00:00I won't name names but there were a few situations in that world of things sometimes they especially at that era they don't like paying people and they don't also don't like crediting you for some reason. And so when I figured out you didn't have to have people on your beats I was like oh let me just do this.
00:20You used to live in London right?
00:21There was a brief period yeah I tried last year it was great I had I have no complaints except for I'm from Miami and maybe it's I would say it's almost the exact opposite of Miami in a lot of ways in the weather way was kind of what broke me but I love it I love London it's always great to come.
00:41Hell yeah obviously Florida runs deep in your music and everything you do what's your relationship to like the rap scene there because I remember reading an interview where you talked about how you used to start you started out making beats for rappers in Florida.
00:57I mean in the era that I was just starting to make music that was I mean it started exploding from I would say like there was obviously like the DJ Khaled era when I was super young that I was still kind of making beats and stuff but when I really started working with people it was like Space Goes Perp, Raider Clan, Denzel Curry, Rob Banks and all of that so it was a special time I'd say like 2013 to 2016 maybe 2017.
01:26And were you working with any of those artists directly or was it sort of Rob Banks and Denzel Curry when they were doing stuff we were all just kind of in the mix Miami's quite small in a lot of ways and yeah you just go out and you meet somebody and like all of a sudden you're in the studio and yeah everybody was just really excited to make music at that time and there were less rules about what to do so yeah I feel like it was a sick moment to be a part of.
01:52That's so interesting because I associate you so heavily with like almost a different part of SoundCloud now but like that's really the SoundCloud you grew up on.
02:00You grew up the deep exactly no it's funny I mean in that time too I was making I guess what would be considered more like the music that I make now but just keeping it a bit more secret but Denzel's people for example I showed them some stuff and they were like oh this is good and they were like really into Flying Lotus at that time and I feel like that was kind of closer to what I was doing too so I was like all right you can make beats and it doesn't necessarily have to have people on them.
02:26Yeah at what point did you start moving from that world into like more of the club scene and ambient and things like that?
02:33I won't name names but there were a few situations in that world of things sometimes they especially at that era they don't like paying people and they don't also don't like crediting you for some reason and so when I figured out you didn't have to have people on your beats I was like oh let me just do this but I also really enjoyed DJing and getting yeah in that era
02:56there were parties where it was like performances DJs art show whatever all kind of mixed in and I feel like once I realized you could start going once I was old enough to start going to clubs and stuff like this too it was just felt like a natural progression.
03:11Yeah I also think a lot about how you know the rap music of Florida is very dance oriented and you know there was the whole like the juken like movement you know I don't know if you've seen like this Kid Cudi song Maui Waui's like having a moment now.
03:26Yeah I was so high by grind mode that was like the song like that song there's a song called Be Ma by this guy DJ Chipman to me they're like that's like religious for me like it was like middle school era and the beats were always like these spacey almost emotional kind of beats but very like sticking and bopping so you could still do like it was danceable and I think that that just got embedded in like my DNA from an early age.
03:51So you go from that to like this more club you know ambient space you also have a little pop era in the middle of that can you just talk a little about your time working with Rosalia?
04:03Yeah shout out to Rosalia album dropping tomorrow I guess?
04:08Yeah yeah yeah yeah it was exciting.
04:09No I mean it was basically what's interesting about that one was I was working with this label Nafi out of Mexico City and I put out this EP with them called Aguacero that was kind of like this more percussion it was really influenced by this genre tribal from from Mexico and she had been listening to a lot of the Nafi stuff and I think through that discovered a few of the artists working on the label like she did stuff with Tijana as well.
04:38And yeah I just one day got a DM on Instagram and we started talking I went to LA for a couple of days I was in the studio with her Noah Goldstein and Dylan Wiggins who are all like incredible producers and artists.
04:52Noah Goldstein worked on like the Kanye music right?
04:54Yeah he did a lot of the Kanye stuff a lot of the Frank stuff you know the context of getting in there was from still doing my weird electronic stuff but then she's obviously this pop master but also really into the avant-garde or whatever just like
05:08finding all these things that are in that are going on in the music world in the underground music world yeah I like worked on a few songs tried some things out it was it was a really I think definitive experience for me because it's kind of like you just get dropped in the middle of the ocean and you just got to figure it out.
05:25Yeah sometimes I'm like I could have done a better job but also I think because of that experience I definitely pushed myself more to be like oh you can be in these spaces and I do want to be in these spaces.
05:35Yeah and I feel like working with her too I learned so much about just like what it means to craft an album and like care about the entire context of the thing and not just like every song has to have this and like these four things in it it's like no what if this moment happens here and then later on there's this and like yeah just building a full project.
05:56Yeah was it was it a bit of a pop vibe where like you know you work on something with the artist and you're just like not sure if that's going to make the final version it's kind of like this machine almost.
06:04Um no she's super hands-on oh yeah that was like it was so cool honestly um it was like there were a couple of different people in different rooms um doing stuff all at the same time and then we would just kind of check in with each other every couple of hours and yeah it was cool yeah it was a very like fun experience I would say.
06:23And while you were doing that were you still finding time to DJ and like sort of stay tapped into that world?
06:29Um it was right after COVID that this happened so the DJing thing was a little slower I would say but when the actual album Motomami came out I uh had just started touring like super heavily so they kind of happened um at the same time in parallel I guess which was interesting because yeah I was trying to do I wanted to be in sessions and doing this stuff but then all of a sudden it's like oh do you want to go to Europe for three months and play and I'm like yeah.
06:56How has like working with a pop star informed your sensibilities as a solo artist?
07:03I will say like when I was working on my album um that came out this year I was finding myself thinking about those few days that I was in the studio with her because just kind of the approach to an album and being a little more minimalist and letting things breathe because I feel like when uh we were working on stuff I would be like okay every song obviously needs like a really good sub bass or something.
07:26It's like actually no like this I have enough of that over here like this one I wanted more straight back it's like oh right like I should be thinking about it like this so I think more on the taking stuff out and giving everything space and a moment to breathe um it's something that I really love about good pop music.
07:44Yeah and especially when you can introduce like I don't know more experimental textures or something like this.
07:49Yeah and I was doing sessions with other people you know like working with Erika DeCassier or like Empress Of and I've always loved the pop world I think I coming into like the rap stuff it was always just about being in the studio with people and like collaborating and trying to realize other people's vision that I like.
08:06And then my music was always kind of just like a little secret thing where I go hide and like try things out.
08:12And then they started to meet in the middle a bit more.
08:16I kept them quite separated for a while and I feel like after my experience with Rose it was like oh well I should you know try to make these work together a bit more.
08:24Well I want to talk about your album real quick I mean I think this is like one of the best club records of the year.
08:29I mean it feels like a pop record to me at times too.
08:32Yeah a club record is interesting.
08:34Yeah yeah I was like how would you categorize it?
08:37I would call it more pop I would say like electronica I don't know there's more vocals obviously there's like the structure of the songs maybe are less focused on like DJ ability.
08:49Yeah.
08:50There's not too many on there that I would personally play out outside of the context of like a live show or something like that.
08:55Yeah I don't know I think I was going for that I knew it wasn't going to be pop like purely but that was the goal.
09:01And I know that like my favorite thing to do is just like try and do something that I know it's not going to land exactly where I'm thinking but it'll still be interesting because I tried to go there.
09:12Yeah.
09:12Does that make sense?
09:13Yeah.
09:13Totally.
09:13You mentioned Erica earlier and I was just thinking about you know so we're making Pitchfork's making like our year end list now our albums list and songs list and all that.
09:22And like it had me thinking about how like a handful of the best albums in the year kind of share a similar vibe like they're almost well A you guys literally work together.
09:31I'm talking about you know you Erica OK Lou James K James K literally like you know there's even Malibu you know there's there's such a like interesting like thing happening where so many of the the coolest and most like acclaimed albums in the year kind of share this like
09:52kind of like kind of like sincerity to them I would say or like I was using that word yeah for sure.
09:56Yeah and like like just like this the sonic like this almost like aqueous sound I don't know where that I don't know if that's something you've been thinking about.
10:03Like yeah I mean aqueous always because I mean yeah humidity it's just like a part of the thing but I agree or just I don't know it feels like a lot of us are pulling from a similar place maybe.
10:16And like especially with electronic music I think of like SoundCloud era of just finding random like edits of whatever song slowed down or like an emo version of this thing or like just kind of the we're at this point now where the influences and everything is so mixed up that it really just kind of it becomes personal in the way that you experienced music as whatever what your formative years or like later on when you were like actually really committed to being interested in music.
10:45I feel like yeah there's so much to pull from and the best filtration system is just your own personal experience.
10:52For sure.
10:53And I think maybe we have shared experiences in that way but yeah it's been really sick to I mean I think this is one of the best years for music in recent history for sure.
11:00Definitely.
11:01Yeah we were talking before this just about the Little Suthunaka album.
11:04Yeah.
11:05Crazy.
11:06I'm going to see them later yeah.
11:07We're about to see them yeah literally that's like one of those albums where I feel like it can like potentially reconfigure how you listen to music.
11:13For sure and what's interesting too is it's the same SoundCloud like DJ E, Alicia Crampton, before she was Chukri Mamani, Kondori like all this stuff it's like similar eras of this like early I wouldn't even miss like maybe 2010 early 2010s I guess.
11:30But it was just lawless but people still loved pop if that makes sense like it was people doing experimental stuff but still loved like whatever Rihanna or something and just kind of mixing them together and I think that is so I love that like that's the most interesting thing.
11:49And now it's been long enough to where it's actually happening within the context of pop where you have like Beyonce working with Kelman Duran or something you know what I mean like that's fire.
11:59Yeah.
11:59More more of that.
12:01That just makes me want to ask like do you want to get back into those rooms like I think you had mentioned you do but like is there is there any artists in the pop world right now you like really want to work with.
12:10Um I mean I love working with Erica she's the best um definitely yeah there's a few people that I've been in the studio with over the last summer um I've been trying to convince people to just come to Miami and hang out and like work on stuff there because I think it's a pretty good place to write.
12:26I've quite enjoyed touring and doing my album and everything like that but I always kind of wind back and forth between collaborating with other people and then when I I always learn new things so whenever you learn that stuff and you can just like apply it to the next thing or yeah pushes you in a new direction.
12:44Yeah you you you just put out I don't know if you just put it I don't remember pretty recently put out a remix album for uh Tropical Entropy.
12:51Yeah and then I was just wondering is that is this sort of the the cap on this era of the album where you think you're gonna do more with it?
12:57I think so um I mean I'm gonna do live performances I've been playing like this um this month I'm touring in Europe doing the live show and I'm gonna definitely push that a bit more next year.
13:09I'm very much in the mode of like ready to write more stuff because what was cool about this album was it was like I wanted a way to summarize all of the things I do because I feel quite scattered and you know we're talking about SoundCloud rap and club and ambient all this stuff and I was like how how am I gonna put it together and the album was kind of that challenge for me.
13:29And I was like let me just make the statement in that way like hey this is what I do and I feel like since I've done that there's I feel a bit more freedom to just keep doing more of that like I have songs with my own vocals on the album I'll do more of that maybe maybe I'll maybe I'll do some more club music at some point that's like purely functional.
13:47Yeah um but it's been really I just like songwriting or like making yeah learning instruments a bit more this kind of thing.
13:55I would love for DJ Frisco Florida fast DJ yeah I'd love for him to remix her album that was like my like selfish like is this gonna happen?
14:02Yeah he did uh he did a fast version of Bikini but Bikini is already pretty fast so it just kind of sounds like nightcore I don't know it was really sick actually but that like fast music this kind of whole culture of Florida stuff um was really influential
14:17for this record and just like in general where it's like um a lot of that music what I was saying before is like emotional in the melody but then the beat it can be almost silly sometimes and the beats always kind of like it makes you move and then you just speed it up even more to where like the vocals are almost like chip monkey or like yeah uh manipulated in this way and sometimes it does sound like somebody like OK Lou or whoever where it's like the voice is them but it's just slightly more alien because they've shifted it.
14:44I'll never forget uh I saw OK Lou DJ last year at like a roller rink uh and she played uh this like Pierre Bourne edit uh that like pitched up his vocals and I was like damn it just sounds like OK Lou.
14:56Yeah it's like all I'm just really interested in those coincidences or like moments where these things kind of line up and it's like oh it's all we're all doing similar things just maybe approaching it from a different angle or something.
15:09For sure. Does anybody have any uh questions?
15:12What song do you think of yours do you think represents your inner world best and why?
15:19Easy answer is Bikini 100% maybe subconsciously or I don't know how it was a really magical song the way it all came together it was like collaborative with me Erica and my friend Sammy we all met at the same time.
15:30I worked on the beat with Sammy it got sent to Erica it all came together and I feel like the collaborative part is definitely a part of like the essence of what I like to do.
15:38But musically it has all of the things that I feel I try to express with music where it's like it makes you move but there's also like maybe it's kind of sad maybe it's not maybe there's like a bit yeah there's like there's melancholy
15:54melancholy maybe is a better word but like there's like some trance you know sprinkled in not too much but just enough um the drums yeah I feel like it's just like a good uh it feels very Miami 2008 ultra but like in a parallel universe like Afrojack liked the song you know what I mean like it which was to me it's like okay cool like this we're getting somewhere um but yeah I would say maybe maybe that one for sure.
16:22My favorite song off the album was Ghost Orchid with Ella Minus but I don't speak Spanish could you tell us what that song is about?
16:32Basically the title comes from this movie adaptation I don't know if you've ever seen it with Nicolas Cage and uh yeah I was trying to sprinkle in like easter eggs of uh Florida lore and that movie's in uh that takes place in Everglades and they're looking for this ghost orchid
16:49and I really wanted when we talked about it I was like I kind of pictured this ASMR type uh voice happening when the beat fades out and it's just kind of like
16:58aqueous or like yeah yeah wet sounding sounds and um just somebody talking about yeah
17:06this makes me want to ask a quick follow-up to that which is do you have like any films or film soundtracks in general that have informed your music a lot over the years?
17:16Um I don't know soundtracks but films 100% like that's how I think about music I think I think if I you know had another life or time to dedicate to a different craft it would totally be that I mean I love film music all like the Johnny Greenwood stuff for Paul Thomas Anderson is great I like Cynthia stuff that like uh Trent Reznor does I like
17:39the guy who did the guy who did all the music for Tarkovsky like the Stalker movie has really great
17:44music um OPN I guess is like the biggest one for sure yeah yeah his stuff is great as well
17:51so you mentioned earlier that when you were working with rappers a lot of that had to do with kind of the
17:57sounds that they were gravitated towards and then working with pop artists has been a bit different
18:02but it kind of sounds like working with other artists kind of regardless of genre
18:06has so much to do with their inner world and what they're gravitating towards and of course like
18:12your your own taste and your own style informs so much of that but I was so interested earlier when
18:19you were talking about your own music and in the beginning it was kind of the secret thing you were doing
18:24on your own how did you develop your own style divorced from the style of the other artists that
18:33you were working with like regardless of whether they were rappers or yeah yeah like how did you kind
18:37of I mean this has been like the the task at hand let's call it you know it's been I feel like when I
18:46started making music it was very much just like this is the thing that I'm gonna do and I'm just gonna
18:50do it and be in service to others in this way but you learn being in those situations and if people
18:57like what you do they let you in and you figure out you start to figure out why they like what you do
19:01or what they what they like about what you do and then I feel like when I say hideaway it would just be
19:06more like experimenting on my own so that maybe I could come and bring something to the picture
19:12because I always felt like it was there were things that I appreciated about straight up rap or
19:16straight up pop music but for whatever reason I just couldn't do um and for a while I was it was
19:24frustrating but when I kind of flipped it in the sense of like okay well maybe that's what people
19:29like how can you bring this to the table and see like where it meshes that's also why I like
19:35collaborating in that way because then you have like if I'm by myself I'm just gonna try it all and
19:40get stuck in my head about it if you're with somebody that's like hey I don't know and you're like
19:44you're right let's do this so instead or like you know what I mean there's more of like a
19:48uh a boundary there or like uh guardrails to not get too far off track when in that way I feel like
19:57I've always just been into rhythm and percussion and this kind of thing like even in the early
20:04like rap beats or like other things I would do I was listening to stuff and I was like oh no it's
20:08still before I even like knew what I was like maybe the specific genre name or something I was
20:13interested in kind of bouncier broken rhythms and like yeah they they both inform each other I
20:21guess I would say because like now it's definitely I I've always loved the pop stuff but I guess it
20:26didn't really start to show until recently in my own work if that makes sense yeah yeah it's a good
20:35question I think that's it thanks so much Nick yeah thank you for having me thanks
20:39you
20:44you
20:46you
20:48you
Comments