In Words: Bluestaeb
“It gives me the opportunity to voice my opinion on society and politics through the lyrics of the artists that I work with.”
-Bluestaeb
Written by Kyle WJ Gonsalves
Hey, how you doing today?
Doing fine, thanks for having me!
Sweet. I’m going to start with more basic interview questions, then I have a couple specialised ones and finish off with some quick-fire fun questions. Sound good?
Yes of course, go ahead!
Cool, we’ll start with this old chestnut: when and where did you start your musical journey?
I started producing around ten years ago after a friend showed me some beat-making videos on YouTube. I remember these clips really fascinated me. Another friend at high school installed fruity loops on my computer shortly after and I just made several beats every day for a few years. Making beats and playing basketball was really all I was doing after school. My musical journey probably started much earlier though. I already had a few years of classes with a percussionist playing Darbouka and Djembe when I was younger.
What where your first musical influences and what was the first physical piece of music you owned? E.g. Vinyl, CD, etc.
My first musical influences, hm, I would probably have to go way back to when I was 3-5 years old listening to my fathers CD’s. My favourite musicians back then were Steve Winwood, Ismael Lo and Ali Farka Toure. I love his Talking Timbuktu album with Ry Cooder. You can definitely get a lot of these influences in my music if you look closely. My first album on Jakarta Records is full of references to these early childhood influences.
So fast forward to now. Who are your top 3 artists you are listening to at the moment?
That’s a difficult question! I listen to so much music every day I can’t really name my favourites. Definitely played SiR’s new album, River Tiber and Kokoroko all the time these last few weeks. The new album by Ill Camille & Damani Nkosi is amazing as well.
As the album is called She, who would be your top 3 female artists at the moment?
Probably Ari Lennox, Syd and Nubya Garcia.
What’s the next project you are working?
I already have a few projects lined up. I am working hard on a new solo project for Jakarta Records. Together with my friend and long-time collaborator S. Fidelity, who also mixed and executively produced the new album She with Harleighblu, I produced the first project by a Parisian instrumental hip hop and jazz group called Underground Canopy. The project will drop early next year already on the French label MENACE who have released a project by Toshio Matsuura for example last year. So, we definitely keep it moving. Also working on several songs with K, Le Maestro right now.
Was it quite cool to work with an artist with a similar name as yours? Or at least the same colour in her name?
Haha, we actually had a few discussions about how we should deal with that issue, we considered it more as a problem at the beginning than we do now though. I actually am not a huge fan of my own artist name anymore, but I guess at some point it was just too late to change it.
So, you’ve worked with Harleigh before on your album released last year “Everything is Always a Process” Did you prefer working with her then or on a project
We actually created the song No Way that ended up on my own project during the sessions for our joint album. I always knew that I wanted to drop the solo album first so that was just a good chance to make a link between the two projects and also introduce Harleigh to the people that listen to my music.
You have mixed projects in the past, some (like She) you work solely with one artist and others are a spread of artists. Which way do you prefer to work and why?
Hm, I can’t really say that I prefer one way of working on music. Creating a whole project with another artist and not just a single is always something special, and it also gives me the opportunity to voice my opinion on society and politics through the lyrics of the artists that I work with. I am now ready to work on new solo projects as well though, because I still think this is the only time that you can really dive into the music and fully develop your ideas.
Kendrick or Cole? - Kendrick
Apple or Pears? - Apples
Coke or Pepsi? - Coke
Maccy D’s or KFC? - No
Albums or Singles? - Albums
TV or Netflix? - Netflix
Kebab or Pizza? - Pizza
Staying in or Going out? – Going Out
Salt or Pepper? - Salt
Savoury or Sweet? - Savoury
Listen to Blue Staebs’ Latest album here