Who is hudson mohawke

Steve Beckett is the person who founded Warp Records, which is the label that I release on, but I had never met him before. He came and gave a lecture. To see him still have his ears so much to the ground for someone like me, who was just putting out records, we were pressing like copies or something like that, for him to be aware of something like that was mind-blowing for me.

Rustie was signed I think a year or two later, but we were pretty much doing stuff at the same time and Flying Lotus. It seemed like you and Rustie had a symbiotic relationship in terms of influence, as well. Yeah, absolutely. We were going to play Overnight, is that alright? Around this time, I suppose the demand for you to play live and to DJ and all that stuff started to pick up, as soon as you started releasing on Warp.

Now, obviously as most people know that made music in the room, releasing records sadly is often a business card for getting DJ bookings, in terms of actually paying the bills, as you were saying before. How did you deal with that pressure, because you strike me as someone whose comfort zone is very much the studio? How did you deal with that new-found pressure of having to wheel out the decks on stage and do it live? I was a drummer, but only in school.

I never pursued it further than that. This is the first time … let me get the sleeve there. I was particularly proud of it, the Hippopotamus in the gatefold. This was the first-full length I released. Also confused a lot of people.

Also, Chris Brown ripped that and made a song out of it and now owes me a bunch of money. I think that that is one of the many things that really sets you apart. I program it myself. I can almost plays keys, but as far as key playing, Oliver is a huge inspiration to me as well as far as trying to learn to play keys properly. Where is that coming from? We were getting support gigs for… even though we were doing stuff like this, myself and people like Rustie and whoever were getting support gigs for Caribou or Sage Francis, stuff that came from not necessarily the same world at all, but we were being exposed to it.

It took an influence on our own productions. I guess around the time when we were developing our little scene in Glasgow there was a similar thing developing in Montreal and also a similar thing developing in LA, that particular sound coming out of these really small grungy club nights. I think maybe… I guess it was the year after I was in the Academy. We decided that we would do a gig swap, where a bunch of us from Scotland would go out to Montreal and LA, do some shows there.

We would, in turn, have them back to play in Scotland. Pretty much everyone out of that crew of people has gone on to be fairly successful in their own right. In particular Lunice. Pressed up the records. That took off as its own, little scene in itself as well.

You want to tell us a story there? Alright, cool. It was really exciting at the time because the record even ended up on the Billboard chart somewhere. It was like number or something. Even that was just mind-blowing for us. Let me find something here. I have to say that though watching 10, people going nuts to that tune, at Coachella right at the height of that summer that it was really popping off was exciting enough for me being right in the middle of the crowd.

I can only imagine what it was like to be able to do that. We know the DJ producer format. It was an experiment, really. I would have been very easy for you to rinse that one to high heaven and yet you decided to not do that and go off and make your solo albums respectively.

We can get anyone you want. Where is your career? Have you got any advice to impart about the importance of maintaining a balance in your career of endeavors? Talk to me about the process of working on Yeezus how that came and what it was like ended up working with Rick Rubin at Shangri La. Again, mind-blowing experience.

For sure. Talking of details, you are definitely a details person when it comes to your craft of making tunes and beats. Is there a bit of advice that you can give any producer or studio head, no matter what genre they make? If I would do anything differently, it would be release more music, probably. Do you want to pick any of those songs to play for us and talk about the experience of working in that environment as well? How does your team have to change?

How do you deal with getting the right manager or the right person to negotiate this world of selling beats and stuff? You have to learn this whole new world of how it works in terms of selling beats and working with mainstream artists and this type of thing. You need to make sure that you stay on your people and you delegate stuff, but try and project manage it as much as you can personally.

Something like that. It has nothing to do with the fame of such and such a person. Or wanted you to do, exactly, which is what makes it even more awesome. How did the relationship with Antony come about? Someone played me his first record at an after party at eight in the morning or something. What kind of voice is this? This is just insane. I pursued that for years and years, and it never fucking worked. Eventually, he approached me, luckily.

How many of the tunes that you do as collaborative pieces with well-known vocalists or rappers are actually in the studio collaborating and how many of them is it just like deliver the beat and see what comes back and which do you enjoy more? Learning that craft is really important, I think. This is another song from the current album, but this is an orchestral piece. How much of that is samples, how much of that is in orchestra?

How much of that is played? Pretty much. This seems like a pretty good moment rather to see if there are any more technical questions or any other questions for that matter. Tradition is that there is someone with a microphone. Thank you for your lecture. You talked about having different creative visions about sounds when you make sounds with other people. Thanks for your question. Next one, behind you I think, just there.

Sorry, excuse me. Sorry, I was first. I happen to notice that you have a lot of complex arrangements. A question about mental health and the whole touring thing. You seem like a pretty, to yourself, reclusive person.

I can empathize with that. Playing shows is quite the opposite environment and shit can get pretty crazy, especially with all the partying and the amount of dates that you have to do. You have to focus in on one particular thing, do that for a period of time, do this for a period of time. How are you doing? I just wondered… the first one I think is a great example of that.

It was really refreshing. I think it still does to be honest. I was just wondering if you were approached to do any film work at all? Speaker: Audience member. That seems like it would be the logical next creative step to keep myself excited. Hey man. Thank you for coming. While his work has become increasingly high profile, operating in a world of superstar hitmakers, Birchard remains a private and shy individual, who finds comfort in an Internet-dwelling gallows humour and a childlike love for shock and wonder.

His obsessing paid off, too. Around the same time, he began producing his own, boundary-shifting music using Fruity Loops, the software he still uses today. And when it came to sharing those beats, he was using MySpace: uploading short, low-quality audio clips of experimental loops, and sketches of ideas, with fantastical names and silly jpegs as artwork placeholders; uploading directly to whoever cared to listen, whenever he felt like it.

The Internet was how Birchard built his early fanbase, and how he stays connected to many of those same listeners today. The series sees Hudson Mohawke the producer at his Technicolor best, and it seems that his long-time fans are the most excited about it: once-lost and hitherto unidentified tracks, obsessed over on YouTube comments sections and Reddit subthreads, are finally being tracklisted.

Birchard makes no secret of the fact that his aim, with all his music, is to invoke euphoria. Music like happy hardcore is very direct and pure, an expression of joy. Who the fuck is anyone to say that something that evokes the human emotion of joy is cheesy, or not cool?

Even in the early days, he was determined to find a way to bring this unabashed attitude towards euphoria into a commercial production sphere. That was a big inspiration for me. His attitude comes from his time on the dancefloor as much as his time in the booth. You feel the full spectrum of human emotions. It was this intense sense of community. Maybe he knew that such offers were an early sign that his search for that sweet spot was moving steadily forward.

If you have your own MO, you can play around with it. Among all this solo work, Birchard established another alias — the collaborative side-project TNGHT, alongside Canadian producer Lunice, which they debuted in with a self-titled EP. TNGHT tore through the clubs with a bombastic swagger, loudly enough for the mainstream to hear it. D Music label. Now, he was working alongside dozens of other musicians, songwriters and producers, navigating a totally new music-making domain.

Past collaborators have hinted that the studio experience within G. Music is eccentric and nonlinear, with a hands-on, magpie-esque approach to selecting the best moments for each track. Before being in the studio with rap titans, despite his affection for producers like Just Blaze and Timbaland, Birchard admits that he had no idea about the commercial production process.

But he was determined. Watching Kanye and Yeezus adviser Rick Rubin operate like executive producers, sifting disparate song ideas and beats, had a tremendous impact as he plotted his solo moves. So this time, I wanted to step back and work with the right people and be able to execute a more complete idea. And, of course, Kanye West. Newswire Powered by. Close the menu. Rolling Stone. Log In.