Posts Tagged ‘wedidit’
Embrace Of The Lo-Fi - Interview With Shlohmo
LA native Henry Laufer, aka Shlohmo, has been creepin’ around SF lately. He came here to get an education, but you might say he’s been giving one if you’ve seen him play recently. After dropping the album Shlohmoshun Deluxe, this whiz kid has been delivering hot goods to beat lovers everywhere, from Mary Anne Hobbs’ show on BBC Radio 1, to clubs like Low End Theory and SF’s Change the Beat. We interviewed Henry in a filthy alley on a rainy night near 6th street in downtown San Francisco. He was able to take a picture of a dead rat while we got to know him a bit…
How long have you lived in San Francisco?
I’ve lived in SF since August, but I was living in Oakland last year. I grew up in LA until it was time to go to college, then I came over to CCA (California College of the Arts).
What are you studying?
Printmaking, painting, drawing, fine art type stuff.
How did your album Shlohmoshun Deluxe come together?
I made it all over the summer of ’09. Even though it’s recent, I feel like it’s old shit already. It was me in my room at 6 or 7 am, staying up all night smoking weed and making beats. I was just making what I want to make, not thinking about what I should be making, so it was the first real departure for me into that. A lot of it was an exploration into a synth that I had, the Roland SH-201. For some of the tracks, like “Hotboxing the Cockpit,” I was using my dad’s old Roland Jupiter 6. He just had that lying around in a closet. My dad makes music, too.
What kind of music does your dad make? Did he teach you how to make music?
He makes folk rock. He was a 60’s kid, so he’s very inspired by The Beatles, Neil Young, and Bob Dylan. I think the biggest teaching he offered me was about the weirdness of music. His two best friends from junior high played guitar and bass in Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, so he was playing that for me in 7th grade. He waited a little bit, then he was like “he’s ready for the weird shit,” you know? He started playing me some Tom Waits, and turned me onto the Pixies and Frank Black, so he taught me to appreciate the weirder things. The weirder shit would always make him go “awww yeah!” So that was the best thing he taught me.
A lot of the sounds on Shlohmoshun are very small, minimal sounds, but it all comes together to sound thick and full. Did you set out to do that?
I don’t really have any formula. It’s very touch and go, I play it by ear and work it. Every little sound adds up to that big sound. A lot of those little sounds, like the claps and snaps, are super shitty lo-fi recordings off my computer mic. The textural stuff is me rubbing napkins together on the keyboard or something like that.
Tell me about Friends of Friends, the label that put this out.
It’s a fresh label run by my dude Leeor, aka Lazy Brow. I had put out this free EP which was basically Shlohmoshun before it was the deluxe edition, and he found me on Myspace. They’re kind of a new label, they have some releases by Daedelus and Jogger, and they do tapes and stuff, it’s cool.
Coming from LA, what is your impression of San Francisco?
I’m still trying to vibe it out. As far as I’ve seen, LA seems to be more focused on straight music venues, but here every place is a “bar + DJ” kind of thing.
Like where you’re playing tonight.
Yeah, exactly. I don’t necessarily have a problem with that, but it’s a different vibe. I’m used to being able to go somewhere with your homies and just nod your head to some dope music without worrying about the bar scene. So I don’t know whether to go back there and become more integrated into the venue scene, or stay up here and try to make it something that it’s not yet, and help the other cats who are trying to do that. I’m still trying to feel it out.
So what can we expect from you next?
I’ve got a little EP in the works at the moment, looking to release it early June. It’s gonna be a collection of a few new tracks from me and some remixes from some dope folks. I’m working on a digital booklet to go along with it featuring some collages of mine. Also, Shlomoshun vinyl drops in May! Super siked on that, it’s my first pressing so I’m just waiting to drop that needle. Other than that, a ton of shows this summer, and starting to work on the debut LP for this winter.
Is there anybody we should know about who’s been inspiring you lately?
So many people inspiring me right now. Been listening to Yuk’s release for My Hollow Drum, which should be out in May. Also Teebs, another MHD cat. Asura has been blowing my mind. I don’t know if you heard that motherfucker’s BBC1 mix, but holy shit. And matthewdavid as always. And all my dudes at Wedidit of course. I guess I’m always really inspired by the embrace of the lo-fi. And all of these dudes play with that aspect really nicely.
Shlohmoshun Deluxe is out now on Friends and Family, with vinyl coming out May 24. Shlohmo’s free “My Neck My Back” Remix EP is also available for download on WeDidIt.
More Shlohmo links:
-Staylucid
Posted by Ryan | Filed under Interviews
LA native Henry Laufer, aka Shlohmo, has been creepin’ around SF lately. He came here to get an education, but you might say he’s been giving one if you’ve seen him play recently. After dropping the album Shlohmoshun Deluxe, this whiz kid has been delivering hot goods to beat lovers everywhere, from Mary [...]
Joker + Frite Nite in SF
Tomorrow night (4/9) in SF, Frite Nite and Soundpieces present the upstairs room at 1015 for the Joker show:
B. BRAVO
NASTY NASTY
EPCOT
SHLOHMO
COMMA
BOGL + DIALS
and in the Main room:
JOKER w/ Nomad
JAZZSTEPPA LIVE
RSD / SMITH AND MIGHTY
AN-TEN-NAE
MIMOSA
DOV
MiHKAL
Posted by Ryan | Filed under Uncategorized
Tomorrow night (4/9) in SF, Frite Nite and Soundpieces present the upstairs room at 1015 for the Joker show:
B. BRAVO
NASTY NASTY
EPCOT
SHLOHMO
COMMA
BOGL + DIALS
and in the Main room:
JOKER w/ Nomad
JAZZSTEPPA LIVE
RSD / SMITH AND MIGHTY
AN-TEN-NAE
MIMOSA
DOV
MiHKAL
