{"id":6651,"date":"2016-02-11T10:42:45","date_gmt":"2016-02-11T15:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altwire.net\/?p=6651"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:37:24","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T11:37:24","slug":"beasts-behind-the-beats-week-v-klopfenpop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/beasts-behind-the-beats-week-v-klopfenpop\/","title":{"rendered":"Beasts behind the Beats Week V – Klopfenpop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Webseite: http:\/\/klopfenpop.com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Every now and then, I have the pleasure of meeting someone who is actually from Cybertron.<\/p>\n

No, not Optimus or Megatron!<\/p>\n

However, Klopfenpop definitely<\/em> \u00a0fits the mantra,\u00a0“<\/em>more than meets the eye”!<\/p>\n

(Cybertron should be a neighborhood in Seattle!<\/em>)<\/p>\n

I felt like a young Bruce Lee being schooled by IP Man in this interview.\u00a0To tell you the truth, I didn’t mind at all! \u00a0I gained alot of insight into the mind of the\u00a0musical guru. Some people make music into their life.\u00a0After this interview, I realized Klopfenpop was indeed rare in one key aspect…<\/p>\n

…he turns life into\u00a0<\/em>music.<\/p>\n

I wonder if he can turn lead to gold also?<\/p>\n

Klopfenpop<\/h3>\n

Speaking with you, you understand a lot about the elements of music. Have you ever had any training or been taught music theory?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Klopfenpop:<\/strong> I had piano lessons growing up, so that was a great foundation. But honestly, a lot of the most important things I learned were just from hearing things, painstakingly figuring out how to replicate them, and then researching until I figured out what the technical terms surrounding it were. Later, I was a music major for one semester in college before dropping out. That taught me about modes, though that\u2019s still something I understand on an intellectual level while never having been able to \u201cfeel\u201d it very naturally, but string arrangements and best practices for composing harmonies were probably the most valuable thing I took from my brief university stint.<\/p>\n

How did you get your start into production? Who was your inspiration?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It started off when a friend in middle school introduced me to the program Goldwave. It was (and is) a freeware audio program that has no multi-tracking or tempo functionality. I cut my teeth making remixes on that and eventually was introduced to Reason by my older brother. I still use Goldwave for certain quick edits and batch conversions today. A lot of producers I know actually still keep a copy around.<\/p>\n

Honestly, my main inspiration to make Hip Hop<\/a> and to learn production was the hidden track before Remote Control on \u201cHello Nasty\u201d by The Beastie Boys. I still remember the first time I heard it on the radio. It\u2019s a sample of an old Chilean song that\u2019s looped, then out of nowhere this huge drum break comes in and plays with it. It blew my mind. It was an epiphany. They were playing multiple songs over each in a certain way and making a new third song. They were making art from art\u2014an audio collage, but resulting in a new coherent whole. Since then, it\u2019s just been me responding to the revelation and mystery of that moment. Not long after my brother played me Cut Chemist\u2019s \u201cLesson 6: The Lecture\u201d of the self-titled Jurassic 5 album and that kicked everything up to a whole new level.<\/p>\n

You produce other genres besides hip-hop, in fact you have a wide range. Who is your favorite musical artist that isn’t a hip-hop artist?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Man, I have a hard time narrowing down favorites\u2014I tend to have a pretty eclectic musical appetite. For production and instrumentation Nine Inch Nails, The Notwist, and Vulfpeck have been and continue to be very influential on how I think about creating and shaping music as a whole as well as inspiring very specific sounds and techniques.<\/p>\n

Music from my record collection that\u2019s always influencing me is stuff like Ramsey Lewis, Ray Charles, Wes Montgomery, and The Nat Cole Trio. Individual musicians that I often find myself studying are James Jamerson, Randy Newman, and Darren King.<\/p>\n

I also find myself drawn to the more dark or contemplative classical composer from the early-mid 19th century through to the early 20th. From Wagner to Chopin to Dvo\u0159\u00e1k to Mendelssohn to Brahms to Debussy to Prokofiev to Rachmaninoff.<\/p>\n

Oddly enough, I\u2019ve also really been enjoying the recent revival of the sort of old-time music, Dixieland, old blues, western swing, bluegrass scene. Some of my favorites doing that stuff are Dom Flemons, Pokey Lafarge, The Devil Makes Three, and The Cactus Blossoms.<\/p>\n

Back to hip-hop, it seems like you guys are creating a different type of vibe for hip-hop in the Pacific Northwest. Yourself, Lex<\/a> Lingo, Bill Beats, Death Star, Shubzilla, etc.\u00a0 Is this a movement or just friends collaborating?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s both. There\u2019s definitely a real range of technique and musical sensibilities within the crew and the local scene as a whole. It all seems to smell like the Northwest, though, you know? The PNW is pretty eclectic as a rule\u2014everyone is into a lot of kinds of music, different cuisines, cultures, etc. I actually live just a mile from a Little Korea neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we\u2019ve got a huge legacy of racism, as well. Oregon was founded as a state with a law literally forbidding black people from moving there. Washington forbade Chinese people from voting, later passed the Exclusion Act forbidding more Chinese people from moving here, and eventually culminated in hundreds and hundreds of immigrants having their homes torched, being physically forced onto outbound ships or to Eastern Washington out of fear for their lives. Our record with Native affairs is by no means good. Our state fairgrounds were used as an internment camp for people of Japanese ancestry. Our police are in a continuous process trying to shrug off the endless investigations finding that they are violating the Constitution, federal law, and human rights. While we\u2019ve legalized recreational marijuana and enabled rich dudebros to open small-batch, artisan weed shops, people of color who were disproportionately arrested (then incarcerated with mandatory minimum sentences) on literally the same block for selling the same drug, are\u00a0still\u00a0sitting in prison for breaking laws that no longer exist.<\/p>\n

People up here want to remain ignorant to this stuff or pretend like none of it has any ramifications on our local culture, but it does. I\u2019ve travelled a lot around the country, and Seattle is one of the most insidiously \u201csecret racist\u201d places I\u2019ve ever been, but it\u2019s still seen to outsiders (and insiders who are kidding themselves or remaining insulated) as this sort of liberal ideal of progressivism and forward-thinking culture. While a lot of people try to take pride in that, I think many in the artist community here are trying to come from a more authentic place and deal with the actual, real world we\u2019re coming from. Sort of rebelling against the hipster bullshit that Seattle is known for and calling it out for what it is.<\/p>\n

Who is your favorite hip-hop artist of today?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As far as rappers Chance The Rapper, Jidenna, and Sammus.\u00a0Producers would be Wax Tailor, The Weeknd, and Kanye West.\u00a0My favorite group is Dollabin.<\/p>\n

If somebody gave you a scepter and a crown right now and told you, “YOU are the king of hip-hop”, what direction would you take it?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d leave it exactly as is. I don\u2019t feel like I should be the guy to make that call. Sure there\u2019s a bunch of shit I can\u2019t stand or am just unimaginably bored by, but I also think the fullness of artistic expression is important. It helps push the boundaries of genre, technique, technology, writing, culture, and music into new places that will almost certainly be greater, more important, and more long-lasting than whatever happened while clearing the path needed to get to that new place. I loathe smooth jazz with all of my being, but it came directly out of my favorite late 60s and early 70s jazz fusion like Bob James, Herbie Hancock, Deodato, etc. And it\u2019s what ended up paving the way for jazz to join back up with the thread of hip-hop\u2014the very genre that was shaped by sampling those guys\u2019 records\u2014and make gritty, sample-based trip-hop, which I love.<\/p>\n

More importantly, though, some of the most important leaps forward in art come as a response to\u2014and often in direct opposition of\u2014the current state of art. So while I may not be into Future, I love Atlanta underground and can\u2019t wait to hear how that scene ends up rebelling against that to make something totally new and fresh as a response to it.<\/p>\n

Rockstar, Rapper, or Hippie? Why?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rapper. Too practical to be a rockstar, too cynical to be a hippie.<\/p>\n

What projects are you working on right now and what do you have planned for 2016?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, I\u2019m working on some tracks I\u2019m really excited about with Lex Lingo. You and I will be getting some hotness happening with my guy Bill Beats this spring that I\u2019m super excited about. I\u2019m working on a really innovative project with Doogie Howitzer up at Han\u2019d Solo records out of Canada that involves like a dozen rappers and will probably end up on vinyl. I got to produce a crazy electro-metal song with Alpha Riff and Yugen for Riff\u2019s forthcoming joint. MC-3PO of Death*Star (aka Rook The Rhymer) and I are working on a concept album of really dark progressive hip-hop album themed around classic gothic literature (you can hear a couple of the seeds of this project from last year\u2019s NerdcoreNow VPC competition). I\u2019ve got a couple beats on the illustrious Press B\u2019s long-awaited Sexy Space Music. I have a few more cuts in the works with PovertyMan after the success of last year\u2019s Not Safe For Anybody EP that I had the pleasure of mixing and doing some additional production on. Lavos and Yaki from The Moderators have a couple of my beats they\u2019re working on, at the moment, and everything they touch is flames.<\/p>\n

Someday, I\u2019ll get around to finishing up my own next album Haiku de Gr\u00e2ce.<\/p>\n

Listen to a few\u00a0Klopfenpop’s dope tracks right here! Hear more tracks on his website at klofenpop.com<\/a><\/p>\n