“I don’t know if [drugs] make the work better, but it inspires musicians and lets them have thoughts they didn’t know they had. It helps you reconnect in a very basic sense with living.”

On your MySpace recently you described in detail taking DMT (Dimethyltryptamine, a powerful ‘shamanic’ drug) for the first time. Do you feel that hallucinogens can aid the creative process, or the listening process?

“I don’t know. I think that stuff is good for…your own life. We’ve been given all these different plants to heal us in our time, and that’s part of it, because I feel that experience is an inspiring thing, and it can make you look deeper within your own self. It makes you ask more questions and that inspires the work. I don’t know if it makes the work better, but it inspires musicians and lets them have thoughts they didn’t know they had. It helps you reconnect in a very basic sense with living.”

Cosmogramma has a greater leaning towards spiritual jazz than Los Angeles. In parts, it actually sounds like Alice Coltrane, or Pharoah Sanders, but in an electronic context. Did you want to pay tribute to Alice in some way?

“Definitely. I started making this record around the same time as my Mom passed away, and it was really a tough time for me. During the process I went back to my aunt’s records, and the work really moved me, in a way that… I grew up with this stuff but now I could understand where this place came from, I could understand why she made the music she made.

“I wanted to make sure that people felt the same things from my work, that’s where we’re trying to go at least, the destination is the same place. You want to give people this experience that is beyond what’s happening on Earth, take them out of their situation and cause them to venture within.”

There are several musical curve balls on the album, like ‘Do The Astral Plane’, which sounds like a house track, but done Flying Lotus style. What did you set out to capture with that?

“It was inspired by Anita Ward’s ‘Ring My Bell’, one of my favourite tunes. I remember it was Summer time, it was so hot in LA, and the heat inspires me so much, and it was one of those days when you’re cookin’ in the basement, got no shirt on, just dancing around. Moments like that when I can make that kind of music are expressions of pure joy. That’s when the music is at its best, when I’m happy.”

“I like to create things together rather than emailing stuff, which can be impersonal, or outta context.”

Other tracks like ‘Disco Balls’ for Hyperdub and ‘Meeting The Prez’ have also seen you experimenting with more dancefloor oriented styles. Have your live gigs and DJ sets encouraged you to try something more club oriented?

“I have so much music of different styles. I have a lot of house tracks, lots of dubstep. But I can’t release it because I don’t want to put out a 12″. It’s a shame because a lot of the music won’t come out, but it’ll find a way. I put stuff out there on the internet for people to find.

”There are people out there who are better at making 12″s. I’d rather listen to one of their 12″s than 40 minutes of their shit. I think I’m more of an album guy.”

Beyond your own stuff you’ve produced for several other artists, including Gonja Sufi and Jose James. Do you enjoy producing tracks for vocalists, and have you got any more stuff coming up?

“I do like to do that stuff. It’s really hard for me to do it, though, when I can’t work with the person in the same space. I like to create things together rather than emailing stuff, which can be impersonal, or outta context. I feel like I have to like the person as well, I can’t just give a track to someone who I don’t respect who doesn’t know where I’m coming from. You give something back, and it’s just not honest. You get something back and there’s a vocal about killing motherfuckers, and I’m like, ‘I wasn’t even thinking about that shit when I was making that music’. It’s tough in that way, but there’s a lot of people I’d really like to work with. After this record I’ll be able to spread my wings a little bit, further. I’m supposed to be working with Erykah Badu, I’m not sure what’s gonna happen, though.”

Where do you go from here?

“As far as goals go, I’d love to get involved in some film stuff, whether it be working on soundtracks or making a film. Or working on music for a TV show, like a cartoon or something. I’d love to do that for a while. That’s in a perfect world but we’ll see what happens…”

What’s your favourite cartoon of all time?

“Ren and Stimpy. It’s so influential. I draw silly characters ‘n’ shit, and that all comes from there. Watching that stuff, the over-the-top expression of characters, it’s brilliant animation.”

Ben Murphy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 at 11:23 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.