5kinandbone5 interview
via ontheslyNY.com
We recently had a chance to catch up with Charlie aka "5kin", who will be DJing at OTS next Thursday night alongside Mess Kid, Bombe, and Knomad down at the Gallery at LPR. As always, NO COVER, NO EXCUSES.
Who are you and what do you do?
This is Charlie from 5kinAndBone5 and we do futuristic shit like make music and blog and stuff.
Have you played NYC before? What are your connections to the city?
No, this is a first. I lived in NYC for roughly 5 years prior to moving out west several years ago, but I was stuck in a corporate hell that prevented me from doing any sort of music when I actually lived out there. So needless to say, a brother is stoked.
Your D'n'B influences are well documented and NYC has a longstanding history with the sound. Give us a few records that have remained timeless to your ears.
Yeah, that shit definitely laid the groundwork for UKG, Grime, dubstep...pretty much every form of British underground music that was dark and dirty. Here are some joints that we used to vibe out to back in the day:
Renegade - Dark Soldier Pt.1
Inta Warriors - Inta (Special Forces Remix)
Mampi Swift - Mission
Ed Rush & Optical - Watermelon
Konflict - The Beckoning
I could go on for days....
Where do your hip hop roots come from? Who were some of the first producers and MCs you were into? Top 3 classic NYC hip hop records?
Hip hop roots stem from a proximity factor I suppose. As kids we both went to school early on in the hood and I guess exposure to that definitely molds you. Prior to discovering electronic music it was certainly a focal point at a young age.
We had always been really into music respectively (more so than other kids), but I can't remember when we started caring about producers. I suspect the shit that fucked me up hardest was probably early Timbaland production. I also recall DJ Premier being God-like status at the time. In Virginia and D.C. where we were raised, the local talent wasn't really noteworthy so I think we were jocking the fuck out of NYC MCs by default.
1. Biggie & Da Lox's C.R.E.A.M. Freestyle for Funkmaster Flex
2. Audio 2 - Top Billin
3. Slick Rick & Doug E. Fresh - The Show
Some of your more recent releases seem to be channeling an appreciation for the timeless sounds of Detroit techno. It seems that regardless of where you take inspiration from, the end result is often heralded as an authentic reinterpretation of said sound, rather than a carbon copy. When you start a track, do you start with a specific influence in mind or does the production process lead you to the end sound/genre?
Damn that's a huge compliment, thank you. These are some crucial ass questions. In the same fashion we went through our D'n'B phase (which lasted years), we fell in love with house and techno shortly thereafter. Same thing happened in 2-3 year intervals with rap production, dancehall, grime, UKG, and so on. So all of this cumulatively is yielding a weird but exciting recipe when it comes to production chops. A lack of predictability, if you will.
More often than not, we are starting joints with a certain destination in mind (genre-wise), however in some instances we'll take pleasure in derailing something's trajectory and fucking it all up. 'Tachikoma Twerk' is a good example of that. Initially it was a heavily trance-oriented track that had 2-step garage elements, yet we ended up turning it into more of a grime joint ultimately. But yeah, for the most part there will usually be an initial intention or direction we are adhering to.
The roster of labels you have released with is long and deep. Does this come from a dedicated hustle to shop your tunes or do the labels find you? If/When you shop your records, do you send all beats to all labels, or focus your personal marketing? Have you ever been asked to create a certain sounding record by any label?
I'd say it's half and half these days. Out the gates, it was necessary to holler at people to get one's foot in the door and get the ball rolling. Now things are flowing and unfolding in a much more natural fashion. We're now focusing on deploying tracks in tactical strikes.
We'll target labels with sounds that gel with their ethos and take it into a tangential dimension of next level freakiness. Aside from this, we follow our naturally psychotic inclinations on a daily basis. We focus on channeling sonic energy which excites our psyche. This energetic excitement inevitably attracts and transfers onto others, generating reciprocal feedback loops.
The spring of 2012 seems to be all about trap, or that grey area where hip hop and the club music world collide. Given that you've been operating in that area for awhile, are you excited to see it gain recognition or are you already moving onto the next? While the sounds are futuristic, many a trap beat runs the risk of sounding dated when the trend dies down, so what advice can you give to keep music sounding timeless and original?
We perpetually pickup and discard genres - using them as temporary and temporal constraints to fuel creative solutions. We prefer to make trap music for use by adept rappers. Do whatever gets you excited regardless of genre trends. Don't let what is in vogue supersede your creative instincts.
In a landscape where many producers get highlighted quickly for mastering one sound, your versatility is respected and refreshing. Do you ever feel that versatility hinders your exposure, since you really can't be boxed into one genre or format?
We constantly discuss our creative trajectories. This versatility and unpredictability has become central to our brand. The bottom line is this: sticking to one sound or genre would be creatively stifling for us. If we didn't do everything possible to stay artistically stimulated we'd shrivel up and die.
Whats the remaining 2012 5kinandbone5 release schedule looking like?
We recently launched the label Soo Wavey with comrade Vin Sol that is fiercely dedicated towards quality dance music. We have been sitting on a vast cache of house and techno bangers that needed to get out into the world and when you are waiting or depending on the schedule of other people you kinda reach a point where you want to take matters into your own hands.
Also, we have been all over the map production-wise so it's refreshing to have defined parameters and hone things in a bit. So we have a bunch of stuff on the way via that outlet. In addition to that, we are preparing for numerous releases on one of our favorite labels Unknown To The Unknown. We did a remix for Palace and also have our collaborative EP on the way which features Sinden and Babe Rainbow.
Grizzly wants us to do a follow-up release so we are stoked to see more shine with Sinden's camp obviously. We have a strident minimal techno banger we did with Vin Sol that is slated to come out on a Scion-AV release in the near future. Not to mention numerous secret alias projects that are out there doing their thing as we speak. It's fun to stir things up and keep people guessing ;)
Your use of "out of the box" technology is well documented, reflected in the recent record titled "all 808 everything." What kind of gear do you have in the lab? How many of your tunes reflect a complete "out of the box" aesthetic versus the number that incorporate both worlds?
The whole "out of the box" ethos is a core component to the Soo Wavey identity. In the lab we utilize various things like the Roland TR-808, 909, 727, SH-101, MC-202, Juno 106 and Yamaha DX7 among other things. When aspiring to do proper house/techno music that touches on a vintage feel it definitely becomes an essential ingredient. However when it comes to UKG, grime, 2step, etc. it is far less important. It's a quite recent thing actually, the incorporation of proper analog gear.
5kinandBone5 has come up from a background of working with vocalists and live musicians. Do you think this has an impact on your versatility? Does your approach to producing change when you know a track will be voiced?
Yes, we take those things into consideration based on the project. When producing for a vocalist there needs to be room for the vocalist and it is a wholly different approach. It definitely impacts our versatility because we are comfortable working with everyone under the sun. Not limited to vocal artists, but proper musicians and the like. From a producer standpoint, some of the biggest influences early on were Prince, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, The Neptunes, etc; So we sorta drilled it into our heads that one must be able to throw down and get busy with um, "proper" music for lack of better words.
When you have teamed up with vocalists, have you been shopping finished beats or writing with that individual in mind?
We don't shop beats, that always seemed to be a waste of time for us. 99% of our team efforts with vocalists have stemmed from having a personal relationship with that artist and most of the time recording it together with them in the studio.
Who are some vocalists you'd like to hear on a 5kinandBone5 beat?
Grimes, Bjork, Green Velvet, Seth Troxler, Romanthony, Chris Brown, Roscoe Dash, Rhianna.
Taking a step back from production, where is your head at as a DJ these days? What can the east coast expect out of a 5kinandBone5 set? Anything new in the crate that we haven't heard before?
It depends on the party frankly. Left to our own devices we would play something that resembled a Juan Atkins set if he were up on his UK futurism. One thing you can expect is absolutely zero rap music. We take dance music very serious as DJs and avoid playing rap because at that point, you might as well be an open format bottle service DJ which is not really our cup of tea.
Are you still running parties with Vin Sol back in SF?
We have occasional proper parties here and there as one-offs, but recently we have been content with letting other people handle promotion and what have you. Our time is spent better in the confines of the recording studio as that fuels the out of town bookings more than anything. Should you be in SF at any point, we do have a weekly Wednesday night party called Office Depot at The Tunnel Top downtown SF. It's the perfect low-key intimate setting in which you get to hear us test out new tunes fresh from the oven and it's predominantly house and disco.
Favorite taco?
Fish tacos all day baby.
Special thanks to Charlie for taking the time to answer knomad's questions. Don't forget to catch 5kinandBone5 NYC DEBUT with us Thursday 6/21 .
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