“I’m so far removed from new music and the what’s going on in music right now cause I signed out a long time ago,” says BlockHead, the producer who many know from his works with Aesop Rock and his own eclectic instrumental LP’s. His latest, The Music Scene, is both a biting critique as well as liberal celebration of music. With a cover that depicts the industry as a “washed up shell of it’s former self being run by animals,” partnered with a thesis statement declaring the music industry as full of clowns, the album is a loaded shotgun aimed at commercialism and decaying business models. On the flipside, the actual music is a funky, genre shifting, sample rich experience that rocks from beginning to end.
We caught up with BlockHead to talk about the new LP, and his take on things. Check out the full piece below.
RubyHornet: For those wondering, is The Music Scene one idea/concept, meaning the music on here was made for this project, or is this a collection
of instrumentals you had and have put together?
BlockHead: I’d say all my albums begin as a collection of instrumentals but, by the time the album nears the end of the creative process, I see them as a whole. Once the songs are decided on, sequenced and the song order is made , I try and make it into a whole, as opposed to just loose parts thrown together.
RubyHornet: We see “beat tapes” from producers here and there, DJ Babu is about to release a new one. In your mind, is there a creative difference and difference in the way you attack an instrumental LP vs. a Beat tape, since you have released both?
BlockHead: Oh definitely. I see beat tapes as just stuff you had laying around. They’re short, not fully realized tracks. Whereas, an instrumental song is a finished piece of music. It can stand on it’s own. It’s got multiple parts and a beginning, middle and an end. Making an instrumental album takes time. Putting together a beat tape is easy. It’s funny you bring it up cause I recently found a bunch of old beat tapes (literally on cassette) of some of
my earliest tracks and I’m thinking about releasing them in volumes. Some of it is embarrassing, but I think some people (MUSIC NERDS) might be into
seeing where I started.
RubyHornet: What aspects of your production were you hoping to showcase most on The Music Scene?
BlockHead: I just want the music to be melodic and take the listener somewhere. This album was more intricate than anything else I’ve ever worked on. But, as opposed to the typical “verse-chorus-verse-chorus” kind of songs, I wanted to make most of the songs into a journey. it sounds corny but that was my focus. So, I was really showcasing my sequencing and ability to build a song.
RubyHornet: I’m interested to know how you titled the tracks, and the way you use sounds, and instruments to express specific ideas and moods, kind of in the way a rapper/singer uses their words and tone. You have titles like “Attack The Doctor”, “Which One of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer”, “It’s
Raining Clouds”, in what way does a song’s theme relate to how it is constructed?
BlockHead: The titles come from two places: inside jokes or just how the beat makes me feel. “It’s Raining Clouds” got it’s name cause, to me, it sounded like the plodding track that, towards the middle starts to break apart, like a hurricane hit it. Then, the clouds clear and this driving force pushes
through. It had a very “Weather” like feel to me. Whereas “Attack The Doctor” just got it’s name from the silly vocal sample at the end. It all depends.
RubyHornet: “The Music Scene has got me down, cause I don’t want to be a clown” that phrase seems important in the big scheme of things, it is also
part of the title of the full LP. Is that the sample that kicked everything off, or something you found a little ways in and when you found it were
like, ‘that’s it’?
BlockHead: The latter. I was having trouble coming up with a concept for the album as it was coming together. Then, I was listening to that sample and it just hit me. It was a theme I could run with cause, on one hand, the music scene (the actual music scene, not my album) is a mess and is as close to death as possible. So, it does bum me out cause I don’t like the direction it’s heading. I just wanna make music I wanna make, not follow whatever new trend is huge right now. On the other hand, my album is a mish mash of every kind of music. It’s all there. So, in a way, it’s its own music scene.
RubyHornet: Does the music scene have you down? Is the quote meant as in, ‘there’s just so much clownery in music and the politicking etc that comes with the music, that I don’t want to be a part of that?’ Or is it something else?
BlockHead: Like I said above , it’s in shambles. I’m so far removed from new music and the what’s going on in music right now cause I signed out a long time ago. 95% of new music just doesn’t interest me. It’s trite. It’s boring. It’s recycled versions of stuff I used to like , as well as stuff I didn’t like
when it originally came out. There is a high level of clownery right now and, the sad part is, I don’t think those clowns even realize it.
RubyHornet: The cover art is always interesting on your records. On The Music Scene cover we have a turtle, monkeys, a bird, and I believe a fish
all around a decaying city that seems to be shrinking. In a way you could say it symbolizes an old way of doing music business that is itself going under. Is that the intention?
BlockHead: Yup. Exactly. That art is how I see the music scene today. Washed up shell of it’s former self being run by animals.
RubyHornet: The whole LP has a very warm feel to it, a lot of funk and lush sounds. Is there any genre or style that you would say formed the foundation and most influenced this LP?
BlockHead: Not really. I’m guided by my samples. This album had it’s fair share of old psych rock samples and well as foreign music. I’m never really influenced by anything outright. The music I listen to and the music i make are very different.
RubyHornet: This album follows up Uncle Tony’s Coloring Book, do you listen to your old work when making new material, to see where you’ve been etc?
BlockHead: Not really. I’ll occasionally go back and listen to my older s**t just to remember what it was like but it doesn’t really weigh in on how I make new music.
RubyHornet: For fans of your work with Aesop Rock and other rappers, do you have any new projects coming up in that regard, any new placements we can check for?
BlockHead: Aes and I are working on new material for his new album. I’m working with an Emcee named Illogic out of Ohio. I’m also working with a female vocalist names Joanna Erdos of the group “The Midnight Show”. Aside from that, I’ve got some remixes I’ve done recently and just over all basic beat making.
RubyHornet: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Please let us know any important info, and where we can learn more.
BlockHead: Check out my Myspace. And if you’re more adventurous and not easily offended, check out my blog at
phatfriend.wordpress.com.
