sub⎹div q&a: EPROM

One of the most rewarding trends in the post-everything shitstorm of modern dance music in 2011 has been the sound of West Coast Bass, specifically California. The Frite Nite crew have a lot to do with this; Eprom, Salva, Comma, NastyNasty & B. Bravo head up a cast of producers/DJs that wield a diverse sound palet. From Salva’s 808-inflicted echoes of G-funk & Eprom’s bit-crushed hip-hop to NastyNasty’s spiralling ravey crunk & B. Bravo’s Dam-Funk-esque analog warmth, the crew has got many colour in the mix. This past week, they rocked Saturday afternoon in Seattle’s Volunteer park – it was a killer display of the diverse sounds that movepeople to dance in 2011.

Eprom in particular has really had a banner year. After self-releasing the grimey Bay Area EP earlier this, he’s just connected with Berlin upstarts Leisure System for a killer 12″ that best exemplifies his mix of post-glitch & hip-hop swagger. His set at this year’s Bass Coast festival was stuff of legend & tonight he’ll rock alongside Salva at Club 9ONE9 (along with our own dudes Monolithium & Rhythmicon) for what will no doubt be an amazing feast of many flavours of West Coast crunk. Amy Kirtay (Dub Selekta) had a chance to sit down with Eprom at Decibel Festival this past weekend…

You’re currently down here in Seattle playing as part of the Decibel Festival, have you had a chance to catch any of the festival while you’ve been here?

I just got here this afternoon so I just came straight to the showcase but I’m really excited to check out Machinedrum tonight and Ital Tek and hopefully hit up some late night; I hear that Cajmere is playing.

Sweet, ya I’ve heard that there’s no shortage of good after parties. Now, I know that your showcase here at Decibel in the park is one of the most talked about events of the whole festival; do you often get the chance to play out with the Frite Nite crew or are we just lucky enough to catch you all in one place?

We haven’t had a party with the whole crew together since March 25th in San Francisco. We’re doing another one on Oct 22nd in San Francisco too then one in Arcata on October 15th but ya it’s an honour to play with all these guys. We all sorta came up in the Bay Area and we formed the crew there. It’s been really great working with these guys cause they’re all super talented; Comma is pretty much my best friend and Salva is amazing. I’m really happy to be working with those guys and it’s an honour to be playing here [Decibel Festival] in this beautiful park.

Ya, what a great venue! Does it feel like getting the gang together when you all get to play together?

Ya absolutely. Its the best thing; I mean playing with my homies, I couldn’t ask for more.

Stellar. Ok, while I know it’s a bit cliche to attempt to define what style genre music you play to someone who isn’t in the know, but how do you describe your music to people?

I’ve gotten asked that a lot today and I think the common thread through it all has been bass. There’s always that focus on deep sub bass and some other words I’d use are dolphins, and lazers. Bubbles… Yeah, words like that.

Haha nice. So you released your Bay Area EP as a free/pay what you want download. Curious what made you decide to release it that way and what your thoughts are on making music accessible to the masses?

It was the first EP that I released like that and it’s been more financially successful doing it like than any of my vinyl releases. And I just thought it was a good model because it’s so easy to generate word of mouth around that kind of thing. Because people can get it for free and they can share it.

I really embrace file sharing and when I see my EP’s and my releases on torrant websites or whatever, some artists might get pissed off at that but I actually thank the people for putting it up and encourage it. The people that are going to buy the vinyl are the ones that are going to seek it out and the people who are just going to download it are going to pay whatever they want anyway. So I figured I’d give them the opportunity to give me a couple bucks.

Although I’m torn because I love the new model but I also love the physical, tachtile quality of a 12inch in you hands, you know?

Yes, there’s definitely something a bit more gratifying when you get a new piece of vinyl vs just downloading.

Ya, you’ve got the art. It’s big, cool and colourful. I have stacks of vinyl at home and it definitely has that value for me so I try and put out a lot of vinyl. But then the Bay Area EP was like 4 tracks that were older, and I didn’t feel they represented my sound at the time, so I thought I’d just put it out there for free and see what happened.

So speaking of EP’s , I understand that you’ve got an EP getting this next month (Feldspar / Psycho), and it great like a good balance of some dope sounds. What can you tell us about the release?

Ya it’s called Feldspar and then the B-side is Psycho and it’s coming out on Leisure System recordings. It’s a label out of Berlin and they’re sorta a new upstart label and they’re pushing new sounds. They’re both kinda bangers; both club type tracks. With Feldspar I was kinda going for this old school kinda Metalheadz, rave, early drum and bass kinda vibe. It was sorta an experiment with synth tweaking that just kinda turned into a song. Which, I guess is how a lot of my songs get written.

And the Bside, when I listened to it sounded chunky, hip hop esque.

Ya it’s a more hip hop influenced kinda track, definitely got that 808 flavour to it. I love that whole trunk rattle kinda sound; that 808 sound. That’s what I was going for with that.

In terms of music that you’re personally listening to, who are you really liking right now?

I’m really excited by some of the stuff my friends are putting out. Danny Corn is making some amazing music right now, he’s on Frite Nite. Comma is doing big things right now. The new Rustie is completely blowing me away. I listen to a lot of non electronic stuff, but in the electronic sphere that’s what hitting it for me right now.

If you were to look at your iTunes, what would be the top 3 most played tracks?

The top most played track is Hologram Buffalo by Brightblack Morning Light. And then probably Future Sound of London…I’m listening to alot of Flamenco Spanish guitar music lately. It’s what I’m feeling right now.

And one last question, you’re going to be hitting Victoria next week with Salva as one of our sub|division events. For those who are going to be coming and checking it out, what can you tell folks to expect to see?

It’s gonna be mayhem basically, Salva’s got tons of insane new tracks and he makes new ones everyday so that should be awesome. I’ve got a lot of new tracks that are gonna be on an album in early 2012, finally making an album. So yeah, a bunch of new tracks. You know Canadian kids always go crazy so it should be a good time.