhilarating.
Other than that some of my favorite musical moments have come from improvised jams between me and my friend Bruce Blay who makes music under the name Melting Season. We used to do a lot of free-form, krautrock-infused noise jams a

What are your favourite three songs at the moment?
Pharoah Sanders - "Greeting To Saud"
Four Tet - "Gong"
Ahnnu - "Mirror"

Who do you most admire in the music world?
Matthewdavid is doing some amazing shit with his label Leaving Records. They've partnered with Stones Throw for a few releases as well. Everything they put out sounds great and sounds so much more raw and alive than 99.9% of electronic music/hip-hop. When I first found out about them I felt a kinship immediately like "ah yeah someone gets it!" Some of the stuff on Leaving breathes so naturally you'd never know computers were involved. Perfect approach, and really relatable. To me anyway.

In your opinion, what is the future of music?
Well I see the kind of music that I do fully breaching the visual side of things. I hope to see albums released with some kind of fully interactive visual component, maybe one that is viewed through virtual-reality hardware. I often listen to music in dark rooms with my eyes wide open, it would be nice to put something in front of them and round out the experience that way.

Music is a personal experience and you can cherry-pick record stores and the internet and create a library that reflects your tastes perfectly in a much more specific way than ever before. I think we're at a point where artists are reaching for their own sound and identity like never before because of how saturated the music world is, and that's only going to make for a more personal experience on the listener's end as well.

What's the future of your music - what do you hope to do next?
I hope to just keep going and making music that I'm proud of. I'd like to work with more rappers and other vocalists, but not in a "featuring" way necessarily, not in a way that's sort of compartmentalized like "here's the beat, here's the singer." I'd like to work with vocalists who add to the music in a really integrated way instead of just floating over the top of it. That's not how I think about vocals. They're another instrument in the mix. I feel like too many vocalists give songs an ego and a face with what they do. I'd like to go the opposite route.

I'm working on an EP right now that should be out next year, I really like the material that's on that.

What, aside from music, is most important to you?
Staying on top of everything else so I can keep making music.

He comes across as wholly dedicated to not just the process of creating music but also to the intended purpose of music: listening. Which is a nice thing to hear. Enjoyment, as ever, seems to play a big part in whether music even gets made in the first place, and his idea for the future of music - a more pervasive visual element - is something that prolong, augment and even enhance the listening experience. I know that VJs exist but how often do you ever hear of a famous VJ? Matching movement, images, colour to sound (the video for Julien Mier's 'Super Tropic Tramp' is a perfect example) is probably as difficult as making sounds into a coherent, likeable flow in the first place.

Whilst he says "I have a life story that no one should pay attention to," I believe that a life story, anyone's life story actually, shapes the person they become. For a maker of music, especially one so entrenched in music from an early age, that life story is going to mark your sound somewhat. Growing up, he says, in the midst of a place "full of football-moms, chain restaurants, and conservative politics" might explain why his music is so escapist; it doesn't even lash out, it simply transports you from where you are to somewhere else.

I listened to Lava Diviner (Truestory) whilst I was walking around my own hometown early in the morning. It was still dark. Instead of the comfortable suburban housing and commuters walking to the train station, I focused on the music - I couldn't not. This is music that comes from a place where people feel they don't belong, and speaks to people in similar situations. For everyone else, his finely-crafted beats will attract you into the marginal soundscapes that live at the heart of Botany's music.

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