Lido Interview 8/18/2017
Q: We know that you’re playing two shows this time, Summer Sonic and club Womb. How is it different performing at a festival vs a more intimate club setting?
There's definitely a big difference, I really enjoy both. In a club setting you’re playing to people that already know you and appreciate you, it’s kind of like playing with your friends. They know the song, they dance along to it. So it’s really fun playing club shows. But I also really enjoy playing in front of people who have no idea who I am, which usually happens at festivals. A good festival set could be really crazy energy, with a lot of people in one place learning about you at the same time. You get to perform music that you care about in front of so many people and exposing them for the first time. So festivals are incredible opportunity to show people your music and what you care about. The club setting is a bit more magical, really cool things happen in clubs. I could improvise more, and go to extremes more than a festival. I love both of them but there’s definitely a big difference.
Q: What do you think about Japan?
I tell everybody that I come across about Japan, my experience when I came here. Coming to Tokyo and seeing the culture, the landscape, the infrastructure, was like coming to a new planet. The food, mentality, mood of the people, life of the city is so different. But I never came to a new place before and felt so at home. I felt really comfortable being in Tokyo, being myself. I think people in Japan are very open minded people to art. As an artist, I felt very at home, which has never happened before in any city. So Tokyo has a very special place in my heart.
Q: What are your thoughts on Soundcloud? Has Soundcloud opened up many doors/opportunities for you?
Absolutely, Soundcloud was very important for me in especially in the beginning of my career. My meeting with electronic music in general was through Soundcloud. I fell in love with the freedom of electronic music. It felt so organic and free since you could upload anything you want at anytime. Unfortunately the platform is going through changes now so it’s sad to see the community fall off a little bit, I know a lot of people struggling to figure out what to do next/where to go next. However, regardless of the situation with Soundcloud today, I am eternally great for Soundcloud because I would have not had an audience internationally, if it weren’t for Soundcloud.
Q: What do you think about the internet and how it has affected the spread of music?
The internet is a fascinating thing, and it’s funny because I was talking to some friends about this today. We don’t have the experience with the internet yet, so it’s kind of a crazy place. Like a country that hasn’t figured out their infrastructure and laws yet. The most beautiful concept to me is to be able to hear any music from anywhere at any time, it gives the power back to the people, in terms of what music is popular. Because now we don’t have people working at radio stations that decide what people should listen to, we don’t have record companies that decide how high up the record should be in the record store. It has become much more about the music in a way. I think that is incredible, about the internet. We are still learning how to navigate it and use it for positive things. Right now it is a very extreme and oversaturated place. One thing that’s really interesting about the music industry was that the record companies were a lot of bad things but there was also a filter of quality. Right now the really tough thing is that everyone is competing on the same platform. Your song is right next to Katy Perry’s song, and the numbers on Katy Perry song is right next to your numbers. It’s an incredible opportunity, but it can also get over saturated really fast. Finding where is the good stuff, and who really cares about music. I don’t think we’ve completely figured out the internet yet. But I think it’s a step in the right direction of having a very free music community.
Q: What do you think the electronic music scene will look like in ten years from now?
Maybe not in 10 years but I think in long term, genres are going to disappear. The thing that really attracted me to electronic music was that it’s so limitless. It’s the vaguest genre in the world. There are no rules to something as unspecific as electronic music. I thought that was really beautiful. We’re also almost at a point where there’s not a lot of music that isn’t electronic music anymore. Most music has been created electronically. I foresee at some point, genres are going to disappear and everything’s just going to be music. It’s going to be the style of the artist that matters, not so much what category you could put them in. I think electronic music definitely paved a way for music without rules. Most other genres have very strict rules. Electronic music has a lot to do with liberation of music and not being so obsessed with what category. I think electronic music will be anything at one point.
Q: Is there something you have discovered about yourself, through the process of making music/becoming an artist?
"Many things. I’ve kind of been a musician my entire life. I don’t remember much of life before I was making music. I think music has taught me a lot of things like culture and a lot about the world, things that trigger me, things that I care about. What kind of person I am in general, I used to say I don’t make music, I am music. I have a really hard time separating myself from music. So I believe music has taught me many things about myself. It has taught me about my sensitivity, how sensitive my inspiration is. It has taught me about collaboration. It has taught me about other people, and how other people function and thing. Just as any passion you have can teach you about the world, the second you start caring about something that exists in the world, you learn a lot about yourself and your place in this world through it. So music has definitely been that for me, and I could give you countless of example of how music has had an impact on what kind of person I am."
Q: Do you think your music reflects towards who you are?
"Very much. Anyone can learn a lot about me through my music. You can grasp a lot about my personality through music. My music is very explosive, and very unpredictable, which I can also be as a person. But at the same time it’s very soft music, I have an extreme attention to detail, which says a lot about my personality in general. My music is kind of indecisive, one day it’s this the next day it’s something else. I think my music reflects a lot about my personality in the way that I make music, not only in my lyrics and the obvious influences in my music but even in the way that I approach and create it, says a lot about me as a person definitely."