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syubub · 3 years

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Yoongi birthday reading/energy check!!

It's sweet sweet tangerine bois birthday!!

I wanted to do a cute little energy check up to see what's up and ask some fun little questions!!

I'm excited so let's just do this shit!!

Disclaimer: this is for entertainment purposes and not to be taken as fact!!

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I want to apologize for the absolute shit pictures but what's new lol

So, let's start with the platform. First thing I noticed was the blue was brighter but the platform was darker? It was like someone cranked up the contrast to 100. Ngl it looked pretty cool. Yoongis platform doesn't typically have a barrier like some of the others do so I just kinda walked in and did the whole, "happy birthday, I have questions" His energy seemed a lot more... vibrant? And playful I guess? It was really nice. Now. The actual connection was intresting because the cord was blue again and like, real thick. (I don't think my perceived thickness of the cord has and real correlation with how strong the connection is. It was just thicc) this time though, the cord was connected at the chest instead of the third eye. So i was like, ??? But my guide didn't give my any sort of helpful input (my guide likes to watch me suffer in my confusion. I'm sure of it)

Anyway, cord like that and then yoobi gave me a headbutt to connect at the third eye. Idk why he gotta be like that :( istg next time he's gonna flick my forehead or something.

I was like "cool cool cool. I want to do the reading now pls" and idk how to explain the energy other than sassy. You know? Blah blah blah I'm thinking, "I don't remember him being so cheeky but maybe I've been gone long enough for him to level up into his final sass monster form"

Anywho, this was intresting because after the little strings were connected and stuff, we plopped down on the floor. And it was like everything I was doing irl was being mimicked infront of yoons energy? So we were sitting facing eachother and I was putting the cards down between us?? Usually that doesn't happen but it was kinda fun!!

Moving right along. I first asked if there was anything he wanted to say or needed to get across and it was 11. Now, 11 has come up before and I'm still not to sure what it's in reference to? My best guess is possibly he's been seeing 11:11 or that it's 2? Idk let me know if you have any clues lol. Other stuff was just kinda banter and stuff.

So so so.

The reading. First thing I asked was how he was doing. And I shuffled his preticular way (when I ask a question I always ask for the energy to tell me how much to shuffle or when to stop. For yoongi it's always 2-2-2. So 2 bridge shuffles, 2 hand shuffles and then split the pile in 2. That's why I think 11 might be 2 to him?)

The cards we got are ace of swords rev, justice,the heirophant rev, the empress.

So based off this I was like okay. I want to pull clarity cards for the two rev cards to get a better picture so I pulled the emperor rev for ace or swords rev and strength rev and wheel of fortune rev for the heirophant rev.

Starting with the ace of swords rev, and the emperor reverse. It seems like yoongi has been re thinking his relationship to control in his life. That's he's possibly noticing any unhealthy needs to control his life and the situation around him. It could also refer to his judgment being clouded by a rigid approach.

With the justice card it makes me think that he's possibly considering a big choice in his life or that he's really doing some deconstructing of his own views. This second idea fits in well with him getting clarity on some possibly unhealthy control issues in his life.

Now. The heirophant rev, strength rev and wheel of fortune reverse. This was intresting to me bc they are all major arcana. The heirophant rev can really talk about no longer needing outside approval and making your own way in your own time bc you are your own teacher. Strength in rev I kinda read as self doubt and feeling down in this case. Like a lack of confidence in himself and his abilities. And the wheel of fortune in reverse I took to mean as his breaking cycles. All together these cards kinda paint a picture about wanting and trying to break a cycle of self doubt and self limiting beliefs and learning more about himself and why he think what he does about himself and searching through everything for truth. It's really good!! In short he's doing some nice soul searching and trusting himself to guide his own way through this self discovery!

The empress! This card seems to pop up for yoobi a lot and I think it really speaks to the abundance that surrounds him! Not just money but the abundance of creativity, love, friends ect.

Now now now. I asked him if there was anything that he wanted to tell us about himself or bts or what's happening in the near future. For that I got 2 of cups, king of wands and 3 of coins.

So the 2 of cups is partnership. Usually romantic. Could be pertaining to the may 13th thing that is ever present lol but I'll get to that later. With the 3 of coins talking about teamwork, this could definitely hint at collaborations coming up!! That's the vibe I get. No one crush my dreams. And for the king of wands it could be talking about taking the reigns on a new project and starting to get it done. Like a new opportunity. This could be a new bts project like starting a new campaign or new venture or maybe personal like the a mixtape or doing more songs for other groups ect.

I had to ask him how he was feeling about the grammys. I had to. Had to. The cards were ace of wands, 2 of wands and death reverse. When these came flying out I could help but smile. Yoongis energy was almost giddy too!

Witht he ace of wands

It's that spark of creativity and inspiration. It's that feeling when you get super excited over some new thing. I think this is the perfect example for feeling reinvigorated. The 2 of wands takes that spark from the ace and tries to funnel that excitement and newness into something directional. Using that burst of creativity to start planning for future progress!! Its so nice to see that! If they don't win (IF) you bet we're gonna get some bangers about a corrupt system. If (WHEN) they do win we'll get bangers about how thankful they are to have gotten where they are in spite of a corrupt system. I just want to hear an uncensored version of yoongi being like, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WE DID IT BITCHES. FUCK ALL YOU BASTARDS THAT SAID WE COULDN'T."

I can dream....

What a nice dream.

Now I asked if there was anything yoobi wanted to say to us as in advice or comfort or anything like that and I got, Clearing negativity, make time for self care, when I'm tuned into the energy of abundance I become abundant. when I'm in a state of appreciation im in vibrational alignment with my true love nature. The world rev, 2 of swords rev and that project, that person, that idea is waiting.

Awe. Take care of yourselves!! Make sure to take time to enjoy what you like and try not to let any negativity get in the way of you enjoying your days. The world rev to me seems to be talking about seeking closure on the things in your life that have been impacting you. Tie up those loose ends so you can move foward without triping over yourself and 2 of swords rev I think talks about information overload and being kinda indecisive bc of that. Take a sep back to evaluate the situation at hand because sometimes it's so close you can't see what you're looking for. Those of you who are studying and getting frustrated because you just can't seem to get it, try taking a step back and doing something to take care of yourself and come back to it so you can approach with a clearer mind. Try not to get stuck or paralyzed by choice but if you do get stuck, take some time to detach yourself from the situation and come back later!

A fair few people wanted an update on yoobis soulmate as well. If you need a refresher here's the run down. Yoongis soulmate is impossible for me to read, yoongi is a smug ass and I'm nosy and probably a little dumb.

Now that that's cleared up

I asked, "am I missing something?" (As to why I can't connect and why yoongi won't give me answers.)

I got queen of cups, magician and the high priestess. I read this as him being like, "yeah dude, you aren't woke enough"

YOONGI just give me answers pls. The high priestess is intuition and sacred knowledge, the magician is manifestation and the queen of cups is also intuition.

At this point I was like, okay you little shit, can you at least tell me how your soulmate is doing? Can you do that for me?

2 of cups, 2 of pentacles, 9 of wands and knight of wands. 2 of cups is partnership usually romantic, 2 of pentacles is priorities and managing them, 9 of wands persistence, knight of wands motivation for a new thing. His soulmate last time was in the process of going through some shit and figuring it out and it seems like now they've got a better clue of how to move foward and are currently heading towards good things/ important things in their life (possibly like working towards dream career or had an idea for a business the want to start or field they want to go in.)

I was thinking about the next question when this popped into my head, "if you know about your akashic book, do you know about your soulmates? Have you read it?" I used my pendulum. No movement at all. What so ever. "Are you listening to me?" Yes. "So answer my question please" No. "Do you like to watch me suffer?" Maybe. "Do you know the answer to the question" yes.

YOONGI WHY

This cheeky son of a bitch.

Now I was like, fuck it. Imma ask him the big boi question.

"Is your soulmate present when I do these readings?" Yes.

WHY THE FUCK CAN I NIT PICK UP ON IT???

I had to take a deep breath dude. Yoobi is testing my nerves.

"Are they hiding their energy?" No.

I was actually gonna combust. This makes no sense.

I asked yoongi if he would tell me what I'm not getting. Silence. So i ask my guide.

"lol ur dumb"

Watch me Google "how to fire your spirit guide"

Istg this feels like some dumb prank. Maybe I'm just genuinely oblivious to his soulmates energy or maybe I'm just doing something.

What do you want to bet that his soulmate is just hiding under the platform and I'm too stupid to notice or some dumb thing like that.

yoobi, sir, why must you do this?

I decided to continue.

"What message or thing have you learned from your soulmate recently that could be valuable to us?" I got healthy communication in relationships and deep replenishment.

Good to know you can have a nice communicative relationship with your soulmate bc I CAN'T.

I'm petty about it, sue me.

The message does stand though. Good communication and taking proper rest to replenish yourself.

Now I had to ask yoongi directly what he thought of may 13th.

I got the lovers, 7 of swords, the magician and judgement. The seven of swords was intresting and it makes me think there's some extra stuff at play here too. 7 of swords is about getting away with something and deceit. The clarifier was the magician.... this could mean a lot honestly. It could be that maybe yoongi will have his relationship exposed or possibly that maybe him and his soulmate meet but yoongi is disguised? Idk how that would work at all but I'm stumped. There's a lot of variations that this could be. The magician is about manifesting and having everything you need to create what you want. This could possibly mean that maybe he gets a sudden idea that's like, "oh I have to go here right now. Its super important" eventhough he has practice scheduled. So that would let down his team but he would be following his path and it might lead to him meeting his soulmate? Maybe vice versa? Idk let me know what you think??

With the judgement its about inner calling and kinda like the peak. Like shit has been leading up to this moment. With the lovers too it does seem like a union?

I asked him, "but like what's gonna happen on the 13th thought and I got the 10 of cups. Divine love, bliss, alignment, happy mushy gushy shit. This is why I'm so inclined to think that they'll meet on the 13th or things will get serious or their paths finally cross. The cards seem to heavily suggest that.

My dude. Yoongi is really sappy, pass it on.

For the last question I asked yoomgi if there was messages/ advice he had given to his soulmate that we might benefit from.

First step, open your third eye, open your heart, sign from heaven, open your arms to receiving.

A lot of opening lol.

It's good advice though learning to be open and receptive and taking that first step in tackling life or any situation.

Oki. Now for the disconnecting. It was not nearly as strange as it has been in the past. I was just like thanks dude. Again, happy birthday blah blah and I got up to leave. I noticed it looked like we were in sitting in one of those old plastic hoola hoops? Like the pink and yellow ones lol. As I was looking at and and like??? Off to the side the numbers 13, 28, 54. Obvi 54 isn't a date and then I the last yoongi check up there was book pages and I feel like 54 and 28 were the pages?? I'm not actually sure as I'm writing this so I'm gonna check.

Yep I checked. They are the page #s.

So that's intresting.

Other than that though I just kinda left and he was like, "bye" and that's all.

Not as cool as other yoongi adventures but equally as frustrating.

TLDR

Yoongis doing pretty okay and he's a cheeky little shit. My guide like to watch me suffer and yoobi is mushy gushy squishy.

Happy day of birth Syub!!

#bts #bts tarot #yoongi #bts reactions #bts imagines #yoongi imagine #bts rm #seokjin #bts suga #min suga #park jimin #hoseok #taehyung #jungkook

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sinceileftyoublog · 3 years

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Small Isles Interview: Filmless Music

Photo by Dustin Aksland

BY JORDAN MAINZER

It’s rare that you find a record with a genesis as specific as The Valley, The Mountains, The Sea, the debut album from Small Isles. The new project of guitarist Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy, former Modest Mouse) and songwriter/composer Jacob Snider has its basis in film scoring. The catch? The films don’t exist. The Valley, The Mountains, The Sea is presented as an imaginary score to an imagined sequel to Ang Lee’s 1997 familial drama The Ice Storm, itself based on Rick Moody’s 1994 novel. And the band’s upcoming, unfinished EP, with strings arranged by Snider and recorded by collaborator Sienna Peck, is, according to the band, a distillation of the concept of the band, one that consciously combines film scoring motifs with traditional songwriting. In a way, you could say that Small Isles is music about film scoring as much as scores itself.

Fairchild and Snider hold the belief that film scores should hold their own as a piece of music independent of visuals, and on The Valley, The Mountains, The Sea, they announce themselves convincingly. Opening track “The Concept”--essentially the prototype for the band--combines vaguely harmonic deep bass sounds with pristine, echoing string plucks, and wordless vocals, building up like an Explosions in the Sky tune. Other tracks, too, juxtapose the ambient with recognizable structures. “Fort Wayne” shimmers atop a drum machine, while the vocal samples of “Maybe We Will” cut in and out among the beats and arpeggios. Each track also has a pristine sense of place, as much of the album was written while Fairchild was on tour with Modest Mouse, tracks like “Fort Wayne” and the washy, atonal “Lake Superior” started in those locations.

I spoke with Fairchild (calling from his home in Ojai, California” and Snider (calling from near Philadelphia) last week, a few days prior to the release of the album via AKP Recordings. (The album comes out on vinyl next month). Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity, about the band’s artistic process, The Ice Storm, adapting the songs live, and what Small Isles has in common with Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour.

Since I Left You: You’ve called this record an imaginary score to an imaginary film. Did you think of the sequencing of the record in a narrative arc?

Jim Fairchild: Kind of, but honestly, there’s a sequence that originally existed, and I don’t remember what it was, and it would have been more aligned with what I pictured from the movie, but it didn’t work as well as a comprehensive piece of music. The last song on here, “The Plot to Take Clover”, that was earlier before. “Life at One”, the first single, really kicked off me and Jacob’s partnership. It was designed that way; it’s not the way the record plays out. I wrote all of the principle themes, the underpinnings of all the compositions, as an imagined score to some sort of a sequel to The Ice Storm. I don’t know exactly how it would play out with Rick Moody. The first one was really successful. I have this idea for a similar type of movie that takes place in contemporary California and all these cues I can use as a mood board. Like, let’s sit down and figure out what this palate is. Let’s write a movie around it. That’s what I was thinking.

SILY: You wrote a lot of this while on tour. Had you conceived of the idea before then and wrote while on tour because of your downtime, or was the downtime the launching point for the idea?

JF: I was totally inspired by the idea. I started some of the themes that popped up, but once the actual Ice Storm Ang Lee idea came to mind, it was really generative. It’s how a lot of this stuff works with me. It kind of floats around for a while, reaching out this way or that. Once the real kernel appears, it’s like, “That’s it!” It all happens pretty quickly. That was definitely the case with this. It was the real fine-tuning that’s the most time consuming. That’s what Jacob and I have experienced. The EP that we’re releasing later this year, basically how it’s worked so far is I send him a sequence of chords and basic rhythm, which happens pretty quickly. Then--and we’ve only done it on Zoom with the new EP, though it was the same with “Life at One”--there was this theme. Jacob came in, we were gonna write some other stuff. He came in with a mic and sang some stacked harmonies. Then it’s carving out all the other elements around that to make it.

These are unconventional compositions. They’re meant to accompany visual ideas. With that in mind, cues and scoring music doesn’t always work in recorded music, traditionally speaking. There’s all these lengths, sometimes time signatures shift, a melody might exist in an unconventional way to fit what’s happening visually. I really wanted to embrace that. With “Life at One”, Jacob did all this stuff, and there’s this really interesting sound I don’t know how to describe. He asked, “What are those over there?” [My partner Natasha Wheat] had made these ceramic bells for me, and that’s the most fun part about working with Jacob. A lot of the people who are trained as Jacob is--and I say this with great admiration for his abilities--are stuck in certain modalities. This is a perfect example. He looked at the bells and said, “Let’s do that.” He grabbed a drumstick and played the edge of these bells and processed them. That was a big feature in the composition of “Life at One”. This all happens very thematically and reflexively, but to then carve it up and get it to have purpose, meaning, ebb, and flow and make it work visually--that’s where the dirty shit happens. [laughs] I also look forward to when Jacob and I can be in person more. We’ve made a lot happen over the past 7 months, but it’s hard when you’re not in the same room. Plus, I’d like to show off. If he’s sitting right next to me, play some fast guitar...[laughs]

SILY: The title of the record refers to various aspects of topography, and there are song titles that refer to specific places, like “Fort Wayne” and “Lake Superior”. Do these aspects exist within the narrative of the film?

JF: “Lake Superior” and “Fort Wayne” were just started in those places, literally. I picture the Ang Lee movie--the new Ang Lee movie that is inevitably gonna take form because he’s gonna hear me and Jacob’s music and think, “You’re right, we gotta do this,”--in this zone a little bit east of Berkeley. It’s the West Coast equivalent of the Connecticut zone where The Ice Storm exists. It’s this affluent, green place. But the reason I chose to keep the others as titles is like, Fort Wayne, that’s pretty grand and has Batman implications. And Lake Superior, what a fucking great name for a lake, you know? I like the power of those, and if I were sitting down and writing a movie, those titles could be at least generative of a conversation.

SILY: What about the other song titles? What inspired them?

JF: “The Concept” is literally the concept for our band. The concept has expanded since then, but out of the ordinary--no sounds are out of the ordinary in modern production--but in the film scoring landscape, out of the ordinary, ambient, or textural sounds. But then big, beautiful melodies. Jacob’s voice. All that stuff. Synthesizing our two strengths. Jacob’s also a songwriter and makes amazing songs, but my background’s in bands, and so I treat our relationship as if it’s a band. Taking our two strengths. Jacob’s more conventionally trained, schooled, and knowledgeable than I am. He has a richer depth of knowledge in theory and orchestration. I can arrange that way, but he knows what’s going on. Mine is more reflexive--I don’t want to say auto-didactic because that’s kind of an arrogant term--but learning through mistakes. I think Jacob’s made fewer mistakes than I have.

SILY: What were all the instruments used on the record?

JF: There’s a lot of found stuff. 12-string guitar. I was writing it using this Rosewood Fender Stratocaster that Fender made for me. The 12-string is prominent on “Life At One”. There’s a piano Jacob played. There’s a lot of me coming up with drum beats. A lot of the initial stuff was in the box. I’d roll in my portable studio backstage, I’d have a guitar, Universal Audio space, whatever drums and synths I had.

SILY: What is your background in film scoring?

JF: I don’t have a specific background. From a very early age, I’ve been into film scores. I’d buy them starting when I was 15 or 16. CDs. Pretty obvious releases, but things like Danny Elfman’s Batman score, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Sort of getting into Jerry Goldsmith. Elfman, Morricone. I like some of the Bernard Hermann stuff. I started studying it from the way I study everything: figuring out chord sequences, the way the melodies work, to the degree I was able. In the early 2010s, I was making a lot of music that was getting licensed for TV. Once Modest Mouse really started touring [2015 album] Strangers to Ourselves, I let a lot of those pursuits wither a little bit. But I’d always longed for a collaboration. A lot of that stuff was done in a solitary way, so I felt very fortunate when Jacob and I met. He was into that idiom but has a range of skills I don’t have. We also really work well together. All the reflexive stuff that happens, the melodies, it’s easy for us to go back and forth and see what we’re into and where to keep going. Neither of us get upset when the other person isn’t feeling whatever the direction is.

As I get older, I realize the value of stimulating multiple senses. I look forward to Jacob and I doing more of this stuff in collaboration with people. The Riley Thompson video for “Life At One” was him responding to a finished track, but in an ideal world, filmmakers would come to us and, in the way Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross work with David Fincher, where he says, “This is the concept for the new film,” and Jacob and I come back and say, “This is the sonic and melodic landscape we’re thinking of, and here are some character cues. Let’s take it from there.” I love being in conversation with people collaboratively and am attracted to the idea of it across media.

SILY: Do you think the idea that the music might not be responding to a finished film would make the score stand on its own more as a piece of music?

JF: The scores that I like totally stand on their own as music. When Morricone passed away, I read that John Zorn had a quote when they were hanging out in the late 80′s or early 90′s, Zorn said, “Don’t do it unless you’re thinking about what the soundtrack record is gonna be like.” The music needs to be cool enough to just be music.

SILY: Tell me about the album art.

JF: Natasha and I sold our place in Los Angeles last year and moved to Ojai. We thought it was a temporary transition, and now it’s somewhat permanent, because we bought a place here. We’ve been in this guesthouse next door since November. I like taking pictures at night with whatever ambient light [there is], so I took that picture from our place. I wanted there to be contrast with this technicolor paint and silver border on the upper and lower parts of the image. Homes are very interesting to me, and there’s a lot of that in The Ice Storm. There’s that shelf people look at from the outside and think, “It could be dilapidated, it could be beautiful.” People think of it as a thing. But there’s this whole other world that only exists inside of there. It’s always fascinating to me when walking by the place. Stories in the shell. I like the idea of a structure having implications. I don’t have an agenda for what those implications might be, but I like the idea that there could be implications there.

SILY: Jacob, when Jim came to you with this idea, how aware were you of The Ice Storm?

Jacob Snider: I had seen it. I don’t know if in our first meeting, it came up that specifically and clearly that this is where the music was going. In fact, it started more as a casual meeting of creative types. When I came over to Jim’s studio, he just showed me the latest thing he was working on without any huge idea behind it expressed to me in that moment. Jim might have been thinking it in that moment, but that day was more, “Alright, I’m working on something, what do you hear and is there something you think you could contribute to it?” It was really organic. Like Jim mentioned before, the best thing you can do when making something is show it to somebody else, because they’re gonna hear it in a different way or they might suggest something if you’re open to it. People can make amazing solitary music, but it will always be just their thing. You bring in someone else, there’s a different energy, a different perspective.

As it stands, I do love that film. It’s really haunting. Jim and I talked before that it’s not a movie you can watch every week. It’s heavy, and the themes are deep: family, loss, grief, betrayal. It’s a great one. I think it’s a movie that’s cinematic but also has a lot of depth. I think that’s what we’re going for with Small Isles. It has shades of film music but also shades of rock and roll and romantic string writing from the orchestral traditions. I think we’re trying to combine a few things at once, and we’re really curious how it starts to strike people and how some filmmakers respond to it.

SILY: Are you both generally Ang Lee fans?

JF: I haven’t devoured all of his work. There’s plenty I like. But I’m so in love with [The Ice Storm]. I was in love with the book before the movie came out. He treated it so beautifully. As high in the sky as it is for two nascent film composers to say, “I want to work with Ang Lee,” it’s very important to know where you want to go. It may take a long time to get there, but [it’s important] to have a place where you’re headed. That was definitely the case in the early Grandaddy days, and having watched [Modest Mouse lead singer] Isaac [Brock] for as long as I did, I think it was the case there, too. It may not be as specific knowing that I’m traveling in this direction, but that direction can totally change. There can be diversions that knock you off your course positively or negatively, but thinking about how beautifully he treated that material, that’s where I want to go.

SILY: How are you adapting Small Isles to a live performance?

JF: We’re gonna play at least some of this, maybe all of this live. I’m really looking forward to it. Jacob’s only on half this record, and the 5-song EP we’re releasing later this year, he’s on all of. That’s a straight-up 50/50 collaboration. I’m looking forward to the stuff Jacob didn’t contribute to on the record, hearing what he does with strings. We’re still figuring out how we’re gonna approach it. Jacob will be on keys and vocals, and I might sing a little bit. I’ll be on guitar. Our friend Sienna who Jacob went to school with, who’s doing the strings, we’re talking about having her lead a double string quartet. I would like to have a drummer doing some electronic drums and maybe a kit as well. I definitely don’t imagine we’ll totally nail it on night 1. There’s a lot of stuff we have to work out. There aren’t many antecedents in this zone, but something like Explosions in the Sky mixed with Johann Johannsson. I saw [the latter] in 2010 in San Francisco; there was a little bit of strings, various electronics, and he was on piano. That was a very striking performance. So the explosiveness of a big arena rock show with lots of subtleties and nuance that can come from strings and orchestral.

SILY: What else is next for Small Isles?

JF: We wanna finish this EP. I also really love the way a lot of rap and hip-hop people have gotten it right over the years. Using current listening habits and technology to get out as much music as possible. I definitely have the seeds for at least another EP behind this. Once we get this EP done--there’s just a little bit of tinkering to be done over the next month before going into the mixing stage--I want to make as much music as possible and release it. With the spirits of the world willing, I want to get off the ground live and collaborate with filmmakers, dancers, artists, people in the visual medium. I just love making music with Jacob and this type of music. I’d like to have a few releases a year. EP length [or] album length. I have a number of concepts written down. The seeds that Jacob and I have been playing with to make the EP. I was thinking about The Last Black Man in San Francisco when making this EP, and I’d love to collaborate with those filmmakers. Even just being in person, to tell Jacob, “What do you think of this sequence?” and have him respond without dealing with latency issues and dodgy DSL.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading lately that’s caught your attention?

Jacob Snider: I’ve been listening to a lot of pop. I’ve been listening to the Olivia Rodrigo record [Sour]. I think there’s great writing on there, great production. Watching, I’ll just piggyback on The Last Black Man in San Francisco. It took me a while to finally see it, but I had a filmmaker friend tell me I had to, and I loved it. Also the other film Emile Mosseri did the score for, Kajillionaire, the Miranda July film. Reading-wise, I’m about to jump back into Louise Erdrich’s The Round House.

JF: I’ve been digging the Olivia record, too.

JS: There’s some cool strings on there too from the guy who does a lot of the strings for Portugal. The Man, [Paul Cartwright]. They created a string orchestra sound with just one guy layering violin and viola, which is really cool, and that’s what we’re doing with our collaborator Sienna Peck. There’s totally room for that now, the way the world has been so remote. We can’t put 16 players in a room right now due to public health restrictions, so let’s get one person. It’s really hard to do--you can be a great violinist and not be able to layer yourself in a way that makes it sound like a string orchestra. You have to change your position in the room, the way you’re playing slightly, pretend to be three different people sharing a stand. That’s what you’ll hear on the next record.

JF: I just got into How to Change Your Mind, the Michael Pollan book about psychedelics, which I really loved. I just started a book called The Magic Years, which is about child development. I have a three-and-a-half-year-old son, and I’m very fascinated by what’s going on in his brain and what makes him make the decisions he makes. Just how to be a better dad. I am always a religious reader of The New Yorker, every week it comes out. Natasha and I watched The Kids, a documentary [about the making of Larry Clark’s Kids]. When that movie came out, Grandaddy were skateboarders, so it was important to us. But even as a young kid, I felt that it was really exploitative, and the documentary verifies it. It’s heartbreaking. Larry Clark is a really derelict dude. Truly lecherous. But [The Kids] is a beautiful movie. We’ve been watching Los Espookys. I’m really excited about Vince Staples’ upcoming record. My friend Nik Freitas put out a new song. My musical diet’s gotten really regressive in a way because my son is very into the Super Furry Animals record Radiator. It’s all he wants to listen to in the car.

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themanuelruello · 5 years

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How to Set Homestead Goals You’ll Actually Achieve

I currently can’t breathe when I walk outside…

That’s what below zero temps and crazy wind chills will do to ya.

Thankfully, even though the outside portions of our homestead are deep in hibernation at the moment, I have plenty to work on inside.

When I recently mentioned some of my favorite end-of-the-year rituals on Instagram, it prompted some interesting discussions around the things we do to set ourselves up for another 365-day stretch.

If you’ve ever struggled to set goals (that actually happen) for your homestead or future homestead, I made a video just for you.

We’ve been homesteading for almost a decade now, setting lots of goals, doing lots of projects, and have definitely figured out what does and doesn’t work. In this video, I’m sharing my best tips and practices that I use every single year to make sure our homestead goals turn into reality.

How to Set Homestead Goals You’ll Actually Achieve

(Keep scrolling if you prefer the written transcript version instead of the video!)

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1. Keep Your Goal List Manageable (aka Don’t Go Crazy)

Don’t get me wrong: I love audacious goals, and dreams and big thinking, and we’ve been known to do some pretty crazy stuff, but I also know from personal experience that putting too many goals, or goals that are too big, on your list can not only cause you to feel scattered and overwhelmed, but can also cause you to feel really frustrated when you’ve been working your butt off, and then, only find yourself a quarter of the way through your list.

Make sure you have some quick wins built into your goal list so you can really feel that sense of accomplishment, which at least for me, is the very best motivator to keep going. The definition of manageable will really differ from person to person, but for us, I found it works best to break up our yearly goals into four different categories, and then, pick three to five specific goals, more than that in a minute, for each category. The specific categories that I like to set goals in are:

Family and Personal

Our Homestead

Our Blog/Online Business

Our doTERRA Business

The exact number of goals YOU set will depend on your situation, and it’s totally okay to go lighter in one area so you can focus elsewhere. We’ve done that many times.

The yard project that almost killed us.

Example: Last year I put way too many projects on our homesteading category of goals, and then come June when we were knee-deep in the middle of a huge yard remodel, and it was kicking our butt, and I realized it was gonna take the majority of our summer and the other things weren’t going to happen, I was really, really frustrated.

To remedy that from happening this year, I’m writing down a much more realistic list that I will be plugging into the calendar ahead of time so I know exactly how many months, or weeks, or whatever I have partitioned off for each homestead project.

2. Don’t Forget to Push Yourself (Great Things Never Came from Comfort Zones)

If a goal feels super safe, and comfortable, it’s probably not gonna be enough to really create the growth that you need. My rule of thumb is to keep expanding a goal until you feel a flutter of butterflies in your stomach. That’s usually a good sign that it’s enough to push me out of my comfort zone to get the development and growth that I’m looking for personally throughout that goal process.

3. Make Your Goals Specific and Measurable.

I’m guessing you’ve heard this one before, but it really is crucial– I promise. Vagueness in setting goals is not your friend. It might feel more comfortable at first to have a broad target to aim at, but what you’re really doing is giving your brain just a million ways to skirt around doing the work, and that will absolutely prevent you from taking a hold of that goal, and making it come alive.

Measurable just means that you’ll have a clear marker to know when that goal has been reached. It’s really easy to write something like cook more on your list, but what does that really mean? And, you need to break that down.

In order to set yourself up for the maximum success, clearly define each goal to make it attainable for your situation. Rather than putting “cook more this year” on your list, try putting down specific action items such as “bake a loaf of bread each week”, or “learn how to make homemade broth.”

Do you see how the first goal felt really lifeless and vague, but the second one felt more alive with purpose and meaning? That’s exactly the same sort of feel that you’ll want to create in your own homestead goals for this year.

4. Write, Date, and Tell!

Every time I say this, someone argues with me, and says, “I don’t like writing goals down. That’s not how my brain works. I like to go on spur of the moment. It feels just scary.”

I get it–promise! But if you’re really serious about making your goals a reality, you’ve gotta get serious enough to write them down and give them a due date. There is something just magical about putting something on paper. I don’t know what it is, but it works.

It’s crucial to assign a date to your goal, and it doesn’t have to be a super tight deadline, but the human brain takes action the best when there’s an element of urgency, or some sort of date attached. Also, when you speak your goals out loud, it gets it out there in the universe, and not only can the person you’re telling help to hold you accountable, but when it comes out of your lips, you tend to take it more seriously as well.

5. Break it Down, Then START.

Even if you set the very best goals in the world, and spend all sorts of time making them just right, none of them will work unless you put this next tip into action immediately. You gotta start, and yes, it’s usually the hardest, and I wish I could tell you some magical tool, or secret sauce that would make starting just as easy as pie, but guess what? If it was easy, then everyone would do it, and they don’t. Do they? But, you will.

My best tip here is to START FAST. Do it before your brain can talk you out of it, and have all those excuses bubbled to the surface. It is the hardest part, but once you get that momentum going I promise it gets easier and easier. I still struggle with this, a blank page, an empty piece of bare dirt, a barren garden plot.

They all tend to make me feel a little bit stressed, and a little bit paralyzed. It’s really normal. What I’ve learned to do is to never demand any sort of perfection from myself on Day One. The mission on the first day is to simply get something, anything started.

I might hammer some words out on paper without punctuation, or spelling just to get it out of my brain.

I might map the garden out on paper, and then, get my first round of seeds ordered.

I might research the materials I need for our next building project, and then, put them on a supply list, or maybe even call the building store, and get them shipped and coming my way.

(That time we ripped down a million old pheasant pens on our property)

The first step does not have to be epic, or magical, or special, or perfect. It just has to be something. If you do something on day one, when you come back on the subsequent days, you’ll find it gets easier and easier.

Lastly, remember: it’s okay to be flexible in your goals. Sometimes plans shift and change, and you gotta give yourself some grace. There has been many years where our epic list of projects just didn’t happen the way I wanted to, and I had to be okay with it. The only thing is, promise me that you’ll be honest with yourself, and know the difference between procrastination, and just flexibility, because there is a difference.

A Few of Our Personal Homestead Goals for 2019:

ONE: Redoing our pens and corrals. Our homestead theme for this year is refinement. We’ve done a lot of construction, a lot of building, a lot of creating, and some of those systems worked really good when we first put them in 8 or 10 years ago, but they’ve stopped being efficient and productive, and so, we’re going back into some of those places that we built awhile back, and making them better.

The first element of that is our pens and corrals. We have a cattle chute and a few alleyways, but when we built them, we didn’t understand how the cattle would best flow, or the most efficient way to work them. The plan is to redo all of our cattle handling facilities this year so they’re safer and more efficient.

TWO:Building a Milking Parlor

I’ve milked out in the open barn on the cement pad for a long time. It worked fine at the beginning, but I’m ready for a more efficient system. I’m tired of dealing with mud, or a big sloppy pile of manure, or the horses chasing the cow around every time I try to milk. It’s just not working anymore.

I’m ready for a designated milking area that I can keep more sanitary and organized. I need a place where I don’t to wrestle manure or the other animals, or whatever.

We have a few other areas of the homestead that we’re working on improving and refining this year, but we’re keeping things fairly simple as compared to some years in the past, since we have some other projects in the works that will benefit YOU…

…Like our very first cookbook which launches in April and makes me so giddy that I’m almost speechless. There will be many sneak peaks and LOTS of bonuses and freebies coming along with its official launch, but for now here’s a sneak peek of the cover.

Alrighty my friends: your turn! What homestead goal are you most excited for in the coming year?

The post How to Set Homestead Goals You’ll Actually Achieve appeared first on The Prairie Homestead.

from Gardening https://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2019/01/set-homestead-goals.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

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mindthump · 7 years

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How Fabolous Built His $20-Million Empire http://ift.tt/2nIlUvr

I love to interview artists and comedians -- a special breed of entrepreneur. It’s argued that much of their success comes down to their raw talent, and the amount of hours they put in to perfect that talent. One could also say it comes down to the right mixture of managers, agents and a small army of support staff. However, the ones who break through do a lot of brand building on their own, and exhibit the resilience, resourcefulness and grit that propels them from humble creator to household name. They find the perfect harmony between art and commerce, and some of them do so to the tune of millions of dollars.

Fabolous, for example, is a Grammy-nominated hip-hop star from the Brooklyn projects, now worth an estimated $23 million. He landed the opportunity to rap live on local radio at the age of 17, landed a record deal and is still relevant today -- over 15 years later.

Related: How Rachel Ray Grew Her Brand Beyond the Kitchen

His first release in 2001, Ghetto Fabolous, spawned the hit singles "Can't Deny It" and "Young'n (Holla Back)." Those two singles led him to prominence, and his second album, Street Dreams, also had two Top 10 singles. He’s since had many successful singles, albums, mixtapes and collaborations, has been nominated for Grammys, American Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards, and has won ASCAP and BET awards. He's also amassed an impressive social media following of over four million raving fans.

Recently, the rapper participated in New York Fashion week with the launch of Blood's Thicker, a line of men, women and children’s clothing and accessories. He’s also partnered with RapSnacks to launch a New York Deli Cheddar potato chip. He’s just been awarded a key to the city of Brooklyn and is about to head out on tour with Chris Brown and 50 Cent -- but had time to sit down with us on RocNation’s famous #goldcouch to discuss his many endeavors and the key to his sustained success.

Here are eight lessons from my conversation with him.

Give each opportunity 100 percent.

When we spoke about his first record deal, and other opportunities throughout his career, his advice was clear.

“You gotta make the most of it,” he said. “I [told myself], ‘I don't know when this is gonna happen for me again, so you'd better at least shoot 100 percent here and then whether you get it or don't get it, you know that you put your all into it.’”

Related: How the Skinniest Kid in High School Became a Super Bowl Champion

He also explained that while you need to be incredibly determined and committed, you also need to get educated and willing to ask for help.

“Don't be afraid to ask questions. You see somebody who's in it and doing something that you are, [ask them], 'Hey man how do I go about getting the quality of my stuff to your quality, like I'm making?' . . . you gotta ask those questions and do your homework, do your research.”

Keep trying things.

Fabolous has been active in the entertainment industry for over 15 years -- something very few hip-hop artists, or any artists of any genre, can say. Part of his longevity? His willingness to try new things and possibly fail.

“I think the worst thing you could do is not shoot the shot,” he explained, continuing his basketball analogy. “When you shoot you got two options: It can go in or you can miss, and even in the miss you might learn.” He added that he does like to discuss his new ideas with his team and community. “We just try to make it happen. Sometimes you have crazy ideas that sound crazy to everybody, but I'm sure everybody has had a crazy idea before. When you pull it off and you don't look crazy anymore, you look like a genius.”

Related: How Two Entrepreneurs Went From Taking Selfies to Starting a Luxury Fashion Company

Learn from your mistakes.

Fabolous admitted he has had his share of missteps. He has had to ward off rumors of gang connections throughout his career, and was arrested in 2003 for possession of an unlicensed gun in his car.

“It taught me a lesson as well. It showed me that I didn't want to jeopardize what everything that I had going, trying to even [protect myself.]” he shared. “Sometimes in life, your best teacher is experience and going through something to figure it out.” He added, chuckling, “If you don't have to, that's good too.”

Build a community -- and listen to them.

His fashion label, Blood’s Thicker, started as a simple line of merchandise to sell to his fans; he explained that for fans to stick with him for this long, they are more like family, hence the name. When he created an artistic album cover for Summertime Shootout -- a twist on a Roy Lichtenstein piece -- his fans loved it. He noticed that followers were sending in photos of the art in their lives -- even as their personal tattoos.

“Anything that we would put the cover artwork on, they would pay for it and buy it,” he explained. “[It started as a way to] show appreciation and at the same time have a deeper connection with the band and the people who wanted to support us.”

Related: Actress Halle Berry's Lessons for Succeeding -- No Matter the Odds

He began offering more designs, and was invited to be a part of New York Fashion Week. In an effort to connect his Brooklyn community to his NYFW experience, he livestreamed much of the event on social media, and then launched a pop-up shop and show actually in Brooklyn. Fans, and even some celebrity guests, stood inside and out for the entire event, watching through the large windows, even though it was freezing out.

“It was overall a great event. It was a way to bring fashion week to Brooklyn and to bring Brooklyn to fashion week.”

Stay observant.

When asked about mentors in his life, he shared that can’t specify a few key people; instead it’s been the mixture of all the people around him. Like other people I’ve interviewed, namely Gary Vaynerchuk and Seth Godin, he explained that he’s always noticing things. He gave the example that even then, during the interview, he noticed how my videographer was wearing his pants with his boots. He surveys the market and others in the industry and then evaluates how he can incorporate what he sees into his strategy, art or brand.

“I'm very observant. So, my mentor is really basically a lot of people who are just around me and life itself. Just living and going different places and traveling.”

Stay vigilant.

When it comes to his music, his endorsements, his social media accounts, etc., one thing is clear: If he doesn’t think it’s cool, he’s not doing it. He is adamant about protecting the Fabolous brand, only jumping on board with projects and products he really believes in.

“I don’t compromise myself, I don’t compromise my cool. I don’t compromise who I am,” he shared on The Breakfast Club in 2016. “I’m not chasing the fame or the hype. I’m just who I am.”

Related: Actor and Activist George Takei on Finding Success in Unexpected Ways

Stay relevant.

In addition to his artistic talent, Fab definitely has a gift for social media. He doesn’t have a structured strategy, he just makes sure every post is a true extension of his life.

“My social media tag is @myfabulouslife, so I kinda try to show what goes on, what I do daily in my day-to-day life. I just show people what I'm doing and things that I'm involved in. Truthfully, social media, my following, just came from me doing that.”

His advice to aspiring artists is to attack social media platforms and get seen. I asked him if breaking through online was still possible, now that there are many more aspiring artists making waves online. "Your talent speaks more than you can . . . . I still think talent shines through.”

His next venture, RapSancks, doesn’t seem to fit the cool factor of the Fabulous brand, but Fab knows what he’s doing. His face is on every single bag, which will expose him to a wide new audience, particularly young people.

“It's dope and it's great marketing . . . . Everybody likes chips!” he said, smiling.

Related: 5 Lessons for Success From YouTube Star Corey Neistat

Stay grateful.

It’s clear that Fabolous loves his work and his supporters in the hip-hop community -- which he loved as a kid, before it was his profession.

“It was just a hobby for me and I liked doing it.” he recalled. “You're lucky if you get to really be in a profession that you really love to do. I was fortunate that's what I was able to do . . . . I'm so grateful.”

Watch more videos from The Pursuit on the show's YouTube channel.

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Click here to become a part of this growing video network.

Kelsey Humphreys

Kelsey Humphreys is a media entrepreneur, journalist and author on a mission to break down "success for the rest of us." She is the author of the Amazon bestseller Go Solo. Catch interviews with today's leaders...

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thegroovethief · 7 years

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#TGTfeature 004: Doctor Jeep [Trouble & Bass, Tumble Audio, ENCHUFADA: New York City, USA] Following last month’s Afrofunk excursion with Denver band ATOMGA, #TGTfeature 004 returns to low-end theory with the man to call if the bass isn’t ill enough: Doctor Jeep! This and forthcoming #TGTfeature articles will highlight dedicated musical talents by featuring their recent work as well as an in-depth interview. Undeterred by tempo and style, Doctor Jeep is well-regarded from techno to dubstep to dnb. Speaking via phone prior to his return to the Denver stage on March 2nd, the good doctor discusses the challenges of being a multi-genre specialist, his own crucial musical experiences, how he gets his bass so massive, and much more. Special note: Make sure to tune in late-night this Sunday evening Feb 26 at midnight MST for my next live “Pomegranate Sounds” radio show on KGNU Community Radio (Boulder/Denver). A Doctor Jeep feature will be on just after 1am (on Monday), with an exclusive chance to win tickets! A bit about Doctor Jeep: - a leading voice in the New York City bass scene, DOCTOR JEEP is known for rocking a range of bpms - has stacks of remixes under his own name as well as his DJ Bark Lee alias; his latest production release, the half-time dnb DISSOCIATE EP, came out mid-2016 on Aufect Recordings - HEADLINING this Thursday, March 2, at The Black Box with Snubluck and Kompra, presented by Sub.mission

TGT: You’re an artist who works within multiple styles and tempos, yet there’s always a clear focus on the low-end. How did you first get into bass music, and why has it become such an important part of your life? DJ: Basically, I went to a record store near my college when I was a freshman, and I bought a CD with an interesting looking cover, even though I had never heard of the artists or label. It ended up being Caspa and Rusko’s Fabriclive mix. That just opened my eyes to dubstep in general, and from there I just went through my usual process of how I found new music nowadays, which is just Googling every artist and/or label that was mentioned in the track list, and just kind of going in a wormhole from there… that was nine or ten years ago at this point. Weirdly enough, it took a while to get back into dubstep properly. Somehow after listening to that Fabriclive mix, I got really into Hessle Audio and Hemlock, and the kind of more techno-y stuff for the rest of my college experience. A few years later, I started going to a party in New York called Reconstrvct - basically its initial iteration was an all-UK dubstep party. They were bringing in these crazy lineups…like six or seven DJs from the UK and then one or two other residents. And it was just super insane because you would never see these producers in the US, ever, outside of that one party since it was fairly underground people for the most part. I think one of the defining moments that solidified my love for bass music was their two-year anniversary that had Kahn & Neek, their side project Gorgon Sound, Vivek, Youngsta, and Amit, all on the Tsunami Bass soundsystem which is probably one of, if not the best soundsystems in New York. I guess as for why that kind of music is important to me: it’s an escape from real life and the stuff I like makes me feel like I’m going back to my ancestral tribal roots. Sometimes when I’m in the dance, it gives me this feeling like we’re in the Stone Age dancing around a fire with like a shaman guiding us… it’s really cool to think about it in that way, knowing that people around me are also on the same wave length and it’s a meditative, trance-like experience. You’re feeling this energy in your chest and it’s so different than listening to music at a house party or in your headphones or something. Not to be too hippy-dippy about it, but bass is healing, and it allows you to mentally recharge and let go after a long week – I just love going to parties and dancing and, you know, getting into it… if I’m paying $15 to see some DJ, I’m gonna dance, I’m not just gonna stand there and cross my arms and nod my head! [laughs] Finding this community in New York was really important to me, because for all my life prior to that I felt like an outsider who just liked weird music. It’s really great to go out somewhere and spend a few hours with your friends every weekend doing what makes you the happiest.

TGT: So what challenges do you face as an artist whose work isn’t defined by a single genre? DJ: I make so many different kinds of music that I think it’s important to have certain distinctions as to what’s Jeep stuff versus other small side projects, because… I feel like if I’m making techno as Doctor Jeep, and I’m making drum ‘n’ bass as Doctor Jeep, people don’t really know how to book me, or where to book me, and that’s a huge issue. Because if I was, you know, [Berghain resident and legendary techno DJ] Marcel Dettmann or something, and I primarily played one or two fairly similar types of music, people would know what to expect when I came to play a party. At any gig, I have the ability to play rap or dancehall or UK garage or jungle or whatever, but some crowds know me for my older 130bpm productions, some crowds come for the newer drum ‘n’ bass side of me, and it’s like a divided crowd where I can’t appease everyone, and it’s definitely more difficult than if I was able to go into it with a clear game plan every time. It’s all situational. After I play a party once, I generally know the vibe. These days I’m super into a lot of electro and ’90s hardcore, but I know that’s not what fits the vibe at Sub.mission for example, so I’ll focus more on the dubstep and halftime side of things. I guess that is the benefit of playing a lot of different kinds of music, I can hone it in if I know what the crowd tends to like. At the end of the day if I’m getting paid to fly somewhere and play music for two hours, my job is to make the crowd happy, regardless if I just got a bunch of sick tracks from a totally different style the weekend beforehand [laughs]. That being said, I enjoy the challenge of figuring out what works on any given night. I think that there are some situations in which a change of vibe within the set is welcomed, and this kind of ties back to that Reconstrvct two-year anniversary. At some point in Youngsta’s set he went from a deeper dubstep section to a more hype halftime dnb part, and that was one of the first times I ever saw someone play a hybrid set like that and do it super well. And it made me think, damn, these two tempos are separated by 30bpm – which is a pretty big jump – but are stylistically quite similar in sound design and the sound palette, and people really fuck with both. I mean, it was just another one of those times where I was like ‘wow, you can really go all over the place, and still keep the crowd with you,’ so that was really inspiring for me, and definitely a very formative experience where I was like alright, that’s how you connect the dots from very different tempos. You find stuff that has similar textures or atmospheres or whatever, and you kind of go from those tracks. You’re not just slamming in a totally different track or doing a backspin and then just throwing in something from left field. That will kill a crowd, but you just gotta think of it kind of intellectually: where’s this set going? Basically, long story short, I think it’s tough as an artist who likes to make different kinds of stuff to get booked as much as if I only specialized in one genre. On the other hand though, I do think it’s important to experiment as much as possible and try new things. I mean, every time I’ve tried consciously to make a different style than I normally do, I learn a new production technique just by fucking around with the software or using a sample in a different way. I do think it’s important to experiment, but at the same time you have to have a consistent sound. I feel like over the years I’ve found the quote-unquote ‘Doctor Jeep sound,’ and it’s not necessarily a genre thing, but it’s more so just a general vibe or the samples I use or the way I use certain vocal samples or whatever… I’ll give a quick example: I really like weird, disembodied vocal chants or little cut-ups of a vocal that aren’t full words. There’s that, and I also really like running full vocal phrases through a vocoder and having them sound like a robot. Just things that kind of remind you of the human voice but aren’t exactly that, because it’s important I think to have a human element in the music too.

TGT: You’ve dropped some heavyweight remixes within the past few years, notably including a recent “Topper Top” rework (under your DJ Bark Lee alias), a mix of Benga & Coki’s “Night,” and a personal favorite of mine, “Back to Africa” by Tour De Force. What’s your approach when remixing to truly make tracks your own, and any tips for producers on how to get the bass banging properly? DJ: It’s funny you mention that [“Back To Africa”], because actually I think that’s the track that’s statistically done the poorest of any track I’ve ever uploaded, in terms of number of listens or comments, so it’s kind of heartwarming knowing at least one person liked it [laughs]. One thing that really bums me out is when an artist remixes something else and doesn’t use the main elements of the track. They might use like a tiny vocal before the drop, and then suddenly it shifts into a different song with no samples from the original… for me, it’s really important that if I’m doing a remix, it has to, at the very least, remind you of the track or even better, be obviously identifiable as being a flip on this song. I guess my approach to it all is to have the remix be different enough where I’m putting my stamp on it, but still paying tribute to the original artist. I’ve had remixes done for me (that ultimately never were released) where I’ve been like ‘uh.... [chuckles] so where’s the parts of my track – this isn’t really a remix, it’s just your track that has my name on it.’ It’s just so weird you know? Getting back to the second half of your question - I know people that have a million VSTs and 10 types of EQs, and I’m sitting here only using the Ableton plugins because my philosophy is just mastering what you’ve got. In terms of instruments, I only use the VST MASSIVE, that’s what I build my sounds out of primarily except for occasionally manipulating samples. It’s the first one I learned, and I feel very comfortable with it at this point, and for me to learn a totally different software instrument would just be frustrating. I just know how to get the sounds I want with MASSIVE, and I now associate the Jeep sound with the basses I make with it, so I just go with that for now. So my tip is: get good at one or two things and stick with it. Your creativity can lead you to make sounds that you didn’t think were possible with that specific instrument.

TGT: You’ve spoken before about the role tribal percussion plays in your production, while the just-released freebie “Adianta” brings in a similar vibe via a choice vocal. What’s your view on sampling? DJ: In general I think sampling is super important for music, especially if you look at any of the major developments in terms of the way dance music has evolved. I think back to one of my favorite genres – early ‘90s rave music – and they’re throwing so many different elements in the pot: breakbeats from old funk or hiphop records, synthesizers, vocals from sci-fi movies, or straight up just sampling other people’s tracks unashamedly [laughs]. That was the most exciting period of music for a short period of time because they had so many different influences and elements. Even nowadays, a lot of the stuff I like is just re-contextualized old music. With that track you mentioned, “Adianta,” - basically I heard this ‘70s bossa nova tune on a Brazilian compilation I got (my family is from there so I listened to that kind of music all the time growing up), and I really wanted to do a side project that was all remixes of Brazilian tracks. I had four tracks lined up for it, but three of them were just not as good as I really wanted, so I decided to give away the one decent track. The main sample is an eight-bar loop from the original, Trio Mocoto’s “Nao Adianta”. A funny thing happened, where basically I put this track out, and a promoter who booked me once shared my track with this someone she knows and she said ‘hey, check out this kid’s music, I think you might like it, you guys should connect for a coffee or something.’ In a very weird coincidence, it turned out that the guy she sent it to runs a label that the band I sampled was signed to. We actually ended up meeting up and talking shop about a potential new project, so I’ll probably create another alias in the next year or two that’s dedicated to that and that’s very focused on sampling Brazilian music and reinterpreting it in a modern context. I think my parents would be quite proud [laughs]. I mean, honestly, my take on that is don’t be dumb and sample something that’s on Sony or some major label that is gonna go after you. Don’t take an obvious, long sample from something really well known. The strategy is just do it in such a manner that it may pay homage to the original track but it’s not a total rip-off. I would be insane to take more than a few seconds of a Drake vocal and put it into a song and try and sell it – I think if you’re giving it away for free that’s one thing, if you’re trying to make money off it that’s where you’re going to come into some issues. TGT: Not necessarily connected, but which artists’ musical influence do you view as crucial to the Dr. Jeep sound? DJ: For me, it’s not so much specific artists as much as it is experiences. When I was in college I had a six-month long internship in London. And on the third day I was there, I went to Fabric, and it was a Hessle Audio night. This one moment I remember really specifically was Ben UFO (or Blawan, I can’t remember) playing Head High’s remix of Joy Orbison’s “Ellipsis”. It’s just a really cool, groovy tune – it’s a breakbeat techno track that’s not 4x4, it has an odd rhythmic pattern to it, and just very drum-oriented, but hearing that was just like ‘damn, this kind of shit sounds awesome in a proper club sound system.’ I think that really influenced the way I like to program drums these days. It’s all about rhythm. In the same night actually, Jackmaster did a set from 5-6am, and he played a Burial “Archangel” – and that was really bizarre because I never thought I’d hear that track in a club. It was just so crazy hearing such a raw powerful song in a nightclub full of people that are on all kinds of mind altering substances and seeing how much it really affected them. I think that was one of the moments where I was like ‘alright, I want my music to – even if it’s not this emotional – have this visceral impact’ … I don’t think my music is at that point yet, but that’s the kind of goal… if I can get one person to say ‘this is an insanely good track,’ then I think I’ve done my job. I heard Kode9 do a mix for FACT magazine, that’s pretty much all mid 90’s jungle, and that was definitely a point where I was like ‘I really enjoy this kind of music.’ You know, uptempo, breakbeat music. That mix got me going down the drum ‘n’ bass wormhole, which I now very much enjoy. You can tell he actually grew up in the era when that music was being made, and it’s really cool to see an artist’s influences, even if it’s not what they’re primarily known for nowadays.

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