A-TRAK – FormatMag Archives
My very first featured Q&A, everrrrrr. Done on the cusp of Fool’s Gold Records as A-Trak had just wrapped up with as Kanye’s DJ tour. What a fine young label magnate you have become. Thanks for the memories FormatMag!
A-Trak
Known as one of the most stylish turntablists in the game, A-Trak has been messing with the fashion industry for a minute now. Collaborations with key players in the street-wear industry such as Zoo York, Kid Robot and Crooks & Castles are all set to launch within months. With the momentum of three new album releases, a new record label on the horizon and the success of his latest album/DVD Sunglasses is a Must, Stussy has agreed to drop a signature pair of A-Trak specs. And that’s just the start of it. At 25, with 10 years under his belt in the music industry, there’s no telling where this kid might go.
Format: How would you define your style?
A-Trak: I knew you were gonna ask me this question, they told me it was for a fashion thing. I don’t really define it as this one look or whatever – I’m so bad at this. Let’s go from the bottom up. I’m pretty much always checking for classic and classy sneakers. I like hi-tops, a lot — like hi-top 180s or Jordan AF1 style. I think jeans are the first thing you might over look when getting into a certain style. I’m always trying to get a key pair of jeans that you might not really know if you’re not super into denim. I try to find the perfect fit for the sneakers I’m wearing. I don’t rock that many pairs. If I have a rotation of three really ill pairs that I think are good for me then I’ll just stick to that. I like to buy a pair of jeans that I’m in love with. I like raw denims that fit just right and I’ll just stick with those and go with them for a long ass time.
Format: What brands do you like?
A-Trak: Nudie, Neighborhood, Rag ‘n Bone. I was in to Roca for a bit but they’re kind of baggy and this year isn’t so much into that, but I still like them a lot. T-shirts, I’m always going for something kind of flashy and original design. People that checkout my pics on my website look at my T-shirts are always like, ‘Yo, what’s your closet like?’ I like the T-shirt to be the centerpiece of what I’m wearing. And, I’m always rocking a fitted hat. Every day of my life there’s a New Era on my head. To sum it up, I like it clean cut yet flashy. A little bit into the street-wear, but also in to the classic early `90s Beastie Boys.
“When you are subject to that much visibility that increases in your head, you’re like every fucking minute my shit’s gotta be on point!”
Format: Has touring with Kanye had an effect on your style?
A-Trak: I think I started buying more clothes when I was touring with him. Also, maybe a question with how old I was and getting in to that phase where I was more conscious about how I present myself. I definitely don’t think I dress like Kanye, I don’t think that since traveling with him that I’ve felt, ‘Oh, I need to rock this brand or that brand.’ But it’s like when I’m touring with him and we’re liable to be on TV or in pictures on any given day and you’re traveling with people that pop tags all the time, well if you already have that mentality of wanting to stay G’d up and wanting to have fly shit on any given day. When you are subject to that much visibility that increases in your head, you’re like every fucking minute my shit’s gotta be on point! But at the same time when you get used to that it’s not really an issue anymore. It’s more just in the back of your head when you are getting dressed in the morning, but it’s not like a formula or anything. I don’t want to make it seem like it’s calculated.
Format: Do you feel that there is some kind of uniform that you have to rock for hip-hop or is that changing as things get more globalized?
A-Trak: Well, I think that the street-wear phenomenon has gotten so big, that it’s kind of funny, that in any city in the world on any continent you can go into a little shop and find the sneaker with limited color ways, and a handful of T-shirt brands and bandanas or whatever else. And of course, the all-over hoodies, how can I forget. That’s been the sign of the last year. That to me looks like a uniform, so I’m trying not to get too into that. I went almost two years straight with a fitted hat, sunglasses and a fancy T-shirt. That was like a uniform to me. But that was also, with the whole Sunglasses Is A Must concept – it had a little concept behind it.
Roadsworth
First seen in Format Magazine
ARTIST, FEATURES
Roadsworth
September 28, 2009
by Jesse Ship
During the period of 2001-2004 Roadsworth went ballistic on his home town of Montreal, enforcing a new visual language upon its streets. A language of road lines turned in to electrical wiring, barbed wire, fishing hooks, birthday cakes, animals hanging off of shadows and more. Like so many street artists, he was busted and persecuted to the full extent of the law. Lucky for him, community support was unanimous and he got off with mild community service term, forced to paint his public patterns only when commissioned to do so by the city. Roadsworth has since been invited to paint in numerous countries, and even has even been commissioned to paint Montreal’s city hall. Behold the words of the original street-preacher. Not enough for you? Check him out at his website, or in the new, highly acclaimed film Roadsworth: Crossing The Line.
“I’m not against corporations as a concept, I’m not even against advertising. It’s part of selling of goods and exchanging goods is part of culture and survival. It’s the monopolies and the extent of capitalism that bothers me.”
Format: A lot of your work has an anti-corporate vibe.
Roadsworth: Well I guess, ya, indirectly. When I started, and at my peak of illegal activity, I was feeling sort of anti-corporate. But I think it’s more a question of balance. I’m not against corporations as a concept, I’m not even against advertising. It’s part of selling of goods and exchanging goods is part of culture and survival. It’s the monopolies and the extent of capitalism that bothers me. It’s become almost synonymous with consumerism. It’s caused some progress, but It’s also been very damaging. I think we are consumers because we are encouraged to consume as much as possible.
Format: When you were starting, you were known for turning road lines in to electrical outlets or plugs, a reference to the ‘myth’ of the electric car. Now, many countries are close to implementing road side electrical fill up stations. How does that make you feel?
Roadsworth: Well it’s funny, because when I started doing this, back in 2001, there was a certain amount of denial when it came to certain realities including the nature of war, oil, its finite-ness, global warming, etc. People had been talking about these ills for a very long time but it was never very mainstream. The environmental movement is being used by companies to sell products now even. Global warming is pretty well espoused, and has become a mainstream concept. I started with the electric car stencils because it seemed like it wasn’t cool to talk about it. It was sort of alarmist. I had also seen a documentary about it called Who Killed The Electric Car. I guess I was compelled by that flick.
Format: You once turned an intersection outside your parents home into a birthday cake for your dad’s birthday. How did he react to that one?
Roadsworth: I think he was a little shocked. My parents didn’t know I was in to that. I had been in to music for most of my life and dabble a bit in art. I think he was pretty surprised. I think he also thought it was a bit of a one-off. He liked it, my parents are pretty easy going, definitely not overbearing “you have to be a doctor or lawyer, or you’re dead to us” kind of people.
Format: Have you thought of doing anything other than roads?
Roadsworth: Ya, there are so many ways to use the city’s infrastructure. I’ve been thinking about it, but I haven’t really decided on anything. I have been thinking about sculptures. Or taking a pre-existing motif that appears across a city and tweaking it some how. You can do that to anything. I’ve been very fortunate to have been invited to paint in places like France and the UK, but, to be honest, I’m getting tired of all the requests that I’m getting to work on the ground. It’s always the ground. You might say I’ve become typecast as that ground guy.
COMUИE Spring/Summer 2013 Preview
What does COMUИE like, and hope you like as well? Avocados, tostadas, records, audio equipment, surfing and vintage magazines. Duh!
Protect-U Live Mix for Spinner – D.C. House
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed this. Solid mix of old andnew with no predictable bits. From the DJs: “”A bunch of it is stuff I’ve recently found while digging, there is the mellow jam from our recent Planet Mu record on there, and the latest single Max D did on Future Times, which is the label I do along with Max (aka Andrew),” Petillo tells us.
“I can’t always play the latest unreleased material from the crew as I don’t have a CDJ, only two decks. Of course there are some essential personal classics in the mix as well. Aaron and I are big fans of the Günter Schickert LP ever since he snagged a copy a bunch of years back when his friend’s dad was getting rid of his collection — he had some really nice cuts obviously!”
Tracklisting
1. Günter Schickert “Puls” (Sky, 1979)
2. Protect-U “Invisible Halo” (Planet Mu, 2012)
3. Toto Coelo “Milk from the Coconut” (Virgin, 1983)
4. Logic System “Automatic Collect, Automatic Correct” (EMI, 1981)
5. Yas-Kaz “The Magical Stones & The Double Mirrors” (Gramavision, 1984)
6. Bell-Towers “Private Time (Dub)” (Hole in the Sky, 2011)
7. Peter & The Wolf “Peter and the Wolf (Instrumental)” (Carrere, 1986)
8. The Sleeping Pills “Elastic Fantastic” (Hangman, 1991)
9. Blake Baxter “When We Used To Play” (KMS, 1987)
10. Amy Jackson “Let It Loose (Loose Dub)” (Bigshot, 1989)
11. Last Floor Hotel “Track One” (Vibrations, 2012)
12. Spencer Kincy & J.T. “Not An Illusion” (Cajual, 1996)
13 .Dana “For U (For House Mix)” (Clubhouse, 1990)
14. Max D “Orgies of the Hemp Eaters” (Future Times, 2012)
15. The Answer “John (Acid John)” (Rockin’ House, 1989)
16. Yello “Homer Hossa” (Vertigo, 1981)
ALESSO STILL IN SHOCK OVER SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA BREAKUP — ‘IT’S CRAZY’
Posted on Jul 18th 2012 4:30PM by Jesse Ship
Alesso is the latest Swedish young EDM prince to do the North American summer festival rounds. His affiliation with EDM overlords and Swedish House Mafia is well known, but not even he can really grasp the news of the pending breakup they announced in late June.
“It’s crazy. It’s just crazy that they broke up, it’s hard to believe, but I respect their choice. I understand that they don’t want to be repeating themselves,” a begrudging 21-year-old Alesso tells Spinner.
When Alesso was 16, a friend’s CD with a few Swedish House Mafia tracks found its way into his player. “I’d never really heard anything like it before. I fell in love,” he gushed. Having only played piano until his early teens, he was quickly absorbed by the intoxicating waves of uplifting synths and rhythms, and took to the computer and keyboards to see what he could do to match what he was hearing.
Just two years later, the ambitious young swede stalked Luciano Ingrosso, owner of Joia Records, Sweden’s largest house music label — and also uncle to Sebastian Ingrosso of the aforementioned Swedish House Mafia — in a coffee shop and gave him his first demo CD. A day later he was called into the studio.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST ON AOL SPINNER!
KASKADE: OK WITH DJ PARIS HILTON, SAYS POP IS ‘RIPPING OFF THE UNDERGROUND SO HARD (AOL SPINNER)
Posted on Jul 20th 2012 2:00PM by Jesse Ship
Over the past 10 years, Ryan Raddon, a.k.a. Kaskade, has become a household name among EDM music lovers, and has one become of its strongest advocates. With a career that saw him starting off as an A&R rep for Om Records in San Francisco in the late ’90s, Kaskade has ascended to the point where he was voted by the people as “America’s Best DJ 2011” for DJ Times Mag and Pioneer DJ. Fire & Ice, his double-disc seventh album, contrasts his signature high-energy anthems with euphoric but artful and mellow “icy” remixes.He’s currently crossing North America with his massive “Freaks of Nature Tour” and has also just announced that his sold out performance at the Staples Center in L.A. on Friday, July 27 will be streamed live via Youtube, and recorded as a DVD.
Kaskade spoke to us while on the road on and told us why he feels sub-, or, micro-genres should be done away with, his view on why the first wave of EDM in the early 2000s didn’t take off, and how Paris Hilton‘s DJ tour really doesn’t bother him at all.
What exactly is EDM?
It’s a blanket statement. It’s good for people who haven’t been entrenched in electronic music for a long time. They don’t have to know the difference between moombahton, dubstep, house, progressive house, and electro house. We needed some kind of word that people can grasp onto. EDM is just as good as any I guess. It works.
How do you feel about micro-genres?
It’s just people with too much time on their hands. I’m always like “Who cares what it’s called? If it’s good, if you like it, why do you care what it’s classified as?” I think it’s more of a marketing tool than anything. Sometimes the audience gets too caught up on it. There are so many people coming to electronic music right now, I’d rather just put the music out. Don’t worry about what to call it, just enjoy it.
You recently released a drum ‘n’ bass remix of Katy Perry‘s “Wide Awake” on Soundcloud and in the comments, you wrote “If pop music could only sound like this all the time.” How do you feel about pop music right now?
I feel like pop music is super-formulaic and ripping off the underground so hard. They’re basically copying a sound that was big underground five years ago. To me it seems very passé and not very forward-thinking. I think the last pop act to be forward-thinking wasNirvana. Where are those guys right now? We need something like that, a breath of fresh air. Pop music is a bit stale right now.
But you could argue that people are embracing EDM as pop music now.
They are for sure. Here in the US we don’t have much radio play outside of David Guetta, so I feel that’s the final frontier, but people are recognizing the crowds that we are attracting. Which is similar if not bigger than what pop acts are doing.
I’m playing sold out shows to auditoriums like the Staples Center. Pop acts are doing this with millions of dollars in marketing and a huge radio push, but I don’t have any marketing! I think they’re really paying attention to that, and trying to figure out how they can cash in on it.
It seems like electronic music is getting a second run at popularity since the early 2000s rave scene. How’s it different this time?
I don’t think it was fully cooked at the time. The first wave had Moby, Chemical Brothers, and a handful of others. There wasn’t enough artistry at that point in time in the late-’90s when things were bubbling up.
There were only a handful of guys that were doing something interesting enough to cross over. Whereas now, so many guys are doing cool things in this space. I think that if they had the right partners, their music could get to a really wide audience. It’s like connecting the dots. For me, it’s no surprise that electronic music is as big as it is. I always felt passionate for it, but I didn’t know how big it could get.
As big as Paris Hilton DJing?
Every time something gets this big, people see opportunities to exploit it and there are many out there.
How do you feel about what she’s doing as a DJ?
It doesn’t really bother me. I remember back in the ’90s there were a couple of porn stars that started DJing, and some would DJ topless. I feel like it was very entry level, like, “Oh, I have some songs and I want to play them.”
But I have three busloads of people on my team, and I’m playing all original content that I’ve written over the last seven albums that I’ve written and produced. [Paris] is a much different act than what I’m doing.
I think that’s why Deadmau5 is making so much noise. I think what he’s trying to do is make a distinction. Although you call me a DJ, and Paris Hilton calls herself a DJ, the title DJ probably isn’t important to what I do. It doesn’t bother me because I grew up listening to this and honoring the craft and art. It’s not something that’s so simply understood. I write and produce all this music. She’s just going up there playing hits. It’s much different.
Where do you see the current interest going?
I think it’s going to continue to grow now that the cat’s out of the bag. There’s an active audience that wants to keep hearing this stuff. The audience will grow and we’ll enjoy a nice time at the top here. As far as where I see myself in the future? I don’t know. I’m enjoying the ride, but as far as longevity, hip-hop has enjoyed decades at the top. I’m not sure electronic music will be anything like that. With modern day technology people’s tastes and trends move a lot quicker. For me, I was doing this when nobody was listening as a kid in Chicago.
I’m going to do this regardless, because I love doing it. If I have to take a part-time job to supplement my income because music won’t support me, then so be it, but I’ll just keep doing what I love.
Reptile Youth: Black Swan Born White (S.C.U.M Remix)
Reptile Youth: Black Swan Born White (S.C.U.M Remix) (official music video) from hfn music on Vimeo.
Cinematic wonder from Reptile Youth of HFN Music, home to many great Scandinavian acts like Trentemøller, Darkness Falls and Kaspar Bjørke.
FUNNY ‘N RAW – OPOPO
Self-produced OPOPO vid playing on old school sci-fi styles and urban rooftop playgrounds. FUNNY ‘N RAW is the bassy b-side to their current single, EXORCISM.
Catch it here or buy it on iTunes!
FULL FLEX EXPRESS – TICKET 4 SALE
Ok, so you may have heard about this re-creational Janis Joplin-esqure tribute tour that Skrillex and Diplo thunk up one inordinately frosty LA winter afternoon called the Full Flex Tour. they thought to themselves, “Hey wouldn’t it be awesome to recreate her 1970 cross-Canada tour where she got freaky on a VIA RAIL train with the Grateful Dead and The Band?” (yes this really is how festivals are born.) Along for the ride will be Pretty Lights, Grimes, KOAN Sound, Tokimonsta and more.
HOWEVER! This tour is less about practicality than it is simply enjoying the ride. When asked about the run of dates, Skrillex said “we were really inspired when Mumford and Sons and Edward Sharp and those guys did a train tour. We wanted to do it as well and share this music with people across Canada. Just to do it and have fun.”
And fun will be had. So much fun that I have a friend’s ticket available for sale. Please contact me at ASAP as I hear the show is actually sold out. Original cost was $60.05, and because you’re awesome too, the $.05 will be waived, at your convenience. ;)
Locals Only Fest – Summer 2012
A dusty gravel pit outside the Amsterdam brewery corralled by gourmet food trucks served as a soundstage for dj/producers at Toronto’s very first Locals Only festival, a concept that combined up-and-coming promoters, dj/producers and bands, backed up by visual arts from the Everyone Is An Artist agency (EIAI).
House music (and electro) was at last brought to Housey St. with live PAs from a handful of Toronto-based artists like, Kevin McPhee, Ryan Hemsworth, Jesse Futerman, Coleco, Nautiluss, and Sean Roman. They may not be getting the local attention they deserve, but when it comes to international affiliations, all are hold their own weight.
Up a ramp, a vacant warehouse space inside the brewery hosted bands for the night like Last Gang’s Nightbox whose recent accolades include a track on MTV’s Jersey Shore. But the real showcase was Blank Capsule, the elusive gothic/synth-wave side project of Bryce Kushnier aka Vitaminsforyou and the Jokers Of The Scene, one of A-trak’s early signings to his Fool’s Gold label.
There’s a lot for Toronto to be proud of, and the festival’s concept should continue into years, or seasons, to come, as long as scheduling can be kept on track, and maybe a bit more promotion would have helped out as well.
