Wizdumb Returns – East Coast Tour About To Begin

2011/10/17 //

DD You have quite the support system online. Since our last interview back in February, I’ve received comments of love into September!

WZDM Yes!! I saw that, Respect and gratitude to all the fans, friends, and family that show love, its really flattering. Helps a brother stay motivated, couldn’t do it without you guys.

DD The latest Wizdumb release, “Fresh Produce: Beat Tape Vol.2” is smooth and breezy. What was the first Fresh Produce like in comparison to this one?

WZDM Well, this beat tape is the sequal to my first beat tape release back in 2007 entitled Dollar Bin Delicacies. I hadn’t put out a beat tape since then so I figured it was about time. In Fresh Produce I tried to apply the same gritty lofi boom bap elements that dollar bin had but add a little character and some humor, I wanted to get a little abstract with it. I think you can hear that within the first few tracks. It’s always good to step out of your comfort zone every now and then ya know what I’m sayin?

DD Fans of your work in New York will be happy to know you’re making your way over there for a tour, what’s that going to look like?

WZDM Out of town shows are always fun. Its always cool to see love from other places aside from the home base. I will be meetin up with my dudes Pacoe The Illiterate, Gabre Meden, LoopWhole, and all the SLANGCORP east cats out in Jersey. I will also be recording with the legendary producer K-Def. If yall dont know K-Def you need to do some research!! So I am looking very forward to the trip, the fans can expect some videos, songs and other goodies from the trip when I return.

DD Are there any new influences coming into your style?

WZDM There is always new influences, I could go through all my Youtube favorites list and name them all but that would take eons!! Most importantly, I have finally found a fellow beatsmith I can build with and actually get stuff done with that is worthwhile, so love and respect to my dear friend K-E-L, dude is a beast on the beats, very inspirational. Been chillin alot with the infamous SPECS-ONE too, Seattles “Baudelaire” as Charles Mudede from the stranger calls him. Its always madd inspirational being around specs, he is like a walking seattle hip hop history book, always puttin you up on some wisdom, you should do a interview with him some time, the man has been making beats and rhyming since like ’82. He is a good friend and a huge influence, one of my heros when it comes to music…word…….meanwhile I have also found myself listening to a classic NYC group called “Natural Elements” lately. The crew consists of A-Butta(MC), L-Swift(MC), Mr. Voodoo(MC), And Charlemagne(Producer). Peep them out if you haven’t yet, they are so quentessntial to 90s golden era hip hop yet still very slept on. Its ridiculous.

DD Last words? Best of luck with your east coast shows!

WZDM Thank you DD! Always fun to visit you guys! I want to send love and respect to the fans for the support! And big ups to all my crew! yall know who you are!

Wiz on Facebook

– Jimi Jaxon

Categories Interviews

Truth in Seattle This Friday (Surefire)

2011/10/12 //

This duo will be gracing Seattle in a few days with their bass heavy mindset. See them at Chop Suey on 10/14 @ 9PM * 21+ TIX Invite your buddies on Facebook

DD How’s your touring of America been going so far? Where you at now?

TRUTH Touring America is always great, this is our third tour here and it gets better each time! This will be our third show in for the current tour, San Francisco and Boston were both sick, and very different from one another! Currently chilling in Portland for a couple of days before coming to smash it in Seattle this Friday, followed by Detroit on Saturday (with Distance).

DD I love the drop on “Great Man”, what first got you interested in producing Dubstep?

TRUTH Aw thanks! We’d been producing for about 8-9 years already when we were introduced to Dubstep by Mala (who is half of Digital Mystikz). He came over to chill one afternoon mid-tour and played us a bunch of the music he had forthcoming on his label Deep Medi Musik. We fell in love with the sound straight away, and saw a lot of potential for the way we could integrate our sound within the genre.

We were really inspired so spent the next three days in the studio working hard on beats, we gave Mala a CD of music a few days later when he came back through on his tour and not long after he picked up two tracks for a 12″ on Deep Medi (The Fatman / Stolen Children)! From then onwards we’ve put all of our focus towards this music and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future!

DD With the genre gaining massive attention of the past few years (in America), have you experienced more U.S. fan interest in your music?

TRUTH Absolutely, at first our fan base was very much centered in the UK and Europe, despite living in New Zealand. So we did a few tours in and around the EU. Our first US tour last year had really good attendance for a first tour and we went away very happy. The second tour, 6 months later we noticed a huge difference in both the number of people and the make-up of the people coming to party! It was definitely a different crowd and much bigger numbers.

Interestingly, while our popularity in New Zealand has risen a lot, I think around 40%-50% of downloads through Soundcloud are from US listeners. So the US to us is certainly a place we want to focus on. We love it here, the people are super-welcoming and friendly and there is a lot to be said for the health of bass-culture here.

DD Who have been some of your favorite artists to play shows with? What about their style inspires you?

TRUTH Definitely some of the old-schoolers like Mala, Coki, Sgt Pokes, Skream etc. They have a proper depth of knowledge in bass music, and have done things the hard way, being some of the pioneers of the sound we now call Dubstep. We’re really looking forward to playing with Distance in Detroit and Denver this tour, that will definitely by a highlight. N-Type always smashes it. Tunnidge is great to hang and party with as well as having a style all of his own.

To be honest, everywhere we go there are a bunch of great artists and each has something to add to a situation in their own way. Quite often the support DJs are as good as the acts they are supporting, so you gotta give it up for the local talent in each city as well! Also, since they are not mid-tour they usually have a little bit extra energy to add to the situation, which livens things up a little.

DD You’ve got a show coming up in Seattle this Friday, what will your live show be like?

This Friday in Seattle will be me (Tristan) coming to lay things down Truth-style. You can expect a mash-up of everything we are feeling at the moment. Lots of brand new Truth riddims to test out including bits and pieces from the 6 x 12″s we have coming out soon as well as material from our new album that is being road-tested at the moment. We always keep it very diverse in terms of what style we play, so don’t expect everything to be the same sub-genre within Dubstep. Having said this, we always like to play stuff which works on the dance floor, after all our job is to showcase the “Truth sound” while entertaining those people who have come out to party!

Find Truth on Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud

– Jimi Jaxon

Categories Interviews

Catchin’ Up With IG88

2011/10/12 //

DD Welcome back, what’s going on in Bellingham?

IG Hey Lad, Bellingham is still perspiring art and patchouli as always. The music scene seems to be coming closer and closer everyday, its a fabulous and inspiring place to create.

DD What’s inspired you most this past summer?

IG I would say caffeine and field recordings, its a great way for me to get out of the studio and rest my ears.. Where have all the cowboys gone?

DD How have the shows you’ve played recently (w/Gold Panda, Battles, Matthew Dear) impacted you? What have you learned from these well developed artists?

IG It has been pretty surreal honestly, seeing the way that they take their music live has been nothing short of inspiring. Gold Panda is an amazing example of how Electronic music should be performed, lots of live looping and hands on beat thrashing. Each opportunity has been a great chance for me to spread my name around, along with a handful of cold sores.

DD What was your process like for understanding Ableton Live? You’re quite the little expert around here.

IG I originally started with Pro Tools and reason in 2003 and felt pretty comfortable with my tools after a few years. Coming from a band oriented background I couldn’t help but feel like I needed a better way to take my music live. After trying everything from DJing to routing my guitar, vocals, mpc and synth through a mixer that had a Kaoss Pad FX return, I finally found Ableton Live. I started slowly diving into the program with lots of small loops and elements that I had rendered from PT and Reason, mashing them all up in an improv fashion live. Once I realized my fluid workflow with production and sound design in Ableton I eventually quit using PT all together and only become more infatuated every day.

Talking to lots of aspiring producers and mash up artists after shows I was often asked what I use and what I would recommend. After I started to notice that quite a few people were calling and emailing me with questions, I started organizing Ableton workshops around town. Weather it was out of my house, or at the fabulous Bellingham venue The Wild Buffalo with the amazing Erin Barra. Ableton is the best thing to happen to me since Spy Kids 4D.

DD Can you give any insight into the sound of upcoming IG88 songs?

IG I am currently finishing the final mix down of my next full length release that will be called “A Loom And Not Me”. I incorporate a lot of Field recordings of my environment and lace them with my compositions to establish a nostalgic Western Washington mood. I also enjoy taking things like individual notes from my guitar lines and stretching them out, drenched in FX to create some beautiful textures. “A Loom And Not Me” will be a lot less vocal driven and also more bass heavy than my last EP “Blackberry Light”. Taking inspiration from a lot of shows I have played has helped me to combine my favorite aspects of live performance and incorporate some of those elements into the studio. Also finishing the new Triceracorn album has been a huge weight off my shoulders, allowing me to sit back and complete my solo work with no real deadline. I am having an amazing time doing what I do and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.