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5 Questions: Loui The ZU
Meet Loui The ZU a 17 year old MC producer & song-writer conceived in Durban, South Africa, born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe but growing up in Auckland, New Zealand. Loui the ZU has just released his outstanding EP ‘LBSB: The Fruits Of My Labour’ so we decided to catch up with the young rapper to get to know him a little better. So press play and Happy reading.
You can download ’LBSB: The Fruits Of My Labour’ for free here.
Tell us who you are and how you got started in this rap game
I’ve always loved entertainment and have been a dancer and actor since primary school so was always around that type of thing. But I really got inspired to rap once I heard Lil Waynes verse on Dj Khaleds ‘We Takin’ Over’ - back when Lil Wayne was the man. Then I got really inspired to continue to make music and improve my songwriting skills when I heard John Mayers Continuum album. When I heard that, everything else was over.
So you just released your new Ep Whats the overall vibe you tried to achieve with it?
I just wanted to show people and my self the maturity of my writing - both lyrically and sonically. I was also very excited to show people this new sound I’ve developed. But vibe wise, I just wanted make something really memorable and beautiful.
When you were developing your own sound, there’s so much inspiration and influence to draw from. How do you narrow in and who were your biggest influences?
I’m just careful to have a wide ear and listen to a lot of different music. Like the most played album in my itunes right now is The Strokes - Angles, followed by Gem Club - Twins, Arcade Fire - The Suburbs album. So listening to a lot of different music other than rap has really helped me get a unique sound which you can really hear on songs like ‘Listen To Your Heart, I Want You To Know and Stranger.’
How do you feel about the current rappers out right now? How is the scene in New Zealand?
I think rap is at an interesting tipping point right now. I think because people have just recently got bored with the same old sound they’re branching out and trying other things. Hip-hop is a great place for Independent artists right now too. The rap scene in New Zealand sucks. There’s a couple good fellas like PNC, David Dallas, Home Brew, @Peace but really the alternative music side of music is really the best - look at Kimbra, The Naked and Famous, Unknown Mortal Orchestra!
What can we expect from you next?
More visuals. I’m stepping that up. Some surprises but really all this is just to get people ready for my debut album coming out end of this year or start of 2013.
5 Questions: XXYYXX
Since late 2011 the music community has seen a influx of super talented, fairly young music producer step out of the confines of their bedrooms and onto the scene with massive bangers.
XXYYXX tracks have already been circulated all over the interweb like wildfire due to their feel good, mellow vibe that will even get your grandmother in a trance.
Who is XXYYXX you exactly is you ask? Well Dont worry my friend we got the scope.
Name: Marcel Everett
Location: Orlando, Florida
How exactly did you get started in making music?
I started making music at around 10 years old. That’s when I started playing guitar, I was into more punk sounding things back then. I got into the electronic field at about 14 years old. I was heavily inspired by Toro y Moi and Com Truise, thus creating my first album, ‘Still Sound’. It was until recently that I found my sound in a way. I’ve figured out what comes out naturally, I’d consider this the new wave for me and making music.
Since your only 16 do all your friends in High School know about your XXYYXX project and what do they think?
Quite a few fellow students know about XXYYXX. They all seem to respond positively on it, I’m just glad people are giving it a listen and supporting some local music.
Explain to us your creative process. Do you have a daily routine where you go and write music, or is it spontaneous?
I usually just make tracks when I’m feeling down or in a really odd mood. If I feel really disassociated I might make something based off of that disconnected feeling. Any state that isn’t too typical is where I like to explore my creative output. I wouldn’t call it spontaneous, but there isn’t really much of a routine. I just try to put as much into as I can to reflect how i felt the track to be.
What equipment do you use.
I simply use my laptop and an AKAI MPK49 during live shows. In general, I have some sort of keyboard or midi controller and I just hook that up to my laptop. It’s a pretty minimal setup.
What can we expect from XXYYXX say mid summer?
This summer should bring a vinyl release by yours truly, at least that’s how things are looking as of late. If somehow that doesn’t happen, there will still be a release.
Shout out to LYFSTYL music and all your followers?
Thank you to all of the supporters and bloggers that have let me grow and who have exposed my work to others and thank you LYFSTYL for giving me this nice opportunity for an interview.
Follow XXYYXX: Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud
5 Questions with Teeel
This week in our ongoing 5 questions series we catch up with Jim Smith the man behind Teeel and discuss his new album “University Heights” and his new Synthemesc record label.
Press play and read away….
Your first album Amulet was one of my favorite albums last year and I felt that its sound was specifically a blend of chillwave and synthpop. This album university heights has a darker feel could you explain what was the sort of feel you wanted to achieve with this album?
Yes, I try to make each of my albums a vision, a concept, and tell a story. I wanted to take this album into a darker and more aggressive direction to represent my younger years. Most of my inspiration came from my highschool and college years where I spent a lot of time with my friends in a neighborhood called “University Heights” At that time I was listening to a lot of metal, hardcore and dark drum and bass music. Some of those sounds are apparent on this album but I still wanted to maintain my TEEEL sound.
Both of your albums have outstanding cover art. Who made the art for University Heights?
I do all of the design for my album covers, remix covers, flyers, and websites. University Heights, however, is a finger painting by my 1year old nephew Hayden James Mitchell.
Did you help him pick the colors? it almost seems to perfect they match up perfectly with your Teeel name!
My Stepsister and Stepmother helped him out pick the colors. I’m actually going to frame the original and hang it up. I was completely blown away when they sent it to me, I had to use it as the cover design.
Obviously your music has a 80s early 90’s feel. Who’s your biggest musical influence of that period we must listen to?
I’ve always been obsessed with music. When I was a young child I watched a ton of MTV so whatever videos were on, I was into. As I got older I got involved in the Hardcore Music scene, played in bands and went to shows every week. Then in the mid 90s I started DJing and producing dark drum and bass. and shared the stage with some of my biggest heros. As I grew older and played hundreds of shows my taste expanded deeper into electronic music. I began playing guitar again and learning more about synthesizers. For this album I went back to my 90s roots of Deftones, 311 and Tool to drum and bass acts like John B., Muffler, Dieselboy, and TECH ITCH.
I saw that you booked SXSW. Where will you playing and who will also be at the event.
I’m playing with a few showcases. On Wednesday the 14th, my main showcase, I’ll be performing with one of my favorite bands, Tesla Boy at Buca Lounge. I’m also playing Friday and Saturday with Ritualz, Craft Spells, Princeton, Young Magic and many more. I’ll be posting up an itinerary soon.
Tell us more about your new record label, Synthemesc Recordings.
I started Synthemesc (pronounced synth a mesk) to share a vision with like-minded musicians. We are focusing on putting out the best synthpop / dreamwave / synth-based electronic music and continue to push forward in this crazy music industry. It’s been an amazing experience and has been well received. I’m very proud of the talent and we have some big things in the works. Everyone has been very positive and the albums are amazing. I just recently set up a new site redirect to make it easy for fans to remember, too. Check out www.synthrecords.com and see some of the amazing talent we have.
5 Questions: Shortcircles (Volume 2)
A few days ago in Volume 1 of 5 Questions series we spoke to online-magazine MTHRFNK. Today we spoke to Matthew Tammariello aka Shortcircles he was born and raised in Escondido, California and creates some phat ass music (Yes I really did say phat) so it was only natural that we wanted to catch up and see what going in his world.
The best way to describe Matthew’s music is by referring to it as a very organic mix of old school hip hop instrumentals with blissful synthesizers and stunning vocals samples. The way he arranges each piece you cannot help but to fall in love with his music so press play, sit back and read our 5 questions with Shortcircles.
LYFSTYL: Summarize your relation with music up to this point?
Short Circles: At a pretty young age I sorta latched onto hip-hop. It started with pretty mainstream shit like DMX ‘Its Dark and Hell is Hot’ and Jay-Z ‘Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life’ in 4th grade. Basically as a kid the only things I ever cared about was basketball and music. I went throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school with the same circle of friends who were all part of the basketball/music experience.
My first attempt at making music was rapping through a computer mic to some Cash Money Millionaires instrumental…. all into a video editing software that only provided two audio tracks (one for the instrumental and one for my vocals). I thought I was the shit. Although I’d say the sounds I create now are a bit different than those 12-year-old Cash Money Millionaires days, I still sit down to make music for the same reason… shits fun!
Lyf: What was the inspiration for your first official short circles debut ep via plug research
S. C: Where the first shortcircles EP on Mapzzz was basically all about a break-up I was going through, this EP for Plug Research is all about infatuation. I never had any intentions of creating an EP with love songs on it, but I just kept making songs and they happened to be on some sentimental shit. It wasn’t until I was able to just sit down and listen to all of the songs together that I realized it was an EP of love songs.
Lyf: How would you describe your music?
S. C: I’ve decided most music I make as ‘shortcircles’ is my attempt to create some hyper-reality for myself. Even if some dark shit happens in my life I tend to just create music that evokes some peaceful feeling. I suppose its my way to cope with things.
Lyf: What is it about the genre that currently resonates with you?
S.C: The abundance of young talented electronic musicians emerging is really fucking inspiring and brilliant. I’m not really sure what genre my music falls under. My friend, Glenn, coined the term bliss-hop, so i label all of it as so.
Lyf: What are you currently listening to now.
S. C: A lot of Bill Evans, New Age music, Floating Points, Elephant & Castle, Some Ember, James & Evander, Forest Floor, Yalls, placeholder, Medla, Colo…. oh and Usher - Climax
5 Questions: MTHRFNKR (Volume 1)
5 Questions is the first of the new sections we are introducing to our readers this week here on LYFSTYL. This new feature is supposed to introduce you to various people within the music industry whether they are a musician, producer, publication, and label with the goal of finding a little bit about them and their creative outlet.
In this installment of 5 Questionswe head across the Atlantic to London UK checking in with one of our favorite music online-magazines MTHRFNKR (formally Post-Dubstep) who focus on contemporary music that is emerging, relevant, and hip.
LYFSTYL: What was the inspiration for MTHRFNKR, and whose idea was it to start this publication?
Kornelia K. If Vice, Pitchfork and Neon Magazine conceived a baby in a massive satanic orgy while Coke Talk andHipsterRunOff were voyeuring, their baby would be called MTHRFNKR. Those were the five platforms that inspired me, the founder of MTHRFNKR, to create the magazine. I never wanted to create another music blog that the world doesn’t need, as most of them are just a copy, of a copy, of a copy. What we’re trying to do here is to slap conventional music journalism in its face, while not taking ourselves too seriously. It was my idea to start the publication after blogging for a year on postdubstep.tumblr.com.
Lyf: Why did you guys choose to focus on alternative R&B and the so called Post-dubstep genre?
K K. I got tired of featuring only one genre on my blog, because my music taste was rapidly expending in 2011. Kids like Abel Tesfaye, Creep, AlunaGeorge and Frank Ocean were changing the R&B game, Odd Future, Asap Rocky and Azealia Banks came out of nowhere and hip hop got a massive do-over. They’re the class of 2011. It’s a breath of fresh air, it’s interesting, it’s internet culture.
Those genres are really progressive, it’s witnessing music history in the making. And I’m very curious as to where all of this is going.
Lyf: What Direction do you think this sub-genre is going to end up this year?
K K. Post-dubstep will go strong this year as it has since 2009. The xx, Mount Kimbie and Jessie Ware are releasing new material this year. Burial, “the ancestor” and inspiration for the genre, just released his Kindred EP and there are a lot of rumors about artists such as Fantastic Mr Fox releasing new material.
The xx are certainly going to change the game again, they can’t do wrong with Jamie xx by their side, I’m sure their release is going to be huge.
Dubstep is constantly evolving and re-inventing itself, all of this is happening so fast because we’re living in the age of the internet.
There is already a fusion between post-dubstep and alternative r&b happening, it’s crazy. Just listen to The Weeknd’s productions or The xx’s debut. I’m also really excited about this new group Evy Jane.
This fusion of genres will hopefully create a new sound or a new genre, by the end of this year, it’s quite possible. If not in 2012, then definitely in the next year.
Lyf: So I take it that you tuned into the Grammy’s what do you think about Skrillex and him receiving a nomination? Why do you think people are riding his dick so hard? personally I think he sucks!
K K. In the wise words of Eminem “You think I give a fuck about the Grammys?”, it’s like asking me “What do you think about Justin Biber’s new haircut”, I don’t care.
The Grammys are not relevant, because they select their nominees by their commercial success and commercial success rarely equals high quality music.
Did James Blake win a Grammy? Exactly. So, why bother? And who is that Bonny Bear guy anyway?
Skrillex doesn’t exist in my world anymore. I simply stopped caring about him. I don’t understand why people are riding Skrillex’s vagina so hard, the same way I don’t understand how everyone rode Hitler’s one ball a few decades ago.
Some people just have the IQ of an embryo.
Lyf: What are you currently bumping?
K K. I’m listening to The Weeknd’s Echoes Of Silence everyday since December. I’m also still listening to ASAP Rocky’s mixtape, Azealia Bank’s singles, Eliphino’s More Than Me and Burial’s, Jacques Greene’s and Evian Christ’s new EPs.
