This be the wonderous stuff.

INTERVIEW.

1. You’ve got some deep, throbbing beats Mr.! What’s some major non-musical influences for you?

Deep and throbbing, eh?  thanks.  I suppose that works.  not safe for work I don’t think, but like I always say “if it’s good enough for cable television, it’s good enough for me”.

2. Where does the name come from?

The name actually comes out of my approach to music and being.  In my mind, I’m just (re)assembling past musical ideas, structures, and other assemblies.  I didn’t design the Juno 106.  I’m not responsible for verse/chorus/bridge dynamics.  but I know what they are and I utilize them/arrange to the best of my abilities.  basically I’m like a music assembly machine in a field of sonic possibility; the milieu…  that is, my music is often more about the context than it is about me.

3. Was there a certain event where you said, “I must be involved with electronic music!”? Some moment of realization?

Oddly enough there was.  I was at a house party in 1993 and thought to myself, “hey i like this.”  A few years later I had a pair of 1200’s.  a few years after that I had a few thousand pounds of house records.  and in the future (now), I’m writing tunes.

4. How would you describe the mood or environment of your music?

Hm.  It depends on what I’m going for when I sit down in the studio.  Most of the time I tend to move somewhere between beach vibes and dusty bass-swallowed basements.  Of course, this is always changing depending on who I’m listening to or particular ideas I’m trying to sort.

5. How has 2010 been for you musically? Anything you’re moving towards in 2011?

XX-  JIMI JAXON

DD Your song “letter” is masterful. The paper rustling sounds are so organic and just thrust you into the song..how did that song come about?

YH First of all, I make the concept for every song, and this time, I decided to make a personal and spiritual song with the sound of writing. I put my 2 microphones on the desk, put out the paper and took a pencil, then I wrote and recorded. After recording, I cut the sounds in splinters, and put them to my sampler. As you know, I love to use the lively sound that can show the scenery and let us feel the materials.

DD Production wise, how long did it take to get that very raw ethereal sounds out? A lot of running kinds of sounds, very visual..

YH I take a long time to realize my imagination. As I told you in the previous question, I record the sounds as much as I can. Sometimes, the recorded sounds don’t suit my imagination. In such a situation, I don’t hesitate to edit deeply. And you saying the word “visual” is very important to me.

DD What are some of your biggest non-musical influences?

YH To tell the truth, I learned architecture at a university. I love the spatial art really, and I want to make spatial sounds.

DD How’s the electronic community for you in Tokyo? Have you played much in other countries?

YH Most of the time, I created my sounds alone..but recently, I’m increasing my friends. They have great sense and great personalities at the same time. KK from LO-VIBES, Daisuke Tanabe and Dai Kurihara from CIRCULATIONS, Masaaki Hara and Riow Arai from disques corde, COSMOPOLYPHONIC RADIO crew..

This summer, I went to France to play with my Eklektik Records family and to join in on the movie festival. I don’t have many chances to play abroad. If there is a chance to go, I’d love to!!

DD What impact would you like to leave with your music? How do you plan on carrying your art forward in 2011?

YH I’m always thinking about how to create the fresh stuff, And I’ll keep searching for new ways in the future. I think, to find a new direction, I should explore my inner self more. I wanna surprise and excite the listener. That’s the biggest impact.

In 2011, I have a plan for an EP, album, remixes , and joining a compilation album. And some music for a movie. In a few years, I want to make a kind of spatial art with sounds. I’m also an acoustic engineer, so I would like to use my skills with that.

DD Any encouragement for young producers who are getting inspired by the sounds they are hearing now?

YH I don’t have an authority that can advise yet, but I have one thing I’ve been believing..It’s to be original. There’s lots of music in this saturated market, so there must be a unique method. To be original is to be yourself. To stand with your own two legs on this earth is the most happy thing.

Yosi Horikawa on Soundcloud 

– Jimi Jaxon 

Sounds 4 the soul.

INTERVIEW.

1. You’ve got a stunning style. What do you love about music?

I appreciate the acknowledgment! I really do enjoy and take pride in expressing myself within my unique selection of sounds. I must say that music has been the most consistent and dependable love within my life. Music has never done me wrong. The thing that I love most about music is that it is universal and it brings people together. I am all about love and connecting people to one another. Despite language barriers, music such as certain sounds and rhythms do not need any language to understand. Waking up and starting your day off with the right soundtrack can definitely influence your mood and day into a positive one. Music is genius.

2. What non-musical influences come into your music?

I would say networking with the right people, personal life experiences, art, photography, education, and world issues have all been major influences for my music. I discovered who I was at a young age. Because of this I was able to find a love for something such as music. Being able to present music in an artistic way while simultaneously educating people all over the world on unknown artists, and helping those see my perspective on what I think quality music sounds like has been key for me. The biggest influence thus far has to be all the constant compliments I get from people all over the world. I am humbled by people’s words and stories regarding how my mixes have changed their lives and helped them think. It definitely keeps me going and I have met some of the most innovating and like-minded people just because of my music collection and talents.

3. What if anything do you hope people take from the sounds of JOEKAY?

After listening to my art-expressions, I hope you can pause for a few moments and realize that there is so much more out there than you will ever know. There are so many talented individuals out in the world that it is ridiculous and mind boggling to even comprehend. I really recommend that the listeners copy and paste all the artists and track names from my playlists that they like into google and do some research. There is an infinite amount of music available that will make you lose your mind. It is a domino effect, one artist and track leads into another artist, record label, event, and life style. Trust me.

4. You’re from Los Angeles, probably see some amazing shows yah? What have been some of the most memorable concerts you’ve been to recently?

Ahh man, I have been to hundreds of events! There are so many good ones, but if I had to highlight the most memorable ones, I would have to say back in 2008..there was this one Low End Theory event in particular where Kutmah, Samiyam, The Gaslamp Killer, and Flying Lotus all performed. This was when Low End and Flying Lotus we’re really starting to blow up. This was the first time I had seen Flying Lotus live. I remember just being blown away by him and the rest of the crew. I have seen them all perform at least about 8-10 times, but I think that was one of their best performances as a group. The music and energy was just organic and very raw. Kutmah is one of my favorite DJs still to this day. The Low End theory is a must experience event. Another memorable event was Mochilla’s Suite for Ma’ Dukes! J Dilla has been the biggest influence in my life so it was great to experience a tribute by other influential musicians such as Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, De La Soul, Dwele, Karriem Riggins, J Rocc, and other greats.

5. Any projects in the making?

I have a few projects in the works right now. Myself and two other partners (96 & Andre Power) have come up with a vision/label called: SOULECTION. A personal friend of mine is currently building a site from scratch that will allow my partners and myself to post our vision. SOULECTION will represent a Music/Art/Life-style blog/Radio Show/Events/Future Record Label. Basically anything that is ill and innovative will be posted on our site. In correspondence with the build-up of our site, we are wrapping up a compilation album for the launch of our website. The compilation will consist of about 27 artists (mainly producers) of pure quality sounds from all over the world. 96 and myself handpicked the artists who we felt have been really innovating over the years. And no, it is not just “Another Beat Tape”. It is deeper than that. The whole sound of the compilation is really deep, soulful, and eclectic. And the best part about this compilation album is that it will be downloadable for free! I am hoping to reach a massive amount of people and looking for this compilation to be a soundtrack for people’s lives regardless of their musical depth. SOULECTION and our compilation should be dropping right on the New Year or possibly before.

6. Words for all the young producers reading this?

The beat movement is at a point where every one is making beats and releasing beat tapes now a days. That is all well and good, but if you want to really surpass the typical sound and stand out you have to do something that hasn’t been done yet. You don’t want someone to say, “Another Beat Tape?” We all know you (the artist) are talented, but it is more ear-catching when you can create something that no one has heard of yet. Stay true to your sound, but expand to places you’ve never been before and do it from within instead of doing it for the currency. If you do things out of love, the currency will come automatically if you do what you do well.

http://soundcloud.com/joekay

http://www.joe-kay.com/

http://www.facebook.com/JosephKayIV

http://twitter.com/j0eKAY

– DJ Phantom (now Jimi Jaxon)

Moar music, moar music! This interview is from a few days in the past..music is spacey and nice. Give it a go..

Milk Shots 2 by CL◉SE

Strawberry Scantron by CL◉SE

INTERVIEW.

1. Hey Close! How’s the day going?

Yoooo. The day is nice, just got back to Florida from having Thanksgiving up in Michigan with my family.

2. What got you interested in producing?

A number of different things, nothing specific that at one moment made me go “YEAH! THAT RIGHT THERE! THAT IS FOR ME!” Listening to music growing up, and listening to it critically even at a young age, like breaking down instruments and picking apart production techniques was always second nature to me. Luckily the majority of music I was exposed to during this early stage of my life was classic 90’s hip hop, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, De La Soul, The Fugees, all that.

Rally Car (CL◎SE Remix) by CL◉SE

3. How would you describe your music, apart from genres?

This is perfect, because I don’t really like using genres, they have their place but I dislike how they tend to box things up. My music, from my perspective, is like an exchange student to the LA sound. I came of age on hip hop from my senior year of high school on, which is when I started making tunes. My musical diet consisted of nothing but MF DOOM, Madlib, and the late great J Dilla for at least a solid year and a half. Then I discovered Flying Lotus sometime in 2008. I’ve been pretty much emulating and attempting to expand the finer points of the LA sound with my own sound and niche.

4. If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and what would you make?

I would have to say J. Cole. He’s one of my heroes. I never aspired to rap or anything like that, but he gave me hope for what hip hop is supposed to be, and proved it can exist in a very true form in the present. I think it’d be a challenge, mostly due to the fact that I don’t make a lot of music with vocals, but I’d be inspired to make some classic grotesque ass basement rap beats with that dude. Either him or Nas.

5. What’s the electronic community like in your area?

I live in Orlando, and have for a year and some coins now, going to school at Full Sail University. The electronic community is healthy from a fanbase standpoint, but there really aren’t a lot of go-to type people who are out doing shows every week. Not a lot of venues or avenues for “weird” electronic music down here. Lots of house music fans though.

6. Any projects in the works?

Yeah I got some tunes with fellow SoundClouder Wrex Mason we’re finishing up for this free EP of ours. I’m also working on a whole bunch of tracks for a few EP ideas of my own. I’m big on making odes and remixes, so I’m probably gonna do a series of little “Ode” EPs since I have so many of those types of tracks. I also have tracks for my Milk EP that I’ve been trying to get together, classic Close tracks that I’m pretty excited about.

New Shoes (Ode to Mac Miller) by CL◉SE

http://soundcloud.com/alanclose

See ya on the flip side,

P

This guy’s been very excited to dish his music out to all ya’ll on Disco Droppings..I’m happy to introduce him!

Here’s a thick, textured track from Lockbox’s free album

Artist: Lockbox | Song: Trade Winsd by Disco Droppings

..and a link to the whole shbang..http://fograttle.com/leaf.html

INTERVIEW.

1. What got you interested in producing?

Hmmm, well I’ve always made music since I was a wee one. I got into “experimental” music when I was in sixth grade, so I tried to mimic the stuff I was hearing. I heard dudes like Lighting Bolt and Black Dice, and instantly felt a connection. .I got some distortion pedals, synths, trash cans, and just started recording stuff into garbageband. That stuff was terrible and will never be released haha. But I just kept experimenting and trying new styles. I had some rapper friends who wanted beats, so I made a couple and it ended up being what I really enjoyed making. Then I started chatting with Jeff (http://soundcloud.com/sumguh) and we started blogging together. That’s why I got really into production, because of all my soundcloud homies who are constantly challenging and innovating the standard Hip Hop sound.

Untitled Tape 3 by Lockbox

2. There’s a pretty big love for electronic in Denver right now yah? Do you have a group of local artists you enjoy seeing / playing shows with?

Eh I’ve found some cool stuff. My boy Dailon is dope, and so is .anansi and the whole New Sound Collective. But there are a lot of shit clubs playing shit hard house. Like with any music scene its about who you know. I cant stand that stuff. But it’s going to be the next LA for sure.

Hunting Magic by Lockbox

3. I like the weird loops you have going, has your music always come out like this?

I suppose so. I’m a drummer so I like lots of percussion. Its fun to layer as much as possible and have it sound good. I’m all about the textures. I like making shit that’s really short so I can squeeze as much out of it as possible. To me a one minute beat with seven thousand flowing textures beats any epic solo.

Untitled Tape 2 by Lockbox

4. With this year coming to end, how do you feel you’ve developed as an artist in 2010. Any new projects coming together next year?

2010 is the year that music went from being my casual hobby to being my passion. I got really involved with Fog Rattle and have made the coolest producer friends. I’m in for the long haul.

Damn, new projects. So many. I’m writing a comic book, doing Fog Rattle trading cards, writing an acoustic album, finishing up my VHS album, doing some freaky pop stuff, collabs collabs collabs. 2011 is the year Fog Rattle is going to blow the fuck up. Watch out haha.

5. What’s the best encouragement you’ve gotten as an artist?

I once talked to Black Monk for two hours on Facebook. It was awesome to have a guy who was there at the very beginning of all this dig on my tunes and give me advice. I’ve found most “big” producers are dick hats, but not him. He was cooool as hell. The support from my fellow beat heads is what keeps me going though. Too many to name. There wouldn’t be Lockbox without all those dudes.

http://soundcloud.com/monstre

https://twitter.com/DreamsNBeats

-P