Music and me

A music tech degree and over 70 releases in the last 16 years, after thinking music production was something I wouldn’t capable of doing, serves as a reminder of what I can do when I think less and do more.

And that’s a flex for my own benefit (because I like to give myself flowers to remind myself who I am) but with all the processes and frameworks and ideologies and diets and new ways of thinking, it’s easy to get lost in them and have no actions to follow up.

There was a period between 2015–2017 where I was stuck in a rut and couldn’t make stuff or when I did it wasn’t amazing. Life was really bad at the time too which killed the creative vibes but I felt like music was just a small small hobby and the highs of the early days were over.

And then I did two things that change my outlook:

• I discovered Jean-Michel Basquiat
• I watched this RBMA lecture with Madlib

They made me realise that thinking too much was the killer and I should focus on storytelling and self-expression.

My life had changed a lot by 2018 when I’d done that. I had a young son and I was living alone for the first time. I had more free time but I still had every other weekend with my son which meant time was unlimited so I had to switch up when and how I made music

So it was less about perfection and more about getting drafts done and coming back to them. Catching vibes as quickly as possible before the moment was gone. And I can’t imagine making music any other way now.

Also enjoy it this way as I feel closer to the idea when it’s fresh and I can just open Ableton and get the loop(s) down. It’s all about having fun, not fixating on what sounds good or not before you’ve done it, and not worrying about what people might think if/when you put it out

And that’s another thing: you don’t have to put it out! you can just make albums for yourself. You can just make a whole library of music that you made yourself and have that on loop. Your own little world. I think that’s pretty cool.