Share This Article
An ancient struggler stumbles through the clubs across the stratosphere. Two electronic music producers vie to bring the heroic Michael Bay to fight against the evil Downtempocon,
Can you tell us a little about your experience? Where are you from/how did you get into music? How did you learn to produce?
Frank: I started making electronic music when I was 13 years old. I was the only person in Waco that was into it. I got a korg kaossilator pro, korg electribe es1, and a casio SK5 from 1984.
Matt: I’m originally from Amarillo TX, around 95 a friend let me borrow an Emax sampler and I started making very bad psychedelic 4 track industrial music. I really learned to produce when the first iMac came out. I had a job at a liquor store and I’d bring my computer in every day and make beats. I got fired for this but ended up getting hired to clean up dialog on Dragon Ball Z. That eventually turned into me making music for all of the Funimation promos which essentially let me produce every day.
Who have been your main inspirations (both musically and in “life”)? And how have they affected your sound?
Matt: My inspirations are pretty wild and I’ve had many seasons in life but if I’m being honest my first big influence was Nirvana which I’d say got me into music in a real way. That eventually lead me to Aphex Twin, Autechre, Massive Attack, Muziq etc… It was a long road to eventually get to dance music but I’m happy I’m here!
Frank: My main inspirations starting out were Small Black, Washed Out, Neon Indian, Mount Kimbie, Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Groundislava, D33j. I loved the LA beat scene on the early 2010’s and still am influenced by this sound.
How would you define your sound? And how has your sound evolved over the years?
Frank: My sound at this point is very multi-genre. Michael Baaay is specifically tech-house for the most part but we are trying to keep it open ended as well.
Matt: I’d define my current sound as “fun-techno” with a microdose of psychedelia. I’d say personally for me my main evolution has been in removing elements, my old tracks were muddy and messy and maybe took themselves too seriously.
What can you tell us about the release? What inspired you? What do you want to transmit?
Matt: For this release I was inspired essentially by the club, and people having a great time. I’ve had a ton of fun throughout my life connecting with people through music, so plain and simple the release for me is just about people having a good ass time, vibing out, and forgetting about the world for 5 hours.
Frank: We were very inspired by cinematic sound design and wanted to implicate that in club music to create a large sound. Michael Baaay started as kind of a joke but now we understand what we are doing.
What can you tell us about each track in the release? What concept do you want to convey? Why did you choose these?
Frank: “For Free” the message is quite simple. Why take some random pill at the club when you can experience “ecstasy for free” with the power of God.
Matt: E for free – my feel on it, it’s about connecting with randos at the club, becoming the best of friends and then being cool with that one experience. The Sound is more my experience when I really connect with the music when I’m out, when I have that moment that reminds me that the music is what brought us here
Do you feel like the underground scene will continue to persist?
Matt: The underground will always be. I’ve been in it for longer than I haven’t. It seems to change (and to be fair it kind of does) but it doesn’t change that much. People will always want to wile out and dance to music, and they’ll want to do it in cool places. The underground will persist no matter what happens. It’s human nature.
Frank: It will always persist, the right people just need to be running it as to not convolute the scene and draw people away.
What projects are you working on right now?
Frank: I am fairly all in on Michael Baaay but I am also trying to become a realtor in order to survive. haha
Matt: I’m working on more Michael Baaay that I’m excited about as well as some breaks music for my Choose Hellth project .
I’m also working on an RPG sci-fi game that I can’t talk about but has been super fun. For that project I’m working as a sound designer and getting to flex some new skills in terms of simulated acoustics.
In addition to that I’m working on another game with a very talented team in France and for that project I’m going back to my roots of making industrial music but just with way better gear now haha
