You have to call it something
Aug 12, 2009 |
Image: photo courtesy of nosaj thing
Aug
15
The hard-to-classify sound of L.A.-based electronic music artist Nosaj Thing has earned one-man act Jason Chung an onslaught of different labels, including “lazer-bass,” “glitch-hop” and “blap” (a hybrid of “bleep” and “rap”).
“I think it’s kind of silly to be honest,” said Chung from a friend’s San Francisco apartment while preparing for his visit to the Islands. On the phone, Chung is soft-spoken and calm.
“Most of my friends who are making music and all the guys from L.A., we don’t really want to put a name to it. [The music’s] constantly changing and we’re all trying to progress.” Chung said he prefers the term “beat music”–but only when pressed. After all, “you have to call it something,” he said.
That “it” is a movement of loosely connected L.A.-based producers who, despite having roots in hip-hop music, have managed to forgo overstated lyrics laced in bling-blinging bravado in exchange for lush instrumentals. Although the beats could easily be rapped over–Chung leant the silky smooth backbeat from “Aquarium” to Kid Cudi’s mixtape–contemporaries like Flying Lotus and Samiyam let their beats do the talking and have found a home every Wednesday at The Low End Theory Club in L.A.
Chung creates soundscapes that mirror his hometown, an intricate and sometimes dizzying cross section of mismatched cultures. Drift, his debut LP released in June, weaves strands of London dub step, Gangsta-Funk hip-hop, psychedelic ambience à la Aphex Twin and Bach concertos to create hauntingly meditative compositions. While the fusion of such seemingly disparate genres is hardly new in today’s experimental music scene, it’s rare to find work so richly evocative. On “Coat of Arms,” arguably Drift’s most dynamic and pop-friendly track, ghostly wailing meets staggering synthesizers to invoke an intergalactic dreamscape. As tension ensues over video game-like bleeps that drizzle the track like cascading disco lights, you’re not sure if you should meditate like a monk or dance like a madman.
Although he’s only 24, the release of Drift has been a long time coming for Chung, who–after converting his father’s PC into a home recording studio at the age of 13–began DJing and remixing tracks. In high school, he dabbled in L.A. rave culture and eventually joined the D.I.Y. music scene at The Smell, a venue specializing in experimental noise from the likes of No Age and HEALTH (who Chung remixed on the 2008 release, Disco). After getting laid off from his job at a music store, Chung turned his full attention toward Drift, which took three years to complete.
For a record that relies so heavily on gadgets and very little on human vocals, Drift is fleshy and emotive. Spluttering, supernatural breathing coats “Fog” in a mysteriously tender haze and in “1685/Bach,” space age accordions mimic the wavelike ebb and flow of someone gasping for air. The stretchy, electric guitar-like synthesizers on “Light #1” literally sing–an eerie, elegiac aria. Despite the record’s otherworldly bent, it’s clear Drift is rooted firmly in matters of the human heart.
“When I wrote the record, it was an emotional experience for me,” said Chung, who cites his relationships with friends and family as the inspiration for his mood-driven approach to production. “It was very therapeutic. One of the things the record helped me do was drift off from what was going on, to get me into my own world, to get me into a different mindset.”
Transporting audiences to another world is something Chung would like to do this Saturday at SoHo Mixed Media bar. He described his set as a spontaneous and fragmented arrangement of tracks that get stitched together and remixed–depending on the vibe–live on stage. With visual elements in production, he aims to avoid the clichés of electronic music concerts by creating an “experience more than just some guy beating a video game controller.”
Chung said the offer to play in Honolulu, exteneded by KTUH’s Travis Tokuyama and Annie Nguyen, had only one plausible response: “How could I say no?”
While in Hawaii, he looks forward to eating and cruising at the beach. “I’m really excited,” he said. “It definitely makes it a lot more enjoyable having a great atmosphere,” which, after listening to Drift, is clearly something Chung knows a thing or two about.
