Beat magician and Leaving Records’ owner Matthewdavid always gets his. It’s tough to accentuate him without repeating myself. But nah, son, Matthewdavid got mad props from featuring Flying Lotus and Serengeti, getting repp’d on Brainfeeder, having an ongoing Dublab-post-intership, and even a Odd Nosdam split: this is his 2011.
Last year, he was hot too, like when he ego-death’dd with Sun Araw (live), mixtape’d with Nanny Cantaloupe, and killed Los Angeles with Take a.k.a. Sweatson Klank on 2/10. And his collection on Leaving Records; I can’t give it up. Matthewdavid also perpetuates cassette culture within the L.A. scene. With the likes of Speculator, Ras G, Dak, and Ryan York gracing the catalog — I mean, once they begin reeling, you wish they never stop. More so, I wished he and I could actually “talk” via Skype, but this interview had to happen through Google Chat. Dig it:
You’re at DMA? You trip that underground?
w/the mood lighting. best, yah. hearrrr me now [on Skype]? i hav to use a blasted interface cos my internal sound card is… [Skype fizzels out.]
lmeo- it’s not working, we’ll have to just do it on [on Google Chat], if that’s okay?
TOTES
totes mcgotes
who is mcgotes and why? some messed-up chick on ecstasy came up to me at a show in LA saying totes mcgotes
it’s from the movie I Love You Man. so you in Detroit?
here i am hopping on this jet back to LA in about an hour. [I’m] just beginning to [travel] for the first time really heavily in my life. but this occasion was to visit Jesse [Co-Owner, Leaving Records]
is Jesse how you met Geti? he from MI, right?
he from CHICAGO, [C Monster], CHICAGO
yeah-yeah Geti is Chicago, yeah, how’d Davis happen?
Davis happened from a series of hang-out seshs w/ [Geti] in LA. he and Umar [were] in this rap group FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY NIGHT and i used to do a WEEKLY dj night at the Tavern in Silverlake called CALLING ALL KIDS so we’d curate music there etc. every friday
so this direction is kinda old hat to you two?
REALLY feelin’ his whole direction. [Geti] was helping the WHY? dudes with a series of shorts, for their ALOPECIA record, i believe. and filmed this quasi-spoken word/open mic night skit at our spot. [Geti] got up there, really nailed the whole contemporary-neo-hippie-coffee-house-spoken-word-poetry thing. so good i was tearing up w/ laughter. what really sealed the DEAL was GRIMM TEACHAZ. [Secrets about stuff] and they listening to this hay-day hip-hop group from ‘93, in the car, on the cassette, like: damn kid that’s my cut, turn that up, remember these dudes?
“[the kids need] Encouragement to shut the computer out of the creative process for a while. get back in-tune w/magnetism, ones natural world, forces of nature, etc.”
you thinking about doing a Davis LP with a skit or two to revive this?
aw man Geti had so many skit ideas for davis. his shit is genius, def underrated, he’s appropriating hip-hop culture. [we were] in LA this past summer just to brainstorm skit/song ideas. and i’d build ambient loops, smoke my herb; he’d just lie on the floor, or in my yard, gazing upward, and say, “Man, i hadn’t LISTENED in a minute.” there is this idea of musicianship. this idea really isn’t too apparent w/rappers a lot of the time. that’s why we laced the b-side of [the Leaving Records’ Davis tape] w/an ambient lofi/experimental freeform spoken-word piece. we want to work on [freeform] tracks like this. bridge that gap [between freeform and rap]. that’s my whole thesis anyway, in short [;)]
word, i can see that. i feel like Julia Holter did that super-well in her newest Leave Records LP
she’s maybe the most talented frontwoman figure in LA
How do you decide on specific artists for Leaving Records?
jesse and i [like a lot of music]. i encourage folks to look at [our catalog]. it’s [ECLECTIC] hmm? that word is ridiculous KCRW 4-letter jumpoff. every label tries NOT to be normal [and we aren’t normal]. [we’re] not like MSNBC prog or toyota prius
you got that on the airport tv right meow?
[yes]. i mean man jesse and myself, we were underground hip-hop djs, [then] we started going to noise shows. well at that time we certainly weren’t the only kids doing that. and now u see that a lot in american counterculture. we are very AWARE [or try damn hard to be]
so, before Leaving Records you two…?
we are from florida [C Monster]. i’m from the South, i went to school in Tallahassee. [we did] college radio, art-school buds, business school, bikes. we lived in LA for five years and she went to Detroit for school
would you say traveling around and your musicianship go hand-in-hand via technology?
hmm, i do a lot of recording, simple archiving, and editing when traveling. no composing, but it helps just carrying the laptop. mike collins [slash] RUN DMT was traveling around about 1.5/2 years ago. we linked up and played a show in LA. but he had mad EXTRA EFFORT to come over and record w/me while traveling. he is the traveling creator, making wherever he goes, totally inspiring,
and you?
just gotta be healthy [and] when i’m healthy and have some weed and tapes:: there u go!
“i’ve been teaching myself recording software for a minute. everything i do — and i speak for a lot of musicians — ends up here in cyberworld or computerchip world.”
that’s straight. how do you believe your process revolves around Matthewdavid?
my process is always changing. i’ve been teaching myself recording software for a minute. everything i do — and i speak for a lot of musicians — ends up here in cyberworld or computerchip world. always-always researching and investing creatively for recording music. as for synthesizers vs computers. actually a far second, i can’t relate to virtual synths. i’ve yet to ever actually articulate why, but it has to do w/ the essence of my music; aesthetically, u can hear my reasoning i think; the label too, explains it. everyone and their mom has access to VSTs RTASs AUs; you HEAR the accessibility that these “kids” have. but here’s the thing…
what do they need?
encouragement to shut the computer out of the creative process for a while. get back in-tune w/magnetism, ones natural world , forces of nature, etc. analog singnal path, etc. i went through this phase of Circuit BENDING. i’d connect the circuitry of these toys with my fingertips, and the feeling of electricity would run through both my hands. i’d have dreams of circuit bending and FEELING this electric sensation. just kids need education on how to understand electronic music [and] dudes like Cameron Stallones [and] Dan Lopatin, w/the same frame of mind; my favorite music right now [is coming from LA]. M. Geddes Gengras uses analog electronics, all day, and knows his way around Pro Tools.
EVERYONE slightly interested in electronic music should seek a live performance from Ged; it’s essential, it’s everything i’ve been trying to explain for the last two years, musically. becoming influenced by the wide array of culture and scenes popping up every day, that we all interested in, it’s just, we all individually interpret and FILTER these interests differently
[yeah-yeah] who are you ghost-beating/producing for?
who am i ghost producing for??? hahahah love it. no one ever!
did Ged produce LIVEPHREAXXX!!!!?
nah that was me and Cameron, honestly. next up is Ged for LIVEPHREAXXX!!!!; I got a tape for his label peccant too. but, let’s set the story straight [about what we used on LIVEPHREAXXX!!!!]: the computer was being used as both a separate instrument of mine and signal processor for Cameron. all-live. the signal is further processed w/SELECT OUTBOARD COMPRESSION. then ends up ALL being recorded to tape. maybe run the tape again through compression. it’s one of my self-studied processes over the years: signal routing, with computer, tape, compression. that’s the sound man
(deserved self-study!!)
damn i gotta hit this young plane NOW [C Monster]. good speaks
if I could do it again, I’d be sipping [dom p]. watching Ghandi till I’m charged
[Photo: Jesselisa Moretti]